Singer who had bad news for a young Elvis Presley
SINGER, RADIO HOST
1-7-1933 - 20-3-2013
Eddie Bond, a rockabilly singer and radio host who once told a teenage Elvis Presley that he would be better off driving a truck than trying to make it in music, has died at his home in Bolivar, Tennessee. He was 79.
Bond was almost 21 and already established on the music scene in Memphis when a 16-year-old fellow band member, Ronnie Smith, invited Presley to audition to sing with the group in May 1954 at the Hi Hat Club on South Third Street. Presley, 19, drinking a Coke with his girlfriend, Dixie Locke, waited nervously to go on.
"Bond came over to the table to say hello," Peter Guralnick wrote in Last Train to Memphis, the first volume of his two-volume Presley biography. "He asked Elvis what he did for a living, and Elvis said he drove a truck for Crown Electric, but Dixie was embarrassed for him because he couldn't stop drumming his fingers on the table."
Presley soon took the stage and sang two songs, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. Afterwards, he and Bond spoke out of earshot of others. Presley did not get the gig, though the following year he and Bond briefly toured together, along with Johnny Cash and others.
A few years later, Bond told a friend about the night at the Hi Hat. He said he had told Presley to stick with his day job, "because you're never going to make it as a singer".
Bond told many people that he was simply conveying to Presley the assessment of the club owners, but the conversation apparently stuck with the future king of rock'n'roll.
In 1957, as Presley was about to film Jailhouse Rock, he told a friend that Bond "broke my heart". Travelling by train to Hollywood, he said, "I wonder what Eddie Bond thinks now."
Eddie James Bond was born in Memphis and was playing in bands by the time he was 16. After serving in the navy, he continued making and recording music in Memphis. He also hosted radio programs, promoted concerts and owned nightclubs.
Bond never had a major hit as a singer, but he wrote many songs that were popular locally, including several about Buford Pusser, a former sheriff of McNairy County, Tennessee, whose efforts fighting crime inspired the 1973 movie Walking Tall. Pusser died in 1974. That year, Bond ran unsuccessfully for sheriff of Shelby County, which includes Memphis.
He is survived by his wife of 59 years and two daughters.
Frequently Asked Questions about this Article…
Eddie Bond was a Memphis-born rockabilly singer, radio host and music promoter (born 1 July 1933, died 20 March 2013). He played in bands from his teens, hosted radio programs, promoted concerts, owned nightclubs and wrote songs that were locally popular in the Memphis area.
Eddie Bond famously encountered a young Elvis Presley at an audition at the Hi Hat Club in Memphis in May 1954. Bond later told friends he’d advised Presley to keep his day job driving a truck because, in Bond’s view at the time, Presley wouldn’t make it as a singer — a remark that Presley remembered years later.
Yes. Although Presley did not get the gig at that audition, he and Eddie Bond briefly toured together the following year along with other performers, including Johnny Cash.
No. Eddie Bond never had a major national hit as a singer, but he wrote many songs that were popular locally in Memphis and the surrounding region.
Beyond performing, Eddie Bond hosted radio shows, promoted concerts, owned nightclubs and wrote songs. He was active across multiple parts of the Memphis music scene rather than only as a recording artist.
Eddie Bond wrote several locally popular songs about Buford Pusser, the McNairy County sheriff whose crime-fighting career inspired the 1973 movie Walking Tall. Pusser died in 1974.
Eddie Bond died at his home in Bolivar, Tennessee, at the age of 79. He is survived by his wife of 59 years and two daughters.
Yes. In 1974 Eddie Bond ran unsuccessfully for sheriff of Shelby County, Tennessee, the county that includes Memphis.
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