Marion Keisker MacInnes (September 23, 1917 – December 29, 1989) was an American record producer. She was the first person ever to record the singing voice of cultural icon

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

Life

Keisker was born in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, and graduated from Southwestern College with a degree in English and Medieval French. She was married to Angus Randall MacInnes and had a son, Angus David MacInnes, before divorcing. She was a radio show host for

WREC WREC (600 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Memphis, Tennessee. It broadcasts a talk radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The studios and offices are on Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Memphis. WREC is West Tennessee's primary ent ...

, where

Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, ...

worked as an announcer. She became a station manager and later Phillips's assistant at the Memphis Recording Service and

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny C ...

. She was later a

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

officer. Keisker is best remembered as the first person to record

, on July 18, 1953. She was alone in the office of

, which also served as office for the Memphis Recording Service, when Presley came there to record 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.'" Keisker left Sun Records in February 1957 and joined the U.S. Air Force, in which she was commissioned as a captain and served as information officer in charge of the Armed Forces television station at the Ramstein Base in Germany. After leaving the Air Force in 1969, Keisker became active in the Memphis chapter of the

National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...

. She was chapter president. Her correspondence is archived at the

Memphis Public Library Memphis Public Libraries (MPL) is a public library system serving Shelby County, Tennessee. Memphis Public Libraries has a yearly circulation of 250,000 items and serves 400,000 patrons a year. The library has 18 branches located throughout the ...

. She has been portrayed by

Ellen Travolta Ellen M. Travolta (born October 6, 1939) is an American actress known for playing Louisa Arcola Delvecchio in ''Happy Days'' and ''Joanie Loves Chachi'' as well as Lillian in '' Charles in Charge'' (1987-1990). Early years Ellen M. Travolta wa ...

in the 1979 film ''

Elvis Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

'', by Jill Jane Clements in the 2005

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

miniseries ''

'', by

Margaret Anne Florence Margaret Anne Florence is an actress, singer, and model based in New York City. Margaret Anne has been featured in major motion pictures, television, independent films, and on the New York stage. She frequently appears in national and internati ...

in the 2017 CMT series ''

'' and by

Kate Mulvany Kate Mulvany (born 24 February 1977) is an Australian actress, playwright and screenwriter. She works in theatre, television and film, with roles in ''Hunters '' (2020–2023), ''The Great Gatsby'' (2013), ''Griff the Invisible'' (2010) and '' ...

in the 2022 film

Bibliography

* Guralnick, Peter (1994). ''Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley''. New York: Little, Brown. ()

References

External links

* Charles Hughes
The Anything but Ordinary Life of Marion Keisker MacInnes '42
Rhodes College alumni magazine, December 18, 2017. 1917 births 1989 deaths Sun Records United States Air Force officers Women in the United States Air Force 20th-century American musicians National Organization for Women American women record producers Record producers from Tennessee People from Memphis, Tennessee Women audio engineers Early Recording Engineers (1930-1959) Rhodes College alumni {{US-music-bio-stub