b. Elvis Aaron Presley, 8 January 1935, Tupelo, Mississippi, USA, d. 16 August 1977, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. The most celebrated popular music phenomenon of his era and, for many, the purest embodiment of rock ‘n’ roll, Elvis Presley’s life and career have become part of rock legend. The elder of twins, his younger brother, Jesse Garon, was stillborn, a tragedy that partly contributed to the maternal solicitude dominating his childhood and teenage years. Presley’s first significant step towards a musical career took place at the age of eight when he won $5 in a local song contest performing the lachrymose Red Foley ballad, ‘Old Shep’. His earliest musical influence came from attending the Pentecostal Church and listening to the psalms and gospel songs. He also had a strong grounding in country and blues and it was the combination of these different styles that was to provide his unique musical identity.
By the age of 13, Presley had moved with his family to Memphis, and during his later school years began cultivating an outsider image, with long hair, spidery sideburns and ostentatious clothes. After leaving school he took a job as a truck driver, a role in keeping with his unconventional appearance. In spite of his rebel posturing, Presley remained studiously polite to his elders and was devoted to his mother. Indeed, it was his filial affection that first prompted him to visit Sun Records, whose studios offered the sophisticated equivalent of a fairground recording booth service. In 1953, as a birthday present to his mother, Gladys, Presley cut a version of the Ink Spots’ ‘My Happiness’, backed with the Raskin/Brown/Fisher standard ‘That’s When Your Heartaches Begin’. The studio manager, Marion Keisker, noted Presley’s unusual but distinctive vocal style and informed Sun’s owner/producer Sam Phillips of his potential. Phillips nurtured the boy for almost a year before, in July 1954, putting him together with country guitarist Scotty Moore and bass player Bill Black. Their early sessions showed considerable promise, especially when Presley began alternating his unorthodox low-key delivery with a high-pitched whine. The amplified guitars of Moore and Black contributed strongly to the effect and convinced Phillips that the singer was startlingly original. In Presley, Phillips saw something that he had long dreamed and spoken of discovering; a white boy who sang like a negro.
Presley’s debut disc on Sun was the extraordinary ‘That’s All Right (Mama)’, a showcase for his rich, multi-textured vocal dexterity, with sharp, solid backing from his compatriots. The b-side, ‘Blue Moon Of Kentucky’, was a country song, but the arrangement showed that Presley was threatening to slip into an entirely different genre, closer to R&B. Local response to these strange-sounding performances was encouraging and Phillips eventually shifted 20, 000 copies of the disc. For his second single, Presley recorded Roy Brown’s ‘Good Rockin’ Tonight’ backed by the zingy ‘I Don’t Care If The Sun Don’t Shine’. The more roots-influenced ‘Milk Cow Blues Boogie’ followed, while the b-side, ‘You’re A Heartbreaker’, had some strong tempo changes that neatly complemented Presley’s quirky vocal. ‘Baby Let’s Play House’/‘I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone’ continued the momentum and led to Presley performing on The Grand Old Opry and Louisiana Hayride radio programmes. A series of live dates commenced in 1955 with drummer D.J. Fontana added to the ranks. Presley toured clubs in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas billed as ‘The King Of Western Bop’ and ‘The Hillbilly Cat’. Audience reaction verged on the fanatical, which was hardly surprising given Presley’s semi-erotic performances. His hip-swivelling routine, in which he cascaded across the stage and plunged to his knees at dramatic moments in a song, was remarkable for the period and prompted near-riotous fan mania. The final Sun single, a cover version of Junior Parker’s ‘Mystery Train’, was later acclaimed by many as the definitive rock ‘n’ roll single, with its chugging rhythm, soaring vocal and enticing lead guitar breaks.
It established Presley as an artist worthy of national attention and ushered in the next phase of his career, which was dominated by the imposing figure of ‘Colonel’ Tom Parker. The Colonel was a former fairground huckster who managed several country artists including Hank Snow and Eddy Arnold. After relieving disc jockey Bob Neal of Presley’s managership, Parker persuaded Sam Phillips that his financial interests would be better served by releasing the boy to a major label. RCA Records had already noted the commercial potential of the phenomenon under offer and agreed to pay Sun Records a release fee of $35, 000, an incredible sum for the period. The sheer diversity of Presley’s musical heritage and his remarkable ability as a vocalist and interpreter of material enabled him to escape the cultural parochialism of his R&B-influenced predecessors. The attendant rock ‘n’ roll explosion, in which Presley was both a creator and participant, ensured that he could reach a mass audience, many of them newly affluent teenagers.
