Articles featured in recent Issues
Just a taste of some of the articles featured within recent issues of the Elvis Now magazine!
If only he had recorded those songs!
Did you know the songs that were to be Elvis’? We will always wonder how it would have been if Elvis had got to record the songs that were specifically written for him.
From the Leiber and Stollers ‘Jailhouse Rock’ to Willie Nelson’s ‘Always on my mind’, just two songs written with the King in mind and which are instantly recognised around the world as ‘Elvis only’ classics, we take a look at those compositions that were written for Elvis but never got as far for him to add his incredible voice and style to for one reason or another.
Dolly Parton wrote the highly successful ‘I will always love you’, and presented to Elvis’ publicists. However it was due to their insistence, on behalf of the Colonel, that Parton sell all the rights over to Elvis and the Colonel that she withdrew the offer. Parton has always commented that she would have loved Elvis to record the song but would never agree to hand over rights to any of her songs and held out under great pressure. Elvis never got to know!
In the end she recorded the song herself for the film, ‘Best little whorehouse in Texas’. The song had further success with many other artists recording it including the highest success with Witney Houston for her film, ‘Bodyguard’.
Jerry Scheff penned the fantastic rock song, ‘Fire down below’, after Elvis commented to him that he could not find any good modern rock and roll songs. Jerry wrote the song in time for what became Elvis’ final recording sessions in the Graceland den, (The jungle room). However, Elvis became ill during the last session and called for a break. He called Jerry to his bedroom from where Jerry reported that Elvis looked very tired. Elvis asked Jerry to lay the track with the group and he would place his voice over later. A disappointed Scheff said, “He never did”. The original track can be heard on the FTD CD ‘The Jungle Room sessions’.
Jerry also penned the moving country ballad, ‘That’s when the real love begins’. This was submitted to Felton Jarvis, Elvis’ Record Producer, but he rejected it as, “….not good enough for Elvis”. Jerry still thinks he was wrong and so do I.
The disco hit, ‘I feel like I’m in love’, was written by Mungo Jerry under his original name, Ray Dorset and was intended as a future hit for Elvis. It was reported to be included on the listing for his next scheduled recording session in 1978. The song was eventually recorded by Kelly Marie in 1980 and became her only success.
An interesting CD on the market at the moment entitled, ‘Cold night in Nashville’, (CNIN) includes some demos of what was to be included on Elvis’ next album had he lived. The promotional statement regarding ‘CNIN’ includes the following:
On January 20, 1977 Elvis Presley flew to Nashville to finish his Moody Blue LP at Creative Workshop studios. Unforeseen circumstances made Elvis cancel these sessions but he still intended to record the new material for a future release. Six songs had already been selected. ‘Cold Night in Nashville’ gathers together these tracks for the first time. The CD has ten selections, five of which are the original demo's that were actually heard by Elvis. These tracks along with one of Elvis' favourites, ‘Rainy Night in Georgia’ would have constituted part of a remarkable album. Although Elvis does not sing the tunes, ‘Cold Night in Nashville’ shows off Presley's unparalleled ability to pick classic material.
Two versions of ‘Rainy Night in Georgia’ and ‘Energy’ are included. Like all of the other tracks, a version by the composer is featured but for these two tracks we also get the opportunity to hear a commercially released version. Also included are two bonus tracks which feature the original demo’s for two of Elvis’ most contemporaneous rock songs ‘Way Down’ and ‘I’ve Got A Feelin’ In My Body’, composed by Layng Martine Jr. and Dennis Linde respectively. Both were songwriters Elvis held in the highest regard. With Dennis Linde’s ‘By Day, By Day’ and Layng Martine Jr’s ‘Let Me On’ included among Elvis’ selection of new songs, it is fascinating to hear how his final masters differed from these authors earlier submissions.
Even if Elvis did not get to record his six selections personally, they reveal that his growth as an artist was still thriving at the time of his untimely death.
Tracks that Elvis was due to record included: ‘By Day, By Day’, ‘Rainy Night in Georgia’, ‘That’s what you Do To Me’, ‘Yes I Do’, ‘Let Me On’ and ‘Energy’.
