Viola Smith, or 'Female Elvis' to her fans, reportedly appears on the front cover of Bob Dylan's new book, an essay collection.
Described as the 'Fastest Girl Drummer in the World', she died in California at the age of 107 in 2020.
Viola Smith was reportedly not only an excellent drummer, but also 'a high-profile advocate for female musicians and a trailblazer as one of America’s first professional female drummers.'
Among the many female Elvis Presleys there was only one who took the role literally. She slicked back her hair and styled it to give the effect of sideburns. She wore a low-slung guitar and became known for her uninhibited gyrations. And she assumed the stage name Alis Lesley so that only a couple of consonants separated her from the king.
“I’m not aware of anyone who stuck to the ‘female Elvis’ bit quite like Alis Lesley,” Leah Branstetter, a musicologist specialising in women in the first wave of rock’n’roll, has been quoted as saying by The Guardian.
According to the British daily newspaper, Viola Smith's music career was short-lived. In 1959, at the age of 21, she left rock’n’roll behind. In the decades since, she has reportedly given just one interview. But, this year, Lesley was unexpectedly thrust back into the spotlight when she was revealed as the figure between Little Richard and Eddie Cochran on the cover of Bob Dylan’s new book, his first since 2004’s Chronicles: Volume One. Due in November, The Philosophy of Modern Song comprises 60 essays by Dylan on songs by other artists. The press release states that the book’s images have been “carefully curated”, inviting speculation as to why such an obscure artist as Lesley should have been chosen for the cover. Dylan, naturally, hasn’t commented.