£1,055 for Elvis hair
Elvis Presley is still making the news. During an auction held recently, a strand of hair from The King of Rock and Roll saved by his hair stylist has raised £1,055.
Touring with Presley for more than twenty years was his barber Homer Gill Gilleland. He said he would cut Elvis’s hair after dyeing it black and then manage to save some strands which he folded in a towel.
According to close friends of Mr Gilleland, the hair stylist would bundle up the towel which contained the Presley’s hair inside and bring it home in a bag.
People had expected Elvis’s hair to be auctioned off for about £250. The auction was held in Devizes, Wiltshire, last Saturday.
Elvis Presley passed away in 1977. After his death, Mr Gilleland took advantage of his customer’s notoriety and offered some the star’s strands of hair to fans by making them available in a souvenir shop on the road opposite to Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, the main home of Elvis.
Thomas B Morgan Jnr had been given the hair which was auctioned off on Saturday in 2002 by the hair stylist.
Mr Morgan was an acquaintance of the superstar and he was employed at the Sheriff’s Office of Shelby County.
Alongside the hair is a photograph of Elvis, as the two are mounted on a frame. A certificate of authenticity also comes along with the strand.
The hair went on auction at Henry Aldridge and Son in Devizes.
Some of the singer’s hair sold for 115,000 US dollars (£70,000) in November 2002 in an internet auction.
In 2008, Elvis was named the world’s top grossing dead celebrity with earnings estimated at $52 million, beating very popular living star such as Madonna, who had earned $40 million and Justin Timberlake with $44 million.
Elvis posthumous earnings were actually better this year, with $55 million, although he ended up in fourth position having been outranked by Michael Jackson, composers Rodgers and Hammerstein and Yves Saint Laurent, who finished first due to huge revenues ($350 million) generated from the sale of part of his estate.