So there you have it! We will never know how Elvis would have put his mark on this work but one thing is sure, we can hypothsize that he would have continued to raise the bar from his previous successful album, 'Moody Blue'.
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Elvis Now interview with Sherrill Nielsen
EN: Tell me a little about yourself.
SN: I was born in Montgomery AL and started singing in church at the age of 4. I was crowned Mr. America Youth Singer in 1956. I Joined the Marksmen Quartet in 1957 and while serving in the U.S. Air Force, was soloist in the Air Force Strategic Air Command Band, Omaha NE. In 1961 I joined the singing Speer Family out of Nashville TN and from there the rest is history. I never knew a time that I was not singing professionally. I went from the Songfellows Quartet to the Speer Family, to the Imperials, the Statesmen, Elvis Presley, VOICE, Masters V and did solo work while not singing with a group.
EN: Did you know Elvis before you sang backup on the ‘How Great Thou Art’ album in 1966?
SN: I did not, but my wife, Brenda did. Brenda met Elvis in 1960 at a National Quartet Convention in Memphis, TN, spent time with Elvis and was invited to Graceland.
EN: How did you meet Elvis?
SN: (For further information this is included on my website www.shaunandelvis.com and also on www.sherrillandbrenda.com. Basically, while recording the “How Great Thou Art” album in Nashville TN, Elvis came up to me and said, “Hi, I’m Elvis Presley… I have all of your records and you are my favourite tenor singer”. It was during this session that I had one of those fancy show shirts on that Brenda had made for me and he said that he wanted one just like mine….so he had Brenda come down to the Studio at 2AM; to measure him and work out the design of the shirt. Brenda and I had a small daughter who was 5 months old…well he decided to carry her around the studio and sat down at the piano and sang lullabies to her. Meeting him was a highlight in my life, since I had listened to all of his recordings listened to all of his recordings. He was a very down to earth person. He had much respect for all of the musicians that he hired. I admired his vocal abilities.
EN: What was it like to tour with him?
SN: Sherrill Nielsen and VOICE….we opened Elvis’ shows. Can you imagine having thousands of people waiting to see Elvis and having to sit through our part of the show before Elvis came out on stage. I always let the crowd know that this was Elvis’ idea and we were his personal back-up vocal group. The good things were when we got to sing “one-on-one with Elvis”… after a concert, Elvis would have VOICE come up to his suite and we would sing for him for hours. Most of the songs were cantered around his love for gospel music. The bad things were crowd control, hectic scheduling, etc.
EN: Was there a favourite time?
SN: The time that he flew me from Nashville to Memphis .. just to have me sing love songs to he and Linda Thompson. A limo driver delivered me to Elvis’ front door, one of his staff ushered me to his bedroom and I sang for hours until he said “that’s enough”.
EN: What are your thoughts on the Colonel? How did you relate to him?
SN: He did Elvis wrong. I got along with everyone but didn’t like his style of management.
EN: We know how generous Elvis was, did you receive any gifts?
SN: Yes, he gave me a beautiful llama coat which is on display in a museum in Denmark, he gave VOICE a motor home to travel in, and of course, a TCB.
EN: Did you ever spend any private time with Elvis?
SN: Yes, but I would like to keep those private. The incident of singing love songs to he and Linda were memorable times.
EN: Not many people got to sing a duet with Elvis.
SN: To be singled out, was quite an accomplishment. Elvis and I did a lot of duets together. The first time I did Softly As I Leave You, I was sitting at the piano in the dark…we did the song together, the crowd loved it…BUT, the next night, Elvis made sure that they had a spot light on me…that’s just the kind of fellow he was. He loved his musicians.
EN: It’s been said that Elvis loved to hear you sing ‘Walk with Me’?
SN: We both grew up in the church and the song, Walk With Me, meant so much to him and also to me. This was my grandfathers favourite song and every time I sang it I thought not only of Elvis but of Big Daddy Nielsen. Any song that he sang was special. He could take a plain song and turn it into a hit.
EN: You were obviously aware of Elvis failing health.
