Both West and Elvis grew up in different lower income projects in Memphis, Tennessee and, although living near to one another, never actually met in childhood.

[citation needed] On December 21, 1970, Presley, West, and Elvis insider Jerry Schilling were photographed in the White House with Richard Nixon by Ollie Atkins.

[5][6] In July 1977, the bodyguards, led by West, called a press conference coinciding with the release of their tell all book with tabloid writer Steve Dunleavy entitled Elvis: What Happened?

which they claimed to be more of a friendly plea to Elvis to change his drug dependent behavior, rather than a mere money making exercise.

I just want to be back to where I can carry the love I need to carry.” Before his last diagnosis, he said, “I felt good, ambitious, going around the world doing (my Elvis tribute) shows, entertaining people, standing up for hours [with] all my energy and everything.”[8] Medical bills, both his own and due to his wife's breast cancer, forced West to sell off some of his Elvis memorabilia as partial payment, but he and his wife still faced foreclosure and eviction from their home in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

West was buried with full military honors in Crestview Memory Gardens in Gallatin, Tennessee.

[9][10] Less than two months after Sonny's death, on July 18, 2017, his cousin Red West died at Baptist Hospital in Memphis, aged 81, after suffering an aortic aneurysm.