It was on 10 January 1956, a mere two days after his 21st birthday, that Presley entered RCA’s studios in Nashville to record his first tracks for a major label. His debut session produced the epochal ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, one of the most striking pop records ever released. Co-composed by Hoyt Axton’s mother Mae, the song evoked nothing less than a vision of absolute funereal despair. There was nothing in the pop charts of the period that even hinted at the degree of desolation described in the song. Presley’s reading was extraordinarily mature and moving, with a determined avoidance of any histrionics in favour of a pained and resigned acceptance of loneliness as death. The economical yet acutely emphatic piano work of Floyd Cramer enhanced the stark mood of the piece, which was frozen in a suitably minimalist production. The startling originality and intensity of ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ entranced the American public and pushed the single to number 1 for an astonishing eight weeks. Whatever else he achieved, Presley was already assured a place in pop history for one of the greatest major label debut records ever released. During the same month that ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ was recorded, Presley made his national television debut displaying his sexually enticing gyrations before a bewildered adult audience whose alleged outrage subsequently persuaded producers to film the star exclusively from the waist upwards. Having outsold his former Sun colleague Carl Perkins with ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, Presley released a debut album that contained several of the songs he had previously recorded with Sam Phillips, including Little Richard’s ‘Tutti Frutti’, the R&B classic ‘I Got A Woman’ and an eerie, wailing version of Richard Rodgers / Lorenz Hart’s ‘Blue Moon’, which emphasized his remarkable vocal range.
Since hitting number 2 in the UK lists with ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, Presley had been virtually guaranteed European success and his profile was increased via a regular series of releases as RCA took full advantage of their bulging back catalogue. Although there was a danger of overkill, Presley’s talent, reputation and immensely strong fanbase vindicated the intense release schedule and the quality of the material ensured that the public was not disappointed. After hitting number 1 for the second time with the slight ballad ‘I Want You, I Need You, I Love You’, Presley released what was to become the most commercially successful double-sided single in pop history, ‘Hound Dog’/‘Don’t Be Cruel’. The former was composed by the immortal rock ‘n’ roll songwriting team of Leiber And Stoller, and presented Presley at his upbeat best with a novel lyric, complete with a striking guitar solo and spirited hand clapping from his backing group the Jordanaires. Otis Blackwell’s ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ was equally effective with a striking melody line and some clever and amusing vocal gymnastics from the hiccuping King of Western Bop, who also received a co-writing credit. The single remained at number 1 in the USA for a staggering 11 weeks and both sides of the record were massive hits in the UK.
Celluloid fame for Presley next beckoned with Love Me Tender, produced by David Weisbert, who had previously worked on James Dean’sRebel Without A Cause. Presley’s movie debut received mixed reviews but was a box-office smash, while the smouldering, perfectly enunciated title track topped the US charts for five weeks. The spate of Presley singles continued in earnest through 1957 and one of the biggest was another Otis Blackwell composition, ‘All Shook Up’, which the singer used as a cheekily oblique comment on his by now legendary dance movements. By late 1956 it was rumoured that Presley would be drafted into the US Army and, as if to compensate for that irksome eventuality, RCA, Twentieth Century Fox and the Colonel stepped up the work-rate and release schedules. Incredibly, three major films were completed in the next two-and-a-half years. Loving You boasted a quasi-autobiographical script with Presley playing a truck driver who becomes a pop star. The title track became the b-side of ‘(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear’ which reigned at number 1 for seven weeks. The third movie, Jailhouse Rock, was Presley’s most successful to date with an excellent soundtrack and some inspired choreography. The Leiber and Stoller title track was an instant classic that again topped the US charts for seven weeks and made pop history by entering the UK listings at number 1.
The fourth celluloid outing, King Creole (adapted from the Harold Robbins novel, A Stone For Danny Fisher), is regarded by many as Presley’s finest film and a firm indicator of his sadly unfulfilled potential as a serious actor. Once more the soundtrack album featured some surprisingly strong material such as the haunting ‘Crawfish’ and the vibrant ‘Dixieland Rock’. By the time King Creole was released in 1958, Elvis had already been inducted into the US Forces. A publicity photograph of the singer having his hair shorn symbolically commented on his approaching musical emasculation. Although rock ‘n’ roll purists mourned the passing of the old Elvis, it seemed inevitable in the context of the 50s that he would move towards a broader base appeal and tone down his rebellious image. From 1958-60, Presley served in the US Armed Forces, spending much of his time in Germany where he was regarded as a model soldier. It was during this period that he first met 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, whom he later married in 1967. Back in America, the Colonel kept his absent star’s reputation intact via a series of films, record releases and extensive merchandising. Hits such as ‘Wear My Ring Around Your Neck’, ‘Hard Headed Woman’, ‘One Night’, ‘I Got Stung’, ‘A Fool Such As I’ and ‘A Big Hunk O’ Love’ filled the long, two-year gap and by the time Presley reappeared, he was ready to assume the mantle of all-round entertainer. The change was immediately evident in the series of number 1 hits that he enjoyed in the early 60s. The enormously successful ‘It’s Now Or Never’, based on the Italian melody ‘O Sole Mio’, revealed the King as an operatic crooner, far removed from his earlier raucous recordings. ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight?’, originally recorded by Al Jolson as early as 1927, allowed Presley to quote some Shakespeare in the spoken-word middle section as well as showing his ham-acting ability with an overwrought vocal.
