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Elvis Presley Biography

Elvis Presley became one of the most influential cultural icons of a generation. He is commonly referred to as the “The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll” and epitomises the post-war pop generation.

Elvis was born in Tupelo, Mississippi. When he was 13, his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Elvis was relatively shy and as a youngster was not keen on performing in public. However, he received a guitar as a present and learnt to play and sing; he gained no formal musical training, but had an innate natural talent and could easily pick up music. As a teenager, he was uninterested in school – but become absorbed in music, listening to a huge range of contemporary American music. He also started to sport a distinctive look with sideburns and styled hair. This image would later become an ‘Elvis’ trademark.

In 1953, he went to Sun recording studio – to record a song for his mother, but also with the hope he may get noticed and offered a recording deal. However, it didn’t come to anything; he was also turned down for auditions to other groups. In April 1954, he took a job as a truck driver.

However, later on in the year, the Sun boss Sam Phillips invited Elvis to come in for a recording session. Initially, the recording session was unpromising, but towards the end of the allotted time, Elvis started to play a song he had composed himself. Phillips was immediately impressed by the verve, enthusiasm and dynamism of Elvis’s music. Phillips believed that Elvis had a unique voice and talent which could capture the interest of Americans.

For his first studio recording, Elvis performed the 1946 blues number, Arthur Crudup’s “That’s All Right”; it was well received on local radio stations.

This initial success launched Presley into a lucrative pop music career.

His performances were a fusion of country, gospel, pop and rhythm and blues. His unique gravelly voice gave the impression Presley combined both ‘black’ and ‘white’ sounds, something which was an issue during an era of tense civil rights campaigns. Elvis’s on stage routines were also criticised for their flamboyance and provocativeness; he was criticised for the idea that rock ‘n ‘roll music was having a negative effect on American teenagers, making them more rebellious. As the leading figure of pop music, Presley was often the target of these criticisms. However, he defended his music saying:

“No, I haven’t, I don’t feel like I’m doing anything wrong. … I don’t see how any type of music would have any bad influence on people when it’s only music. … I mean, how would rock ‘n’ roll music make anyone rebel against their parents?”

“Nothing really affected me until Elvis. Before Elvis there was nothing. When I first heard “Heartbreak Hotel,” I could hardly make out what was being said. It was just the experience of hearing it and having my hair stand on end. We’d never heard American voices singing like that.”

Ironically, Elvis was never keen to meet the Beatles and when they did meet on one occasion – 27 August 1965 – it was a mutual disappointment. But, Lennon always maintained without Elvis, there would have been no Beatles.

At live concerts, his crowds increasingly became overly exuberant. When Presley began playing hits like “You ain’t nothin’ but a Hound Dog” the crowd would go wild. This led Presley to take a break from live performances.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do as a kid. But I used to pray to God that I’d amount to something some day. I never dreamed that something like this would happen.”

– Elvis Presley

In 1958-60, Presley was called up for national service in the American army. He was stationed in Germany and served in the regular army, and was keen to be seen as an ordinary soldier doing his duty. He could have signed up for Special Services, which would have enabled him to perform live music, but he preferred to stay in the regular army. During his stay in Freiburg, Germany he met Priscilla Beaulieu, who he would marry after a seven-year courtship. They married in 1967 and, in 1968, Priscilla gave birth to Elvis’s only child – Lisa Marie.

However, from 1973, Presley began to increasingly suffer health problems – related to his obesity and drug dependency. He continued to try and maintain a hectic touring schedule, but his performances were negatively affected by his obvious health problems. In 1976, aged only 42, he died from multiple causes; fourteen different drugs were found in his bloodstream.

His early death only cemented his legendary status, and Elvis Presley has become deeply ingrained in popular culture.

Presley’s home Graceland was opened to the public in the 1980s and attracts over half a million visitors annually. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2006.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan . “Biography of Elvis Presley”, Oxford, UK.  www.biographyonline.net , 1st Jan. 2013. Updated 10th January 2018.

