MEMPHIS, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 27, 2020--Elvis Week™ 2020 will mark the 43rd anniversary of Elvis’ passing and Graceland® is preparing for the gathering of Elvis fans and friends from around the world for the nine-day celebration of Elvis’ life. Performers include former members of JD Sumner and the Stamps Quartet, Bill Baize, Donnie Sumner, Larry Strickland and Ed Hill, and Elvis' … He says 'Ed where in the world did you get the f###ing farmer?'. You know not run ins but there were times I was privy to stand by and watch him gamble thousands of dollars at one time. Sorry to announce that it looks like I won’t be appearing at Elvis week this year. Plus add to the fact when ever he would sing he walk around the room. Then he's going around the room greeting everybody, everybody was like a family to him, he was hugging people and saying great to see you. “I’m a quartet singer. That changes on his new EP, "Legacy." We hope you enjoy it! “People have asked over the years why I’ve never recorded [solo] before — well, I’m a harmony singer, I’m a bass singer. But for some reason after I came along they stopped doing that I don't think he was feeling all that well. You know when I was about ten years old my dad took me to a gospel concert and I got to hear, at that time the top groups in the gospel music world. “My dad was a huge quartet fan in the late-'40s and early-'50s and he started taking me to gospel concerts,” says Strickland. I could get that cut down. Broke the ice and helped me to be able to calm down. But this is the truth. Where No One Stands Alone is a compilation album by American singer Did you always want to be an entertainer? This book is full of pictures and stories from Elvis Presleys Graceland in Memphis. I guess it was after I got out of high school in 1964. So I felt for sure I was going to be on the next plane. I do that and I sing once and a while with a gospel group called the classic sound quartet. “I’m a quartet singer. Felton Jarvis was the leader of our Nashville contingency, he was told there was a call. It really sank deep inside of me early as a young child. I wanted this job, so I was really staying to myself. That little gesture helped settle me. So I felt for sure I was going to be on the next plane. I did it was not until a year later, it was at the end of 1974. He was singing now or never. So everybody was looking over at me and snickering. Yes that was really big of him. He would usually turn to us and say you boys sing something for me and we would step out and do Sweet Sweet Spirit. But I hear everything that he says. When I heard that I mean my heart just went to my knees, what in the world have I done? I don’t know what it sold for then, but in 2017, it brought $4,400.. So, in 1974 Larry joined Elvis Presley on stage in Las Vegas as the bass singer for the Stamps Quartet, and 'Life,' he admits, 'would never be the same after that.' But I guess he didn't care, but when they got it back to the studio they just did wonders with it. Strickland was born in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1946 to a preacher father. More recently, the 74-year-old began to reconsider his position. Where you were born and raised? He was going around be real friendly and cordial, he finally came over to where I was standing and Ed Enoch. I bought records and a little record player and I'd put them on stand in my room for hours and sing those songs, learning and training my voice. I did it. So that was my moment in the sun. We weren't going anywhere, we just sitting there and touring it. The job with The Stamps also meant touring as part of Elvis Presley’s roadshow, which Strickland did for the last four years of The King's career. It stunned me for a minute, bam there he is! Elvis puts out his hand and shakes it and then he takes Ed and pulls him about three steps away from me but not far enough that I can't hear them. The record also has a country influence. What I wouldn't do to have something that was his. Mar 28, 2014 - Performance during intermission at the screening of Elvis' Aloha Concert in Memphis at the Orpheum Theatre August 16, 2013 More information Former Members of J D Sumner's STAMPS: Bill Baize, Donnie Sumner, Ed Hill, Larry Strickland. Well I had bought a pair, I thought they were really cool, I figured I was this really hip guy. Larry Strickland Music. “As I got older and started thinking about the things I had done, I wanted to leave something behind as part of my legacy and so I decided to make a record of my own,” he says, of his new EP, fittingly titled “Legacy.” Set for release on Friday, the disc's six tracks represent a survey of the music that has defined Strickland’s life and career. It was the second time that when we went to record. A revered bass vocalist, whose distinctive voice complimented Elvis Presley on stage and in the studio, Larry Strickland "continues to carry the torch for the music that he and Elvis, and so many others loved," ( The Commercial Appeal) with his first solo project, Legacy, available everywhere now. You guys head home and we will contact you with further information. Sumner would let him in the back door. