Aside from his intense month-long Las Vegas residencies with two shows a night, Elvis would regularly tour across the US. To get to his concert venues, The King flew in his private jet named after his daughter, Lisa Marie.
Linda would often travel with the singer to keep him company and has now shared some amazing photos of them both accompanied by the Memphis Mafia at airports.
Elvis, who had noticeably put on weight later in life, can be seen waving to fans, with his girlfriend by his side.
Linda captioned the post: “Thank you @elvis_and_linda_gram for always finding such beautiful treasures and memories… Happy Saturday!!” The repost read: “While Elvis and Linda were together, they travelled all over jet-setting in his plane he named after his beloved daughter Lisa Marie. As they entered the plane Elvis and Linda would always say hello to the pilots and staff before heading to the back of the plane to relax in the custom-built bedroom.”
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‘Produced By Trevor Horn’ Concert For The Princes Trust, Wembley Arena, London 2004 (Image: Getty)
It helped the band fit in with peers like Culture Club and Duran Duran. And it’s an image Martin, whose hits included Poison Arrow and The Look Of Love, is happy to celebrate. Today, with his band about to embark on a 40th anniversary tour for their chart-topping album The Lexicon Of Love, Martin and his gold lamé outfit will be front and centre again… with one slight hiccup: his costume will be a copy because Martin flushed his original suit, by Carnaby Street tailor ColinWild, down a hotel toilet.
Martin Fry in his gold lamé suit (Image: Getty)
Describing his frustration, Martin told The Daily Express: “I was at the Plaza Hotel in Tokyo. I’d performed 120 shows touring The Lexicon Of Love in that suit and I’d had enough. I was trying to cram my souvenirs of Japan into my suitcase, and the suit trousers wouldn’t fit. It wasn’t enough that I left them behind, I wanted to show to myself I was moving on. So I tried flushing them down the toilet, though they wouldn’t go down.”
Martin’s new gold lamé suit has been made by his friend, Savile Row tailor William Hunt. The star joked: “Obviously, the suit trousers are a little wider 40 years later.” And he reveals there were actually three original 1982 suits – but one got stolen that year after a concert in Coventry. Martin recalls: “I couldn’t believe the police couldn’t find it. I said to them, ‘Surely you can spot someone in a gold suit?’
“I’ve got one original suit left, which I’ll donate to the V&A Museum, or maybe auction at Sotheby’s as my pension fund.” Martin’s relaxed mood about his 1980s fame is helped by realising how lucky he was to find success – and true love. ABC’s early hits were fuelled by heartbreak, but Martin has been happily married for 35 years to wife Julie, who helped the singer through his darkest period.
At the height of ABC’s fame in 1986, aged just 27, Martin was dHca diagnosed with the rare Hodgkin’s Lymphoma form of cancer. “I soon learned to count my blessings,” he reveals. “But, when I was diagnosed with cancer I thought, ‘Why me?’ I was on the international stage, my career going well, and it was suddenly taken away from me. Tina Turner had offered ABC to open for her on a world tour and I just couldn’t do it.”
Julie helped Martin through his treatment, and the couple got married as soon as he finished chemotherapy. He smiles: “It was a really tough time, but Julie was incredible. I was on my knees, in a bad way. When somebody sees you at your worst like that and still loves you, that’s when you know it’s for life.” Fortunately, the drive that had seen Martin rise from a working-class childhood in Stockport to Top Of The Pops returned as soon as the star recovered from cancer.
He admits: “Our honeymoon was only four days, so I could start work on ABC’s next album. That’s a bit pathetic. For years after I was ill, I felt guilty. I thought I’d let everybody down, including my band and the fans, because I’d stopped. But I know it was a positive that I pulled through to the other side. Having had my career taken away, it’s definitely what has motivated me to still perform today.”
Although he jokes about his expanding waistline, at 63 keen cyclist Martin looks trim. Fully recovered from cancer and in good health, he says he needs to keep fit for his concerts. He explains: “Your audience wants to see you at your best. They’ve probably seen you look good in the 80s.
“You don’t want them thinking now, ‘I’ve paid a lot of money for this ticket and they’re crap.’ You’re only as good as your last performance, and there’s no hiding place if you’re up there in front of thousands of people.” Before meeting his wife, Martin had been unlucky in love. But he was able to turn his heartbreak into lyrics for the album The Lexicon Of Love.
