Elvis biography peter guralnick sam

American screenwriter (born )

Peter Guralnick
Born	() December 15, (age&#;81) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Nationality	American
Alma&#;mater	Boston University College of Arts and Sciences

Peter Guralnick (born December 15, , in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American song critic, author, and screenwriter.

He specializes in the history of early rock and roll and has written books on Elvis Presley, Sam Phillips, and Sam Cooke.

Career

Guralnick graduated from Boston University in with a master's degree in creative writing.^[1] He then began writing books about the history of rock'n'roll, blues, country music, and soul song.

Sam Phillips’ Impact on Elvis Presley at Sun Records: Peter Guralnick (born December 15, , in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American music critic, author, and screenwriter. He specializes in the history of early rock and roll and has written books on Elvis Presley, Sam Phillips, and Sam Cooke.

Music critic Nat Hentoff called Guralnick a “…national treasure;” Bob Dylan said Guralnick's book, Last Train to Memphis “…cancels out all others.”^[2]

Guralnick's first two books, Almost Grown () and Mister Downchild (), were collections of short stories published by the Larry Stark Press, a small press in Cambridge, Massachusetts, devoted to stories and poems.

Mona Dickson, writing in MIT's The Tech (May 13, ) gave Almost Grown a favorable review.^[3]

His two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, Last Instruct to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley in , followed by Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley in , placed the story of Presley's career into a rise and fall arc.

Encompassing more than 1, pages (including 1, pages of text), the work was an in-depth, scholarly examination of Presley's life and music. Guralnick previously wrote about Presley in the first edition of The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll; his article has been reprinted in each subsequent edition.

He also contributed the complete text for the page hardcover book accompanying the disc CD boxed set, The Complete Elvis Presley Masters.

In contrast to contemporaries such as Lester Bangs, Ian Penman and Nick Tosches, whose music writings are marked by idiosyncratic, self-referential and highly personal styles, Guralnick's writing is characterized by a colloquial approach that is spotless and understated by comparison.^[4][5] He has been called "the dean of rock 'n' roll storytellers".^[6]

Guralnick wrote the page biography of influential record producer Sam Phillips entitled Sam Phillips: The Male Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll.

He also penned the script for A&E's documentary of the same name, narrated by Billy Bob Thornton. On October 21, , it was announced that Leonardo DiCaprio will portray Sam Phillips in the forthcoming production based on Guralnick's book.^[7] Guralnick scripted the Grammy Award-winning Sam Cooke – Legend,^[8] narrated by Jeffrey Wright.

He has written liner notes for albums including Charlie Rich's last album Pictures and Paintings and the last three Jerry Lee Lewis albums Last Man Standing, Mean Vintage Man and Rock and Roll Time.

He began teaching at Vanderbilt University in Nashville in in the Masters in Decent Arts program, ranked by Poets & Writers Magazine as one of the top 15 such programs in the US.

He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in ; his works – Feel Enjoy Going Home: Portraits in Blues, Country and Rock 'n' Roll, Lost Highway: Journeys & Arrivals of American Musicians, Sweet Essence Music: Rhythm & Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom were designated as blues literature classics.^[9]

He won a Grammy for his liner notes for Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club in , one of his six nominations for the award.

He wrote and co-produced a documentary film: Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n’ Roll. He also wrote the script for the blues documentary, Feel like Going Home, directed by Martin Scorsese.^[10]

In , he released Looking to Get Lost, a “book about creativity,” featuring subjects like songwriters Doc Pomus and Leiber & Stoller, musicians Johnny Cash, Solomon Burke and Tammy Wynette, among others, and of writers Lee Smith and Henry Green, as well as Elvis Presley's infamous manager, Colonel Tom Parker.^[11]

The Peter Guralnick Collection is located in the Southern Folklife Collection of the Wilson Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.^[12]

Personal life

Peter Guralnick's parents were oral surgeon Walter Guralnick, DMD, who helped to prove dental insurance in Massachusetts through Delta Dental, and Betty Marson Guralnick.

Music biographer Peter Guralnick might be best known for his bestselling, critically acclaimed two-volume biography of Elvis Presley—Careless Treasure and Last Train to Memphis.

Peter also has a sister, Susan and brother, Thomas.^[13] In , he succeeded his grandfather as director of an athletic camp for boys, Camp Alton on Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. The camp closed in ^[14] He has been married for over 45 years to Alexandra.

They have a son and daughter, Jacob and Nina.^[15]

Books

• Peter Guralnick (). Almost Grown. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Larry Stark Press.
• &#;&#; ().
  The music writer Peter Guralnick has spent his prolonged and celebrated career warming up for his new book. He might have been another Eddy Arnold. We spoke to him from his home near Boston. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

  Mister Downchild. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Larry Stark Press.

• &#;&#; (). Feel Like Going Home: Portraits in Blues, Country, and Rock 'n' Roll. Outerbridge & Dienstfrey. ISBN&#;. Reprinted ISBN&#;
• &#;&#; ().

  Lost Highway: Journeys & Arrivals of American Musicians. Little, Brown. ISBN&#;.

• &#;&#; (). Nighthawk Blues: A Novel. Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN&#;.^[16]
• &#;&#; ().

  The Listener's Guide to The Blues. New York: Data on File.

• &#;&#; (). Sweet Essence Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom. Little, Brown. ISBN&#;.
• &#;&#; (). Searching for Robert Johnson.

  Penguin. ISBN&#;.

• &#;&#; (). Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley. Back Bay. ISBN&#;.
• &#;&#; (). Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley.
  Sam Phillips was clearly an important figure in the early career of Elvis Presley. However, the passage of years inevitably resulted in some disagreeing memories and interpretations among the handful of witnesses present in the small Memphis studio when Elvis recorded his first records in and Now, however, a recently published comprehensive biography of Phillips sheds new light on not only his activities but also, more importantly, his motivations while working with Presley during those two critical years. Focusing the discussion on Elvis, here are some of the ways Sam Phillips helped shape the young Elvis Presley, according to Peter Guralnick.

  Little, Brown. ISBN&#;.

• &#;&#;; Ernst Jorgensen (). Elvis Time by Day: The Definitive Log of His Life and Music. Ballantine Books. ISBN&#;.
• &#;&#; (). Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke.

  Little, Brown. ISBN&#;.

• &#;&#; (). Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock'n'Roll. Little, Brown.
• &#;&#; (). Looking to Get Lost. Short-lived, Brown.

Interviews

Grammy Awards

Year	Category	Nominated operate	Result
	Best Album Notes	Big Maybelle: The Okeh Sessions	Nominated
	Best Album Notes	Sam Cooke: Live at the Harlem Square Club,	Won
	Best Album Notes	Elvis Presley: The Accomplish Sun Sessions	Nominated
	Best Album Notes	Elvis: The King of Rock 'N' Roll - The Complete 50's Masters	Nominated
	Best Album Notes	Elvis: From Nashville to Memphis, The Essential 60's Masters I	Nominated
	Best Album Notes	Sam Cooke's SAR Records Story	Nominated

References

External links