“jailhouse rock”
(1957)
‘age 22’
.
.
*SONGS* –>
*TOP 12*
.
*THAT’S ALRIGHT MAMA*
(1954)
.
*’BLUE MOON’ OF ‘KENTUCKY’*
(1954)
.
“MYSTERY TRAIN”
(1955)
.
“HEARTBREAK HOTEL”
(1956)
.
“BLUE SUEDE SHOES”
(1956)
.
“DON’T BE CRUEL”
.
“HOUND DOG”
(1956 elvis presley single)
(written by leiber + stoller)
.
“JAILHOUSE ROCK”
(title track of 1957 elvis presley album)
(written by leiber + stoller)
.
*INTRO*
(C# –> D) x 2
.
*VERSES*
(C# –> D) x 4
(G7) (D)
(A7) (G7)
(D) (G7) (D)
.
“VIVA LAS VEGAS”
.
“LOVE ME TENDER”
.
.
“CAN’T STOP LOVING YOU”
.
“SUSPICIOUS MINDS”
.
*WAY DOWN*
(1977)
.
.
********************************************
********************************************
.
(he’s always good for a laugh, ain’t he?)
.
.
(and their accompanying ‘oversung heroes’…)
.
elvis aaron (aron?) presley
(8 january 1935 – 16 august 1977)
(died @ age 42)
(born in mississippi to vernon + ‘gladys’)
(presley’s ancestry was primarily a Western European mix 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 by relatives and friends as the dominant member of the small family)
(‘Vernon’ 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, they lost their home after ‘Vernon’ was found guilty of altering a check written by the landowner)
(he was jailed for 8 months, and Gladys and Elvis moved in with relatives)
(moved to Memphis TN at age 13)
(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”)
(cutting some records as a present to his mother ‘gladys’)
(‘Presley’ cut a second acetate in January 1954—”I’ll Never Stand In Your Way” and “It Wouldn’t Be the Same Without You”)
(not long after, he failed an audition for a local vocal quartet, the ‘Songfellows’)
(he explained to his father, “they told me i couldn’t sing”)
(Songfellow ‘Jim Hamill’ later claimed that he was turned down 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’, leader of Smith’s professional band, which had an opening for a vocalist)
(‘Bond’ rejected him after a tryout, advising Presley to stick to truck driving “because you’re never going to make it as a singer”)
(began career in 1954 at sam philip’s ‘sun records’)
(he was an 19-year-old truck driver)
(backed by guitarist ‘scotty moore’ and bassist ‘bill black’)
(white man with a negro sound is a moneymaker)
(the session, held the evening of July 5, proved entirely unfruitful until late in the night)
(as they were about to give up and go home, Presley took his guitar and launched into a 1946 blues number, Arthur Crudup’s “That’s All Right”)
.
(‘moore’ recalled, “All of a sudden, Elvis just started singing this song, jumping around and acting the fool, and then Bill picked up his bass, and he started acting the fool, too, and I started playing with them.
Sam, I think, had the door to the control booth open … he stuck his head out and said, ‘What are you doing?’
And we said, ‘We don’t know.’
‘Well, back up,’ he said, ‘try to find a place to start, and do it again'”
.
(Phillips quickly began taping;
this was the sound he had been looking for)
Three days later, popular Memphis DJ Dewey Phillips played “That’s All Right” 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 reverse
(the trio played publicly for the first time on July 17 at the Bon Air club—Presley still sporting his child-size guitar)
At the end of the month, they appeared 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, Moore and Black quit their old band to play with Presley regularly and DJ and promoter Bob Neal became the trio’s manager.
From August through October, they played frequently at the Eagle’s Nest club and returned to Sun Studio for more recording sessions, and Presley quickly grew more confident on stage.
(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 what would be his only appearance on Nashville’s “Grand Ole Opry”Grand Ole Opry on October 2; after a polite audience response, Opry manager Jim Denny told Phillips that his singer was “not bad” but did not suit the program)
Two weeks later, Presley was booked on Louisiana Hayride, the Opry‘s chief, and more adventurous, rival.
The Shreveport-based show was broadcast to 198 radio stations in 28 states.
Presley had another attack of nerves during the first set, which drew a muted reaction.
A more composed and energetic second set inspired an enthusiastic response.
House drummer D.J. Fontana brought a new element, complementing Presley’s movements with accented beats that he had mastered playing in strip clubs.
