Am I an Elvis fan?

Sometimes people ask me “Are you an Elvis fan?”
Of course I am, why else should I paint and draw so many Elvis portraits…

It started during a vacation when I was 10 or 11 years old. My uncle was singing the first three lines of Blue Suede shoes all the time. I was curious what it was and het told me it was Elvis Presley. The moment I got home I went to the record store and bought my first Elvis album.

The first Elvis album I ever bought.

From that moment on I started to collect everything I could get my hands on. The walls in my room where covered with posters and my record and book collection got bigger and bigger. When I was 21 I wanted to have a “Sinclair XZ Spectrum computer” and decided to sell my record collection. I didn’t take long for me to regret it…

Me and a part of my first record collection in the early 80’s.

After a year I started to collect Elvis records again, this time also bootlegs, singles and EP’s. I had a job so more money to spend. This went on for several years until the CD’s came. The records where stored and at some point I decided to sell them again…

Me and a part of my second record collection in the late 80’s.

Some years ago I was browsing on Ebay and found 3 first pressing of old Elvis albums for € 1,- each, I couldn’t resist and that was the beginning of my third Elvis record collection. I’m not going to sell them again.

Small part of my third record collection.

I don’t collect everything, only records, some CD’s and some books. But the third time around never will be the same as the first time. I remember the feeling of buying never seen and heard records and listening to all those new songs…

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