She was one of the biggest young faces on television, the star of a hit show set in Hawaii. One day at work, someone told her Elvis Presley was on the phone asking for her.
She didn’t believe it. Reportedly she figured somebody was pulling a prank, because why on earth would Elvis be calling her?
It was him. And that call was the start of something she spent years waving off whenever reporters asked.
Her name is Connie Stevens. Back then she was starring in “Hawaiian Eye,” and she had the kind of voice that could stop a room. That voice is a big part of why Elvis took such a shine to her.
The hit song that shows why Elvis loved her voice
Before the story goes further, here’s the song that made her a star, so you can hear what he kept asking her to do.
Elvis apparently couldn’t get enough of it. When she sang, he’d light up and say, “Did ya hear that, did ya hear that, do it again, do it again.” He meant it too. He told her she “had a sound” and that she should just sing for the people, and that push reportedly helped steer her toward headlining in Las Vegas.
By her own account the two of them saw each other on and off for maybe about two years. And the whole time, when anyone asked, she denied it.
Not every outing went smoothly, either. One night Elvis took her to the movies at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The car ran out of gas. They got recognized by the crowd. They missed the end of the picture. And on the drive home, he noticed his favorite cap had gone missing.
It’s the kind of ordinary, slightly comic night that could happen to anyone, except one of them happened to be Elvis.
So why did she keep denying it for all those years?
Her own quiet verdict, years later
When she finally stopped brushing the question aside, Connie gave an answer that fans still repeat. She put Elvis in a very small, very personal group of people from her whole life, and the way she said it leaves no doubt about how much he meant to her.
That line is the heart of this whole story, and it’s the one thing worth hearing straight from how she told it.
Play the song above first. It only takes a couple of minutes, and once you’ve heard that voice, you’ll understand exactly what Elvis kept asking her to do “again.”
Some romances stay secret for a reason, and some get owned up to only when enough time has passed. Connie’s took years. It was worth the wait.