Soon after the show, the Hayride engaged Presley for a year’s worth of Saturday-night appearances.
Trading in his old guitar for $8 (and seeing it promptly dispatched to the garbage), he purchased a Martin instrument for $175, and his trio began playing in new locales including Houston, Texas, and Texarkana.
By early 1955, Presley’s regular Hayride appearances, constant touring, and well-received record releases had made him a substantial regional star, from Tennessee to West Texas.
In January, Neal signed a formal management contract with Presley and brought the singer to the attention of 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 acquired an honorary colonel’s commission from country singer turned Louisiana governor Jimmie Davis.
Having successfully managed top country star Eddy Arnold, he was now working with the new number one country singer, Hank Snow.
Parker booked Presley on Snow’s February tour.
When the tour reached Odessa, Texas, a 19-year-old Roy Orbison saw Presley for the first time:
(“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.
Soon after, he failed an audition for Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts on the national CBS network.
By August, Sun had released ten sides credited to “Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill”; on the latest recordings, 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 blend of styles made it difficult for Presley’s music to find radio airplay.
(according to Neal, many country music disc jockeys would not play it because he sounded too much like a black artist and none of the rhythm and blues stations would touch him because “he sounded too much like a hillbilly”)
(the blend came to be known as “rockabilly”)
At the time, Presley was variously billed as “The King of Western Bop”, “The Hillbilly Cat”, and “The Memphis Flash”.
Presley renewed Neal’s management contract in August 1955, simultaneously appointing Parker as his special adviser.
The group maintained an extensive touring schedule throughout the second half of the year.
(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”)
The trio became a quartet when Hayride drummer Fontana joined as a full member.
In mid-October, they played a few shows in support of Bill Haley, whose “Rock Around the Clock” had been a number one hit the previous year.
Haley observed that Presley had a natural feel for rhythm, and advised him to sing fewer ballads.
At the Country Disc Jockey Convention in early November, Presley was voted the year’s most promising male artist.
Several record companies had by now shown interest in signing him.
After three major labels made offers of up to $25,000, Parker and Phillips struck a deal with “RCA Victor” on November 21 to acquire Presley’s Sun contract for an unprecedented $40,000.
Parker arranged with the owners of Hill and Range Publishing, Jean and Julian Aberbach, to create two entities, Elvis Presley Music and Gladys Music, to handle all of the new material recorded by Presley.
Songwriters were obliged to forego one third of their customary royalties in exchange for having him perform their compositions.
(by december, RCA had begun to heavily promote its new singer, and before month’s end had reissued many of his Sun recording)
(colonel tom parker becomes manager in 1955)
(for 40K, buys out elvis contract w/ sun records)
(moves to lifelong label RCA Records)
On January 10, 1956, Presley made his first recordings for RCA in Nashville.
(extending the singer’s by now customary backup of Moore, Black, and Fontana, RCA enlisted pianist Floyd Cramer, guitarist Chet Atkins, and three background singers, including Gordon Stoker of the popular jordanaires quartet, to fill out the sound)
(January 1956: ‘heartbreak hotel’ becomes #1 single)
(elvis is 21 years old)
Presley made the first of two appearances on NBC’s Milton Berle Show on April 3.
His performance, on the deck of the USS Hancock in San Diego, prompted cheers and screams from an audience of sailors and their dates.
A few days later, a flight taking Presley and his band to Nashville for a recording session left all three badly shaken when an engine died and the plane almost went down over Arkansas.
Twelve weeks after its original release, “Heartbreak Hotel” became Presley’s first number one pop hit.
In late April, Presley began a two-week residency at the New Frontier Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
The shows were poorly received by the conservative, middle-aged hotel guests—”like a jug of corn liquor at a champagne party”, wrote a critic for Newsweek.
Amid his Vegas tenure, Presley, who had serious acting ambitions, signed a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures.
He began a tour of the Midwest in mid-May, taking in 15 cities in as many days.
He had attended several shows by “Freddie Bell and the Bellboys” in vegas, and was struck by their cover of “Hound Dog”, a hit in 1952 for blues singer Big Mama Thornton.
It became the new closing number of his act.
After a show in La Crosse, Wisconsin, an urgent message on the letterhead of the local Catholic diocese’s newspaper was sent to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.
