Remembering George Klein
• Legendary Memphis DJ and TV host George Klein, a lifelong best friend of Elvis Presley and an early member of Elvis’ inner circle, known as “The Memphis Mafia,” died Tuesday, Feb. 5 at the age of 83. He had been in poor health for some time and was receiving hospice care.
Klein’s hometown newspaper, The Daily Memphian features an extensive story about Klein’s career and long friendship with Elvis, which dates back to 1948, where they first met at Humes High School in North Memphis. Klein recounted his first encounter with Presley, when Elvis volunteered to play his guitar in class. “There were a few laughs in the class because it just wasn’t cool in 1948 to do that in front of anyone,” Klein told Elvis’ Australian fan club in a 2006 interview. “At that moment, I was blown away because I’d never seen a kid get up in front of people and sing like that,” Klein recalled. “Subconsciously, I knew there was something happening with this guy.”
After high school, Klein attended Memphis State University and later found his way into radio, landing at WMC. After he was fired in 1957 (welcome to radio!), Klein briefly joined Presley on tour, part of an entourage that would later become known as the “Memphis Mafia.” That same year Klein also made an uncredited cameo appearance in Jailhouse Rock. Presley later served as best man at Klein’s wedding.
When Presley joined the U.S. Army in 1958, Klein returned to radio, going to work at the legendary WHBQ/Memphis. In 1964, Klein took over hosting WHBQ-TV‘s Saturday Morning Dance Party, which was previously hosted by another friend of Elvis, Wink Martindale. As Rolling Stone reports, Klein’s broadcasting career spanned 50 years — later in life, he was one of the hosts on SiriusXM’s Elvis Radio channel. He was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2018.
Klein remained a member of Presley’s inner circle until his death in August 1977 and was a pallbearer at his funeral. In 1986, when Elvis was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Priscilla Presley asked Klein to accept the award on his behalf. Upon hearing the news of Klein’s death, Priscilla tweeted, “Rest In Peace, George, you were loved.”
