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JOIN LEE AND JOE EVERY FRIDAY ON...
BB: There was talk of a gospel tour. Elvis had talked about doing a gospel show. There was even talk about getting a recording effort out of motown and putting together a gospel television special, but sadly that didn't materialize. That show would have involved the Stamps and the Sweets and the other singers that were involved with the show.
JK: He seemed to light up when he sang gospel.
BB: Oh he certainly did! He was a big gospel fan.
JK: Now I've been told you would get done with the show and then have to stay up and sing with Elvis most of the night.
BB: It just got to be that we expected that - especially at the hotel in Vegas. Almost every night we would go up to his suite and sing gospel music. He would have a lot of different guests; movie stars and big time singers. They would first come to his show and he would invite them up to the suite. They would sit around and chat for a while and we would entertain them -that was our job. He would sing with us sometimes or he would ask us to sing certain tunes. There was one song that he asked for a lot, one that I would sing : "When It's My Time". He asked for that one a lot. Vernon knew this and when Elvis passed, he asked me to sing it at his funeral.
JK: That must have been very hard for you?
BB: It was difficult, very hard. But show business is all about doing hard things. A lot of people don't realize that, but you have to do it when you can do it; and do it when you can't. You do it when you feel bad and you have to do it when you feel good.
JK: How did you hear that Elvis had passed away?
BB: Very strange, I was here at my home. I had walked in, I had just come back from the Post Office. The minute I walked in I got a phone call from one of my wife's best friends. She said, "I heard that Elvis had died, do you know anything about it?" I said, "Surely not. I didn't know anything about it. That has to be just a story someone is telling you. I wouldn't worry about it if I was you." I hung up the phone and went to turn on the tv and there it was. He had died. I had to call her back and tell her I was sorry but it must be true.
JK: What are you doing now?
BB: I'm kind of semi-retired. I work occasionally. I will be in Memphis this August, the whole week of Elvis Week. Sunday night Ed Hill, Donnie Sumner, Larry Strickland and I will be doing a concert at one of the clubs Downtown. Then on Tuesday we will be in concert with the Sweets and the Imperials and former members of the Stamps. That will be on the lawn of Graceland. Thursday we do the big show at the auditorium there at the Fed-Ex Center. That will be with Elvis on the screen.
JK: I almost forgot to ask you, you're the man who does the, "Ahhhhhh," in Burning Love?
BB: Yes, I do that high thing on the end of Burning Love! Is that what you're talking about? (laughing)
JK: Yeah
BB:Do you want to know how that happened?