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The Colonel and the King
Tom Parker, Elvis Presley and the Partnership that Rocked the World
Brief Description
INCLUDED IN TIME'S 100 MUST READ BOOKS OF 2025'Guralnick knows the intricacies of this story more than anyone, except perhaps the Colonel and Presley themselves'GUARDIANThe concluding volume of Peter Guralnick's critically acclaimed Elvis Presley biographiesIn early 1955, Colonel Tom Parker discovered a teenage Elvis Presley and...
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Format: Paperback / softback
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See moreThe conclusion of the critically acclaimed music writer's Elvis trilogy, focusing on his relationship with the 'Colonel', his legendary manager
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Description
INCLUDED IN TIME'S 100 MUST READ BOOKS OF 2025'Guralnick knows the intricacies of this story more than anyone, except perhaps the Colonel and Presley themselves'GUARDIANThe concluding volume of Peter Guralnick's critically acclaimed Elvis Presley biographiesIn early 1955, Colonel Tom Parker discovered a teenage Elvis Presley and declared him destined for greatness. What followed was one of the most extraordinary partnerships in music history and the creation of a bond built on loyalty, ambition and an unshakeable belief in each other.From the meteoric rise that reshaped popular culture to the struggles that shadowed their final years, this concluding volume of Peter Guralnick's acclaimed trilogy reveals the full complexity of their relationship.Drawing on previously unpublished letters and telegrams from Parker's own archives, it offers an intimate, unflinching portrait of two American originals: the visionary manager who invented the modern superstar and the artist who became one. Brilliant, flawed and inseparable, Elvis and the Colonel changed the music world forever.'Guralnick's view of Parker is both clear-eyed and sympathetic, but best of all, it's persuasive'TIME'A riveting and revelatory read'SUNDAY INDEPENDENT
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781399635318
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 23 April 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: White Rabbit
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 624
About the Author
Peter Guralnick is a journalist and author who has written extensively on American music and musicians. His other books include the prize-winning two-volume Elvis Presley biography, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love; the acclaimed trilogy on American roots music, Sweet Soul Music, Lost Highway and Feel Like Going Home; the biographical inquiry Searching for Robert Johnson; Looking to Get Lost: Adventures in Music & Writing, and the novel Nighthawk Blues.
Also by Peter Guralnick
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The Colonel and the King
In early 1955, Colonel Tom Parker, the manager of the number-one country music star of the day, heard that an unknown teenager from Memphis had just drawn a crowd of more than 800 people to a Texas schoolhouse and headed south to investigate. Within a matter of days, Parker was sending out telegrams and letters to promoters and booking agents:...Paperback$3500Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll
A fascinating look at the history of Sun Records, the label that started Rock ‘n’ Roll, told through 70 of its iconic recordings. In Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1950s, there was hard-edged blues playing on Beale Street, and hillbilly boogie on the outskirts of town. But at Sam Phillips’ Sun Records studio on Union Avenue, there was something different going...Hardback$8999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Feel Like Going Home
Feel Like Going Home vividly brings to life such early blues masters as Muddy Waters, Skip James, and Howlin' Wolf, along with illuminating excursions into the blues-based rock 'n' roll of Jerry Lee Lewis, Charlie Rich, and the Sun Records label. With unique insight and unparalleled access, celebrated author Peter Guralnick (Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley)...PaperbackSold Out -
Last Train to Memphis
'Elvis steps from the pages. You can feel him breathe' BOB DYLAN'Wonderful' RODDY DOYLEThe first volume of Peter Guralnick's critically acclaimed Elvis Presley biographiesLast Train to Memphis is arguably the first serious biography that refuses to dwell on the myth of Elvis. Aiming instead to portray in vivid, dramatic terms the life and career of this outstanding artistic and cultural...PaperbackSold Out -
Careless Love
Homeric in its play of beauty and folly, this is a monumental work INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY Riveting ... A masterwork WALL STREET JOURNAL The second volume of Peter Guralnick's critically acclaimed Elvis Presley biographies. The next chapter in the definitive biography of Elvis picks up where Last Train to Memphis closed with Presley's military service in Germany in 1958 and...PaperbackSold Out -
Careless Love
Last Train to Memphis, the first part of Guralnick's two-volume life of Elvis Presley, received unprecedented accolades. This concluding volume recounts the second half of Elvis's life in rich and previously unimagined detail, and confirms Guralnick's status as one of the great biographers of our time. Beginning with Presley's army service in Germany in 1958 and ending with his death...PaperbackSold Out -
Last Train To Memphis
This is the first volume of a two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, a book that justifies the importance of The King to American music and culture. It covers Presley's rise up to his mother's death in 1958. The Presley displayed is bright, articulate, energetic—a young man in a hurry with a very real sense of himself and his art, a...PaperbackSold Out
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