Gordon Stoker, born in Gleason, Tennessee, on 3 August 1925, would have turned 101 today. He led the Jordanaires, the world-famous vocal quartet whose backing harmonies supported Elvis Presley from 1956 to 1970 across live shows, recordings and films, and who also lent their voices to country classics by Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, George Jones and Kenny Rogers, making Stoker a central but often overlooked figure in mid-20th-century American music.

Stoker showed early musical talent, playing piano in church from age eight and performing on radio by 12, before becoming one of the youngest artists ever to appear on the Grand Ole Opry stage at 15. After serving in the US Air Force during the Second World War, he settled in Nashville, joined the Jordanaires as pianist in 1950, and took over as first tenor and group leader the following year after an illness left the role vacant. Over six decades with the group, its recordings sold more than eight billion copies and won Grammys across six consecutive decades, from 1959 to 2007. Stoker died in Brentwood, Tennessee, on 27 March 2013, aged 88.