As for the rest of the event, reports claimed attendees could hear Vernons sorrowful cries throughout the funeral service. So we had to get something no one else had. 7. Who was Elvis best man at his wedding? She was banned from. Why isnt Elvis buried next to his mother? Ginger Alden first met Elvis when she was five years old. Performers who had worked with The King through the years, the Statesmen, Kathy Westmoreland, J.D. How did Elvis mom die? It was like we were defectors--nobody wanted to believe what we had to say, said West, who now makes his living as a character actor in Hollywood. To that time, the only Elvis-related feature that the Commercial Appeals Thomas had ever done was about a determined fan who had mailed herself to Graceland in a large box. Everyone knows Elvis Presleys relationship with Priscilla Presley. The last long-term relationship that Elvis Presley had was with Ginger Alden. His daughter and his companion, a local woman named Ginger Alden, and about 15 . I had the Penthouse. As legendary rock n roll producer-pioneer Sam Phillips put it: Oh, honey, all hell broke loose.. Fans stopped their lives in order to make a pilgrimage to Memphis. (Her twentieth birthday was just six days earlier. Thats why we immediately wanted the coffin shot.. We respected his privacy, no matter what. During an appearance on Today Wednesday morning, Priscilla Presley. No one expected it. From the Nevada State Journal came, simply: NONE BIGGER. One of the reporters (who has since gone to work for a major newspaper--so please dont use my name, because now Im respectable ) recalled the epic events: We knew we had to be the best because, if youre with the Enquirer, you really are the best. So, of course, I asked him Why? And he looked at me and said, Well, man, its the king. Just like I should know., That is: It was as if the whole city of Memphis got together and worked to produce Elvis final show.. The 100 Best Albums of 2022. Its also ironic that since the death of the very private Elvis, there has been a veritable blitz of books about Elvis. The beneficiaries of the trust were Vernon, Elvis grandmother Minnie Mae Presley, and his nine-year-old daughter Lisa Marie Presley. . What a shame. His personal doctor, George Nichopoulos, was administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Ginger was one of the worst choices Elvis ever made, said Marty Lacker of the Memphis Mafia. Elvis Presley was at his Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, resting between concert appearances. Elvis Presley, was still wearing her 11 1/2-carat diamond engagement ring as she recalled the final hours of . There was a virtual scramble to interview anybody who had known Elvis. The Soviet PRAVDA ran a full-page; ELVIS IS DEAD. Elvis road manager, Joe Esposito (who has not written a Elvis book), summed up the mania this way: Thereve been books written about Elvis by close friends he never knew he had.. Public viewing of Elvis body. At the time, other journalists also made note of Kennedys visit in print, but they erroneously identified her as a visiting celebrity. So we kept telling reporters that he was in respiratory distress--and we were working with him.. His stays came complete with entourage, girlfriends and orders to tin-foil the windows so that he could sleep during the daytime hours. Elvis Presley died 10 years ago this day. God wouldnt want to take him so soon. Even so, at 2:56 p.m. he was rushed into the emergency room, which was then closed to all other cases. Ginger was there the night Elvis died and the subsequent days of the funeral, but she had never lived at Graceland and the will soon made it clear where she stood. But while millions swooned over his records and lined up to see his movies, only a few women intimately knew the real man behind the legend. But Presley had many other loves in his life, including Ginger Alden, the beauty pageant queen to whom he was engaged at the time of his death in 1977. Virtually every person from every beat was assigned to cover Elvis. Subscribe to our newsletter for new stories, tips & events. This week alone, the headlines have included: THE KING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE KING--The Chicago Sun-Times. After returning to Graceland he went to his racquet ball court and played until about six a.m. Tuesday, August 16th. He is reburied in the meditation garden of the villa Graceland. Elvis Presley, was still wearing her 11 1/2-carat diamond engagement ring as she recalled the final hours of the singer's life. . Of those Elvis associates who did concede to meet the press 10 years ago, some admit that they did so with great care. But the infamous musician was engaged to Ginger Alden before his death. The hospital called Vernon Presley to tell him that his son was dead. And since his death, huge amounts of money have been offered to persons who could come into possession of the document. The job escalated each time Elvis Presley checked in. Presleys body was already blue. But Ginger Alden was Presleys fiance at the time of his untimely death in 1977, when he was just 42 years old. It is impossible for Elvis to ever look bad! They began with a phone call from a nursing supervisor in the emergency room. Their preliminary ruling was cardiac arrhythmia and hardening of the arteries. Elvis Presley tragically died in his home, Graceland, on August 16, 1977. Only three people were. He had planned to announce their engagement publicly on his upcoming tour in Memphis; sadly, he died before this could happen. Elvis Presley had many loves across his lifetime from his ex-wife, Priscilla Presley, to his co-star Ann-Margret. He was so busy that he didnt have time to respond to the reporters who kept leaving messages with the funeral home office. Miss Alden, wearing the black dress she wore only hours earlier to the funeral, said she wanted to convince herself Presley was not dead. All this stuff Im telling you is in the first couple chapters of my book.. I was with him for 17 years so, for me, protection was an automatic thing. Ginger Alden, his fiance at the time, found him on his bathroom floor where he had been for hours. In. The interview was carried out by Nancy Anderson who Elvis had previously met as the West Coast editor of Photoplay magazine. Ginger was living with Elvis Presley when he died on August 16, 1977. They were pleasant to each other but the exchange was brief. Elvis' last week alive was Skip to content FAQS Clear Why do you think so many of us stayed with him for so long? It happened in