Elvis Presley Had Endless Gratitude for the Woman Who Kick Started His Career
In the earliest stages of Elvis Presley’s music career, he decided to record two songs for his mother. This decision wound up changing his life. Marion Keisker, who was working at Sun Records, found Elvis’ voice bewitching. She urged her boss, Sam Phillips, to listen to his recording. While Phillips would later receive much credit as the man who discovered Elvis Presley, Elvis never forgot what Keisker did for him.
Elvis Presley was always thankful to the woman who helped start his career
In 1954, Elvis walked into Sun Records with the intention of recording two songs for his mother. Keisker was working that day and was struck by Elvis’ voice. She taped him to show to her boss, Phillips, when he came to work. Though Phillips wasn’t as sold on Elvis, he decided to bring him in for a few studio sessions.
This eventually led to Elvis becoming the biggest performer in the world. While Phillips received a great deal of credit for the discovery, Elvis remained endlessly thankful to Keisker.
“One thing I got to say about Elvis — he never forgot that lady,” his friend Red West said in the book Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy. “He would pick up magazines and newspapers all saying about how he got started. And all the stories had Sam Phillips as being the man who discovered Elvis. Well, Elvis told me I don’t know how many times that Marion Keisker was the one who really did the job.”
He felt grateful for the role Phillips played as well. Still, Elvis believed that without Keisker, his life could have looked very different.
“Now, Elvis had respect for Sam but he would say to me: ‘If it wasn’t for that lady, I would never have got a start. That woman, she was the one who had faith. She was the one who pushed me. Sure, Sam had the studio, but it was that Marion who did it for me.’”
The beginning of Elvis Presley’s career took Memphis by storm
Keisker made the discovery of a lifetime, as evidenced by the way Elvis rapidly became a local celebrity. After hearing Elvis sing “That’s All Right,” Phillips finally agreed he had the makings of a star. When the recording hit the radio, people in Memphis could hardly believe what they were hearing.
“I played the record fifteen times [in one night],” disc jockey Dewey Phillips said. “Suddenly telephone calls and telegrams started to pour into the station. Everybody wanted to know who the new boy was.”
Before long, Elvis was a local celebrity.
Marion Keisker recalled her conversation with Elvis Presley
When Elvis first walked into Sun Records, Keisker paid him little mind.
“It was a busy Saturday afternoon,” she recalled in a 2000 interview with Q Magazine. “The office was full of people wanting to make personal records. He came in, said he wanted to make a record. I told him he’d have to wait and he said OK. He sat down.”
Still, she could remember what he told her about his music.
“While he was waiting, we had a conversation. He said he was a singer,” she said. “I said, ‘What kind of singer are you?’ He said, ‘I sing all kinds.’ I said, ‘Who do you sound like?’ He said, ‘I don’t sound like nobody.’”
