Bill Randle:
Unsung Elvis Promoter

by Roger Hall

 

Bill Randle (1923-2004) was a key person in the emerging popularity of Elvis Presley in the 1950s, and also helped promote such artists as Bill Haley & His Comets, Pat Boone, The Crew-Cuts and others.

I prepared a special tribute CD and essay in 2004, including several rare interviews with Randle from the 1970s and 1980s.  

A portion of this tribute was used in the program ceremony on " Bill Randle Day" at the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame on September  26, 2004. This Bill Randle Tribute CD was donated to the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

During the 1950s, Bill Randle was an very influential WERE disc jockey in Cleveland and the first one outside of the South to write about Elvis in a newspaper in 1955.

I worked as Bill Randle's assistant in the 1970s and he told me some wild and wicked stories about Elvis Presley in his early days. Elvis came to Cleveland in 1955 for the "Hillybilly Jamboree" stage show and was a guest on Randle's WERE radio show.

Bill was also the producer of the first commercial movie made of Elvis performing in a concert. It was to be a Universal documentary short titled, The Pied Piper of Cleveland: A Day in the Life of a Famous Disc Jockey.

This rare picture shows Cleveland disc jockeys Bill Randle and Tommy Edward at the micophone introducing Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore and Bill Black at the filming in October of 1955...

© PineTree Productions, 2003

The other performers in the 1955 concert were: Pat Boone ("Ain't That A Shame"), Bill Haley & His Comets ("Rock Around The Clock"), The Four Lads ("Moments To Remember") and Patricia Wright ("Man In A Raincoat")

Due to some legal problems with clearances, this documentary was never released.

According to an article in People magazine dated January 11, 1993, the existing footage was sold to a European company for nearly $2 million. It remains a mystery why this very rare first commercial footage of Elvis has not been released. How much of this footage still survives? It is difficult to know for sure, but the complicated copyright issues are probably the reason it has not been released on DVD. I was told by Bill that he was asked by Elvis to be his manager before Col. Tom Parker took over. He even said Elvis had a contract ready for him to sign.

Bill Randle was also the disc jockey who introduced Elvis on national television in 1956 on The Dorsey Brothers TV program, "Stage Show."

He had a wide variety of interests besides being a disc jockey and one of them was as a record producer.

Randle also produced an LP set of rare recordings about the Shakers and I edited the music sections for a 2 CD set on Rounder Records,
Let Zion Move: Music of the Shakers.

Read more about Bill Randle taken from information on this website at:

Elvis Presley News

 

 

 

Read about his LP album set, The Shaker Heritage (1960-1961) and the music portion which has been reissued on a 2 CD set with 72 page illustrated booklet with notes by Roger Hall.
It is titled...

Let Zion Move: Music of the Shakers