Elvis - a Gospel singer?: Elvis Presley is firmly seated on the throne as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, but his love for gospel music could have prevented it, according to one-time Blackwood Brothers member and Gospel Hall of Fame inductee Rick Price.
“Our kind of music has been around for well over 100 years,” Price said. “There used to be a company called the Stamps Music Company, and they sold song books.”
The song books, Price said, contained music written with shape notes, a form of notation in which the notes are represented by shapes to make the songs easier to learn.“One of their (the Stamps Music Company’s) ideas was to start a singing group,” Price said. “They started something called the Stamps Quartet. The quartet cycled through various members through the years, filling the lead, tenor, baritone and bass positions classic to the genre
“The Blackwood Brothers ended up buying the Stamps Music Company (including the Stamps Quartet) in the ’60s. That’s the group that backed Elvis,” Price said, “so there’s always been a connection to Elvis with Blackwood.”
The Stamps Quartet replaced the Imperials as Elvis’ backing singers and toured with Elvis through most of the 1970s. However, that was after Elvis had made it as a solo act, and Price said the Blackwood Brothers’ ties to the King began even earlier.“Cecil Blackwood had a group with Elvis back in the ’50s,” Price said, then clarified the two weren’t actually in a band at the same time. Cecil Blackwood, Price said, was in a gospel band called the Songfellows. Presley was pursuing his music career at the time and was interested in joining the group.
Elvis’ chance to be a Songfellow came following the tragic death of Blackwood Brothers baritone R.W. Blackwood in a plane crash in 1954, when Cecil Blackwood left the Songfellows to take his older brother’s position in the Blackwood Brothers, Price said. However, Elvis was unable to accept the offer to join the Songfellows because the contract he had with Sun Records had just been sold to RCA, who would not release Elvis, Price said.
“Elvis went to Sun Records to try to get out of his contract when it happened,” Price said, “and he couldn’t get out.”
Elvis went on with his highly successful musical career, and the Blackwood Brothers continued on their path to be the first inductees to the Gospel Hall of Fame. The Blackwood Brothers and Elvis remained friends, though, and stayed in touch through the years.
“(The Blackwood Brothers) would go to his house, and they would sing gospel music all night long,” Price said. “He loved quartet music. He always said he wanted to be a quartet singer. “When (Elvis’) mother died back in the ’60s, he hired a plane so the Blackwood Brothers could sing at her funeral. They ended up singing about 13 or 14 songs.”
The friendship the two musical acts shared was long-lasting, and when Elvis died in 1977, Price said, some of the Blackwood Brothers even sang at his funeral. Price was never fortunate enough to meet Elvis, having joined the Blackwood Brothers close to the time of the King’s death, but, he said, “they would tell me all kinds of stories.”
News, Source: Sean Hart, The Argus Observer / Elvisinfonet
I haven't gotten it yet either, but it is definitely on my ever growing list for the same reason as you stated, for the bonus featues.