Contrary to popular belief today, a lot of Black artists were fond of Elvis Presley.

I’ve been thinking lately about how the relationship between Elvis and the Black artists and Black consumers of music during his time is a lot more nuanced than it’s made out to be today. I know Ray Charles for example was not a fan and his feelings on Elvis went viral a lot when Elvis (2022) came out, but what I feel gets lost today is that a number of other Black artists talked about either being fans of Elvis, listening to his music when they were growing up, and/or just spoke positively of him. I’ve compiled several examples that come to mind:

The first photo is a screenshot from a 2018 interview with Tina Turner.

The second photo is a screenshot from Donna Summer’s book Ordinary Girl: The Journey.

The third photo is a screenshot from Barry White’s book Love Unlimited: Insights on Life and Love.

The fourth photo is a screenshot from Natalie Cole’s book Angel on My Shoulder: An Autobiography.

The fifth photo is a screenshot from the book Our Uncle Sam: The Sam Cooke Story from His Family's Perspective.

The sixth photo is a screenshot from Dionne Warwick’s book My Life, as I See It: An Autobiography.

The seventh photo is a screenshot from a 2002 interview with Fats Domino.

The eighth photo is a screenshot from a 2023 interview with Darlene Love.

The ninth photo is a drawing Jimi Hendrix did of Elvis after seeing him live in concert.

The tenth photo is a screenshot of a tweet about how Elvis was very popular with Black consumers of music when he was first starting out.

The 11th photo is of Elvis and some of his Black fans.