Elvis and the Memphis Mafia
by Alanna Nash
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A monumental oral biography filled with raucous joy, aching loss and terrible poignancy, Elvis & the Memphis Mafia is the first book to capture the King - the man and the phenomenon - in his full complexity. Through revealing interviews with three of Elvis's closest friends, who were also his protectors and rescuers, Nash achieves the first true mapping of Elvis's psyche. Billy Smith - Elvis's first cousin and the person he reputedly loved most after his own mother - Marty Lacker - best man show more at his wedding and foreman of the 'Memphis Mafia,' the King's handpicked group of gatekeepers and confidants - and Lamar Fike - the touring crew member who accompanied him into the Army - were with Elvis from his teens to his final days and provide unique access to the greatest of all rock and roll legends. The revelations cut through every aspect of Elvis's life, from the childhood seeds of his drug dependency, through his fear for his mother's life and his plan to change his identity, to his bizarre self-mutilation. No one who reads this symphonic blending of three proud, ribald, sad and ultimately wistful voices can fail to be profoundly moved. show lessTags
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My dirty little secret is that I have read pretty much the majority of Elvis tell-all books over the years. So as part of preparing for a trip to Memphis this summer, I felt like I needed to read something I hadn't read. This is basically over 800 pages of oral history from the Memphis Mafia. It does a good job of tying all the other gossip in the other tell-all books together. I found it endlessly fascinating, and equally depressing. But I am so ready to visit Graceland now.
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Author Information
12+ Works 444 Members
Alanna Nash is a recipient of the Country Music Association Media Achievement Award and the Charlie Lamb Award for Excellence in Country Music Journalism, and the author of seven books, including The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley (winner of the Belmont Award); Dolly: The Biography; and Elvis and the show more Memphis Mafia. Nash lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where she covered Elvis's funeral for the Courier-Journal. show less
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- Paper, Ebook
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- 2
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