(it warned that “Presley is a definite danger to the security of the United States. … [His] 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”)
(the second Milton Berle Show appearance came on June 5 at NBC’s Hollywood studio, amid another hectic tour)
(Berle persuaded the singer to leave his guitar backstage, advising, “Let ’em see you, son”)
(during the performance, Presley abruptly halted an uptempo rendition of “Hound Dog” with a wave of his arm and launched into a slow, grinding version accentuated with energetic, exaggerated body movements)
(Presley’s gyrations 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)
The Berle shows drew such high ratings that Presley was booked for a July 1 appearance on NBC’s The Steve Allen Show in New York. Allen, no fan of rock and roll, introduced a “new Elvis” in a white bow tie and black tails.
Presley sang “Hound Dog” for less than a minute to a basset hound wearing a top hat and bow tie.
(as described by television historian Jake Austen, “Allen thought Presley was talentless and absurd… [he] 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 his 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 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 judge in Jacksonville, Florida, ordered Presley to tame his act.
Throughout the following performance, he largely kept still, except for wiggling his little finger suggestively in mockery of the order.
The single pairing “Don’t Be Cruel” with “Hound Dog” ruled the top of the charts for 11 weeks—a mark that would not be surpassed for 36 years.
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”, contributed “Love Me”.
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 approximately 60 million viewers—a record 82.6 percent of the television audience.
Actor Charles Laughton hosted the show, filling in while Sullivan recuperated from a car accident.
presley appeared in two segments that night from “CBS Television City” in Hollywood.
According to Elvis legend, Presley was shot only from the waist up.
(watching clips of the Allen and Berle shows with his producer, Sullivan had opined 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. … We just can’t have this on a Sunday night. This is a family show!”)
(sullivan publicly told TV Guide, “As for his gyrations, the whole thing can be controlled with camera shots”)
In fact, Presley was shown head-to-toe in the first and second shows.
(though the camerawork was relatively discreet during his debut, with leg-concealing closeups when he danced, the studio audience reacted in customary style: screaming)
(Presley’s performance of his forthcoming single, the ballad “Love Me Tender”, prompted a record-shattering million advance orders)
More than any other single event, it was this first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show that made Presley a national celebrity of barely precedented proportions.
Accompanying Presley’s rise to fame, a cultural shift was taking place that he both helped inspire and came to symbolize.
(igniting the “biggest pop craze since Glenn Miller and Frank Sinatra … Presley brought rock’n’roll into the mainstream of popular culture”)
(“as Presley set the artistic pace, other artists followed … Presley, more than anyone else, gave the young a belief in themselves as a distinct and somehow unified generation—the first in America ever to feel the power of an integrated youth culture”)
(November 1956:)
(film debut ‘love me tender’)
drafted into the army in 1957
(age 22)
His mother died of heart failure in 1958
(age 46)
(Elvis was 23 years old)
(“sergeant elvis” was honorably discharged in 1960)
(during his time in the army, he was introduced to amphetamines + karate)
(John Lennon claimed that the US Army had neutered Elvis)
He maintained a post in Germany
He met Priscilla in Germany
(they first met at a party in 1959)
(she was 14)
(he was 24)
Priscilla Presley
(born 1945)
(her father was a US Air Force officer stationed in Germany)
Elvis refused to have sex with her until they were married
(although some claim they had sex on her second date and that Priscilla was not a virgin when she met him)
They met again in the summer of 1962
(Priscilla’s parents agreed to let her visit for two weeks)
(Elvis was 27)
(Priscilla was 17)
(starts his critically derided ‘hollywood phase’ for the 60s)
(‘1968 comeback special’)
(hadn’t performed live since 1961)
(he came out like a sweaty indian sex deity)
(profitable tours)
(las vegas residency)
1973 ‘aloha from hawaii’
(first globally-televised satellite concert)
(Elvis Presley died on 16 August 1977)
(a tour was scheduled to begin the next day)
(his fiancee ‘Ginger Alden’ (born 1956) found him dead in the bathroom when she woke up in the early afternoon)
(he had been using the toilet after a late night / early morning racquetball session and he stumbled a few feet away)
(“Doctor Francisco” dubiously stated that “cardiac arrhythmia” was the cause of death, a condition that can only be determined in a living person (not ‘post mortem’))
“cardiac arrhythmia” –>
(term for any of a large and heterogeneous group of conditions in which there is abnormal electrical activity in the heart)
(the heart beat may be too fast or too slow, and may be regular or irregular)
(in 1994, the autopsy into Presley’s death was re-opened)
