Ernst Jørgensen
Ernst showing an original Elvis studio tape.
(Photo source: internet/unknown)
Elvis Presley authority Ernst Mikael Jørgensen (Denmark, 1951 - ) has been credited with helping to revive audience interest
in the late musician through his work as a producer with BMG, the Denmark-based music company that owns
Elvis's old record label, RCA. Jørgensen, who has been a fan of Elvis since the 1960s, accomplished this
by coproducing several new box sets of Elvis's songs, including The King of Rock & Roll, From Nashville to Memphis,
and Walk a Mile in My Shoes, that have sold millions of copies; today, he continues to work on new Elvis CDs and
videos for BMG. His diligent research into the daily life of Elvis, especially Elvis's innovative work as a performer,
has also resulted in the highly praised books
Elvis Presley: A Life in Music, The Complete Recording Sessions
and
Elvis Day by Day: The Definitive Record of His Life and Music.
After Elvis's untimely death at the age of forty-two in 1977, his reputation and legacy suffered for many
years as audiences often remembered him more for the tragic, overweight, drug-addicted Vegas act he had
unfortunately become than as the dynamic and innovative performer who greatly influenced rock and roll music.
Beginning in the early 1990s, Jørgensen helped revise that image. As David Segal explained in a Washington Post article,
"Jørgensen, then the top executive in BMG's Danish office, urged his bosses in Germany to demolish the slum that
was Elvis's reputation and build a skyscraper in its place." The release of 1992's The Complete 50's Masters
marked the beginning of a posthumous comeback for Elvis, thanks to Jørgensen. The five-disc set quickly went
double platinum, far exceeding BMG's wildest expectations and paving the way for many more song collections in the future.
In addition to this success as a producer and repackager of Elvis material, Jørgensen has increasingly been
acknowledged as the foremost scholar of Presley's life.
Source:
Encyclopedia.com ...
Some selected interviews with Ernst:
Elvis Australia ... (by Arjan Deelen, November 21, 2001)
Pop Entertainment ... (by Ken Sharp, 2006, first appeared in the UK magazine Record Collector)
Text updated: 4 June 2022
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