I was 22 when I wrote this article back in 1997 for The Elvis Beat #16, which turned out to be the final issue of my official Elvis Presley Fan Club newsletter.
“Colonel” Tom Parker, Elvis’ manager for over 20 years, died on January 21. He was 87 and lived in Las Vegas with his wife, Loanne.
Although not yet his manager, Parker began guiding Elvis’ career in mid-1955 while the singer was still on Memphis’ Sun Records label and slowly rising in popularity. He helped secure a contract for Elvis with RCA Records later that year.
Parker officially became Elvis’ manager in early 1956 for a 25 percent fee. Elvis would remain Parker’s sole client until Elvis’ death in 1977.
Parker’s innovative management style helped to transform Elvis from a relative unknown at the beginning of 1956 to an international celebrity with six number one hits, several million-sellers, and a starring role in a successful movie by the end of that same year.
Parker was often blamed for allowing Elvis’ movies to deteriorate into Grade C formula films in the 1960s. Parker once admitted that he didn’t even bother to read the scripts. “Anybody who’ll pay my boy a million dollars can make any kind of picture he wants,” Parker said. Despite the low quality of many of them, nearly all 33 of Elvis’ movies were box office successes.
In 1967, Parker renegotiated his contract with Elvis, increasing his own share to 50 percent with the argument that Elvis was his only client. [. . . .]
Parker negotiated lucrative deals for Elvis to appear in Las Vegas for extended engagements beginning in 1969. In the 1970s, Parker staged multi-city concert tours across the US for Elvis, who played 150 shows a year.
Parker orchestrated the 1973 Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii television special, which used satellite technology and drew millions of viewers.
Parker was born Andreas Cornelius van Kuijk in Holland on June 26, 1909. He immigrated to the US illegally in 1929, claiming West Virginia as his birthplace. He served in the US Army with the 64th Coast Artillery from 1929 to 1932. He married his first wife, Marie Ross, in 1932. A state governor made him an honorary Colonel in 1953.
In the 1950s, Parker became the promoter of singer Gene Austin and manager of country singers Eddy Arnold, from 1942 to 1951, and Hank Snow, from 1954 to 1956, before becoming Elvis’ manager.
In recent years, he was associated with country singer George Strait, negotiating for him to star in the movie Pure Country.
Joe Esposito, one of Elvis’ friends, said, “The bottom line is that Elvis would never have been so popular as he was without the Colonel’s brilliant management. Nor would the Colonel have had so much success with anyone else.”
The Mystery Train 