By the late 1960s, James was signed as a staff songwriter to Memphis producer Chips Moman's publishing company, Moman produced Thomas's versions of The Eyes Of A New York Woman, Hooked On A Feeling and It's Only Love in 1968-69, and all achieved success.
The songwriter wrote, sang and issued his own version of Suspicious Minds, also produced by Chips Moman, on Scepter Records in 1968 but without success and in the same arrangement the song became a worldwide smash hit for Elvis Presley in 1969.
Brenda Lee had a hit with Sunday Sunrise. Elvis recorded other songs written by Mark James namely:- Its Only Love, Raised On Rock and Moody Blue.
Incredibly James' greatest personal success came with Always on My Mind, a writing collaboration with Johnny Christopher and Wayne Carson Thompson and issued as a b-side to Separate Ways by Elvis Presley in 1972 in the USA. It was a hit for Elvis but it was a huge hit for Willie Nelson in 1982. Mark
James won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year for Willie Nelson's version. UK duo The Pet Shop Boys had a UK #1 and US #4 with their 1987 revival of the song.
Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson and Brenda Lee
James also wrote the song Moody Blue, which is also the name of Elvis' last album. In 1979 Mark James wrote a beautiful song about Elvis called Blue Suede Heaven It was featured in the documentary 'The Echo Will Never Die' with Kasey Casem'
All the songs Elvis recorded of Mark James were hit singles peaking at:
'Suspicious Minds' # 2 [1969]
'Always on my mind' # 9 [1972]
'Raised on Rock' # 36 [1973]
'Moody Blue' # 6. [1977]
Posthumous Hits:
'Its Only Love' # 3 [1980]
'The Elvis Medley', containing 'Suspicious Minds', #51.
'Always on my mind' reissues #59 [1985] and #13 [1997].
'Suspicious minds' 'live' #15 [2001].
'Suspicious Minds' #11 [2007] whilst on the same run
'Always on my mind' #17 [2007].
'Raised on Rock' and 'Moody Blue' were chosen as the titles of the albums on which they first appeared. In the states 'Suspicious Minds' and 'Moody Blue' were numbers one's. 'Its only love' was lifted from the Elvis Aron Presley box set in 1980.