He accepts: “There’s a lot of spite in Poison Arrow. It wasn’t written about one single person, it was about all the times you feel you’ve had your teeth kicked in by love. Your whole world crumbles if a relationship doesn’t go right. It’s exaggerated and it might not be rational, but it’s how you feel. I didn’t realise at the time how universal those feelings are.”
ABC’s romantic music to match Martin’s impassioned lyrics came from an unlikely source. Describing the sound of The Lexicon Of Love as “Cole Porter meets Motown”, Martin laughs: “I got into crooners from hearing my dad singing Frank Sinatra songs in the bath. ABC’s tour this summer with an orchestra is living out my Frank Sinatra fantasies.”
Going to Sheffield University to study English literature, he was asked to join local experimental group Vice Versa by future ABC bandmates Mark White and Steve Singleton. “We were bottled off at my first gig,” recalls Martin – an imposing figure at 6ft 3ins.
“We supported a punk band, and their skinhead fans rained bottles down on us. I still persuaded the promoter to pay us. I think that’s why Mark and Steve wanted me in the band: my height and my bulls***. The first rule in the pop handbook is never show fear, which still stands me well now.” Recording The Lexicon Of Love was often equally dicey.
Although fashionable now, in 1982 Hoxton in East London was a rough area, where ABC’s studio was in the basement of a wig shop. The album was the first to be produced by Trevor Horn, who later made classic records with Frankie GoesTo Hollywood and Seal.
Martin reflects: “Trevor would take us out, walking down to eat in Whitechapel, and you took your life in your hands then. They were rough old streets, but it made us stay in the studio to focus on making the album.”
Occasionally, the studio was needed by other bands, whereupon ABC would borrow a facility owned by David Bowie’s producer, Tony Visconti. This led Bowie to inspire Martin’s most famous lyric. In The Look Of Love, Martin delivers a speech wondering: “Martin, maybe one day you’ll find true love.”
He recalls today: “Bowie showed up to Tony’s studio one day. There was a space in The Look Of Love’s music, and we were determined not to put a guitar solo there. Bowie said it’d be great to have me doing an answerphone message, trying to get through to the girlfriend who’s ignoring me.
“That became my speech. It was an omen, Bowie sprinkling his magic dust on our tunes. All these decades later, if I get a taxi, the driver will ask: ‘Did you find true love, then?'” ABC even made a film, Mantrap, to capitalise on their success.
ITS LEAD actress LisaVanderpump later found fame in Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills. Now Mantrap is getting revived as part of a 40th anniversary boxset edition of The Lexicon Of Love later this year. Although ABC didn’t match that album’s success again, subsequent releases – switching from rock to hip-hop to soul to rave – became cult favourites.
In 2016, songs in the same mood as the original returned Martin to the Top Five with The Lexicon Of Love II. He happily accepts it remains his calling card. The tour is with the 50-piece Southbank Sinfonia, conducted by Oscar-winning composer Anne Dudley, who got her break aged 25 arranging strings on The Lexicon Of Love.
Martin ends: “Life isn’t all unicorns and rainbows, and everyone goes through the tough stuff. But the ecstasy of being in love is on The Lexicon Of Love too. It’s why the songs mean so much to people 40 years later.”
ABC tour The Lexicon Of Love with Southbank Sinfonia from June 17 to 30. Click here for full dates and tickets
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Back in 2020, Andrea Bocelli put on a live-streamed performance called Believe in Christmas at the Theatre Regio of Parma. The special event also marked the professional debut of his then 8-year-old daughter Virginia Bocelli. She joined her father on stage, bringing along an acoustic guitar for him before they sang a duet of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah together.
The sensational performance has since be watched over 18.5 million times on YouTube and Virginia has sung the track with her father numerous times around the world in the year since.
Most recently they performed this past Christmas before President Biden at the White House with Andrea’s son Matteo Bocelli, who is releasing his debut album later this year.
But what about Virginia? Will she follow in her father and brother’s footsteps and become a professional singer as an adult too?
Does she even want to? Express.co.uk spoke exclusively with the Italian tenor himself to find out.
Andrea told us: “It was Virginia’s Christmas gift to me. It was more fun than a professional debut. I wouldn’t say it was a surprise, but almost: the idea came about almost as a joke and then it was included in the setlist only right before the concert. Although I’m an apprehensive father, in this case, I was not: I concentrated on the beauty of that moment, so intimate and sweet… Us sitting on the stage, a guitar, the silence around us, her voice intermingled with mine. It is a moment that I carry in my heart.”
