RIP Marty Lacker

[sliderocker]

Marty Lacker, who attended Humes High School in Memphis with the King of Rock and Roll, and was a member of Presley's Memphis Mafia, died Monday from kidney failure at age 80. It was Marty who sold Elvis on the idea of recording at American Studios. That session produced five huge hits for Presley including his last number one, "Suspicious Minds," a song that almost didn't get released because of Presley's manager wanting part of the publishing and a suspicion that Marty was getting a cut on the songs he was plugging to Elvis, who knew and didn't mind or care that Marty was making money from the deal. Marty was one of the few who stood up to Parker and who told Parker in no uncertain terms he worked for Elvis but not him. Parker fumed.

Marty worked in the music publishing and recording businesses of Memphis when he didn't work for Elvis, and as a music publisher, he succeeded in getting songs written by Memphis songwriters to the major artists. Elvis wasn't the only artist to have profited from Marty's Memphis connections.

After Elvis' death, Marty, his ex-wife Patsy and Leslie S. Smith co-wrote the book, "Elvis: Portrait of a Friend." The book was roundly and rudely criticized by Elvis' most rabid of fans. People who never read the book and who didn't know the first thing it said. Those fanatical fans made the wrong assumption Marty was fired by Elvis. No, he was not. Marty left Elvis' employ in 1975 to focus on his work in the music business in Memphis. Marty didn't shy away from the matter of Elvis' drug abuse but he also acknowledged many of the Memphis Mafia, especially himself, indulged as well. And although he acknowledged Elvis had a drug problem, he always refrained from saying Elvis died from an overdose, citing he wasn't there and couldn't say what happened. Lacker's co-author, Leslie S. Smith, listed the drugs that were found in Elvis' body and was the first to note all of the drugs except for two were within therapeutic ranges. The two remaining drugs being within the toxic range, which some took as meaning those two drugs killed Elvis. In that instance, what it meant legally was that the two toxic drugs would've made Elvis sick but not killed him. The legal term for an overdose that was fatal was lethal, and none of the drugs approached that level, not even on a synergistic level.

Also, after Elvis' death, Marty was one of the people you could find on the internet, on one of the Elvis newsgroups and he would answer the questions of Elvis' fans. But, you had to be respectful and ask nicely, which some of Elvis' fans most decidedly were not. They put him down and claimed to know more about Elvis than he did. I always picked Marty's brains on all things Elvis and he was always a gentleman and answered my questions. He would sometimes tell me I was full of shit if I had something wrong but he also told me that, for a fan, I seemed to know as much about Elvis as what the Memphis Mafia guys knew. As I told him, what I knew was from the insider books that had been written. And that was the best way to know as much about Elvis. Another Presley associate, Bill Burk was also on the same newsgroup and he was a valuable source as well on Elvis.

And with Marty's passing, the number of people who knew Elvis, who told their stories and maybe not all of their stories, grows smaller each year. Sonny West, who was fired along with his cousin Red and Dave Hebler by Elvis' father (who was gleeful about what he did), which resulted in the bodyguard book, is dealing with cancer and escalating bills. His wife is also suffering from cancer as well. Sonny also wrote a second book about Elvis because the first book didn't sit well with him. It had been sensationalized and exaggerated even though the tales of the drug abuse were true. His second book was a lot more fairer and nicer to Elvis. I had been expecting to see news of his death, and Marty's death was a surprise. And almost all of Elvis' Memphis Mafia guys are gone. Red and Sonny and Jerry Schilling are still living but that's about it. Everyone else is gone. I don't count George Klein as a Memphis Mafia member as he didn't really work for Elvis. George, last year, organized the Memphis Mafia reunion, dedicated to getting Elvis' buddies back together and burying their various hatchets. I don't know if Marty participated. He didn't especially like Klein.

So, the numbers dwindle and with their passing, so too will whatever stories there were left to be told. Marty never expressed an interest in writing another book, saying he had said all he intended to say. So much is now known about Elvis and yet, it's still very little, all things considered. Rest in peace, Marty.

www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/local/2017/02/13/marty-lacker-memphis-mafia-member-dies/97877000/

[erik]

Certainly the passing of Lacker is one more cutting of the umbilical cord between today's pop music fans and the artist regarded as arguably the single most influential individual artist in 20th century American popular music. I find it a touch ironic that Lacker was able to get around the Colonel's firewall and get Elvis not only to record with Chips Moman, but to record what is arguably the most epochal song of the King's entire career. But I would caution against anyone else in Elvis' camp, including George Klein, being regarded as any less important than Lacker in encouraging Elvis. Everybody around Elvis knew for most of the 1960s that both his movie and his music career were being sabotaged by the Colonel putting his one client into the most mediocre B-grade movies ever made, and being forced to record the most terrible songs imaginable, even as a lot of other songs, like "Viva Las Vegas", were among his best. I don't think it is besmirching Lacker's influence at all to say that, just that his wasn't the only important influence.

