From The Archives: 1978 Elvis Tribute Record

The phenomenal popularity of Elvis Presley lives on now more than a year since his death. One of the most recent tributes to Elvis is a song written by a Chattanoogan, local radio personality Tommy Jett.  Tommy was a veteran at the Chattanooga radio scene, a longtime admirer of Elvis.  The song was written and titled appropriately, happy birthday Elvis we wish you were here. 

Tommy: he was so versatile I think and he had a magnetism about him that I think is unexplainable. I don’t know what it was. Like I said, if I had not seen it I wouldn’t believe it because when he walked on stage it seems like you could feel his presence you know in a way that is unreal. And I know he was not a supernatural human being.

The song started out as a poem. It was later set to music and recorded by Perry White, an Elvis lookalike.  We asked Perry if he consciously tries to imitate Elvis. 

Perry: I didn’t realize, a lot of people came up to me when I first started singing and told me I look somewhat like Elvis Presley and you sound a great deal like him.  They said you know you should get an Elvis show together. I didn’t go for the idea too much but even though I did love Elvis. I Guess that’s the reason not that I look like him or anything like that but I do sound like him because I grew up listening to Elvis records.

Happy birthday Elvis is being distributed nationally and should be heard on local stations very soon in time for Elvis’ birthday January 8.  For Tri-state report, I am Dale Pandelis.

     Tommy Jett is still with us.
     In fact he has a new book out on his career.
     It’s called "The Jett Age- Flying with Tommy Jett."
     And he’ll be signing it this Saturday afternoon at the Dinner Bell Restaurant in Flintstone, Georgia.
     If you go.. Tell him you saw him in his seventies duds on News 12.