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Lisa Marie Presley (born February 1, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter. She is the only child of Elvis Presley from his marriage to Priscilla Beaulieu Presley.

Early life

Lisa Marie Presley was born in Memphis, TN, exactly nine months after her parents' May 1, 1967, wedding. Until her parents' divorce, she lived at Graceland, Elvis' Memphis estate. She was very pampered and indulged by her father—he dressed her in fur coats, showered her with jewels, provided her with her own golf cart to ride around the estate, and once flew her to Idaho aboard his private jet named Lisa Marie so she could play in the snow.

After her parents' 1973 divorce, she divided her time between Graceland and Beverly Hills, California, where her mother lived, until her father's death in 1977, after which she lived with her mother. Presley attended various boarding schools, the last being the Scientology-affiliated Apple School (later known as Los Feliz Hills School) in Los Angeles. However, she did not graduate, having been expelled for drug use. She has admitted in interviews that she did experiment with drugs as a teenager, but in her Biography Channel interview she stated "I experimented for a couple of years, from the age of about 14, but I haven't done drugs since. I found it easy to quit because I wasn't addicted to anything".

During her teenage years, she was also having problems with her mother, Priscilla, and one incident led to her being thrown out of the family home. Lisa Marie recalls, "My mum drove me to a church and I lived there for a few months, in Hollywood. It was good because I had my independence. It taught me about independence". She and her mother are now on good terms, however, and are very often seen together in photographs at social engagements.

Elvis Presley Estate

Elvis' will appointed his father Vernon Presley as executor and trustee. The beneficiaries were Lisa Marie, along with Elvis' father and grandmother, Minnie Mae Presley. The will provided that Vernon could, at his discretion, provide funds to other family members as needed. Vernon died in 1979, and Minnie Mae in 1980. This left Lisa Marie Presley as the sole heir to the estate. Elvis' will stated that her inheritance was to be held in trust for her until her twenty-fifth birthday.

Vernon's will resulted in the appointment of three co-executors/co-trustees to succeed him. They were: the National Bank of Commerce in Memphis, which was the bank Elvis and Vernon had done business with; Joseph Hanks, a long-time accountant for Elvis and Vernon; and Priscilla Presley.

Upon Lisa's twenty-fifth birthday, the trust automatically dissolved and Lisa chose to form a new trust, The Elvis Presley Trust, and to continue the management of the estate, with her mother and the National Bank of Commerce continuing to serve as co-trustees.

In 1998, Lisa became more closely involved with the management team of The Elvis Presley Trust and its business entity, Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc.(EPE). She was owner and Chairman of the Board until February 2005, when she sold 85 percent of the estate's business holdings to CKX, Inc., excluding Graceland itself and the property within it.

Marriages and divorces

Presley married Danny Keough on October 3, 1988. They had two children together, Danielle Riley, born May 29, 1989 and Benjamin Storm, born October 21, 1992. Following her 1994 divorce from Keough, Presley married Michael Jackson on May 26, 1994, in the Dominican Republic. The two divorced after 18 months on January 18, 1996 on grounds of irreconcilable differences. Presley stated she had not seen Jackson during the last six months of their marriage. Presley was engaged in 2000 to rocker John Oszajca. She broke off the engagement after meeting Nicolas Cage at a party. Presley's third marriage was to Cage, August 10, 2002, in Los Angeles. They separated nearly three months later and were divorced on grounds of irreconcilable differences. Presley married for a fourth time on January 22, 2006, to Michael Lockwood. Lockwood is her guitarist and music producer. Keough served as best man at the couple's wedding, held in Japan. Priscilla Presley, and Lisa Marie's two children were in attendance. In March 2008, Presley announced that she is pregnant. Her husband is a first time father.

Music career

Lisa Marie is a close friend of her father's ex-girlfriend Linda Thompson. In 2003, after advice from Thompson's record producer and then-husband David Foster, she launched a career as a singer. Her debut album, To Whom It May Concern, reached # 5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and was certified gold. To promote it she presented a concert in the UK, something that her father never did. Presley released her second album, Now What, in 2005 and it reached # 9 on the Billboard 200. It was certified gold in November 2005. Unlike her first album, Now What included a Parental Advisory sticker. Both albums as of 2007 have been certified Platinum. In August 2007, the single In the Ghetto was released. Elvis Presley originally released the single in 1969. In the new version, Lisa Marie duets with her father. The video that was simultaneously released with the single reached number one on the iTunes video sales in the week of its release. Presley's MySpace reveals that she has begun writing her 3rd album due in 2008.

Cultural references

• Her father, who called her Injun, Yisa, and Buttonhead, named one of his private aircraft, a converted CONVAIR 880 jet (original passenger capacity, 100), after her. The airplane "Lisa Marie" is currently on exhibit at the Graceland mansion museum of Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tennessee. The rock band Queen also used this for a flight, and Lisa gave Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury a scarf which belonged to her father.
• She recently stated, on The Oprah Winfrey Show, that she is 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) tall.
• She has a half brother, Navarone Garibaldi (b. March 1, 1987), from her mother's 22-year (ended in April 2006) relationship with Marco Garibaldi.
• She attended the 10th grade at an alternative boarding school in Ojai, California, called Happy Valley School.
• On her tenth birthday (1978), her mother Priscilla Presley took her to see actor John Travolta (then 24 years old); Lisa had a huge crush on him. Today, they remain friends and fellow Scientologists.

Charities

Lisa Marie Presley supports several organizations, including: Presley Place, which combats homelessness in Memphis; CCHR, a Scientology organization that opposes psychiatry and psychiatrists; LEAP (Literacy, Education and Abilities Program), a Scientology organization affiliated with Applied Scholastics that promotes L. Ron Hubbard's ideas.

Discography

Albums

• 2003 To Whom It May Concern #5 U.S., #41 UK
• 2005 Now What #9 U.S.
• 2009 Somewhere In Reality

Singles

"In The Ghetto" became available for purchase on iTunes (both song and video) on August 17, 2007. It premiered on August 16, at the 30th Anniversary Elvis Presley Tribute Concert in Memphis

References

1. Larry King Interview with Lisa Marie Presley
2. Elvis Presley Enterprises Corporate Information
3. Leiby, Richard N. (1994-08-09). "One Theory On Michael-Lisa: It's All A Plot". Washington Post. Seattle Times. Retrieved 2008-06-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. Lisa Marie Presley Announces Pregnancy
5. Lisa Marie Presley on Oprah

• "In the Ghetto" music video

External links

• Official Website
• Official MySpace site
• Lisa Presley Universe Forum
• Lisa Marie Presley at IMDb
• Interview with Oprah Winfrey, 2007
• Genealogy
• Elvis Directory
• The Lisa Marie - Convair 880 Jet
• Ryan Cabrera's French & English Site

• American female singers
• American Scientologists
• People from Tennessee
• People from Memphis, Tennessee
• 1968 births
• Living people
• Tennessee musicians
• Elvis Presley