He completed basic training at Fort McPherson in Georgia. He enlisted in the United States Army a few months later, taking the name "Tom Parker" from the name of the officer who interviewed him to disguise the fact he was an illegal alien. and found work with carnivals owing to his experience in the Netherlands. This may have motivated Parker to avoid seeking a passport, as the Netherlands had an active extradition treaty with the U.S., and he may have wanted to avoid criminal arrest by Dutch authorities. The killing happened a few streets from where Parker's family lived, and Parker had been hired to make deliveries from this and other grocery stores in the area. There were no witnesses and almost no evidence, except that the killer spread pepper on and around the body before fleeing in hopes that police dogs would not pick up his scent. The premises had been ransacked in search of money. In early 1929, a 23-year-old newlywed woman, Anna van den Enden, was beaten to death in the living quarters behind a grocery store. Upon arrival he traveled with a Chautauqua educational tent show Īccording to biographer Alanna Nash, Parker may have been a suspect or a person of interest in an unsolved murder case in Breda. illegally by jumping ship from his employer's vessel. A year later, following his 18th birthday, Parker entered the U.S. By age 17 he first expressed his desire to run away to the United States to "make his fortune". Īt age 15, Van Kuijk moved to the port city of Rotterdam, gaining employment on boats. As a boy, Parker worked as a barker at carnivals in his hometown, learning many of the skills that he would use later while working in the entertainment industry. He was the son of Maria Elisabeth (call sign: Marie) Ponsie and Adam van Kuijk. Thomas Andrew Parker was born as Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk on June 26, 1909, in Breda, North Brabant, Netherlands, and was the seventh of eleven children. Parker's final years were spent living in Las Vegas, in increasingly poor health, until he died in 1997. Having previously sold the rights to Presley's early recordings to RCA, he struggled to secure a steady income, and his financial situation worsened after he sustained significant gambling losses. Parker's influence waned in later years, but he continued in his management role until Presley died in 1977.įor the rest of his life, Parker managed the Presley estate. Parker encouraged Presley to make film musicals which became the focus of his career during his commercial decline in the 1960s until his 1968 comeback and return to touring. He negotiated Presley's lucrative merchandising deals and media appearances and influenced his personal life, including Presley's decisions to accept military service in 1958 and marry Priscilla Beaulieu in 1967. Parker received more than half of the income from the enterprise, an unprecedented figure for a music manager. With Parker's help, Presley signed a recording contract with RCA Victor, leading to his commercial breakthrough in 1956 with his sixth single, " Heartbreak Hotel" and propelling him to become one of the most popular and commercially successful entertainers in the world. Parker encountered Presley in 1955 and, by 1956, had become his primary representative. As a reward, Davis gave him the honorary rank of " colonel" in the Louisiana State Militia. He also assisted Jimmie Davis' campaign to become governor of Louisiana. A carnival worker by background, Parker moved into music promotion in 1938, working with one of the first popular crooners, Gene Austin, and then country music singers Eddy Arnold, Hank Snow, and Tommy Sands. He adopted a new name and claimed to have been born in the United States. Parker was born in the Netherlands and entered the United States illegally when he was 20 years old. Thomas Andrew Parker (born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk June 26, 1909 – January 21, 1997), commonly known as Colonel Parker, was a musical entrepreneur, best known for being Elvis Presley's manager.
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