Performer Elvis Presley, Jr., took that name at the age of 23, according to the bio on his web site. There seems to be no corroborating account of his birth to an actress who had a brief liaison with The King, which resulted in Jr.'s out-of-wedlock birth.
Is this guy a total crank? Seems like DNA would quickly resolve any such claims. The only place I can find a reference to this backstory is on his own web site. You would think that Presley’s estate would have sued him if it weren’t true, but you would also think that there would be independent corroboration if it were.
It’s unlikely. He’s a solo performer; it’s not like he’s diverting any significant amount of money away from the real Presley estate. Hitting him with a cease and desist would probably cost more in legal fees than could be recovered from him. And it would make the Presley estate look like bullies.
Junior, on the other hand, has everything to gain by filing a lawsuit - if he thought he had any chance of winning one. If he had any significant evidence, he could sue for a DNA test. If he proved he actually was Presley’s biological son, it would greatly raise his stature as a performer and it would entitle him to a share of the estate. So the fact that he hasn’t initiated any lawsuits is a good sign that he knows his claim is bogus.
Yes, but Elvis Presley’s name and likeness are trademarked, and part of the rules of retaining a trademark are that the use must be vigorously defended. So, yeah, a lawsuit is likely.
THAT Presley family are within shoutin’ distance of my genes but the Carters are closer and I claim affinity to and musical talent from neither. Western gunmen infest my family tree too but so what? I’ve no need to be Johnny Cash Jr, Wyatt Earp IV, or Elvistissimo Bang. (Though I read that Elvis_69 is a popular Chinese name.)
But IIRC Sonny Boy Williamson Jr was nobody near Sonny Boy Williamson. David Bowie use to be Davy Jones but too bad, Monkees. I don’t think Gaga is a given last name, either. Don’t even ask of Egelbert Humperdink (real name but not his).
Someone wants to be Elvis Jr? Fine. Our local Walmart’s greeter was an Elvis impersonator. It’s a job.
Does the big Walmart corp. always hire strange people to be door greeters? I frequent 2 different WalMarts. One door greeter is famous for her hats. They are always quite fetching, if a bit over the top for day wear. The other is a 7ft African American former basketball player.
I always thought it was Aron until I started reading about this guy. The I noticed that Elvis’s Wikipedia page uses Aaron. I don’t know what Elvis preferred, but apparently both spellings appear in various legal records, so I haven’t been able to confirm what the “real” spelling is. One site says either is correct.
A big reason to avoid a lawsuit is to prevent the defendant from requiring Lisa Marie or some such having to do a DNA test. Proving you really are Elvis’s kid would take a lot of steam out of such a lawsuit. The Presley estate just wants to keep things the way they are. He’s not hurting them financially. Some day EPJr will die and that will take care of things.
It’s extremely difficult to sue someone for trademark infringement for using their legal name. For example, a guy named Mike Rowe had a website that was something like mikerowesoft.com, and Microsoft lost a suit against him.
I don’t know how name changes factor in, but since the guy has had that name for a quarter century, I bet he has a valid claim to the name.
Finally, I note that another way to deal with a trademark dispute is just to quietly come some sort of agreement where they can use the tradenarked term in a limited fashion for some minimal compensation. The idea that you have have a suit untrue.
I thought it was Aron, too, until I went to verify before posting. I didn’t bookmark the site, but one stated pretty definitely that Elvis himself preferred Aron. The story told is that the family spelled it that way to match Jesse Garon Presley, his stillborn identical twin brother.
I really thought it was spelled Aron on his gravestone at Graceland, but I was wrong – it’s Aaron there. It is Aron on his birth certificate.
As CookingwithGas points out in the next post, they actually settled out of court. But I find this amusing because Microsoft currently has a commercial for their Surface computer that features a man named Mackenzie Book, aka Mac Book.
