Marty Lacker was not simply another member of Elvis Presley’s famous Memphis Mafia.
He was one of Elvis’s longtime friends, served as co-best man at his 1967 wedding to Priscilla and later played an important role in connecting Elvis with the recording studio that produced some of his strongest late-career music. Graceland itself credited Lacker with connecting Elvis to American Sound producer Chips Moman.
By the late 1960s, Marty had become increasingly involved in the Memphis music business.
He knew what was happening at American Sound Studio, where Chips Moman and a group of elite session musicians were creating hit records.
Marty believed Elvis needed exactly that kind of environment.
Elvis had spent much of the previous decade recording material tied to movies and publishing arrangements. Lacker felt other people had too much influence over which songs reached Elvis and wanted him to start choosing music based on quality rather than whether his business team could obtain part of the publishing.
Eventually, Elvis agreed to try American Sound.
The decision proved enormous.
In January and February 1969, Elvis recorded in Memphis for the first time since his Sun Records days. Those sessions produced material for From Elvis in Memphis as well as songs including “In the Ghetto,” “Don’t Cry Daddy,” “Kentucky Rain” and “Suspicious Minds.”
Elvis Presley – “Suspicious Minds”
The story behind “Suspicious Minds” also showed why Marty’s relationship with Elvis mattered.
Producer Chips Moman offered Elvis the Mark James song after the original version had failed to become a major hit.
Elvis loved it.
But behind the scenes, a dispute began because representatives connected to Elvis’s management wanted a share of the song’s publishing.
Moman refused.
Lacker later recalled that he feared the business argument could destroy the session, so he stayed close as the disagreement unfolded.
According to Marty, when Colonel Parker associate Tom Diskin went to Elvis about the dispute, Elvis ultimately sided with the recording session and allowed Moman to continue without surrendering part of the copyright.
The decision paid off.
“Suspicious Minds” was recorded at American Sound on January 22, 1969 and later became Elvis’s first No. 1 single in seven years. It would also become his final No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Marty’s importance went beyond that one recording.
After the sessions, Chips Moman asked him to become vice president and general manager of American Sound, giving Lacker a career in the Memphis recording industry separate from his friendship with Elvis.
He was also famously outspoken.
Lacker openly criticized Colonel Parker’s control over Elvis’s career and continued correcting stories about Elvis long after the singer’s death.
That directness sometimes made him controversial, but it was also why fans continued seeking out his recollections.
Marty Lacker died on February 13, 2017, at age 80. Graceland remembered him as a member of Elvis’s inner circle whose friendship with Elvis lasted for decades.
He stood beside Elvis on one of the biggest personal days of his life, then helped steer him toward the Memphis studio where some of his greatest later music was created.