Elvis Presley wanted David Bowie to produce one of his records

Virgin Radio

6 Aug 2021, 16:00

It was the joining of forces that never quite happened, but that the whole music world would have loved to have heard. Back in the 1970s, rock ‘n’ roll royalty The King and The Thin White Duke almost made a record together! 

By the mid 1970s, even though Elvis was still playing to thousands in Las Vegas, his popularity in terms of record sales had waned to the point that, quite remarkably, none of his nine albums which were released between 1971 and 1976 made the Billboard top 40.

Bowie, on the other hand, was on the up. He was a big fan of The King and he apparently had an encyclopedic knowledge of Elvis’ music. The story goes that he even wrote Golden Years with Elvis in mind and that the song was offered to the iconic singer, but that Elvis didn’t think it was quite right for him. Bowie ended up using the song himself, putting it on his Station to Station album. It would become one of his most iconic tunes.

Even though Elvis didn’t end up adding the song to his own catalogue, Golden Years clearly connected with him, and shortly after it made a considerable dent in both the UK and US charts, The King made contact with Bowie about a potential producer’s role. Both artists were signed to RCA Records at the time.

In a 2016 interview with the Orange County Register, country music star Dwayne Yoakam said that he once met Bowie, and they talked about their mutual love of Elvis. It was then that Bowie revealed that Elvis had apparently got in touch with him about producing his next project. However, Elvis died six months after the request was made in 1977, and the two musical legends would never end up working together. 

Of the collaboration that never happened, Yoakam said, “That was based on Elvis having heard Bowie’s ‘Golden Years’, and I thought ‘Oh my God, it’s a tragedy that he was never able to make that,’

“I couldn’t even imagine 1977 David Bowie producing Elvis. It would have been fantastic. It has to be one of the greatest tragedies in pop music history that it didn’t happen, one of the biggest missed opportunities.”

Legend has it that Elvis Presley once sent a note to Bowie saying, “All the best, and have a great tour”, and that Bowie kept the note for the rest of his life.