At Graceland in April 1976. Another recording session was scheduled at Graceland for the first week of February 1977." Sam Phillips only had the 'That’s All Right' one-sided acetate to play. The stunning audience reaction to it caused the quandary of what to record for the B-side. Elvis’ life was certainly not quiet until New Year’s Eve as he had a series of five shows from December 27 – 31. These were an amazing return to form with Elvis having lost several kilos in weight. It is only my annoyance that a quality writer of his ilk has been so lazy when it comes to this definitive upgrade of his own work.

For me Elvis’ music is paramount in importance when I want to understand or read about Elvis’ legacy. One of the most poignant and painful scenes in the book is when an increasingly paranoid Elvis threatens David with a gun -- because David is gathering up the huge pile of medications from Elvis' bedside table and is going to dispose of them. David describes Elvis as looking like a parody of the handsome man he'd once been, horribly overweight and losing his grasp on reality. Twenty-four hours later, Elvis tells him that he loves him and the next time they see each other it will be on a higher plane. Twelve hours later, Elvis Presley was dead. On a more positive note I found that Elvis’ final disheartening years are covered without too much sensationalism and Hopkins captures the right mood of sadness and hopelessness as no one can help Elvis halt his roller-coaster decline. So with the two weeks of holiday on a Polynesian beach I was looking forward for a chance at last to revisit Hopkins’ biography that I had read so long ago.

Open Library

Overall Verdict: ‘Elvis The Biography’ still stands as one of the best historical Elvis books that has ever been published. However while I did still enjoy Hopkins easy-going writing style this time around, the on-going all-too-easy-to-spot errors really did spoil my enjoyment of this classic biography. As a respected Elvis author Hopkins has indeed weakened his standards.

Jerry Schilling drove Elvis and Priscilla to the hospital. Elvis made a point that Jerry had to be there for the drive to the hospital. Hopkins also quotes from Schilling's own biography at times in his book, so there is no excuse. (plus Charlie was known to drink a bit! Would you let him drive?!) From reading the extract it's unbelievable just how far he'd begun to fall, even in 1974. The recent reissue of the Memphis Concert, coupled with a Richmond, Virginia gig, highlight just how good Elvis was in March 1974. In May 1974 he gave a great performance at the LA Forum, as Led Zeppelin were in attendance. To begin with I kept ignoring the mistakes so that I could keep on enjoying the book but even without any other reference books - and away from any Internet connection - these major factual errors kept leaping to my attention. In fact they started to make me quite angry, leading me to believe that Jerry Hopkins has become a very lazy author like all too many Elvis writers.Surrounded by those who loved him and revered around the globe, Elvis battled the demons of fame, depression and loss, and those demons eventually proved too strong a foe. Despite the efforts of his family and friends, Elvis Presley eventually succumbed to his addiction on August 16, 1977, leaving a trail of devastation and loss felt worldwide to this day. This actually was the all-important session that produced three singles including ‘It’s Now Or Never’ and ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight’ plus ‘I Gotta Know’ in those twelve songs recorded. These were NOT on the album, songs from the first session completed the album. First published in 1971 Hopkins’ original book "Elvis" was the very first serious biography on Elvis – and in fact one of the first serious biographies about anyone in "Pop Music". Replacing Linda was actress Ginger Alden (above), a woman 20 years Elvis' junior. In December 1976, after a brief courtship, the singer gave her an engagement ring made from the diamond in his own TCB ring — an action that many thought was more for show than actual sentiment. In turn, many in Elvis' entourage believed Ginger to be nothing more than a gold-digger. Lamar Fike, a member of Elvis' "Memphis Mafia" entourage, famously said Ginger "didn't give a rat's ass about him." HOWEVER despite the enjoyable read, major factual errors started to jump to my attention this time around – even commencing with when Elvis was born!

Please do not think that I am comparing this book in anyway to those crappy "tabloid" Elvis biographies that are always full of mistakes and total fabrications. This is a serious and often compelling book - still one of the best pop-music biographies ever written. Not true. It was only the third Ed Sullivan Show in January 1957 that was filmed from "The waist up". Elvis was shown doing some fine pelvic action on the earlier Sullivan shows. While this is purely a subjective opinion I think 99% of fans would agree that Double Trouble was far worse than Spinout - and was probably Elvis’ worst movie of all time (along with Harum Scarum). Of course if you have lost your original copies, then you can still enjoy this updated book BUT fans should be aware of some very avoidable factual inaccuracies that it still perpetuates. When I first read it as a teenager I was incredibly impressed with all the details and revelations about Elvis’ life until then. The first book of course perfectly ended with Elvis’ 1970 return as the conquering hero and once again top of his game. It was also the only serious biography published during Elvis’ lifetime.Thus, the last song in Elvis’ final show was Can’t Help Falling In Love, in what one can assume was a tear-jerking moment, and a fitting number to preempt Elvis leaving the building for the final time. The Stax Recordings from 1973 also highlight an artist that still took his musical choices seriously; there was nothing horrendous a la Last Farewell at these sessions. Aloha From Hawaii, however, leaves me cold, as it was a great concert but poorly recorded, as is still highlighted on the 2cd Legacy Edition. Presley’s cause of death was attributed to a cardiac arrest, with drugs believed to have played a major role in the physical stress that his body had endured at the time of his passing. Two years on, Elvis had lost weight but was still unable to command the stage presence he was known for earlier on in his career. Similarly Elvis’ relationships with friends and family are also of interest since it was often Elvis’ private feelings and moods that would influence his recordings and performances.

The March 1974 tour was an anomaly for that year. Even the May 1974 show at the LA Forum you refer to is mediocre at best. 1974 was year when Elvis' health, drug abuse, and quality of his live work took a sharp plunge. Some of his live work from September and October 1974 is among the worst of his career, in line with 1976 and 1977. In 1980, David overcame his own battle with substance abuse and soon after began his speaking career. He effectively used his celebrity status and own personal experiences to communicate the dangers of drug abuse in hundreds of schools, collages and institutions throughout North America and Europe.The book covers the final years of Elvis's life. Every struggle he had, and every success of the last stage of his career and life are depicted in this book. From his numerous tours across the country to his quite sad home life. His former colleagues give personal accounts of events that happened and how they affected Elvis. Overall the book really takes you on a journey into the life of a star that no fan could see. We learn of his battles with addiction, his wife leaving him, his relationship with his dad. All of these interesting events are wrapped into one stunning novel. David E. Stanley was born in Newport News, Virginia in 1955. Three years later, his parents divorced, setting the stage for an extraordinary event. In 1960, Dee Stanley married Vernon Presley, Elvis Presley’s widowed father. David was just four years old, 20 years younger than his new stepbrother, when he moved into the Graceland Mansion in Memphis, TN. In 2007 both Hopkins’ biographies were combined to create his new, revised version, "Elvis The Biography". At the age of 16, David began working and touring with Elvis as a personal aide and bodyguard. From 1972 to 1977, he did hundreds of shows with his world-famous stepbrother and was part of some of the most historical concert events of the 20th century.