In 1969, Elvis was getting ready for his big return to Las Vegas, and he needed singers behind him. He found them in the Sweet Inspirations.
Myrna Smith was one of the group’s original members. The Sweet Inspirations had a hit of their own called “Sweet Inspiration,” and it caught Elvis’s ear. He hired them without making them try out. “We didn’t have to audition. He just knew that we were the ones,” Myrna once said.
She still remembered the first thing he said to her in July 1969: “‘Hi, I’m Elvis Presley’.”
As if anybody needed telling.
From then on the Sweet Inspirations sang behind Elvis in concert, right up to the end, and Myrna sang on his 1976 recordings at Graceland too. Offstage, she saw plenty of his generous side.
She told interviewer David Adams about it years later. She said the gifts came all the time. “And, he just gave us jewelry all the time, big rings that covered half my knuckle. And, he gave me an El Dorado.”
That’s a Cadillac, if you’re keeping score.
The kindness didn’t stop at gifts, either. If you were part of his world, you could get a meal at his house. “Even if he stayed upstairs, y’know, dinner was still served at Graceland,” Myrna said.
To see Elvis with the group up close, watch this 1970 rehearsal, where he chats with the Sweet Inspirations before they launch into “Words.”
Elvis chats with the Sweet Inspirations at a 1970 rehearsal
So with all those rings and even a car, which gift did Myrna treasure most?
David Adams asked her exactly that, and her answer was something you could hold in one hand.
“I have a gold purse. It’s a little square gold purse that he gave me. And when he gave it to me it was full of silver dollars and he signed it inside, Love Elvis. That’s pretty dear to me.”
A purse full of silver dollars, with “Love Elvis” written inside. It’s the kind of thing you keep in a drawer and take out now and then just to hold.
She never said when he gave it to her or how many coins were tucked inside.
Myrna believed that was simply how Elvis was made. “He rewarded you because it made him feel good. And if he had something, he wanted to share it with you.”
But for all the gifts, Myrna also had plenty to say about his singing. Myrna sang behind him night after night for years, and she felt the records never quite caught what she heard on stage.
“His voice was a lot more remarkable than it ever came off on record … He was just a much better singer than could ever be captured.”
Myrna passed away in 2010. Long after Elvis was gone, she was still talking about that voice and that little gold purse.