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Elvis Presley

• Born January 8 , 1935 · Tupelo, Mississippi, USA
• Died August 16 , 1977 · Memphis, Tennessee, USA (cardiac arrhythmia)
• Birth name Elvis Aaron Presley
• Elvis the Pelvis
• The King of Rock 'n' Roll
• Height 5′ 11¾″ (1.82 m)
• Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935 in East Tupelo, Mississippi, to Gladys Presley (née Gladys Love Smith) and Vernon Presley (Vernon Elvis Presley). He had a twin brother who was stillborn. In 1948, Elvis and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee where he attended Humes High School. In 1953, he attended the senior prom with the current girl he was courting, Regis Wilson. After graduating from high school in Memphis, Elvis took odd jobs working as a movie theater usher and a truck driver for Crown Electric Company. He began singing locally as "The Hillbilly Cat", then signed with a local recording company, and then with RCA in 1955. Elvis did much to establish early rock and roll music. He began his career as a performer of rockabilly, an up-tempo fusion of country music and rhythm and blues, with a strong backbeat. His novel versions of existing songs, mixing 'black' and 'white' sounds, made him popular - and controversial - as did his uninhibited stage and television performances. He recorded songs in the rock and roll genre, with tracks like "Jailhouse Rock" and "Hound Dog" later embodying the style. Presley had a versatile voice and had unusually wide success encompassing other genres, including gospel, blues, ballads and pop music. Teenage girls became hysterical over his blatantly sexual gyrations, particularly the one that got him nicknamed "Elvis the Pelvis" (television cameras were not permitted to film below his waist). In 1956, following his six television appearances on The Dorsey Brothers' "Stage Show", Elvis was cast in his first acting role, in a supporting part in Love Me Tender (1956) , the first of 33 movies he starred in. In 1958, Elvis was drafted into the military, and relocated to Bad Nauheim, Germany. There he met 14-year old army damsel Priscilla Ann Wagner ( Priscilla Presley ), whom he would eventually marry after an eight-year courtship, and by whom he had his only child, Lisa Marie Presley . Elvis' military service and the "British Invasion" of the 1960s reduced his concerts, though not his movie/recording income. Through the 1960s, Elvis settled in Hollywood, where he starred in the majority of his thirty-three movies, mainly musicals, acting alongside some of the most well known actors in Hollywood. Critics panned most of his films, but they did very well at the box office, earning upwards of $150 million total. His last fiction film, Change of Habit (1969) , deals with several social issues; romance within the clergy, an autistic child, almost unheard of in 1969, rape, and mob violence. It has recently received critical acclaim. Elvis made a comeback in the 1970s with live concert appearances starting in early 1970 in Las Vegas with over 57 sold-out shows. He toured throughout the United States, appearing on-stage in over 500 live appearances, many of them sold out shows. His marriage ended in divorce, and the stress of constantly traveling as well as his increasing weight gain and dependence upon stimulants and depressants took their toll. Elvis Presley died at age 42 on August 16, 1977 at his mansion in Graceland, near Memphis, shocking his fans worldwide. At the time of his death, he had sold more than 600 million singles and albums. Since his death, Graceland has become a shrine for millions of followers worldwide. Elvis impersonators and purported sightings have become stock subjects for humorists. To date, Elvis Presley is the only performer to have been inducted into three separate music 'Halls of Fame'. Throughout his career, he set records for concert attendance, television ratings and recordings sales, and remains one of the best-selling and most influential artists in the history of popular music. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan and Chris Holland
• Spouse Priscilla Presley (May 1, 1967 - October 9, 1973) (divorced, 1 child)
• Children Lisa Marie Presley
• Parents Gladys Presley Vernon Presley
• Relatives Harper Lockwood (Grandchild) Finley Lockwood (Grandchild) Minnie Mae Presley (Grandparent) Vester Presley (Aunt or Uncle) Patsy Presley Geranen (Cousin) Riley Keough (Grandchild) Benjamin Keough (Grandchild)
• The famous left-sided grin
• His movements, with his pelvis, that gave him the nickname, "Elvis, the pelvis", which he strongly disliked
• Longer and slightly deeper sideburns
• White sequined jumpsuits with rhinestones
• Onstage karate moves
• When The Beatles came to America in 1965 there was only one person they wanted to meet: Elvis. On 8/27/65 they got their wish and, according to John Lennon , spent an enjoyable evening at the Presley home in Bel Air, CA, talking, singing and laughing with each other.
• Once an opera singer attended one of his 1950s concerts and met him backstage. The singer told Elvis that he sang like a hillbilly and needed singing lessons. Elvis replied, "Thanks for the advice, but how many of the thousands of people out there tonight came to hear you sing?".
• From the time they met until his death, he always sent a roomful of flowers to Ann-Margret whenever she opened a show in Las Vegas.
• His personal entourage were known as the "Memphis Mafia", and were given matching rings by Elvis. The diamond and gold rings sported a thunderbolt and the letters "TCB" (reportedly standing for "Take Care of Business"). Elvis was buried wearing one of the rings.
• Elvis owned one of the world's first mobile phones. He had to have one after seeing Sean Connery use a car phone in the James Bond movie From Russia with Love (1963) . Elvis's phone was contained in a suitcase-size carrying case with his name in black letters on a gold label on the front. He would use it to talk from his limousine.
• [asked who he sounded like] I don't sound like nobody.
• [asked what kind of music he sings] I sing all kinds.
• I don't like being called Elvis The Pelvis. That's gotta be one of the most childish expressions I've ever heard coming from an adult.
• Some people tap their feet, some people snap their fingers, and some people sway back and forth. I just sorta do 'em all together, I guess.
• [his acceptance speech from the 1970 Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation Awards] When I was a child, ladies and gentlemen, I was a dreamer. I read comic books, and I was the hero of the comic book. I saw movies, and I was the hero in the movie. So every dream I ever dreamed has come true a hundred times . . . I learned very early in life that "Without a song, the day would never end; without a song, a man ain't got a friend; without a song, the road would never bend - without a song". So I keep singing a song. Goodnight. Thank you.
• Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii (1973) - $450,000
• Elvis: That's the Way It Is (1970) - $500,000 + 60% of profits
• The Trouble with Girls (1969) - $850,000 + 50% of the profits
• Charro! (1969) - $850,000 + 50% of profits
• Live a Little, Love a Little (1968) - $850,000 + 50% of the profits