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Few bands defined the 1990s like Nirvana and Guns N Roses. While they had wildly different sounds, they are still considered some of the very best of their respective genres. It didn’t bring them close together though, as the attitudes and sounds of the groups clashed on more than one occasion. It all started in 1991 when Nirvana released the album Nevermind. Despite GNR lead singer Axl Rose publicly stating he was a fan of the band, Kurt Cobain was quick to distance himself from his rival’s group. He insisted: “We’re not your typical Guns N Roses type of band that has absolutely nothing to say.” It was a miraculous coincidence that he and GNR’s bassist Duff McKegan would meet one another just days before his untimely death.
The rivalry between the two reached a boiling point in 1992 after Rose repeatedly tried to get Nirvana to tour with him, but Cobain continue to reject the idea. The GNR singer then took to the stage in one of his concerts, telling the crowd that Cobain and his wife Courtney Love were “f*****g junkies”.
It only got worse from there, as later that year they met each other backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards. Rose was approached by Love, who jokingly asked him if he would be the godfather to her daughter, Francis Bean Cobain.
While the confrontation was first between Love and Rose’s wife Stephanie Seymour, he and Cobain quickly joined in. Rose said: “You shut your b***h up, or I’m taking you down to the pavement!” Cobain then turned to his wife, telling her to “shut up, b***h,” sarcastically. (via Seattle Weekly)
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There had been numerous occasions for the two groups to collaborate; Nirvana’s drummer turned Foo Fighters singer Dave Grohl recalled one such opportunity. He recalled: “Guns N Roses was about to do this massive stadium tour with Metallica, and they wanted us to open.
“So Axl had been calling Kurt nonstop. One day we’re walking through an airport and Kurt says, ‘F**k. Axl Rose won’t stop calling me.’ I think it represented something bigger. Nirvana didn’t want to turn into Guns N’ Roses. So, Kurt started talking s**t in interviews, and then Axl started talking back. It went back and forth like tenth-grade bulls**t.”
While the 1992 MTV fiasco was the peak of their rivalry, it continued to fester all the way up until months before Cobain’s suicide in 1994. In the week leading up to his death, the Smells Like Teen Spirit singer was checked into a rehab clinic by Love and his family. It followed after the musician had overdosed on pills, but the facility wasn’t informed about this attempt on his life.
On March 31, 1994, the singer jumped the clinic’s six-foot-high fence and left. He caught a flight back to Seattle, which is where he had a chance encounter with GNR’s Duff McKagan. After all the years of animosity between the two, the bassist recalled that Cobain “seemed happy” to see him.
McKagan explained: “I was really f**ked up [on that flight]. [We only exchanged], like, 87 words. We were both f**ked-up… we were just two f**ked up guys, but we were both in big bands and we landed at the airport and we kind of talked about it.” (via. Mulatschag)
“My pancreas blew up four weeks later. He died two days later. So that’s where we were both at in our lives, at the end of our ropes,” he continued.
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The musician also explained how he reacted to news of the singer’s death. McKagan said: “I didn’t have a sense that he was gonna die in two days, but… a lot of my friends and peers were dying or had died and I was getting numb to it, getting used to it. And… when I got a call that he died, I didn’t fall out of my chair. It just happened. And I was too f**ked up to really take it in. I was, like, ‘Oh, another one fell.'”
Much of their initial bitterness sprang from Cobain’s political beliefs. A champion for equality and feminism, he believed they were at odds with GNR’s “sexist” lyrics at the time. In 1993, he told the LGBTQ+ publication The Advocate about a fan that pleaded with him to put aside his differences with the group and collab. He replied: “No, kid, you’re really wrong, those people are total sexist jerks, and the reason we’re playing this show is to fight homophobia in a [really] small way. The guy is a f*****g sexist and a racist and a homophobe, and you can’t be on his side and be on our side.”
Eventually, the two groups appeared to leave their rivalry behind them, though at that point it was too late to see any potential collaboration. On April 8, Cobain was found dead at his Lake Washington Boulevard home. Today, he is still beloved by countless fans with Nirvana selling 75 million records worldwide.
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Elvis Presley was signed by his manager Colonel Tom Parker in 1956. From that point on, Parker was with Elvis every step of the way through his career. But not every moment of the star’s journey was happy. Parker, who died 25 years ago on January 21, 1997, was hugely affected by the King of Rock and Roll’s decision to stop touring.
