Fan who would be King... second passing of Elvis Presley mourned

Two of the King’s classic hits – Always on My Mind and There Goes My Everything – boomed out as super-fan Brian Smith, who had swapped his name by deed poll 30 years ago, went to meet his maker after a fatal bout of pneumonia.

Elvis’s proud daughter Zoe, 33, said yesterday: “It might not have suited people who like hymns – but my dad would have loved every minute of it.”

The forklift truck driver and father-of-five dumped his plain old moniker in 1979 – and had refused to answer to anything but Elvis’s name ever since.

Relatives honoured his memory with a startling obituary notice in the local paper which read:

“PRESLEY ELVIS

“Passed away peacefully…”

Zoe said: “A lot of people thought it was just a fad. Everyone imagined he’d go back to being Brian Smith before too long, but it was dad’s way of keeping Elvis’s name alive.

“It wasn’t easy because everyone had known him as Brian, but he went round ignoring people if they didn’t call him Elvis.

“Dad changed everything so all the utility bills came to Mr Presley instead of Mr Smith. He altered all his records at the doctor’s as well as at the bank and the tax office.

“He just idolised Elvis through and through, and he never once accepted that he was dead.”

Zoe’s mother Joan couldn’t wait to return the Presley label to sender after the Rotherham couple split up in the 1980s. Zoe added: “Mum went back to being Mrs Smith, and she’s never missed being a Presley one bit.”

Zoe and Elvis’s partner Helen were at his bedside when the final curtain fell at the nursing home at Gainsborough, Lincs.

Zoe added: “Dad was very poorly near the end, but his face always used to light up when we played Elvis.

“The vicar never mentioned Brian’s name at the funeral. It was all about Elvis Presley and that’s just how dad would have wanted it.”