I've come across the front page of the UK paper the Daily Mirror with the headline Elvis Presley is Dead, written by Anthony Delano in New York.
What really grabbed my attention was the following paragraph which is news to me, I haven't heard or read it anywhere else, yet I admit I haven't read most publications on Elvis, was this an open secret or just plain gossip?
An ambulance raced Elvis to the Baptist Hospital in Memphis, where he had been recently treated for a liver complaint, eye failure and - it was an open secret - addiction to amphetamines and heroin.
It's the last point I'm having trouble believing.
I don't think he was ever into hard drugs. He always thought that the prescription pills were ok because it was from a doctor. I also know that he did try marijuana and LSD but was afraid the marijuana would hurt his voice and he didn’t like what the LSD did to him. I have heard that the guys did use liquid cocaine but again that was prescribed by a doctor.
Love Elvis...The Greatest
RIP Tommy
The rumours about his alleged heroin abuse started mid-late 1974 and Elvis addressed the heroin rumour head-on in the Desert Storm concert.
It's a rumour without any foundation at all and I've never given it any creedence whatsoever.
At this time tabloids were printing all kinds of nonsense and gossip about Elvis death. There were lots of ridiculous claims being made to explain his death by the News Of The World , The Sun & Daily Mirror in England. I remember the feeding frenzy in the weeks and months following Elvis death well. For example i remember them saying Elvis slid into a world of drugs and alcohol . Well we all know Elvis didnt drink , so you can see how much research they were putting into these pieces. Don't put any credence on anything you read in the tabloids from this time my friend.
Last edited by poor boy; 12-10-2012 at 11:44 AM.
I don't believe any news put out by the mainstream media but that particular statement, written as fact, should've been addressed legally with a libel suit. I don't buy any publications in the UK and haven't done for years, I know scandals sell newspapers, but that is just taking the mick.Originally Posted by poor boy
Re: Daily Mirror - 17th August 1977
In the mid to late 1970s, Elvis did (sadly) try harder drugs such as liquid cocaine, Demerol, Dilaudid (this sarted in '72) and in mid-July of 1973, Dr. Nick openly admitted to the MM that Elvis wasn't just a medical addict but that he was a hard addict. He supposedly had prescriptions written in the guys' names and had them delivered to Graceland. When Sonny West found out, he went ballistic on Elvis and told him to NEVER put ANYTHING in his name again.
I wouldn't put any credence in what Dr. Nick has to say.
Sadly, there are hospital records as well as statements from specialists who treated Elvis in October of 1973 that support Dr. Nick's assessment of Elvis and indicate that it was probably accurate.I wouldn't put any credence in what Dr. Nick has to say.
Last edited by JRtherealJR; 12-10-2012 at 05:12 PM.
I do have Desert Storm, is this the one where he says "I've never been strung out in my life"?
it certainly is Jen........I find it a right hoot....love to hear him kicking off 'You tell em El'
"NO-ONE, BUT NO-ONE,IS HIS EQUAL, OR EVER WILL BE. HE WAS, AND IS SUPREME".Mick Jagger
I had a quick listen on youtube earlier, can't believe I missed that reference though! I obviously listen to these monologues with half an ear
That's right. Desert Storm is a very interesting concert and Elvis actually sings very powerfully on almost all of the songs.
There's so much unusual dialogue in this show and it was one of the only times when Elvis opened up so much onstage about his divorce, the paternity suit, his health problems, the drugs stories in the movie magazines and more.
Even during the songs, Elvis makes some very unusual comments- particularly during IT'S MIDNIGHT and YOU GAVE ME A MOUNTAIN.
It's been a while since I listened to it, so I'm going to have to dig it back out and listen to it properly without interuption. Now that you've mentioned certain parts, my memory has been jogged but I honestly forgot about the drugs reference in that set. Going back to the Daily Mirror article, this is the first time in print I've read that rumour, is it anywhere else and it is because of the opioid factor of dialudid that people began to speculate about heroin?
Well, to me it seems like it was a rumour.. Although he seems disoriented and his eyes look expressionless on some photos from 1976-77, he never had this delirious gaze, which Keith Richards had during this interview, where he is obviously under the effect of heroin.. His looks in the distance, plus heroin addicts are extremely skinny because they don't eat usually.. well, as we know, this was not the case with Elvis..
Poke a little sock salad...
Gah, the state of his teethJohnny Depp wasn't lying when he said he took inspiration for Capt. Jack Sparrow from Keith Richards.
I agree, Elvis never had this 'mad' look in his eyes. The uppers must have been the culprit for the 'rant' in Desert Storm
The papers know only to well that you cannot libel a dead person so they just run amok. I remember some of the photo's they used in the newspapers around that time, they would use the absolute worst concert photo's they could find
Heroin? No way its just a newspaper in 77 rushing to tell the story and not coming close to checking the facts.
Elvis had a prescription drug problem and his mentality was that there was a pill, potion or prescribed treatment for everything.
If it came from a drug store and a doctor prescribed it-it was okay, if the dosage was 1....2 or 3 would work quicker and better.....
In the 50s his sleep problems should have been handled by other methods rather than-just give him some sleeping pills...1 a night-but .......2 or 3 will work quicker........then it became hard to wake up-so a doctor gave him pep pills 1 in the morning...........but 2 or 3 will work quicker and better.....the cycle starts.
Then he ages and gains weight studios help out with their doctors who know how to handle this problem - 1 appetite suppressant diet pill a meal (speed)....... but 2 or 3 will work quicker and better......harder now to sleep.....2 or 3 work better but 4-5 might work even faster........So then he began to try and see what might work better and quicker by researching drugs and wanting to try them to see if they would help with his lifestyle ....so sad such a shame.
Then you add in his own bodys DNA, his bad diet, his predilection to addiction etc.......how he got to 42 is the mystery to me.
Work in Progress!
You summed it up beautifully. It only took you a couple of paragraphs to say what a multitude of books have been trying to say.
I guess you could say Elvis suffered from the thing we all suffer from, we're human.
It does make you wonder though how guys like Jerry Lee Lewis and Keith Richardson have managed to survive.
I personally felt a little let down when it came out after his death what he'd been into. I knew it would open the flood gates for those who use to put him down to me. The only good thing about it was that it was kept hidden and didn't give any one an image to follow. What I mean is, we were all very impressionable in those days and cpied most of what Elvis did,his clothes, his moves, his voice. Most of the stars in those days had dark secrets but because of good publicists it was all kept hidden.
Of course then the Beatles came along and admitted to taking LSD. This really started a whole drug culture and kind of normalized it.
Look at the images the young kids have to follow today.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
