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Revision as of 02:58, 3 December 2004 by CanisRufus (talk | contribs) (RedWolf - bypassing redirect: Canadian)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Colonel Tom Parker was the pseudonym of Andreas Cornelius van Kuijk (b. 1909 or 1910 in Breda, Netherlands – d. January 21, 1997, Las Vegas, NV), the manager who handled Elvis Presley for virtually all of his career and whose influence over Presley was criticized both during Presley's life and after his death as Svengali-like, although Parker remained close with Presley's family after the singer's death and was described even by his harshest detractors as a brilliant businessman, marketer, and myth-maker. Without Parker, Presley might have never become the superstar that he became.
Parker rarely gave interviews and made up an early life history for himself out of thin air. He said that he had been born in Huntington, West Virginia and had run away at an early age to join a circus run by an uncle. The truth (which came out when Parker tried to avert a lawsuit in 1982 by asserting that he was a Dutch citizen) was that Parker fled his native land at about the age of 18, joined the United States Army, and become part of the circus world sometime after leaving the Army. He also worked as a dogcatcher and a pet cemetery proprietor in Tampa, Florida in the 1940s. Parker became a music promoter in the late 1940s, working with musicians such as Minnie Pearl and Eddy Arnold and the film star Tom Mix.
Parker's affiliation with Presley began when Parker booked Presley as an opening act for another Parker client, the Canadian country singer Hank Snow. Parker took over Presley's career in 1955. In 1956 he convinced RCA Records to buy Presley out from Sun Records for $35,000, which at the time was a huge amount of money. Parker held the reins of Presley's singing and acting career for the rest of Presley's life. He was said to be instrumental in virtually every business decision that Presley made, including his decision to quit recording and touring after returning from his stint in the United States Army in 1960 and to concentrate on a lucrative movie career that nonetheless almost smothered Presley's musical creativity.
After Presley died in 1977, Parker became embroiled in legal disputes with Presley's estate and with his daughter, Lisa Marie Presley. Parker eventually agreed in 1983 to sell his masters of some of Presley's major recordings to RCA for $2 million and to drop any claims he had to Presley's estate. Parker moved to Las Vegas in 1980 and worked as an "entertainment adviser" for Hilton Hotels, although he continued to capitalize on Presley's name, attending ceremonies marking the tenth anniversary of the singer's death and appearing at the 1993 issuing of the United States Postal Service stamp honoring Presley.
Parker's honorary title of "Colonel" was not a military rank. It was bestowed upon him in 1948 by Jimmy Davis, the governor of Louisiana.
Ironically, in 1993, Parker was quoted as saying: "I don't think I exploited Elvis as much as he's being exploited today."
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