The first great rock manager, Colonel Parker
In some ways it was The archetype of Manager Rock: full of finding finds, capable of creating unrepeatable occasions. But also the “bad cowboy” with the black hat, ready to take the role of the villain to protect his artist at any cost. Who really was Colonel Tom Parker? The man who “invented” Elvis Presley as a global phenomenon? Un genius of marketing and artistic management or a ruthless manipulator who has exploited his creature until the last breath?
Peter Guralnick, among the greatest scholars of the history of American music and Elvis, already the author of the monumental biography in two volumes of Presley (“Last Train Ti Memphis” and “Careless Love”), now compares directly with one of the most controversial figures of the rock’n’roll in the new “The Colonel and the King”, a book that is partly a rehabilitation.
“He chose to wear the black hat. He understood the role, the importance of the story, and it was well well that Elvis wore the white hat,” says Guralnick. In this key, Parker becomes not only a ruthless manager, but a man who builds a story, a “storytelling” as one would say today: he the bad guy, Presley the good.
The blow to “and Sullivan” and the big bang of rock
To understand the role of Parker in the history of rock, just remember The history of Elvis’s participation in “and Sullivan Show” in 1956. He convinced the most popular conductor of America, initially reluctant to host the artist at a time when Rock ‘n’ Roll was being born but was controversial and Invisp for the heter -show of the world of entertainment. Parker conceived a strategy of presences and controversies in other TV programs: Sullivan at that point, in order to have it in transmission, came to offer a dollar record cachet for three appearances.
The first performance, on September 9, 1956, is in fact the date of birth of rock’n’roll for mass culture, the moment in which it becomes mainstream. Bruce Springsteen called him the “big bang of American popular culture” Telling how, seeing Presley on TV at 7 years old, he decided to want a guitar and play. That evening, in front of 60 million spectators, Elvis became the icon we know: the young rebel danced uninhibitedly, transgressing the rigid social conventions and respectability of America of the 1950s. Thanks to an idea of the Colonel, who knew how to enhance his enormous talent.
The man behind the myth
Born Andreas Cornelis Van Kuijk in the Netherlands in 1909, Parker arrived in the United States as a clandestine, with a controversial past: an American identity and an honorary but non -existent military title invented. He came from the world of circus and itinerant carnival, where he had learned the art of selling entertainment and creating expectations. Among the reasons that pushed him not to bring Presley on tour outside the United States there was also the fear that his true immigrant identity would be discovered.
According to Guralnick, He was obsessed with control, because he believed that Elvis needed it – that he would go off the track without. This meant armored contracts, total control of public apparitions and often questionable choices from an artistic point of view, such as the long sequence of mediocre films in the 1960s: Parker took him off the TV and then from live performances to the time of maximum success, thinking that cinema was more controllable and profitable, But he had an impact on the musical production and reputation of Presley, until his spectacular “Comeback Special” of ’68.
Yet, despite the questionable choices, the relationship between the two was of absolute trust. In a telegram after signing with the RCA, Elvis wrote: “believe me when I tell you that I will stay with you for better or for worse and I will do everything possible to keep your trust in me … I love you as a father”.
The Parker of popular culture
In recent years Parker was almost always told like a bad guy. In the movie “Elvis ”by Baz Luhrmann (2022), played by Tom Hanks, he is the narrator and a true protagonist, with a fragile and manipulated Elvis, who also appears in Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla”. In the “Vinyl” series of Scorsese and Jagger it appears briefly as a ruthless manager who treats Elvis as a boy and prevents him from following his musical passions. Thom Zimny’s “The Searcher” documentary – Springsteen’s trusted director – puts his dark sides in the foreground, from the isolation of Elvis to the choice to prevent him from international tours. Guralnick, on the other hand, invites you to read this story with multiple nuances: “The story has always been too simple: Elvis the victim, Parker the villain. But life – and the business – are rarely so clear”.
The inheritance
Parker defined the role of the modern musical manager: relentless negotiator, media strategist, inventor of a brand. “It was a pioneer in monetizing celebrity, long before it became the norm,” writes Guralnick.
The black hat he wore was not only a symbol of hardness, but part of A conscious staging. And behind that image of manipulator there was a man who – right or wrong he was – thought he protected Elviseven at the cost of imprisoning it.
According to Guralnick, he saw himself as the protector. Even when it was the Secondino, perhaps this is precisely the key to understanding Colonel Parker, the first great rock manager, and the first to teach that every musical legend needs a villain.