The new clean-cut Presley was presented on celluloid in GI Blues. The movie played upon his recent army exploits and saw him serenading a puppet on the charming chart-topper ‘Wooden Heart’, which also allowed Elvis to show off his knowledge of German. The grandiose ‘Surrender’ completed this phase of big ballads in the old-fashioned style. For the next few years Presley concentrated on an undemanding spree of films, including Flaming Star, Wild In The Country, Blue Hawaii, Kid Galahad, Girls! Girls! Girls!, Follow That Dream, Fun In Acapulco, It Happened At The World’s Fair, Kissin’ Cousins, Viva Las Vegas, Roustabout, Girl Happy, Tickle Me, Harem Scarum, Frankie And Johnny, Paradise - Hawaiian Style and Spinout. Not surprisingly, most of his album recordings were hastily completed soundtracks with unadventurous commissioned songs. For his singles he relied increasingly on the formidable Doc Pomus / Mort Shuman team who composed such hits as ‘Mess Of Blues’, ‘Little Sister’ and ‘His Latest Flame’. More and more, however, the hits were adapted from films and their chart positions suffered accordingly. After the 1963 number 1 ‘Devil In Disguise’, a bleak period followed in which such minor songs as ‘Bossa Nova Baby’, ‘Kiss Me Quick’, ‘Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby’ and ‘Blue Christmas’ became the rule rather than the exception. Significantly, his biggest success of the mid-60s, ‘Crying In The Chapel’, had been recorded five years earlier, and part of its appeal came from the realization that it represented something ineffably lost.
In the wake of the Beatles’ rise to fame and the beat boom explosion, Presley seemed a figure out of time. Nevertheless, in spite of the dated nature of many of his recordings, he could still invest power and emotion into classic songs. The sassy ‘Frankie And Johnny’ was expertly sung by Presley, as was his moving reading of Ketty Lester’s ‘Love Letters’. His other significant 1966 release, ‘If Everyday Was Like Christmas’, was a beautiful festive song unlike anything else in the charts of the period. By 1967, however, it was clear to critics and even a large proportion of his devoted following that Presley had seriously lost his way. He continued to grind out pointless movies such as Double Trouble, Speedway, Clambake and Live A Little, Love A Little, even though the box office returns were increasingly poor. His capacity to register instant hits, irrespective of the material was also wearing thin, as such lowly placed singles as ‘You Gotta Stop’ and ‘Long Legged Woman’ demonstrated all too alarmingly. However, just as Presley’s career had reached its all-time nadir he seemed to wake up, take stock, and break free from the artistic malaise in which he found himself. Two songs written by country guitarist Jerry Reed, ‘Guitar Man’ and ‘US Male’, proved a spectacular return to form for Elvis in 1968, such was Presley’s conviction that the compositions almost seemed to be written specifically for him. During the same year, Colonel Tom Parker had approached NBC-TV about the possibility of recording a Presley Christmas special in which the singer would perform a selection of religious songs similar in feel to his early 60s album His Hand In Mine. However, the executive producers of the show vetoed that concept in favour of a one-hour spectacular designed to capture Elvis at his rock ‘n’ rollin’ best. It was a remarkable challenge for the singer, seemingly in the autumn of his career, and he responded to the idea with unexpected enthusiasm.
The Elvis TV Special was broadcast in America on 3 December 1968 and has since become legendary as one of the most celebrated moments in pop broadcasting history. The show was not merely good but an absolute revelation, with the King emerging as if he had been frozen in time for 10 years. His determination to recapture past glories oozed from every movement and was discernible in every aside. With his leather jacket and acoustic guitar strung casually round his neck, he resembled nothing less than the consummate pop idol of the 50s who had entranced a generation. To add authenticity to the proceedings he was accompanied by his old sidekicks Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana. There was no sense of self-parody in the show as Presley joked about his famous surly curled-lip movement and even heaped passing ridicule on his endless stream of bad movies. The music concentrated heavily on his 50s classics but, significantly, there was a startling finale courtesy of the passionate ‘If I Can Dream’ in which he seemed to sum up the frustration of a decade in a few short lines. The critical plaudits heaped upon Elvis in the wake of his television special prompted the singer to undertake his most significant recordings in years. With producer Chips Moman overseeing the sessions in January 1969, Presley recorded enough material to cover two highly praised albums, From Elvis In Memphis and From Memphis To Vegas/From Vegas To Memphis. The former was particularly strong with such distinctive tracks as the eerie ‘Long Black Limousine’ and the engagingly melodic ‘Any Day Now’. On the singles front, Presley was back in top form and finally coming to terms with contemporary issues, most notably on the socially aware ‘In The Ghetto’, which hit number 2 in the UK and number 3 in the USA. The glorious ‘Suspicious Minds’, a wonderful song of marital jealousy, with cascading tempo changes and an exceptional vocal arrangement, gave him his first US chart-topper since ‘Good Luck Charm’ back in 1962. Subsequent hits such as the maudlin ‘Don’t Cry Daddy’, which dealt with the death of a marriage, ably demonstrated Presley’s ability to read a song. Even his final few films seemed less disastrous than expected.
