The Colonel and the King by Peter Guralnick Hardcover Book

"The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley, and the Partnership that Rocked the World, will be released August 5, 2025.

From the award-winning biographer of Elvis Presley, The Colonel and the King is a groundbreaking dual portrait of the relationship between the iconic artist and legendary manager, Colonel Tom Parker, drawing on a wealth of Parkers never-before-seen correspondence to reveal that this reviled figure was in fact a confidant, friend, and architect of his clients success.

In early 1955, Tom Parker the manager of the number-one country musician of the dayheard 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 days, Parker was sending out telegrams and letters to promoters and booking agents: We have a new boy that is absolutely going to be one of the biggest things in the business in a very short time. His name is ELVIS PRESLEY. Later that year, after signing with RCA, the young man sent a telegram of his own: Dear Colonel, Words can never tell you how my folks and I appreciate what you did for me. I love you like a father.

The close personal bond between Elvis and the Colonel proved impossible for outside observers to understandnot during their lifetimes, and not in the decades since. It was a long-standing, deeply committed relationship, founded on mutual admiration and support.

Featuring troves of never-before-seen correspondence from the Colonels own archives, revelatory both for their insights andparticularly with respect to Elvistheir emotional depth, The Colonel and the King provides a unique perspective on not one but two American originals. A tale of the birth of the modern-day superstar by the most acclaimed music writer of his generation, it presents these two misunderstood icons as theyve never been seen before: with all of their brilliance, humor, and flaws on full display."

752 pages