Elvis Presley picked up plenty of names over the years. The one his little girl came up with might be the funniest of them all.
Lisa Marie Presley was born on Feb 1, 1968, so by the summer of 1974 she was 6 years old. Her dad was the biggest star in the world, and that August he was back on stage in Las Vegas.
Elvis opened a run of shows at the Las Vegas Hilton on Aug 19, 1974. Two of those nights were later released on an official 2-CD set called “Nevada Nights.” It came out on FTD, short for Follow That Dream, the official Elvis label for collectors. One of the shows on it is the opening night. The other is the midnight show on Aug 21.
That midnight show is the one fans love for a sweet reason. Here’s a look at the Las Vegas Strip in 1974, with Elvis at the Hilton, to set the scene.
Archive film of the Las Vegas Strip in 1974, with Elvis at the Hilton
Late that night, Elvis was in a relaxed, playful mood. At one point a fan called out that she loved him, and he shot right back, “I love you too honey, but I ain’t got time to do nothing right now!”
Then, just before he sang “I’m Leavin’,” he started talking about his little girl.
Piers Beagley, who reviewed the “Nevada Nights” set for the Elvis Information Network, called it a “delightful relaxed chat.” In it, Elvis told the audience “about his little girl Lisa and how she calls him ‘Alvis’!”
Yes, Alvis. With an A.
Another reviewer, Geoffrey Mc Donnell of Elvis Australia, wrote about the same official recording. He wrote that Elvis mentions his “six year old daughter, Lisa Marie and that she calls him ‘Alvis’.”
So two separate reviews of the same official release agree on the name. The exact back-and-forth is where it gets even cuter. According to Beagley, who wrote it down from the recording, Elvis reportedly told her, “Honey, I’m your daddy don’t call me Alvis.”
And Lisa Marie reportedly had the perfect answer: “Ok, Alvis.”
Any parent of a 6-year-old knows that move. It’s easy to see how that went, with a famous dad trying to sound stern for a second, and a little girl who wasn’t about to budge.
Lisa Marie had her own memories of those years with her dad. As a grown woman, she went on CBS’s “The Talk” and shared what it was like growing up at Graceland, his home in Memphis. It’s a sweet companion to the Alvis story.
Lisa Marie Presley remembers growing up at Graceland
If you’ve ever wondered whether that famous voice ran in the family, Lisa Marie talked about exactly that when she sat down with Ellen DeGeneres.
Lisa Marie Presley talks about sounding like her dad
It’s easy to forget that the King of Rock n’ Roll had a little girl back home who wasn’t impressed by any of that. To her, he was Alvis. And on that August night in Las Vegas, Elvis decided the whole room should hear about it.