(coroner Dr. Joseph Davis declared: “There is nothing in any of the data that supports a death from drugs [i.e. drug overdose]. In fact, everything points to a sudden, violent heart attack”)
(but combined drug intoxication is undoubtedly what killed ‘elvis presley’)
(he spent over $1 million a year on drugs + doctor’s fees)
(and their accompanying ‘oversung heroes’:)
elvis aaron (aron?) presley
(8 january 1935 – 16 august 1977)
(died @ age 42)
born in mississippi to vernon + gladys…
presley’s ancestry was primarily a Western European mix 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 by relatives and friends as the dominant member of the small family. Vernon 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, they lost their home after Vernon was found guilty of altering a check written by the landowner. He was jailed for eight months, and Gladys and Elvis moved in with relatives
(moved to Memphis TN at age 13)
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”
(cutting some records as a present to his mother gladys)
Presley cut a second acetate in January 1954—”I’ll Never Stand In Your Way” and “It Wouldn’t Be the Same Without You”
Not long after, he failed an audition for a local vocal quartet, the Songfellows. He explained to his father, “They told me I couldn’t sing.” Songfellow Jim Hamill later claimed that he was turned down 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, leader of Smith’s professional band, which had an opening for a vocalist. Bond rejected him after a tryout, advising Presley to stick to truck driving “because you’re never going to make it as a singer.”
(began career in 1954 at sam philip’s ‘sun records’)
(he was an 19-year-old truck driver)
(backed by guitarist scotty moore and bassist bill black)
(white man with a negro sound is a moneymaker)
The session, held the evening of July 5, proved entirely unfruitful until late in the night. As they were about to give up and go home, Presley took his guitar and launched into a 1946 blues number, Arthur Crudup’s “”That’s All Right”. Moore recalled, “All of a sudden, Elvis just started singing this song, jumping around and acting the fool, and then Bill picked up his bass, and he started acting the fool, too, and I started playing with them. Sam, I think, had the door to the control booth open … he stuck his head out and said, ‘What are you doing?’ And we said, ‘We don’t know.’ ‘Well, back up,’ he said, ‘try to find a place to start, and do it again.'” Phillips quickly began taping; this was the sound he had been looking for.
Three days later, popular Memphis DJ Dewey Phillips played “That’s All Right” 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 Delay (audio effect)”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 reverse
the trio played publicly for the first time on July 17 at the Bon Air club—Presley still sporting his child-size guitar
At the end of the month, they appeared 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, Moore and Black quit their old band to play with Presley regularly and DJ and promoter Bob Neal became the trio’s manager. From August through October, they played frequently at the Eagle’s Nest club and returned to Sun Studio for more recording sessions, and Presley quickly grew more confident on stage. 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 what would be his only appearance on Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry on October 2;
after a polite audience response, Opry manager Jim Denny told Phillips that his singer was “not bad” but did not suit the program.
Two weeks later, Presley was booked on Louisiana Hayride, the Opry‘s chief, and more adventurous, rival. The
Louisiana”Shreveport-based show was broadcast to 198 radio stations in 28 states.
Presley had another attack of nerves during the first set, which drew a muted reaction.
A more composed and energetic second set inspired an enthusiastic response.
House drummer D.J. Fontana brought a new element, complementing Presley’s movements with accented beats that he had mastered playing in strip clubs.
Soon after the show, the Hayride engaged Presley for a year’s worth of Saturday-night appearances.
Trading in his old guitar for $8 (and seeing it promptly dispatched to the garbage), he purchased a Martin instrument for $175, and his trio began playing in new locales including Houston, Texas, and Texarkana, Arkansas.
By early 1955, Presley’s regular Hayride appearances, constant touring, and well-received record releases had made him a substantial regional star, from Tennessee to West Texas.
In January, Neal signed a formal management contract with Presley and brought the singer to the attention of 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 acquired an honorary colonel’s commission from country singer turned Louisiana governor jimmie Davis.
Having successfully managed top country star Eddy Arnold, he was now working with the new number one country singer, Hank Snow.
Parker booked Presley on Snow’s February tour.
When the tour reached Odessa, Texas, a 19-year-old Roy Orbison saw Presley for the first time: “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.
Soon after, he failed an audition for “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts”Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts on the national CBS network.
