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Elvis Aaron (or AronTemplate:Fn) Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American musician and actor. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King".

Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, Presley at the age of thirteen moved with his family to Memphis, Tennessee. He began his career there in 1954 as one of the first performers of rockabilly, an uptempo fusion of country and rhythm and blues with a strong backbeat. His novel versions of existing songs, mixing "black" and "white" sounds, made him popular—and controversial—as did his uninhibited performances. With his commercial breakthrough in 1956, he was recognized as the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll. Presley had a versatile voice and unusually wide success encompassing many genres, including country, pop ballads, gospel, and blues.Template:Fn In November 1956, he made his film debut in Love Me Tender.

After two years of military service beginning in 1958, Presley returned to the studio and reinforced his popularity by recording some of his most commercially successful material. He staged few concerts, however, and proceeded to devote most of the 1960s to making unmemorable Hollywood movies and soundtrack albums. In 1968, after seven years away from the stage, he returned to live performance in a celebrated comeback television special which led to a string of successful tours and concert residencies, notably in Las Vegas. In 1973, Presley staged the first global live concert via satellite, Aloha from Hawaii, seen by approximately 1.5 billion viewers. It remains the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer in television history. Prescription drug abuse severely compromised the singer's health, and he died suddenly in 1977 at the age of 42.

Presley is regarded as one of the most important figures of twentieth-century popular culture. He is the best-selling solo artist in the history of popular music, with sales of approximately 1 billion units worldwide. Among many honors, he was nominated for 14 competitive Grammys (winning 3 times) by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36. He has been inducted into four music halls of fame.

History

1935–53: Early life

Life in Tupelo

Elvis Presley was born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, to Vernon Elvis and Gladys Love Presley. In the two-room shotgun house built by his father in readiness for the birth, Jesse Garon Presley, his identical twin brother, was delivered 35 minutes before him, stillborn. Growing up as an only child, he became close to both parents and formed an unusually tight bond with his mother. The family lived just above the poverty line and attended an Assembly of God church where he found his initial musical inspiration.

Presley's ancestry was primarily a Western European mix—Scots-Irish, with some French Norman; one of Gladys's great-great-grandmothers was Cherokee and, according to family accounts, one of her great-grandmothers was Jewish. Gladys was regarded as the dominant member of the small family by relatives and friends. Vernon had been known "all his young life as a 'jellybean' - by definition weak, spineless, and work-shy." Indeed, he moved from one odd job to the next, evidencing little ambition. The family often relied on help from neighbors and government food assistance. In 1938, Vernon, along with one of Gladys's brothers and another friend, was jailed for altering a check written by Orville Bean, the dairy farmer on whose land he had built the family home and who retained ownership of the property until repayment of a loan. During Vernon's eight-month incarceration, Gladys lost the house, and she and her son moved in with relatives.

In September 1941, Presley entered the first grade at East Tupelo Consolidated, where teachers regarded him as "average". His first public performance took place on October 3, 1945, during a singing contest at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show. He was encouraged to enter the contest after impressing his schoolteacher with a rendition of Red Foley's "Old Shep" during morning prayers. Dressed as a cowboy for the show, the ten-year-old Presley stood on a chair to reach the microphone and sang "Old Shep". He recalled placing fifth. A few months later, for his eleventh birthday, Presley received his first guitar. He had wanted a considerably more expensive bicycle. Over the following year, he received basic guitar lessons from two of his uncles and the new pastor at the family's church. He listened regularly to Mississippi Slim’s show on the Tupelo radio station WELO. Slim's younger brother, a classmate of Presley's, described him as "crazy about music".

The family often had trouble keeping up with the rent, and changed residences frequently. In September 1946, Presley entered a new school, Milam, for sixth grade. Though generally regarded as shy and a "loner", he began bringing his guitar to school on a daily basis the following year. He would play and sing during lunchtime, and was often teased as a "trashy" kid who played "hillbilly" music. The family was by then living in a largely African American neighborhood. Around that time, Mississippi Slim agreed to let Elvis sing on two occasions. On the first, Presley got such stage fright that he couldn't go on, but he managed to perform the following week.

Move to Memphis

In November 1948, the family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. After residing for nearly a year in rooming houses, they gained admission to a two-bedroom apartment in the city-run public housing complex known as the Courts. Presley was enrolled at Humes High School, where he received a C in music in eighth grade. After his music teacher told him he couldn't sing, he brought his guitar to class the next day and sang a recent hit, "Keep Them Cold Icy Fingers Off Me" in an effort to prove otherwise. Apart from that incident, he was apparently too shy to perform openly. He was occasionally bullied by classmates who viewed him as a "mama's boy". Sometime in 1950, Presley began practicing guitar regularly in the laundry room under the family apartment. His tutor was Jesse Lee Denson, a neighbor two-and-a-half years his senior. They and three other boys—including two future rockabilly pioneers, brothers Dorsey and Johnny Burnette—formed a loose musical collective that played frequently around the Courts. That September, Presley began ushering at Loew's State Theater to boost the family income, but his mother made him quit as she feared it was affecting his school work. Other jobs followed during his school years: Precision Tool, Loew's again, MARL Metal Products.

During his junior year, he began to stand out more among his classmates, largely because of his appearance: he grew out his sideburns and styled his hair with rose oil and Vaseline. On his own time, he would head down to Beale Street, the heart of Memphis's thriving blues scene, and gaze longingly at the wild, flashy clothes in the windows of Lansky Brothers. By his senior year, he was wearing them. Overcoming his reticence about performing outside the Courts, he competed in Humes's "Annual Minstrel" show in April 1953. Singing and playing guitar, he opened with Teresa Brewer's "Till I Waltz Again With You". The performance seems to have done much for his popularity at school.

Presley, who never received formal music training or learned to read music, studied and played by ear. He frequented record stores with jukeboxes and listening booths. He knew all of Hank Snow’s songs and he loved records by other country singers such as Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, Ted Daffan, Jimmie Rodgers, Jimmie Davis, and Bob Wills. The Southern Gospel singer Jake Hess, one of Presley's favorite performers, was a significant influence on his ballad singing style. Presley was a regular audience member at the monthly All-Night Singings downtown, where many of the white gospel groups that performed reflected the clear influence of African American spiritual music. He adored the music of black gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Like some of his peers, he may have attended blues venues—of necessity, in the segregated South, only on nights designated for exclusively white audiences. He certainly listened to the regional radio stations that played "race records": spirituals, blues, and the backbeat-driven music known as rhythm and blues. Many of his future recordings were inspired by local African American musicians such as Arthur Crudup and Rufus Thomas. B.B. King recalled that he knew Presley before he was popular when they both used to frequent Beale Street. By the time he graduated high school in June 1953, Presley already seems to have singled music out as his future.

1953–55: First recordings

Sun Records and Sam Phillips

In August 1953, Presley walked into the offices of Sun Records. He aimed to pay for a few minutes of studio time to record a two-sided acetate disc: "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin". He would later claim that he intended to make the record as a gift for his mother or because he was merely interested in what he "sounded like", though for such purposes there was a much cheaper, amateur record-making service at a nearby general store. Biographer Peter Guralnick argues that he chose Sun with the hope of being discovered. Asked by receptionist Marion Keisker what kind of singer he was, Presley responded, "I sing all kinds." When she pressed him on whom he sounded like, he repeatedly answered, "I don't sound like nobody." After he recorded, Sun boss Sam Phillips asked Keisker to note down the young man's name, which she did along with her own commentary: "Good ballad singer. Hold."

In January 1954, Presley cut a second acetate—"I'll Never Stand In Your Way" and "It Wouldn't Be The Same Without You"—but, as with his previous effort, nothing came of the recording session. Not long after, he auditioned for a local vocal quartet, the Songfellows, and was disappointed when they turned him down—allegedly telling him he couldn't sing. Songfellow Jim Hamill later claimed that Elvis was rejected because he did not demonstrate an ear for harmony at the time. In April, Presley began working for the Crown Electric company as a truck driver. His friend Ronnie Smith, after playing a few local gigs with him, suggested he contact Eddie Bond, who was leader of Smith's professional band and was looking for a singer. This Presley did, and he was given a tryout session at the Hi Hat club on May 15. Bond rejected him after the first session, advising Presley to stick to truck-driving "because you're never going to make it as a singer."

Phillips, meanwhile, was always on the lookout for someone who could bring the sound of the black musicians on whom Sun focused to a broader audience. As Keisker reported, "Over and over I remember Sam saying, 'If I could find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a billion dollars'". When he acquired a demo recording of "Without You" and was unable to identify the vocalist, she reminded him about the teenaged singer. She called Presley on June 26. However, Presley was not able to do justice to the song. Despite this, Phillips asked Presley to sing as many songs as he knew and, impressed enough by what he heard, he invited local musicians Winfield "Scotty" Moore and Bill Black to audition Presley. Though they were not greatly impressed, they asked him to attend a studio session the following evening.

The session proved almost entirely unfruitful, but late in the evening, as they were about give up and go home, Presley began "acting the fool" with a blues tune, Arthur Crudup's "That's All Right (Mama)". Phillips quickly got them all to restart, and began taping; this was the sound he had been looking for. Three days later, popular Memphis DJ Dewey Phillips played "That's All Right"—Presley's version dropped the "Mama"—on his Red, Hot, and Blue show. Listeners began phoning in, eager to find out who the singer was. The interest was such that Phillips played the record repeatedly during the last two hours of his show. Interviewing Presley on-air, Phillips asked him what high school he attended in order to clarify his color for the many callers who had assumed he was black. During the next few days the trio recorded a bluegrass number, Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky", again in a distinctive style and employing a jury-rigged echo effect that Sam Phillips dubbed "slapback". A single was pressed with "That's All Right" on the A side and "Blue Moon of Kentucky" on the flip.

Early live performances

Moore became Presley's official manager on July 12 and, along with Black, began playing regularly with him. They gave brief performances on July 17 and July 24 to promote the Sun single at the Bon Air, a rowdy music club in Memphis. On July 30 the trio made their first paid appearance at the Overton Park Shell, with Slim Whitman headlining. A combination of his strong response to rhythm and nervousness at playing before a large crowd led Presley to shake his legs as he performed: his wide-cut pants emphasized his movements, causing young women in the audience to start screaming. Moore recalled, "During the instrumental parts he would back off from the mike and be playing and shaking, and the crowd would just go wild". Black, a natural showman, whooped and rode his bass, hitting double licks that Presley would later remember as "really a wild sound, like a jungle drum or something".

Soon after the trio's first show, DJ and promoter Bob Neal became their new manager and Moore and Black left their old band, the Starlite Wranglers. From August through October, the group played frequently at the Eagle's Nest club and returned to Sun Studio for more recording sessions. Presley's stage presence quickly grew more focused and confident. According to Moore, "His movement was a natural thing, but he was also very conscious of what got a reaction. He'd do something one time and then he would expand on it real quick." Presley made his lone appearance on Nashville's Grand Ole Opry on October 2, performing "Blue Moon of Kentucky" to only a polite response. Tillman Franks, talent coordinator for Louisiana Hayride, called Phillips to ask if he could book "that black boy with the funny name." The show, broadcast out of Shreveport to 190 radio stations in 13 states, took place on October 16. During Presley's first set, the reaction was muted; for the second set, Franks advised Presley, "Let it all go!" He and his bandmates did, inspiring shouts and applause from the crowd. House drummer D.J. Fontana brought a new element to the sound, complementing Presley's movements with accented beats that he had mastered playing in strip clubs. In November, Presley signed a contract for a year's worth of appearances on the Hayride, every Saturday night. Between their Shreveport and Memphis gigs, his trio began playing regularly in new locales such as Houston, Texas, and Texarkana, Arkansas.

In early January 1955, Neal signed a formal management deal with Presley. Neal at the time was establishing a connection with "Colonel" Tom Parker, whom he considered the best promoter in the music business. Parker—Dutch-born, though he claimed to be from West Virginia—had successfully managed top country star Eddy Arnold. In 1948, he had arranged to acquire an honorary colonel's commission from country singer Jimmie Davis, then governer of Louisiana. He was now managing the new number-one country star, Hank Snow, with whom he was partners in a booking agency. In late January, Parker booked Presley on the Hank Snow Tour for a stretch the following month. Presley, via his regular Hayride appearances, constant touring, and well-received record releases, was already a substantial regional star, from Tennessee to West Texas. Though he clashed personally with Parker, Phillips agreed with Neal's assessment of him as a promoter and the need for someone who could bring Presley the sort of national attention that now seemed within reach. At the same time, he was aware that Sun's limited distribution capacity meant that his own ongoing involvement was threatened by Parker's relationship with the much bigger RCA Victor label.

A nineteen-year-old Roy Orbison saw Presley for the first time in Odessa, Texas, in February: "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." Presley made his television debut on March 3 on the KSLA-TV broadcast of Louisiana Hayride. Later that month, he failed an audition for Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, which aired nationally on CBS. By August, Sun had released ten sides credited to "Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill"; on the most recently recorded ones, the trio were joined by a drummer. Some of the songs, like "That's All Right", were in what one Memphis journalist described as the "R&B idiom of negro field jazz"; others, like "Blue Moon of Kentucky", were "more in the country field", "but there was a curious blending of the two different musics in both". This was the blend that came to be known as rockabilly. At the time, Presley was variously billed and labeled in the media as "The King of Western Bop", "The Hillbilly Cat", and "The Memphis Flash".

