Were Elvis & B.B. King Really Friends? The True Story Is Complicated
Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis shows the young “King of Rock and Roll” hanging out with blues legend B.B. King, and the film has sparked debate over the true story behind the two icons. In Luhrmann’s trademark style, Elvis is a dizzying and dazzling two-and-a-half hours that weaves together old and new. However, many have claimed that the film misrepresents Elvis’ role as a civil rights advocate and inflates his relationships within the Black community, namely with B.B. King.
As shown in Luhrmann’s biopic, Elvis grew up in a poor, dominantly Black community in Tupelo, Mississippi where he discovered his life-long musical inspiration at the local gospel church. Elvis and his family then moved to Memphis in 1948. From the ages of 14 to 18, Elvis lived with his family at Lauderdale Courts, an apartment complex where the young musician could walk to Beale Street. Peter Guralnick, author of Last Train to Memphis, says (via The New York Times) that Elvis’ years at Lauderdale Courts were “absolutely seminal,” and claims that Elvis’s strolls frequently led him to both Beale Street and to Memphis’ Main Street where he would watch late-night gospel concerts.
Related: Did Austin Butler Sing The Songs In Elvis? (It's Complicated)
It is on the famous Beale Street that Elvis (played by Austin Butler from Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood) meets up with B.B. King in Luhrmann’s Elvis. The pair pal around, joke, and marvel at the incredible music before King gives Elvis advice about the music industry. Elvis unmistakably shows Elvis and King as friends, a relationship that King himself verified several times throughout his life.
Born in a river cabin in Berclair, Mississippi, B.B. King told a reporter in 2010 (via the San Antonio
Read more on screenrant.com