By August, Sun had released ten sides credited to “Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill”; on the latest recordings, 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 blend of styles made it difficult for Presley’s music to find radio airplay. According to Neal, many country music disc jockeys would not play it because he sounded too much like a black artist and none of the rhythm and blues stations would touch him because “he sounded too much like a hillbilly.
The blend came to be known as rockabilly.
At the time, Presley was variously billed as “The King of Western Bop”, “The Hillbilly Cat”, and “The Memphis Flash”.
Presley renewed Neal’s management contract in August 1955, simultaneously appointing Parker as his special adviser.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEGuralnickJorgensen199945-64″[65] The group maintained an extensive touring schedule throughout the second half of the year.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEJorgensen199829-65″[66] 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.”HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTERogers198241-66″[67] The trio became a quartet when Hayride drummer Fontana joined as a full member. In mid-October, they played a few shows in support of HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Haley” \o “Bill Haley”Bill Haley, whose “HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Around_the_Clock” \o “Rock Around the Clock”Rock Around the Clock” had been a number one hit the previous year. Haley observed that Presley had a natural feel for rhythm, and advised him to sing fewer ballads.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEGuralnick1994217.E2.80.9319-67″[68]
At the Country Disc Jockey Convention in early November, Presley was voted the year’s most promising male artist.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEJorgensen199831-68″[69] Several record companies had by now shown interest in signing him. After three major labels made offers of up to $25,000, Parker and Phillips struck a deal with HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA_Records” \o “RCA Records”RCA Victor on November 21 to acquire Presley’s Sun contract for an unprecedented $40,000.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEStanleyCoffey199828.E2.80.9329-69″[70]HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “endnote_fn_b”b Presley, at 20, was still a minor, so his father signed the contract.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEEscott1998421-70″[71] Parker arranged with the owners of Hill and Range Publishing, Jean and Julian Aberbach, to create two entities, Elvis Presley Music and Gladys Music, to handle all of the new material recorded by Presley. Songwriters were obliged to forego one third of their customary royalties in exchange for having him perform their compositions.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEJorgensen199836.2C_54-71″[72]HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “endnote_fn_c”c By December, RCA had begun to heavily promote its new singer, and before month’s end had reissued many of his Sun recordings
(colonel tom parker becomes manager in 1955)
(for 40K, buys out elvis contract w/ sun records)
(moves to lifelong label RCA Records)
On January 10, 1956, Presley made his first recordings for RCA in Nashville.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEStanleyCoffey199830-75″[76] Extending the singer’s by now customary backup of Moore, Black, and Fontana, RCA enlisted pianist HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Cramer” \o “Floyd Cramer”Floyd Cramer, guitarist HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chet_Atkins” \o “Chet Atkins”Chet Atkins, and three background singers, including Gordon Stoker of the popular HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordanaires” \o “Jordanaires”Jordanaires quartet, to fill out the sound
(January 1956 ‘heartbreak hotel’ becomes #1 single)
(elvis is 21 years old)
Presley made the first of two appearances on NBC’s HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Milton_Berle_Show” \o “The Milton Berle Show”Milton Berle Show on April 3.
His performance, on the deck of the HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Hancock_%28CV-19%29” \o “USS Hancock (CV-19)”USS Hancock in HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego” \o “San Diego”San Diego, prompted cheers and screams from an audience of sailors and their dates.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEGuralnick1994262.E2.80.9363-81″[82] A few days later, a flight taking Presley and his band to Nashville for a recording session left all three badly shaken when an engine died and the plane almost went down over Arkansas.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEGuralnick1994267-82″[83] Twelve weeks after its original release, “Heartbreak Hotel” became Presley’s first number one pop hit. In late April, Presley began a two-week residency at the HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Frontier_Hotel_and_Casino” \o “New Frontier Hotel and Casino”New Frontier Hotel and Casino on the HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas_Strip” \o “Las Vegas Strip”Las Vegas Strip. The shows were poorly received by the conservative, middle-aged hotel guests—”like a jug of corn liquor at a champagne party”, wrote a critic for HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsweek” \o “Newsweek”Newsweek.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEGuralnick1994274-83″[84] Amid his Vegas tenure, Presley, who had serious acting ambitions, signed a seven-year contract with HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramount_Pictures” \o “Paramount Pictures”Paramount Pictures.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEVictor2008315-84″[85] He began a tour of the Midwest in mid-May, taking in 15 cities in as many days.