![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DJ_Fontana_performing.jpg\")
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\nD.J. Fontana, Elvis’ drummer in their earliest days, who played on “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Jailhouse Rock” and more, has died. He got his start (like so many did – like Elvis did, really) on the Louisiana Hayride radio show, broadcast out of Shreveport. Here’s an obituary for Fontana<\/a> in the Commercial Appeal (I had to go to Read Only because the ads are just nuts on that page). He was inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. He had a busy career as a session musician in Nashville after the Elvis Years. He played with everyone. But, of course, as is the case with so many people, he will always be associated with Elvis. <\/p>\n \n \nHere’s Fontana’s interview with the press at his 2009 induction into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. “I’m just glad it happened before I died.”<\/p>\n \n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/rs-234112-DJ-Fontana.jpg\")
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