Backup Singer Shares Elvis’ More Tender Gospel Side

c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) If the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll is known for anything, it might be the gyrating hips, the troubling addictions, the kitsch of Graceland. But the Elvis Presley remembered by Joe Moscheo, a gospel singer who sang backup vocals for Presley as a member of the Imperials, was a […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) If the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll is known for anything, it might be the gyrating hips, the troubling addictions, the kitsch of Graceland.

But the Elvis Presley remembered by Joe Moscheo, a gospel singer who sang backup vocals for Presley as a member of the Imperials, was a deeply spiritual man who would leave screaming fans, retreat to his hotel suite and croon old hymns until dawn.


“When he left the building,” Moscheo writes in his forthcoming book, “The Gospel Side of Elvis,” “most nights, Elvis wanted nothing more than to go somewhere with a few friends and a piano, a place they could gather to sing and listen to the gospel music that nourished the heart and soul of this American musical and cultural icon.”

Thirty years after his death, Presley is better known more for his spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame than his place in the Gospel Music Association (GMA) Hall of Fame.

But his gospel side is a rich one. Some of his first recordings were songs like “Softly and Tenderly (Jesus is Calling).” He won two Grammys for his gospel albums, “How Great Thou Art” and “He Touched Me,” and according to John Styll, president of GMA, there is the simple “fact that he loved gospel music.”

Even if his swiveling hips unsettled the conservative parents of his screaming teenage fans, his boundary-breaking music also got civil-rights era America “all shook up.” Just like the Jordanaires, one of the first southern gospel groups to incorporate rhythms and syncopations from black gospel, Presley embraced the music he loved without regard to color.

“Some of the people he admired most were African-American gospel singers,” said Moscheo, 69. “He admired them, embraced them, bragged about them. He was a student of their music. He learned a lot from them and gave them credit.”

Michael Bertrand, a history professor at Tennessee State University and author of “Race, Rock and Elvis,” believes Presley’s music _ especially the way he effortlessly integrated black musicians like the Sweet Inspirations into his acts _ prompted a younger generation to question their conventional prejudices.

“Suddenly you have kids questioning: `I really like this (music). Why should I not like this? What’s the big deal, why shouldn’t I have African-American background singers?”’ Bertrand said.


Presley, who was raised in a soul-filled Assembly of God church in East Tupelo, Miss., eventually had to abandon regular church attendance as his popularity skyrocketed. After he nearly started a fan frenzy one Easter Sunday at the First Assembly of God Church in Memphis, he decided to limit his spiritual diet to gospel music recordings and Sunday sermons from his favorite TV preacher, Rex Humbard.

That’s why, Moscheo speculates, Presley’s after-hours gospel singing and his well-worn gospel records gained greater significance for Presley as a sort of personal time with God.

As his career progressed, though, he began experimenting with numerology and astrology, drifting away from the orthodoxy proclaimed in his favorite hymns.

But Moscheo maintains that Presley never departed from his Christian roots.

“I feel like it was mostly curiosity,” Moscheo said of Presley’s involvement in alternative spirituality. “He didn’t ever give up notion that he was a Christian. … He knew his roots and what his mother had taught him.”

Nevertheless, Presley took a downward turn in the mid-1970s. After years in the spotlight as America’s favorite performer, a painful divorce, weight gain and dependence on prescription drugs unraveled Presley’s personal life.

Moscheo recalled the night in 1975 when he visited his friend’s hotel room. He brought a copy of the Living Bible, an easy-to-read translation of the Scriptures.


“I told him, `I know you’re having trouble, it’s obvious,” he said. “You don’t need to keep looking around, all your questions are answered here, in simple language.”’

Presley appeared appreciative of the gift. But not long afterward, on Aug. 16, 1977, he was found lifeless in a bathroom at his beloved Graceland, dead at age 42.

Now, 30 year later, Presley remains popular. Fortune magazine estimates his estate brings in about $40 million annually. About a dozen Presley books are set for release during the month of August alone, in addition to the countless already written about him.

For Moscheo, his friend will always be “the greatest gospel singer that ever lived.” And it’s not just because he connected with fans like no other performer could.

It’s also because the words, the inflection, the timing of his songs showed he connected with a higher power.

“When you’re praising God through a song, it comes through at the right time, with the right phrasing,” Moscheo said. “When it’s time for a word to be important, it comes out.”


Moscheo is eager to tell the overlooked story of Presley’s spiritual side. But he wishes it were a living tribute rather than a memorial.

“I just wish he had a chance to live out a full life,” he said. “He was just getting started. I don’t know why these things happen.”

KRE/LF END RINDELS850 words

Photos of Moscheo with Presley are available via https://religionnews.com

Editors: Moscheo turns 70 on Aug. 11 (7th graf); 30th anniversary of Presley’s death is Aug. 16

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