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEGuralnickJorgensen199972.E2.80.9373-85″[86] He had attended several shows by HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Bell_and_the_Bellboys” \o “Freddie Bell and the Bellboys”Freddie Bell and the Bellboys in Vegas, and was struck by their cover of “HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hound_Dog_%28song%29” \o “Hound Dog (song)”Hound Dog”, a hit in 1952 for blues singer HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mama_Thornton” \o “Big Mama Thornton”Big Mama Thornton. It became the new closing number of his act.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEGuralnick1994273.2C_284-86″[87] After a show in HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Crosse,_Wisconsin” \o “La Crosse, Wisconsin”La Crosse, Wisconsin, an urgent message on the letterhead of the local Catholic diocese’s newspaper was sent to HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation” \o “Federal Bureau of Investigation”FBI director HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Edgar_Hoover” \o “J. Edgar Hoover”J. Edgar Hoover. It warned that “Presley is a definite danger to the security of the United States. … [His] 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.”HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEFensch200114.E2.80.9318-87″[88]
The second Milton Berle Show appearance came on June 5 at NBC’s Hollywood studio, amid another hectic tour. Berle persuaded the singer to leave his guitar backstage, advising, “Let ’em see you, son.”HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEBurkeGriffin200652-88″[89] During the performance, Presley abruptly halted an uptempo rendition of “Hound Dog” with a wave of his arm and launched into a slow, grinding version accentuated with energetic, exaggerated body movements.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEBurkeGriffin200652-88″[89] Presley’s gyrations created a storm of controversy.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEJorgensen199849-89″[90] Television critics were outraged: HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Gould” \o “Jack Gould”Jack Gould of HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times” \o “The New York Times”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.”HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEGould1956-90″[91] Ben Gross of the New York HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Daily_News” \o “New York Daily News”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”.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEGuralnickJorgensen199973-91″[92] HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Sullivan” \o “Ed Sullivan”Ed Sullivan, whose own variety show was the nation’s most popular, declared him “unfit for family viewing”.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEMarcus2006-92″[93] 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
The Berle shows drew such high ratings that Presley was booked for a July 1 appearance on NBC’s HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Steve_Allen_Show” \o “The Steve Allen Show”The Steve Allen Show in New York. Allen, no fan of rock and roll, introduced a “new Elvis” in a white bow tie and black tails. Presley sang “Hound Dog” for less than a minute to a HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basset_hound” \o “Basset hound”basset hound wearing a top hat and bow tie. As described by television historian Jake Austen, “Allen thought Presley was talentless and absurd… [he] set things up so that Presley would show his contrition”.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEAusten200513-94″[95] 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 his program.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEAllen1992270-95″[96] Presley would refer back to the Allen show as the most ridiculous performance of his career.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEKeogh200473-96″[97] Later that night, he appeared on HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hy_Gardner” \o “Hy Gardner”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?”HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEGuralnickJorgensen199973-91″[92]
The next day, Presley recorded “Hound Dog”, along with “HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Any_Way_You_Want_Me” \o “Any Way You Want Me”Any Way You Want Me” and “HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Be_Cruel” \o “Don’t Be Cruel”Don’t Be Cruel”. HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jordanaires” \o “The Jordanaires”The Jordanaires 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.”HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEJorgensen199851-97″[98] In August, a judge in HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacksonville,_Florida” \o “Jacksonville, Florida”Jacksonville, Florida, ordered Presley to tame his act. Throughout the following performance, he largely kept still, except for wiggling his little finger suggestively in mockery of the order.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEGuralnickJorgensen199980.E2.80.9381-98″[99] The single pairing “Don’t Be Cruel” with “Hound Dog” ruled the top of the charts for 11 weeks—a mark that would not be surpassed for 36 years.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEWhitburn19935-99″[100] Recording sessions for Presley’s second album took place in Hollywood during the first week of September. HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Leiber_and_Mike_Stoller” \o “Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller”Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the writers of “Hound Dog”, contributed “HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Me_%28Leiber/Stoller_song%29” \o “Love Me (Leiber/Stoller song)”Love Me”.
