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Felton Jarvis: You may or may not have heard of
Felton. He was quite an outstanding music man.
I first met him when he was hired to assist us at WQXI in
Atlanta. He was a station mascot who dressed up in a clown’s
outfit with huge padded shoes. We used him at all of our
remote broadcasts. Our listeners loved his crazy antics and
rap. To give you a touch of his personality he liked exotic
animals. He owned a anaconda snake and a tiger. I’m not
certain where he kept them, but rumor was at his house in
Atlanta.
He admired a guy named Elvis (yep, that Elvis), and even
though not much of a singer Felton recorded “Don’t Knock
Elvis” in 1959. The 45 was heavily played by southern radio
stations.
In 1963 Felton moved from Atlanta to Nashville where he
worked for ABC Paramount and RCA records.
A few years later he met Elvis and in 1970 went to work for
him full time for him.
When in Las Vegas my wife, Pat, and I always went to see
Elvis live. He was wonderful on stage. One evening while
attending a music convention we were joined by Bill and
Billie Lowery of Atlanta. They owned a successful music
publishing and recording company called Lowery Music. We
enjoyed the Elvis stage show as usual. As we were walking
out of the showroom I heard an unmistakable voice yell from
the production booth in the balcony: “Hey Bill…Hey Kent…what
are you doing here? Wait for me, I’ll be right down”.
Three minutes later Felton dashed up and after a handshake
said “Let’s go down to Elvis dressing room”. Bill and Billie
new Elvis, but Pat and I had never met him…..so this sounded
like fun!!!! To meet the King…..WOW!!!!
With Felton leading the way we walked past security (a lot
of big guys) to the basement of the hotel and entered Elvis
dressing room that was decorated in the usual Vegas glitz.
Elvis, who had changed into casual attire, walked up to us
to say “Hi, I’m Elvis”. My wife was so rattled (a real Elvis
fan) she couldn’t remember her name…she said “I am….I am….I
am….I am glad to meet you!!!” There were about twenty people
in the room. I remember that Tom Parker, Elvis manager, was
there talking to a couple of beautiful women.
Elvis was a very gracious host, and it was very clear that
he indeed loved and admired Felton. I know because I WAS
THERE. Felton was record producer and concert producer for
Elvis for a decade from 1966 to 1977. He and Elvis were good
friends for certain. For example, in 1972 when Felton was in
need of a kidney transplant Elvis arranged for and paid for
the operation. Now, that is a REAL friend!!
The dressing room emptied except for a few of us. We had a
great four hour chat with Elvis and Felton. Elvis asked us
not to leave until the sun came up. We stayed till then. It
was the last time I saw Felton alive. He died at age 46 in
1981 from a stroke.
As I began above, you may not have heard of Felton, but
those who lived in Nashville knew him well. Other than Elvis
he helped or produced recording sessions for Willie Nelson,
Lloyd Price, Fats Domino, Gladys Knight and Carl Perkins.
And his first production assignment was a million
seller….Sheila by Tommy Rowe…recorded for the Lowery group.
Can you imagine a anaconda snake and a tiger as a
roommate???
So long Felton. We miss you.
e-mail Kent
kent@kentburkhart.com
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