Throughout Elvis Presley‘s life, a plethora of women and girlfriends came and went. Priscilla Presley was the most famous and most prominent of the women to spend time with the King as she became his wife and the mother of his only child, Lisa Marie Presley – but she was not the first. Long before Elvis has met his future spouse, the star mainly hung out with the Memphis Mafia – his entourage made up of close friends, some family, and those who worked for him. Included in that group was Judy, a woman he serendipitously met in 1956.
Judy, an heiress who had a ranch in Las Vegas, fondly recalled meeting the star when he was just 21-years-old while she was living in a hotel where he was staying. She remembered: “I was sitting at a writing desk in the lobby writing a letter and he just came up to me and started talking. How could you not know who he was even then? I was friendly and told him I loved his record, Heartbreak Hotel.”
For one reason or another, they remained friends for years, and rarely went a day without hanging out. And it sounds like things got quite serious between them.
Judy explained how she was a confidant for Elvis during his early years of fame. She revealed: “He told me secrets that I never told and will never tell. I had nothing to do with being a yes man for him and obviously he trusted me. Anything he told me was not going to go to any publication. I am the only person who was around Elvis who was a writer and didn’t write a book. I felt secrets were secrets.” (Via Elvis Australia)
The inseparable pair even got up to no good together when they ventured out into the desert.
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Judy remembered going to Graceland for the first time where she and Elvis shared a wonderful night together. She divulged: “We stayed up all night listening to Elvis singing and playing the piano. He liked to sing hymns. I didn’t know any hymns but I do now. He introduced me to Amazing Grace.”
Judy also spoke about a portrait she drew of Elvis, which he went on to inscribe with an extremely personal message.
Elvis wrote on the picture: “To Judy Spreckels, I love you, baby. Elvis Presley.” She noted: “We loved each other, as it says on my picture. But it was just a really terrific friendship.”
She also said of his life: “Girls come and go, but sisters stay forever. This sister lasted forever. We were friends till the day he died.”
