elvis presley

Elvis Aaron Presley
[1][2] (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), was an American singer, musician and actor. He is a cultural icon, often known simply as Elvis; also "The King of Rock 'n' Roll", or simply "The King".
Presley began his career 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. He recorded songs in the rock and roll genre, with tracks like "Hound Dog" and "Jailhouse Rock" later embodying the style. Presley had a versatile voice and had unusually wide success encompassing other genres, including gospel, blues, ballads and pop. To date, he is the only performer to have been inducted into four separate music halls of fame.
In the 1960s, Presley made the majority of his thirty-three movies — mainly poorly reviewed musicals. In 1968 he returned to live music, performing in Las Vegas and across the U.S. Throughout his career, he set records for concert attendance, television ratings and recordings sales. He is one of the best-selling and most influential artists in the history of popular music. Though known to have health problems later in life, his death — aged 42 — shocked his fans worldwide.

Biography

Ancestry
Elvis Presley was a distinctly American mixture of several ethnic groups, including Scottish, Jewish, Cherokee and German ancestry.[3] According to German and American genealogical researchers, the singer's oldest known relative was Valentin Pressler (1669-1736), a German vinedresser who lived in Niederhochstadt, Rhineland-Palatinate, and married Anna Christina Frank (they had two daughters and two sons). He and his family emigrated to Maryland in 1709. His first son, Andreas, was born in 1701 and moved to Ohio or Indiana. His second son, Anton, married and settled in North Carolina and changed his name to Preslar and later to Presley. One of Andreas Pressler's sons also changed his name — to Andrew Presley. He is the direct ancestor of Elvis Presley.[4]
Presley's father, Vernon (April 10, 1916–June 26, 1979), had several low-paying jobs, including sharecropper and truck driver. His mother, Gladys Love Smith (April 25, 1912–August 14, 1958) worked as a sewing machine operator. His parents met in Tupelo, Mississippi, and eloped to Pontotoc County and were married on June 17, 1933.[5]

Early life
Presley was born in a two-room house, built by his father, in Tupelo, Mississippi. He was the second of identical twins — his brother was stillborn and given the name Jesse Garon. He grew up as an only child and "was, everyone agreed, unusually close to his mother".[6] The family lived just above the poverty line[7] in East Tupelo and attended the Assembly of God church. Vernon Presley has been described as "taciturn to the point of sullenness"[8] and as "a weakling, a malingerer, always averse to work and responsibility".[9] In 1938 he was convicted and jailed for an eight-dollar check forgery. He was released after serving eight months, but this event deeply influenced the life of the young family. During her husband's absence, Gladys, a wife who was "voluble, lively, full of spunk,"[10] lost the family home.[11] Priscilla Presley describes her as "a surreptitious drinker and alcoholic."[12]
At school, Presley was teased by his fellow classmates; they threw "things at him — rotten fruit and stuff — because he was different, because he was quiet and he stuttered and he was a mama's boy".[13]
At age ten, he made his first public performance in a singing contest at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show. Dressed as a cowboy, the young Presley had to stand on a chair to reach the microphone and sang Red Foley's "Old Shep". He won second prize.[14]
In 1946, Presley's mother took Elvis to Tupelo Hardware to get him a birthday present. Although he wanted a rifle, he left the store with a $7.90 guitar.[15] In November 1948 the Presleys moved to Memphis, Tennessee, allegedly because Vernon — as well as needing work — had to escape the law for transporting bootleg liquor.[11] In 1949, they lived at Lauderdale Courts, a public housing development in one of Memphis's poorer sections. Presley practiced playing guitar in the basement laundry room and also played in a five-piece band with other tenants.[16]Another resident, Johnny Burnette, recalled, "Wherever Elvis went he'd have his guitar slung across his back....He used to go down to the fire station and sing to the boys there....[H]e'd go in to one of the cafes or bars....Then some folks would say: 'Let's hear you sing, boy.'"[17]
Presley attended L. C. Humes High School and occasionally worked evenings to boost the family income.[18] He began to grow his sideburns longer and dress in the wild, flashy clothes of Lansky Brothers on Beale Street.[19] Presley stood out, especially in the conservative Deep South of the 1950s, and he was mocked and bullied for it.[20] At Christmastime in 1952, he performed in the "Annual Minstrel Show" sponsored by the Humes High Band.[20] Presley received most applause — he sang "Cold Cold Icy Fingers" and gave an encore of "Till I Waltz Again With You."[17] Presley was also enrolled in the school's ROTC program.[20]
After graduation, Presley was still a rather shy person, a "kid who had spent scarcely a night away from home".[21] 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.[22]

