12019-03-12T23:56:35+00:00Stanford University Pressaf84c3e11fe030c51c61bbd190fa82a3a1a1282413plainpublished2019-08-20T15:11:44+00:00AnonymousOn August 27, 1977, the New York Amsterdam News ran a front page article titled, “Was Elvis Presley ‘Nothing’ But a Black Imitator?” The article, which appeared just over a week after Presley died, noted that many black musicians were central to the creation of rock ’n’ roll but received only a fraction of the fame and financial rewards that Presley did. “Little Richard, B. B. King, Lightning Hopkins, Fats Domino, Arthur Crudup, Chuck Berry, and Bo [Diddley], at certain periods of Presley’s skyrocketing career, must have felt like the victims of Dracula,” the Amsterdam News argued. “Instead of being drained of blood, their song styling and stage mannerisms were neatly being incorporated into the total performance of now legendary Elvis Presley.”