In 1969’s Charro, he grew a beard for the first time in his portrayal of a moody cowboy, while A Change Of Habit dealt with more serious subject matter than usual. More importantly, Presley returned as a live performer at Las Vegas, with a strong backing group including guitarist James Burton and pianist Glen D. Hardin. In common with John Lennon, who also returned to the stage that same year with the Plastic Ono Band, Presley opened his set with Carl Perkins’ ‘Blue Suede Shoes’. His comeback was well received and one of the live songs, ‘The Wonder Of You’, stayed at number 1 in Britain for six weeks during the summer of 1970. There was also a revealing documentary film of the tour - That’s The Way It Is - and a companion album that included contemporary cover versions, such as Tony Joe White’s ‘Polk Salad Annie’, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘Proud Mary’ and Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’.
During the early 70s Presley continued his live performances, but soon fell victim to the same artistic atrophy that had bedevilled his celluloid career. Rather than re-entering the studio to record fresh material he relied on a slew of patchy live albums that saturated the marketplace. What had been innovative and exciting in 1969 swiftly became a tedious routine and an exercise in misdirected potential. The backdrop to Presley’s final years was a sordid slump into drug dependency, reinforced by the pervasive unreality of a pampered lifestyle in his fantasy home, Graceland. The dissolution of his marriage in 1973 coincided with a further decline and an alarming tendency to put on weight. Remarkably, he continued to undertake live appearances, most notably in Las Vegas, covering up his bloated frame with brightly coloured jump suits and an enormous, ostentatiously jewelled belt. He collapsed onstage on a couple of occasions and finally on 16 August 1977 his tired body expired. The official cause of death was a heart attack, undoubtedly brought on by barbiturate usage over a long period. In the weeks following his demise, his record sales predictably rocketed and ‘Way Down’ proved a fittingly final UK number 1.
The importance of Presley in the history of rock ‘n’ roll and popular music remains incalculable. In spite of his iconographic status, the Elvis image was never captured in a single moment of time like that of Bill Haley, Buddy Holly or even Chuck Berry. Presley, in spite of his apparent creative inertia, was not a one-dimensional artist clinging to history but a multi-faceted performer whose career spanned several decades and phases. For purists and rockabilly enthusiasts it is the early Presley that remains of greatest importance and there is no doubting that his personal fusion of black and white musical influences, incorporating R&B and country, produced some of the finest and most durable recordings of the century. Beyond Elvis ‘The Hillbilly Cat’, however, there was the face that launched a thousand imitators, that black-haired, smiling or smouldering presence who stared from the front covers of numerous EPs, albums and film posters of the late 50s and early 60s. It was that well-groomed, immaculate pop star who inspired a generation of performers and second-rate imitators in the 60s. There was also Elvis the Las Vegas performer, vibrant and vulgar, yet still distant and increasingly appealing to a later generation brought up on the excesses of 70s rock and glam ephemera. Finally, there was the bloated Presley who bestrode the stage in the last months of his career. For many, he has come to symbolize the decadence and loss of dignity that is all too often heir to pop idolatry. It is no wonder that Presley’s remarkable career so sharply divides those who testify to his ultimate greatness and those who bemoan the gifts that he seemingly squandered along the way.
Twenty years after Presley’s death, in August 1997, there was no waning of his power and appeal. Television, radio, newspapers and magazines all over the world still found that, whatever was happening elsewhere, little could compare to this anniversary. Almost five years later, a remix of the 1968 single ‘A Little Less Conversation’ by Dutch DJ Junkie XL provided Presley with his eighteenth UK chart-topper. In doing so, he nudged ahead of the Beatles to claim the record number of UK number 1 singles. The attendant compilation set topped the album charts on both sides of the Atlantic. In September 2003, a remix of 1969’s ‘Rubberneckin’’ by UK DJ Paul Oakenfold topped the US singles chart. At the start of 2005, RCA Records began a high-profile campaign to re-promote all of Presley’s 18 UK chart-topping singles. ‘Jailhouse Rock’, the first re-release, duly entered the singles chart at number 1 on 9 January. ‘One Night’ became the UK chart’s 1000th number 1 single the following week.
