{"id":257602,"date":"2026-01-29T11:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T11:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/257602\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T11:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T11:52:11","slug":"pat-boone-remembers-elvis-presleys-heartfelt-compliment-best-ballad-singer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/257602\/","title":{"rendered":"Pat Boone Remembers Elvis Presley’s Heartfelt Compliment: ‘Best Ballad Singer’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pat Boone<\/a> is looking back on his friendship<\/a> with the late great Elvis Presley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a new video message posted on social media, Boone revealed what it was really like to be friends with the King of Rock and Roll while remembering a special moment he says he’ll “never forget.”<\/p>\n

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In the clip posted to Instagram<\/a> on Wednesday, Jan. 28, Boone looked back on a memory from back when his and Elvis’ careers were “both getting started,” when Elvis was asked if he had a favorite male singer.<\/p>\n

“I’ll never forget this,” Boone, 91, said in the video. “Elvis said, ‘Pat Boone. Pat Boone is the best ballad singer of them all,'” he remembered.<\/p>\n

“That meant the world to me,” Boone said.<\/p>\n

Pointing out that he and Elvis were the same age, Boone went on to open up about his friendship with the late “Kentucky Rain” singer, noting that the pair were “quite close” at one point.<\/p>\n

“We had many visits together,” he added of Elvis, who Boone said would stop by his family house home on Sunday afternoons while he and his daughters were out by the pool.<\/p>\n

“The girls would get out and they’d recognize [Elvis] as a family friend. They didn’t know he was a big star. And they’d jump up on him, and I said, ‘Girls, stop that, you’re getting him wet,’ and Elvis said, ‘Leave ’em alone man, I like it.'”<\/p>\n

“And he did,” Boone continued. “And I realized later, he really meant that. Because why was he coming by to see me on a Sunday afternoon? [There were] many other things he could’ve been doing.”<\/p>\n

“Instead, I felt eventually that he wanted what he saw in my backyard,” he said, while adding in the caption of his post, “I think, deep down he wanted a little of the quiet family life he saw in our backyard.”<\/p>\n

Boone is a father to four daughters<\/a> whom he shared with longtime wife, Shirley Boone. The pair were married for 65 years up until her death in 2019.
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“I never envied Elvis. I loved him,” Boone added in the post. “And I\u2019ll always be grateful for his friendship.”<\/p>\n

Elvis would go on to marry Priscilla Presley<\/a> in 1967 and they welcomed their only child together, Lisa Marie Presley<\/a>, in 1968.<\/p>\n

Four years after he and Priscilla finalized their divorce in 1973, Elvis died in August 1977<\/a> at the age of 42.<\/p>\n

Lisa Marie died 46 years later in January<\/a> 2023 at the age of 54.<\/p>\n

Related: Frank Sinatra’s Daughter Says Her Version of a Hit Elvis Presley Song ‘Didn’t Get a Lot of Attention’<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Parade<\/a> on Jan 28, 2026, where it first appeared in the News<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n