From: "Dik de Heer" Date: Sat Nov 16, 2002 6:16 am Subject: Born To Be With You : Felton Jarvis FELTON JARVIS Born Charles Felton Jarvis, 16 November 1934, Atlanta, Georgia Died 3 January 1981, Nashville, Tennessee Producer. While Jarvis was serving in the US Marines in Norfolk, VA, in 1955, he saw Elvis appear on stage as part of Hank Snow's "All Star Jamboree" and it changed his life. He learned to play the guitar and cut an Elvis tribute song, "Don't Knock Elvis" (Viva 1001) in 1959. After the service, Felton worked printing sheet music for Bill Lowery's NRC (National Recording Corporation) label/studio/publishing company in Atlanta. NRC at the time was recording Joe South, Jerry Reed, Ray Stevens and Mac Davis, among others. He hung around the recording studio and learned about the music business. One day an engineer quit and Felton was hired to replace him. However, his desire was to become a promoter and producer. He got a job doing promotion for ABC-Paramount, which he parlayed into an A&R position when, in 1962, he produced a split session on an Elvis sound-alike, Marvin Benefield (whose name he changed to Vince Everett, in honour of Elvis' character in the movie "Jailhouse Rock") and Tommy Roe, another NRC alumnus. Everett's version of "Such A Night" was a regional hit, but it was Tommy Roe's "Sheila" that made Felton's career. When ABC opened up a Nashville office, Jarvis became the man in charge. Fats Domino came to Nashville for his ABC sessions and invariably greeted Jarvis with "Fel-tone, my man", which became a byword in certain circles in Nashville. In 1965 he came to RCA at the invitation of Chet Atkins. Felton was known for his upbeat personality and Atkins, who had been producing Elvis' records, thought Felton would be better suited to the all-night recording sessions that Elvis preferred. So, in 1966 Felton finally met his inspiration face to face. They hit it off and worked well together until Elvis' death. Felton understood Elvis and what he wanted in a mix. He knew Elvis wanted the instruments to be louder and that he wanted his records to have a "bigger sound". Felton was known to be a practical joker and to be somewhat eccentric. He had a passion for exotic animals and at one time owned a tiger and an ocelot. He had a grass hut built in his office to house his pet anaconda snake. In July of 1969 he married Chet Atkins' secretary Mary Lynch. After only a three-day honeymoon he was working with Elvis in Las Vegas. In June of 1970 he quit RCA and became an independent contractor, working exclusively with Elvis on his studio recordings as well as live concert recordings. He would hire musicians, rehearse the band and make all the arrangements for recording. By July 1971 he became very ill and started experiencing kidney failure. He supervised Elvis' live recordings of February 1972 in Las Vegas although he required dialysis several times a week. Elvis arranged and paid for a kidney transplant for Felton in October 1972. Felton Jarvis died at the age 46 in January 1981 after having suffered a stroke in December. Over the years he had worked with other well-known artists such as Willie Nelson, Jim Ed Brown, Floyd Cramer, Lloyd Price, Fats Domino, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Carl Perkins and Ronnie McDowell.