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Biography of Elvis Presley, the King of Rock 'n' Roll

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• B.A., History, University of California at Davis

Elvis Presley (Jan. 8, 1935–Aug 16, 1977) was a singer, actor, and cultural icon of the 20th century. Presley sold more than 1 billion records and made 33 movies, but his cultural impact far exceeds even those numbers.

Fast Facts: Elvis Presley

• Known For : A rock 'n' roll icon
• Also Known As : The King of Rock 'n' Roll
• Born : Jan. 8, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi
• Parents : Gladys and Vernon Presley
• Died : Aug 16, 1977 in Memphis, Tennessee
• Songs : "Love Me Tender," "Hound Dog," "Heartbreak Hotel," "Jailhouse Rock," "Can’t Help Falling in Love"
• Movies : "Kid Galahad," "Blue Hawaii," "Jailhouse Rock," "King Creole"
• Spouse : Priscilla Beaulieu Presley
• Children : Lisa Marie Presley
• Notable Quote : "Rock 'n' roll music, if you like it, if you feel it, you can't help but move to it. That's what happens to me. I can't help it."

Elvis Presley was born to Gladys and Vernon Presley in the couple's two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, following a difficult delivery. Presley's twin brother, Jessie Garon, was stillborn, and Gladys was so ill from the birth that she was taken to the hospital. She wasn't able to have more children.

Gladys Presley doted on her sandy-haired, blue-eyed son and worked hard to keep her family together. She struggled when her husband was sentenced to three years in the Mississippi state penitentiary, also known as Parchman Farm, for forgery after changing the amount on a check. With him in prison, Gladys couldn't earn enough to keep the house, so she and her 3-year-old moved in with relatives, the first of many moves for the family.

Learning Music

Since they moved often, only two things were consistent in Presley's childhood: his parents and music. With his parents usually at work, Presley found music wherever he could. He listened to music in church and taught himself to play the church piano. When Presley was 8, he often hung out at the local radio station. For his 11th birthday, his parents gave him a guitar.

