THE King had a pauper's backstage rider. Elvis Presley, the most influential figure in rock 'n' roll, made one simple tour demand.

"Two six-packs of Mountain Valley spring water," said Presley's best friend, Joe Esposito.

"All these people today, who want certain colour M&Ms removed, or water at a certain temperature, are in show business for the wrong reason.

"Elvis lived to sing on stage for the people.

"He didn't care about riders. Water -- that was it."

Esposito, 71, has spent the summer in Australia working for the Daiquiri Group, which distributes beer, cocktail and energy drink brands.

He visited the Gold Coast, Sydney, and spent two weeks in Melbourne, savouring the city's cuisine culture and nightlife.

His real job, however, is a casino host for high rollers at Wynn Resort in Las Vegas.

Steve Wynn, arguably the most powerful man in Sin City, hired Esposito for the same reason Daiquiri Group wants part of the action. His connection to Presley.

Esposito met Presley in 1958 while doing military service and stationed in West Germany.

"One thing Elvis liked about me is I'm a very organised person, a detail freak," Esposito said.

"We were in Paris for a week. He saw how I handled everything, took care of money and got receipts together."

After they left the army in 1960, Esposito became Presley's road manager and bodyguard.

Esposito was constantly with Presley, including when he met future wife Priscilla. He was Presley's best man at the wedding. He was at Graceland when The King died.

In a wide ranging interview, Esposito said Presley was 24 when he met 14-year-old Priscilla -- but Presley was a gentleman.

Esposito also said Presley was not manipulated by controversial manager Col. Tom Parker and got upset by charges he sexualised music.

Presley's famous hip gyrations earned the nickname Elvis The Pelvis.

But Esposito said Presley hated the debate about his dance moves.

"It would upset him and he felt bad," Esposito said. "He'd say the critics didn't understand."

Presley told Esposito: "What I do is a natural feeling. I don't have a choreographer. Whatever I feel, I do on stage.

"I don't want to hurt or bother anybody. Whatever my body tells me to do, I do it."

Esposito said Presley never practised his songs.

He would often sing alone, for hours, at a piano -- but other people's songs.

"Never his own," said Esposito.

Presley was religious and struggled to understand his God-given talents.

"It was the biggest mystery of his life," Esposito said. "It drove him nuts."

Presley asked Esposito: "Why did God pick me to be this one individual that has all this attraction? Why did he give me such a great voice?"

Esposito replied: "Elvis, you are very honoured. That's what it is. You're gifted. Enjoy it."

Presley respected musicians and loved all music.

He liked The Beatles, but could not understand the psychedelic era.

"Elvis loved entertainers who sang from the heart -- because he did," Esposito said.

"But he was confused by psychedelic music.

"To him, the words didn't make much sense. Everybody was probably stoned out of their mind.

"If he listened to it, he'd always ask: 'What does that mean?' "

Presley knew the score, however, when he met Priscilla Beaulieu while in Germany in 1959.

"Nobody knew she was 14," Esposito said. "She was very grown up."

Esposito said Presley and Priscilla's first encounters were playful and innocent.

"People always had the wrong impression and thought they had sex. No," Esposito said.

"They would sit and talk. He sat at the piano, she sat next to him and he would sing old songs.

"He was very much a gentleman. He wanted to get to know her."

Presley told Esposito, "She's very nice. She's very smart. But she's a little shy."

They kept in regular contact. When Presley returned to the US, Priscilla would often visit him. They married in Las Vegas in 1967.

Esposito created a ruse so the press thought the wedding was in Palm Springs.

As the media staked out Palm Springs, Esposito had two aircraft, including Frank Sinatra's Lear jet, ready to take the wedding party to Vegas.

"We got to Las Vegas and went downtown to get a marriage licence," Esposito said.

"It was 15 bucks. But Elvis didn't have a dime in his pocket."

Esposito paid for the marriage licence. Later, he was best man at the wedding.

Esposito has long said Presley could never be faithful to one woman -- including Priscilla.

"He loved women too much. He loved this one, he loved that one," Esposito said.

"And all the girls he dated idolised him."

Esposito said Presley's spiral into prescription drug hell began with painkillers.

"He got hooked real bad," Esposito said.

The drugs would cause mood swings and depression.

"Sometimes, Elvis

would be very upset, then his mood would change.

"He would scream and yell at us, then the next day he would be fine.

"It wasn't too good in the last year of life. But we never thought he would die."

Esposito said Presley tried to quit his addiction.

"There would be times where he would stop taking anything for a month or two," he said.

"He'd be in Hawaii on vacation, playing football on the beach, clearing his mind and feeling good, but something would happen when he got back home.

"If a 42-year-old man doesn't want to help himself, you can't do a damn thing about it. He has to want to do it.

"We talked to Elvis over and over and over again. There was nothing more we could do."

While Esposito was Presley's right-hand man, Col. Parker kept tight reins on the star.

Esposito denied widespread theories that Parker manipulated Presley.

"Elvis was not an easy guy to handle," Esposito said. "He could be hard headed. But Parker came up with more smart ideas than anybody.

"Nobody could compare with what he did for Elvis Presley."

Esposito said Parker was careful not to overexpose Presley.

"He kept a mystery," Esposito said. "They had fights and disagreements. The colonel wasn't perfect. Neither was Elvis. They were human."

Presley died on August 16, 1977, after a heart attack. Esposito was at Graceland and called the ambulance.

"I knew we were too late," he said. "He was already gone."

Esposito became tour manager for Michael Jackson, Karen Carpenter, the Bee Gees and John Denver.

Esposito said Jackson's brief marriage to Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, was a decoy because Jackson was embroiled in claims of child molestation.

"She was just trying to help Michael out at the time," Esposito said.

"They were friends but, little by little, people realised what she was trying to do."

Jackson has planned a string of concerts in London in July, but Esposito said Jackson's comeback chances were slim.

"He has to see a psychiatrist, but he isn't going to do that. He's not going to admit he has a problem," he said.

Esposito said Carpenter was dealing with her eating disorder when it killed her.

"I would try to make her eat. I would beg her to not go the bathroom and throw up," he said.

"I thought she was getting better. But her heart stopped. She was a very, very nice lady."

Esposito is still good friends with Bee Gees star Barry Gibb.

"(Barry's brother) Robin was always the weird guy. He is a genius, but in another world," Esposito said.

"He would give me notes every once in a while. But they were written so small, I couldn't read them."

He smiled and said times, and celebrity culture, had changed.

Most new millennium stars were ungrateful brats.

"Celebrities in the old days had more respect for the fans," Esposito said. "It bugs the hell out of me that the new kids don't know about respect and courtesy. If it wasn't for the fans, they wouldn't be stars. A lot of entertainers won't even sign autographs today.

"Elvis would sign every autograph. He had respect for people."

Esposito said Presley honoured his fans too much to try the ultimate conspiracy -- that he faked his death.

"These so-called Elvis sightings are hurtful," Esposito said. "If he were alive, Elvis would never stop singing. He would rather be dead than not be on stage, singing. But I was there, man. He's gone. I wish he wasn't, but he is. Elvis is gone."