Colonel Tom Parker

His name wasn’t Thomas Andrew Parker; he wasn’t a colonel (that title was bestowed upon him by the Governor of Tennessee), and he wasn’t even born in America. His origins remain shrouded in mystery, and this mystery burnishes the myths that have emerged about him – among them the allegation that he murdered a greengrocer’s wife (Anna van den Enden) in his native Netherlands in 1929.

Colonel Tom Parker began life as Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk on 26 June 1909, in the small Dutch city of Breda, the seventh of eleven children in a staunchly Catholic family.

As a boy, he worked as a barker at carnivals, acquiring many of the entrepreneurial skills that would serve him well later on.

His father died when Andreas was sixteen, and he went to live with an uncle, a ship’s captain. Sometime later, the ambitious teenager set out for America to make his fortune, entering the country illegally.

During this brief first visit, he travelled with a tent show run by the Chautauqua educational movement, before returning home.

He left for America and adopted a different name in 1929. His family knew nothing of his whereabouts until more than forty years later, when they saw his photograph in a magazine.

In pursuit of his American Dream, Andreas learned to speak English, hitched rides on railroad cars, had a stint as a salesman and then joined the army, assuming the identity of Tom Parker from the officer who interviewed him. He served with the coastal artillery at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii.

Back on civvy street, he joined the Royal American Shows, a cross-country carnival which featured rollercoasters, freaks and novelty animal acts. Among the latter was Colonel Parker and His Amazing Dancing Chickens, a routine in which he concealed a hot plate under the poultry’s feet and set them hopping to the tune Turkey in the Straw.

The carny experience came in useful when, in 1938, he started helping out crooner Gene Austin. Despite having sold over 86 million records since 1924, and earning a cool $17 million (much of which he spent on partying, cars, mansions and women), Austin’s popularity was on the wane, having been eclipsed by new kids on the block like Bing Crosby.

Parker went into promotional overdrive and soon revived Austin’s show business stock. But it would be another few years before he would commit fully to the entertainment industry, during which time Parker got a job as a dog catcher in Tampa, and failed in his attempts to start both a pet cemetery and pony circus.

One of Parker’s early clients was country singer Eddy Arnold, and while he helped to considerably boost Arnold’s profile, he did so for a 25% cut of his earnings. Arnold fired him in 1953 – after eight years together – because of Parker’s burgeoning professional relationship with Canadian artist Hank Snow.

Parker and Snow formed Hank Snow Enterprises and Jamboree Attractions, a booking agency, in Nashville, Tennessee. It was through the agency that he first heard about an exciting prospect called Elvis Presley, when fellow promoter Oscar Davies recommended that Parker see the boy in action. He immediately spotted the potential.

Elvis was already being looked after by Bob Neal and produced by Sam Phillips at Sun Records.

Initially, Parker booked him as part of a package tour headlined by his business partner, Snow, but increasingly he became a prominent figure among Elvis’s backroom team.

In 1955, Parker cut a deal which saw the singer switch from Sun to RCA for an unprecedented $35,000, and set up his own publishing company.

Snow was under the impression that, as part of the deal, Elvis was on the Jamboree Attractions roster, only to find out he was still under Neal’s guidance.

So when Neal agreed with Parker to release Elvis when his management contract expired in March 1956, Parker stepped into the breach to become his sole representative. Snow was told by the Colonel, “You don’t have any contact with Elvis Presley. Elvis is signed exclusively to the Colonel.”

Parker was an autocratic manager. His commission was reputedly 50% of Elvis’s gross earnings. But that also meant that what he did was specific: Parker did everything.

Only after he took over did Presley’s career – and rock ‘n’ roll – begin to boom. Certainly, it was Parker who engineered Elvis’s move from tiny Sun Records to giant RCA, who made the television appearances possible, and who engineered Presley’s movie career.

Parker indisputably turned Elvis into a star and a brand. There were appearances on US television prime time flagships The Milton Berle Show and The Ed Sullivan Show for big bucks. And there was a merchandising tie-up with Beverly Hills merchandiser Hank Saperstein for nearly $40,000, with seventy-plus ranges, from charm bracelets to record players.

That the long-term effect of Parker’s career direction was disastrous is also archetypally perfect.

Parker was a great manager in that he maximised the income deriving from Presley’s talent. He was a disaster in terms of his meddling with the artistic direction of Elvis’s music.

He suppressed Presley’s artistic ambitions in a glut of forgettable, formulaic Hollywood movies.

Elvis wanted to pursue serious parts, but Parker had other ideas. He persuaded him to sing, thus creating opportunities to cross-promote singles and albums with the movies.

He contracted the singer to more than 800 shows in Las Vegas between 1969 and 1976, and insisted he keep touring at a time when his health was rapidly declining.

Some of Parker’s financial exploitation became apparent after RCA bought out Elvis’ royalties on his back catalogue in 1973. Parker, it emerged, pocketed a cool $6 million from the deal – $1.5 million more than his client.

Following Elvis’ death in August 1977, the extent of Parker’s negligent duty of care became apparent.

It emerged that Elvis had lost out on millions of dollars in royalties on songs where he was credited as composer or co-composer, because Parker had advised him against joining either performing rights organisation ASCAP or BMI.

The Elvis Presley Estate sued him for mismanagement. Parker countersued in response, and the case was settled out of court in 1983, with the estate paying the Colonel $2 million, terminating his Elvis-related income for five years and demanding the handing over of audio tapes and visual images he possessed.

Parker suffered a stroke and died in Valley Hospital, Las Vegas, on 21 January 1997. He was 87.