The Life And Career Of Elvis Aron Presley: 1976

On January 4th Elvis and his entourage travelled to Vail/Colorado, where they stayed for the next three weeks. After his return the singer updated his contract with Colonel Parker. Elvis agreed to regard his live performances as joint ventures and granting his manager half of the earnings. In the meantime RCA continued to exploit the catalogue they had bought from the king three years earlier and released a second volume of "A Legendary Performer". In its initial sales period the longplayer sold 250,000 units and reached number 46 on the Billboard Charts. Therefore it surpassed the success of "Elvis Today". Once more the old stuff outsold the new material.

Nevertheless RCA needed new songs. According to his contract with the label Elvis had to deliver 24 masters each year. In 1974 he had just delivered a concert recording, in 1975 it had been no more than 10 tracks. The label could have released the singer easily, but they gave him another chance. They even agreed to set up recording equipment at his Graceland Mansion. It was an expensive way to record, but the Presley camp promised to be able to come up with 24 new tracks. Between February 2nd and 7th the king taped 12 songs. He was supposed to produce some more on the next day, but Elvis simply stayed in his bedroom. RCA wasn't too pleased. The endeavor had cost 70,000 USD and spawned just half of the expected output. On top of that, just two of the songs had commercial potential.

After having spent everything he made for two decades, Elvis now decided to become a business man. On February 13th he got together with Joe Esposito, Dr. George Nichopoulos and Michael McMahon and founded Presley Center Courts Inc. The company was supposed to build and run racquetball courts all around the country.

In March 1976 RCA released another compilation of old material. They obviously calculated with two new Presley albums and therefore placed their exploitation of the catalogue in the first quarter. "The Sun Sessions" sold 300,000 units during the initial sales period and peaked at number 76 of the Billboard Charts. Finally Elvis was also able to come up with new songs. His single "For The Heart" / "Hurt" sold 250,000 units and reached number 28 of the "Hot 100".

During the second half of 1975 the singer's condition had worsened, the "Elvis Summer Festival" even had to be cancelled after just five shows. There had been no tour in the fall and no recording sessions. The king just made up for the missed concerts in December and played a high-profile show at The Pontiac Silverdome in front of more than 60,000 people. With the exception of the recording session it was planned to extend the break until late April 1976, when Elvis was booked at Del Webb's Sahara Tahoe Hotel. But the star was out of money and so a short tour was set up between March 17th and 22nd. Colonel Parker agreed to defer the new arrangement for a while and continued to receive 25% of the revenues from concerts. Elvis was allowed to pay the outstanding amounts later. To generate more money, the king went on a second mini-tour between April 21st and 27th. While Elvis had been overweight in the summer of 1975, he now simply had gotten fat. He also looked pale and more often than not appeared to be strangely sedated and slurred his speech. Elvis' voice also had changed. It sounded less vital, less flexible than the year before and had some strange nasal and tired subtones.

When RCA released "From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee" in April 1976, the change was obvious. Compared to "Elvis Today" his voice seemed to have aged several decades. At 41 the king sounded like an old man. However, on Billboard's album charts the longplayer peaked at number 41 and the sales more or less matched the ones of Elvis' previous album. Of course the management of RCA was quick to notice, that their compilations of old material sold better.

On April 30th Elvis opened his 5th stint at Del Webb's Sahara Tahoe Hotel. Just like in Vegas, the king just gave one show each day. The only exceptions were Fridays and Saturdays, where he was on stage twice. For eleven days of work Elvis received 315,000 USD. During this engagement the king was confronted with his problems. Due to his constantly worsening condition his family mustered all their courage and suggested a dryout at Scripps Clinic in San Diego. Elvis was aghast and refused to admit the problems. During his next tour, it went from May 27th to June 6th, Colonel Parker wrote him a letter, in which he complained about the problems to contact him. He also stated, that the fans didn't get their money's worth. Elvis didn't even answer. But there was no escape from reality. Red and Sonny West, his long-term friends and bodyguards, also confronted him with his addiction. They still were around from June 25th to July 4th, when the king undertook another concert trip, but as soon as the tour was over Elvis went to Palm Springs and had his father fire them. Dave Hebler was zacked from his job, too. Officially the trio was dismissed to save costs, but it was all too obvious, that the king couldn't deal with the situation. He hid like a child and had his daddy chasing away the monsters.

