Alanna Nash posted on her Facebook page the sad news of the passing of Marty Lacker, a Member of Elvis Presley's Memphis Maffia.
Alanna Nash: Never was a man more dedicated to the truth as he saw it. My very deepest sympathies to the family of Marty Lacker, who joined Elvis today in the rock and roll hereafter. He was 80. Never was a man more dedicated to the truth as he saw it.
I'll miss you, Marty. Say hello to Lamar for me, will you? And Elvis, too?".
On December 28, Marty Lacker replied to a Facebook friend named Maurice Elliott and explained what had happened to him and made him end up in hospital.
Marty Lacker: "For those who have wondered where I am and why I have not posted on my own page, I've been in the hospital since Tuesday of last week [December 20] due to a stupid accident. From here I go to rehab for another couple of weeks...Maurice,I pulled the clothes dryer door too hard that had been stuck. It threw me off balance across the room and against the wall. I fell straight down on my butt resulting on the impact bruising my butt and kidney on my right side. It's painful as hell."
The Memphis based Commercial Appeal wrote today:
If not for Marty Lacker, Elvis might never have gone to American Studios in 1969 to record the landmark "From Elvis in Memphis" record.
If not for Mr. Lacker, then, the world might never have had such Presley hits as "Suspicious Minds" — The King's last chart-topper — and "In the Ghetto," among many others.
"Marty was working for me and he was still in close with Elvis," the late Chips Moman, who founded American, told The Commercial Appeal in 2009. "So Marty was talking to me about Elvis and talking to Elvis about me and slowly bringing us together. He's really the one that got that album to take place."
Mr. Lacker, a member of The King's famed Memphis Mafia and one of the best men at Elvis's 1967 wedding, died Monday after suffering from kidney failure. He was 80. He's the second member of the Memphis Mafia to die in recent months, following the November 2016 death of Joe Esposito, the other best man at Elvis' wedding.
"He went to school with (Elvis), that’s how they met. My dad was from New York, the Bronx, and he dressed just like Elvis did. They just formed a bond of friendship through that. They always took up for each other. Both of them went into the army and afterwards, a good friend of his re-introduced them and he went to work for him," said Mr. Lacker's son, Mark. "They were like brothers. They respected each other."
Mr. Lacker also worked in the music business both during his time with Elvis and after The King's 1977 death. In 1967, Lacker helped launch Pepper Records and went on to become American Studios' vice president and business manager. In the early '70s, Lacker also helped co-found the local Grammy chapter and also served as the chairman of the original Memphis and Shelby County Music Commission.
"A big thing that I wanted to accomplish was to organize the music industry in town. Memphis was not a very organized city; everybody did their own thing," Lacker told the newspaper in 2010. "At the end of the day, you can't underestimate what the music that came out of Memphis has brought to this city."
(Source: FECC / Alana Nash / Commercial Appeal)
I Got A Woman (Live At Eagles Hall, Houston, Texas) - Tweedle Dee (Live In Gladewater, Texas) - Fool, Fool, Fool (KDAV Radio, Lubbock, Texas) - Shake, Rattle And Roll (KDAV Radio, Lubbock, Texas)
The MxF import release "Let Me... Sing Again", containing the previously unreleased Dinner Show performance from August 14, 1973, has been released. The limited edition CD - 400 copies - comes in three versions; a Limited Edition Box, a Cut & Crucifold Edition and a standard CD edition.
1. Elvis Introduction / Only Believe (With unused horns overdubbed June 8, 1970) (2:55) 2. I, John (T-2 Undubbed Master June 10, 1971) (2:15) 3. Life (T-20 Undubbed Master June 6, 1970) (3:07) 4. Reach Out To Jesus (T-9 Undubbed June 9, 1971) (3:08) 5. He Is My Everything (Undubbed Master June 9, 1971) (2:39) 6. He Knows Just What I Need (T-9 Undubbed October 30, 1960) (2:10) 7. Swing Down Sweet Chariot (Undubbed Movie Version October 23, 1969) (2:15) 8. We Call On Him (T-3 Undubbed September 11, 1967) (2:33) 9. Padre (Undubbed Spliced Master May 16, 1971) (2:29) 10. Elvis Introduction / You’ll Never Walk Alone (Extended Master September 11, 1967) (3:52)
The re-issue of "A Date With Elvis" as a double CD in the Classic Album series contains contains masters, outtakes and home recordingsmade during his Army time in Germany.