After being conscripted into the US Army in 1960, the star returned to civilian life and essentially retired from touring. In 1968 he and Parker decided the star’s career needed a reboot. Before long, an Elvis NBC TV Special had been worked out. During this special, the star performed some of his biggest hits to live viewers in an event that was watched all over the world. A year later, Elvis started getting things moving in the live performance space once again. In 1969 Elvis returned to the stage in Las Vegas at the International Hotel as a sort of trial period for the future of his career.
What happened next was almost magical.
The International Hotel’s performance room had 2,000 people seated to watch the King’s highly-anticipated return. The room was full of critics, celebrities, people of note and superfans to watch the star sing live once again. Although he was nervous, he came out and gave the performance of a lifetime. Dressed in a costumed karate outfit, he gave an incredible rendition of Blue Suede Shoes that reportedly left fans “frenzied” as they erupted into applause and screaming throughout his set.
Elvis’ wife at the time, Priscilla Presley, was backstage watching the star do what he was best at. After the gig came to an end, Colonel Tom Parker came looking for him.
READ MORE: Elvis Presley: Colonel Tom Parker wouldn’t let star appear on TV
Priscilla added: “Elvis came out of the dressing room and the two men embraced. I believe everyone felt their emotion in that moment.”
Even more exciting for the pair was that the International Hotel was very pleased with Elvis’ set and box office sales. The following day, Priscilla recalled, Elvis and Parker signed a five-year contract to appear twice a year – January and August.
There was an even more unexpected part of the deal.
The International Hotel agreed upon an enormous salary: $1 million. This was an unheard-of sum at the time and is the equivalent of $7.5 million today.
Elvis’ new deal was a much-needed boost to his career that sped him along for the following few years.
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The iconic singer and actor Meat Loaf died this week, January 20, 2022, aged 74. The star had a number of memorable and legendary hits under his belt, including I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) from his sixth studio album, Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell. The song was a smash hit, reaching number one in 28 countries and gaining platinum status in the USA. But the backstory behind the female voice in the song is extremely unexpected.
The end of the song introduces a female voice to the track’s narrative. The singer was credited as Mrs Loud – but in reality, the parts were sung by British star Lorraine Crosby. Crosby is an English singer and songwriter originating from Newcastle. In the early 1980s Crosby laid down some guide vocals on a demo tape for I’d Do Anything For Love. These were originally intended to be used by Meat Loaf to sing his own version of the lyrics.
But during production, he, and his producer Jim Steinman, felt the song was missing something.
Other massive stars were reportedly considered to duet with Meat Loaf, including Cher, Melissa Etheridge and Bonnie Tyler, but eventually, they kept going back to the original demo.
Crosby later recalled: “It wasn’t supposed to be kept, it was just a demo tape I did. But the chemistry was so good that when we sang together, I think they found it hard to recreate it once it had been done. [Steinman] called me six months after I sung the vocal and said to me, you know: ‘It ain’t broke, let’s not fix it – do you mind if we put it on the record?’ At which point I fell through the floor because I was a huge Meat Loaf fan, I used to sing his songs into a hairbrush when I was 10 years old! I never dreamed that one day I’d actually sing with him. That was incredible.” (sic)
Although Crosby enjoyed the experience, she did call it “terrifying”.
READ MORE: Meat Loaf’s daughter shares his final promise to walk her down aisle
Bonnie Tyler, another British star, once described Crosby as “a great friend of mine from Newcastle”. She added: “Meat Loaf was naughty, really: he gave her no acknowledgement on the album but I think her part really made that song.”
Despite these circumstances, Crosby held no ill will against Meat Loaf. After the singer’s death was announced, Crosby said losing Meat Loaf was a “sad day”.
Crosby said the pair were still “good friends” and added Meat Loaf was “like a father figure” to her. She said of I’d Do Anything For Love: “I do believe fate always works out, and the rest is history, the song went to number one in 28 countries and sold 15 million copies, and it was Meat Loaf’s only number one [in the US], and I’m so thrilled I got to do it with him.”
