Colonel Tom Parker, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Colonel Tom Parker

Dutch entertainment impresario

Date of Birth: 26-Jun-1909

Place of Birth: Breda, North Brabant, Netherlands

Date of Death: 21-Jan-1997

Profession: impresario, talent manager, talent agent

Nationality: United States, Kingdom of the Netherlands

Zodiac Sign: Cancer


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About Colonel Tom Parker

  • Thomas Andrew "Colonel Tom" Parker (born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk; June 26, 1909 – January 21, 1997) was the Dutch-born manager of Elvis Presley.
  • Their partnership was uniquely successful, Elvis being an entirely new force in popular music, and Parker an entrepreneur able to market him. At age 18, Parker had arrived in America by jumping ship, and never held a US passport, even when the 1940 Alien Registration Act would have entitled him to one.
  • This is attributed to his uncertain legal status, possibly connected to police inquiries about a murder in his native Breda.
  • To the puzzlement of overseas fans, he never worked abroad for fear of apprehension, nor did he allow Elvis to tour overseas.
  • While Presley was stationed in West Germany during his two-year Army service from 1958 to 1960, Parker never left the borders of the United States.
  • Parker's Dutch birthplace and immigrant status was not revealed for many years. A carnival worker by background, Parker moved into music promotion, earning the courtesy rank of ‘Colonel’ from a grateful singer Jimmie Davis, who had become the Governor of Louisiana.
  • After discovering the teenage Tommy Sands, Parker discovered the then-unknown Elvis Presley in 1955, and skillfully maneuvered himself into position as his sole representative with control over much of his private life.
  • Within months, he had won Presley a recording contract with the prestigious RCA Victor record label, made him a star in 1956 with his first single "Heartbreak Hotel", negotiated lucrative merchandising deals, and made plans for TV appearances as well as a new career as an actor in film musicals. When Presley was drafted into the US Army in 1958, Parker was shrewd enough to see that military service would boost his image, and made no attempt to stop his posting to Germany.
  • He also judged correctly that public demand would be whetted by his two-year absence, and he stage-managed a triumphal homecoming rail-tour to Memphis. But the 1960s would impact hard on Elvis's public and private life.
  • The youth market was suddenly being taken over by a new British band called The Beatles.
  • The films became low-budget production-line work, however profitable.
  • Also, Elvis's bachelor live-in arrangement with the teenage Priscilla Beaulieu, against her father's wishes, threatened a possible image crisis, and Parker urged at marriage.
  • By the end of the decade, Elvis had gone back on tour, but years of binge-eating and unofficially prescribed drugs had ruined his health, and Parker, realizing there was little profit margin left in Presley, saw very little of Presley before his death in August 1977. Parker continued to manage the Presley estate, but he had unwisely sold the rights to Elvis's early recordings, which would have ensured a steady income.
  • In 1980, a judge ordered an investigation into Parker's management practices and found Parker was unethical.
  • Meanwhile, his gambling problem increasingly eroded the huge fortune he had built up by claiming over 50% of Presley's earnings, and he died in obscurity worth only $1,000,000.

Read more at Wikipedia

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