Elvis Presley part 1

Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), alternately spelled Aron, 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".

Presley began his career in 1954 as one of the first performers of rockabilly, an up-tempo fusion of country and rhythm and blues with a strong back beat. 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.

Presley devoted most of the 1960s to making unmemorable Hollywood movies and movie 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. Weight problems and prescription drug dependence precipitated his death at the age of 42.

Presley is regarded as one of the most important figures of twentieth-century popular culture. He is one of the best-selling solo artists in the history of popular music, with sales between 600 million and one billion 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.

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. The family lived just above the poverty line and attended an Assembly of God church where he found his initial musical influences.

Presley's ancestry was a diverse European mix, primarily British and German; Presley's lineage also included some Cherokee descent. Vernon has been described as work-shy, although there is much documented evidence of work he took throughout the depression. Gladys was, by most accounts, the dominant one who had a fondness for drink. In 1938, Vernon, along with Gladys' brother Travis Smith and a friend Lether Gable, was jailed for altering a check. During his eight-month incarceration, Gladys and her son lost the family home, and they moved in with relatives.

In September 1942, Presley entered the first grade at Lawhorn School in Tupelo. but sometimes he would be bullied by classmates because they viewed him as a "mama's boy". He was considered a "well-mannered and quiet child",

Presley's 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 his 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 came in fifth, winning $5 ($59 in current dollar terms) and a free ticket to all the Fair rides. A few months later, for his eleventh birthday, Presley received his first guitar. He had wanted a rifle but his parents could only afford a guitar. Over the following year, Vernon's brother, Vester, gave Elvis basic guitar lessons.

The young Presley frequently listened to Mississippi Slim’s radio show on Tupelo’s WELO. Before he was a teenager, music was already his "consuming passion". In 1947, Mississippi Slim, one of Presley's earliest musical heroes, agreed to let Elvis sing on two occasions. However, the first time, Presley got such stage fright that he couldn't go on. He did manage to go on the following week.

Move to Memphis

In September 1948, the family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Following stays in a couple of unsuitable premises they applied for welfare assistance and after a visit from a Memphis Housing Authority inspector in 1949, they were moved to public housing in one of Memphis' poorer sections. Presley practiced guitar in the laundry room and also played in a five-piece band with other tenants. One resident, another future rockabilly pioneer, Johnny Burnette, recalled that the young Presley would have his guitar with him at most times, wherever he went.

Presley enrolled at L. C. Humes High School where some fellow students viewed his performing unfavorably; one recalled that he was a shy boy whose guitar playing was not likely to win any prizes. Presley was made fun of for playing "trashy" hillbilly music." Other children however, "would beg him" to sing, but he was apparently too shy to perform.

In September 1950, Presley occasionally worked evenings as an usher at Loew's State Theater—his first job—to boost the family income, but his mother made him quit as she feared it was affecting his school work. He began to grow his sideburns and, when he could afford to, dress in the wild, flashy clothes of Lansky Brothers on Beale Street. He stood out, especially in the conservative Deep South of the 1950s, and was mocked and bullied for it. Despite any unpopularity or shyness, he was a contestant in his school's 1952 "Annual Minstrel Show" and won by receiving the most applause. His prize was to sing encores, including "Cold Cold Icy Fingers" and "Till I Waltz Again With You".

After graduation, Presley was still a rather shy "kid who had spent scarcely a night away from home." His third job was driving a truck for the Crown Electric Company. He began wearing his hair longer with a ducktail; the style of truck drivers at that time.

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 Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, Ted Daffan, Jimmie Rodgers, Jimmie Davis and Bob Wills. He was also an audience member at the all-night white—and black—"gospel sings" downtown. The region's radio stations played "race records" featuring music that became known as rhythm and blues. Memphis had a strong tradition of blues music and Presley frequented blues as well as hillbilly venues. Many of his future recordings were inspired by local African American composers and recording artists, including 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 that time, Presley had already distinguished himself by his appearance—sideburns, long hair, flashy clothes—and seems to have singled music out as his future.

1953–55: First recordings

Sun Records and Sam Phillips

In the summer of 1953, Presley went to Sun Records' Memphis Recording Service to record "My Happiness" with "That's When Your Heartaches Begin," supposedly as a present for his mother although it was months after her birthday. When asked by receptionist Marion Keisker what kind of singer he was, Presley told her that he sang all kinds. Determined to pin him down to a particular style, she then asked him who he sounded like, a question Presley responded to by insisting that he didn't sound like anyone. After his demo, she made herself a note: "Good ballad singer, Hold."

