My boss Col Tom Parker was tough... but he DID care about Elvis Presley
didn’t have a US passport, but he could have got one any time he wanted.
“He had the personal phone number of every president.
“He wasn’t planning to go on tour to England with Elvis – his health wouldn’t have done well with the long haul.
“But it was Elvis who pulled the plug on the UK tour, not the Colonel.”
Stone also denies Col Parker worked Elvis into the ground and turned a blind eye to his pharmaceutical drug abuse.
“Sure, Elvis got a little overweight as he got older, but I didn’t know he was taking any drugs, and the Colonel didn’t work Elvis to death. Elvis was always the one who’d say, ‘Let’s tour!’
“He loved being on stage. Maybe he was pushing himself too hard.”
Presley died in the bathroom at his Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, on August 16, 1977, from cardiac arrhythmia brought on by prescription drugs including codeine, Valium, morphine and Demerol.
“The Colonel and I were in Portland, Maine, preparing for Elvis’ next show when we got the call that he’d died. We all cried. The Colonel was shaken. It came out of the blue.”
Before joining Presley, Stone produced tours for acts including Frank Sinatra, The Who and the Rolling Stones.
But he says: “Elvis was the best. He had Southern charm, always calling people ‘Sir’ or ‘Ma’am’. And he had few demands. All he wanted in his dressing room was six Cokes and six cups of ice.
“There was only him, the band and security backstage, which made my job easy. When I managed Led Zeppelin on tour there would be groupies and hangers-on everywhere.
“Elvis always arrived 15 minutes before showtime in full costume and make-up.
“After every concert, covered in sweat, he’d ask: ‘Did you enjoy the show?’ Elvis gave it his all on stage. He was a great person and always treated me well.”
Director Baz Luhrmann’s new movie may make Colonel Parker look like Presley’s evil puppet-master, but Stone insists: “Elvis would never let someone take control of his life. Nobody pulled his strings. Even the Colonel couldn’t control Elvis that way.”
And despite his reservations, Stone says: “I’m excited for the movie. It’s not a documentary, so it doesn’t have to be accurate to be entertaining.
“The Colonel used to say, ‘There’s no such thing as bad press’. If it makes the Colonel out to be the villain, well, it’s only a movie. The Colonel would have understood: That’s showbusiness.”
‘Elvis gave it his all on stage – he was a great person...’