Elvis Presley was set to meet Leo Sayer before he died and the When I Need You singer has revealed the touching last call he had with the rock n roll legend
Leo Sayer has detailed the eerie moment he spoke to Elvis Presley on the eve of the rock n roll icon’s death. Elvis died aged 42 on August 16, 1977, but the Suspicious Minds singer had organised a meeting with Leo, now 78, the night before his passing.
When I Need You star Leo has opened up on how the chance meeting came about and said he was jumping in his car to head to the American icon when the tragic news of his death aired on the radio.
Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Leo explained how the meet was initially set up. He described how he fell off a stage in Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. The drop, according to the musician, happened as he leaned against a curtain on the side of the stage just before the show.
He said he was checking out the setting when he fell about 23 feet onto back. “Oh, I mean, Jesus Christ, it was awful,” he said before revealing how a roadie had jumped down behind him to help him to safety.
“They took me to hospital. I thought I’d ruptured my spleen,” he said. As the tour continued, the group headed to Memphis, where huge crowds had turned up to watch him perform after his injury.
He went on: “And so we’re in Memphis, and I just locked up in the dressing room, I was in a ball. It was a delayed reaction to the whole thing, so they cancelled the concert and they called for a doctor, and this guy came in. He was an ex-American football player, and picked me up, took me to his gym.
“The tour was kind of cancelled or postponed, and he worked me over, and kind of, like, you know, brought me back to normal, and helped me stretch out and I finally got a chance to recover from this awful accident, and I kept saying to him, Who do you work for?…
“He wouldn’t tell me, and eventually he put the phone on to me, and told me it was his boss. I picked up the phone, and [the voice said] this is Elvis Aaron Presley, and you make me feel like dancing.
“I go, ‘what the hell?’ I think I swore and he was annoyed that I swore, because he was a very Christian guy. But we had this wonderful conversation for probably three quarters an hour, talking about everything. He was telling me that he was about to go on back on tour soon. He wasn’t feeling it. He was trying to get fit. He got rid of a lot of people in his, you know, the famous Memphis Mafia posse that he carried around.”
Leo revealed Elvis told him he should visit him the following day, but made him promise to keep it under the radar. He said the Jailhouse Rock singer even suggested the pair made some music together.
Admitting he had gone to bed “elated” after the call, Leo said he woke up late the following morning ready to visit the star. But he said when he turned on the radio, he heard the tragic news that Elvis had been confirmed dead on arrival at Memphis Baptist Hospital dead on arrival.
Leo went on: “It sounds selfish when I say I was that close to being with him, because it’s not about me, it’s about Elvis. But what a terrible circumstance. And yes, I would have been there for a few days.”
Leo said years later, Elvis’ girlfriend Ginger met him in London. “She said, ‘You know, Elvis was so looking forward to seeing you, and it would have been amazing, and he was kind of clearing the decks, making sure that he didn’t have anything to do, any interviews or anything. It was all going to be him and you, and we would be in the background’.
“She said, ‘You know, basically you were going to have this incredible time with him, and he was going to get so much of your energy. He was thrilled, but that night, the terrible thing happened’.”
Opening up further, Leo revealed what one of Ginger’s last memories of Elvis was. “Ginger said the last thing she heard him say, because she actually discovered him the next day, literally dead in the bathroom, and she said the last thing she heard him saying was he was singing, you make me feel like dancing as he was going up the stairs.
“So that was quite.. and she wanted to tell me that. Yeah, she said, you know, really the last words Elvis said was like a dog hanging on a lead as he kind of disappeared into his bedroom.”
Leo admits recounting the moment still gets him emotional to this day. But now, almost 50 years on, Leo is still producing music and touring.
He is set to play to UK audiences later this year. He is currently based in Australia, but is ready to entertain the UK crowds once again. And he says he can’t wait. “It’s been a long career, but a good one,” he gushed.
“When you make records, time stands still, and these 54 years have flown, really.
“I love performing for my fans and look forward to doing so for many more years, but this will be the last time I play so many dates across the country. I am not retiring, just slowing the number of live shows down.”
As well as his tour dates, Leo is ready to release a box set of 18 CDs. He said it is “a load of stuff that’s never seen the light of day before,” revealing it goes back as far as 1980 or so.
“I’m proud of being very prolific,” he said. “I’ve not sat around. I don’t want to get old, you see. I am old, officially, you know. Last week I was 78 but, I just refuse to take it in. I still. I’ve got the brain of a 20 year old, you know. So I want to keep that going, and I still think my best work is ahead of me, as well.”
Tickets are now on sale for Leo’s final 23-date full UK tour. Leothology: The Studio Albums 1973-Now is available from August 14.
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