Born in England, she moved to America with her parents aged 10. And at the age of 17, while driving with friends down Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles one night in 1960, Elvis pulled up next to them in a black Rolls Royce at her life took a whole new turn. Patti never had a romantic relationship with Elvis, instead, she became a close friend and spent time around him through his years of making movies in Hollywood and was by Elvis' side during his first leather clad sit-down show in 1968 as part of his legendary NBC TV Special. You can see Patti wearing white at the the filming one of the sit-down shows. Patti once told the following about this show... "It was so amazing seeing him perform. I'd seen him sing at home but never live before and it was amazing. I went along with Priscilla & Joe's wife, Joannie Esposito. But Elvis wanted me to go down and sit near to him at the stage. It was truly incredible and every time he looked over at me he would have that unique smile and laugh a little. He was so nervous but at the same time he was really excited about doing it."
Patti was also there when the Beatles came to visit Elvis at the Perugia Way house...."It really wasn't that exciting. To be honest, they all sort of just stared at him. After a few minutes Elvis said, 'Well if you're just going to stare at me I'm going to bed' and that then broke the ice and then Elvis, John and the others started playing some music together."
Patti also became Elvis' occasional hairdresser, with one of her haircuts has becoming part of music history for all time..."Elvis was very unhappy about his haircut for the Aloha rehearsal show. Elvis wanted his hair cut properly and phoned Marty Lacker, who was in LA, got him to call me and before I knew what was happening Marty and I were on a plane to Hawaii. Once there I started to cut his hair and while I was he said to me, 'Patti, I feel really good and I've got really thin, look', and he really did look so beautiful didn't he? Marty Pasetta, the show producer, said to me that Elvis had never looked so great."
Almost everyone close to Elvis has written a book, why not Patti? "They keep bothering me to do that, but, y'know, there are too many things I know and I don't want to hurt a lot of people. Because, when I go on stage, I get to tell fun stories. And that's what I think is important ... Publishers want to hear the nasty stuff, and I'm not willing to do that.”
Billboard Charts
The CD 'An Afternoon In The Garden' drops one place from #123 to #124 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Charts and remains at #15 on the Catalog Album Charts for the week ending November 5, 2011.
(Source: Elvis Express / Bian Quinn)