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Colonel Tom Parker’s ‘Malevolent’ Treatment of Elvis Presley Was a ‘Myth,’ New Book Claims
Greg McDonald met Elvis Presley as a youngster when he came to change the air filter in the King of Rock ’n’ Roll’s Palm Springs rental home. The curious singer asked him questions about his life and told him to stop by his manager Colonel Tom Parker’s nearby house to change his air filter, too. It was a meeting that would change McDonald’s life forever.
In his new memoir, Elvis and the Colonel, McDonald, who worked for Colonel Tom for four decades, seeks to separate the reality from the myth about the two men’s legendary partnership. “The real Tom Parker was nowhere near his public persona,” he shares. In fact, the Colonel had a warm, almost paternal relationship with Elvis. “They really loved and respected each other,” Marshall Terrill, the book’s coauthor, exclusively tells Closer.
Tom created his tough image to protect Elvis, telling his young protégé McDonald that the artist was always the “saintly” one. “This myth of Colonel Parker as a powerful, cigar-chomping, malevolent leech was started by Colonel Parker,” explains Terrill. “When he was dealing for Elvis, he wanted people to fear him.” But in his real life, Tom, an immigrant from the Netherlands and self-made man, had a great sense of humor, a soft spot for animals and was fair in the money he charged Elvis for his services. He and his wife also invited teenage McDonald to live with them so he could attend school full-time.
The belief that Colonel Tom heartlessly worked Elvis to death by locking him into a long-term contract in Las Vegas — as portrayed in the recent Baz Luhrmann film Elvis — is also a misconception, according to the book. “Elvis played Vegas twice a year, and the engagements were four to six weeks at each,” says Terrill.
The singer’s extravagant lifestyle burned through money so quickly, the star often called Colonel Tom urging him to book more gigs. “The reason why Elvis worked too much was because he spent every dollar he made,” says McDonald. “He was constantly overdrawn on the bank. He didn’t have the option of saying, ‘I don’t want to work this month.’”
By 1973, Colonel Tom realized Elvis had a problem with prescription drugs. “When Elvis began using, it began interfering with his performances and the Colonel’s ability to book him,” says Terrill. “That’s when their relationship grew contentious.” Colonel Tom appealed to the singer’s father, Vernon, to step in and try to convince Elvis to get help. “It became a question of how do you get a man to save himself,” says Terrill.
Knowing Elvis’ love of gospel music, Colonel Tom considered putting the singer on tour with a choir, hoping that being away from the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle might help. “He felt that gospel music would save him,” said McDonald. It never happened after Elvis’ relationship with Colonel Tom imploded. Unhappy that a hotel worker he’d been friendly with had been fired (for reasons that had nothing to do with the star), Elvis took to the stage one night and publicly berated the Hilton’s owner and management.
“Elvis was completely out of line,” recalls McDonald, who says that it was “practically World War III that night in the dressing room” when Tom confronted Elvis. They continued to work together but were never as close.
Despite everything, Elvis’ death in 1977 left Colonel Tom heartsick. “Part of him died, too,” says Terrill, who notes that although Tom lived 20 years more, he never accepted another client. “He said, ‘I’ve had the best. Anyone else would be a step down.’”
