Almost everybody who ever had an Elvis book in them has written it already.

Until now there had been one longtime holdout, a man who has witnessed and been part of not only the Elvis phenomenon but the tectonic cultural change wrought by the birth of rock and roll.

George Klein Collection

George Klein delivers a copy of Elvis' second album to his home on Audubon Drive. This 1956 photo is from "Elvis: My Best Man."

George Klein Collection

In this photograph in George Klein's book "Elvis: My Best Man", Elvis and Priscilla give a special toast to Klein on his wedding day.

George Klein, a longtime friend of Elvis Presley, finally penned his story of the relationship.

The Commercial Appeal files

In the beginning: Elvis and George Klein at WMC radio station in 1956.

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George Klein met the future legend when both were in the eighth grade at Humes High School, where nobody paid much attention to Elvis, although Klein was impressed by one thing: "I'd never seen a guy bring a guitar to school; 12 years old, and get up in front of the class and sing."

Elvis kept at his performing and Klein pursued a career in radio, working his way up at local stations and staying especially attuned to that new style of music known as rock and roll.

When Klein found out Elvis was in the business, they reconnected and established a lasting respect and friendship.

Klein said he wasn't convinced that yet another Elvis book was needed. Yet he is the most prolific bard of the Elvis story, to this day telling tales of the King of Rock and Roll at conventions, Memphis Mafia reunions, memorial services and on his radio and TV shows. Publisher Random House convinced him that his breadth of knowledge and his personal relationship with Elvis called for an historical accounting. That's how Klein's new memoir, "Elvis: My Best Man," came about.

Klein was aggressive in following rock and roll. "I worked the street," he says. "I wasn't just sitting back seeing what the national magazines were saying or the top 100 on Billboard. I would go by record shops and record distributors and the hangouts where young people were and find out what they were into. And if I liked it too, that was just that much better."

Along with DJ pioneer Dewey Phillips, Klein spun the records of the hot and the cool. "There were guys like Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis and of course Elvis and Jackie Wilson and Willie John and Rufus Thomas," he says.

"It was a good feeling giving them a chance to get their product exposed and at the same time gather new listeners because the listeners knew I knew the music and they knew they'd hear it first either on my show in the afternoon or on Dewey's show that night."

Klein lost one of his early deejay jobs because station management at WMC thought rock was, like calypso, a passing fad. Klein traveled with Elvis for awhile, then was drawn back to the microphone.

He took jobs at other local radio stations, finally settling in at WHBQ. In 1964 he added duties as host of WHBQ-TV's "Talent Party," a show that gave local bands a shot at exposure. (And to complete the circle, WMC-AM has, for four years now, hosted Klein's long-running "Elvis Hour" show).

The Geeker (a radio moniker) has seen it all and is still part of the action. His current show, "Memphis Sounds," on cable station WYPL-TV, now as before, is about giving local acts air time. And his four-hour weekly Sirius/XM satellite radio show goes out to the world three times a week. He's also been an executive host at Horseshoe Casino for 14 years.

But the biggest deal of all is that Elvis was Klein's best friend -- someone he hung out with, someone he confided in, the guy who was his best man.

"He palled around with me and I palled around with him," Klein says, "and he let me go along for the ride and it was a great ride."

The book offers an inside look at Elvis. Klein is open about the good and the bad but doesn't besmirch his friend. In fact, Klein seems to have that ability to get along with practically everyone he meets. That talent made it possible for Klein to facilitate things and be a go-between in a number of areas of interest to Elvis (music and girls chief among them).

In fact, it's clear that Klein feels one of his main achievements was in 1969 when Elvis was considering new studio work. Klein -- not one to be pushy in such situations -- pushed for Elvis to go to American Sound Studios in North Memphis where he could work with the musicians he wanted to and do the songs he wanted to do.

That ran counter to what some wanted on the business end, but Elvis liked the idea and, as they say, history was made.

It all was part of the Memphis music legacy that Klein has observed and helped shaped. His view of what Memphis has brought the world is this: "Elvis and Stax put us on the map worldwide. Otis Redding and Al Green, Booker T and the MGs and Carla Thomas and Johnnie Taylor and those guys were in there and I was right there when that was happening."

He continues: "It's a combination of all of them, not only Stax and Hi, American and Sun and Elvis and Jerry Lee but even the little guys like Les Bihari (of Meteor Records) feeding B.B. King and guys from Sam Phillips to his brother out in Los Angeles. ... Some of those guys didn't get their right due but they were part of it. The thing is, you can always spot a Memphis record on the radio when you hear it."

Read a review of George Klein's book "Elvis: My Best Man" on Sunday on the books page in Viewpoint.

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George Klein book signings

Klein will be signing his book "Elvis: My Best Man" 1-3 p.m. Friday at the Elvis Lives Exhibit at Graceland Plaza; 6-7 p.m. Wednesday at Davis-Kidd Booksellers, 387 Perkins Ext.; 2-5 p.m. Jan. 24 at Horseshoe Tunica Casino. He will also sign at The Smithsonian in Washington on Jan. 23 from 1 to 3 p.m.

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