Signing to RCA

Presley renewed Neal's management contract on August 15, 1955, simultaneously appointing Parker as his special adviser on a one-year renewable deal. Several record labels had shown interest in signing Presley and, by the end of October, three major labels had made offers of up to $25,000. On November 21, Parker and Phillips negotiated a deal with RCA Victor to acquire Presley's Sun contract for an unprecedented $40,000, $5,000 of which was a bonus for the singer for back royalties owed to him by Sun Records. Presley, at 20, was still a minor, so his father had to sign the contract. Parker also cut a deal with Hill and Range Publishing Company to create two separate entities, Elvis Presley Music and Gladys Music, to handle all of Presley's songs and accrued royalties. The owners of Hill and Range, brothers Julian and Jean Aberbach, agreed to split the publishing and royalties rights of each song equally with Presley. Hill and Range, Presley or Parker's partners then had to convince unsecured songwriters that it was worthwhile for them to give up one third of their due royalties in exchange for the kudos of having their compositions recorded by Presley. One result of these dealings was that Presley was given credit as cowriter on several songs where he had no hand in the writing process.Template:Fn

Presley was meanwhile keeping up an extensive touring schedule. Neal recalled, "it was almost frightening, the reaction that came to Elvis from the teenaged boys. So many of them, through some sort of jealousy, would practically hate him. There were occasions in some towns in Texas when we'd have to be sure to have a police guard because somebody'd always try to take a crack at him. They'd get a gang and try to waylay him or something." In mid-October, he played a few shows in support of Bill Haley, whose "Rock Around the Clock" had been a number one hit the previous year. Presley was thrilled to share a bill with such a major star. Haley, in turn, felt Presley had a natural feel for rhythm, and advised him to sing fewer ballads if he wanted to wow the crowds. By December, RCA had begun to heavily promote its new singer, and before month's end had re-released many of his Sun recordings.

1956–57: Commercial breakout and controversy

First RCA recordings and national exposure

On January 10, 1956, Presley made his first recordings for RCA in Nashville. Despite the presence of Moore, Black, and Fontana, RCA enlisted the talents of established stars Floyd Cramer and Chet Atkins to "fatten the sound." The session produced "Heartbreak Hotel/I Was The One", which was released on January 27.

To increase the singer's exposure, Parker finally brought Presley to national television, booking six appearances on CBS's Stage Show. The program, shot in New York, was hosted on alternate weeks by big band leaders and brothers Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. For his first appearance, on January 28, Presley was introduced by Cleveland DJ Bill Randle. He stayed in town and on January 30, he and the band made further recordings at RCA's New York studio. The sessions yielded eight songs, including "My Baby Left Me" and "Blue Suede Shoes". Public reaction to "Heartbreak Hotel" was sufficiently strong that RCA released it as a single in its own right on February 11. The same month, Presley's "I Forgot to Remember to Forget", a Sun recording initially released the previous August, reached the top of the Billboard country chart.

Neal's management contract was terminated after Presley's parents expressed a wish for Parker to become the sole representative for the singer's recording contract. Parker became Presley's manager on March 2.

Debut album and Milton Berle Show

On March 23, RCA Victor released Presley's self-titled debut album. As with the Sun recordings—several of which it included—many of the tracks were rock and roll covers of country songs. The album went on to top the pop album chart for 10 weeks and became RCA's first million-dollar seller. Cultural historian Gilbert B. Rodman argues that the album's cover image, "of Elvis having the time of his life on stage with a guitar in his hands played a crucial role in positioning the guitar...as the instrument that best captured the style and spirit of this new music."

Parker obtained a deal for two lucrative appearances on NBC's The Milton Berle Show. The first, on April 3, featured Presley on the deck of the USS Hancock in San Diego, where he was cheered by an audience of appreciative sailors and their dates. A few days after, a flight taking Presley and his band to Nashville for a recording session left all three badly shaken when the plane lost an engine and almost went down over Texas. That same month, twelve weeks after its original release, "Heartbreak Hotel" became Presley's first number one pop hit.

Presley began a four-week residency at the New Frontier Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip on April 23—billed this time as "the Atomic Powered Singer", a name Parker thought would be catchy as Nevada was a major site for atomic weapons testing. His shows were so badly received by critics and the conservative, middle-aged hotel guests that Parker cut the engagement to two weeks. Amid his Vegas tenure, Presley, who had serious acting ambitions, signed a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures (see "Acting career").

In mid-May, Presley began a tour of the Midwest, during which he played 15 different cities in as many days. While in Vegas, Presley had seen Freddie Bell and the Bellboys perform and liked their version of "Hound Dog". By May 16, he had added the song to his own act. That day, following a concert he had given in La Crosse, Wisconsin, two days previously, someone associated with the local Catholic diocese wrote an urgent letter to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, warning that "Presley is a definite danger to the security of the United States. When Presley came on the stage, the youngsters almost mobbed him. ... actions and motions were such as to rouse the sexual passions of teenaged youth. ... After the show, more than 1,000 teenagers tried to gang into Presley's room at the auditorium. ... Indications of the harm Presley did just in La Crosse were the two high school girls ... whose abdomen and thigh had Presley's autograph."

Amid another hectic tour, of California and Arizona, Presley made his second appearance on The Milton Berle Show on June 5 at NBC's Hollywood studio. While delivering an uptempo version of "Hound Dog" without his guitar, he stopped the song, and immediately began performing a slower version. Presley's gyrations during this performance created a storm of controversy. Television critics were outraged. Jack Gould of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Presley has no discernible singing ability. ... His phrasing, if it can be called that, consists of the stereotyped variations that go with a beginner's aria in a bathtub. ... His one specialty is an accented movement of the body ... primarily identified with the repertoire of the blond bombshells of the burlesque runway." Ben Gross of the New York Daily News opined that popular music "has reached its lowest depths in the 'grunt and groin' antics of one Elvis Presley. ... Elvis, who rotates his pelvis ... gave an exhibition that was suggestive and vulgar, tinged with the kind of animalism that should be confined to dives and bordellos". Ed Sullivan, whose own variety show was the nation's most popular, declared him "unfit for family viewing". To Presley's displeasure, he soon found himself being referred to as "Elvis the Pelvis", which he called "one of the most childish expressions I ever heard, comin' from an adult."

Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan shows

The Berle shows drew such high ratings that Presley was booked for a July 1 appearance on NBC's The Steve Allen Show, recorded in New York. Allen, no fan of rock and roll, believed that his show should be one "the whole family can watch" and introduced a "new Elvis" in white bow tie and black tails. Presley sang "Hound Dog" for less than a minute to a basset hound in a top hat and matching tuxedo. As described by television historian Jake Austen, "Allen thought Presley was talentless and absurd... set things up so that Presley would show his contrition". Allen, for his part, later wrote that he found Presley's "strange, gangly, country-boy charisma, his hard-to-define cuteness, and his charming eccentricity intriguing" and simply worked the singer into the customary "comedy fabric of our program". Presley would refer back to the Allen show as the most ridiculous performance of his career. Later that night, he appeared on Hy Gardner Calling, a popular local TV show. Pressed on whether he had learned anything from the criticism to which he was being subjected, Presley responded, "No, I haven't, I don't feel like I'm doing anything wrong. ... I don't see how any type of music would have any bad influence on people when it's only music. ... I mean, how would rock 'n' roll music make anyone rebel against their parents?"

The next day, Presley recorded "Hound Dog", along with "Any Way You Want Me" and "Don't Be Cruel". The Jordanaires, a country vocal quartet, sang harmony, as they had on The Steve Allen Show; they would work with Presley through the 1960s. A few days later, the singer made an outdoor concert appearance in Memphis at which he announced, "You know, those people in New York are not gonna change me none. I'm gonna show you what the real Elvis is like tonight." In August, a Florida judge called Presley a "savage" and threatened to arrest him if he shook his body while performing in Jacksonville. The judge declared that Presley's music was undermining the youth of America. Throughout the performance, which was filmed by police, he kept still as ordered, except for wiggling a finger in mockery of the ruling. Recording sessions for Presley's second album took place in Hollywood during the first week of September. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the writers of "Hound Dog", provided "Love Me"; they would go on to write several more of Presley's most famous songs.

Allen's show with Presley had, for the first time, beaten CBS's The Ed Sullivan Show in the ratings. Sullivan, despite his June pronouncement, booked the singer for three appearances for an unprecedented $50,000. The first, on September 9, 1956, was seen by some 55–60 million viewers, over 80 percent of the television audience and one-third of the country's entire population. The host was actually actor Charles Laughton, filling in while Sullivan recuperated from a car accident. He introduced the singer to Sullivan’s audience as “Elvin (sic) Presley.” According to Elvis legend, the network censored Presley by shooting him only from the waist up. After having viewed clips of the Steve Allen and Milton Berle shows, Sullivan told producer Marlo Lewis that Presley " ‘got some kind of device hanging down below the crotch of his pants — so when he moves his legs back and forth you can see the outline of his cock. ... I think it's a Coke bottle.’ He was troubled. ‘We just can't have this on a Sunday night. This is a family show!’ He turned to Lewis and ordered, ‘Do what you have to do in order to fix this.’ " Furthermore, Sullivan told TV Guide, "as for his gyrations, the whole thing can be controlled with camera shots." In truth, Presley was shown head-to-toe in the first and second shows. After the second, crowds in Nashville and St. Louis burned him in effigy. “Throughout all three shows, the camerawork was discreet, pulling back occasionally to reveal some of Presley’s bodywork, but concentrating on the upper half of the young star. In the final show, the cameras showed Presley only from the waist up, even during a staid performance of a gospel tune.” Some commentators have claimed that Parker orchestrated an appearance of censorship to generate publicity. In any event, as critic Greil Marcus describes, Presley "did not tie himself down. Leaving behind the bland clothes he had worn on the first two shows, he stepped out in the outlandish costume of a pasha, if not a harem girl. From the make-up over his eyes, the hair falling in his face, the overwhelmingly sexual cast of his mouth, he was playing Rudolph Valentino in The Shiek, with all stops out." Sullivan declared at the end of this third appearance that Presley was "a real decent, fine boy" and that they had never had "a pleasanter experience" on the show. “Elvis’s discomfort at the compliment is evident; he looked as though he’d just received a Judas kiss before being publicly neutered and declared to be safe as milk.” However, more than any other event, it was these appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show that made Presley a national celebrity of barely precedented proportions.

First movies and draft notice

The audience response at Presley's live shows became increasingly intense. Moore recalled, "He’d start out, 'You ain’t nothin’ but a Hound Dog,' and they’d just go to pieces. They’d always react the same way. There’d be a riot every time." At the two concerts he performed in September at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show, fifty National Guardsmen were added to the police security to prevent crowd trouble. Presley's first motion picture, Love Me Tender, was released on November 21. Though he was not top billed, the film's original title—The Reno Brothers—was changed to capitalize on the popularity of his latest single: "Love Me Tender", released in late October, had hit the top of the charts on November 3. To further take advantage of Presley's popularity, four musical numbers were added to what was originally a straight acting role. The film was panned by the critics but did very well at the box office, becoming the 23rd-highest grossing movie of 1956, despite being released fewer than five weeks before the end of the year. Presley would receive top billing on every subsequent film he made.

On December 4, Presley dropped into Sun Records where Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis were recording and jammed with them. Though Phillips no longer had the right to release any Presley recordings, he made sure the trio's performance was captured on tape. (Johnny Cash is often thought to have performed with them, but he was present only briefly at Phillips' instigation for a photo opportunity.) The recording, long speculated about, would eventually surface in 1977 on a bootleg titled The Million Dollar Quartet, and RCA would finally release an authorized version a few years later. On December 29, Billboard revealed that Presley had placed more songs in the Top 100 than any other artist since record charts began. This news was followed by a front page report in the Wall Street Journal on December 31 that suggested Presley merchandise had grossed more than $22 million in sales.

On January 8, 1957, the Memphis draft board announced that Presley would be classified 1A and would probably be drafted sometime that year. During 1957, he had two number one LPs, Loving You—the soundtrack to his second film, released in July—and Elvis' Christmas Album. The latter would eventually become the best selling Christmas album of all time. He also had two number one singles, "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear" and "Jailhouse Rock". The latter, title track to Presley's third film, released in October, appeared on an EP of the same name that similarly topped the charts and went double platinum. The homoerotic dance sequence to the movie "is considered by many as his greatest performance ever captured on film."

That month, Frank Sinatra, who had famously inspired the swooning of teenaged girls in the 1940s, expressed his opinion of the new musical phenomenon. He decried "the most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression it has been my displeasure to hear—I refer to rock 'n' roll. It fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people. It smells phoney and false. It is sung, played and written, for the most part, by cretinous goons. ... This rancid-smelling aphrodisiac I deplore." Asked for a response, Presley said, "I admire the man. He has a right to say what he wants to say. He is a great success and a fine actor, but I think he shouldn't have said it. ... This is a trend, just the same as he faced when he started years ago." On December 20, Presley received his draft notice. Paramount and producer Hal Wallis had already spent $350,000 on the forthcoming film King Creole, and the draft board granted Presley a deferment to finish it.

1958–60: Military service and mother's death

On March 24, 1958, Presley was inducted into the U.S. Army as a private, under the service number US 53 310 761, at Fort Chaffee near Fort Smith, Arkansas. Captain Arlie Metheny, the information officer, was unprepared for the media attention the singer received on arrival at Fort Chaffee. Hundreds of people descended on Presley as he stepped from the bus, and photographers accompanied him into the base. Presley announced that he was looking forward to his military stint, saying he did not want to be treated any differently from anyone else; "The Army can do anything it wants with me." Later, at Fort Hood, Texas, Lieutenant Colonel Marjorie Schulten gave the media carte blanche for one day, after which she declared Presley off-limits to the press.

