Elvis : From Memphis to Hollywood

When in June 1968, clad in black leather, a nervous Elvis Presley made his television "Comeback Special", Alan Fortas was one of the five friends asked to be on stage with him.

Fortas ultimately spent nearly twelve years working for Elvis, having been asked to join his fraternity of bodyguards and close buddies that came to be known as "The Memphis Mafia" back in 1958.

He lived, travelled and played hard with Elvis during that time, watching Elvis become increasingly disillusioned with the endless stream of movies he was forced to act in, saw him become increasingly reliant on drugs, and witnessed Elvis's colourful sex life.

The only other memoir of Elvis that can offer such genuine inside knowledge and intimacy is Elvis and the Memphis Mafia, by three other members of his bodyguard fraternity, which Uncut magazine acclaimed as "the best Elvis book written to date", and which Aurum has already re-published and seen reprint four times.

Now it re-issues Alan Fortas' book, which has been out of print for over ten years. Written in collaboration with Elvis authority Alanna Nash, who also collaborated on Memphis Mafia and wrote the definitive biography of Elvis's sinister manager, Colonel Tom Parker, it is a must for every Elvis fan.

Alan Fortas subsequently worked as an investment banker in Memphis, and died in 1992.

Alanna Nash is the acclaimed author of The Colonel, a biography of Colonel Tom Parker (also published by Aurum, 978 1 84513 025 1), and co-author of Elvis and the Memphis Mafia.

She lives in Louisville, Kentucky.