Vintage Rock – September-October 2019

ELVIS IN

CONCERT

WITH THE ROYAL

PHILHARMONIC

ORCHESTRA

25 NOVEMBER Manchester Arena

26 NOVEMBER Cardiff Motorpoint Arena

27 NOVEMBER Birmingham Resorts World Arena

28 NOVEMBER Sheffi eld FlyDSA Arena

29 NOVEMBER Glasgow Hydro

1 DECEMBER London O2 Arena

father. But for so many years I’d wanted to
work with Elvis, and been too young. It took
me about three seconds. I said, ‘When?’ He
said, ‘Now.’
“I was hired as an assistant and travelling
companion. Over the years, I worked my
way up to fi lm editing and producing, and
opening Elvis’ fi lm company, TCB Films.
“My prayer was always just to be his
friend, but Elvis gave me the opportunity to
do a lot of things. I was there when he met
Nixon and there when he met The Beatles.
From a creative point of view, to be able to
work with a genius like Elvis on fi lms like
Elvis On Tour is the ultimate that I could
ever have dreamed of.”

SCHILLING’S CHILDHOOD WAS

marred by the death of his mother when
he was a baby. He was brought up by
grandparents and aunts, and credits Elvis
with giving him the fi rst place that really
felt like home, when he invited him to live
in a room at Graceland. Later, in 1974, Elvis

bought Schilling a house that he still lives

in today.

“He said, ‘You know, Jerry, you never had

a home and I wanted to be the one to give

it to you.’” Schilling recalls. “I was stunned,

but that was the kind of friend he was.”

After Presley’s death, Schilling went on

to manage Jerry Lee Lewis and The Beach

Boys, who he’s still handling today.

Does Jerry ever wish he’d pursued

his original ambition of becoming a

history teacher?

“I kind of think I am,” he answers. “I

produce a lot of documentaries. We just had

the HBO series, Elvis Presley: The Searcher.

I produced it with Tom Hindley and

Priscilla Presley. We talked about all the

infl uences and the history of how Elvis

got started.

“When you look at it, even if you do

an interview about Elvis, you’re trying in

your own humble way to educate people

about how this music came about, why

it’s important, and how it infl uenced the

relationship of human beings in the 1950s

and 60s.

“I think people forget that before he

became a household name, Elvis was

criticised by church leaders and politicians.

He took that very hard, and it’s ironic that

it came around to him doing more to bring

people together than the politicians or

church leaders.”

After Elvis’ death, Jerry

managed the King’s

daughter, Lisa Marie

Elvis In Concert