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Elvis
Presley Biography Wiki
Who2 Biography:Elvis
Presley, Rock Musician
/ Singer / Actor
- Born: 8 January 1935
- Birthplace: Tupelo, Mississippi
-
Died: 16 August 1977
(heart attack)
- Best Known As: "The King of Rock 'n Roll"
Famous in life, Elvis Presley has become even more famous in death as
an icon of American music and TV-era celebrity. Presley hit the charts
as a rock 'n roll rebel in the 1950s. His 9 September 1956 appearance on
the Ed Sullivan Show (with Presley shown only from the waist up
to hide his swivelling hips) turned him into one of the era's biggest
stars. His many hits included "Jailhouse Rock," "Hound Dog" and "Blue
Suede Shoes." He also appeared in dozens of lighthearted movies designed
to let him cavort and play the guitar onscreen, including King
Creole (1958, with Walter
Matthau) and Blue Hawaii (1961, with Angela
Lansbury). In the late 1960s, after a period of declining fame, he
remade himself into "The King," a melodramatic icon known for his
sequined karate-style jumpsuits and megaconcerts. The loyalty of his
fans is famous; though he died in 1977, sightings of a supposedly
surviving Elvis became a kind of international running joke. Elvis's
Memphis home, Graceland, has become a permanent shrine to the singer.
Col. Tom Parker was Elvis's longtime manager and personal power
broker... Elvis's daughter Lisa Marie Presley was married to pop star Michael
Jackson from 1994-1996, and then briefly to Nicolas
Cage in 2002... Elvis was married one time, to the former Priscilla
Beaulieu, from 1967-73; Priscilla Presley later appeared in the TV soap
Dallas and the Naked Gun film series... A remix of
Elvis's 1968 recording "A Little Less Conversation" became a hit after
being featured in Nike ads during the 2002 World Cup; the song went to
#1 on the British music charts... Elvis's twin brother, Jesse Garon,
died at birth... Elvis's middle name is spelled "Aaron" on his
tombstone; according to his official site, the name was spelled Aron at
birth but as an adult Elvis planned to change the spelling to Aaron, and
the tombstone was designed to reflect that wish.
Britannica Concise
Encyclopedia:Elvis Aaron
Presley
(born Jan. 8, 1935, Tupelo, Miss., U.S. — died Aug. 16,
1977, Memphis, Tenn.) U.S. popular singer, the "King of Rock and Roll."
Presley was raised in Memphis, where he sang Pentecostal church music
and listened to black bluesmen and Grand Ole Opry broadcasts. In 1954 he
began to record for the producer Sam Phillips, who had been searching
for a white singer who sounded like a black man. In 1956, under his new
manager, "Colonel" Tom Parker, he released "Heartbreak Hotel," the first
of numerous million-selling hits that included "Hound Dog" and "All
Shook Up." In the same year, he appeared in Love Me Tender,
the first of 33 mediocre films, and on several TV shows, notably the Ed Sullivan Show. Presley's intensely charismatic style —
including his sexy hip shaking, ducktail haircut, and characteristic
sneer — excited young fans, especially females, to wild adulation. After
a stint in the army (1958 – 60) he resumed recording and acting, but
his earlier raucous style was moderated. In 1968 he introduced a Las
Vegas-based touring act with orchestra and gospel-type choir. Battling
public pressures, weight gain, and drug dependence, he underwent a
personal decline. His death at age 42, attributed to natural causes, was
mourned by hundreds of thousands of fans at Graceland, his Memphis
estate, which remains a place of international pilgrimage.
For more information on Elvis Aaron Presley, visit Britannica.com.
Music Encyclopedia:Elvis
(Aron) Presley
(b East Tupelo, ms,
8 Jan 1935; d Memphis, tn
, 16 Aug 1977). American pop singer. He was nurtured on gospel, blues
and country music and was the first white singer to perform in authentic
African-American idioms. A pivotal figure in the history of rock music,
he not only defined rock and roll as a musical style but also
established it as a youth culture and symbol of rebellion. He was an
extremely sucessful recording artist, idolized by fans throughout the
world.
