When the long-awaited call came for a meeting with Elvis’ manager Colonel Parker and the King himself in Memphis, Little Tony leapt at the chance. Known as ‘the Italian Elvis’, the performer had always acknowledged the influence of his American hero.

It was not hard to detect, in his impassioned singing voice, his impressive quiff and taste for flashy suits and chunky sunglasses... not to mention his voracious appetite for hedonism.