Elvis Presley of friends with whom Presley constantly surrounded himself until his death came to be known as the "Memphis Mafia". "Surrounded by the[ir] parasitic presence", as journalist John Harris puts it, "it was no wonder that as he slid into addiction and torpor, no-one raised the alarm: to them, Elvis was the bank, and it had to remain open." Tony Brown, who played piano for Presley regularly in the last two years of Presley's life, observed his rapidly declining health and the urgent need to address it: "But we all knew it was hopeless because Elvis was surrounded by that little
Elvis Presley Enterprises Elvis' grandmother Minnie Mae Presley, and his nine-year-old daughter Lisa Marie Presley. After Vernon's death in 1979, Elvis' ex-wife Priscilla Presley, as Lisa Marie's legal guardian, began co-managing the trust along with the National Bank of Commerce in Memphis, which was the bank Elvis and Vernon had done business with, and Joseph Hanks, who had been Elvis and Vernon's accountant for a number of years, and formed EPE in 1979. With Minnie Mae's passing in 1980, Lisa Marie became the only surviving beneficiary named in Elvis's will. Following Elvis' death, his manager "Colonel Tom" Parker had set up a licensing