Record bosses bid to make Elvis a teenage hit

The album will try to follow in the footsteps of the Beatles’ album 1, a compilation of the band’s chart-toppers which has sold eight million copies worldwide.

RCA Records, which own the rights to Elvis’s music, have agreed a deal to make his songs the soundtrack to Disney’s latest animated film, Lilo and Stitch, it has been reported.

The film, which is due to be released in America this summer, tells the story of a Hawaiian girl who loves the King’s music.

Other efforts to market Elvis to the grandchildren of his first fans will include a line of 1950s-style clothing from the Lansky Brothers, who produced Presley’s first clothes when he first became a star.

Elvis has been struggled to remain a big name, with just 1.4 million albums sold in America last year from his massive catalogue.

The number of visitors to Graceland, his home and a mecca for his fans, fell 15% last year and staff had to be laid off because of the slump.

Marketing experts were at odds over whether the move would be a success, 25 years after the king death.

Richard Leonard, vice-president of youth marketing firm Zandl, predicted the comeback would flop.

‘‘Very few young people are interested in performers from the past,’’ he said. ‘‘And very, very few appreciate the kitsch or camp factor. I see no potential for Elvis for Generation Y.’’

But Donnie Deutsch, head of advertising agency Deutsch Incorporated, said: ‘‘People are looking back to simpler times. He’s a poster boy for all that. Elvis is one of the pop culture figures of the 20th century.’’

Despite Elvis’s fall in record sales, thousands of impersonators are still appearing on stages around the world, and alleged sightings of the singer continue.

Elvis died at Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee, aged just 42.