Two months prior to the official release of the
book "The Gospel Side of Elvis" by the
Imperials's bass singer Joe Moscheo, we were
sent the advance copy. No doubt that this is one
of THE books that thousands of fans are waiting
for this summer. After all, Elvis was born to
sing Gospel, and strangely enough no one of his
Gospel singers ever wrote a balanced account of
his life and work, from the Gospel perspective.
Review THE GOSPEL SIDE OF ELVIS by Elvismatters
2007 promises to be a historic Elvis year. It
seems as if Elvis books are being released
almost on a daily basis. �Inside Double
Trouble�, �Tupelo�s Own�, �Elvis Straight Up�,
�Still Taking Care of Business�, �Elvis Is Back,
� all of them proof of the ongoing Presley
Power. There�s nothing wrong with the flood of
�new� books, as long as we � the fans � pick the
right ones, and leave the others untouched.
After all, we can spend our money only once �
right?
One of the books that has been announced for
quite some time now, is �The Gospel Side of
Elvis� by Joe Moscheo. I had the privilege of
reading the advance copy. The actual book is
scheduled for release on August 7th, for Elvis
Week.
Let me start by giving you a brief introduction
to Joe Moscheo, for those who don�t know who he
is. Joe (Albany NY, August 11, 1937) joined the
Imperials in 1964. Three years prior, he had
already met Elvis at a Quartet Convention in
Memphis, where Joe played piano for the
Harmoneers. Joe recorded with Elvis in the
studio (including the sessions for the Grammy
award winning album �How Great Thou Art�) and on
stage � from album recordings to the
rockumentary �That�s The Way It Is�. Joe worked
with Elvis for the better part of 4 years. He
was one of the singers at Elvis�s funeral, and
is still �working� for the Man, as backing
vocalist for the screen shows. He travels all
over the world to perform at Elvis and Gospel
conventions. Joe was also the producer of the
highly acclaimed DVD �He Touched Me� and the
recently released live DVD �Elvis Lives�,
featuring Elvis�s former band mates.
And now, he�s the author of �The Gospel Side Of
Elvis�. For those who know him, it�s probably no
surprise that Joe took the time to write this
book. After all, he �s an authority on Gospel
music � he still serves as a permanent board
member of the GMA Board of Directors � and it
was gospel that bound him and Elvis together.
One could expect that �The Gospel Side of Elvis�
is aimed at the core fans only � the die hards
that flock to Graceland at least once a year,
and know every detail of Elvis�s career by
heart. But it�s not. Joe wants to share his
memories with everybody who is touched by
Elvis�s voice � not �just� the fans, but the
millions of people who simply like Elvis�s music
and want to know more about the gospel influence
on Elvis�s music. Therefore, I wouldn�t call
this an �in-depth� study of Elvis Presley�s
gospel roots. It�s a journey through history,
seen through the eyes of someone who was there.
Well written, detailed and well-researched. But
a �music bible� it is not.
Everybody by now knows how much Elvis loved
Gospel. Joe explores that influence: Gladys
always made time for bible instruction, he
illustrates how deeply religious Elvis was
throughout his career, how he always found
comfort in gospel music, and how it helped to
ease his pain. At the same time, Joe tells his
story: how he, as an �Italian boy� discovered
the joy of gospel music, and how that would
change his life forever. First as pianoplayer
for the Harmoneers, later as key figure in the
world famous Imperials Quartet.
In his book, Joe shares several personal moments
with Elvis: their first meeting 46 years ago,
the night he was asked to back Elvis on stage in
Vegas, or the evening he saw Elvis pray on his
knees, asking God for strength to do the show.
Joe fondly remembers the many nights that the
Imperials sang gospel in Elvis�s suite until
daylight, the �secret code� Elvis and the back
up singers shared � and even the fee they agreed
to: 1,000 dollars per musician per week plus
expenses. It�s these kind of details that make
the book so powerful: the story is easy to
follow, yet devoted fans find new information on
almost every page. I for one didn�t know that
Elvis, right before curtain time, would always
ask one of the people standing nearby to lead
him in a prayer for the show. The way Joe
describes that scene almost gives you the
feeling as if you were there with him: �With
eyes closed and heads bowed we would join
together to ask for the ability to accomplish
successfully what we had prepared to do.� I mean
� imagine: the world�s biggest super star,
bowing his head and asking God for help. That
too, is magic. Or, the night when Elvis, in all
his generosity would hand out exquisite custom
made wrist watches to the group. As Joe recalls,
his didn�t run. �So I went down to E�s dressing
room, knocked on the door, and I said �Elvis,
this watch is beautiful and I really appreciate
it and all that, but it won�t run.� Without
skipping a beat, Elvis said �I just give �em
away, I don�t fix �em�.� Brilliant!
The Imperials stopped working for Elvis in 1971,
and were replaced by JD Sumner and the Stamps
Quartet. Although Joe wasn�t there with Elvis in
the late seventies, he can almost feel the pain
Elvis must have gone through. In the book, he
writes that his deepest regret during that time
was that so many who cared deeply for Elvis were
unable, for various reasons, to reach out to him
as effectively as they would have wished. The
final blow came when his bodyguards published
the gossip book �What Happened�. Joe recalls:
�Elvis even lost his desire to sing gospel.
This, in itself, indicates how great his misery
must have been since even his beloved gospel
music seemed to have little remaining value for
him.�
The last time Joe sang for Elvis, was on August
18th 1977 at the funeral.
Undoubtedly, there are many more gospel links to
be explored. It would be fascinating to hear
Dolores Hart � �Mother Dolores� � talk about
Elvis through her eyes. Or Dixie Locke, who
Elvis dated in 1953-55, before he climbed to
stardom. Dixie is an assistant to the local
pastor and deeply religious. She knew Elvis from
church, and even accompanied him to his audition
for the Songfellows Quartet. Her story of the
�young Christian� Elvis would have been a
perfect addition to the book. But then again,
that was not the goal of this book. The �Gospel
Side� is not the Elvis Gospel bible � instead
it�s a personal view on an extraordinary
entertainer who never lost his belief in the
Lord and who touched millions all over the world
with his God given talent.
Elvis would have been extremely proud of this
book, knowing that it was written with love and
respect, with friendship and devotion for the
man and the artist that he was. One sentence in
the preface says it all: Let me state that I
truly believe Elvis was the greatest Gospel
singer of all time.
So, is this book worth buying? If you love
Elvis, if you care for his Gospel music, if you
want to take a closer look into the influence of
Gospel music on his life and career � this book
is simply a must.
The foreword of the book is by Priscilla Presley
� the best possible indication of the
appreciation for both Joe Moscheo and his book.
Posted: 10th. June. 2007