Elvis Presley would have turned 80 yesterday. And, as Bruce Munro finds out from some true-blue (suede shoe) fans, the King of Rock and Roll's memory is still very much alive.
''He was everything I wanted to be.''
Geoff Barnett pulls a rare vinyl record out of its cardboard sleeve.
Of his hundreds of Elvis records, cassette tapes and CDs, this one, Elvis Presley No 2, recorded in the year Mr Barnett was born, is his favourite.
The cover is adorned with a large black and white photo of a young Elvis Presley wearing a re-coloured forest-green, pirate shirt on a canary yellow background.
Songs listed on the album's back cover include Rip it Up, Love Me and Blue Moon.
''He was good-looking, charismatic, influential, rich, popular with women, and most importantly, a wonderful singer and performer,'' Mr Barnett says,''He was the complete package.''
If Elvis had not died of a heart attack, brought on by the overuse of prescription drugs at the age of 42, he would be celebrating his 80th birthday today.
But despite his shortened career, he had a profound impact on the music and culture of the mid-20th century.
Elvis was born to a poor family in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935, and his singing career began when he started recording for Sun Records in 1954.
Chart-topping records, sold-out concerts and high-rating television appearances earned him a multitude of fervent fans and the title of the King of Rock and Roll.
At the same time, his smouldering sexuality and hip-gyrating dance moves saw him deemed ''unfit for family viewing'' by United States television show host Ed Sullivan.
Elvis married Priscilla Beaulieu in 1967 but had numerous affairs, before and after the wedding.
Several years of critically unacclaimed movie-making were followed by a concert comeback in 1968.
His biggest selling hits include Heartbreak Hotel, All Shook Up, Hound Dog, Don't Be Cruel, Burning Love, Jailhouse Rock, Suspicious Minds, Always on My Mind, Teddy Bear and I Can't Help Falling in Love With You.
During his career, Elvis won three Grammy awards, all for Gospel music. He is still the best-selling solo artist in the history of recorded music.
He was found unconscious on the bathroom floor of his Graceland mansion, in Memphis, Tennessee, and was declared dead at 3.30pm, on August 16, 1977.
For many people the would-have-been-octogenarian and his music are far from forgotten.
Denise Caley's first photo of Elvis came from the burnt remains of her home.
It was 1963, and the then 13-year-old had gone back into foster care two weeks previously, after the family's St Clair, Dunedin, home burnt to the ground, cause unknown.
After a fortnight, she was allowed to visit the site. There on the ground among the debris was a photo of the performer.
''It was something I could keep that had not been destroyed,'' Miss Caley says, pointing to the now-framed treasure which hangs on the wall of her Green Island home.
''That was the start of it. It's got worse over the years,'' she adds, surveying the living room.
The walls are covered in Elvis photographs, Elvis posters, Elvis clocks, Elvis mirrors . . .
''It saves me wallpapering,'' she quips.
On the couch and floor she has laid out more Elvis memorabilia - DVDs, hundreds of trading cards, stamps, an Elvis Monopoly board game still in its cellophane wrapping, a knitted jersey bearing the King's face, Elvis model cars, two Elvis neckties ... Covering the kitchen table are dozens of Elvis teaspoons, knives, plates, a bottle-opener, wristwatches and a wobbly armed Elvis windscreen doll.
The hallway cupboard holds piles of scrapbooks filled with cuttings from newspapers and magazines.
''I still keep up with what Priscilla [Elvis' ex-wife] and Lisa-Marie [his daughter] are up to,'' she says.
Miss Caley admits she has spent thousands of dollars amassing her eclectic collection.
The myriad keepsakes, and listening to his music, are her way of expressing love and appreciation for a man who was ''good looking, could sing well ... had a good personality and was very good to his fans''.
She particularly likes his gospel music.
''The feeling he sings those songs with . . . ''Miss Caley did belong to a Elvis fan club, now defunct. In its place are plenty of online Elvis fans.
To mark his birthday, she will ''probably put something on Facebook''.
Alan McKay's appreciation of Elvis has been deepened by more than 30 years of impersonating him.
The first time the Dunedin landlord and property investor channelled the King was as a member of a covers band during the 1970s.
''I had plenty of hair then,'' Mr McKay says.
''I just turned my collar up, put on sunglasses and gave it a shot.''
The experience taught him he could imitate Elvis' singing and speaking voice.
But the full-on Elvis impersonation did not begin until the mid-1990s.
In 1994, his band, Chelsea Set, was invited to perform a second time at an annual expatriates' race day in Vanuatu.
''But they wanted new acts every year, so we decided that year to add Elvis.''
Mr McKay went the whole hog - white jumpsuit, platform boots, black wig and sunglasses.
''My mother made the scarves and Bill Acklin's mum sewed the costume jewellery on to the suit.''
The 20-minute Elvis routine went down a treat with the audience.
The band was invited back several more times.
During the next 20 years, he performed the set a further 450 times for audiences in New Zealand and overseas.
The popularity of the act is, in part, due to Mr McKay's enduring examination of Elvis.
It began as a 10-year-old, hearing Jailhouse Rock for the first time, on his sister's record player.
''I played it over and over. It just seemed so different.''
And it got serious when he was preparing for that Vanuatu gig.
''I watched videos of Elvis performing and then practised copying how he walked, his mannerisms, and how he played and sang.''
It helped him understand who Elvis was.
''He was an honest, polite man with great looks and a great voice. He had real talent.
''I had a lot of fun playing Elvis. But I never made fun of him, because I respected him.''
After a show at Easter last year, Mr McKay hung up his Elvis jumpsuit for the last time.
''You put everything in to one of those shows, and I didn't really want to collapse on stage of a heart attack wearing a jumpsuit.
'' You really have to be fit to do justice to the songs and to the man.''
Mr Barnett did not become a fan until he saw the biographical movie Elvis when he was 22.
Having seen it once, he went back another four times.
''That stirred my interest. I then began reading about him,'' the Otago Daily Times production supervisor says.
He now owns dozens of books on Elvis, various large and small movie posters, badges and hundreds of collectors cards.
And then there are the trips to the spiritual home of Elvis ''fandom'', Graceland.
Mr Barnett has been to the annual Elvis Week, in Memphis, 13 times.
The best way to honour anyone's memory is through charity work, Mr Barnett says.
''Elvis fans have been particularly good at that over the years, raising millions of dollars in his name for various causes.''
However, Elvis' fan base seems to be shrinking among younger people, Mr Barnett admits.
''The number of kids who are becoming Elvis fans is probably declining, but that was inevitable, as they have so many music styles to choose from,'' he says.
''Also, because he is seldom on the singles charts now, a lot of young people never hear Elvis unless it is by accident or through their parents. Many kids who hear his music become fans.
''That said, Elvis' impact, like Mozart's, was so great that people will probably still be listening to him 200 years from now.''
It is clear that in the hearts and minds of his fans, Elvis has never left the building.
