Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley was known as the King of Rock and Roll even before his early death at the age of forty-two. His impact on American popular culture has never before or since been duplicated.

Early talent

Presley was born a twin on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi . His brother, Jesse, died shortly after birth. Elvis's singing ability became obvious when he was still in elementary school. At thirteen, he and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee .

After graduating from high school in 1953, Presley worked as a truck driver to earn money to record his own records. Before the end of 1954, he recorded his first commercial release, “That's All Right (Mama).” It sold twenty thousand copies.

Big break

Presley's first number one song on the Hot 100 charts was “Heartbreak Hotel” (1956), and it was that song that brought him to the attention of the nation. The tune spent twenty-seven weeks on the chart, seven of them in first place. It also reached the top of country charts, testament to the musician's ability to combine country with rhythm and blues to appeal to a crossover audience.

Presley spent the rest of the decade turning out one hit after another, all under the new label of rock and roll. “Don’t Be Cruel” (1956) was followed by “Blue Suede Shoes” (1956), “Love Me Tender” (1956), “All Shook Up,” (1957), and “Jailhouse Rock” (1957). He was the top recording artist throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and before his life ended, he had 136 gold records and 10 platinum albums.

Cultural impact

Presley not only influenced and pioneered the music scene of his era, he shaped American culture with his manner of dress, hairstyle, and dance. Never before had anyone seen a performer gyrate his hips as Presley did, and he shocked and frightened parents and more conservative Americans across the nation. Teens and young adults loved him, though, and John Lennon (1940–1980) credited Presley as one of the most important influences on his own band, the Beatles.

As television became a major entertainment medium, Presley made guest appearances on the many variety shows of the era, including The Milton Berle Show and The Ed Sullivan Show. Cameramen were instructed to show the performer from the waist up only, to avoid controversy caused by his gyrating hip movements.

The entertainer made his mark in films as well. His first movie, Love Me Tender, was released in 1956. By the time he made his thirty-third and last movie, Presley had become the top box office draw during the previous two decades and had grossed over $150 million. His movies were nothing more than vehicles to showcase his singing and dancing abilities, and all of them included young, beautiful women. Critics agree that Presley's films did as much as his songs to cement his place in cultural history. Some of his more successful movies include Jailhouse Rock (1957), King Creole (1958), G. I. Blues (1960), Blue Hawaii (1961), Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), and Viva Las Vegas (1964).

Presley served in the U.S. Army from 1958 until his discharge in 1960. While in Germany, he met Priscilla Beaulieu, who later became his wife.

Personal drama

As successful as Presley was in his professional life, his personal life was a succession of failure and struggles. Before Priscilla had even graduated from high school, he had arranged to have her live in his new mansion, Graceland, in Memphis. In 1967, they married, and their only child, Lisa Marie Presley, was born the following year. The couple divorced in 1973.

For Presley's entire career, his personal manager, Colonel Tom Parker (1909–1997), controlled and mismanaged the star's finances. Because of Parker's manipulation, Presley never learned how to manage his own money, and this caused many problems for him. Although Parker was eventually tried for his unethical management dealings, he was found not guilty.

Presley fared little better when it came to managing his own health. Beginning in the late 1960s, he battled with his weight and became increasingly dependent on drugs, mostly amphetamines and sedatives. His doctor, George Nichopoulos, prescribed and dispensed thousands of pills and narcotics to the star.

Weight and drug problems notwithstanding, Presley continued to perform to sell-out audiences well into the 1970s. On August 16, 1977, he was found dead in his home. The official cause of death was heart disease, but when the public learned of his drug addiction, many speculated that drugs led to the heart attack. The world mourned for weeks.

Presley's home, Graceland mansion, remains the top tourist attraction in Memphis in the twenty-first century. Millions of visitors have entered the gates. Presley is the only star to be honored with membership in three music halls of fame: the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. In 2004, he was inducted into the first U.K. Hall of Fame as an honorary member. That same year, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the song's release, “That's All Right (Mama)” was played simultaneously on more than one thousand radio stations across the nation.