Personal relationships of Elvis Presley "too polite to say." However, Alden finally revealed in her 2014 memoir that they did "make love," indicating sexual intimacy. Apart from his relationships with women, Presley had many male friends. He reportedly spent day and night with friends and employees whom the news media affectionately dubbed the Memphis Mafia. Among them were Sonny West, Red West, Billy Smith, Marty Lacker and Lamar Fike. Gerald Marzorati says that Elvis "couldn't go anywhere else without a phalanx of boyhood friends." Even the girls he dated deplored, "Whenever you were with Elvis for the most part you were with his entourage. Those
Cultural impact of Elvis Presley it seems that many Americans wanted black music without the black people in it," and Elvis had undoubtedly "derived his style from the Negro rhythm-and-blues performers of the late 1940s." Certain elements in American society have dismissed Presley as no more than a racist Southerner who stole black music. The "Elvis stole black music" theme is an enduring one with arguments for and against published in books A southern background combined with a performing style largely associated with African Americans had led to "bitter criticism by those who feel he stole a good thing", as "Tan" magazine surmised. No wonder