pat boone ist einer der gaeste der diesjaehrigen 'elvis week'.

im vorfeld der veranstaltung gab er dem 'commercial appeal' ein telefoninterview, in dem er sich an sein erstes zusammentreffen mit elvis im jahr 1955 erinnert und an seine zeit als elvis' nachbar in kalifornien.

erst das original wie immer:


Pat & Elvis

Over a couple of decades, these music and film idols became neighbors and friends

By Michael Lollar / August 6, 2006

When Elvis Presley and Pat Boone met in 1955, it was an awkward backstage encounter at a sock hop in Cleveland, Ohio. Boone's cover of Fats Domino's "Ain't That A Shame" was a No. 1 hit record.

Elvis had recorded "That's All Right" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky" for Sun Records in Memphis, but they were local hits with very little airplay outside the Mid-South. He was turning heads as an act on the Louisiana Hayride, but Elvis wasn't yet a star.

In Cleveland, he was an opening act for Boone, an encounter Boone will talk about Saturday as an Elvis tribute week panel member. Boone, who would become a friend and eventually a neighbor to Elvis, will share his memories as part of the Elvis Insiders Conference at 10 a.m. Saturday at Memphis Marriott East.

The conference is part of Elvis Week 2006, Elvis Presley Enterprises' annual observation of the singer's death on Aug. 16, 1977. Elvis' Graceland mansion on Elvis Presley Boulevard is the hub for a series of tribute activities Aug. 8 to 16. (See calendar this page.)

"I had heard 'That's All Right' and 'Blue Moon of Kentucky,' and I said, 'He's a hillbilly. Do you think he's going to do all right?' " Boone said in a recent telephone interview from California. Like much of America, the singer wasn't sure what to make of Elvis' rockabilly '50s onslaught.

That night, he thought Elvis seemed "very ill at ease. I was backstage in my button-down shirt, thin tie and white bucks. He comes backstage. His hair was long. He was wearing white shoes, too, but they were scuffed up."

When he introduced himself to Elvis, Boone says Elvis looked down, seemed to mumble and wasn't communicative.

"Then he went out and lip-synched those two songs. He was sort of hyper and twitchy, and he created some real buzz. I had to follow him."

Boone and Presley came to know each other through the years, first as singing sensations, then as movie idols. They would live within a block of each other in Bel Air, Calif. Boone would later gently remind Elvis of their first awkward meeting. "I once told him, 'When we first met, you looked nervous.' He said, 'I didn't know how to talk to you. You were a star.' "

For Boone, stardom had come on "Ted Mack's Amateur Hour," which created stars out of unknown talent in a '50s version of "American Idol." Like most Idol winners, many of those stars soon disappeared. A few became part of Americana: comedian Joey Bishop, ventrilioquist Paul Winchell, actor Robert Blake and singers Connie Francis, Beverly Sills, Jose Feliciano, Theresa Brewer, Gladys Knight and Pat Boone. Boone won on Ted Mack and "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts," and was signed to a recording contract in 1954.

By the late '50s, he was one of the most popular singers in America, but soon to be displaced by Elvis, the man he is coming to honor this week as part of a lineup of Elvis intimates that includes former girlfriend Linda Thompson; SOFA Entertainment head Andrew Solt, owner of the "Ed Sullivan Show" catalog; guitarist James Burton; and former Elvis movie co-stars Victoria Paige Meyerink ("Speedway") and Chris Noel ("Girl Happy").

Boone, 72, was born in Jacksonville, Fla., and moved to Nashville with his parents. His father was a building contractor and his mother a registered nurse. His memoir, "Pat Boone's America, 50 Years," will be released in November. Unlike Elvis, he didn't grow up trying to figure out how to break into show business. "When I was in high school and trying to decide what I was going to do in my life, I thought I was going to be a school teacher-preacher," he said. "I thought all this entertainment stuff was temporary on my way through college (he would graduate from Columbia University in New York) until I graduated magna cum laude with eight or ten hit records and a TV show."

After graduation he married Shirley Foley, daughter of country star Red Foley. They celebrated their golden anniversary in 2004.

Boone, the well-groomed, fresh-faced essence of American values at the outset of his career, was from a religious family with strong Republican ties. His versions of R&B recordings became the palatable replay to a record-buying public of mostly white Americans who tended to think of R&B as devil music and rock and roll as a sign of the apocalypse.

Boone says that in age and career, he had a head start. "I had a six-month head start on Elvis in life and about six months in career. I was the first white solo artist to do R&B and have a rock 'n' roll hit. People think Elvis was. I had five chart rock and roll hits before Elvis' 'Heartbreak Hotel.' " He had recorded Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally"; the Five Keys' "Gee Whittakers!"; Ivory Joe Hunter's "I Almost Lost My Mind"; and Joe Turner's "Chains of Love."

Boone's fame in the music business set him up to move to TV with "The Pat Boone/Chevy Showroom" from 1957-60, and the 15 films that include "State Fair," "Bernadine," "April Love" and "Journey to the Center of the Earth."
His last big hits were the No. 1 "Moody River" in 1961 and a No. 6 novelty record, "Speedy Gonzalez," in 1962.

With four daughters, the Boone family toured in the '60s and '70s as gospel singers, and Boone later turned out several country hits, including "Indiana Girl" and "Texas Woman," in the '70s. One of his daughters, Debby Boone, won a Grammy for "You Light Up My Life," the best-selling single of 1977.
Living as a neighbor to Elvis in California meant occasional unannounced visits from the King of Rock and Roll.

"He loved being at our house, and when he came over, the girls would get out of the pool and jump all over him, getting him sopping wet," Boone says.

"We both had contracts with 20th Century Fox at the same time. Elvis' dressing room was next to mine, and on the other side was Cary Grant."
When Elvis invited the Boone family to his house, it often meant meatloaf, chicken-fried steak, okra, peas, mashed potatoes, "things like that," says Boone.

Elvis, he says, made it clear he was unhappy with his movie roles, and wanted to be taken seriously as an actor. "I think one day he anticipated going into some more nonmusical dramatic roles. There was a yearning for recognition as a genuine artist, not just a pop sensation. If he'd lived, he would have done some dramatic roles and surprised quite a few people, like Bing Crosby (did) maybe."

Boone, always staunchly religious, held Bible study classes in his house, and Elvis and sometimes Priscilla Presley were guests.

"Once he asked me if I knew Oral Roberts, that he'd like to meet him sometime. I called Oral, and they met in Lake Tahoe. Oral told me later he had a wonderful chat with him, that he was looking for some anchor in his life, some direction. He was giving thought to turning his shows into some sort of evangelical outreach, sort of like Bob Dylan did."

Boone last saw Elvis about a month before his death, at an airport in Pittsburgh. They were going in opposite directions, and Boone said Elvis told him, "You're always going the wrong way."

"I told him, 'It depends on where you're coming from.' "

quelle: commercial appeal
http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/...893903,00.html

pat boone nahm auch ein 'elvis tribute album' auf