SN: We were all aware of his health problems. He knew that I was a “health enthusiast”. I tried to get him to exercise and take care of himself but he did basically what he wanted to do. His diet was bad and it was hard to get him to change those habits.
EN: It must have been hard for everyone associated with Elvis when the news of his death came through?
SN: Very sad. I knew the world lost a legend but felt that his music would live on forever. We were waiting for Elvis’ plane to pick us up in Nashville. We were ready to go on the tour that was to start in Portland, Maine and end in Memphis Tennessee.
EN: Did you attend the funeral?
SN: His personal backup singers had a private viewing prior to the funeral
EN: How do you think Elvis would have felt about his popularity to this day?
SN: I think that Elvis would still be performing and would be as great as his popularity is. He knew that he broke down all barriers and everyone related to his music. He was a man ahead of his time.
EN: Do you keep in touch with others from the Elvis world?
SN: Yes, Brenda and I perform at a lot of the Elvis functions. The old group VOICE (Nielsen, Sumner and Baty) just recently got together and recorded a Christmas CD and a Gospel CD in honour of Elvis. We did songs that we knew Elvis would have done if he were with us.
EN: What have you been doing recently?
SN: Two years ago, I moved back to the States from Denmark (where I had been living for the past 12 years). I got the opportunity to remarry my first love and my first wife you can read our love story on the website.
I have put together a new group VOICE in which, my wife, Brenda and Dale Ellison sing with me. We travel all over performing three types of shows: A Patriotic Tribute, Treasured Memories of Time Spent with Elvis and a Gospel Tribute Show
EN: Sherrill many thanks for taking the time to talk to us and good luck with your new group.
SN: Thank you, it is always a pleasure talking with you at Elvis Now
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The Piped Piper of Cleveland
‘Elvis Now’ takes a look at the facts surrounding the Pied Pipe of Cleveland. According to the history books this film exists but is unreleased mainly due to problems associated with legal ownership!! (surprise, surprise). Apparently Bill Randle owned a copy of the short film and sold the rights to PolyGram before his death. On the other hand, Universal Studios apparently has the 35 millimetre original hidden away in some deep vault. A reference to the Pied Piper of Cleveland was made by Bill Randle in his introduction of Elvis on 28th January 1956.
The Pied Piper of Cleveland started back in the mid 50’s when Bill Randle was a disc jockey in Cleveland. He was in fact the first radio DJ to play an Elvis record outside of the South. Bill used to do radio shows in both Cleveland and New York and was a very popular character. He was, in fact, so popular that Universal took an interest and decided to make a short documentary on a day in his life. The working title was going to be ‘The Pied Piper of Cleveland: A Day in the Life of a Famous Disc Jockey.’ As it turned out, for various reasons Universal withdrew from the project and Bill Randle decided to press ahead with it. He did and produced the film on a very tight budget.
During 1955 Elvis appeared in Cleveland on three occasions and it is reported on his last visit he agreed to appear in this film. This would in fact be his first ever film. Yet again it is rumoured that along with Elvis on the 20th October 1955, Bill Haley and his Comets, Pat Boone among others sang their hits. Elvis sang ‘That’s All Right (Mama).’ ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky’, ‘Good Rockin’ Tonight’ , ‘Mystery Train’ and I Forgot to Remember to Forget’ at an afternoon show at the Brooklyn High School. (The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame installed a plaque at this school in commemoration of the performance). They also took part in an evening performance at St. Michael’s Hall. It was these shows that were recorded and edited down to form a 48 minute film entitled ’The Pied Piper of Cleveland’. The rough version of this was allegedly shown at Euclid Shore Junior High School. The film was supposed to be cut to 20 minutes for distribution but that never happened. There is still some doubt as to whether this film actually exists or is a myth, although a few clips were said to have been shown on WEWS-TV, Cleveland during 1956. That is the last time anyone can recall seeing ‘The Pied Piper of Cleveland’. Will it ever see the light of day? We hope so. Any unreleased footage of Elvis is always welcomed and we are sure it will be very profitable; enough to resolve any legal wrangles about ownership and keep everyone happy, fans included!