Parker visited occasionally with news of sales and to discuss strategy, and to obtain Presley's signature when necessary to proceed with arrangements. Another visitor, Eddie Fadal, a businesman Presley had met when on tour in Texas, said the singer had become convinced his career was finished—"he firmly believed that." After a reunion with his family and friends during a May furlough, Presley returned to training, but in early August his mother was diagnosed with hepatitis and her condition worsened. Presley was granted emergency leave to visit her, arriving in Memphis on August 12. Two days later, she died of heart failure, aged forty-six. Presley was devastated. Their relationship had remained extremely close—even into his adulthood, they would use baby talk with each other and Presley would address her with pet names.

Presley completed basic training at Fort Hood on September 17, before being posted to Friedberg, Germany, with the 3rd Armored Division, where his service lasted from October 1, 1958, until March 2, 1960. Some months after his mother's death, Presley was introduced to amphetamines by a sergeant while on maneuvers. He became "practically evangelical about their benefits"—not only for energy, but for "strength" and weight loss, as well—and many of his friends in the outfit joined him in indulging. The Army also introduced Presley to karate, which he studied seriously, later including it in his live performances.

Fellow soldiers have attested to Presley's wish to be seen as an able, ordinary soldier, despite his fame, and to his generosity while in the service. To supplement meager under-clothing supplies, Presley bought an extra set of fatigues for everyone in his outfit. He also donated his Army pay to charity, and purchased all the TV sets for personnel on the base at that time. Currie Grant, a friend of Presley's in Army Special Services, spotted 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu at a club used by army personnel and their families. He introduced her to the singer at Presley's home in Bad Nauheim on September 13, 1959. They would eventually marry after a seven-and-a-half-year courtship.

Presley had not elected to join Special Services, which would have allowed him to avoid certain duties and maintain his public profile. However, Priscilla has said that he was eager to serve in the detachment, where he would have been able to give some musical performances and remain in touch with the general public. In her autobiography, she states that it was Parker and RCA who convinced Presley he should serve his country as a regular soldier to gain respect from the public, despite the singer's worries that this might instead ruin his career. He continued to receive massive media coverage, with much speculation echoing his concerns about his enforced absence damaging his career. However, early in 1958, RCA Victor producer Steve Sholes and Freddy Bienstock of Hill and Range—Presley's main music publishers—had both pushed for recording sessions with strong song material, to ensure a regular stream of releases during Presley's two-year hiatus. Hit singles duly followed during his army service, including "One Night", "I Got Stung", and "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I", along with hit albums compiling old material, among them Elvis' Golden Records and A Date With Elvis.

1960–67: Focus on movies

Elvis Is Back

Presley returned to the United States on March 2, 1960, and was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant on March 5. The train that carried him from New Jersey to Memphis was mobbed all the way, and Presley was called upon to appear at scheduled stops to please his fans.

Presley wasted no time in getting back into the studio, and the first recording session, on March 20, was attended by all significant involved businessmen; none had heard him sing for two years, and there were inevitable concerns about his ability to recapture his previous success. The session was the first at which Presley was taped using an advanced three-track machine, allowing stereophonic recording, higher fidelity, and postsession remixing. This, and a subsequent session in April, yielded some of Presley's best-selling songs. "It's Now or Never" ended with Presley "soaring up to an incredible top G sharp ... pure magic." His voice on "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" has been described as "natural, unforced, dead in tune, and totally distinctive." Although some tracks were uptempo, others marked a significant change in musical direction. Most found their way on to the album Elvis Is Back!, described by one critic as "a triumph on every level... It was as if Elvis had... broken down the barriers of genre and prejudice to express everything he heard in all the kinds of music he loved". The album was also notable for Homer Boots Randolph's acclaimed saxophone playing on the blues songs "Like A Baby" and "Reconsider Baby", the latter being described as "a refutation of those who do not recognize what a phenomenal artist Presley was."

On March 26, 1960, Presley made a guest appearance on The Frank Sinatra-Timex Special, an ironic move for both stars, given Sinatra's earlier scathing criticism of the singer and "rock and roll" in general (see "Controversy and cultural impact"). Also known as Welcome Home Elvis, the show was taped for airing on May 12. Parker had made the deal with the show's producers months before Presley was released from active duty, and had secured an unheard-of $125,000 pay-check for the six-minute appearance. Parker had hoped that appearing with Frank Sinatra would help to boost Presley's popularity amongst an older audience, as well as reminding the teenage audience that Presley was back. Never one to take chances, Parker had packed the studio audience with 400 members from one of the biggest fan clubs. The broadcast drew an enormous viewership, dispelling any fears Presley or Parker may have had about his return.

In December 1960, Presley's first LP of sacred material, His Hand in Mine, was issued. It reached number 13 on the U.S. pop chart and number 3 in Great Britain, remarkable figures for a gospel album. The following February, Presley performed two benefit shows in Memphis that raised over $60,000 for 24 local charities. During a luncheon preceding the event, Presley was awarded a plaque by RCA for worldwide sales of over 75 million records. On March 25, Presley arrived in Hawaii to give another benefit concert, arranged after Parker read an article stating that no "permanent memorial stands in salute to the dead of Pearl Harbor". The concert was held at Bloch Arena in aid of the USS Arizona Memorial Fund, which was $50,000 short of its target. The benefit raised over $62,000 and was to be the last public performance Presley would give for seven years.

Lost in Hollywood

Parker had already pushed Presley into a heavy moviemaking schedule, focused on formulaic, modestly budgeted musical-comedies. Of the 27 films Presley made during the 1960s, 15 were accompanied by soundtrack albums and another 5 by soundtrack EPs. According to John Mundy, these films, "so often criticized for their bland musical and filmic aesthetic, seem the logical outcome of Presley’s assimilation into the dominant commercial mainstrean which began with his very first films." Although Presley was praised by directors, like Michael Curtiz, as polite and hardworking (and as having an exceptional memory), "he was definitely not the most talented actor around." Thus, the movies received harsh criticism from professional reviewers. Sight and Sound, for instance, wrote that in his movies "Elvis Presley, aggressively bisexual in appeal, knowingly erotic, acting like a crucified houri and singing with a kind of machine-made surrealism."

The rapid production and release schedules of the films—he frequently starred in three a year—affected his music. Studio time was constrained: for Blue Hawaii (1961), he recorded fourteen songs in only three days. As the decade wore on, the quality of the soundtrack songs grew "progressively worse". Julie Parrish, who appeared in Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966), says that Presley hated many of the songs chosen for his films; he "couldn't stop laughing while he was recording" one of them. Several respected songwriting teams did contribute to his films, including Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, and Otis Blackwell and Winfield Scott. But by and large, according to biographer Jerry Hopkins, the songs seemed to be "written on order by men who never really understood Elvis or rock and roll." Whatever the quality of the tunes, some observers argued that Presley generally sang well, with commitment, and always played with distinguished musicians and backing singers. Rock critic Dave Marsh disagreed: on most of the soundtrack recordings, to his ears, "Presley isn't trying, probably the wisest course in the face of material like 'No Room to Rumba in a Sports Car' and 'Rock-a-Hula Baby.'"

In the first half of the decade, three of Presley's soundtrack albums hit number one on the pop charts, and a few of his most popular songs came from his films, such as "Can't Help Falling in Love" (1961) and "Return to Sender" (1962). ("Viva Las Vegas", the title track to the 1964 film, was a minor hit as a B-side, and became truly popular only later.) But, as with artistic merit, the commercial returns steadily diminished. During a five-year span—1964 through 1968—Presley had only one top ten hit: "Crying in the Chapel" (1965), a gospel number recorded back in 1960. As for non-movie albums, between the June 1962 release of Pot Luck and the November 1968 release of the soundtrack to the television special that signaled his comeback, only one LP of new material by Presley was issued: the gospel album How Great Thou Art, recorded in May 1966 and released in 1967. It won him his first Grammy Award, for Best Sacred Performance. As described in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, Presley was "arguably the greatest white gospel singer of his time really the last rock & roll artist to make gospel as vital a component of his musical personality as his secular songs."

Shortly before Christmas 1966, more than seven years since they first met, Elvis proposed to Priscilla. They were married on May 1, 1967, in a brief ceremony in their suite at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. Still more formulaic movies and assembly-line soundtracks followed. It was not until October 1967, when the Clambake soundtrack LP registered record low sales for a new Presley album, that RCA executives recognized a problem. "By then, of course, the damage had been done", as historians Connie Kirchberg and Marc Hendrickx put it. "Elvis was viewed as a joke by serious music lovers and a has-been to all but his most loyal fans."

1968–73: Comeback

'68 Comeback Special

Presley's only child, Lisa Marie, was born on February 1, 1968, during a period when he had grown deeply unhappy with his career. Of the eight Presley singles released between January 1967 and May 1968, only two charted in the Top 40, and none higher than number 28. His forthcoming soundtrack album, Speedway, would die at number 82 on the Billboard chart. Parker, finding it difficult to obtain financing for more feature films, shifted his plans to television, where Presley had not appeared since the Sinatra-Timex show in 1960. Parker maneuvered a deal with NBC that committed the network to both broadcast a one-hour special and finance a theatrical feature.

Recorded in late June, the special aired on December 3, 1968, as a Christmas telecast called simply Elvis. Later known as the '68 Comeback Special, the show featured lavishly staged studio productions as well as songs performed live with a band in front of a small audience—Presley's first live appearance as a performer since 1961. The live segments saw Presley clad in tight black leather, singing and playing guitar in an uninhibited style reminiscent of his early rock and roll days. Director and coproducer Steve Binder had worked hard to reassure the nervous singer and to produce a show that was not just the hour of Christmas songs Parker had originally planned. When the ratings were released the next day, NBC reported that Presley had captured 42 percent of the total viewing audience. It was the network's highest rated show that season. Jon Landau of Eye magazine remarked, "There is something magical about watching a man who has lost himself find his way back home. He sang with the kind of power people no longer expect of rock 'n' roll singers. He moved his body with a lack of pretension and effort that must have made Jim Morrison green with envy." The New Rolling Stone Album Guide calls the performance one of "emotional grandeur and historical resonance."

By January 1969, the single "If I Can Dream", one of the key songs written specifically for the special, reached number 12. The soundtrack of the special broke into the Top 10. According to friend Jerry Schilling, the special reminded Presley of what "he had not been able to do for years, being able to choose the people; being able to choose what songs and not being told what had to be on the soundtrack. ... He was out of prison, man." Binder said of Presley's reaction, "I played Elvis the 60-minute show, and he told me in the screening room, 'Steve, it's the greatest thing I've ever done in my life. I give you my word I will never sing a song I don't believe in.'"

From Elvis In Memphis and the International

Buoyed by the experience of the Comeback Special, Presley engaged in a prolific series of recording sessions at American Sound Studio, which led to the acclaimed From Elvis in Memphis album. Released in June 1969, it was his first secular, non-soundtrack album from a dedicated period in the studio since Elvis Is Back! As described by Dave Marsh, it "is a masterpiece in which Presley immediately catches up with pop music trends that had seemed to pass him by during the movie years. He sings country songs, soul songs and rockers with real conviction, a stunning achievement." The album featured the hit single "In the Ghetto", issued in April, which reached number three on the pop chart—Presley's first top ten hit since "Crying in the Chapel" and his first non-gospel top ten since "Bossa Nova Baby" back in 1963. Further hit singles were culled from the American Sound sessions: "Suspicious Minds", "Don't Cry Daddy", and "Kentucky Rain".

Presley was keen to resume regular live performing. Following the success of the Comeback Special, offers came in from around the world. The London Palladium offered Parker $28,000 for a one-week engagement. He responded, "That's fine for me, now how much can you get for Elvis?" In May, the brand new International Hotel in Las Vegas, with the largest showroom in the city, announced that it had booked Presley. He was scheduled to perform 57 shows over four weeks beginning July 31, after Barbra Streisand opened the new venue. Presley assembled top-notch accompaniment, including an orchestra and some of the best soul/gospel backup singers available. Nonetheless, he was nervous; his only previous Las Vegas engagement, in 1956, had been a disaster. Parker oversaw a major promotional push, with billboards, full-page advertisements in local and trade papers, and souvenirs in the hotel's lobby. He intended to make Presley's return the show business event of the year, and hotel owner Kirk Kerkorian arranged to send his own plane to New York to fly in rock journalists for the debut performance.

Presley took to the stage with no introduction. The audience of 2,200, including many celebrities, gave him a standing ovation before he sang a note. A second standing ovation followed his performance, and a third came after his encore, "Can't Help Falling in Love". Backstage, many well-wishers, including Cary Grant, congratulated Presley on his triumphant return which, in the showroom alone, had generated over $1,500,000. At a press conference after the show, when a journalist referred to him as "The King", Presley gestured toward Fats Domino, who was taking in the scene. "No," Presley said, "that’s the real king of rock and roll." The next day, Parker's negotiations with the hotel resulted in a five-year contract for Presley to play each February and August, at a salary of $1 million per year. Newsweek commented, "There are several unbelievable things about Elvis, but the most incredible is his staying power in a world where meteoric careers fade like shooting stars." Rolling Stone called Presley "supernatural, his own resurrection." In November, the double album From Memphis To Vegas/From Vegas To Memphis was released—the first LP consisted of live performances from the International, the second of more cuts from the American Sound sessions. "Suspicious Minds" reached the top of the charts—Presley's first U.S. pop number one in over seven years, and his last.