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning. It was popular to wear for guys and girls these bib overalls. He came down one night and he just wasn't ready to sing, he said to me he was going through his closet and he wanted to get rid of a bunch of stuff. He liked to end it with a low note. Nobody bothered to tell me that Elvis, he hated them kind of cloths, he hated all kinds of denim. Most especially disliked bib overalls because as a child I think that's all that he had to wear. He came between Ed and me. So I had no clue about what was about to happen. (laughing). I was born in Raleigh North Carolina in 1946. Did you get one? The 30th Anniversary featured another duet by Elvis Presley and Lisa Marie Presley. He was our lead singer in the stamps. He made me do that about three or four times. … But I knew everything was going to be alright. So getting hired by him and working with him on the road was a huge thrill. He we are people close to him as anybody. A valued band member during the last two-and-a-half years of The King's career as part of J.D. One of the popular things that people were wearing, and I can't explain why. That's one one of my bad memories, we were all at the airport in Nashville waiting to get on the plane that was coming to take us to Portland Main. Elvis Week August 8-16 will mark the 43rd anniversary of Elvis’ passing and Graceland is preparing for Elvis fans and friends from around the world. So everybody was looking over at me and snickering. There was one time he wanted us to record, but we had a small gospel date scheduled. Another year we were working on thanksgiving and he came by and gave us an extra ten dollars. But he loved that sound, and so he always had a quartet — whether it was The Jordanaires, or The Imperials, or The Stamps — backing him up though the years.”. Ed turns to me and says Elvis I want you to meet Larry Strickland he is our new bass singer for the group. But I dreamed we were singing at a funeral, and so help me it wasn't more then three weeks later we were singing at Elvis' funeral. John Daniel Sumner (November 19, 1924 – November 16, 1998) was an American gospel singer, songwriter, and music promoter noted for his bass voice, and his innovation in the Christian and Gospel music fields.Sumner sang in five quartets and was a member of the Blackwood Brothers during their 1950s heyday. So every time we did that song from that time on. “I was the last one hired into the Elvis family, and I’m probably the youngest one left. Did you have any run ins with Colonel Parker? Donnie Sumner, Ed Hill and Larry Strickland will perform at the Gospel Homecoming on August 17. Like me, as a kid, he got hooked into it. "I still sing every chance I get. Larry Strickland has been singing nearly all his life. No one noticed'. I think its amazing, I would expect it on some level. "Randy has that low voice, and I sing down in that range… so I took a lot of inspiration from that.”. I know, I look back on it now and it was funny. “I’m a big Randy Travis fan, and I listened to the gospel records that he’s put out. Im in this big room where we are going to rehearse. Plus she does books and touring, speaking tours not singing. We would wait for him to come down to record. I was working another job during the week. 'There was a time when I skipped a whole week of school because my mum was on the road, I didn't have a ride and I'd gotten ashamed of calling friends'. Larry Strickland releases 'Legacy': Elvis band, gospel group veteran makes 'a record of my own'. Brown-and-White Diamond Pattern Button-Down Shirt Gifted to Stamps Member Larry Strickland During 1976 Jungle Room Recording Sessions: What a thrill it must have been that night in the Jungle Room when Larry Strickland was told by Charlie that Elvis was redoing his entire wardrobe and wanted the guys to come upstairs and pick what they wanted. He was always on the road and I was always on the road with him. In more recent years, Strickland has been a linchpin in the celebrations of Presley’s gospel side, performing as part of the annual Elvis Week festivities at Graceland (Strickland had been scheduled for another such appearance last month, but the event was canceled due to COVID-19). It was closer toward the end of his life. Start the day smarter. I still have some of them, you know I am married to Naomi Judd from The Judds. At one point, he wanted to audition for The Blackwood Brothers; Elvis wanted to be a quartet singer. He also bought us a tour bus. He was a great guy, he was a mentor of mine so to speak. Sumner and The Stamps vocal group, Strickland always focused on being a harmony vocalist … Infact it was his first trip that he had made in his big plane the Lisa Marie. But Elvis singled me out on the plane that night and said something like hey man your doing a good job welcome to the tour. But not as big as it is. So we all left Graceland with a bunch of Elvis' cloths. It was top of the heap for me, JD was a fun guy. I know I seen him at his best while he was recording and performing. A TCB lightning bolt patch as at the left shoulder. Plus every person he greeted past me