As to the controversy that still swirls around why and how Elvis died in August 1977, it can't be seriously denied that his abuse of prescription pills, which happened as early as 1956, and which Elvis' crew warned him was what did Hank Williams in, did contribute to his demise, especially if they interacted with other substances and what we know now was an abnormal heart. And given that the Colonel, with his infinite lack of wisdom but his seemingly infinite capacity for greed, had Elvis out on tour so much in the 1970s that he rarely got any down time or the time needed to go into the studio and do proper recording sessions, it just forced Elvis into an ever-spiraling cycle that was probably destined to end badly.

But again, as you said, Lacker's passing doesn't leave many of Elvis' circle who are still left to keep Elvis' memory alive. It may be a cliché to say, but maybe Lacker is now reuniting with Elvis up there in the sky tonight.

[sliderocker]

Certainly the passing of Lacker is one more cutting of the umbilical cord between today's pop music fans and the artist regarded as arguably the single most influential individual artist in 20th century American popular music. I find it a touch ironic that Lacker was able to get around the Colonel's firewall and get Elvis not only to record with Chips Moman, but to record what is arguably the most epochal song of the King's entire career. But I would caution against anyone else in Elvis' camp, including George Klein, being regarded as any less important than Lacker in encouraging Elvis.

Among Elvis' inner group, besides Marty, others who supplied songs to him were Red West and Lamar Fike. George Klein claims he found songs for Elvis to sing but Marty always said George over exaggerated his relationship to Elvis. Priscilla claimed she brought "American Trilogy" to Elvis after hearing it on the radio one day in L.A. Wherever she was going, she said she turned the car around and headed back to their California home so she could Elvis about that home. Marty said her story was BS because Elvis actually got the song from Mickey Newbury's producer, who just happened to be Elvis' producer Felton Jarvis. In her book on her life with Elvis, Priscilla wrote about trying to get Elvis to record some of her new favorite artists, including Blood, Sweat and Tears. Elvis told her to back off as he wasn't interested in what songs she thought he should record. He also told her he got enough of that from the people around him and it drove him crazy. Everyone seemed to think they were responsible for Elvis' success and that Elvis couldn't have done it without them and they wanted credit. I think Elvis needed them less than they needed him.

Everybody around Elvis knew for most of the 1960s that both his movie and his music career were being sabotaged by the Colonel putting his one client into the most mediocre B-grade movies ever made, and being forced to record the most terrible songs imaginable, even as a lot of other songs, like "Viva Las Vegas", were among his best. I don't think it is besmirching Lacker's influence at all to say that, just that his wasn't the only important influence.

I don't blame the songwriters as much as I used to blame them as they were in a situation where they were having to give up much of their songwriter royalties which came from the same two cents, of which 50% went to the publisher, in this case, Elvis' two music publishing companies. Why write a great song when the songwriting royalty was only a penny, and you had to give up two-third of that or as much as Parker could steal away from the songwriters? It becomes understandable that when Elvis' songwriters used a song that was in the public domain, they were really not giving away much of anything to Parker as it was only 20% of that penny. Elvis' friends knew what he thought of his movies, especially the bad ones but none of them ever told Elvis to stand up to Parker, although many of them all thought he should have after the fact. They were mostly yes men who said nothing to Elvis because it wasn't their job to tell Elvis what to do. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20 and all blamed Elvis for what he didn't do, although they should've encouraged Elvis to have stood up to Parker.

As to the controversy that still swirls around why and how Elvis died in August 1977, it can't be seriously denied that his abuse of prescription pills, which happened as early as 1956, and which Elvis' crew warned him was what did Hank Williams in, did contribute to his demise, especially if they interacted with other substances and what we know now was an abnormal heart. And given that the Colonel, with his infinite lack of wisdom but his seemingly infinite capacity for greed, had Elvis out on tour so much in the 1970s that he rarely got any down time or the time needed to go into the studio and do proper recording sessions, it just forced Elvis into an ever-spiraling cycle that was probably destined to end badly.

