The hip wriggle and the lip curl were intact when Elvis Presley sang and danced to the song C’mon Everybody in the film Viva Las Vegas in 1964. Moving to his beats was Ann-Margret, who was already a Golden Globe Award winner. Despite the staid storyline, the film was praised for Ann-Margret’s performance and how she nearly stole the show from The King.
The star of Tommy, for which she had an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, is now 81 years old and there’s still something rebellious about her. She is trying to channel the rock ’n’ roller in her with an album titled Born to be Wild. It’s an effort packed with rock standards, including the classic Steppenwolf biker anthem referenced in the title.
The April 14 release on Cleopatra Records has an enviable list of guest musicians, including The Who’s Pete Townshend, Aerosmith’s Joe Perry, Paul Shaffer, Pat Boone, The Oak Ridge Boys, Stax guitarist Steve Cropper, Linda Gail Lewis, T.G. Sheppard, Robben Ford, and the late Mickey Gilley (among his final recordings).
“Deep inside I’ve wanted to do this kind of album forever,” she has said. She is comfortable wearing leather boots and leggings, something that defined her since she first came to Los Angeles. The cover of the album talks about the content. It reproduces a 1967 poster that was created for her first Las Vegas show. She is seen wearing a jumpsuit, sitting on a Triumph Tiger motorcycle.
The actress with Pat Boone in the film State Fair
With Elvis Presley in the hit film, Viva Las Vegas
The album sleeve for Born To Be Wild
Elvis to Townshend and Boone
Ann-Margret began her Hollywood career with her first screen test in 1961 and the film that made things click was a starring role in Bye Bye Birdie.
She wanted to be a star on the screen from a young age. In 1942, when she was a year old, her father arrived in America from Sweden to find work. She and her mother couldn’t accompany him because of the war. After five and a half years, she came over and spent her growing-up years in Wilmette, Illinois. Some stints with George Burns and Jack Benny fetched a part in Pocketful of Miracles in 1961, and this was when she met Roger Smith, who was a star of 77 Sunset Strip and a very popular TV personality. Ultimately, they married and it was a long journey until he passed away in 2017.
The film Viva Las Vegas got the gossip press running. She met Presley in the summer of 1963 and ultimately Priscilla Presley had to be assured that all of the pictures of Elvis and her were part of a publicity stunt.
This was also the time when RCA Victor tried to work on the “female Elvis” comparison by having her record a version of the Presley hit Heartbreak Hotel. A bigger hit of her career came in 1961 when she recorded I Just Don’t Understand, helping her to number 17 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Interestingly, it was later recorded by the Beatles in 1963 at the BBC Paris Studio.
But her real talent was in acting. Carnal Knowledge (1971) was perhaps the turning point and then came the musical Tommy in 1975, based on The Who’s 1969 rock opera album by the same name. It also featured Jack Nicholson and Oliver Reed. The film also introduced her to Pete Townshend, co-founder of The Who. The musician, known for the ‘windmill’ technique on the guitar, is featured on Ann-Margret’s new album.
“Being offered an opportunity to work with Ann-Margret, especially on an Everly Brothers song (Bye-Bye Love), was just too romantic to pass,” Pete Townshend said in a statement. “Ann-Margret’s work on the Tommy movie back in 1974 (when she was most certainly not old enough to pretend to be Roger Daltrey’s mother) was a joy from beginning to end. Her sonorous voice, her Scandinavian beauty, her sense of humour, her stamina and her strength all shone through.”
Another singer she met on the film sets features on the album — the evergreen Pat Boon. They were in the 1962 film State Fair, which also featured Bobby Darin. She has chosen Boone for the duet Teach Me Tonight. “I thought, ‘What am I doing singing this?’” Boone has told The New York Times. “I’m 87 at that point and she’s got to be 80. I had to do it humorously.”
This is an album her husband, the late Roger Smith would have loved to hear. He was her manager for most of their time together.
