Story von the Voice
NASHVILLE, Tenn.(AP) - There's one dream the king of rock 'n' roll never
realized.
"His dream from childhood until I last saw him 11 months before he died was
to be a gospel singer," said Donnie Sumner, who toured with Elvis Presley
during the 1970s. "He never felt like he got to fulfill his mission in life
because he got caught up in secular music - otherwise known as rock 'n'
roll."
He Touched Me: The Gospel Music of Elvis Presley on RCA Records features the
best of Presley's gospel recordings on a new double CD, and a two-video
collection with the same title is being sold by mail order. The Nashville
Network will air an edited version of the video on Jan. 8, the anniversary
of Presley's 65th birthday. The documentary spans Presley's career, which
began in 1954 when he recorded for the
Sun label in Memphis and ended with
his death at his
Graceland mansion in 1977.
Presley was raised a Pentecostal in the Assemblies of God. As a youth, he
was a regular at Ellis Auditorium in Memphis during rousing, intense and
harmony-filled gospel music performances.
He admired Sumner's uncle, J.D. Sumner, who sang bass for the Blackwood
Brothers and J.D. Sumner and the Stamps. The latter group toured with
Presley for five years. J.D. Sumner died in 1998.
"Some of his stage movements were copied from Big Chief Wetherington (of the
Statesman)," Sumner said. "He liked Jake Hess and James Blackwood, and his
favorite black gospel quartet was the Golden Gate Quartet out of San
Francisco. He used to carry a briefcase of their records wherever he went,
and that's what he would listen to."
Although Presley rocked the world, he never let go of his gospel roots.
Starting with The
Jordanaires, he usually worked with a gospel quartet and
incorporated gospel music into his shows.
In an essay "Presley and the Gospel Tradition," published in The Elvis
Reader (1992), music historian Charles Wolfe wrote that in the 1950s,
Presley considered leaving rock 'n' roll to join a gospel quartet: "The fact
that Presley, while starting to change the face of American popular music
with his new rock music, would even seriously consider an invitation to join
a major gospel group suggests how much gospel music counted in his musical
values at the time."
The documentary shows how gospel music remained a constant in Presley's
life. Especially compelling is footage of the late-night gospel sing-alongs
that followed his live performances.
Tony Brown, who now runs MCA Records in Nashville, was a member of Donnie
Sumner's group Voice and was present at many of those informal
get-togethers. He said Presley had a different demeanor when he sang gospel.
"It shown in his face," Brown says in the documentary. "You could tell it
was a deeper love for that music than secular mainstream songs that made him
a star."
Presley liked to shout out songs for Sumner and Voice to sing and would join
in on the bass part.
"He always wanted to be a bass singer," Sumner said. "His favorite song was
In the Sweet By and By. One night we sang that one - all four verses - back
to back 18 times."
As he got older, Presley became less interested in singing Blue Suede Shoes
and his other rock 'n' roll hits, calling them "bubble gum rock," Sumner
said.
"He never felt comfortable with that kind of music. He felt like he had to
rehearse it, to practice it to get his moves down right. (That's) because it
didn't come from his heart," Sumner said.
"But he could stand flat-footed anywhere, anytime and sing a gospel song and
soul would come out of his lips, it would roll off his chest and fall onto
the floor.
"I mean, he had soul in gospel music. That was where he felt comfortable. He
relaxed and got inside the song."
Sumner quit the Presley show about a year before the singer died. He asked
Presley to release him from his contract, saying he wanted to go into
treatment for drug abuse and turn his life around.
"He said, 'I'm proud of you. Go do what you've got to do. I wish I could do
that. I'd like to go somewhere and start all over. But I guess I got to keep
being Elvis."'
18.09.2006, 08:30
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