On tour and meeting Nixon

Presley returned to the International Hotel in January 1970 for a month-long engagement, performing two shows a night. RCA included selected recordings from the shows on the album On Stage. In late February, Presley performed six more attendance-breaking shows at the Houston Astrodome in Texas. In April, the single "The Wonder of You" was issued—a number one hit in Great Britain, it topped the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart, as well. MGM filmed rehearsal and concert footage at the International Hotel during August, for the documentary Elvis: That's the Way It Is. Presley wore a jumpsuit, which would become a trademark of his live performances in the 1970s.

Around this time Presley was threatened with kidnapping at the International Hotel. Phone calls were received, one demanding $50,000—if unpaid, Presley would be killed by a "crazy man". (Presley had been the target of many threats since the 1950s, many of them made without his knowledge.) The FBI took the threat seriously and security was stepped up for the next two shows. Presley went on stage with a Derringer in his right boot and a .45 pistol in his waistband, but the concerts went off without incident. After closing his Las Vegas engagement on September 7, Presley embarked on his first concert tour since 1958. Left exhausted by the tour, he spent a month relaxing and recording before touring again in October and November. He would tour extensively until a couple of months before his death, frequently setting attendance records.

On December 21, 1970, Presley engineered an odd meeting with President Richard Nixon at the White House to express his patriotism and contempt for the hippie drug culture. He also wished to obtain a Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs badge to add to similar items he had begun collecting and to signify official sanction in his patriotic efforts. Nixon, who apparently found the encounter awkward, expressed a belief that Presley could send a positive message to young people and that it was therefore important he "retain his credibility". Presley raised The Beatles as an example of what he saw as a trend of anti-Americanism and drug abuse in popular culture. (Presley and his friends had had a four-hour get-together with The Beatles five years earlier.) On hearing reports of the meeting, Paul McCartney later said that he "felt a bit betrayed. ... The great joke was that we were taking drugs, and look what happened to him", a reference to Presley's death, hastened by prescription drug abuse. Belying his own comments, Presley regularly performed the Beatles songs "Yesterday", "Something", and "Get Back" in concert during the early 1970s.

On January 16, 1971, Presley was named "One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation" by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce. Some months later, the City of Memphis named part of Highway 51 South "Elvis Presley Boulevard". That year, he became the first rock and roll singer to be awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award (then known as the Bing Crosby Award) by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), the Grammy Award organization.

Marital difficulties and Aloha from Hawaii

MGM again filmed Presley in April 1972, this time for Elvis on Tour, which went on to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Documentary Film that year. His gospel album He Touched Me, released in April, is described by The New Rolling Stone Album Guide as a "wonder". It would earn him his second Grammy Award, for Best Inspirational Performance. A 14-date tour started with an unprecedented four consecutive sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden. The evening concert on July 10 was recorded and issued in LP form a week later: Elvis: As Recorded at Madison Square Garden would became one of Presley's biggest-selling albums, reaching triple-platinum status. After the tour, the single "Burning Love" was released, Presley's last top ten hit on the U.S. pop chart.

Presley and his wife, meanwhile, had become increasingly distant, barely cohabiting, and he was anyway frequently absent on tour. In 1971, an affair he had with Joyce Bova resulted—unbeknownst to him—in her pregnancy and an abortion. He raised the possibility of her moving in to Graceland, saying that he was likely to leave Priscilla. The Presleys separated on February 23, 1972, after Priscilla said she was having a relationship with Mike Stone, a karate instructor Presley had recommended to her. Priscilla reported that Presley "grabbed ... and forcefully made love to" her, declaring, "This is how a real man makes love to his woman." Presley lived with Linda Thompson, a songwriter and one-time Memphis beauty queen, from July 1972 until their breakup in late 1976. Presley and his wife filed for divorce on August 18, 1972. Priscilla later admitted that she had also had a previous short affair with her private dance instructor in 1968.

In January 1973, Presley performed two charity concerts in Hawaii for the Kui Lee cancer foundation in connection with a groundbreaking TV special. The first concert, on January 12, was primarily a practice run, serving too as a backup should technical problems affect the live broadcast two days later. Aired as scheduled on January 14, Aloha from Hawaii was the first global live concert satellite broadcast, reaching approximately 1.5 billion viewers. Budgeted at a record $2.5 million, the show raised $85,000—more than three times what had been anticipated. Presley's outfit became the most recognized example of the elaborate concert costumes with which his latter-day persona became closely associated. As described by Bobbie Ann Mason, "At the end of the show, when he spreads out his American Eagle cape, with the full stretched wings of the eagle studded on the back, he becomes a god figure." The accompanying album, released in February, went to number one, spending a year on the charts. It proved to be Presley's last U.S. number one pop album during his lifetime.

The same month, a disturbance during a midnight show left Presley in a state of shock. When four men rushed onto the stage in what appeared to be an attack, security men leapt to Presley's defense, and the singer's karate instinct took over as he ejected one invader from the stage himself. Following the show, he became obsessed with the idea that the men had been sent by Stone to kill him. Though they were shown to have been only overexuberant fans, he raged, "There's too much pain in me ... Stone die." His outbursts continued with such intensity that a physician was unable to calm him, despite administering large doses of medication. After another two full days of raging, a bodyguard, Red West, felt compelled to get a price for a contract killing and was relieved when Presley decided: "Aw hell, let's just leave it for now. Maybe it's a bit heavy."

1973–77: Health deterioration and death

Medical crises and last studio sessions

In March 1973, Presley and Parker negotiated a deal with RCA that resulted in a lump sum payment to Presley of $5.4 million in lieu of all future performance royalties for any songs he had recorded up to that time. (Presley would retain performance royalties on future recordings.) Under the terms of Presley's contract with his manager, Parker received 50 percent of the payment. In terms of Presley's own interests, the deal was terrible, "right up there with the Indians selling Manhattan for twenty-four dollars", as Jack Soden of Elvis Presley Enterprises later described it.

Presley's divorce took effect on October 9, 1973, Elvis and Priscilla agreeing to share custody of their daughter. After the divorce, Presley became increasingly unwell. He twice overdosed on barbiturates, spending three days in a coma in his hotel suite after the first incident. According to his main physician, Dr. George C. Nichopoulos, Presley was "near death" in November 1973, the result of side effects of Demerol addiction. His subsequent hospital admission attracted enormous attention and necessitated extraordinary measures to protect his medical details. Lab technicians went so far as to sell samples of his blood and urine. Nichopoulos says that Presley "felt that by getting from a doctor, he wasn't the common everyday junkie getting something off the street. He ... thought that as far as medications and drugs went, there was something for everything."

A live version of "How Great Thou Art" recorded in March 1974 would win Presley his third and final competitive Grammy Award. (All three of his competitive Grammy wins—out of a total of fourteen nominations—were for gospel recordings.) In April, rumors spread that he would play overseas after years of offers. A $1,000,000 bid came in from a source in Australia for him to tour there, but Parker was uncharacteristically reluctant. This prompted those closest to Presley to speculate about Parker's past and the reasons for his apparent unwillingness to apply for a passport. Parker ultimately squelched any notions Presley had of overseas work by citing poor security in other countries and the lack of suitable venues for a star of his status. During this period, Presley's health declined precipitously and his weight shot up. At a University of Maryland concert in September, keyboardist Tony Brown recalled that when Presley arrived, "He fell out of the limousine, to his knees. People jumped to help, and he pushed them away like, 'Don't help me.' He walked on stage and held onto the mike for the first thirty minutes like it was a post. Everybody's looking at each other like, Is the tour gonna happen?"

Presley continued to play to sellout crowds: a 1975 tour ended with a concert in Pontiac, Michigan, attended by over 62,000 fans. However, the singer now had "no motivation to lose his extra poundage... he became self-conscious... his self-confidence before the audience declined... Headlines such as 'Elvis Battles Middle Age' and 'Time Makes Listless Machine of Elvis' were not uncommon." Cultural critic Marjorie Garber has described the significance of his physical transformation, particularly in the context of his Vegas appearances of the period: "heavier, in pancake makeup wearing a jumpsuit with an elaborate jeweled belt and cape, crooning pop songs to a microphone: in effect he had become Liberace. Even his fans were now middle-aged matrons and blue-haired grandmothers".

On July 13, 1976, Presley's father fired "Memphis Mafia" bodyguards Red West, Sonny West, and David Hebler. The dismissal took all three by surprise, especially Red West, who had been friends with Presley for two decades. Presley was in Palm Springs at the time, and some suggest the singer was too cowardly to face the three himself. Vernon Presley cited the need to "cut back on expenses"; another associate of Presley's, John O'Grady, argued that the bodyguards were dropped because their rough treatment of fans frequently gave rise to lawsuits and lawyers' fees. Presley historians David E. Stanley and Frank Coffey, however, have claimed that the bodyguards were really fired because they were becoming more outspoken about Presley's drug dependency.

For much of the 1970s, Presley's recording company had been increasingly concerned about making money from Presley material: RCA often had to rely on live recordings because of problems getting him to attend studio sessions. A mobile studio was occasionally sent to Graceland in the hope of capturing an inspired vocal performance. Once in a studio, he could lack interest or be easily distracted, which was often linked to his health and drug problems.

Final year and death

Journalist Tony Scherman writes that by early 1977, "Elvis Presley had become a grotesque caricature of his sleek, energetic former self. Hugely overweight,his mind dulled by the pharmacopoeia he daily ingested, he was barely able to pull himself through his abbreviated concerts." In Alexandria, Louisiana, the singer was on stage for less than an hour and "was impossible to understand". In Baton Rouge, Presley failed to appear: he was unable to get out of his hotel bed, and the rest of the tour was cancelled. In Knoxville, Tennessee, on May 20, "there was no longer any pretence of keeping up appearances. The idea was simply to get Elvis out on stage and keep him upright". Despite the continuing deterioration in the singer's health, his schedule persisted. Shows in Omaha, Nebraska, and Rapid City, South Dakota, were recorded for an album and CBS-TV special, Elvis In Concert.

In Rapid City, "he was so nervous on stage that he could hardly talk... He was undoubtedly painfully aware of how he looked, and he knew that in his condition, he could not perform any significant movement." His performance in Omaha "exceeded everyone's worst fears... the impression of a man crying out for help". According to Guralnick, fans "were becoming increasingly voluble about their disappointment, but it all seemed to go right past Elvis, whose world was now confined almost entirely to his room and his books." A cousin, Billy Smith, recalled how Presley would sit in his room and chat, recounting things like his favorite Monty Python sketches and his own past japes, but "mostly there was a grim obsessiveness... a paranoia about people, germs... future events", that reminded Smith of Howard Hughes. Presley's final performance was in Indianapolis at the Market Square Arena, on June 26, 1977.

The book Elvis: What Happened?, written by Steve Dunleavy and the three bodyguards fired the previous year, was published on August 1. It was the first exposé to detail Presley's years of drug misuse. While it served as revenge for the bodyguards' dismissal, it also constituted a plea for Presley to recognize the extent of his drug problems. According to Presley's stepbrother David Stanley, he "was devastated by the book. Here were his close friends who had written serious stuff that would affect his life. He felt betrayed. what they wrote was true." By this point, he suffered from multiple ailments—glaucoma, high blood pressure, liver damage, and an enlarged colon, each aggravated, and possibly caused, by drug abuse. Unknown at the time, but concluded by Nichopoulos after he re-examined X-rays in the 1990s, Presley was probably also suffering pain from degenerative arthritis, fueling his addiction to painkillers.

Presley was scheduled to fly out of Memphis on the evening of August 16, 1977, to begin another tour. That afternoon, however, he was found unresponsive on the floor of his bathroom by his fiancée, Ginger Alden. Attempts to revive him failed, and death was officially pronounced at 3:30 pm at Baptist Memorial Hospital.

President Jimmy Carter issued a statement that credited Presley with "permanently chang the face of American popular culture" (see "Legacy"). Hundreds of thousands of fans, the press, and celebrities lined the streets of Memphis, many hoping to see the open casket in Graceland. One of Presley's cousins, Billy Mann, accepted $18,000 to secretly photograph the corpse; the picture appeared on the cover of the National Enquirer's biggest-selling issue ever. Alden struck a $105,000 deal with the Enquirer for her story, but settled for less when she broke her exclusivity agreement. Presley left her nothing in his will.

Presley's funeral was held at Graceland, on Thursday, August 18. Among the mourners were Ann-Margret, who had remained close to him since they co-starred in Viva Las Vegas 13 years before, and his ex-wife, Priscilla. Outside the gates, a car plowed into a group of fans, killing two women and critically injuring a third. Presley was buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis, next to his mother. An attempt was made to steal his body eleven days later. After zoning issues were addressed, the remains of both Elvis Presley and his mother were reburied in Graceland's Meditation Garden on October 2.

Since 1977

In 1982, Graceland was officially opened to the public and has become one of the most visited tourist attractions in the United States.

Presley has been inducted into four music halls of fame: the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1986), the Rockabilly Hall of Fame (1997), the Country Music Hall of Fame (1998), and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2001). In 1984, he received the W. C. Handy Award from the Blues Foundation and the Academy of Country Music’s first Golden Hat Award. In 1987, he received the American Music Awards’ first posthumous presentation of the Award of Merit.

