Andrew Jackson and Frederick Allen wrote the book Without The King's Consent - Tell Me Pretty Baby. It's about supposedly the first record Elvis made before going to Sun in 1954.
Here is some background information, taken from answers.com:
My information on this particular recording is that it was claimed to be Elvis' first ever recording, supposedly made at Audio Recorders in Phoenix, Arizona in 1954. It was released in 1978 on the Elvis Classic label (EC-5478), lasted 2 minutes 12 seconds, with writing credit going to Andrew (Lee) Jackson, production by Pete Falco, and music publishing by Sheri-Kay Publishers/Golgotha BMI. It was distributed by Cin/Kay Records Distributors of Nashville, Tn.
In an affidavit signed by Pete Falco on July 6th 1978, he stated that he paid Elvis $15 to record "Tell Me Pretty Baby" with his group, the Red Dots. Elvis' father, Vernon Presley contested the song's authenticity, stating that Elvis was never in Phoenix in 1954 and never recorded for any company before Sun Records.
Apparantly a singer by the name of Michael Conley later admitted making the fake recording, although his manager, Hal Freeman, stated that Conley lied.
Unknown or "lost" recordings by Elvis are extremely rare. If you have new information that the recording of "Tell Me Pretty Baby" was genuine, then I'm sure that the entire Elvis world will be absolutely delighted.
This title brings back a long forgotten memory. The release of this record was a big story in the UK, albiet briefly. It became a hot news item, how an unknown Elvis recording was about to be released. Remember, this was 1978. It was the first time ever when we literally had no new Elvis recordings and more importantly, no hope of any. The TV news people really hyped up the story and eventually played a short segment of it. I was certain of just one thing, that it wasn't Elvis! I could not believe that anybody thought it ever was him. Presumably others agreed, as the story died straight away. That was it for the fake recording...but not for long. We had to contend with Jerry Lee Lewis and his friend unleashing "Save The Last Dance For Me" on us shortly afterwards. That one was even released here and got a lot of radio plays. Happy days.
I had forgotten about this song. I've got the 45 and picture sleeve in a record case. I'm going to have to pull it out to refresh my memory, but I recall not being fooled by it when I got it 30 + years ago. Oh - Tony , the "friend" that was on The Jerry Lee recording was a real friend of mine. His name was Jimmy Ellis - soon (thanks to Shelby Singleton and Gail Brewer-Gorgio) to be known as Orion, but that's another topic.
Yes, I know all about Jimmy Ellis. He was a great talent, one that was cut short in very tragic circumstances. I was just referring to the label credit. When "Save The Last Dance For Me" was played on the radio here in the UK some DJs even stated that it was by "Jerry Lee Lewis and his friend Elvis Presley". That was probably the most convincing of the bogus Elvis tracks.
One part of the "Tell Me Pretty Baby" saga was that despite what people said on oath, all you had to do was listen to it to realise it is not Elvis. Every genuine Elvis track simply sounds like Elvis, any fan can spot his voice a mile away. Even "My Happiness", on which his voice did sound very different to any other recording we had heard before, there was never any no doubt that it is Elvis.
Tony- you are so right about that. When you hear Elvis' voice there is no mistaking it for anyone else. I agree the whole Jerry Lee nonsense was a sham, but Shelby took it to a whole other level when he pulled a snipit of Jerry lee saying something to the real Elvis during the Million Dollar Quartet recording and stuck it at the end of one of the Jimmy and Jerry Lee overdubs to make it more (?) convincing. It's a sad kind of funny that Jimmy never got credit for being on that song (or album), but it earned Jerry Lee one of his last top 30 hits. As far as "Tell Me", I listened to it thi morning. It's gawd awful and it sounds N O T H I NG like Elvis at all. I can't believe this thing is still being talked about. Even more amazing is that somehow I ended up with a copy of the 45. lol
It's April's Fool already? This book must be in the science-fiction section! They guy on the record isn't Elvis... it's doesn't sound like him whatsoever... he doesn't even sound like an impersonator of an Elvis impersonator... Did it really fool someone? :O
yeah you can deffinitely tell it wasnt elvis on save the last dance for me.
I can't believe that so many were fooled by this record! Anyway, a page about it in a fan magazine would be OK, but TWO people writing a whole BOOK about it???
