You don’t really meet Elvis. You actually just I’m going to look at Elvis. Okay. Through her mother, Whitney Houston crossed paths with Elvis Presley when she was just 6 years old. And this wasn’t some random story people made up later. It all connects back to Cissy Houston. Elvis, we went to work for Elvis Presley for 5 weeks and it was wonderful.
He was wonderful. I loved him. He was such a gentleman. It was nothing like what we might have thought, you know, because it was just wonderful. He was into gospel. So, every once in a while when we finished rehearsing with him, we just sing gospel, all of us, you know, and we just had a good time. After years of focusing mostly on movies, Elvis made a major comeback to the concert stage in July 1969 at the brand new International Hotel in Las Vegas.
And he didn’t come back quietly. He built a huge live setup with a rock band, male gospel singers, a 40-piece orchestra, and a powerful female soul and gospel group called the Sweet Inspirations. At that time, Cissy Houston was the lead singer putting her right in Elvis’s world.
Love Hollywood stories? Subscribe now so you don’t miss any new videos. It’s free and it really supports the channel. So, as a little girl, what did Whitney Houston really think about Elvis Presley? I just remember at one point being in a room and we were all in this room, my mother and the singers and we did you know you know the you know the backstage kind of thing and he just walked in the room with his mink on with his glasses on.
And he just walks in, he says something and everybody just you don’t say anything, you just look. It was just one of those moments I won’t forget as a kid. It wasn’t like “Hi, Mr. Elvis, nice to meet you.” We didn’t do that. You just sat back and just just looked at him.
Amazing. Amazing amazing to look at. Just amazing. Well, I just being in his presence was awesome. The connection was closer than many people realize. During Elvis’s explosive return to live performances in 1969, Cissy Houston and the Sweet Inspirations were right there beside him on stage.
The group provided backup vocals throughout those unforgettable first four weeks at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, running through the end of August. Even with the excitement surrounding his comeback, stories and rumors about Elvis continued to spread everywhere. One of the most talked about moments from that era happened during a live performance of Are You Lonesome Tonight? He would good money and good pay and good It was nice atmosphere, you know, and we didn’t go around with him as his
friends. We worked for him. So, we saw him at work or at rehearsals. People say that he was precious. I said, “Well, I never felt his preciousness.” And I don’t think he was precious, you know. While Cissy’s soaring soprano vocals filled the background, Elvis suddenly cracked up on stage and began changing the lyrics, turning the song into a hilarious story about a bald-headed man.
The unexpected moment became one of the most famous live recordings of his career. But Cissy’s time performing with Elvis was surprisingly short. He was He was handsome, but he was just as nice, fun. You know, he cracked jokes and all that kind of crap and you’d be singing and he’d make you laugh and whatnot.
So, we had a good time. After that first concert run in the summer of 1969, she left the Sweet Inspirations to spend more time with her children and focus on building her own solo career. Years later, in a 2013 interview with Oprah, Cissy proudly showed off a special gift Elvis had given her, a large gold bracelet.
And hidden inside was a personal inscription featuring Elvis’s nickname for her, Squirrelly. Um it was I was opening at Sans and at hotel he was reopening the International Hotel the Hilton now. And um I went to his rehearsal and I I just fell in love with his man. I said, “My God, I got to meet him.
I got to meet him.” And said, “Okay, I’ll introduce you to him.” So, I went to the rehearsal and he and he was such a But here’s where the story takes an interesting turn. What if I told you that the Sweet Inspirations weren’t actually Elvis’s first choice for his big Las Vegas comeback shows? That’s right.
Stick around because later we’ll reveal the other female group Elvis reportedly had his eye on before making his final decision. And Whitney Houston wasn’t the only member of the family that introduced to the King. also brought her talented niece, Dionne Warwick, into Elvis’s circle. By the late 1960s, Dionne was already making serious waves in the music industry, scoring hit after hit and building a name for herself as one of the era’s standout singers.
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Dionne first met Elvis during the summer of 1969 when she stopped by to visit while Elvis was preparing for his highly anticipated Las Vegas performances. I um I told him I was opening at the Sans. He says, “Yeah, but we’re opening the same night.” I said, “Okay.” And he says, “Well, I’m going to I’m going to do something for you that I that I think you might like.
” I said, “Okay, wonderful.” He put his photograph in every single album in every record store in Las Vegas for me. I sold more albums cuz he made the announcement from the stage that if you buy a Dionne Warwick recording, you’ll have a photograph of me. I I could not believe he did that, but he did.
