Overview

• Guralnick accessed tens of thousands of Colonel Parker’s personal letters in the Graceland archive that serve as the foundation of “The Colonel and the King.”
• The correspondence reveals Parker’s meticulous oversight of Presley’s business affairs and his refusal to interfere in the singer’s artistic decisions despite pressure from record and film executives.
• Parker and Presley jointly agreed on key career moves, including endorsing Elvis’s 1958 Army service and pursuing a bilateral film strategy to support the singer after his mother’s death.
• Born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk in Holland, Parker’s rise from carnival promoter to coveted manager underscores his unerring promotional instincts and passion for show business.
• Reaction to the biography has reignited critical and fan debates over Parker’s influence on Presley’s career and the accuracy of long-held myths about the manager’s role.