According to the Biography channel, when Elvis died, the estate was in trouble, and the total monies left over (it claimed on the programme), was not even five-thousand dollars.
I take this with a pinch of salt, and imagine a royalty cheque was due, but it does explain why the legacy maintained itself to build a multi-million pound industry.
How awfully poignant, to make more money when you are gone. A case of the artist no longer having a say I suppose.
He certainly had a good crew around him, it was sad they could not save him.

That just before the funeral (when Elvis was in his coffin in the same room) Col Parker negotiated a new "deal" with Elvis's father to continue to manage the Estate, and they signed the deal on the coffin lid !!!!!!!!!!!

I am watching further stuff as I type, and I would say, that at the speed they turned the late artists` career around in 1977, that could well be close to the truth ITK.
They would appear to have been unable to curb hand to mouth spending, which of course musicians are prone to.
There are many Elvis conspiracy theories, I don`t think there need be any more than one theory. I believe his people were in as much financial trouble as Prince and Jakko (allegedly)got into .
Is he alive? No, of course not, but his death enabled the business matters to be cleared up, I believe,exactly as they should have had to have been for his family and entourage.

The "signing the new deal on the coffin" scenario was actually depicted in a TV movie about E's life, so I'm sure they did their homework.

Didn't he (Elvis / Parker) also do a deal with RCA not long before his death waiving all royalty payments on much of the earlier stuff in favour of one large payment now (then)?

Quite untrue I'm sure, was that he was bumped off by the Mafia who owned RCA at the time, after he'd signed away all future royalties.

I honestly believe that nobody had the authority over him to tell him to change his ways.
Picture it,.. a very powerful man, with a following , lets say of about a hundred close people, a global following of millions, a record company , management etc relying on recouping.
Who is going to be the one to say "Hey E, that`s too many pills today." If he was happy they were going to go with it.
The products were out there, he was hardly going to do a world tour for a while.
I was never a fan of much of his stuff, but I find any popstar, and their histories fascinating. I really believed "Heartbreak Hotel", was released in 1971, when RCA re-issued it.
The mafia never owned RCA, of course, it was the RSPCA, and my dog is very greatful...!(conspiracy theory ..not!)

One of his biggest fans, France's Johnny Hallyday, has gone bust several times and managed to bounce back forcefully each time. In between the bankruptcies and divorces, the level of splendour and extravagence is quite impressive, as is the list of businesses he now has interests in.

Anyway, this was Elvis' second turnaround as already by 1968, he was a bit of a joke. The 1968 comeback show ("If you're looking for trouble...") was a stunner, comparable maybe to Tom Jones doing "Kiss" and "Sex Bomb".

I think it was the Banana Peanut Butter sandwiches that actually did for him !

However, what I dearly regret not seeing, would have been the real comeback, which probably would not have been necessary until the late eighties, once they had sorted out the finances.
A case in point of this subject is also Del Shannon, who sadly died, just around the time Jeff Lynne would have made a very credible album for him.
Elvis made too many records, many of which should not have been released, as they were simply repeats or demo`s. The credibilty of "the worlds biggest star", was sadly lost on budget releases for a pound in the UK, settling next to the TOTP cover albums.
Did this happen to Johnny Cash? Not to my knowledge, although it did happen to Del Shannon.
Interesting discussion though.

The reason I bang on occasionally about Johnny Hallyday is that the man has a very, very simple policy for keeping on top of the game. Every five years, he picks out the best young writer he can find and "asks" them to do an album for him.

To keep up with the Tom Jones analogy, imagine every five years or so, he asked Elvis Costello, then a young Prince, then the young Metallica and then Muse to write for him. Having the huge personality that he has, they have to write specifically for him, rather than fob off old demos. Inevitably, they turn in sterling work, and the result is a catalogue that stretches 40 years. So the tours (produced by Hallyday's company) are back-to-back hits every time that people love to sing along to. And the crowds beat their way for tickets and buy the DVDs.

Unfortunately, Elvis never had that treatment. Dylan never wrote for him, nor the Stones nor the Beatles (Lennon most certainly would have been up for it).

Why? So now, catalogue managers that are good at packaging are doing a sterling job. Shame the same care didn't go into his career. Col. Parker was canny, but I think he also did a lot of harm.

What do the managers on here think?

Firstly, I do not believe that a cover song works correctly unless it has been written for the specific artist, there are some exceptions, going back , again to Elvis he pulled off some crackers.
I believe that the Colonel, did not let Elvis finish a lot of the songs to the standard that the man would have wanted, and instead just put them out as they were.
Therefore, we are singing from the same hymn sheet.
I only manage one band currently, (I do not manage myself, I have someone else to do that), but I take it day be day with a yearly plan, for my guys.
The Colonel was superb, but I think he ground the guy down, I believe Elvis was terrified of him.
That is good management,disciplne wise, but ultimately bad for the individual.
And oh how I wish I could hear what Elvis would have wanted to record today.

All that said, I am not a fan, but his music was so important.

Elvis had his own publishing company (Elvis Presley Music) - a joint venture with, I believe, Hill and Range, and guess who co-owned the venture? That's right - the Colonel !

The Colonel only allowed (with rare exceptions) Elvis to record songs that they already owned the publishing too (no matter how dire !)

Good Business? Probably - but what else would you expect from the man who did rather well from selling "I Love Elvis" badges, then realised he could capture 100% of the market by ALSO selling "I Hate Elvis" badges !!!!!!!!

Didn't Dianne Warren have a huge falling out with Celine Dion on this very subject?

I hadn`t heard that one before ITK, and thanks indeed.
After ordering many badges this week, I will now be ordering badges to the negative of the projects,
Love it, great idea.
Gawd, this boards` getting creative!
It`s the ultimate challenging publicity isn`t it? A "Don`t buy my album.. it`s crap" badge.
And yes , I am going to do it!

and whilest on the subject of the Colonel, do we think he really was a murderer ?

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/m...is_4_28/ai_n15384170

Difficult to say really, they were all in an exclusive and very powerful world.
That article certainly confirms how broke they were at the time, and the gambling debts were revealing.
A blissfully unaware entourage don`t you think?

"Hey mate? What do you do for a living?"

"I hang out with him over there. $$$$$$"

The gambling debts (the Colonel's) were legendary - that's why he agreed to Elvis performing in Las Vegas for 2 months a year - mainly so the Colonel could stay close to the tables !

(It's also rumoured that the "deal" for Elvis to be tied to Las Vegas was signed on a tablecloth in one of the Las Vegas restauarnts !)

He set up the publishing companies in 1956. Because of the co-publishing deals Leiber & Stoller stopped working for Elvis.

But Parker is also responible for the glut of product. He decided what RCA had to release (and he was very much into Christmas albums and other corny stuff).

The deal to sell the rights to future royalities to RCA for about $5,5 m (ten times the amount Presley earned on royalties each year in the early 1970s, he made much more money with concerts) in 1973 was made because Parker was in debt to the casinos in Las Vegas. And he just had signed a new contract with Elvis which gave him 50 % of this money (as opposed to 25 % on royalties).

In the studio, Elvis had absolute control. In most of his work (soundtracks) he had no real interest and didn