Jerry Schilling - Book Release In The UK

Elvis close friend Jerry Schilling’s book Me And A Guy Named Elvis is released in the UK at the end of May.

From the press release:

In the 30th anniversary year of Elvis’ death comes an extraordinary biography from his closest friend.

‘Jerry Schilling has captured the beauty of my father’s spirit in a way that has never been done before.’ (Lisa Marie Presley)

‘Jerry had the keys to the kingdom, the keys to the King’s houses, to the King’s cars, to the heart of what made Elvis a King in the first place. Here he unlocks every door and his own heart to boot.’ (Bono)

On a lazy Sunday in 1954, twelve-year-old Jerry Schilling wandered into a Memphis touch football game to discover that his team was quarterbacked by a nineteen-year-old Elvis Presley, the local teenager whose first record That’s All Right, had just debuted on Memphis radio and was already burning up the local airways. This meeting was the start of a life-long friendship.

* Jerry’s 23 year friendship makes him uniquely placed to write this intimate portrait of Elvis.
* In 1964 Elvis asked Jerry to come and work for him as part of his famous ‘Memphis Mafia’.
* Jerry worked for Elvis for thirteen years in various capacities - from bodyguard and personal trainer to film editor and co-producer.
* Elvis gave Jerry his own room at Graceland
* Jerry was the person Elvis trusted to drive him and Priscilla to the hospital when Lisa-Marie was born
* Elvis tried LSD once in his life, Jerry was part of the small group that joined him
* When Elvis received a death threat before his performance in Vegas, it was Jerry he called to be by his side
* Jerry was with Elvis during the famous ‘Lost Weekend’ when he met President Nixon
* On the only weekend of his professional life when Elvis got away from family and employees to be by himself, he spent the time with Jerry
* Jerry was a pall-bearer at Elvis’s funeral

Me and a Guy Named Elvis looks at Presley from a friend’s perspective and includes insights into the creative frustrations that lead to Elvis’s abuse of prescription medicine and his complex and much misunderstood relationship with his manager Colonel Parker. It also brings to life the man behind the myth, a sensitive generous soul who loved playing practical jokes on people, enjoyed yoga and karate and was a huge fan of Monty Python.

Jerry Schilling has spent over 40 years in the entertainment business working as an actor, a film editor, a producer, and a manager. Jerry has his own Management Company and has managed Billy Joel, The Beach Boys and Jerry Lee Lewis. He conducted the marriage of Lisa-Marie and Michael Lockwood and counts Priscilla as one of his dearest friends. Jerry lives and works in Los Angeles, in the house Elvis bought for him.