Slightly OT - Did Elvis Presley model himself off Jackie Wilson?

[scanspeak]

Whenever I see Elvis perform he reminds me so much of Jackie.
What do you guys think?

[randy_russi]

I doubt it! Elvis hit mid-50s; I don't remember Jackie Wilson until the late 50s. Both, however, were FANTASTIC
performers!!!!!

[Strange]

Elvis loved Jackie; was photoed with him and yes he did imitate his mannerisms a few times, especially in the movie 'Girls! Girls! Girls! [[1962) when doing 'Return To Sender'.

I believe, but not certain, that he paid for him to have operations and also maybe even his funeral costs.

Love them both too.

[motony]

yea, I always heard Elvis was a big Jackie Wilson fan, from the days of Billy Ward & the Dominoes.

[Strange]

Yeah, that was it Motony the Dominoes in the 50s, possibly in Vegas May 56 when Elvis was first there and bombed because they didn't dig his rock stuff back then?

In fact, now you mention it I think there is an excerpt somewhere that I heard of Elvis discussing with Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis about seeing this great entertainer and impersonating how he would do 'Don't Be Cruel'...no doubt Elvis dug Jackie so the thread question is probably 'yes', but then that would be true about many others too as Elvis simply soaked up and created his sound and personality/style from everywhere.

[KegtapperII]

Dang that's like saying "did Little Richard model himself after Eskew 'SQ' Reeder" Something that I wondered about.

[destruction]

Yeah, that was it Motony the Dominoes in the 50s, possibly in Vegas May 56 when Elvis was first there and bombed because they didn't dig his rock stuff back then?

In fact, now you mention it I think there is an excerpt somewhere that I heard of Elvis discussing with Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis about seeing this great entertainer and impersonating how he would do 'Don't Be Cruel'...no doubt Elvis dug Jackie so the thread question is probably 'yes', but then that would be true about many others too as Elvis simply soaked up and created his sound and personality/style from everywhere.

....also how he was dancing....."His feet were going in and out like....." I remember that also.....and them trying to remember the lyrics to Brown Eyed Handsome Man.

[StuBass1]

Interesting topic which I happened to research a bit some time back. What I learned...

Elvis was indeed a huge fan of Jackie... appearing at Billy Ward & The Dominos performances featuring Jackie night after night. When Elvis started out, he was very stiff on stage. His bass player, Bill Black was known for clowning and jumping around the stage during Elvis singing to the point that Col Parker told Black to quit the clowning and gyrating...ELVIS was the star...not Black. Black left Elvis shortly thereafter. Eventually, Elvis picked up that whole swivel hips thing, and it's quite likely that he stole some of his moves from Jackie. Jackie on the other hand took some of Elvis' shtick from a vocal perspective. Listen to Baby Work Out and you can hear Jackie doing his best Elvis imitation towards the end for the tune...but essentially...Jackies moves were imitated by many artists...Elvis being one...

Here's the part of the story that many people are not aware of. BOTH Elvis and Jackie were influenced heavily in their vocal stylings by the great Roy Hamilton. Roys baritone had tremendous influence on Elvis' tone, and Jackie got a lot of his multi range vocal performing style directly from what Hamilton had already started doing.

[scanspeak]

Thanks StuBass1 and others. I'm in my early 40s so a lot of that era is before my time and I wasn't sure of the exact time-line of Jackie and Elvis.

[KegtapperII]

Thanks STU!... That was educating.

[Strange]

Yes Stu, it was well remembered about the Roy Hamilton influences too. Elvis did three or four Hamilton originals and messed about on private tapes with things even like 'If I Loved You'. His 'You'll Never Walk Alone' was definitely inspired by Roy's early 50s version.

But not so sure about Elvis being 'wooden' on stage, and certainly Bill Black did clown around but didn't leave until 1958 so Elvis had been wiggling for a bit by then! Probably the earliest clips I've seen are 1955 and he's pretty mobile then, but maybe as a bashful 18-year-old in 54 there was not much going on down below! The anecdote I've read was that he was so nervous in early 55 that his left leg started shaking and the girls began screaming and the manager to be Colonel Parker said "I don't know what you did son, but get out there and do it again'...

And Destruction, yeah I've remembered now it was the Million Dollar Quartet tapes when Jackie was mentioned and the moves too. They must've been fun times.