By high school, his family had moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Although Presley joined R.O.T.C., played football, and worked as an usher at a movie theater, his activities didn't stop other students from picking on him. Presley was different. He dyed his hair black and wore it in a style that made him look more like a comic book character than other kids in his school.

So he surrounded himself with music, listening to the radio and buying records. After the family moved to Lauderdale Courts, an apartment complex, he often played with other aspiring musicians who lived there. Although segregation was still a fact in the south, Presley crossed the color line and listened to African-American artists such as B.B. King. He often visited Beale Street in the African-American section of town to watch Black musicians play.

By the time Presley graduated from high school, he could sing in various styles, from hillbilly to gospel. He also had a style of singing and moving that was all his own. He had combined what he saw and heard into a unique new sound. The first to realize this was Sam Phillips at Sun Records.

After spending the year after high school working a day job and playing at small clubs at night, Presley received a call from Sun Records on June 6, 1954. Phillips wanted Presley to sing a new song. When that didn't work out, he set Presley up with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black. After a month of practicing, they recorded "That's All Right (Mama)." Phillips convinced a friend to play it on the radio, and it was an instant hit.

Moore, Black, and drummer D.J. Fontana continued to back Presley on dozens of legendary rock 'n' roll songs over the next decade.

Presley quickly built an audience. On Aug. 15, 1954, he signed with Sun Records for four albums. He then began making appearances on popular radio shows such as "Grand Ole Opry" and "Louisiana Hayride." Presley was so successful on "Hayride" that he was hired to perform every Saturday for a year. He quit his job and toured the south during the week, playing anywhere there was a paying audience, then returned to Shreveport, Louisiana, every Saturday for "Hayride."

High school and college students went wild for Presley, screaming and cheering and mobbing him backstage. He put his soul into every performance and moved his body—a lot. Presley gyrated his hips, jiggled his legs, and fell to his knees on the floor. Adults thought he was lewd and suggestive; teenagers loved him.

As Presley's popularity soared, he hired "Colonel" Tom Parker as his manager. In some ways, Parker took advantage of Presley, including taking a generous cut of his proceeds, but he steered Presley to mega-stardom.

Presley's popularity soon became more than Sun Records could handle, so Phillips sold Presley's contract to RCA Victor for $35,000, more than any record company had ever paid for a singer.

To further boost Presley's popularity, Parker put him on television. On Jan. 28, 1956, Presley made his first television appearance on "Stage Show," followed by appearances on "The Milton Berle Show," "The Steve Allen Show," and "The Ed Sullivan Show."

In March 1956, Parker arranged an audition with Presley at Paramount studios. Studio executives liked Presley so much that they signed him to do his first movie, "Love Me Tender" (1956), with an option for six more. Two weeks after his audition, Presley received his first gold record for "Heartbreak Hotel," which had sold 1 million copies.

Presley's popularity was skyrocketing and money was flowing. He bought his mother the house he had promised her and in March 1957, he purchased Graceland—a mansion with 13 acres of land—for $102,500. He then had the entire mansion remodeled to his tastes.

Just as it seemed like everything Presley touched turned to gold, on Dec. 20, 1957, he received a draft notice. Presley could have been excused from military service, but he chose to enter the Army as a regular soldier. He was stationed in Germany.

With a nearly two-year hiatus from his career, many people, including Presley, wondered if the world would forget him. But Parker worked hard to keep Presley's name and image before the public, succeeding so well that some said Presley was as popular after his military experience as before it.

While Presley was in the Army, two major personal events occurred. The first was the death of his mother, which devastated him. The second was meeting and dating 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, whose father was also stationed in Germany. They married eight years later, on May 1, 1967, and had one child, a daughter named Lisa Marie Presley, on Feb. 1, 1968.

Following Presley's discharge in 1960, he launched into recording songs and making movies. It had become obvious to Parker and others that anything bearing Presley's name would make money, so Presley was pushed to make movies in quantity rather than quality. His most successful movie, "Blue Hawaii" (1961), became a template for many that followed. He grew increasingly upset about the poor quality of his movies and songs.

