All Shook Up was the first #1 hit for Elvis. You thought Heartbreak Hotel was #1? Well it was. I am talking about England. Heartbreak Hotel and Hound Dog peaked at #2 in England. All Shook Up took him to the top in England and on this day in music history, April 13, 1957, it went to #1 on the Billboard charts in the USA where it stayed for 8 weeks.
Even though he was a huge hit in Britain Elvis never toured there. In fact he never toured out of the USA.
The reason why was because of his manager Col. Tom Parker. In the biography Elvis by Albert Goldman he tells us that Col. Parker wasn't from West Virginia as he always claimed. He was an illegal immigrant from Holland and his real name was Andres Cornelis van Kuijk and was born in 1909. He came to America for awhile when he was 18. He went back to Holland but soon returned. He wrote to his family and sent money but then stopped signing his letters with his real name and started signing them as Tom Parker. His family didn't know who this person was and not till 1961 when they saw his picture did they know it was their family member. He looked too much like them to deny it.
So since Col. Parker was not a US citizen he couldn't get a passport. If he left the country he was afraid he wouldn't be let back in the country. Since he traveled with Elvis he made sure that Elvis never toured outside of America.
All Shook Up as well as its flip side That's Where Your Heartaches Begin were recorded during a two day recording session at the Radio Recorders in Hollywood. It was from January 12, 1957 to January 13, 1957. All Shook Up was the top record of the year. It was the second year in a row that Elvis held that position.
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