It’s June sixteenth, and on this day in 1976… the growing isolation surrounding Elvis Presley became undeniable. Even Colonel Tom Parker couldn’t reach him. Parker wrote a letter expressing his concern, noting that he hadn’t heard from anyone—not Sonny, not staff, not Elvis himself. By this point, most of Elvis’s inner circle had splintered. Joe Esposito was living in California, Lamar Fike had relocated to Nashville, Jerry Schilling was gone, and Elvis’s relationships with Red and Sonny West had deteriorated, clouded by legal disputes and mounting mistrust. The once-tight Memphis Mafia was unraveling, mirroring Elvis’s increasingly private and troubled world.
