As quoted in "Interview: Elaine Dundy, celebrated author of the seminal book, Elvis & Gladys: Genesis of The King, talks to EIN" (2004) http://www.elvisinfonet.com/dundy1.html
Context: I didn't know Elvis was alive until he was dead. But how many stories are like mine? Until his death August 16, 1977, it was possible to get through a day without hearing his name. Of course I remember all the early outrage he caused but believe me it was easy not to see any of his films. It doesn't mean that music has not always dominated my heart and mind. During the years barren of Elvis I did have my record player on constantly but it was playing folk, blues, and jazz. It was playing Al Jolson, Maurice Chevalier, Billie Holiday, Ethel Merman, and Noel Coward. The human voice raised in song has always been important to me so I include Miles Davis whose trumpet is such an important human voice. Then after his death in London in taxis, on radio and TV I heard nothing but Elvis records and that grabbed my attention.
“Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn't been an Elvis, there wouldn't have been the Beatles.”
Statement (28 August 1965) after meeting Elvis Presley, as quoted in The Leading Men of MGM (2005) by Jane Ellen Wayne, p. 386; also partly quoted in The Beatles: The Authorized Biography (1968) by Hunter Davies, p. 19<!-- also in Come Together : John Lennon in His Time (1984) by Jon Wiener http://books.google.com/books?id=Dj5uY-yAy4QC&pg=PA147&lpg=PA147&dq=%22nothing+really+affected+me+until+elvis%22&source=web&ots=nnADomTr5c&sig=e7w_FTRZPME2pWZJdgAz5-jegTs -->
It was a load of rubbish. It was like meeting Engelbert Humperdinck.
Later comments on meeting Elvis, as quoted in The Beatles: The Biography (2005) by Bob Spitz, p. 583.
Context: There's only one person in the United States we ever wanted to meet … not that he wanted us. And we met him last night. We can't tell you how we felt. We just idolised him so much. … You can't imagine what a thrill that was last night. Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn't been an Elvis, there wouldn't have been the Beatles.
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John Lennon 228
English singer and songwriter 1940–1980Related quotes
“Before Elvis there was nothing.”
As quoted in "Elvis Is Everywhere" in The New York Times (16 August 2007) http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/16/elvis-is-everywhere/
Disputed
“Arthur Miller wouldn't have married me if I had been nothing but a dumb blonde.”
Source: On Being Blonde (2007), p. 54
“I have been seized by the power of a great affection.”
p. 181 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA181
1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)
Source: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out
Andrea Mitchell Reports. March 2, 2012.
Media interviews
From a radio interview with David Jensen (1983)
In interviews etc., About other artists
Good Enough
Song lyrics, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (1993)
“Ever since I alone have been aware of what happens to me, nothing happens to me.”
Desde que yo solo sé qué me sucede, no me sucede nada.
Voces (1943)
Mansfield, Karl. "The 5-Minute Interview: Stella Vine: 'There have been a few times" http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_/ai_n15873617, The Independent, (2005-11-28)
On backing the Amnesty International charity.