From 1960 until 1968, Presley made few public appearances, focusing on making movies. In all, he made 33 movies.

While Presley was busy making movies, other musicians took the stage, some of whom, including the  Beatles , sold lots of records and threatened to make Presley share his title of "King of Rock 'n' Roll,"—if not steal it. Presley had to do something to keep his crown.

In December 1968, he dressed in black leather and made an hour-long television special titled "Elvis." Calm, sexy, and humorous, he wowed the crowd. The "comeback special" energized Presley. He returned to recording songs and doing live performances. In July 1969, Parker booked Presley at the largest venue in Las Vegas, the new International Hotel. His shows were huge successes and the hotel booked Presley for four weeks a year through 1974. The rest of the year he toured.

Since he became popular, Presley had worked at breakneck speed, recording songs, making movies, and giving concerts with little to no rest. To maintain that pace, he started taking prescription drugs.

By the early 1970s, continued drug use had begun to cause problems. Presley started having severe mood swings with aggressive and erratic behavior, and he gained a lot of weight. Presley and Priscilla had grown apart, and in January 1973, they divorced. His drug addiction became worse; he was hospitalized several times for overdoses and other health problems. His performances began to suffer; on many occasions, he mumbled through songs.

On Aug. 16, 1977, Presley's girlfriend Ginger Alden found him on the bathroom floor at Graceland. He wasn't breathing. He was taken to the hospital, but doctors were unable to resuscitate him and he was pronounced dead at 42. His death initially was attributed to "cardiac arrhythmia," but the cause later was changed to a lethal mix of prescription drugs. 

Elvis Presley was one of the few artists to become known worldwide by just his first name and whose talent and accomplishments made him pop culture royalty. His fame has endured.

Twenty-five years after his death, RCA released an album of his No.1 records, titled "ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits." The album debuted at No. 1 on the charts, selling half a million copies in its first week. Having an album debut atop the U.S. charts was something Presley hadn't accomplished while he was alive.

It opened at No. 1 in 16 other countries, including Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Argentina, and the United Arab Emirates .

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• Kreps, Daniel. “ Scotty Moore, Elvis Presley Guitarist, Dead at 84 .” Rolling Stone, 25 June 2018.
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Elvis Presley Biography

Born: August 8, 1935 Tupelo, Mississippi Died: August 16, 1977 Memphis, Tennessee American singer

Elvis Presley, the "King of Rock 'n' Roll," was the leading American singer for two decades and the most popular singer of the entire early rock 'n' roll era.

Young Elvis and Sun Records

Elvis Aron Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935, to Gladys and Vernon Presley. His twin brother, Jesse Garon Presley, died shortly after birth. His father worked as a carpenter, farmer, and factory worker to support the family but was not successful in any of his jobs. Raised in a poor and religious environment, Elvis grew especially close to his mother. Elvis's singing ability was discovered when he was an elementary school student in Tupelo, and he first started singing with the choir of his local church. He received his first guitar as a birthday present when he was about twelve and taught himself how to play, although he could not read music. He went on to participate in numerous talent contests in Tupelo and in Memphis, Tennessee, where the family moved when Elvis was thirteen.

The birth of rock 'n' roll

Elvis reached the top of the country charts with "Mystery Train" in 1955. His first number one song on the so-called "Hot 100" was "Heartbreak Hotel" (1956), which held that position for seven of the twenty-seven weeks it was on the chart. This song also reached the top of the country charts, and it became a symbol of his ability to combine country singing with rhythm-and-blues, as well as with the new rage that had grown out of rhythm-and-blues: rock 'n' roll. The rest of the 1950s brought Elvis "living legend" status with records that included "Hound Dog" (1956), "Don't Be Cruel" (1956), "Blue Suede Shoes" (1956), "Love Me Tender" (1956), "All Shook Up" (1957), and "Jailhouse Rock" (1957). He started the 1960s in similar fashion with "It's Now or Never" (1960) and "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" (1960).