Musical influences
Presley's initial musical influences came exclusively through attendance at his family's Assemblies of God congregation, a Pentecostal denomination.[23] His faith inspired his recording of many Christian hymns and songs throughout his career.[24]
In private, during breaks at recording sessions or after concerts, Presley often joined with others for informal gospel music sessions.[25] A girlfriend, Judy Spreckels, confirms that he "liked to sing hymns....He introduced me to "Amazing Grace"."[26]
The young Presley also listened a lot to local radio; his first musical hero was Mississippi Slim, a hillbilly singer with a radio show on Tupelo’s WELO. Presley performed occasionally on Slim’s Saturday morning show, Singin’ and Pickin’ Hillbilly. "He was crazy about music....That’s all he talked about," recalled his sixth grade friend, James Ausborn, Slim’s younger brother. "I think gospel sort of [inspired] him to be in music, but then my brother helped carry it on."[27] Before he was a teenager, music was already Presley’s "consuming passion".[27] J. R. Snow, son of 1940s country superstar Hank Snow, later recalled that even as a young man Presley knew all of Hank Snow’s songs, "even the most obscure".[28]
The family's move to Memphis expanded Presley's musical horizons. He became a regular at record stores that had jukeboxes and listening booths, playing old records and new releases for hours. He attended services at the East Trigg Baptist Church, whose pastor, the Rev. Herbert W. Brewster, was a composer of numerous gospel songs.[29] Presley was an audience member at the all-night black and white "gospel sings" downtown.[30] Memphis Symphony Orchestra concerts at Overton Park were another Presley favorite, along with the Metropolitan Opera. His small record collection included Mario Lanza and Dean Martin. Presley later said, "I just loved music. Music period."[27]
Another major influence of the move to Memphis was the strong tradition of blues and soul music. He went to blues as well as and hillbilly venues. Many of his recordings were inspired by black Memphis composers and recording artists, including Arthur Crudup, Rufus Thomas and B.B. King.[31] King says that he "knew Elvis before he was popular. He used to come around and be around us a lot...on Beale Street".[32]

First recordings at Sun Studios
Main article: Elvis Presley's Sun recordings
On July 18, 1953, Presley went to the Memphis Recording Service at the Sun Record Company, now commonly known as Sun Studios. He paid $3.98 to record the first of two double-sided demo acetates, "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin." Presley reportedly gave the acetate to his mother as a much-belated extra birthday present, [33] though the Presleys did not own a record player at the time.[34][35] Returning to Sun Studios on January 4, 1954, he recorded a second acetate, "I'll Never Stand in Your Way"/"It Wouldn't Be the Same Without You".[36]
Sun Records founder Sam Phillips had already cut the first records by blues artists such as Howlin' Wolf and Junior Parker. [37] He thought a combination of black blues and boogie-woogie music might become very popular among white people if presented in the right way.[38] In the spring, Presley auditioned for an amateur gospel quartet, The Songfellows, and a professional band. Both groups turned him down.[39]
When Phillips acquired a demo recording of "Without Love (There Is Nothing)" and was unable to identify the vocalist, his assistant, Marion Keisker, reminded him about the young truck driver. She called him on June 26, 1954. Presley was not able to do justice to the song (though he would record it years later)[40], but Phillips asked the young singer to perform some of the many other songs he knew, and he invited local Western swing musicians Winfield "Scotty" Moore (electric guitar) and Bill Black (slap bass) to audition Presley. They did so on Sunday, July 4, 1954, at Moore's house. Neither musician was overly impressed with the young singer, but they agreed a studio session would be useful in further exploring his potential.[41] During a break at the studios on July 5, Presley began "acting the fool" with Arthur Crudup's "That's All Right (Mama)," a blues song.[42] When the other two musicians joined in, Phillips got them to restart and began recording. This was the bright, upbeat sound he had been looking out for.[43] Black remarked, "Damn. Get that on the radio and they'll run us out of town."[44] The group recorded four songs during that session, including Bill Monroe's Blue Moon of Kentucky, a bluegrass waltz. After an early take, Phillips can be heard on tape saying: "Fine, man. Hell, that's different — that's a pop song now, just about."[45]
To gauge professional and public reaction, Phillips took several acetates of the session to DJ Dewey Phillips (no relation) of Memphis radio station WHBQ's Red, Hot And Blue show. "That's All Right" subsequently received its first play on July 8, 1954.[46] A week later, Sun had received some 6,000 advanced orders for "That's All Right"/"Blue Moon of Kentucky", which was released on July 19, 1954. From August 18 through December 8, "Blue Moon of Kentucky" was consistently higher on the charts, and then both sides began to chart across the South, from Virginia to Texas.[47]