On January 4, 1954, he cut a second acetate demo recording of "I'll Never Stand In Your Way" and "It Wouldn't Be The Same Without You", but again nothing came of the recording session. In April, Presley began working for the Crown Electric company as a truck driver, and around this time he auditioned for the Songfelows, but was disappointed when they turned him down and said he couldn't sing. Years later the group insisted that they meant he couldn't sing harmony, but Presley took the criticism to heart.

A few months later, Sun Records boss Sam Phillips was on the lookout for someone who could deliver a blend of black blues and boogie-woogie music; he thought it would be very popular among white people. When Phillips acquired a demo recording of "Without You" and was unable to identify the vocalist, Marion Keisker reminded him about the young truck driver. 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 overly impressed, a studio session was planned.

On July 5, during a recording break, Presley began "acting the fool" with 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. The following day the group recorded Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky", eventually destined to be the B-side. "That's All Right" was aired two days later by DJ Dewey Phillips on his Red, Hot and Blue show. Listeners to the show began phoning in, eager to find out who the singer was. The interest was such that Phillips played the demo fourteen times. During an interview on the show, Phillips asked Presley what high school he attended—to clarify Presley's color for listeners who assumed he must be black.

On July 12, Moore officially became Presley's manager and, along with Black, began playing regularly with him. They gave performances on July 17 and July 24 to promote the Sun single at the Bon Air, a rowdy music club in Memphis, where the band was not well-received. On July 30 the trio, billed as The Blue Moon Boys, made their first paid appearance at the Overton Park Shell, with Slim Whitman With a natural feel for rhythm, Presley shook his legs when performing: his wide-legged pants emphasizing his leg movements, apparently causing females in the audience to go "crazy." Presley was aware of the cause of the audience's reaction and consciously incorporated similar movements into future shows. headlining.

Soon after, Deejay and promoter Bob Neal became the trio's manager (replacing Scotty Moore). Moore and Black left their band, the Starlight Wranglers and, from August through October 1954, appeared with Presley at The Eagle's Nest. Presley debuted at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville on October 2; Hank Snow introduced Presley on stage. He performed "Blue Moon of Kentucky" but received only a polite response. Afterwards, the singer was supposedly told by the Opry's Jim Denny to not give up his day job, though others deny it was Denny who made that statement.

Country music promoter and manager Tillman Franks booked Presley for October 16 on KWKH-AM's Louisiana Hayride. Before Franks saw Presley, he referred to him as "that new black singer with the funny name." During Presley's first set, the reaction was muted; Franks then advised Presley to "Let it all go!" for the second set. House drummer D.J. Fontana complemented Presley's movements with accented beats which he had mastered during his time working as a drummer in strip clubs. Bill Black also took an active part in encouraging the audience, and the crowd became more responsive.

On March 3, 1955, Presley made his first television appearance on the TV version of Louisiana Hayride on KSLA-TV in Shreveport, but failed an audition for Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts on CBS-TV later that month. By August, Sun Studios had released ten sides, credited to "Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill," all typical of the developing Presley style which seemed hard to categorize; he was billed or labeled in the media as "The King of Western Bop," "The Hillbilly Cat" and "The Memphis Flash."

Signing to RCA

On August 15, 1955, "Colonel" Tom Parker became Presley's manager, signing him to a one year contract, plus renewals. Several record labels had shown interest in signing Presley and, by the end of October, three major labels had made offers up to $25,000. On November 21, Parker and Phillips negotiated a deal with RCA Victor Records to acquire Presley's Sun contract for an unprecedented $40,000 ($318,304 in current dollar terms), $5,000 of which was a bonus for the singer for back royalties owed to him by Sun Records (Presley, at 20, was officially still a minor, so his father had to sign the contract).

To boost earnings for himself and Presley, Parker also cut a deal with Hill and Range Publishing Company to create two separate entities—"Elvis Presley Music, Inc" and "Gladys Music"—to handle all of Presley's songs and accrued royalties. The owners of Hill & Range, Julian and Jean Aberbach, agreed to split the publishing and royalties rights of each song equally with Presley. Hill & Range, Presley or Colonel 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 Presley recording their compositions. One result of these dealings was the appearance of Presley's name as co-writer of some songs he recorded, even though Presley never had any hand in the songwriting process. By December 1955, RCA had begun to heavily promote its newest star, and by the month's end had re-released many of his Sun recordings.