Legendary music creator Elvis Presley brought consumers original best-selling hits such as “Hound Dog” and “Jailhouse Rock,” which combined country, rhythm and blues, and rock 'n' roll, with his sound and charisma. Both sexes were rewarded. He has hysterical fans.
Presley was a pioneer in youth music at the same time Patsy Cline was creating the country-pop crossover and Ray Charles was creating a groundbreaking soul bridge. The King of Rock and Roll was a cultural icon in both the music and television industries of the 1950s.
Presley reportedly suffered greatly in the months leading up to his sudden death on August 16, 1977.
“He was really heavy,” author and Presley's former bodyguard Ted Pryor told Fox News Digital.
“Elvis was so heavy that he didn't even want to be touched because he was always sweating and had a fever,” he said.
Pryor, a super middleweight kickboxing champion, was hired by Presley's team because he was a world champion.
“When Elvis was in the military as a young man, he learned a little bit of martial arts and was obsessed with it,” Pryor said. “I was very excited to be the bodyguard of the King.”
Pryor and his friend Joe were training Florida law enforcement, FBI, and Drug Enforcement Administration agents in field self-defense when they received a call from Presley's team offering him a job as bodyguards on a tour of the United States. received.
“He had to start touring because his manager ran out of money gambling,” he added of Presley's then-manager, Col. Tom Parker.
The kickboxing duo traveled with “The King” across the country to Tennessee, Florida, New York and California, but never outside the country.
“Elvis never traveled outside of the United States,” Pryor said. “Elvis's manager, there was a reason he kept him in America. He had a gambling problem.”
Presley's weight gain has been widely analyzed in the decades since his death, but women flocked to the “It's Now or Never” singer as he deftly weaved his way through the crowd onto the stage.
“Women would often run up to the stage,” Pryor told FOX News Digital. “It was interesting because you would end up in a choke hold around their waists. We slowly brought them to the floor and a young bodyguard took them away.”
Pryor said the men used takedown techniques to fight off three to four women at a time, and one woman, given a scarf by Presley himself, used the accessory to strangle Pryor. That's what it means.
“She was trying to get close to Elvis,” he said. “She put it around my neck and started strangling me.”
Pryor and Joe were unknowingly by his side on what would become the last tour of his life until they received sudden news that would later shock and have devastating effects on the world. Presley's death was so shocking that former President Jimmy Carter issued a public statement regarding his death in Memphis.
“It wasn't a good decision,” Pryor said. “I think the whole world was shocked when that happened.”
Pryor looked back fondly on his time with Presley, saying the vocalist treated his bodyguards “really well” and was “nice” to them, even though he was “grumpy” overall.
“He lost his mother, he lost his wife, he was bitter towards women,” Pryor said.
