Marion Keisker

Who was Marion Keisker?

Marion Keisker MacInnes, born in Memphis, Tennessee, was a radio show host, station manager, U.S. Air Force officer, and assistant to Sam Phillips at Sun Records. She is best known for being the first person to record Elvis Presley on July 18, 1953.

Keisker was alone in the office of Sun Records, which also served as recording studio named "Memphis Recording Service", when Presley recorded two songs "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin" for a fee of $3.25. Her exchange with Presley on that occasion has since become part of Elvis lore: I said, "What kind of singer are you?" He said, "I sing all kinds." I said,"Who do you sound like?" He said,"I don't sound like nobody."

She was portrayed by Ellen Travolta in the 1979 film Elvis and by Jill Jane Clements in the 2005 CBS miniseries Elvis and Paula Person in the Jerry Lee Lewis biopic Great Balls of Fire!.