Elvis, Like Any Other Soldier by jerry Osborne (2010) - In the summer of 1956, twelve-year-old Jerry Osborne brought home a 78-rpm cardboard record titled Elvis Presley -- The Truth About Me. For Osborne, this disc, with its two minutes of Elvis speaking to his fans, kicked off forty-four years of collecting records, tapes, and CDs of anything Elvis spoke into a microphone. Elvis and Jerry eventually met and became friends in 1967, when both men were living in Memphis. Jerry Osborne is the author of more than seventy books on recorded music and entertainment personalities. Among his best-selling titles are The Official Price Guide to Records and The Official Price Guide to Elvis Presley Records & Memorabilia An avid collector of recorded music since 1960, Jerry Osborne has also worked full-time as an author of record price guides and reference books since 1975. From the first “Record Collector's Price Guide” (1976) to present, Jerry's published works now number more than 185 books and over 150 periodicals. As busy as ever, he still produces several new books per year. Jerry has, since 1986, written the popular, weekly newspaper feature, “Mr. Music.” Distributed to papers nationally by World Features Syndicate, the column answers readers' questions about music and records. Jerry's column is also prominently featured in each issue of “Cash Box” and “Record World” magazines. Osborne's past is saturated with music. After high school, he began a 14-year career in broadcasting (1962-'76), first as a dee jay then chief engineer, music director, and program director. He founded and published three collectors news and marketplace magazines: “Record Digest,” “Music World” and “DISCoveries.” In the '80s, he published “The Osborne Report,” a monthly newsletter covering new releases. His influence and involvement in record collecting has been chronicled in virtually every major magazine and newspaper in the country: “Reader's Digest,” “The Wall Street Journal,” “USA Today,” “People Magazine,” “Esquire,” “TV Guide,” “Oui,” “National Enquirer,” “Money,” “Changing Times,” “Photoplay,” “High Fidelity,” “Billboard,” “Cash Box,” “Music City News,” “Collectibles,” “Kiplinger's,” “Woman's Day” and “Rolling Stone” — just to name a few. Jerry is a frequent guest on numerous major radio and TV talk shows, discussing the record collecting hobby. Among these are: “Good Morning America”; “Today Show”; “The Nashville Network”; and “Backstage Live.” He served as a technical advisor and music consultant for shows like ABC-TV's “The Century” and “Our World”; CBS-TV's “West 57th Street”; MSNBC's “Headliners & Legends with Matt Lauer”; and cable's HBO, and CNN's Larry King Show. CNN (and reporter Michael Okwu) profiled Jerry on their prime-time “CNN NewsStand” in October 1999. Visit Jerry's IMDb page here. It was Osborne they asked to write the Introduction for “The Archives of Graceland (The Official Auction Catalogue).” In it, he and Sun Records founder Sam Phillips are named as “Distinguished Contributors.” Considering they had their pick of top writers and chose Jerry reflects the respect he has earned. Speaking of Sun Records, the last five vinyl albums ever made by this legendary label are the five volumes in Jerry's "Rockin' Records" series. In January 1999, the hobby honored Osborne by naming him “Pop Collectibles Author of the Year 1998,” and in 2011, he received the U.S. Commerce Association's "Best Of Commercial & Literary Writings" award. In 2007, The Hit Parade Hall of Fame invited Jerry to be one of the Charter Members of their Nominating Committee. Of course he accepted. Osborne was also chosen to be a charter member of the Album Cover Hall of Fame, founded in 2010 to honor deserving album cover art and design. Also an accomplished emcee, Jerry has managed shows with virtually all of the top stars of the '50s, '60s and '70s. He hosted Dick Clark's “Caravan of Stars” in the mid-'60s and has, since its inception in 1990, emceed many “Good Rockin' Tonight” all-star extravaganzas in Memphis, Tennessee. Jerry has written the liner notes for countless releases, and has conceived and produced dozens of albums and CDs. He still works closely with the reissue labels — especially Varèse Sarabande. Clearly, no one person has been more responsible — directly or indirectly — for the amazing growth of the music collecting hobby.