Elvis was universally dubbed the "King of Rock 'n' Roll" and led the new music from its beginnings in the 1950s to its peak in the 1960s and on to its permanent place in the music of the 1970s and the 1980s. His impact on American popular culture was tremendous, as he seemed to affect manner of dress, hairstyles, and even behavior. John Lennon (1940–1980) would later note Elvis as one of the most important influences on the Beatles. Even his spinning hip movements became legendary as he continued his rock 'n' roll conquest to the extent of 136 gold records (500,000 sold) and 10 platinum records (1 million sold). Ultimately he had the most records to make the rating charts and was the top recording artist for two straight decades, the 1950s and the 1960s.

Elvis in the movies

Elvis was an instant success in television and movies as well. Millions watched his television appearances on The Steve Allen Show, The Milton Berle Show, The Toast of the Town, and a controversial (open to dispute) appearance on the The Ed Sullivan Show, in which cameras were instructed to stay above the hips of "Elvis the Pelvis." He was an even bigger box office smash, beginning with Love Me Tender in 1956. Thirty-two movies later, Elvis had become the top box-office draw for two decades, with ticket sales over $150 million.

Although few of Elvis's motion pictures were well-received by the critics, they showcased his music and extended his image and fame. His movies included Jailhouse Rock (1957), King Creole (1958), G. I. Blues (1960), Blue Hawaii (1961), Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), Viva Las Vegas (1964), and Spinout (1966). Wild in the Country (1961), based on the J. R. Salamanca novel The Lost Country, marked his debut in a straight dramatic role.

Controversy

Elvis began a well-publicized stint in the army in 1958. That year, while he was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas, his mother died. The remainder of his military service was spent stationed in Germany, until his discharge (release) in 1960. It was in Germany that he met Priscilla Beaulieu (1945–), his future wife.

Elvis's success in the entertainment industry was accompanied by numerous failures in his personal life. He arranged to have Priscilla, still a teenager, live at his new Memphis home, Graceland Mansion, while she finished high school there. He married her in 1967, and she bore him his only child, Lisa Marie Presley, in 1968. In 1973 he and Priscilla were divorced. During this time, and for his entire career, his personal manager, Tom Parker, controlled his finances. As Elvis's millions grew, so too did the mismanagement of Parker, a known gambler. Parker was later prosecuted for his financial dealings, but he was acquitted (proven innocent). Elvis made an estimated $4.3 billion in earnings during his lifetime, but he never acquired a concept of financial responsibility. This caused frequent legal battles during and after his lifetime among his management people and several record companies. Elvis had similar luck with his friendships, and frequently surrounded himself with a gang of thugs to shield him from an adoring public.

Beginning of the end

A weight problem became evident in the late 1960s, and in private Elvis became increasingly dependent on drugs, particularly amphetamines and sedatives. His personal doctor, George Nichopoulos, would later be prosecuted, but acquitted, for prescribing and dispensing thousands of pills and narcotics (illegal drugs) to him.

Though Elvis's weight and drug dependency were increasing, Elvis continued a steady flow of concert performances in sold-out arenas well into the 1970s. On August 16, 1977, the day before another concert tour was about to begin, Elvis was found dead in Graceland Mansion by his fiancée, Ginger Alden. The official cause of death was heart disease, although information revealed after his death about his drug dependency created a media event. His death caused worldwide scenes of mourning.

Elvis continues to be celebrated as superstar and legend as much in death as he was in life. Graceland Mansion, which he had purchased in 1957 for $102,500, is the top tourist attraction in Memphis and has attracted millions of visitors from both America and around the world.

Presley became the first-ever inductee into three music halls of fame when it was announced that he would be inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame on November 27, 2001, in Nashville, Tennessee. He was already a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Country Hall of Fame.

For More Information

Gordon, Robert. The Elvis Treasures. New York: Villard, 2001.

Jenkins, Mary. Memories Beyond Graceland Gates. Buena Park, CA: West Coast Publishers, 1989.

Lichter, Paul. The Boy Who Dared to Rock: The Definitive Elvis. Garden City, NY: Dolphin Books, 1978.

Parish, James Robert. The Elvis Presley Scrapbook. New York: Ballantine Books, 1977.

Sauer, Wendy. Elvis Presley: A Complete Reference. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1984.

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