he said did you catch the f###ing farmer? So I was not a good night. Larry Strickland's voice rarely has been front and center. Elvis puts out his hand and shakes it and then he takes Ed and pulls him about three steps away from me but not far enough that I can't hear them. So we were trying to figure out how we could do it. I spent several hours in the house mainly down in the pool room. Luckily I did not got to vietnam I went to germany instead. So we were up in one of the big conference rooms up in the Hilton. So the next gig was in vegas at the Hilton, and of course it was my first time in vegas. I'm standing there with all the Stamps and the band, the Sweet Inspirations. So I was not a good night. They had to play it that close to the vest. So that you could control it. Looks like they are scaling back the gospel show on Sunday evening. Terry Blackwood of the Imperials will be the only original backup singer appearing. So he was calling us all up one at a time to his closet. Strickland’s passion for gospel started early and ran deep. He is a world-class bass singer and got his start in the 1970’s in The Stamps Quartet, lead by JD Sumner, who used to perform with Elvis. Except for the stamps, they were the only ones I was saying anything too. One minute the piano is load in Elvis' mike and then the next the singers are loud in his mike, you know they were just going crazy. I feel a hand on my shoulder and I turn around and its Elvis. No I didn't. My first time I went to Graceland was in the middle of the night so I didn't get a full sense of what it was. And Elvis … What did you think of it? Yes we did, in fact we sang at the funeral. But some of the recordings I got to do with him was accurately done in Graceland in what they call the jungle room. Ed turns to me and says Elvis I want you to meet Larry Strickland he is our new bass singer for the group. I love his treatment of some of the older gospel songs," says Strickland. Sumner and The Stamps. This is an excellent release no fan should be without it. The DVD Contains recently discovered unreleased film of Elvis performing 6 songs, including Heartbreak Hotel and Don't Be Cruel, live in Tupelo Mississippi 1956. On one of the shows, Strickland opened for iconic vocal group J.D. Wynona’s Manager, TooStrickland, 54, a former backup singer for ElvisPresley, has managed the career of Judd’s daughter, Wynonna,for the past four years. "That sound and feeling, it was in his soul. Larry decided to include the shirts in the benefit auction. What do you think of the everlasting popularity of Elvis Presley? But there were some nice little gestures like he bought us tour jackets one year. I was brought up in that environment. The rest of the time he seemed normal and happy. + Plus Bonus DVD Audio. Highly recommended. The two singers alternate and harmonize over piano and pedal-steel on the ballad, which, in its original form, appeared on Elvis Presley’s 1967 LP How Great Thou Art. Because anyone that's been in a recording studio. Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something through recommended links in this article. Its almost impossible to have a home life, you sacrifice just about everything when you tour like that. Strickland is no stranger to the country music world, having been married to and managed The Judds’ Naomi Judd for 31 years, and worked with Ricky Skaggs and the Bellamy Brothers, among others. “Both the white gospel and Black gospel," he says. He was my idol, he was one first guys I heard sing. 'I was left on my own a great deal'. A red nylon jacket with patch at left breast that reads "Elvis in Concert," identified on the Apollo by Holloway clothing label that it belonged to Larry Strickland, who sang with Elvis Presley's Stamps Quartet. But his voice rarely has been front and center. A revered bass vocalist, whose distinctive voice complimented Elvis Presley on stage and in the studio, Larry Strickland “continues to carry the torch for the music that he and Elvis, and so many others loved,” (The Commercial Appeal) with his first solo project, Legacy, available everywhere today. After Larry and Naomi were married 18 years ago, Larry stopped touring and singing to … The afternoon show footage is wonderful and electrifying : Here is Elvis in his prime rocking and rolling in front of 11.000 people. The actress says, 'I had a very unsafe and unstable childhood about 10 months out of the year. I go there a day or so early, they had called for a rehearsal the night before. We didn't have a clue he was going to pass. S U B S C R I B E F O R U P D A T E S Here is Larry Strickland singing bass with Elvis on an old Gospel song, titled Bosom of Abraham from the Where No One Stands Alone record. Did you get gifts from Elvis for the holidays? And there’s a lot more music to come, if God’s willing.”, This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Larry Strickland releases 'Legacy': Elvis band, gospel group veteran makes 'a record of my own', Like us on Facebook to see similar stories, Pilot dead after small plane crash in Colorado, Salmonella outbreak is linked to wild birds and feeders, C.D.C. The interviews of Elvis' Parents