From July 23rd to August 5th Elvis went on another short tour. Because he wasn't able anymore to do three or four longer tours per year, he now had to undertake short concert trips each month. Meanwhile Presley Center Courts Inc. reported negative results and the king had to refinance the business. Obviously he hadn't understood the contract or entrepreneurship at all. He held 25% of the shares and therefore had to come up with a quarter of the missing amount. Elvis simply felt betrayed by Dr. Nichopolous and Joe Esposito and revoked his share on August 15th. He also wanted his name to be removed from the company designation. Of course he refused to pay, too.

When Elvis went on his next tour, this time from August 27th to September 8th, the occurrences of the previous weeks hit back. Without Red West, Sonny West and Dave Hebler the king was out of bodyguards and had to hand over the job to Sam Thompson. Elias Ghanem, the singer's Dr. Feelgood from Vegas, took over the job of Dr. Nick. Unfortunately Ghanem wasn't able to ration the various substances Elvis took and so the singer went on stage completely stoned. The matinee in Houston on August 28th was a disaster and Colonel Parker had to use all connections he had to silence the building personnel, the security guys and everyone else. Dr. Nichopoulos was lured back into the group, so the tour could go on. Another lifesaver was Larry Geller. Neither Parker, nor anyone else in the Presley camp liked the hairdresser and new age guru, who had been mobbed out of the Memphis Mafia way back in 1967. But now the world was different. Elvis liked Geller a lot and the situation had gotten so bad, that each and everything was welcomed, who made the king happy. For Elvis the incident in Houston appeared to be a wake up call. He tried to control his use of medication and took a little care of his diet. The remaining shows of the tour were more or less solid. The financials were as good as ever, the road trip earned the king another million dollars.

In September Elvis heared rumors, that his former bodyguards were writing a book about him, on October 5th he offered 150,000 USD to them for burrying the project. He wasn't successful and when he called Red West on October 5th, his ex-employee taped the conversation and publicized a transcript in The Star.

On October 14th the king went on the road again. It was another 14 concerts, which made him another million USD. Compared to the previous tours this year the singer appeard to be leaner and more focused. His eyes still were swollen and he didn't look all that healthy, but he certainly was heading in the right direction. Right after the tour the band gathered at Graceland Mansion for another recording session. But instead of delivering the remaining twelfe masters, Elvis just completed four new songs within three days. Finally the musicians were sent home, the mood was down. On November 28th RCA released "Moody Blue" / "She Thinks I Still Care". The single sold 300,000 units and peaked at number 31.

Between November 24th and 30th Elvis hit the road again. He was far from being energetic, but he had lost some more weight and looked healthy. His voice had also improved, the nasal subtone of the previous months was almost gone. Elvis himself obviously dreamed of starting all over again, because he suddenly sent his long-time girlfriend Linda Thompson home and flew in Ginger Alden. Nonchalantly he replaced his trusting and loving companion with a 20yo Priscilla-lookalike, whom he had met a few weeks earlier in Memphis.

On December 2nd Elvis opened another "Pre-Holiday Jubilee" at the Las Vegas Hilton. Until December 12th he appeared on stage once each day, on Fridays and Saturdays he gave two concerts. The first shows were quite solid, but after having injured his ankle the king again fell back in old habits and the quality of his performances lowered considerably. During many concerts Elvis was under the influence of heavy pain medication, backstage he once again suffered from breathing problems.

Elvis closed out the year with another short concert tour, which started on December 27th in Wichita and ended on December 31st in Pittsburgh. The king had continued to loose weight and appeared to be vital and motivated. Without doubt, these were Elvis' strongest shows since July 1975. Even though it was obvious, that the singer had helped himself out with a couple of uppers, he was on the right track. He had rediscovered the joy of performing, was more or less in control of his diet and his use of medication and had a new girlfriend by his side. Everyone just hoped, that Elvis would finally get his act together again in 1977.