Gail Brewer-Giorgio

Gail Brewer-Giorgio, G.B. Giorgio or Gail Giorgio, is an American author whose works have speculated about the possibility that singer Elvis Presley may have faked his death in August 1977.

Origin of conspiracy theory work

Following the death of Elvis Presley, Giorgio wrote a fictional novel which described how a popular Southern singer, 'Orion', faked his own death to escape fame. According to Brewer-Giorgio, her publisher inexplicably began to recall her novel, which led her to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of Presley. At about the same time, a singer calling himself Orion, who sounded and looked similar to Elvis, took to giving performances wearing a mask - though it was later revealed that this performer was little-known singer Jimmy Ellis.

As a result of her investigations, Brewer-Giorgio published The Most Incredible Elvis Presley Story Ever Told in 1988. It was later retitled Is Elvis Dead? This book was described by Professor of Communication Steve Jones as a 'peculiar blend of paranormal phenomena, autobiography and fact finding'. As part of the release of the book, Gail Brewer-Giorgio appeared on shows such as Larry King Live, Nightline and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Claims regarding the death of Elvis

One of the claims in the book centred around a tape Gail Brewer-Giorgio obtained where a male voice spoke about the details of the alleged conspiracy to fake Elvis' death. The Weekly World News, which ran an article on Ms Giorgio's book in 1988, claimed that the voice on the tape had been verified as belonging to Elvis Presley by a voice analyst from Houston, Texas.

Reactions to Brewer-Giorgio's works

Brewer-Giorgio's work had an impact in unintended areas. Fans of Elvis had been calling for a stamp bearing his image, but the rules of the US Postage Primary required a candidate to have been dead for 10 years. Elvis was under consideration in 1988, however given the questions raised by Brewer-Giorgio and the increase in Elvis-sightings following the publication of her book, the fact of his death was in doubt. This delayed publication of an Elvis stamp until 1993.

Documentary work

Gail Brewer-Giorgio helped write, and then appeared in, the 1990 documentary The Elvis Files. She also appeared in the 1992 documentary The Elvis Conspiracy hosted by Bill Bixby. In 2008 she wrote the script for the documentary American King: The Elvis Files, which featured the tag line Did Elvis really die when and how they said he did?

Published works

• Orion (1978)
• The Most Incredible Elvis Presley Story Ever Told (1988) retitled as Is Elvis Alive?
• The Elvis Files: Was His Death Faked? (1990)
• Elvis Undercover: Is He Alive and Coming Back? (1999)
• Footprints in the Sand: The Life Story of Mary Stevenson, Author of the Immortal Poem (1995)

Further reading

• Larry McShane (October 23, 1990). "Elvis Lives, Author Brewer-Giorgio Says, and Here's Proof". The Wichita Eagle: p. 6C. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=WE&p_theme=we&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&s_dispstring=ELVIS%20LIVES,%20AUTHOR%20BREWER-GIORGIO%20SAYS,%20AND%20HERE'S%20PROOF%20AND%20date(all)&p_field_advanced-0=&p_text_advanced-0=(ELVIS%20LIVES,%20AUTHOR%20BREWER-GIORGIO%20SAYS,%20AND%20HERE'S%20PROOF)&xcal_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweights=no. Retrieved 26 December 2010.