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Carly Paoli began singing at three years old (Image: Steve Granitz/WireImage/Getty)
The world-famous mezzo-soprano laughs heartily. Paoli has shared a stage with a host of iconic artists, including Elaine Paige and Joseph Calleja. She performed with Carreras for Prince Charles at Windsor Castle, and with Andrea Bocelli for Pope Francis, who declared she has “the voice of an angel”. Not bad going for a lorry driver’s daughter from Mansfield.
Carly, 33 on Friday, January 28, has achieved international stardom through a combination of talent, faith, serendipity and sheer hard graft. “I always loved singing,” she tells me. “I sang from three years old; you couldn’t shut me up. When I was eight, I went to Stagecoach in Southwell, and after a few weeks the teacher, Liz Hetherington, an opera singer, took mum into a corner and told her my voice was special.
“She said my voice was bigger than my body. Liz took me under her wing. She was always there for me, like a second mum, and now she’s my musical director.”
Liz gave Carly singing lessons from the age of nine, but there were teething problems. “I had a classical voice, that was obvious from the start, but I’d been inspired by musicals, Doris Day and Judy Garland, and it took her forever to stamp out the American accent I’d copied from them.”
Paul and Tina Hopkinson, a former Thomas Cook travel agent, sacrificed much to give their talented daughter the breaks she needed. Now retired, they live with her on her farm in Wiltshire. Paul, who’d built a haulage company, chauffeurs her to concerts, Tina “looks after the logistics”.
Young Carly won scholarships to study music and the performing arts. At 16, she boarded at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in Hertfordshire. “I did my A-level studies in the morning, then performing arts until 10pm, so it gave me my work ethic. I came home every weekend, doing dance, acting and musical theatre classes.”
At 18, she started a four-year course at Manchester’s Royal Northern College Of Music, working in M&S to pay for her accommodation.
Carly Paoli performs at The O2 Arena (Image: Brian Rasic/Getty)
Paoli was her mother’s maiden name. “Mum looks like a southern Italian but she doesn’t speak Italian, and she certainly doesn’t cook like an Italian!” Carly laughs. “She grew up in Bolsover, but her dad was Italian. He came over to work on the MI, fell in love with my grandmother and never left.
“He was a lovely singer and his brother had a voice similar to Maria Lanza. He was known as ‘the singing chef’ because he sang arias while he was cooking.
“We spent our summers in Puglia, in the heel of the boot of Italy. We bought an apartment there, near my aunts and cousins. One played the accordion, and we’d sing together. Uncle Luigi was a folk singer who wrote his own songs about Puglia that were quite cheeky. He played accordion and eventually had his own TV show in the south of Italy. They’re an interesting bunch the Paolis, their parties were always good!
“From 16 onwards I’d go to Puglia every summer and perform in the piazzas and churches, and celebrate their culture and classical music.”
After graduating, 23-year-old Carly worked as a singing teacher, supplementing her wages by performing at corporate events. Luxury Swiss watch company Bedat & Co were so impressed they hired her as their brand ambassador.
Then multiple Grammy Award-winning producer David Foster asked her to perform at his charity gala in Calgary, Canada.
“I was thrust onto the stage with Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Jennifer Hudson,” Carly recalls. “I was 24 and my heart was in my mouth. I said a prayer and never looked back.”
For bi-lingual Paoli, however, all roads led to Rome. She was 26 when she sang a duet from Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte with Pavarotti’s favourite female soprano, Cynthia Lawrence, at a star-studded UNICEF fundraiser in the ruins of the Caracalla baths, near the Colosseum. Carreras, Bocelli and flautist Andrea Griminelli were also on the breath-taking bill.
Carly’s modern version of Ave Maria, with poignant new lyrics by Romano Musumarra and Grant Black, wowed the Vatican so much they asked her to perform at the Pope’s Jubilee concert at the Roman forum – an open-air museum transformed into an auditorium for the night. Pope Francis chose it as the theme song for his 2016 Jubilee Year Of Mercy.
Carly Paoli at Northern Ireland’s 2022 world cup qualifier against Italy (Image: PA)
Christianity is one cornerstone of Carly’s career. “My mum was in the Salvation Army so I was brought up with faith. It’s important to me. I like to think my voice is a gift from God, and you do your bit to make the world a better place.”
She is about to embark on a cathedral tour with “lovely” Aled Jones. “I’m looking forward to live audiences again,” she says. “We have beautiful songs lined up and what settings to perform in!”
Jones guested on her 2021 album, Carly Paoli & Friends along with Calleja, Elaine Paige, Paul Carrack, Ramin Karimloo and US Christian gospel singer David Phelps.
