A little bit of musical history will come to the Beatles Story on February 27th, with the arrival in Liverpool of a rare piece of Elvis memorabilia.
Worn by the King throughout the late '50s and loaned exclusively by Elvis Presley Enterprises in Memphis, Elvis's personally branded fashion sweater will be on show in the Beatles Story's exhibition to symbolise the huge influence Elvis had on the Beatles and their music. The sweater, estimated to be worth around £10,000, was made by the Corsicar label in California and is a typical example of Elvis' personal brand.
His initials began appearing on his clothes in the late '50s and continued to adorn shirts, jackets, jewelry and even sunglasses well into the '70s.
Elvis was a major influence on the Beatles and on John Lennon in particular. John once said, "Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. Before Elvis there was nothing."
When John and Paul's pre Beatles group, the Quarry Men formed they began to introduce Elvis numbers into their repertoire, performed by either John or Paul, which included 'All Shook Up', 'Blue Moon Of Kentucky', 'Hound Dog', 'Jailhouse Rock', 'Mean Woman Blues', 'I Forgot To Remember To Forget', 'I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry Over You', 'It's Now Or Never', 'That's All Right (Mama)' and 'Love Me Tender'.
George Harrison was to comment, "I remember at school there was all that thing about Elvis. When a record came along like 'Heartbreak Hotel' it was so amazing.
"We know Elvis is great. Seeing Elvis was like seeing the messiah arrive."
Paul McCartney was to say, "Every time I felt low, I just put on an Elvis record and I'd feel great, beautiful".
Elvis went on to record several Beatles compositions, including 'Hey Jude', 'Yesterday' and 'Something'. Jerry Goldman, Managing Director of the Beatles Story said: "It's wonderful to link up with Elvis Enterprises to bring this stunning piece of memorabilia to Liverpool.
Elvis and the Beatles are the greatest artists in popular music history so it is especially apt that we bring the two great music cities of Liverpool and Memphis together."
The arrival of this wonderful and evocative piece of memorabilia marks the start of an exciting year for the Beatles Story with the opening of the new development at the Pier Head Ferry Terminal and more exciting announcements to follow.