The meeting left a lasting impression on her. As Dionne later wrote in her 2010 memoir, “Elvis let me know he was a fan of my recordings and this was a wonderful thing to hear. For a rising star, getting praise directly from Elvis Presley was a huge moment. Even more surprising, Dion revealed that Elvis offered support and encouragement as she began performing in Las Vegas herself during August 1969 while he was dominating the city with his own sold-out shows.
in a movie with Elvis after we did the 1968 comeback special. Dionne Warwick had no problem sharing what she really thought about Elvis Presley. In her autobiography, she wrote, “Elvis Presley was one of the prettiest, yes, prettiest men I had ever laid eyes on. Pictures and videos of him really didn’t do him justice.
” special. Oh, wait. Then I did a movie with him called Change of Habit. That compliment caught Elvis completely off guard. Dionne even recalled teasing him about it face-to-face. She wrote, “I once told Elvis he was pretty and he said, ‘How about handsome?’ I said, ‘No, you’re pretty.’ He fell out laughing.
The playful exchange showed a side of Elvis that many fans rarely got to see. And Dionne made it clear that his looks weren’t the only thing that stood out to her. She added, ‘I will also add that he was one of the nicest men I ever met.'” But before Elvis reached out to the Sweet Inspirations for his massive Las Vegas comeback, he actually had another girl group in mind.
That group was the Blossoms, a talented vocal trio he had already worked with on more than one occasion. One of the group’s members, Darlene Love, later shared how their friendship with Elvis began during the filming of his famous 1968 comeback special. The Blossoms joined Elvis as backup singers during the gospel medley and the chemistry between them was instant.
As Darlene remembered, “In those three or four days that the Blossoms were shooting, I felt like I’d known Elvis all my life. She described the experience as pure joy. According to Darlene, Elvis would often grab his guitar during lunch breaks and gather everyone around to sing classic gospel songs together.
She recalled, “At lunchtime, he’d get his guitar and we’d sing old gospel songs. In the ’68 special, he did those songs real, like you do with your friends.” The connection was so strong that Elvis brought the Blossoms back the very next year, inviting them to appear in his 1969 movie, Change of Habit. That made them the leading contenders when Elvis started looking for backup singers for his Las Vegas return.
The Blossoms made one of their biggest appearances in Change of Habit during the energetic performance of Rubberneckin’, sharing the screen with Elvis at a key moment in the film. But, according to Darlene Love, fans almost saw even more of her alongside the King. Darlene later revealed that she filmed another scene in which Elvis’s character examined her at the clinic featured in the movie.
Unfortunately, that scene never made it into the final cut. It was one of several moments left on the editing room floor after filming wrapped in the spring of 1969. Not long after production ended, Elvis made a major request as he prepared for his highly anticipated return to live performances in Las Vegas.
He wanted the Blossoms to join him as his official backup singers beginning in July 1969. But then came a surprising twist. In her 1998 memoir, Darlene recalled, “Elvis wanted to take us with him to Vegas. We got a call from a man at Elvis’s label, RCA, offering us $1,500 a week. The only problem was we were already making $5,000 a week.
The offer put the group in a difficult position. Even though working with Elvis was an incredible opportunity, accepting it would have meant taking a huge pay cut. Darlene instructed her manager to turn it down, but the story didn’t end there. Soon afterward, Colonel Tom Parker personally reached out to try to make it happen.
However, the financial offer stayed exactly the same. As Darlene explained, “But he still didn’t offer us more than $1,500. I told him no. It was probably the hardest decision I ever had to make. What looked like a dream opportunity ultimately slipped away because the numbers simply didn’t add up.” So, after the Blossoms turned down the offer, Elvis ended up bringing in the Sweet Inspirations, a decision that would become an important part of his legendary Las Vegas comeback.
It’s one of those surprising twists in music history that almost played out very differently. And here’s an interesting connection. Darlene Love, who was later featured in the acclaimed documentary 20 Feet from Stardom, went on to spend a decade working as a backup singer for Dionne Warwick. Eventually, she stepped into the spotlight on her own and became widely known for her classic holiday hit, “Christmas, Baby, Please Come Home.
” But the story doesn’t stop there. What did other black musicians really think about Elvis Presley? Some of their opinions may surprise you. If you enjoyed this video, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and turn on notifications so you never miss an update. And before you go, drop a comment below.
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