ELVIS FOR BRITAIN
OKAYS GENUINE CHARITY CONCERT
ELVIS PRESLEY has agreed to come to Britain for a charity show. The news was given this week by Vic Lewis, who flew home from the States last Friday night with his partner Bill Benny. Lewis told the MM: “Presley and his manager, Col. Tom Parker, have agreed to do a concert on condition that every penny goes to charity.
“Elvis is just not interested in coming to Britain for a commercial date.
“But he feels the British public has been so good in supporting his records and films that he would like to reciprocate.
“He and Col. Parker insist that everything shall be donated for the concert – including the hall or stadium, the refreshments and everybody’s services.
NO FREE SEATS
“Elvis will pay his own fare from the States and will even buy his own tickets for the show – nobody will get a free seat. Even the organisers must pay.
“I am now going ahead with the arrangements. I shall form a board to run the concert and when we get things moving we can get the actual date from Col. Parker.
“Originally, we offered Presley 200,000 dollars to play two dates in Britain. He said that he had already turned down bigger offers than that.”
This week, Presley’s latest single, “His Latest Flame” / “Little Sister,” zoomed into the No.3 slot in the MM Top Twenty.
FOOTNOTE: Lewis and Benny also made offers for three other top singing stars in America – Frank Sinatra, Nat “King” Cole and Johnny Mathis.
Said Lewis: “I am hopeful Sinatra will come.
MATHIS AGAIN
“We put up an interesting proposition which he liked, quite apart from any financial angle.”
Mathis will definitely make his second British tour next spring.
Melody Maker, 4 November 1961
