Announcement: Music Historian Peter Guralnick to Discuss
Colonel Tom Parker
Event NewsBMNN wrote: on Apr. 01, 2009:
Country Music Hall of Fame and MuseumNashville, TN -- This year marks the late
Colonel Tom Parker's hundredth birth anniversary. To honor the revolutionary music business figure, who served as Elvis Presley's longtime manager, esteemed author and music historian Peter Guralnick will present a special lecture at the Country Music Hall of Fame(r) and Museum on Saturday, April 18, at 1:30 p.m. The program, which will take place in the Museum's Ford Theater, is included with Museum admission and free to Museum members. Immediately following the program, Guralnick will sign copies of his books in the Museum Store (visit the Museum's Web site for signing details).
During the hour-long program, Guralnick will explore ways in which Parker was both a visionary genius and a master of what he called the art of “exploitation.” The program will be highlighted by rare early photographs and documents and will include a question and answer session with the acclaimed author. Guralnick will also play an audio sample of the only song Parker ever asked Presley to record.
The late
Colonel Tom Parker managed Elvis Presley from 1955 until the singer's death in 1977. Prior to managing Presley, Parker helped transform Eddy Arnold into a country superstar with his own radio shows, movie roles, Las Vegas bookings, and an unparalleled resume of #1 records. In steering the careers of both men, Parker revolutionized the artist management role, displaying an unprecedented marketing savvy while exercising near-total control. His energetic, all-encompassing management style created a blueprint that is still followed today.
Parker, a purposeful, perceptive, and mysterious character, was born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk in Breda, Holland, and entered the United States illegally in 1929. After serving in the Army for three years in Hawaii, he moved to Florida, where he joined the Johnny J. Jones and Royal American carnivals, passing himself off as a native West Virginian under the name of his former commanding officer, Thomas Parker.
After several years of carnival life, Parker settled down and became director of the Tampa Humane Society (he was, among other things, Tampa's chief dog officer) where he developed a remunerative range of pet service pitches that translated seamlessly into showbiz promotion.
He started off with Gene Austin, Roy Acuff, and Ernest Tubb, focusing at first on Florida tours exclusively but gradually expanding his show-business activities until in 1944 he met Eddy Arnold on a Jamup & Honey tent show. He managed Arnold as his exclusive client from 1945 until 1953, developing a range of unique promotions that helped make the singer one of the most prolific hit-making artists of all time.
By early 1955, Parker had set his sights on the emerging Elvis Presley, whom he placed as an opening act on his new client Hank Snow's tours. By August, Parker had acquired a controlling interest in Presley's management contract, and two months later set up a deal for RCA to purchase Presley's contract from
Sun Records for the unheard-of sum of $40,000.
Under Parker's exclusive guidance, Presley went on to become one of the most influential cultural figures of the twentieth century, a tribute to a talent, and a gift for communication, that continues to defy definition. But Elvis's transformation from 20-year-old regional star to international icon did not come without certain feats of managerial dexterity and prestidigitation, from the unprecedented manner in which Parker exploited television (running directly counter to the prevailing wisdom of the day) to his tenacious commitment to creating a #1 box-office star out of his artist (viewed at first by the Hollywood panjandrums of the day as little more than a flash-in-the-pan) to the global-satellite vision of Aloha! From Hawaii -- with each strategic move predicated directly on Parker's unwavering belief in his sole client.
Peter Guralnick has written extensively on American music. His books include the prize-winning two-volume biography of Presley, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love, as well as Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke. His other works include the acclaimed trilogy on American roots music, Sweet Soul Music, Lost Highway, and Feel Like Going Home; the biographical inquiry Searching for Robert Johnson; and the novel Nighthawk Blues. The Massachusetts-based author has been a Writer in Residence at Vanderbilt University since 2005.
These programs are made possible, in part, by grants from the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission and by an agreement between the Tennessee Arts Commission and National Endowment for the Arts.
03.04.2009, 22:06
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