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 Elvis On Record: The Early Years

This site is setup to offer opinions about the first decade of Elvis Presley's career between 1954 and 1964.

John Lennon reportedly said - "before Elvis there was nothing."

I know what he meant - there was nothing like Elvis.  And that's true.  But that's really a boastful statement to make.

Before Elvis became royalty, Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed  was proclaimed as the "King of Rock n'Roll." But it's really more accurate to call Freed the "Father of Rock n'Roll" since he popularized the term.  

Also "BE" (Before Elvis), there were other early pioneers like rockabilly singer Bill Haley, and r&b legend, Big Joe Turner. Both of them recorded "Shake, Rattle and Roll" - one of the great early crossover songs which Elvis would later make his own.  

There were also mainstream pop and country singers whom Elvis admired:  Billy Eckstine, Dean Martin, Red Foley and Hank Snow --Elvis was once a featured singer in his hillbilly show.

But more than any of these singers, Elvis could sing all kinds of music:  ballads, blues, country, gospel (his favorite music), movie songs, rockabilly, and uptemo rock.

He is the only singer now in the Hall of Fame for rock n' roll, country, and gospel music.

Hope you enjoy reading the information and opinions on this site.

For me and millions of other fans, Elvis still lives...

on 45s, LPs, CDs, Videos, & DVDs.

Sing it again, Elvis!

--Roger Hall (The Tune Man)

If you have any questions or comments, send them to:

EOR (Elvis On Record)

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[Image]   Elvis Collector's Gold

I'm now a columnist  on one of the most up-to-date web sites anywhere:

Elvis Collector's Gold at...

www.epgold.com

This is the place to go to keep up with the latest Elvis news.

Just click on "Columnists" and you can read my articles:

  "Love Me Tender" - Who actually wrote the song?

  "Blue Moon of Kentucky" - Remembering My Dad and Elvis

  "Mystery Train" - The Untold Story of Promoting Elvis in the 1950s

Online Symposium

Now available are over 20 papers, including one of mine (listed under "Elvis's Life") titled:

"Shake, Rattle and Roll": Bill Randle and Electric Elvis

The  Online Symposium on Elvis Aron Presley is sponsored by The Center for Studies in Popular Culture, a non-profit, independent body established to investigate and report on the relationship between popular culture and society.  The director is Dr. John Walker from Australia.

To read my article, go here:

Elvis Symposium

   

Cleveland Disc Jockey

If you're interested in reading more about the fascinating life & career of Bill Randle, the Cleveland disc jockey who introduced Elvis on national TV, then order the 2-CD set of music he helped produce:

Let Zion Move: Music of the Shakers (Rounder Records, 1999)

To order the CD set, go to:

American Shaker Music (Recordings and Reviews)

For a personal story about Elvis, go to -

Tales of the Tune Man

Contents   

 [Image]     Interviews and Essays -

                   Interview with Alanna Nash, author of The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley

                         Essay:  "King of the Whole Wide World" - Memories of Elvis

 [Image]Elvis - TV and Films

                     Early Elvis National TV Appearances

                            Early Elvis Films

[Image]    CDs and DVDs -

                       Elvis - CD Collections, Box Sets and DVDs

                               Top 20 Elvis Recordings (1954-1964)

Elvis on Radio (scroll down this page) -

IN THE MOOD (August 16, 1993) - premiere of radio program with Elvis tribute

Inspired by Elvis (scroll down this page) -

Some early original songs, including one inspired by Elvis

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 [Image]        Elvis on Radio

 IN THE MOOD (Elvis tribute on radio program premiere)

It's ironic that on August 16, 1993 I premiered my nightly four hour radio program: IN THE MOOD.  

The program featured mostly Big Band music of the 1930s & '40s, but also pop and rock songs from the '50s.

As any fan knows, August 16 was the sad day that Elvis died in 1977.    

My premiere radio program started off with music from the Big Band Era by  Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey (who co-hosted "Stage Show" with his brother, Jimmy, when they introduced Elvis in 1956).

In the final hour, I played a few early Elvis songs in his memory:  "Blue Moon" and  "Poor Boy" (from his first movie, LOVE ME TENDER).      

I  was also paying tribute to that historic year of 1956.  By the end of that year, as Col. Tom Parker had promised him, Elvis was a millionaire and a megastar.

Elvis was no "poor boy" anymore.

--Roger Hall, The Tune Man

Note:  My Elvis radio tribute from 1993 is available on a special edition CDR with over one hour of songs from the 1940s, '50s and '60s. The CDR is titled   

Songs of Survival: A Musical Scrapbook

Also available is a CDR with excerpts from my radio programs including "Love Me Tender" & the Civil War song it's based on - "Aura Lee."

The CDR is titled

Radio Firsts: Top Ten Love Songs (1989) and IN THE MOOD Debut (1993)

To ask about ordering these CDRs, write to:

Elvis On Record

[Image]   Inspired by Elvis

      Roger Hall

During the 50's and early '60s when Elvis was so popular, I started writing and singing some of my own songs.

These are a few of them:  

"Dream World" (inspired by the Elvis record - "It's Now or Never")

"The Soho Serenade" (inspired by the early Beatles records)

"Free As The Breeze" (inspired by Burt Bacharach's '60s songs) 

All three songs are included on this CDR:  

Songs of Survival: A Musical Scrapbook

Some of my classical pieces are also available on CDRs.  

To see the list, go to -

Music Compositions

(c) The Music Buffs Web Pages.  All Rights Reserved, 2001-2003.

For permission to quote any  of the above information or to order CDRS, write to:

 Elvis On Record: The Early Years

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