Allen’s show with Presley had, for the first time, beaten CBS’s HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ed_Sullivan_Show” \o “The Ed Sullivan Show”The Ed Sullivan Show in the ratings. Sullivan, despite his June pronouncement, booked the singer for three appearances for an unprecedented $50,000.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEAusten200516-100″[101] The first, on September 9, 1956, was seen by approximately 60 million viewers—a record 82.6 percent of the television audience.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEEdgerton2007187-101″[102] Actor HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Laughton” \o “Charles Laughton”Charles Laughton hosted the show, filling in while Sullivan recuperated from a car accident.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEMarcus2006-92″[93] Presley appeared in two segments that night from HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBS_Television_City” \o “CBS Television City”CBS Television City in Hollywood. According to Elvis legend, Presley was shot only from the waist up. Watching clips of the Allen and Berle shows with his producer, Sullivan had opined 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. … We just can’t have this on a Sunday night. This is a family show!”HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEBrownBroeske199793-102″[103] Sullivan publicly told HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_Guide” \o “TV Guide”TV Guide, “As for his gyrations, the whole thing can be controlled with camera shots.”HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEAusten200516-100″[101] In fact, Presley was shown head-to-toe in the first and second shows. Though the camerawork was relatively discreet during his debut, with leg-concealing closeups when he danced, the studio audience reacted in customary style: screaming.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEGuralnick1994338-103″[104]HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEGibson2005-104″[105] Presley’s performance of his forthcoming single, the ballad “HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Me_Tender_%28song%29” \o “Love Me Tender (song)”Love Me Tender”, prompted a record-shattering million advance orders.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEVictor2008439-105″[106] More than any other single event, it was this first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show that made Presley a national celebrity of barely precedented proportions.HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley” \l “cite_note-FOOTNOTEMarcus2006-92″[93]
Accompanying Presley’s rise to fame, a cultural shift was taking place that he both helped inspire and came to symbolize.
igniting the “biggest pop craze since Glenn Miller and Frank Sinatra … Presley brought rock’n’roll into the mainstream of popular culture”
“As Presley set the artistic pace, other artists followed … Presley, more than anyone else, gave the young a belief in themselves as a distinct and somehow unified generation—the first in America ever to feel the power of an integrated youth culture.”
(November 1956 film debut ‘love me tender’)
drafted into the army in 1957 (age 22)
His mother died of heart failure in 1958 (age 46)
(Elvis was 23 years old)
Sergeant Elvis was honorably discharged in 1960
During his time in the army, he was introduced to amphetamines + karate
(John Lennon claimed that the US Army had neutered Elvis)
He maintained a post in Germany
He met Priscilla in Germany / they first met at a party in 1959
(she was 14 / he was 24)
Priscilla Presley (born 1945)
(her father was a US Air Force officer stationed in Germany)
Elvis refused to have sex with her until they were married
(although some claim they had sex on her second date and that Priscilla was not a virgin when she met him)
They met again in the summer of 1962
(Priscilla’s parents agreed to let her visit for two weeks)
(Elvis was 27 / Priscilla was 17)
(starts his critically derided ‘hollywood phase’ for the 60s)
(‘1968 comeback special’)
(hadn’t performed live since 1961)
(he came out like a sweaty indian sex deity)
(profitable tours / las vegas residency)
1973 ‘aloha from hawaii’
(first globally-televised satellite concert)
Elvis Presley died on 16 August 1977
(a tour was scheduled to begin the next day)
His fiancee Ginger Alden (born 1956) found him dead in the bathroom when she woke up in the early afternoon. He had been using the toilet after a late night / early morning racquetball session and he stumbled a few feet away.
Dr. Francisco dubiously stated that cardiac arrhythmia was the cause of death, a condition that can only be determined in a living person (not post mortem).
Cardiac arrhythmia –>
term for any of a large and heterogeneous group of conditions in which there is abnormal electrical activity in the heart. The heart beat may be too fast or too slow, and may be regular or irregular
In 1994, the autopsy into Presley’s death was re-opened. Coroner Dr. Joseph Davis declared: “There is nothing in any of the data that supports a death from drugs [i.e. drug overdose]. In fact, everything points to a sudden, violent heart attack.”
But combined drug intoxication is undoubtedly what killed Elvis Presley
(he spent over $1 million a year on drugs + doctor’s fees)
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*👨🔬🕵️♀️🙇♀️*SKETCHES*🙇♂️👩🔬🕵️♂️*
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*“FAMOUS ELVI” (THE FAITHFULLY DEPARTED)* ☞ 👉👉👉
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💕💝💖💓🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤❤️💚💛🧡❣️💞💔💘❣️🧡💛💚❤️🖤💜🖤💙🖤💙🖤💗💖💝💘
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*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*
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🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