are well worth hearing too. Like the Judds, Strickland is also a musician. Its hard to maintain a relationship with your wife, you feel like you don't have any roots. . Visit the site at the link below. So one night he had all of us come out and see the plane. You were lucky you didn't drive off the road when you found out. Then he would start introducing me as his alter ego. Larry I'm going to do this song again, when we get to this part at the end. No part of any article on this site may be re-printed for public display without permission. Plus every person he greeted past me he said did you catch the f###ing farmer? That's all I have to say about him. The official website of Elvis Presley Stamps Quartet back-up singer, Larry Strickland. Do you remember any of the times that there was a threat on his life? He said guys the tour has been cancelled. So that was probably the memorable thing because he singled me out. The 'parade' footage is good to see as it puts you in the right context with color and b&w footage. Like we would really cut it. Ten dollars for thanksgiving diner. I hope I’ll be the last one standing," he says. He also puts a spiritual spin on Don Williams’ “Lord I Hope This Day is Good” and Josh Turner’s “Long Black Train.” “These are all either songs that I grew up with, or songs I love, or songs that I could feel when I sang 'em,” he says. You were able to go up and pay your last respectS? There were times he would leave the stage in the middle of the show to go to the bathroom so we new that he had that problem. One of the great names in Southern gospel, J.D. I guess this was the first time that they were together since Hawaii. One of the main deals about a studio is oscillation and deaden the sounds. He never said sorry and he didn't to me. Fontana (drums) and Millie Kirkham (soprano). He always loved trying to hits those notes himself. You know there was only a couple of times where I saw him onstage and he didn't look well. They slammed open in a sense and in walked two body guards in front, then Elvis and then two body guards in the back like they were taking over the world. Actress Ashley Judd was primed for depression as a child - because she was left on her own while her mother, singer Naomi, toured the world. He also co-managed the mother-daughter duo’s reunionearlier this year when Naomi returned from a 10-year hiatus, which was forced by a case of chronic hepatitis. When that sound started coming off the stage, that beautiful harmony, it went right through to my soul and I could never shake it.”, “At a very young age I started singing and loving that music. I manage Naomi I take care of all of her personal business and her career. One night in vegas, this probably after I had been with him a year, he turned to me in the show. We Knew he had a colon problem. But before I could get home I heard it on my car radio, I thought that was kind of cheesy that they didn't tell us what was going on. I was wondering what was going on with him. Its hard for me to tell this story and to get people to believe it. A TCB lightning bolt patch as at the left shoulder. That was just so weird. Can you tell me about the first time you met Elvis? There does not seem like a lot of room. Members during the group's time spent with Elvis include: J.D. Out of all the concerts that you did is there one that sticks in your mind? The Double Jeopardy star went public with her battle against depression after she entered a program at Shades of Hope Treatment Center in Buffalo Gap, Texas in February, 2006, and now she admits she has always battled the blues. We are always adding new things to the website such as photos, videos and links to download and purchase my album, Legacy. Show full articles without "Continue Reading" button for {0} hours. I started very young as a teenager singing. Probably cost ten times more money to send that jet over to take us from that small gospel date then we made. 1. for 59 weeks and 4 No. He liked the low voices. “When Richard Sterban left The Stamps and went with the Oak Ridge Boys, they asked me to come to Nashville and audition, and I got the job,” recalls Strickland. He had one hand on JD's shoulder and one on mine. A red nylon jacket with patch at left breast that reads "Elvis in Concert," identified on the Apollo by Holloway clothing label that it belonged to Larry Strickland, who sang with Elvis Presley's Stamps Quartet. He ended the song and he actually stopped the show, he turned to me and the band and said. Larry Strickland has been singing nearly all his life. I felt much better after that. It seems there was a time or two, when we were told that there had been and just to be aware. Strickland’s first performance was with Elvis in Las Vegas, and he would remain employed and part of the TCB inner circle for national tours and studio sessions until The King’s death in 1977. The following is an interview with Larry Strickland - June 28, 2007 by Joe Krein. In a few minutes the doors almost burst open, that's the way it was in my mind. That has to be hard on your personal life being on the road all the time? 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