Based on what a second coroner said who reviewed Elvis' medical records and autopsy report in 1994, the drugs played no part in Elvis' death. He essentially said the same thing the toxicologists said in 1977: that even if the drugs had not been present in Elvis's system, he still would've died. He said Elvis died from a massive heart attack brought on by gaining too much weight in too short of a time. Another doctor who saw the same reports testifying for Dr. Nick also said Elvis was a victim of a violent heart attack, although these days he now believes codeine may have played a role, as well as multiple head injuries Elvis suffered in the 50s and 60s. Given Elvis' health problems included an enlarged heart and blocked colon (both three times the normal size - and his colon had been blocked for about three months!) and extremely high blood pressure, Elvis was a walking time bomb. Add in the grinding tours Parker put Elvis on, the financial duress he put on Elvis by requiring Elvis to pay all expenses associated with touring and Parker taking his cut before those expenses, it's conceivable the stress set the wheels in motion for his death months or years before it finally happened.

But again, as you said, Lacker's passing doesn't leave many of Elvis' circle who are still left to keep Elvis' memory alive. It may be a cliché to say, but maybe Lacker is now reuniting with Elvis up there in the sky tonight.

And for sis daughter Lisa and his grandkids, those are the people who had and have another side of Elvis that she doesn't know much about, beyond what Priscilla told her or Jerry Schilling or Joe Esposito (before his death) told her. There's still a few members of his backing band and backing vocalists around, although their numbers are dwindling too, as are the people who worked with Elvis in the movies. Once everyone who knew Elvis is gone, that will leave Elvis to biographers who will make him more myth than actual person. Some already have bullsh*t e-books on Amazon, offering opinions rather than facts. And again, once everyone is gone, there'll be no one to say "Wait a minute! That isn't so." Except maybe George Klein and even he might say it did happen.

[erik]

Another element that I think Lacker, and all the other guys in Elvis' circle who wrote about their impressions, had discussed was just how their man must have felt in 1964 when, in the midst of the kinds of movies he was being forced to make for his million-dollar salaries, the Beatles came along and basically garnered the kinds of sales he had generated just three to ten years before as a group. There was always this kind of tug-of-war of emotions that Elvis was said to have had: on the one hand, he had to have been impressed with these mop-top Brits having such success (and knowing that, if it weren't for him, there would have been no Beatles, as John Lennon later put it); and on the other hand, the element of jealousy had to be setting in, because the Beatles did surpass him in popularity for a time in the 1960s, while he just went along with what the Colonel wanted.

We do know that, after he had resurrected his popularity in 1969, Elvis did try to familiarize himself with what was going on during this period, sometimes with his circle of friends, and more frequently on his own. Names like Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin did get dropped in many books about Elvis. But beyond that, one can only speculate.

Of course, the one thing that we can speculate the most about is to what extent, if any, Elvis was aware of Linda during the 1970s. After all, in many ways, Linda, in her approach to rock and roll, was formed by what she had heard in Elvis via his Sun Records and pre-Army RCA material, mixing country, R&B, gospel, blues, and jazz; and by the sheer power of her voice, she was his female equal. I suppose his daughter Lisa Marie, and possibly Priscilla as well, would know more (Lisa Marie did name-drop Linda as an influence on her style), but it certainly bears some more discussion, if for no other fanbase, then at least for this one.

[sliderocker]

Another element that I think Lacker, and all the other guys in Elvis' circle who wrote about their impressions, had discussed was just how their man must have felt in 1964 when, in the midst of the kinds of movies he was being forced to make for his million-dollar salaries, the Beatles came along and basically garnered the kinds of sales he had generated just three to ten years before as a group. There was always this kind of tug-of-war of emotions that Elvis was said to have had: on the one hand, he had to have been impressed with these mop-top Brits having such success (and knowing that, if it weren't for him, there would have been no Beatles, as John Lennon later put it); and on the other hand, the element of jealousy had to be setting in, because the Beatles did surpass him in popularity for a time in the 1960s, while he just went along with what the Colonel wanted.

