DJ Fontana and Bill Black inducted into the "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame": "We had to click in the studio and we had to get along on the road," says DJ Fontana of being in Elvis's band. Elvis was of course one of the first Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees in 1986. Now it was finally Elvis' rhythm section's turn. "I appreciate that they're doing it," said drummer DJ Fontana (right). "I never played rock 'n' roll until I joined Elvis, and look at me now, here I am," said inductee and drummer D.J. Fontana. "This is great. It worked out good!"
"Elvis himself actually was a good rhythm guitar player. He played on a lot of songs with us, too -- the whole band. He'd sing and play. And he was good at it. He could do anything he decided he wanted to do."
"It's kind of a blur after this many years," said Fontana, 78. "When we worked,
we were doing six and seven days a week. We'd be in this town tonight and Chicago the next night. It was 400 and 500 miles overnight. So that's about all we had time to do -- get to where we're going, sleep a couple hours and go back and work again.
"It's hard to find three or four guys who work together and everything gels just right. . . . There'd be arguments, of course, but in five minutes, it's over. We had to click in the studio and we had to get along on the road."
Bill Black sadly died of a brain tumor back in 1965; he was only 39.
(News, Source;Cleveland.com/EIN)