Me and a Guy Named Elvis

By Jerry Schilling; Chuck Crisafulli
(Gotham, Paperback, 9781592403059, 384pp.)

Publication Date: August 2007

Other Editions of This Title: Hardcover (August 2006)

Categories: Composers & Musicians - Rock, Entertainment & Performing Arts - General, Personal Memoirs

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Description

Commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of Elvis's death, an intimate memoir of a friendship with the greatest artist in rock and roll history, taking you from late-night parties at Graceland to the bright lights of Hollywood sets and glittering stages of Vegas.

On a lazy Sunday in 1954, twelve-year-old Jerry Schilling wandered into a Memphis touch football game, only to discover that his team was quarterbacked by a nineteen-year-old Elvis Presley, the local teenager whose first record, "That's All Right," had just received its first play on Memphis radio. The two became fast friends, even as Elvis turned into the world's biggest star. In 1964, Elvis invited Jerry to work for him as part of his "Memphis Mafia," and Jerry soon found himself living with Elvis full-time in a Bel Air mansion and, later, in his own room at Graceland. Over the next thirteen years Jerry would work for Elvis in various capacities--from bodyguard to photo double to co-executive producer on a karate film.

Me and a Guy Named Elvis looks at Presley from a friend's perspective, offering readers the man rather than the icon. Spanning Elvis's meteoric rise to those later troubled years, Jerry's story offers never-before-told stories about life inside Elvis's inner circle, and an insightful, emotional recounting of the great times, hard times, and unique times he and Elvis shared. Schilling's vivid memories will be priceless to Elvis's millions of fans, and his compelling life story will be fascinating to an even wider audience.




About the Author

Jerry Schilling has spent forty years in the entertainment industry as an actor, film editor, producer, and manager for such acts as the Beach Boys, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Billy Joel. His credits as a film and television producer include the Disney's Elvis: The Great Performances; the ten-hour series History of Rock 'n' Roll; A&E biographies of Brian Wilson and Sam Phillips; and the CBS special Elvis by the Presleys.
Chuck Crisafulli is a veteran entertainment journalist and the author of several books, most recently Go to Hell: A Heated History of the Underworld.




Praise For Me and a Guy Named Elvis

Schilling has the goods--where else can you read about the King giving karate lessons to Liza Minnelli in a hotel room while Chubby Checker and porn star Linda Lovelace looked on? (Entertainment Weekly)

More than anything, this moving and elegantly told memoir resonates with the spirit of true friendship. (The Washington Post)

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