Historical Figure
Elvis Presley
1935–1977
American singer and actor (1935–1977)
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"On Music and Rock & Roll" — 1968
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Biography
Elvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is widely regarded as one of the most culturally significant figures of the 20th century. Presley's energetic and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, brought both great success and initial controversy.
Timeline
The story of Elvis Presley, told in moments.
The Presleys move to Memphis. They live in public housing at Lauderdale Courts. Elvis is shy, carries a guitar to school, and gets laughed at. He spends afternoons on Beale Street, listening to B.B. King and the gospel quartets at Ellis Auditorium.
Records "That's All Right" at Sun Studio in Memphis. The song is a sped-up cover of Arthur Crudup's blues number. Producer Sam Phillips has been looking for a white man who can sing like a Black man. He stops looking.
Appears on The Ed Sullivan Show. 60 million viewers. The cameras are ordered to show him only from the waist up. Elvis wears a velvet shirt and grins the entire time. He is 21.
The Million Dollar Quartet. Elvis stops by Sun Studio and finds Carl Perkins recording. Jerry Lee Lewis is playing piano. Johnny Cash drops in. Sam Phillips leaves the tape running. No one knows what they have.
Inducted into the U.S. Army. Private Presley, serial number 53310761. He is the most famous entertainer on Earth and he serves two years as a regular soldier in West Germany. His manager keeps the publicity machine running from Memphis.
The '68 Comeback Special airs on NBC. Elvis in black leather, sitting with his band on a small stage, sweating, singing like his career depends on it. It does. He hasn't performed live in seven years. 42% audience share.
Aloha from Hawaii. The first concert by a solo artist broadcast live via satellite. An estimated 1 to 1.5 billion viewers in 40 countries. More people than watched the moon landing. He wears a white jumpsuit with an American eagle cape.
Found unresponsive on the bathroom floor at Graceland by his girlfriend, Ginger Alden. He is 42. The toxicology report lists fourteen drugs in his system. His personal physician, Dr. George Nichopoulos, had prescribed more than 10,000 doses of sedatives, amphetamines, and narcotics in the last eight months of Elvis's life. Eighty thousand people line the streets of Memphis for the funeral procession.
Show full timeline (11 entries)
Marries Priscilla Beaulieu at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. They met in Germany when she was 14 and he was 24. She moves into Graceland at 17. The ceremony lasts eight minutes.
Opens at the International Hotel in Las Vegas for a four-week residency. Standing ovations every night. It becomes a permanent engagement. Over the next eight years, he plays 636 consecutive sold-out shows in Vegas.
First class inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Little Richard. He is the only one who isn't alive to attend.
In Their Own Words (13)
A live concert to me is exciting because of all the electricity that is generated in the crowd and on stage. It's my favorite part of the business — live concerts.
Press conference (5 September 1972), also quoted in Paranoia & Power : Fear & Fame of Entertainment Icons (2007) by Gene N Landrum, p. 60, 2007
'''The first time that I appeared on stage, it scared me to death. I really didn't know what all the yelling was about. I didn't realize that my body was moving. It's a natural thing to me. So to the manager backstage I said, "What'd I do? What'd I do?" And he said, "Whatever it is, go back and do it again."
Interview (March/April 1972), as quoted in The Leading Men of MGM (2006) by Jane Ellen Wayne, p. 406, 2006
I'd like to thank the Jaycees for electing me as one of their outstanding young men. 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... And these gentlemen over here, these are the type of people who care, they're dedicated, and they realize that it is possible that they might be building the kingdom of heaven, it's not just too far fetched, from reality. I'd like to say that 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.
Acceptance speech for the 1970 Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation Award (16 January 1971), published in Elvis — Word for Word: What He Said, Exactly As He Said It (1999) by Jerry Osborne, p. 188, 1999
I like Brando's acting ... and ... and . Quite a few of 'em I like.
When asked to name his favorite male actors, in "Elvis Exclusive Interview" with Ray Green in Little Rock, Arkansas (16 May 1956), as published in Elvis — Word for Word : What He Said, Exactly As He Said It (1999), 1999
The image is one thing and the human being is another...it's very hard to live up to an image.
Press conference (June 1972),also quoted in Elvis Culture : Fans, Faith, & Image (1999) by Erika Lee Doss, p. 218, 1999
Artifacts (15)
Ett omusikaliskt genombrott Mottagandet av Elvis Presley i svensk press under rockmusikens etableringsfas 1956-58
<p> <strong> Abstract </strong> </p> <strong> Kent Klan: </strong> <em> An unmusical breakthrough: The reception of Elvis Presley in the Swedish press during the rock music establishment phase...
El rock y lo sagrado. Sexualidad, rebeldía y sacrificio en la imagen de la estrella del rock
A priori, nuestro objetivo es determinar qué relación existe entre el rock y lo sagrado. El acercamiento al tema lo hemos planteado desde tres perspectivas: la sexualidad, la rebeldía y el sacrificio....
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