It had been a long, unsuccessful night, and 18-year-old Elvis Presley was frustrated. This session was his big chance to break into the recording business, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t please the studio owner. Everyone took a break. Elvis sang one of his favorite songs to relax, and the guitar and bass players played along for fun. When the studio owner heard them, he knew this fast-paced, energetic sound was exactly what he wanted! Elvis had been trying too hard to imitate big singers of the day, when all he needed to do was be himself. By being true to the music he loved, Elvis Presley would eventually become the king of rock and roll.
Elvis was born on January 8, 1935, in a humble two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi. His father, Vernon Presley, struggled to find work and was jailed for eight months for forging a check. Afterward, the family had an even harder time making ends meet and had to move often. Between the frequent moves, an overprotective mother, and his father’s shameful prison record, Elvis always felt different. He was a shy boy who had few friends. "All I looked forward to was Sunday, when we could all go to church," he later said. There, he could do what he loved: sing. When his parents bought him a guitar for his eleventh birthday, he learned to accompany himself when he sang.
In 1948, the family moved to Memphis, and Elvis’ life slowly improved. Vernon found a job driving delivery trucks. Elvis started to enjoy the attention he received for being different. Most boys had short hair, but Elvis wore his hair long "because that was the way the truck drivers wore it." Elvis also attracted attention because he dressed in the fancy clothes favored by African Americans. After he won his high school’s talent contest, in which he sang and played guitar, Elvis finally gained some acceptance from his peers. "It was amazing how popular I became after that," he said. Best of all for Elvis, Memphis was a musical city. He loved the gospel music he heard in his church, as well as the gospel music of African American churches. He listened to country tunes by white performers on the radio and to the rhythm and blues played by local African American musicians.
Elvis’ rise to fame and fortune began just after he graduated from high school. He paid four dollars to make a vocal recording at the small Sun Records studio—supposedly as a birthday gift for his mother. The studio’s owner liked what he heard and eventually matched Elvis up with a bass player and a guitarist. From 1954 to 1955, the group recorded five singles and performed all over the South. Elvis named their fusion of country, gospel, pop, and blues "rockabilly," but the rest of the world called it "rock and roll." In August 1955, Elvis signed on with "Colonel" Tom Parker, a country-music promoter. Within a year, the Colonel had gotten Elvis a recording contract with RCA, a big record company, as well as a movie contract.
Maybe it was nerves, or that he needed to keep time to the fast beat, but whenever Elvis sang, he shook his hips in a way that made young audiences go wild. For this, Elvis got the nickname "Elvis the Pelvis," which he hated. He couldn’t go anywhere without attracting fans. After one show, girls mobbed him and tore his clothing to shreds. Not everybody liked Elvis’ uninhibited performances, however. Older people called Elvis vulgar. Of course, that made teenagers love him more—because to them, Elvis symbolized rebellion. One fan recalled, "Hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail."
On his last appearance on Ed Sullivan’s weekly TV show, in January 1957, network censors ordered cameramen to avoid Elvis’ hips; they shot him from the waist up. At the same time, Ed Sullivan calmed fears that Elvis was a bad influence when the respected host told America that Elvis was "a real decent, fine boy." Elvis received fifty thousand dollars for his appearances on the show, a record-setting fee. This sum, plus the income from his hit records and other appearances, enabled Elvis to buy Graceland, an 18-room mansion in Memphis.
Elvis seemed unstoppable, with his music and movies making him an international star. But the United States Army interrupted his career when they drafted him in December 1957. By the time Elvis left in the spring of 1958, he had recorded enough songs to stay in the news while in the service. In the army, he refused any special treatment and served with a unit based in Germany. In 1960, Elvis was honorably discharged. Focusing on his movie career instead of touring, he became a wholesome, patriotic package that both teens and parents could like—and an even bigger star.
In his movies, Elvis always appeared likeable, carefree, and graceful, and soundtracks released for the films kept Elvis’ songs on the radio. Critics, however, claimed Elvis sold out by starring in movies that quickly made huge sums of money but lacked artistic value. Some fans claim Colonel Parker exploited Elvis, turning down excellent parts in serious films and refusing to pay for good songwriters, in order to make a bigger profit. Elvis later admitted, "I sure lost my musical direction in Hollywood. My songs were the same conveyor belt mass production, just like most of my movies."
In 1968, in order to resurrect his sagging career, Elvis did a TV special in which he sang before a live audience. His performance revealed intensity, humor, emotion, and confidence—reminding people why they loved him. One music critic later wrote, "There is something magical about watching a man who has lost himself find his way back home." Elvis left Hollywood and vowed not to record songs he didn’t believe in. Instead, he began a series of record-setting live performances in Las Vegas and other concerts across the United States, remaining a box-office sensation through the mid 1970s. But the work was exhausting, and Elvis took prescription drugs to pep him up before shows and to help him sleep afterward. He became addicted, and the heavy drug use hurt his body; his weight went up and down, and his behavior changed as his moods swung violently. His sudden death in his Graceland home on August 16, 1977, was attributed to a heart attack following a lethal mix of drugs.
Since his death, Elvis Presley’s popularity has only increased. Graceland opened to the public in 1982 and has become one of the most frequented tourist sites in the United States. A series of mysterious Elvis sightings started rumors that he had faked his own death to escape the pressures of stardom and was still alive. These were probably sightings of Elvis impersonators, who had begun imitating the 1970s version of the king of rock and roll and continue to attract audiences across the globe. While it’s unlikely Elvis is still physically alive, he does live on in the hearts of people everywhere.