US History Companion:Presley,
Elvis
(1935-1977), rock singer. The most revolutionary figure in the
history of pop music, the "king of rock 'n' roll" was born in Tupelo,
Mississippi, the only child of poor sharecroppers; the family moved to
Memphis in 1948. After graduating from high school, Presley worked as a
truck driver. In 1954 Sam Phillips, president of Sun Records in
Memphis, recognized his talent as "a white man who had the Negro sound
and the Negro feel." Phillips released Presley's "That's All Right,
Mama," an up-tempo blues song sung with an exuberant
sense of freedom; it was followed by four other singles. Many critics
regard these early records, recorded in 1953-1955, as his best. His
country songs, like "Tryin' to Get to You," expressed affection and
respect for the traditions of poor white southerners; his blues, like
"Good Rockin' Tonight," conveyed rebellion against and defiance
of those traditions. This pattern of respect and rebellion gave
Presley's early music its remarkable emotional complexity and power. The
years 1956-1959 marked Presley's triumph: "Heartbreak
Hotel" (1956) held the number 1 spot on the charts for eight weeks,
followed by "Don't Be Cruel," backed by "Hound
Dog," number 1 for eleven weeks--a record for the rock era. With
these songs Elvis initiated a cultural rebellion of young people against
an adult world they saw as conservative and trivial. In his 1956
television appearances Elvis, shaking his hips and swiveling his knees,
shattered the world of bland
family entertainment with his raw, unruly
power. Adults were outraged over the "vulgarity"
of "Elvis the Pelvis," and most programs showed him only from the waist
up when he was performing. Elvis now exemplified the rock 'n' roll
rebel with his potent
fusion of white teenage exuberance
and the pulsating
beat and frank sexuality of black rhythm and blues. Presley was
drafted into the army in 1958. After his release in 1960 he entered a
period of steady decline. Although he was more popular than ever, his
music lost its rebellious
energy; under his domineering manager, Colonel Tom Parker, he adapted
to pop formulas. He retreated from rock 'n' roll to make movies--thirty
in all. They made a great deal of money, but the stories, the acting,
and the sound tracks got steadily worse, trivializing everything he had
come to represent. In 1968, however, he made a stunning
comeback in a Christmas television special in which he performed live
with a small combo,
singing with immense passion and intensity, equaling if not surpassing
the best of his early work. After that Presley returned to live
performances, but his singing again became careless
and shallow. His final years brought revelations of a miserable
personal life consumed by drugs. He died of an accidental overdose.
With his death came an immense outpouring
of grief:
Graceland, his Memphis home, became one of the most popular national
shrines in the country, attracting far more visitors annually than Mount
Vernon. The man who embodied the classic American success story--poor
country boy makes good--and fulfilled the American fantasy of freedom
had found it hollow. Bibliography: Peter Guralnik,
"Elvis Presley," in Jim Miller, ed., Rolling Stone Illustrated
History of Rock & Roll (1980); Greil Marcus, Mystery Train:
Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music (1990); This Is Elvis,
produced by David Wolper, written and directed by Malcolm Leo and
Andrew Solt (available on video). Author: Jon Wiener
Artist:Elvis Presley
- Country: USA
- Born: January 08, 1935 in Tupelo, MS
- Died: August 16, 1977 in Memphis, TN
Biography
Elvis Presley may be the single most important figure in American
20th-century popular music. Not necessarily the best, and
certainly not the most consistent. But no one could argue that he was
not the musician most responsible for popularizing rock & roll on an
international level. Viewed in cold sales figures, his impact was
phenomenal. Dozens upon dozens of international smashes from the
mid-'50s to the mid-'70s, as well as the steady sales of his catalog and
reissues since his death in 1977, may make him the single
highest-selling performer in history. More important from a music
lover's perspective, however, are his remarkable artistic achievements.
Presley was not the very first White man to sing rhythm and blues; Bill
Haley predated him in that regard, and there may have been others as
well. Elvis was certainly the first, however, to assertively fuse
country and blues music into the style known as rockabilly. While
rockabilly arrangements were the foundations of his first (and possibly
best) recordings, Presley could not have become a mainstream superstar
without a much more varied palette that also incorporated pop, gospel,
and even some bits of bluegrass and operatic schmaltz here and there.
His 1950s recordings established the basic language of rock and roll;
his explosive and sexual stage presence set standards for the music's
visual image; his vocals were incredibly powerful and versatile.
Unfortunately, to much of the public, Elvis is more icon than artist.
Innumerable bad Hollywood movies, increasingly caricatured records and
mannerisms, and a personal life that became steadily more sheltered from
real-world concerns (and steadily more bizarre) gave his story a
somewhat mythic status. By the time of his death, he'd become more a
symbol of gross Americana than of cultural innovation. The continued
speculation about his incredible career has sustained interest in his
life, and supported a large tourist/entertainment industry, that may
last indefinitely, even if the fascination is fueled more by his
celebrity than his music. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide |
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