the early morning hours when a driver (later charged with manslaughter and drunken driving) charged into a crowd of mourners. When Priscilla and Elvis met, Priscilla was 14-years-old, and The King would have been 24-years-old. One former National Enquirer reporter, who played a part in that papers acquisition of the famed last picture of Elvis in his coffin, remembered: As a war correspondent, I had covered the war in Bangladesh and two wars in the Middle East and a revolution in Ethiopia. And everyone wanted it.. Getty Following his split from Thompson, and a brief relationship with a woman named Mindi Miller, Elvis began dating Ginger Alden who. On August 7th, Elvis had rented Libertyland, a local amusement park, from midnight till dawn. Reporters sought the answers among the people who had known him. And thats what was going on with Elvis. Today, the Presley estate is estimated to be worth between $400 million and $500 million, according to one Presley exec. Did Ginger Alden attend Elvis funeral? A number of Elvis employees followed. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. While Elvis Presley was seemingly smitten with Ginger Alden enough to buy her a $70,000 diamond ring not all of his friends approved. On January 3, 1977 Elvis and Ginger along with a 15 man entourage attended the funeral of Ginger's Grandfather. There is an odd footnote to the legend of the coffin photo: After it was run, the photo disappeared from the Enquirer offices. One year after the funeral, Vernon recalled a conversation he shared with Ann-Margret in an article forGood Housekeepingin 1978. Breathe, Presley, breathe! the Commercial Appeal quoted his doctor as saying on the way to the hospital. One of the many mourners was Ann-Margret, a Swedish-American actress who was once one of Elvis Presleys former lovers. Elvis read that and got so upset that he had a top-of-the-line wheelchair bought and delivered. Ginger Alden was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1956. Elvis Presleys ex-lover Ann-Margret attended the funeral proceedings and spent some time with his father, Vernon Presley. Read the book the world is talking about, screamed the headlines. Because of Elvis love for his mother, his father knew hed want to be buried next to her. According to Peter H. Brown, who covered the death for the Pensacola, Fla. News-Journal, The main attitude at the time was one of awe. As it turned out, Elvis death generated more than tributes. .. There are also magazines and newsletters devoted to Elvis, some of them offshoots of the many Elvis fan clubs. .. Do Men Still Wear Button Holes At Weddings? These days, Alden stays out of the public eye as much as she can. I was dumbfounded., Elliott bolted to the emergency room (I didnt wait for an elevator--I took the stairs). I didnt want to think he was dead. We lived at the Beverly Wilshire. How much money did Elvis have in the bank when he died? In October of 1977, the Shelby County medical examiner would announce that 10 drugs were present in Elvis bloodstream when he died. Why Netflix is dabbling in livestreaming, Before and after photos from space show storms effect on California reservoirs, Dramatic before and after photos from space show epic snow blanketing SoCal mountains, The chance of a lifetime: Five friends ski the tallest mountain in Los Angeles, Best coffee city in the world? The sense of loss was echoed across the country. Well, we were all impressed. GInger described how, after only a few months, Elvis proposed: "He said: 'Ginger, I've been searching for love so long, and never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would find it in my own backyard. The city of Memphis, which also gave the world Holiday Inns, once again if only for 48 hours or so became the spiritual headquarters of rock & roll. Copyright 2023 Penske Business Media, LLC. Alden was Elvis Presley's fiance and last love who shared his last few months with him. The day before he was to go on tour, the week that the controversial book Elvis What Happened?, which purported to detail his private life, appeared the month that he again had a record on the charts, Elvis dropped dead in his Graceland mansion and instantly passed from elusive legend to myth. That was one mistake.. > the National Enquirer before she called for help for Elvis. I thought then--and I still think it today--what a shame. Well, covering Elvis was a war, too. Other Elvis sources have grown accustomed to receiving money for their memories. This after the family decided that a flower should go to each fan who hadnt been able to view the body. The police were called in. Did Ginger Alden attend Elvis Presley's funeral? It must have been very traumatic to find Elvis, she was only young and didn't deserve to see that or go through that kind of heart break. His most famous home was Graceland, still a tourist attraction today, but he actually lived at nine different homes during those three decades. The RCA plant in Indianapolis worked 24 hours a day. Because he was pretty far gone. But as everyone knows, Elvis did everything in excess. Apparently, Elvis did indeed watch the film with some friends. Clad only in blue top and yellow pyjama bottom. As I ran across the cemetery, all of a sudden the motorcycles came in the motorcycles cops looked at me like, If you move we will kill ya,' he recounted. The world lost the King of Rock 40 years ago last August, and now his longtime queen is opening up about the day she said goodbye. TV news anchor Chuck H. Dr. Nichopoulos finally pronounced Elvis Presley dead at 3:30 p.m. His body, which was becoming bloated, was moved to the hospital morgue on the second floor. After the hospital finally received its call from Graceland, where Vernon Presley had been told about his son, it was decided that Joe Esposito would officially announce the death to those members of the press (maybe 30 or so) who had already gathered at the hospital. They were all staring at me and pointing. Ginger Alden who was Elvis' current girlfriend at the time of his death is selling her engagement ring which Elvis gave her. Burk, who now edits the Elvis World newsletter (with his wife, Connie Lauridsen Burk), wrote about his Thompson interview in his book, Elvis Through My Eyes., He detailed the account for a reporter, anyway, over lunch during a rainy afternoon in Memphis. But I do regret that Elvis is dead--Ill always regret that. He didnt want him to have to hear it announced over the TV or radio, explained Elliott. 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