Her recent career highlights include performing at Windsor Park at Northern Ireland’s 2022 world cup qualifier against Italy, and last year’s Queen celebration, It’s A Kind Of Magic, in Floriana, Malta, with the BBC concert orchestra.
Carly sang Barcelona, and Tony Vincent reprised his We Will Rock You role as Freddie Mercury. “I was so excited,” she says. “I’d admired Tony since I was 13. I saw that show 17 times! I’d be at the stage door for autographs, so to be singing with him was a special thrill but I was determined to be cool.
“Then when I met him, my mum told him, ‘Oh our Carly, she used to love you. She was like your stalker’. Mum! I didn’t get to stay cool for long…”
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Carly still has family in Mansfield ‑ her builder brother Dean, with her niece and nephew, and paternal grandmother, Betty.
Her late maternal grandmother, who had a market stall, bought Carly a dress when she was 14, “a beautiful olive green and gold wedding dress, I wore it on stage at Terme di Caracalla in Rome in 2018 and I still wear it now. It still fits!”
Marriage isn’t on her agenda though. “There’s no man in my life,” she says. “I’m too busy, I’m all focused on my career.”
Paoli describes herself as “an old soul”, with an enduring love of opera and the golden age of Hollywood musicals. Apple TV’s Schmigadoon! and Ted Lasso are current viewing favourites.
She relaxes by walking, dancing and working out at the gym. “We live in the countryside, not far from Stonehenge, so there are lovely places all around.”
She has no intention of “doing a Clarkson” though ‑ “we rent out our field to real farmers,” she says.
Carly Paoli starts her cathedral tour with Aled Jones starts next month (Image: PA)
Carly returns to Italy this summer with a Puglia-based orchestra. As always, her pre-show rituals will include a prayer, an espresso coffee and sweets (Percy Pigs or Haribos). All she eats before a performance is pasta al dente with olive oil and parmesan ‑ a tip from Carreras.
Paoli is keen to praise her fans, who leave her “wonderful” messages, and her parents ‑ “I appreciate so much more now how hard they worked to give me and my brother the life we have.
“I’m living the career I always dreamt of, with the people who mean the most to me. It’s a blessing when you wake up every morning and do what you love for a living.”
Carly Paoli & Friends is out now; her cathedral tour with Aled Jones starts next month
See more: carlypaoli.com/live
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Country music legend Dolly Parton celebrated her 76th birthday this week. The ‘Jolene’ singer shared a picture of herself all dolled up to her 4.7 million Instagram followers. Despite selling more than 100 million records worldwide, composing some 3,000 songs and winning countless awards, Dolly is showing no signs of slowing down.
Her new album ‘Run, Rose, Run’ will be released on March 4, and her debut novel of the same name comes out three days later.
While her career has taken her places she could never have imagined, one thing has remained the same throughout — her beloved husband Carl Dean.
The pair first met outside their local laundrette in 1964 when Dolly was 18 and Carl was 21.
Within two years they were married. Carl has largely remained out of the spotlight since then, running his own asphalt business, while her stardom skyrocketed.
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Speaking to Entertainment Tonight two years ago, she offered an insight into their relationship.
She recalled one particular conversation they had: “He said, ‘I didn’t choose this world, I chose you, and you chose that world.
“But we can keep our lives separate and together.’ And we do and we have.”
Dolly opened up on the “open” relationship they have in her 2017 book ‘Dolly on Dolly, Interviews and Encounters with Dolly Parton’.
She added: “He would shoot me too. At the end of the day we love each other madly.”
Dolly’s career would have been a very different story without two of her biggest hits.
She revealed in a 2018 interview that she wrote ‘Jolene’ and ‘I Will Always Love You’ on the same day.
Yet, without the flirty personalities both she and her husband have, Jolene might never have come to fruition.
The singer revealed in an interview for Norwegian television that ‘Jolene’ was inspired by a redheaded bank clerk who had flirted with her husband at the local branch.
While performing at Glastonbury in 2014, she explained the origins of her biggest hit, and said: “I got rid of that redheaded woman in a hurry.”
Dolly and Carl never did have children, even though they had both wanted them. She confessed in a throwback interview with Billboard: “Early on, when my husband and I were dating, and then when we got married, we just assumed we would have kids.
“We weren’t doing anything to stop it. In fact, we thought maybe we would.