A Junkie XL remix of Presley's "A Little Less Conversation" (credited as "Elvis Vs JXL") was used in a Nike advertising campaign during the 2002 FIFA World Cup. It topped the charts in over twenty countries, and was included in a compilation of Presley's number one hits, ELV1S. Released the same year, the album too achieved international success. In 2004, the 50th anniversary of Presley's "That's All Right" was recognized with the song's re-release, whereupon it reached number three in Great Britain and, despite minimal airplay, topped the U.S. sales chart.

In 2005, another three reissued singles, "Jailhouse Rock", "One Night"/"I Got Stung", and "It's Now or Never", went to number one in the UK. During the year, a total of 17 singles were reissued—all making the British top five. Forbes magazine named Presley, for the fifth straight year, the top-earning deceased celebrity, grossing US$45 million for the Presley estate during the preceding year. In mid-2006, top place was taken by Nirvana's Kurt Cobain after the sale of his song catalogue, but Presley reclaimed the top spot in 2007.

Musical style and evolution

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Presley's earliest musical influence came from Gospel music. His mother recalled that from the age of two, at the Assembly of God church in Tupelo attended by the family, "he would slide down off my lap, run into the aisle and scramble up to the platform. There he would stand looking at the choir and trying to sing with them." Later, the family sang together as a gospel trio. In Memphis, Presley as a young teenager frequently attended all-night gospel singings at the Ellis Auditorium, where the likes of The Statesmen Quartet led the music in a style which, as Guralnick shows, sowed the seeds of Presley's own future stage act:

The Statesmen were an electric combination featuring some of the most thrillingly emotive singing and daringly unconventional showmanship in the entertainment world dressed in suits that might have come out of the window of Lansky's Meanwhile bass singer Jim Wetherington, known universally as the Big Chief, maintained a steady bottom, ceaselessly jiggling first his left leg, then his right, with the material of the pants leg ballooning out and shimmering. 'He went about as far as you could go in gospel music,' said Jake Hess. 'The women would jump up, just like they do for the pop shows.' Preachers frequently objected to the lewd movements, but audiences reacted with screams and swoons. It was a different kind of spirituality, but spirituality nonetheless".

Questions over cause of death

"Drug use was heavily implicated" in Presley's death, according to Guralnick. "No one ruled out the possibility of anaphylactic shock brought on by the codeine pills ... to which he was known to have had a mild allergy." A pair of lab reports filed two months later each strongly suggested that polypharmacy was the primary cause of death; one reported "fourteen drugs in Elvis' system, ten in significant quantity." Forensic historian and pathologist Michael Baden views the situation as complicated: "Elvis had had an enlarged heart for a long time. That, together with his drug habit, caused his death. But he was difficult to diagnose; it was a judgment call."

The competence and ethics of two of the centrally involved medical professionals were seriously questioned. Medical Examiner Dr. Jerry Francisco publicly offered a cause of death while the autopsy was still being performed and before toxicology results were known. He declared that cardiac arrhythmia was the cause of death, a condition that can only be determined in a living person. Allegations of a coverup were widespread. While Dr. Nichopoulos was exonerated of criminal liability for Presley's death, the facts were startling: "In the first eight months of 1977 alone, he had more than 10,000 doses of sedatives, amphetamines and narcotics: all in Elvis's name." His license was suspended for three months. It was permanently revoked in the 1990s after the Tennessee Medical Board brought new charges of over-prescription.

In 1994, the Presley autopsy was reopened. Coroner Dr. Joseph Davis declared, "There is nothing in any of the data that supports a death from drugs. In fact, everything points to a sudden, violent heart attack." However, there is little doubt that polypharmacy/combined drug intoxication contributed significantly to his premature death.

Racial issues

Dewey Phillips, the first man to play Elvis Presley on the radio, was a white disc jockey who played a large number of records by African American performers and enjoyed a substantial black audience. When he first aired "That's All Right", many listeners who contacted the station by phone and telegram to ask for it again assumed that its singer was black. From the beginning of his national fame, Presley expressed respect for African American performers and their music and disregard for the norms of segregation and racial prejudice then prevalent in the South. In a 1956 interview, he described listening to blues musician Arthur Crudup—the originator of "That's All Right"—"bang his box the way I do now, and I said if I ever got to the place where I could feel all old Arthur felt, I’d be a music man like nobody ever saw." The Memphis World, an African American newspaper, reported that Presley, "the rock ’n’ roll phenomenon", "cracked Memphis’s segregation laws" by attending the local amusement park on what was designated as its "colored night." Such statements and actions led Presley to be generally hailed in the black community during the early days of his stardom. By contrast, many white adults, according to Billboard's Arnold Shaw, viewed him as "the first rock symbol of teenage rebellion. ... They did not like him, and condemned him as depraved. Anti-negro prejudice doubtless figured in adult antagonism. Regardless of whether parents were aware of the Negro sexual origins of the phrase 'rock 'n' roll', Presley impressed them as the visual and aural embodiment of sex."

Despite the largely positive view of Presley held by African Americans, a rumor spread in mid-1957 that he had at some point announced, "The only thing Negroes can do for me is buy my records and shine my shoes." A journalist with the national African American weekly Jet, Louie Robinson, pursued the story. On the set of Jailhouse Rock, Presley granted him an interview, though he was no longer dealing with the mainstream press. He denied making such a statement or holding in any way to its racist view. Robinson found no evidence that the remark had ever been made, and on the contrary elicited testimony from many individuals indicating that Presley was anything but racist. Blues singer Ivory Joe Hunter, who had heard the rumor before he visited Graceland one evening, reported of Presley, "He showed me every courtesy, and I think he's one of the greatest." Though the rumored remark was wholly discredited at the time, it was still being used against Presley decades later. The identification of Presley with racism—either personally or symbolically—was expressed most famously in the lyrics of the 1989 rap hit "Fight the Power", by Public Enemy: "Elvis was a hero to most / But he never meant shit to me / Straight-up racist that sucker was / Simple and plain."

The persistence of such attitudes was fueled by resentment over the fact that Presley, whose musical and visual performance idiom owed much to African American sources, achieved the cultural acknowledgment and commercial success largely denied his black peers. Into the 21st century, the notion that Presley had "stolen" black music still found adherents. Notable among African American entertainers expressly rejecting this view was Jackie Wilson, who argued, "A lot of people have accused Elvis of stealing the black man’s music, when in fact, almost every black solo entertainer copied his stage mannerisms from Elvis." And throughout his career, Presley plainly acknowledged his debt. Addressing his '68 Comeback Special audience, he said, "Rock 'n' roll music is basically gospel or rhythm and blues, or it sprang from that. People have been adding to it, adding instruments to it, experimenting with it, but it all boils down to ." Nine years earlier, he had said, "Rock 'n' roll has been around for many years. It used to be called rhythm and blues."

Influence of Colonel Parker and others

By 1967, Parker had negotiated a contract that gave him 50% of Presley's earnings. Parker's gambling habit—and his subsequent need to have Presley signed up to commercially lucrative contracts—may well have adversely affected the course of Presley's career. Parker's concerns about his own U.S. citizenship (he was a Dutch immigrant) may also have deterred him from exploiting Presley's popularity abroad.

It has been claimed that Presley's original band was fired in order to isolate the singer: Parker wanted no one close to Presley to suggest that a better management deal might exist. However, other sources report the band members left voluntarily because of poor pay, a lack of regular work and being banned from doing any solo projects (they sent letters of resignation to Presley himself). This led to Presley using more experienced musicians for his second homecoming show in Tupelo, but after being dissatisfied with the "sound and feel" of the performance, Parker arranged new terms with Moore and Black a week later.

Due to Parker's deal with Hill & Range in 1955 (see "Signing to RCA"), Presley apparently disliked several songs he sang— even some of the earliest top sellers he became famous for (which suggests commercial influences were sometimes greater than his own desires). Presley's friend Jerry Schilling relates that one way to really annoy the singer was to play a song, like "All Shook Up", on a jukebox at one of his private parties. "Get that crap off," was his typical reaction.

Parker's role in Presley's marriage to Priscilla is disputed. Some say that he persuaded Presley to get married for publicity reasons, whilst others insist that Presley made the decision to marry on his own. Parker is reported to have organized the wedding. It "was rushed", and the guest list was "savagely brief" which led to a few of Presley's entourage being upset at their exclusion. The honeymoon, too, is alleged to have been disrupted by Parker. Presley and Priscilla wanted a European honeymoon, but Parker persuaded him that his fans "over there would be disappointed" if he went there without performing.

In 1969, record producer Chips Moman and Presley recorded with Moman's own musicians at his American Sound Studios in Memphis. Given the control exerted by RCA and the music publishers, this was a significant departure, instigated by Marty Lacker. Moman still had to deal with Hill and Range staff on site and was not happy with their song choices. Moman could only get the best out of the singer when he threatened to quit the sessions and asked Presley to remove the "aggravating" publishing personnel from the studio. Although one RCA Victor executive, Joan Deary, was later full of praise for the song choices and superior results of Moman's work, like "In the Ghetto" and "Suspicious Minds", Moman, to his fury, did not receive a listed credit on any records, or any production royalties for his work. No producer was to override Hill and Range's control again.

According to lifelong friend and "Memphis Mafia" member George Klein, over the years Presley was offered lead roles in the film Midnight Cowboy and in West Side Story. Robert Mitchum personally offered him the lead in Thunder Road. In 1974, Barbra Streisand approached Presley to star with her in the remake of A Star is Born. In each case, any ambitions the singer may have had to play such parts were thwarted by his manager's negotiating demands, or his flat refusals.

Priscilla Presley noted that "Elvis detested the business side of his career. He would sign a contract without even reading it." Marty Lacker regarded Parker as a "hustler and scam artist" who abused Presley's trust, but Lacker acknowledged that Parker was a master promoter. Presley's father in turn distrusted Lacker and the other members of the Memphis Mafia; he thought they collectively exercised an unhealthy influence over his son. "t was no wonder" that as the singer "slid into addiction and torpor, no one raised the alarm: to them, Elvis was the bank, and it had to remain open." Musician Tony Brown noted the urgent need to reverse Presley's declining health as the singer toured in the mid-1970s. "But we all knew it was hopeless because Elvis was surrounded by that little circle of people... all those so-called friends and... bodyguards." In the Memphis Mafia's defence, Marty Lacker has said, " was his own man. ... If we hadn't been around, he would have been dead a lot earlier."

Larry Geller became Presley's hairdresser in 1964. Unlike others in the Memphis Mafia, he was interested in spiritual questions and recalls how, from their first conversation, Presley revealed his secret thoughts and anxieties: "I mean there has to be a purpose...there's got to be a reason...why I was chosen to be Elvis Presley. ... I swear to God, no one knows how lonely I get. And how empty I really feel." Thereafter, Geller supplied him with books on religion and mysticism, which the singer read voraciously. Presley would be preoccupied by such matters for much of his life, taking trunkloads of books with him on tour.

Sex symbol

Presley's sexual appeal and photogenic looks were widely acknowledged. For example, television director Steve Binder, who was not a fan of Presley's music when he oversaw the '68 Comeback Special, reported, "I'm straight as an arrow and I got to tell you, you stop, whether you're male or female, to look at him. He was that good looking. And if you never knew he was a superstar, it wouldn't make any difference; if he'd walked in the room, you'd know somebody special was in your presence."

Evincing both the focus on Presley's imagined sexual prowess and the attempts to explain or dismiss his charisma, Marjorie Garber quotes a male rock critic from 1970 who "praised Elvis as 'The master of the sexual simile, treating his guitar as both phallus and girl ... rumor had it that into his skin-tight jeans was sewn a lead bar to suggest a weapon of heroic proportions.'" She similarly cites a boyhood friend of Presley's who claims the singer used a cardboard toilet roll tube to make it "look to the girls up front like he had one helluva thing there inside his pants." In similar fashion, others purported that something like a soda bottle was visible in his trousers when he performed on the Steve Allen and Milton Berle shows.

The many accounts of Presley's sexual conquests may be exaggerated. Cybill Shepherd reveals that Presley kissed her all over her naked body, but refused to have oral sex with her. Ex-girlfriends Judy Spreckels and June Juanico had no sexual relationships with Presley. Byron Raphael and Alanna Nash have stated that the star "would never put himself inside one of these girls". Cassandra Peterson, later television's Elvira, reports spending an entire night with Presley in 1969 when, by her account, all they did was talk. Cher remembers with regret how, when he asked her to stay with him in Las Vegas, she turned him down because she was too nervous about spending the night with him. Peggy Lipton claims that he was "virtually impotent" with her, but she attributed this to his boyishness and drug use.

While shooting Viva Las Vegas, Presley and his co-star, Ann-Margret, became very close, though she has never made clear whether they were sexually intimate. A publicity campaign devoted to their assumed romance was launched during production of the film. Lori Williams dated him for a while in 1964. She says their "courtship was not some bizarre story. It was very sweet and Elvis was the perfect gentleman."

Former partner Linda Thompson says they did not consummate their relationship until after a few months of dating. When they broke up in late 1976, some believe that Presley's sex life ended. His last girlfriend, Ginger Alden, claims that she was engaged to Presley at the time of his death. His stepbrother David Stanley confirms that Presley proposed and gave her a ring, but says he believes he wanted to secure her companionship and had no intention of marrying again. Charlie Hodge, one of the singer's closest friends, asserted that Presley told him he would not marry Alden.