First public performances
Moore and Black began playing regularly with Presley. The three began with a few performances in July 1954 promoting the Sun single at the Bon Air, a rowdy music club where Presley's music was not well-received.[48] On July 30, Presley, Moore and Black, billed at The Blue Moon Boys, made their first appearance at the Overton Park Shell, with Slim Whitman headlining.[49] Presley is said to have been so nervous during this show that his legs shook uncontrollably. His wide-legged pants emphasized his leg movements, apparently causing the young women in the audience to go "crazy".[50][51] Though initially uncertain about what caused the fans to scream, Presley consciously incorporated similar movements into future shows.[52] DJ and promoter Bob Neal, who had been approached by Sam Phillips to get Presley on the Overton Park bill, became the trio's manager (taking over from Scotty Moore).
Moore and Black soon left their band, the Starlite Wranglers, and from August through October 1954 appeared with Presley as regular performers at The Eagle's Nest.[53] Johnny Cash later recalled Presley playing during breaks there.[54]
Presley debuted at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville on October 2; Hank Snow introduced Presley on stage. He performed "Blue Moon of Kentucky" but received only a polite response. Afterwards, the singer was allegedly told: "Boy, you’d better keep driving that truck." [55][56][57]
Country music promoter and manager Tillman Franks booked Presley's first appearance on Louisiana Hayride on October 16. Before making the booking, Franks, having never seen Presley, referred to him as "that new black singer with the funny name".[58] During Presley's first set, the reaction was muted, but the second show had a younger audience, and Franks advised Presley to "Let it all go!" As house drummer D.J. Fontana, who had worked in strip clubs, complemented Presley's movements with accented beats and Bill Black engaged in his usual enthusiastic stage antics the crowd was more responsive.[59][60]
According to one source, "Audiences had never before heard music like Presley played, and they had never before seen anyone who performed like Presley either. The shy, polite, mumbling boy gained self-confidence with every appearance, which soon led to a transformation on stage. People watching the show were astounded and shocked, both by the ferocity of his performance, and the crowd’s reaction to it....Roy Orbison saw Presley for the first time in Odessa, Texas: 'His energy was incredible, his instinct was just amazing....I just didn’t know what to make of it. There was just no reference point in the culture to compare it.' 'He’s the new rage,' said a Louisiana radio executive....'Sings hillbilly in R&B time. Can you figure that out. He wears pink pants and a black coat.'"[61] Sam Phillips said Presley "put every ounce of emotion...into every song, almost as if he was incapable of holding back".[62] When he collapsed after a concert in Florida, a doctor warned him to slow down because he worked as hard in 20 minutes as the average laborer did in eight hours.[63]
Presley's sound was proving hard to categorize; he had been billed or labeled in the media as "The King of Western Bop", "The Hillbilly Cat", and "The Memphis Flash".
On August 15, 1955, he was signed to a one-year contract with "Hank Snow Attractions", a company owned by Hank Snow and "Colonel" Tom Parker. Parker became Presley's manager thereafter. By August 1955, Sun Studios had released ten sides credited to "Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill", all typical of the developing Presley style.[64]