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The Phone Call That Changed Kathy Westmoreland's Life

© June Moore

One August afternoon in 1970 as I had been staring out the back at my horses, wondering what to do with my life to make it simpler...Ha haaaaaa! Simpler? .....A Mr. Hugh Jarrett, one of the original Jordanaires called.

Elvis needed a high voice singer in Las Vegas for just two weeks. I had been recommended by Jackie Allen, with whom I had worked many times, as second chair to her---SHE WAS THE GREATEST HIGH VOICE SINGER EVER--had kind of taken me under her wing, taught me to "believe" in myself, and that I could do that HIGH VOICE work, even though my voice ended where hers just BEGAN!---had recommended me to him, and he had asked a few others, thus encouraging Elvis to say, "I guess I had better call THIS GIRL".

My reaction was ( to myself).."Elvis Presley?"!!!!! What COULD HE DO NOW?!!!!" I couldn't even imagine...then it hit me...."WHAT COULD HE POSSIBLY WANT WITH A SOPRANO"?!!!!! How could he incorporate my voice into anything he might do? I was dumbstruck.

I needed desperately to continue building my studio work, and if one was out of town for a day, and missed a call, there were hundreds of singers just chomping at the bit to take your place...to prove they were better than you! I couldn't afford to take that chance,...

I met with Hugh, spoke on the phone with that wonderful sweet Mr. Tom Diskin, and he assured me it would be only two weeks, that the money was "triple-scale" pay for what I was doing, and that I needed to be there immediately.

I called my friends, and asked everyone NOT to tell anyone what I was doing. I WAS EMBARRASSED! My musical snobbery got the best of me, but .....I WAS ONE TO WANT TO INVESTIGATE A NEW STYLE OF MUSIC, EXPERIENCE A NEW, or FOREIGN TERRITORY, TASTE NEW DISHES from DIFFERENT CULTURES, and just always thanked God he didn't make just roses, ...or the world would be so boring, AND......so..... I just told everyone I would be out of town for a couple of weeks, then schedule me back into the "grind".

I caught a plane immediately to Vegas, arrived to my amazement in a hotel lobby with so many people standing in line to get tickets to see Elvis' show that it took me over two hours to even get to a phone to call a FELTON JARVIS (what a name, thought I), to let him know I had arrived.

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