“We even had names if we did, but it didn’t turn out that way.”
Ultimately, everything worked out well for Dolly and Carl. The singer, who is Miley Cyrus’ godmother, said: “God has a plan for everything.
“I think it probably was his plan for me not to have kids so everybody’s kids could be mine.
“And they are now.”
Dolly Parton at the BBC airs at 8:30pm tonight. It will be followed by ‘Dolly Parton – Here I Am’ at 9:30pm and ‘Dolly Parton: 50 Years at the Opry’ at 11pm.
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The manager of Elvis Presley, Colonel Tom Parker, died 25 years ago yesterday, on January 21 1997. The music mogul managed to catapult the King of Rock and Roll’s career to its next level after taking over as his boss in 1955, but he would not let the star do certain things. In a 1987 interview, he defended his actions, while adding that the star “would not let” anyone boss him around.
Parker was interviewed by ABC News in 1987 to commemorate the ten year anniversary of Elvis. During the chat, he was quizzed over not letting the star appear on some talk shows such as The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Parker explained: “I kept him back but I didn’t do it deliberately. I found out some of my friends – they had artists – they put them on all the shows, talk shows, for free, and [the artists] had a hard time getting a job after that.”
Parker added that he thought these shows were “bad promotion”.
Parker revealed: “I felt it was good for us not to go on. All these fellas were good friends of mine but when you go on these shows, most of the time, they book people when they’re big stars so they don’t hurt them too much.” He added: “We were starting out and it wouldn’t have helped us any, which was proven because we did all right without them.”
Parker also spoke candidly about working with Elvis behind the scenes.
READ MORE: Elvis Presley Judy Spreckels: ‘We were in love and stayed up all night
Parker was born in the Netherlands and entered the USA illegally. Because of this, it has been suggested the boss was scared of leaving the country in fear he would not be granted a US passport, thus locking him out of the country.
This key detail is reportedly what prevented Parker from allowing Elvis to perform and tour in other countries, potentially boosting his popularity even further.
What’s more, Parker was an avid gambler that supposedly got out of control during the mid-1960s. Elvis’ boss would spend 12-14 hours a day gambling in casinos in Las Vegas, betting large sums of money at any given time. It was suspected Parker owed the Las Vegas Hilton hotel more than $30 million in 1977, at the time of Elvis’ death.
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One Direction went on an “indefinite hiatus” back in 2015, just a few months after Zayn Malik announced he would be leaving the band to live a “normal 22-year-old life”. Since then, there have been plenty of rumours suggesting the band would be getting back together in one way or another. Most of these have been started by comments made by the members of the band themselves. For example, Louis Tomlinson recently sparked excitement by suggesting the band were “just getting started” on his Twitter account.
Liam Payne has also added fuel to the fire. Just a few months ago the star was asked if the band would reunite. He replied: “I don’t know… I definitely think it will happen! But, I think everyone is just enjoying their solo work at the moment. Yeah… we’ll see.” Unfortunately for fans, Harry has made things a lot worse this week. Ladbrokes recently gave a One Direction reunion 10/11 odds on happening before the end of 2022.
But things have massively changed in the past 24 hours.
This week Harry announced his return to the UK touring scene. And not only that, he revealed he’ll be making his way through the country’s stadiums, including Old Trafford, Wembley, and Ibrox Stadium to name a few. What’s more, he’ll be working his way through Europe. He wrote on his Twitter account: “I’m so happy to announce that ‘Love On Tour 2022’ is finally coming to the UK, Europe and South America. Public on sale begins on Friday, Jan 28. Check your venue website for further information about your show, and protocols. I’m so excited to see you. Thank you, I love you. H.”
Since this news, the odds on a One Direction reunion happening in 2022 have worsened dramatically.
READ MORE: Harry Styles announces 2022 UK and Europe tour: How to get tickets
The band has consistently said that they will eventually get back together. And things have been backed up by one of the biggest stars in music: Ed Sheeran. Sheeran has a connection with the band as he has written a handful of songs for the band in the past. Not only has the Shiver singer written Little Things and 18 for the quintet, but he also penned Over Again and Moments.
And he believes the group will be back together in due time.
Sheeran was recently asked about One Direction’s status. He replied: “They will come off hiatus. But it won’t be the five of them, I think. I think it will be like a Take That situation.” Unfortunately, he didn’t know when it would happen – but fans can feel secure knowing it’s on the cards.
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