Colonel Tom Parker
Colonel Thomas Andrew "Tom" Parker (June 26, 1909 – January 21, 1997) born Andreas Cornelis ("Dries") van Kuijk, was a Dutch-born entertainment impresario known best as the manager of Elvis Presley. Parker's management of Presley defined the role of masterminding talent management, which involved every facet of his life and was seen as central to the astonishing success of Presley's career. "The Colonel" displayed a ruthless devotion to his client's interests and took more than the traditional 10 percent of his earnings (reaching up to 50 percent by the end of Presley's life). Presley said of Parker: "I don't think I'd have ever been very big if it wasn't for him. He's a very smart man." For many years Parker falsely claimed to have been U.S.-born, but it eventually emerged that he was born in Breda, Netherlands.
Read more about Colonel Tom Parker: Early Life, Talent Management (1938–1954), Finding Elvis, After Elvis, Personal Life, Death, Portrayals and Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words colonel, tom and/or parker:
“The Colonel went out sailing,
He spoke with Turk and Jew
With Christian and with Infidel
For all tongues he knew.
“O what’s a wifeless man?” said he
And he came sailing home.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Come dame or maid, be not afraid,
Poor Tom will injure nothing.”
—Unknown. Tom o’ Bedlam’s Song (l. 11–12)
“Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn. They teach you there’s a boundary line to music. But, man, there’s no boundary line to art.”
—Charlie Parker (1920–1955)