July 13 - Ger Rijff Has Left The Building

Elvis Presley fan, expert, author and (bootleg) producer Ger "Tall-Hair" Rijff has died. He was 67. Ger Rijff made his mark on the Elvis World by producing more than twenty books on Elvis Presley, featuring many unearthed photo's that are totally cool to this day.

Ger Rijff's son Jamie's posted a message on his fathers Facebook page that Ger Rijff has "left the building".

Dear friends,

My father has passed away last saturday. An absolute unexpected tragedy. He is known for his knowledge, creativity and kindness (and justly grumpyness on his Rijffster page). He was and will be my best buddy, I can’t describe how much he will be missed. Dad has taught me some of the most important things in life: a great taste in music and the importance of freedom.

Please show some respect to Ger and me, do NOT send any Gifs with sparkles or Elvis angels (or any of these crappy things Dad hated). He might come and haunt you if you do so! Ha, love you Dad, go and get ‘em.

“When the broken-hearted people, living in the world agree, there will be an answer, Let it Be” - The Fab Four (whom where as good as the King).


On the Elvis Information Network his legacy was summed up nicely:

Before the FTD label, before The Elvis Files, the MRS and Boxcar books there was Ger Rijff and Tutti Frutti productions. Ger "Tall-Hair" Rijff was one of the first classic Elvis super-collectors and publishers. He visited the RCA vaults along with a young Ernst Jorgensen and Roger Semon in the early 1990s and they all went on to publish stunning Elvis products.

Ger helped obsessive Elvis fans dreams come true via some truly magical and original books and music releases. Ger Rijff published the classic 'Long Lonely Highway' "A pictorial coverage of a rock-Odyssey through 1050's America", as well as other top-rated books such as 'Inside Jailhouse Rock', "Florida Close Up', '60 Million TV Viewers Can't Be Wrong', 'Inside King Creole' and 'The Hottest Thing That's Cool'. His legendary books and "Boot" productions helped push Ernst Jorgensen to create FTD as a quality publishing house.

Anyone who worked with him knew that Ger certainly had "his moments" but when he was on good form he was a scream! Ger was also one of the best artists and cartoonists around. Ger Rijff also helped work with Bob Pakes with setting-up the wonderful website 'Elvis: Echoes Of The Past'. 

Bob Pakes writes today, "Ger Rijff was the absolute leading expert on 50's dates and photos! No one even came close. And Ger was the first with his classic and specialized books. Before FTD and Lorentzen started publishing specialized books, Ger had done it all.
Same can be said with regard to the boot market: Ger's labels were the absolute best! I will always vividly remember waiting for the postman to bring me the latest boot with all new and extremely rare music, in the coolest designed covers! Ah, those were the days!
But those days are gone. Forever. Nowadays books are much less exciting when compared to Ger's titles. And the boots, even the best FTD releases, can simply not be compared to the stuff Ger put out in the glory days of Elvis boots!
Those days are gone. - And Ger is gone.

What this guy has achieved and what he is leaving behind ... well, no one comes close."

A message from him recently said, "Although Im really falling apart, and should be asleep now, I had to share the story with you guys. Rijff is everywhere ! : ) bye!" 

Paul Dowling remembers:

I'll never forget the first trade we had. I thought he was going to send me the "Love Me Tender" EP from France but when I received the package it was actually the still very rare "Love Me Tender" EP from Belgium! I was overjoyed as, at that time, maybe 1974, I had no idea it even existed.

But of course Gerry was a big help to my ex partner Sam Theaker (aka Vic Colonna) and me when we were making all of our bootleg LP's. He not only supplied us with the great 'From The Waste Up" insert drawing but he also designed the "Million Dollar Quartet" LP cover for us. Later on when the FBI was breathing down our necks and we were out of the bootleg industry I sent him the rehearsal tape from the "'68 TV Special" (which I had received from Jerry Hopkins) and he put it out on a great bootleg which I think was called "Play It Hot". I know we sent him the slide which he used for that LP.

Elvis author and specialist Gordon Minto worked with Ger Rijff on multiple projects over the years, he adds his condolences.:

"Ger was a legendary figure in the Elvis-world when I got to know him back in the 1980s, so it was particularly thrilling to meet with him and become friends, subsequently sharing some great times both in England and Holland. In the 1990s though, he invited me to write the text for his 60 Million Elvis TV Fans … book about Elvis’s appearances on the Ed Sullivan shows.   I also worked on Inside Jailhouse Rock - though for  reasons not relevant here,  Jim Hannaford received the main writing credit. I also did a number of sleeve notes for some of his ‘alternative’ CD releases! What was he like to work with?  Really good - I had almost complete freedom to write whatever I wanted. I felt we connected - he liked my writing and I loved his artwork and ability to find really stunning photographic material to share with dedicated fans.  In summary, he had great creative energy - producing some of the most wonderful Elvis product ever issued - most of which stands the test of time and remains relevant today.

He was one-of-a-kind, a maverick who was less interested in commercial success than producing high quality Elvis releases for fellow fans. If only more people adopted that principled approach nowadays … RIP my friend."

(Source: FECC / Jamie Rijff / Elvis Information Network / FECC / World Wide Elvis)