Acting career

Presley had been interested in acting since his youth. Despite his later declarations that he had no acting experience, fellow Humes High students recall that he was often cast as the lead in the Shakespeare plays they studied in English class. He admired actors such as James Dean and Marlon Brando, and reportedly paid close attention to their performing styles long before he ever set foot on a movie set. On March 26–28, 1956, just days after the release of his first album, he did a screen test for Paramount Pictures. Part of the test was an audition for a supporting role in The Rainmaker, starring Burt Lancaster. Screenwriter Allen Weiss compared his acting to that of "the lead in a high school play." Then, to his recording of "Blue Suede Shoes", Presley gave a lip-synched performance, complete with gyrations. In Weiss's description, "The transformation was incredible...electricity bounced off the walls. ... like an earthquake". In a radio interview two weeks later, Presley excitedly declared that he would be making his motion picture debut in The Rainmaker. The role, Jim Curry, ultimately went to Earl Holliman.

On April 25, Presley signed a seven-year contract with Paramount that also allowed him to work with other studios. In November, he made his big-screen debut with the musical western Love Me Tender. Its commercial success led to the release of three more Presley film vehicles over the next twenty months. The singer would go on to star alongside several well-established actors, including Walter Matthau, Carolyn Jones, Angela Lansbury, Barbara Stanwyck, and Mary Tyler Moore. An eleven-year-old Kurt Russell made his screen debut in It Happened at the World's Fair (1963).

A couple of Presley's early films, Jailhouse Rock (1957) and King Creole (1958), called for relatively dramatic performances. The erotic dance sequence to the former's title song is often cited as his greatest moment onscreen. Howard Thompson of the New York Times began his review of the latter, "As the lad himself might say, cut my legs off and call me Shorty! Elvis Presley can act." But the majority of Presley's movies aimed for little more than reliable returns on modest investments and the promotion of their accompanying soundtrack albums. His first film after his return from the Army, G.I. Blues (1960), directed by Norman Taurog, set the tone. As described by critic Al Clark, it was the "first in a series of nine bland Presley vehicles directed by Taurog, and the film which engendered a career formula of tepid, routine comedy-musicals." Presley at first insisted on pursuing more serious roles, but when his next two films in a more dramatic vein—Flaming Star (1960) and Wild in the Country (1961)—were less commercially successful, he reverted to the formula. For most of the 1960s, during which he made 27 movies, there were few exceptions.

Presley's movies were generally poorly received—one critic dismissed them as a "pantheon of bad taste." As a typical comment put it, the scripts "were all the same". Hal Wallis, who produced nine of Presley's films, also had a reputation for such prestige productions as Becket (1964), starring Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole. But Wallis's goals were clearly very different for his most reliably profitable star: "A Presley picture is the only sure thing in Hollywood," he said. Presley later branded Wallis "a double-dealing sonofabitch", realizing there had never been any intention to let him develop into a serious actor. According to Priscilla Presley, in the late 1960s, he blamed his fall in popularity on his forgettable films.

For all that, Presley's films were indeed commercially successful, and he "became a film genre of his own." The silver screen gave many of his fans around the world their only opportunity to see him, in the absence of live appearances (he toured just once outside of the United States—in Canada, briefly in 1957). Still, as film critic and historian David Thomson asked, "Is there a greater contrast between energy and routine than that between Elvis Presley the phenomenon, live and on record, and Presley the automaton on film?"

Change of Habit (1969) was Presley's final non-concert movie. His last two theatrical films were concert documentaries in the early 1970s. In 1974, he lost the opportunity to co-star with Barbra Streisand in a big-budget remake of A Star Is Born when Parker insisted that she was not entitled to equal billing with Presley. With Kris Kristofferson as the male lead, the film became a major hit.

Legacy

Elvis Presley's death deprives our country of a part of itself. He was unique and irreplaceable. More than 20 years ago, he burst upon the scene with an impact that was unprecedented and will probably never be equaled. His music and his personality, fusing the styles of white country and black rhythm and blues, permanently changed the face of American popular culture. His following was immense, and he was a symbol to people the world over of the vitality, rebelliousness, and good humor of his country.

— President Jimmy Carter
August 17, 1977

Presley transformed the world of popular music and paved the way for many artists, black or white, who followed in his footsteps. Not only did his emergence in the mid-fifties influence the changing musical styles of the time, it also had a huge effect on the popular culture. Appealing to both black and white audiences, his music helped to break down racial barriers in the United States.

African American performers such as Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard came to national prominence after Presley's mix of musical styles was accepted among white American teenagers. Little Richard commented, "He was an integrator, Elvis was a blessing. They wouldn't let black music through. He opened the door for black music." Al Green agreed: "He broke the ice for all of us." It has also been argued that Presley's sound and persona helped to relax the rigid color line and thereby fed the fires of the civil rights movement.

Despite his inability to be taken seriously as an actor, his films throughout the fifties and sixties were always financially successful, and to this day are replayed on television all over the world. In the late 1960s, composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein remarked, "Elvis is the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century. He introduced the beat to everything, music, language, clothes, it's a whole new social revolution... the 60's comes from it." Others, however, focused on what they saw as squandered potential. John Lennon, who had once been famously quoted to the effect that "before Elvis, there was nothing", opined in 1980 that Presley "died when he went into the army...that's when they killed him, that's when they castrated him, the rest of it was just a living death."

Presley's informal jam session before a small audience in the '68 Comeback Special is seen as a precursor of the Unplugged concept, later popularized by MTV. His Las Vegas engagements and TV performances are among the most famous of any performer, and they continue to be discovered by younger audiences via regular releases by RCA and video sharing websites. The worldwide satellite concert Aloha From Hawaii is still the biggest single concert any solo entertainer has given to date.

For much of his career, Presley enjoyed the kind of worldwide fame that had never been seen before, and that has rarely been seen since. His name, image, and voice are instantly recognizable on every continent and among most cultures. He has inspired a legion of impersonaters. In music polls and surveys, he is recognized as one of the most important popular music artists,Template:Fn and he is one of the top selling musicians of all time.

For those too young to have experienced Elvis Presley in his prime, today’s celebration of the 25th anniversary of his death must seem peculiar. All the talentless impersonators and appalling black velvet paintings on display can make him seem little more than a perverse and distant memory. But before Elvis was camp, he was its opposite: a genuine cultural force. ... Elvis’s breakthroughs are underappreciated because in this rock-and-roll age, his hard-rocking music and sultry style have triumphed so completely.

— The New York Times
August 16, 2002

Discography

A vast number of recordings have been issued under Presley's name. His career began and he was most successful during an era when singles were the primary commercial medium for pop music. In the case of his albums, the distinction between "official" studio records and other forms is often blurred. In addition, for most of the 1960s, his recording career focused on soundtrack albums. In the 1970s, his most heavily promoted and best-selling LP releases tended to be concert albums. This summary discography lists only the albums and singles that reached the top of one or more of the following charts: the main U.S. Billboard pop chart; the Billboard country chart, the genre chart with which he was most identified (there was no country album chart before 1964); and the official British pop chart.Template:Fn In the United States, Presley also had five or six number one R&B singles and seven number one Adult Contemporary singles; in 1964, his "Blue Christmas" topped the Christmas singles chart during a period when Billboard did not rank holiday singles in its primary pop chart. He had number one hits in many countries beside the United States and United Kingdom, as well.

Number one albums

Number one singles

Filmography

See also

• List of best-selling music artists
• List of artists by total number of U.S. number-one singles
• List of artists by total number of UK number one singles
• List of honorific titles in popular music

Notes

• Template:Fnb The correct spelling of Presley's middle name has long been a matter of debate. The physician who delivered him, Dr. William Robert Hunt, wrote "Elvis Aaron Presley" in his ledger. The state-issued birth certificate reads "Elvis Aron Presley". The name was chosen after the Presleys' friend and fellow congregation member Aaron Kennedy, though a single-A spelling might have been intended in order to parallel the middle name of Presley's stillborn brother, Jesse Garon. It reads Aron on the 1950 application for his Social Security number and on his draft notice, and this is apparently what Presley thought of as the proper spelling. When, late in his life, he sought to officially change the spelling to the more traditional biblical rendering, Aaron, he discovered that, despite the spelling on his birth certificate, official state records already listed it that way. Knowing his plans for his middle name, Aaron is the spelling his father chose for Presley's tombstone, and it is the spelling his estate has designated as official.
• Template:Fnb Various analyses of Presley's voice credit him with a range of anywhere from two-and-a-quarter to three octaves. See WikiQuote: Elvis Presley.
• Template:Fnb Songs credited to Presley as a cowriter include "Heartbreak Hotel"; "Paralyzed"; all four songs from his first film, including the title track, "Love Me Tender"; and "All Shook Up". Among those songs he actually did cowrite are "That's Someone You Never Forget" and "You'll Be Gone".
• Template:Fnb VH1 ranked Presley #8 among the "100 Greatest Artists of Rock & Roll" in 1998. The BBC ranked him as the #2 "Voice of the Century" in 2001. Rolling Stone placed him #3 in its list of "The Immortals: The Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time" in 2004. CMT ranked him #15 among the "40 Greatest Men in Country Music" in 2005. The Discovery Channel placed him #8 on its "Greatest American" list in 2005. Variety put him in the top ten of its "100 Icons of the Century" in 2005. The Atlantic Monthly ranked him #66 among the "100 Most Influential Figures in American History" in 2006.
• Template:Fnb (1) The year given is the year the record first reached number one, rather than its original year of release. For instance, in 1974, Elvis' 40 Greatest, a compilation on the budget Arcade label, was the fourth highest selling album in the United Kingdom; at the time, the main British chart did not rank such compilations, relegating them to a chart for midpriced and TV-advertised albums, which Elvis' 40 Greatest topped for 15 weeks. The policy was altered in 1975, allowing the album to hit number one on the main chart in 1977, following Presley's death. (2) Before late 1958, rather than unified pop and country singles charts, Billboard had as many as four charts for each, separately ranking records according to sales, jukebox play, jockey spins (i.e., airplay), and, in the case of pop, a general Top 100. According to Billboard convention, historical recordings are now given the highest ranking they achieved among the separate charts. (3) In accordance with the canon of The Official UK Charts Company, the "official British pop chart" is the New Musical Express chart from 1952 to 1960; the Record Retailer chart from 1960 to 1969; and the Official UK Singles Chart from 1969 on. (4) Several Presley singles reached number one on the British pop charts as double A sides; in the United States, the respective sides of those singles were ranked separately by Billboard.