Marty, and all the guys really, tended to discount the idea that Elvis was jealous, or at least say it was an overblown story. They said Elvis' real take was there was room for everybody and no room for jealousy. I don't remember which one it was that said it, but when Elvis was making one of his movies and working on one of the dreadful soundtrack songs, they took a break to listen to the Beatles' latest offering at the time. His reaction was that what the Beatles were doing was what he wanted to do musically, and not the weak songs he was getting from Hill and Range. Which again, was because Col. Greed had 100% of the publishing and wanted half of the songwriters' royalties. Elvis' songwriters knew how to write good rock songs but again, it was a case of why knock yourself out when you were going to lose half of the money. Wasn't a fair or square deal.

And another false tale of the Elvis-is-jealous-of-the-Beatles was that he blamed the Beatles and the Smothers Brothers and Jane Fonda's trip to Viet Nam for demoralizing the young people when being interviewed by an FBI agent. Well, no, he didn't. He never named anyone, not to the FBI agent and not to Nixon. The FBI agent added the names, thinking he knew who Presley was talking about. And to give you an idea of how this episode quickly became an urban myth, he couldn't have said anything about Jane Fonda's trip to Viet Nam in 1970 when she didn't make the trip until 1972. And Jack Anderson falsely claimed Elvis was jealous of the Beatles and their success, trying to get them deported. Only John Lennon had come to the US to stay, the Beatles had broken up and Elvis' career was on the upswing again. But, the myth has persisted, thanks to such reliable witnesses as Egil "Bud" Kreough, who also claimed to have heard Elvis mention wanting to get the Beatles out of the US when talking to Nixon. But, he heard no such thing.

We do know that, after he had resurrected his popularity in 1969, Elvis did try to familiarize himself with what was going on during this period, sometimes with his circle of friends, and more frequently on his own. Names like Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin did get dropped in many books about Elvis. But beyond that, one can only speculate.

Elvis had a very large record collection, over 3000 45s and who knows how many albums? But, he favored solo performers over groups although there were rock bands in his collection. He also rehearsed quite a few songs for his concerts, including songs that didn't make it, like "My Sweet Lord" or "Holly Holy." And there's still the matter of lost studio songs, of which I believe, Marty said, that he believed that Elvis attempted "Holly Holy" and "Hooked on a Feeling" in the recording studio. But, no one knows what happened to the songs. Just like he was a better guitarist than snobs gave him credit for being, he also knew a whole lot more about the pop rock scene of the 60s and 70s. Too many tried to paint him as the Howard Hughes of rock but he was never out of touch. His version of "Never Been to Spain" was proof of that. If he was so out of touch, he wouldn't have known of the Three Dog Night hit and liked it enough to add to his set list.

Of course, the one thing that we can speculate the most about is to what extent, if any, Elvis was aware of Linda during the 1970s. After all, in many ways, Linda, in her approach to rock and roll, was formed by what she had heard in Elvis via his Sun Records and pre-Army RCA material, mixing country, R&B, gospel, blues, and jazz; and by the sheer power of her voice, she was his female equal. I suppose his daughter Lisa Marie, and possibly Priscilla as well, would know more (Lisa Marie did name-drop Linda as an influence on her style), but it certainly bears some more discussion, if for no other fanbase, then at least for this one.

I'm almost sure I asked Marty about Elvis being a fan of Linda's but he couldn't recall if he was. As I've always said, she came from the same background almost, musically speaking, as Elvis and she was the only female artist who should be rightfully regarded as the female Elvis. I would almost bet Elvis knew of her. He knew about Suzi Quatro back in the day before her career took off and sent her a note when she recorded his hit "All Shook Up," calling it the best version he ever heard. Elvis downplayed many of his songs and praised others, much in the way Linda has done with her recordings, and I've had to wonder was she following Elvis' lead?

Course, I'd like if someone could get her to talk about Elvis and forget talking about Sinatra. I don't think Sinatra was quite the influence she later made him out to be as I recall an interview where she said she didn't listen to Sinatra until one night in the 70s when she and J.D. Souther were at his house and he played her some Sinatra albums he had. And, as for Elvis and whether he had heard her, I'd believe Lisa more than Priscilla. I believe she was gone from Graceland from '71 on, but given that Elvis didn't want her pitching artists and songs at him, and who strikes me as being the equivalent of Audrey Williams (who claimed to be Hank's widow although he was married to someone else at the time) or Yoko Ono, if she said he listened to Linda's recordings, I'd have to believe he didn't. But, I also recall that it was said that Elvis did buy most of the records by the artists that Lisa listened to, so there's a chance he may have known of Linda.