On Elvis' birthday, associates speculate

MEMPHIS, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- On the 70th anniversary of Elvis Presley's birth Saturday, many of the singer's associates said that, had he not died, he would have returned to Gospel music.

Robert Sillerman, head of CKX, the New York company that owns an 85 percent interest in Elvis Presley Enterprises, told the Memphis Commercial Appeal that the singer would have turned to healthy living. Sillerman said Elvis's love of gospel would have likely been "accentuated by his journey into a healthy life . . . But I don't think that would mean that he wouldn't continue to perform traditional rock and roll."

Knox Phillips, son of Elvis's first record producer, Sam Phillips, agreed that Elvis would have returned to gospel music. "He would have put his heart and soul into gospel. It would have made him much happier. I think he would have influenced a lot of people, and he would have been out of the rat race of trying to compete with the latest rap or hip hop artists."

Elvis Presley died in 1977.