Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. A cultural icon, he is commonly known simply as Elvis and is also sometimes referred to as The King of Rock 'n' Roll or The King .
Presley began his career in 1954 as one of the first performers of rockabilly, an uptempo fusion of country and rhythm and blues with a strong back beat. His novel versions of existing songs, mixing "black" and "white" sounds, made him popular—and controversial—as did his uninhibited stage and television performances. Presley had a versatile voice and he had unusually wide success encompassing many genres, including rock and roll, gospel, blues, country, ballads and pop. To date, he has been inducted into four music halls of fame.
In 1968, after making movies in Hollywood and having been away from the stage for seven years, he returned to live performances in a television special, which led to a string of successful tours across the U.S., notably in Las Vegas, for the remainder of his career. In 1973, Presley staged the first global live concert via satellite ( Aloha from Hawaii ), reaching at least one billion viewers live and an additional 500 million on delay. It remains the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer in television history.
Throughout his career, he set records for concert attendance, television ratings and recordings sales. He is one of the best-selling solo artists in the history of popular music, with sales between 600 million and one billion worldwide, and he is regarded as one of the most important figures of twentieth century popular culture. Among his many awards and accolades are 14 Grammy nominations (3 wins) from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, which he received at age 36, and being named One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation for 1970 by the United States Jaycees.
Health problems, prescription drug dependence, and other factors led to his death at the age of 42.
1935–1953: Early life
Life in Tupelo
Presley's ancestry was a diverse European mix, primarily British and German; Presley's lineage also included some Cherokee descent. His father, Vernon Elvis Presley (April 10, 1916 – June 26, 1979), and his mother, Gladys Love Smith (April 25, 1912 – August 14, 1958) met in Tupelo, Mississippi, and eloped to Pontotoc County where they married on June 17, 1933. Elvis is a distant cousin of President Jimmy Carter. He is also a direct descendant of Abraham Lincoln's great-great grandfather, Isaiah Harrison.
Presley was born in a two-room shotgun house, built by his father, in East Tupelo. He was an identical twin; his brother was stillborn and given the name Jesse Garon. Growing up as an only child he became close to both parents, although he would grow "unusually close" to his mother during Vernon's imprisonment a few years later. The family lived just above the poverty line and attended an Assembly of God church where Presley would find his initial musical influences.
Vernon has been described as work-shy, although there is much documented evidence of work he took throughout the depression. Gladys was, by most accounts, the dominant one who had a fondness for drink. In 1938, Vernon, along with Gladys' brother Travis Smith and a friend Lether Gable, was jailed for altering a check. During his eight-month incarceration, Gladys and her son lost the family home, and they moved in with relatives.
In September 1942, Presley entered the first grade of elementary education at Lawhorn School in Tupelo. He was considered a "well-mannered and quiet child", but sometimes he would be bullied by classmates because they viewed him as a "mama's boy".
Early public performances
On October 3, 1945, he made his first public performance in a singing contest at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show at the suggestion of his teacher, Mrs. J.C. Grimes. Dressed as a cowboy, Presley had to stand on a chair to reach the microphone and sang Red Foley's "Old Shep." He came in fifth, winning $5 ($59 in current dollar terms) and a free ticket to all the Fair rides. A few months later, for his eleventh birthday, Presley received his first guitar. He had wanted a rifle but his parents could only afford a guitar. Over the following year, Vernon's brother, Vester, gave Elvis basic guitar lessons.
The young Presley frequently listened to Mississippi Slim’s radio show on Tupelo’s WELO. Before he was a teenager, music was already his "consuming passion". In 1947, Mississippi Slim, one of Presley's earliest musical heroes, agreed to let Elvis sing on two occasions. However, the first time, Presley got such stage fright that he couldn't go on. He did manage to go on the following week.
Move to Memphis
In September 1948, the family (along with Gladys' brother and his family) moved to Memphis, Tennessee, allegedly because Vernon—in addition to needing work—had to escape the law for transporting bootleg liquor. They found a home first at 370 Washington Street; a boarding house where they shared their bathroom with three other families, and then Adams Street. After applying for welfare assistance and receiving a visit from a Memphis Housing Authority inspector in 1949, the family were moved to Lauderdale Courts, a public housing development in one of Memphis' poorer sections. Presley practiced playing guitar in the laundry room and also played in a five-piece band with other tenants. One resident, another future rockabilly pioneer, Johnny Burnette, recalled that the young Presley would have his guitar with him at most times, wherever he went.
Presley enrolled at L. C. Humes High School where some fellow students viewed his performing unfavorably; one recalled that he was a shy boy whose guitar playing was not likely to win any prizes. Presley was made fun of for playing "trashy" hillbilly music." Other children however, "would beg him" to sing, but he was apparently too shy to perform.
In September 1950, Presley occasionally worked evenings as an usher at Loew's State Theater—his first job—to boost the family income, but his mother made him quit as she feared it was affecting his school work. He began to grow his sideburns and, when he could afford to, dress in the wild, flashy clothes of Lansky Brothers on Beale Street. He stood out, especially in the conservative Deep South of the 1950s, and was mocked and bullied for it. Despite any unpopularity or shyness, he was a contestant in his school's 1952 "Annual Minstrel Show" and won by receiving the most applause. His prize was to sing encores, including "Cold Cold Icy Fingers" and "Till I Waltz Again With You".
After graduation, Presley was still a rather shy "kid who had spent scarcely a night away from home." His third job was driving a truck for the Crown Electric Company. He began wearing his hair longer with a ducktail; the style of truck drivers at that time.
Early musical influences
In Memphis, Presley went to record stores that had jukeboxes and listening booths. He knew all of Hank Snow’s songs and he loved records by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, Ted Daffan, Jimmie Rodgers, Jimmie Davis and Bob Wills. He was also an audience member at the all-night white—and black—"gospel sings" downtown. The region's radio stations played "race records" featuring music that became known as rhythm and blues. Memphis had a strong tradition of blues music and Presley frequented blues as well as hillbilly venues. Many of his future recordings were inspired by local African American composers and recording artists, including Arthur Crudup and Rufus Thomas. B.B. King has recalled that he knew Presley before he was popular when they both used to frequent Beale Street. By that time Presley had also separated himself from others by his changing appearance (sideburns, long hair, flashy clothes) and he seems to have singled music out as his future.
Presley was an untrained musician who played by ear as he didn't read music. Later, as a young singer, his recording sessions were "still heavily influenced by the songs he had heard on the jukebox and radio."
1953–1955: First recordings and performances
Main article: Elvis Presley's Sun recordingsSun Records 1953–55
In the summer of 1953, Presley went to Sun Records' Memphis Recording Service to record "My Happiness" with "That's When Your Heartaches Begin," supposedly as a present for his mother although it was months after her birthday. When asked by receptionist Marion Keisker what kind of singer he was, Presley told her that he sang all kinds. Determined to pin him down to a particular style, she then asked him who he sounded like, a question Presley responded to by insisting that he didn't sound like anyone. After his demo, she made herself a note: "Good ballad singer, Hold."
On January 4, 1954, he cut a second acetate demo recording of "I'll Never Stand In Your Way" and "It Wouldn't Be The Same Without You", but again nothing came of the recording session. In April Presley began working for the Crown Electric company as a truck driver, and around this time he auditioned for the Songfelows, but was disappointed when they turned him down and said he couldn't sing. Years later the group insisted that they meant he couldn't sing harmony, but Presley took the criticism to heart.
A few months later, Sun Records boss Sam Phi
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