The Artist Elvis Presley Thought Was the Real King of Rock & Roll

Elvis Presley is synonymous with “The King of Rock & Roll.” Though many artists paved the way before him, he helped to bring the genre to new light–thus earning the nickname. Despite that title being pretty firmly bestowed on Presley, he once pawned it off to another artist. Find out which artist Presley thought was the real “King of Rock & Roll,” below.

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The Artist Elvis Presley Thought Was the Real King of Rock & Roll

From Big Mama Thornton to Little Richard, many artists were apart of rock & roll’s rise. Presley has many of them to thank for inspiring his own star turn in the genre. On one occasion, he nodded to another rock trailblazer, dubbing him “The real King of Rock & Roll.”

“One night, Elvis said to me, ‘Chuck Berry’s playing tonight do you want to go see him,’” singer Tom Jones once said. “I said, ‘Sure.’ So we go to see Chuck Berry where he was singing and playing and Elvis is looking at him on stage. Elvis turned to me and said, ‘There’s the real King of Rock and Roll up there right now.’”

Deep down in Louisiana close to New Orleans

Way back up in the woods among the evergreens

There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood

Where lived a country boy named Johnny B. Goode

Who never ever learned to read or write so well

But he could play a guitar just like a-ringin’ a bell

Berry created many timeless guitar riffs that are still apart of the basic building blocks of rock. When someone plays a Berry type of riff, it’s impossible to not instantly think of the Missouri native. Many people consider him a father of rock–including Presley. Revisit one of his signature songs, below.

He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack

Go sit beneath the tree by the railroad track

Oh, the engineers would see him sitting in the shade

Strumming with the rhythm that the drivers made

The people passing by they would stop and say

“Oh my what that little country boy could play”

His mother told him “someday you will be a man

And you will be the leader of a big old band

Many people coming from miles around

To hear you play your music when the sun go down

Maybe someday your name will be in lights

Saying “Johnny B. Goode tonight”

(Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)