The Life And Career Of Elvis Aron Presley: 1977

To complete the overdue album, Felton Jarvis booked the Creative Workshop in Nashville/Tennessee. The sessions were supposed to begin on January 20th, but when the king finally arrived on the following day, he excused himself with a sore throat and stayed at the hotel. He left on January 22nd without having even entered the recording facility. Colonel Parker had no other choice than sending a letter of apology and a medical certificate to RCA, knowing that not anybody was going to believe the story. Four days after the debacle Elvis got engaged with Ginger and gave her a diamond ring of 11.5 karat.

From February 12th to 21st the king went on another concert tour, but appeared not nearly as healthy and motivated as in December. He had gained a lot of weight and appeared to be tired. His voice also didn't sound as well as a few weeks before. Elvis obviously was aware of his condition, because on March 3rd he designated his father (!) as executor. The following day the king and his entourage flew to Hawaii and vecationed there until March 13th. Meanwhile Felton Jarvis rented mobile recording equipment from RCA to complete the long awaited album. He simply hoped, that his boss might sing a song, which had not been released on one of the numerous live albums of the previous years. The management of RCA obviously was fed up with their unreliable and commercially underperforming star. Usually Bergen White was commissioned to write arrangements for strings and horns and musicians were hired to record the music. This time the tapes were simply given to David Briggs, who added a soundscape with his moog synthesizer more or less on the fly. It was all about to rein in costs. Because nobody knew when Mr. Presley would finally come up with enough songs for a new album, RCA assembled a compilation of already released country songs called "Welcome To My World". On the Billboard charts it peaked at number 44, not any worse than longplayers with new material.

Meanwhile the touring business was in trouble, too. The next concert trip began at March 23rd, but after eight days Elvis couldn't go on anymore. In Baton Rouge he simply refused to leave the bed and 13,000 people had to be send home after the pre-show. Colonel Parker canceled all remaining gigs and quickly announced alternate dates in late April and early May. To avoid legal actions, Elvis was brought to the Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis/Tennessee, where he stayed until April 5th. Eight days later he flew to Palm Springs to recuperate, but had to call Dr. Ghanem after suffering of respiratory problems. Instead of searching for help, the king began another concert trip on April 21st. While he was on tour, the Nashville Banner claimed, that Colonel Parker was about to sell his contract with Elvis. The Colonel disclaimed right on the spot, but the rumor was in the world.

The king's concerts were slammed by the press since quite some time and to promote their forthcoming book, Elvis' former bodyguards came up with several stories about their former employer's bizarre behavior. To make it worse, Center Courts Inc. (previously known as "Presley Center Courts Inc.") sued Elvis for the supplementary financing, he had refused to pay the previous year. Two months later the king had no choice but to pay the 50,000 USD the company demanded. Between April 20th and June 2nd the singer went on another tour. In Baltimore he had to leave the stage for almost half and hour and could not continue, before Dr. Nichopolous had shaped him up with some of his magic potions. But Elvis had to go on, since the final stops of the tour were the make up dates for the canceled shows in March. He simply couldn't afford to cancel them again.

Elvis desperately needed money. Even though he was the best selling artist in the history of recorded music and even though he had received the highest fees the business had seen to date, he was almost broke. All the years the king had never made any notable investments. He had always spent what he had made and simply relied on his ability to earn more in the future. In 1976 he had agreed with his manager to consider the concert tours as joint ventures, too. That meant, that all revenues were split 50/50 between Presley and Parker. Because Elvis' financial situation had already been tight by then, the Colonel had agreed to defer the payments for a while. But after a year the manager insisted on receiving the outstanding amounts until December 31, 1977.

Maybe that was why Elvis agreed to do another concert special. But he was too depressed, drugged and desinterested to do anything out of the ordinary. He didn't get in shape physically, didn't update his set list and didn't even attend a single meeting. CBS simply was allowed to film two concerts he was giving anyway. For the tarnished entertainer it seemed to be a good deal: He received 750,000 USD for doing nothing. The tv special was announced on June 1, 1977.

Six days later RCA released the single "Way Down" / "Pledging My Love". It was the forerunner of the album "Moody Blue", which was due for release in early July. Felton Jarvis had compiled the long awaited new longplayer of the singles "Moody Blue" / "She Thinks I Still Care" and "Way Down" / "Pledging My Love", two unreleased tracks from the previous years' Graceland sessions as well as three live recordings made in April. To bring the album to ten songs, Jarvis included an already released version of "Let Me Be There". The forthcoming television special would produce another album, so Elvis' contract with RCA was fulfilled.

On June 17th Elvis started his fifth concert tour of the year. CBS and RCA taped the shows in Omaha (June 19th) and Rapid City (June 21st), but the king was so heavily medicated during the first concert, that the recordings were almost unusable. Nevertheless the producers compiled a show of 60 minutes, CBS set the airing date to October 3rd and the Presley camp approved it. Elvis himself left the task to his manager, he gave his copy to Janelle McComb without having watched the show even once.

The king was supposed to begin another concert trip on August 17th, but the day before he was found dead in the bathroom of his mansion. Vernon Presley hastily ordered an autopsy himself, so the results could be kept private. Officially it was stated, that Elvis had died of respiratory distress. The press and the fans soon turned it into a heart attack. However, the truth leaked out pretty soon. The pathologists had found 14 different substances in Elvis' blood, ten of them in significant dosage. So the singer had died of polypharmacy, the simultaneous use of different medications. None of them was able to kill Elvis individually, but combined their effect was fatal.

After the news of Elvis' death got out, many fans travelled to Memphis. On August 17th there were more than 50,000 people in front of Graceland's gates, at the time an unbelievable amount of people. Remember, this was before the era of more or less unlimited mobility. Between 3:00 pm and 6:30 pm fans were given the opportunity to see the coffin in the foyer of Graceland. The next day Elvis was burried at Forrest Hill Cemetery in Memphis/Tennessee. After a group of men had been caught trying to steal the body of the demised singer, Vernon Presley applied for the permission to move the tombs of his son and his wife to Graceland. The transfer took place on October 2, 1977.

The next day CBS aired "Elvis In Concert" and RCA released the accordant soundtrack. The business with the king's legacy began.