Footnotes

1. ^ "Youtube - The vocal range of Elvis Presley". Youtube.com.
2. ^ Victor 2008, p. 10.
3. Keene, Nick (2008-04-10). "For the Billionth and the Last Time". Elvis Australia. Retrieved 2009-12-26. See also Roger Semon and Ernst Mikael Jørgensen (2001-02-12). "Is Elvis the Biggest Selling Recording Artist?". Elvis.com. Retrieved 2009-12-26.
4. Reaves, Jessica (2002-08-15). "Person of the Week: Elvis Presley". Time. Retrieved 2009-12-26.
5. ^ Collins, Dan (2002-08-07). "How Big Was The King?". CBS News/Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-12-27.
6. Guralnick 1994, p. 13–14.
7. Dundy 2004, pp. 13, 16, 20–22, 26.
8. Dundy, p.10.
9. Guralnick 1994, p. 11–12, 23–24. Victor, 2008, p. 419, provides a detailed list of jobs held by Vernon between 1933 and 1949.
10. ^ Guralnick 1994, p. 12–14.
11. Guralnick 1994, pp. 15–16.
12. Guralnick 1994, pp. 17–18.
13. Guralnick 1994, pp. 19–21.
14. Guralnick 1994, pp. 23–26.
15. ^ "Elvis Aaron Presley 1935–1953: The Early Years of a Legend". Elvis Australia. Retrieved 2009-12-28.
16. Guralnick 1994, pp. 32–33.
17. Guralnick 1994, pp. 35–38.
18. Guralnick 1994, p. 36.
19. Guralnick 1994, pp. 40–41.
20. Stanley and Coffey 1998, p. 20.
21. Lichter 1980, p. 10.
22. Guralnick 1994, pp. 43, 44, 49.
23. Guralnick 1994, pp. 44, 46, 51.
24. Lichter 1980, p. 9.
25. Guralnick 1994, pp. 52–53.
26. ^ Guralnick 1994, p. 171.
27. ^ Matthew-Walker 1979, p. 3.
28. Guralnick 1994, pp. 46–48, 358.
29. Wadey, Paul (2004-01-08). "Jake Hess". The Independent. Retrieved 2009-12-28.
30. Guralnick 1994, pp. 47–48, 77–78.
31. Guralnick 1994, p. 51.
32. Guralnick 1994, pp. 38–40.
33. ^ Guralnick, Peter (2004-01-08). "How Did Elvis Get Turned Into a Racist?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
34. Bertrand 2000, p. 205.
35. Szatmary 1996, p. 35.
36. Guralnick 1994, p. 54.
37. Jorgensen 1998, p. 8.
38. Guralnick 1994, pp. 62–64.
39. Guralnick 1994, p. 65.
40. Guralnick 1994, p. 77.
41. Cusic, Don (1988). "Singing with the King". Rejoice!. Elvis World—Japan. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
42. Guralnick 1994, p. 80.
43. Guralnick 1994, p. 83.
44. Miller 2000, p. 72.
45. Lichter 1980, p. 12.
46. Jorgensen 1998, pp. 10–11.
47. Guralnick 1994, pp. 94–97.
48. Ponce de Leon 2007, p. 43.
49. ^ Guralnick 1994, pp. 100–1.
50. Guralnick 1994, pp. 102–4.
51. Guralnick 1994, pp. 106–7.
52. Guralnick 1994, pp. 106, 108–11.
53. Naylor and Halliday 2007, p. 43.
54. ^ Guralnick 1994, p. 110.
55. "Elvis Presley's First Record and Early Gigs". Elvis Australia. 2005-03-26. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
56. ^ See "Elvis Aaron Presley 1953–1955: The Hillbilly Cat". Elvis Australia. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
57. Guralnick 1994, p. 119.
58. Naylor and Halliday 2007, p. 51.
59. Naylor and Halliday 2007, p. 52.
60. Hayden, Bob (2000-06-19). "The Australian D.J. Fontana Interview 1995". Elvis Australia. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
61. Guralnick 1994, pp. 144, 159, 167–68.
62. Nash 2003, pp. 6–12.
63. Guralnick 1994, pp. 163–70.
64. Guralnick 1994, p. 163.
65. Hopkins 2007, p. 53.
66. Guralnick and Jorgensen 1999, p. 45.
67. Stanley and Coffey 1998, pp. 28–29.
68. Escott 1998, p. 421.
69. Jorgensen 1998, pp. 36, 54.
70. Rogers 1982, p. 41.
71. Guralnick 1994, pp. 217–19.
72. Stanley and Coffey 1998, p. 29.
73. ^ Stanley and Coffey, p. 30.
74. Gordon, Robert - The Elvis Treasures (2002 Elvis Presley Enterprises), p. 17.
75. Slaughter and Nixon 2004, p. 21.
76. Guralnick and Jorgensen 1999, pp. 50, 54.
77. Guralnick and Jorgensen 1999, p. 64.
78. Guffey 2006, p. 127.
79. Williams, Greg (2008-01-01). "Forever Elvis in Tampa". Elvis Australia. Elvis Presley Enterprises. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
80. Hilburn, Robert (2005-02-11). "Review: Elvis Presley CD". elvis.com.au. Retrieved on 2007-10-14.
81. Gordon, Robert - The Elvis Treasures (2002 Elvis Presley Enterprises), p. 19.
82. Rodman 1996, p. 28.
83. Jorgensen 1998, p. 45.
84. Stanley and Coffey 1998, p. 32.
85. ^ "Elvis Aaron Presley 1956: The King of Rock 'n' Roll". Elvis Australia. Retrieved 2009-12-31.
86. Butler, Peter. "Blackie". RockabillyHall.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-14.
87. Fensch 2001, pp. 14-17.
88. See complete Milton Berle Show Hound Dog footage with original music.
89. Jorgensen 1998, p. 49.
90. Gould, Jack (1956-06-06). "TV: New Phenomenon—Elvis Presley Rises to Fame as Vocalist Who Is Virtuoso of Hootchy-Kootchy" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-12-31.
91. ^ Guralnick and Jorgensen 1999, p. 73.
92. Kirchberg and Hendrickx 1999, p. 50.
93. ^ Marcus, Greil (2006-10-06). "Elvis Presley: The Ed Sullivan Shows DVD Liner Notes Essay". Elvis Australia. Retrieved 2009-12-31.
94. Marsh 1982, p. 100. Audio of the interview with a TV Guide reporter is available online: Wilder, Paul (1956-08-06). "Elvis Presley Interview". YouTube. Retrieved 2009-12-31.
95. Austen 2005, p. 13.
96. Allen 1992, p. 270.
97. Keogh 2004, p. 73.
98. Jorgensen 1998, p. 51.
99. ^ Austen 2005, p. 16.
100. ”Elvis Presley Appears On The Ed Sullivan Show.” In Nick Yapp, Douglas Brinkley and Chris Johns, 100 Days in Photographs: Pivotal Events That Changed the World (2007), p.185.
101. Rodriguez, Robert, The 1950s' Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Rock & Roll Rebels, Cold War Crises, and All American Oddities (2006), p.83.
102. See Peter H. Brown and Pat H. Broeske, Down at the End of Lonely Street: The Life and Death of Elvis Presley (1997), p.93.
103. ”Elvis Presley Appears On The Ed Sullivan Show.” In Nick Yapp, Douglas Brinkley and Chris Johns, 100 Days in Photographs: Pivotal Events That Changed the World (2007), p.185.
104. Clayton and Heard 2003, pp. 117–18.
105. ^ Gibson, Christine (2005-12-06). "Elvis on Ed Sullivan: The Real Story". American Heritage. Retrieved 2009-12-31.
106. Rodriguez, p.84.
107. Moore and Dickerson 1997, p. 175.
108. Guralnick 1994, p. 343.
109. ^ Victor 2008, p. 315.
110. Jorgensen 1998, p. 71.
111. ^ Stanley and Coffey 1998, p. 37.
112. classicbands.com Elvis Timeline
113. Freierman, Shelly (2008-01-07). "Popular Demand". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
114. Grein, Paul (2008-24-24). "Elvis Still Holds Top-Selling USA Christmas Album". Elvis Australia. Retrieved 2010-01-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
115. Brett Farmer, Spectacular Passions: Cinema, Fantasy, Gay Male Spectatorships (Duke University Press, 2000), p. 86.
116. Douglas Brode, Elvis Cinema and Popular Culture (2006), p.46.
117. Harry M. Benshoff and Sean Griffin, Queer Cinéma: The Film Reader (2005), p.81.
118. Billy Poore, Rockabilly: A Forty-Year Journey (1998), p. 20.
119. Turner 2004, p. 104.
120. Guralnick 1994, p. 437.
121. ^ Guralnick 1994, pp. 461–474.
122. Guralnick 1999, p. 474–80.
123. Guralnick 1994, p. 13.
124. Elder, Daniel K. "Remarkable Sergeants: Ten Vignettes of Noteworthy NCOs". ncohistory.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-13.
125. Guralnick 1999, p. 21.
126. Guralnick 1999, pp. 47, 49, 55, 60, 73.
127. Clayton and Heard, p. 160.
128. Victor 2008, p. 415.
129. Lichter, p. 51.
130. Presley 1985, p. 40.
131. Jorgensen, p. 107.
132. Slaughter and Nixon 2004, p. 54.
133. Matthew-Walker 1979, p. 19.
134. Jorgensen 1998, p. 120.
135. ^ Matthew-Walker 1979, p. 49.
136. Jorgensen, p. 128.
137. ^ Elvis Biography, 1960-1966
138. Elvis Biography, 1960-1966.
139. Gordon 2005, pp. 110, 114.
140. Gordon 2005, pp. 110, 119.
141. Mundy, John, Popular Music on Screen: From the Hollywood Musical to Music Video (1999), p.123.
142. Verswijver, L., (2002). Movies Were Always Magical: Interviews with 19 Actors, Directors, and Producers from the Hollywood of the 1930s through the 1950s. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-1129-5, p. 129.
143. Sight and Sound, The British Film Institute, British Institute of Adult Education (1992), p. 30.
144. Hopkins 2002, p. 31.
145. ^ Kirchberg and Hendrickx 1999, p. 67.
146. Lisanti 2000, pp. 19, 136.
147. Hopkins 2002, p. 32.
148. Matthew-Walker 1979, p. 66.
149. Marsh 1980, p. 395.
150. ^ Brackett and Hoard (eds.) 2004, p. 650.
151. Guralnick 1999, pp. 261–63.
152. Kirchberg and Hendrickx 1999, p. 73.
153. ^ Keogh 2004, p. 263
154. "1969 Rolling Stone Covers". RollingStone.com. Retrieved 2009-12-24.
155. ^ Guralnick 1999, p. 171.
156. Whitburn 2004, pp. 502–3.
157. Kubernick 2008, p. 4.
158. Guralnick 1999, p. 293.
159. ^ "Interview with Steve Binder, Director of Elvis' 68 Comeback Special". Elvis Australia. 2005-07-08. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
160. ^ Kubernick 2008, p. 26.
161. Hopkins 2007, p. 215.
162. Brackett and Hoard (eds.) 2004, p. 649.
163. Marsh 1980, p. 396.
164. ^ Gordon 2005, p. 146.
165. ^ "Elvis Aaron Presley 1967–1969: From Elvis In Memphis". Elvis Australia. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
166. Gordon 2005, pp. 149–50.
167. Cook 2004, p. 39.
168. Moyer 2002, p. 73.
169. Jorgensen 1998, p. 287.
170. Stanley and Coffey 1998, p. 94.
171. Stanley and Coffey 1998, p. 95.
172. Hopkins 2007, p. 253.
173. Hopkins 2007, p. 254.
174. Stanley and Coffey 1998, p. 96.
175. Stanley and Coffey 1998, p. 99.
176. Guralnick 1999, pp. 419–22.
177. The Beatles 2000, p. 192.
178. "Discover Elvis: Overview of Achievements". Elvis.com. Retrieved 2009-12-30. See also "Lifetime Achievement Award". Grammy.com. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
179. Guralnick 1999, p. 478.
180. Guralnick 1999, pp. 451, 446, 453.
181. Guralnick 1999, p. 456.
182. Hopkins 2007, p. 291.
183. Guralnick 1999, p. 474.
184. Presley 1985, p. 262.
185. Brown and Broeske 1997, p. 364.
186. Mason 2007, p. 141.
187. Guralnick 1999, pp. 488–90.
188. "Who Owns Elvis Presley's Music?". Elvis Australia. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
189. Keogh 2004, p. 245.
190. Guralnick and Jorgensen 1999, p. 329.
191. Clayton and Heard 2003, p. 293.
192. ^ Higginbotham, Alan (2002-08-11). "Doctor Feelgood". The Observer. Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
193. Jorgensen 1998, p. 381.
194. Guralnick 1999, p. 547.
195. Roy 1985, p. 70.
196. Garber 1997, p. 364.
197. Guralnick 1994, pp. 50, 148.
198. Stanley and Coffey 1998, p. 139.
199. Hopkins 2007, p. 354.
200. Stanley and Coffey 1998, p. 140.
201. Guralnick 1999, passim.
202. Scherman, Tony (2006-08-16). "Elvis Dies". American Heritage. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
203. ^ Guralnick 1999, p. 628.
204. ^ Guralnick 1999, p. 634.
205. ^ Guralnick 1999, pp. 637–38.
206. Roy 1985, p. 71.
207. Guralnick 1999, pp. 212, 642.
208. Stanley and Coffey 1998, p. 148.
209. Review of Medical Report. ElvisPresleyNews.com. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
210. ^ Patterson, Nigel (2003-01-30). "Interview: David Stanley Talks to EIN". Elvis Information Network. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
211. Guralnick 1999, pp. 645–48.
212. ^ Woolley, John T., and Gerhard Peters (1977-08-17). "Jimmy Carter: Death of Elvis Presley Statement by the President". American Presidency Project. University of California–Santa Barbara. Retrieved 2009-12-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
213. Hopkins 2007, p. 386.
214. ^ Guralnick 1999, p. 660.
215. ^ McVeigh, Tracy (2002-08-11). "Love Me Tender". The Observer. Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
216. Clayton and Heard, p. 394.
217. Matthew-Walker 1979, p. 26.
218. Blanchard, Tamsin (August 11, 2002). Elvis has left the building. The Guardian.
219. Cook 2004, p. 33.
220. , infoplease.com, Retrieved 2009-12-11
221. Goldman, Lea; David M. Ewalt, eds. (2007-10-29). "Top-Earning Dead Celebrities". Forbes. Retrieved on 2007-10-31.
222. Guralnick 1994, p. 14.
223. Guralnick 1994, p. 15.
224. Guralnick 1994, pp. 47–48.
225. Guralnick 1999, p. 652.
226. ^ Baden and Hennessee 1990, p. 35.
227. ^ "Coverup for a King". Court TV Crime Library. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
228. Guralnick 1994, pp. 97–98.
229. Denisoff 1975, p. 22.
230. ^ Pilgrim, David (March 2006). "Question of the Month: Elvis Presley and Racism". Jim Crow Museum at Feris State University. Retrieved 2009-12-28.
231. Guralnick 1994, p. 426.
232. ^ See, e.g., Kolawole, Helen (2002-08-15). "He Wasn't My King". Guardian. Retrieved 2009-12-27.
233. ^ Myrie 2009, pp. 123–24.
234. Blank, Christopher (2006-07-15). "Elvis & Racism". Elvis Australia. Retrieved 2009-12-28.
235. Bertrand 2000, p. 198.
236. http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2002/08/18/story343531628.asp Retrieved on 2008-07-30.
237. ^ Gordon, Robert - The Elvis Treasures (2002 Elvis Presley Enterprises), p. 25.
238. Schilling, Jerry (2006-07-10). "Why I Wrote Me And A Guy Named Elvis". elvis.com.au. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
239. ^ Clutton, Everything Elvis, p. 47.
240. Clayton and Heard, pp. 262–65.
241. Clayton and Heard, p. 267.
242. Jorgensen, p. 281.
243. Clayton and Heard, p. 226.
244. ^ "Elvis Presley: Biography". RollingStone.com. Retrieved 2009-12-27.
245. ^ Presley 1985, p. 188.
246. Humphries, p. 79.
247. Harris, John (March 27, 2006). "Talking about Graceland". The Guardian.
248. Clayton and Heard, p. 339.
249. Connolly 2007, p. 148.
250. Guralnick 1999, p. 174.
251. Guralnick 1999, p. 175.
252. Garber 1997, p. 366.
253. Brown and Broeske 1997, p. 93.
254. Kirchberg and Hendrickx 1999, p. 62.
255. Curtin, Curtin, and Ginter 1998, p. 119.
256. See "Hollywood Actress Reveals Her Elvis Sex Secrets". WENN, April 25, 2000.
257. Raphael, Byron; Alanna Nash (November 2005). "In Bed with Elvis". Playboy, 52 (11): pp. 64-8, 76, 140.
258. ^ Stein, Ruthe (1997-08-03). "Girls! Girls! Girls!". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
259. Cher - Nervous Cher Turned Down A Date With Elvis(February 7, 2008) - Contactmusic News
260. Lipton, Dalton, and Dalton 2005, p. 172.
261. Presley 1985, p. 175.
262. Lisanti 2003, p. 207.
263. Kirchberg and Hendrickx 1999, pp. 157–58.
264. Victor 2008, p. 2.
265. Guralnick and Jorgensen 1999, p. 67.
266. Guralnick and Jorgensen 1999, p. 68.
267. "Notes for The Rainmaker (1957)". TCM.com. Retrieved 2009-12-27.
268. Bronson 1985, p. 1959.
269. Brown and Broeske 1997, p. 124.
270. Thompson, Howard (1958-07-04). "King Creole: Actor With Guitar". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
271. Falk and Falk 2005, p. 52.
272. Clark 2006, p. 508.
273. Ponce de Leon 2007, p. 133.
274. Caine 2005, p. 21.
275. Fields, Curt (2007-08-03). "A Whole Lotta Elvis Is Goin' to the Small Screen". Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-12-27.
276. Lisanti 2000, p. 18.
277. Thomson 1998, p. 602.
278. Elvis Presley, as a Pop Culture Icon, deserves to be on a stamp, New York Times, Feb 12 1992, Retrieved 2009-12-11
279. The EP Express Radio Station, Retrieved 2009-12-11
280. ^ Khurana, Simran. "Quotes about Elvis". About.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-18.
281. Bertrand, Race, Rock, and Elvis.
282. Elvis: The Ultimate Film Collection Retrieved 2009-11-12
283. Lennon, Ono, and Peebles 1981, p. 74.
284. Johnson, Brett (2004-06-28). "Elvis Comeback Special Director Fought Col. Tom Parker—and Won". Oakland Tribune. CBS Interactive/Scripps Howard News Service. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
285. Lott 1997, p. 192.
286. "Billboard Hot 100 Chart 50th Anniversary". Billboard.com. July 2008. Retrieved 2009-10-01.
287. "Long Live the King". The New York Times. 2002-08-16. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
288. Caulfield, Keith (2004-09-18). "The King of Crossover's No. 1 Hits", Billboard, p. 24. Whitburn 2000a calculates a total of six number one R&B singles, including "Don't Be Cruel", released as a double A-side with "Hound Dog" (pp. 500–1); Caulfield excludes "Don't Be Cruel".
289. Whitburn 2007, passim.
290. Whitburn 2008, passim.
291. ^ Warwick, Kutner, and Brown 2004, pp. 860–66. See also "UK Top 40 Hit Database". everyHit.com. Retrieved 2009-12-28.
292. Whitburn 2004, pp. 500–4.
293. Whitburn 2006, pp. 271–73.
294. "FAQ: Elvis' Middle Name, Is It Aron or Aaron?". Elvis Australia. 2008-01-25. Retrieved 2009-12-31.
295. Cerny 2006, p. 627.
296. "100 Greatest Artists of Rock & Roll". VH1. 1998. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
297. "Sinatra Is Voice of the Century". BBC News. 2001-04-18. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
298. "The Immortals: The First Fifty". RollingStone.com. 2004-04-15. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
299. "40 Greatest Men in Country Music". CMT. 2005. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
300. "Greatest American". Discovery Channel. 2005. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
301. "100 Icons of the Century". Variety.com. 2005. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
302. "The Top 100". The Atlantic Monthly. December 2006. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
303. "Elvis Presley's UK No. 1 Albums". Elvis Australia. 2007-08-25. Retrieved 2009-12-27.

References

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• Caine, Andrew (2005). Interpreting Rock Movies: The Pop Film and Its Critics in Britain. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0719065380.
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• Clark, Al (2005). "G.I. Blues", in Time Out Film Guide (11th ed.), ed. John Pym. Time Out Guides. ISBN 1904978878.
• Clayton, Rose, and Dick Heard (2003). Elvis: By Those Who Knew Him Best. Virgin Publishing Limited. ISBN 0753508354.
• Connolly, Charlie (2007). In Search of Elvis. Abacus. ISBN 9780349119007.
• Cook, Jody (2004). Graceland National Historic Landmark Nomination Form (PDF). United States Department of the Interior.
• Curtin, Jim, James Curtin, and Renata Ginter (1998). Elvis: Unknown Stories behind the Legend. Celebrity Books. ISBN 1580291023.
• Denisoff, R. Serge (1975). Solid Gold: The Popular Record Industry. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Books. ISBN 0-87855-586-2.
• Dundy, Elaine (2004). Elvis and Gladys (2d ed.). University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 1578066344.
• Escott, Colin (1998). "Elvis Presley", in The Encyclopedia of Country Music, ed. Paul Kingsbury. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517608-1.
• Falk, Ursula A., and Gerhard Falk (2005). Youth Culture and the Generation Gap. Algora Publishing. ISBN 0875863671.
• Farren, Mick, and Pearce Marchbank (1977). Elvis In His Own Words. New York: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0860014878.
• Fensch, Thomas (2001). The FBI Files on Elvis Presley. New Century Books. ISBN 0930751035.
• Garber, Marjorie (1997). Vested Interests: Cross-Dressing and Cultural Anxiety. Routledge. ISBN 0415919517.
• Gordon, Robert. (2005). The King on the Road. Bounty Books. ISBN 0753710889.
• Guffey, Elizabeth E. (2006). Retro: The Culture of Revival. Reaktion. ISBN 186189290X.
• Guralnick, Peter (1994). Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0316332259.
• Guralnick, Peter (1999). Careless Love. The Unmaking of Elvis Presley. Back Bay Books. ISBN 0316332976.
• Guralnick, Peter, and Ernst Jorgensen (1999). Elvis Day by Day: The Definitive Record of His Life and Music. Ballantine. ISBN 0345420896.
• Hopkins, Jerry (2002). Elvis in Hawaii. Bess Press. ISBN 1573061425.
• Hopkins, Jerry (2007). Elvis—The Biography. Plexus. ISBN 0-85965-391-9.
• Humphries, Patrick (2003). Elvis The #1 Hits: The Secret History of the Classics. Andrews McMeel. ISBN 0740738038.
• Jorgensen, Ernst (1998). Elvis Presley—A Life in Music: The Complete Recording Sessions. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312185723.
• Keogh, Pamela Clarke (2004). Elvis Presley: The Man, The Life, The Legend. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0743456033.
• Kirchberg, Connie, and Marc Hendrickx (1999). Elvis Presley, Richard Nixon, and the American Dream. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company. ISBN 0786407166.
• Kubernick, Harvey (2008). The Complete '68 Comeback Special CD Booklet. RCA/BMG. UPC 88697306262.
• Lennon, John, Yoko Ono, and Andy Peebles (1981). The Lennon Tapes. BBC. ISBN 0563179449.
• Lichter, Paul (1980). Elvis: The Boy Who Dared To Rock. Sphere Books. ISBN 0722155476].
• Lipton, Peggy, Coco Dalton, and David Dalton (2005). Breathing Out. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312324138.
• Lisanti, Tom (2000). Fantasy Femmes of 60's Cinema: Interviews with 20 Actresses from Biker, Beach, and Elvis Movies. McFarland and Company. ISBN 0786408685.
• Lisanti, Tom (2003). Drive-In Dream Girls: A Galaxy of B-Movie Starlets of the Sixties. McFarland. ISBN 0786415754.
• Lott, Eric (1997). "All the King's Men: Elvis Impersonators and White Working-Class Masculinity", in Race and the Subject of Masculinities, ed. Harry Stecopoulos and Michael Uebel. Duke University Press. ISBN 0822319667.
• Marsh, Dave (1980). "Elvis Presley", in The Rolling Stone Record Guide (2d ed.), ed. Dave Marsh and John Swenson. Virgin. ISBN 0907080006.
• Marsh, Dave (1982). Elvis. Times Books. ISBN 081290947X.
• Mason, Bobbie Ann (2007). Elvis Presley. Penguin, ISBN 0143038893.
• Matthew-Walker, Robert (1979). Elvis Presley. A Study in Music. Tunbridge Wells: Midas Books. ISBN 0859361624.
• Miller, James (2000). Flowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 1947–1977. Fireside. ISBN 0684865602.
• Moore, Scotty, and James Dickerson (1997). That’s Alright, Elvis. Schirmer Books. ISBN 0028645995.
• Moyer, Susan M. (2002). Elvis: The King Remembered. Sports Publishing LLC. ISBN 1582615586.
• Myrie, Russell (2009). Don't Rhyme for the Sake of Riddlin': The Authorized Story of Public Enemy. Cannongate. ISBN 1847671829.
• Nash, Alanna (2003). The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0743213017.
• Naylor, Jerry, and Steve Halliday (2007). The Rockabilly Legends: They Called It Rockabilly Long Before they Called It Rock and Roll. Hal Leonard. ISBN 142342042X.
• Ponce de Leon, Charles L. (2007). Fortunate Son: The Life of Elvis Presley. Macmillan. ISBN 0809016419.
• Presley, Priscilla (1985). Elvis and Me. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0399129847.
• Rogers, Dave (1982). Rock 'n' Roll. Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 0710009380.
• Rodman, Gilbert B. (1996). Elvis After Elvis, The Posthumous Career of a Living Legend. London: Routledge. ISBN 0415110025.
• Roy, Samuel (1985). Elvis: Prophet of Power. Branden Publishing Co. Inc. ISBN 0828318980.
• Shepherd, Cybill, and Aimee Lee Ball (2000). Cybill Disobedience. Thorndike Press. ISBN 0061030147.
• Slaughter, Todd, with Anne E. Nixon (2004). The Elvis Archives. Omnibus Press. ISBN 1844493806.
• Stanley, David E., and Frank Coffey (1998). The Elvis Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. ISBN 0753502933.
• Szatmary, David (1996). A Time to Rock: A Social History of Rock 'n' Roll. New York: Schirmer Books. ISBN 0028646703.
• Thomson, David (1998). A Biographical Dictionary of Film (3d ed.). Knopf. ISBN 0679755640.
• Turner, John Frayn (2004). Frank Sinatra. Taylor Trade Publications. ISBN 1589791452.
• Victor, Adam (2008). The Elvis Encyclopedia. Overlook Duckworth. ISBN 1585675989.
• Warwick, Neil, Jon Kutner, and Tony Brown (2004). The Complete Book of the British Charts: Singles & Albums (3d ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 1844490580.
• Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (8th ed.). Billboard Books. ISBN 0823074994.
• Whitburn, Joel (2006). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits (2d ed.). Billboard Books. ISBN 0823082911.
• Whitburn, Joel (2007). Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Albums (6th ed.). Record Research. ISBN 0898201667.
• Whitburn, Joel (2008). Joel Whitburn Presents Hot Country Albums: Billboard 1964 to 2007. Record Research. ISBN 089820173X.

Further reading

• Allen, Lew (2007). Elvis and the Birth of Rock. Genesis. ISBN 1905662009.
• Ann-Margret and Todd Gold (1994). Ann-Margret: My Story. G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0399138919.
• Cantor, Louis (2005). Dewey and Elvis: The Life and Times of a Rock 'n' Roll Deejay. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 025202951X.
• Chadwick, Vernon (ed.) (1997). In Search of Elvis: Music, Race, Art, Religion. Westview. ISBN 0813329876.
• Dickerson, James L. (2001). Colonel Tom Parker: The Curious Life of Elvis Presley's Eccentric Manager. Cooper Square Press. ISBN 0815412673.
• Doss, Erika Lee (1999). Elvis Culture: Fans, Faith, and Image. University of Kansas Press. ISBN 0700609482.
• Finstad, Suzanne (1997). Child Bride: The Untold Story of Priscilla Beaulieu Presley. Harmony Books. ISBN 0517705850.
• Goldman, Albert (1981). Elvis. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0070236577.
• Goldman, Albert (1990). Elvis: The Last 24 Hours. St. Martin's. ISBN 0312925417.
• Marcus, Greil (1999). Dead Elvis: A Chronicle of a Cultural Obsession. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674194225.
• Marcus, Greil (2000). Double Trouble: Bill Clinton and Elvis Presley in a Land of No Alternative. Picador. ISBN 057120676X.
• Nash, Alanna, et al. (2005). Elvis and the Memphis Mafia. Aurum. ISBN 1845131282.
• West, Red, Sonny West, and Dave Hebler (as told to Steve Dunleavy) (1977). Elvis: What Happened? Bantam Books. ISBN 0345272153.

External links

• Elvis Presley at IMDb
• Template:Amg name
• Elvis Presley at Find a Grave
• Elvis Presley Enterprises official site of the Elvis Presley brand
• Elvis Presley Interviews on officially sanctioned Elvis Australia site
• Template:Dmoz
• Elvis Presley Ancestry at Genealogy.com

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