Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley could not in any way be described as having been born into a comfortable background, but it was certainly a loving one. His parents, Vernon and Gladys were hard working people, although his father often had a difficult time finding work and made a tough living driving trucks and any other odd jobs that would put food on the table.

The home was austere and when twins were born to Gladys. It was Elvis who survived as the only child. Consequently double the love was showered upon him and the young Elvis grew up reciprocating that love ten fold to his mother. It was love and affection that would continue right up until the time of her death. Elvis told his mother that he had no intention of seeing her deprive herself of anything and that someday he would make certain that she had everything that she had ever wanted.

He even said, when in his pre-teens and on being bought his first cheap, guitar, that he was going to become a singer and make a living from it, so that he could buy her nice dresses and make life easy for her and his father.

Born in Tupelo, Mississippi on 8th January 1935, Elvis grew up in what would characteristically be described as 'the sticks'. It was a close community a million miles away from the kind of lifestyle that he would later arrive at! Elvis even entered the occasional talent show and people remarked on what a good voice he had. People who knew him were convinced that some day he would do well. A former teacher of his said: "He was always a good student at school and polite. I knew he would be a success at something, but I didn't think it would be through music!"

As the world was soon to find out, it was not to be just 'through music' but as a musical phenomenon and legend that he would earn the title 'The King of Rock n' Roll' and later, just as 'The King'. Elvis was fortunate in many ways musically in that he did not just grow up listening to anyone particular style of music, but was subjected to a multitude of influences ranging from what he heard on the radio to gospel and church music, folk and just about anything else that was available.

It is now generally accepted that all of these somehow came together in what is the unique Presley style. And as you listen now to the records that he made over the years you can realise just how many different styles of songs he is capable of delivering in a variety of vocal ranges. Black music; gospel especially was of particular interest to the young Elvis, although country music also featured heavily in his repertoire before he made that trip to the Memphis studio of Sam Phillips soon after his High School graduation. Phillips also ran the now legendary Sun Records, and is credited with doing the first recording of Elvis. In fact, Elvis paid a few dollars for making his first record as a personal affair. The real breakthrough however, came some time later when his first official record 'That's Alright Mama' was played over the air waves. In fact there had been several records before this, but it was this song, which was to reach the ears of teenagers and turn society on its head. The switchboards were jammed after the airing with people clamouring for information on who Elvis Presley was and where they could buy the record. But the 'hit' was only local. Even so it sold approximately 10,000 copies in the Memphis area in a few days; which was a remarkable achievement. Naturally, anyone with a sense for new talent came hunting to manage the young man who was taking the airwaves and record shops by storm and Colonel Tom Parker was the eventual winner.

But even with the Colonel's flair for management, Elvis wasn't an easy person to get across to the numerous radio networks and record companies because his music was not country, thought to be too black oriented by others, and despised by certain audiences. It was the RCA record company which had the vision to sign Elvis to a deal with a remarkable financial advance negotiated by Parker and during 1956 alone Elvis poured out: 'Blue Suede Shoes' 'Don't Be Cruel' and the monster hit 'Heartbreak Hotel' released bang on his 21st birthday. 'Hound Dog'; 'Lawdy Miss Clawdy' 'Love Me Tender' 'Money Honey' 'Rip It Up' 'Shake Rattle And Roll' and many others launched him into the megastar bracket and the fans went wild for more.

It is all the more remarkable for the fact that these hits were all issued and made during that year of 1956. Most artists or groups today would consider it sufficient. to release only a couple of singles a year, but Elvis dominated from the word go and churned out these classic rockers one after the other. Suddenly, from earning around forty dollars a week as a truck driver in Memphis, to where the Presley family had moved when he was twelve years old, Elvis now found that the dollars were piling up faster than he could count them. Record sales went through the roof into millions. A lot of music people at the time tried to make out that Elvis had pilfered his style from black music, but this was not so. Although it is true that the roots of many of his early songs could be found in black music, and any fan who has the opportunity to hear what the original black version of 'Hound Dog' sounds like would soon realise that Elvis did not copy it in style. He brought his own distinctive interpretation to it. Those early songs were also loaded with echo and many critics notably the older generation, complained that you couldn't understand the lyrics. The fans didn't care, and if you listen to those songs now they are as clear as a bell.

The atmosphere of that raw studio work, compared to the sophisticated technology of today is far more exciting than the clinical perfection present artists expect from their producers. So Elvis was on his way to dominating the music business and turning it on its head! He was now achieving everything that he had ever wanted and prophesied as a youngster when he bought that first cheap guitar. He had, at one stage in his teens, thought of the possibility of going to military college, but the idea of a service career was not in his scheme of things. Elvis also played harmonica in his private moments, an instrument which he had been taught by his grandmother, who had been responsible also for much of his musical education. It was she who had taught him many of the old songs. And his ability to master that instrument was a useful addition to his rhythm and blues heritage.

But if Elvis had begun to conquer the record buying public, he was up against a wave of disapproval from not only the moral watchdogs of the public but also the strong conservative elements of the showbiz fraternity which usually welcomed refreshing new talent. Notable in this list of powerful media people was the late Ed Sullivan, whose weekly television show was watched by millions of people across America and whose programme was often a showcase for -up- and-coming performers. Even the Beatles made their major television appearance on his show. But when Sullivan was approached as to having Elvis appear. he became resolute that there was no way he would allow the obscene hip movements of this young rock 'n' roller onto his show; the implication being that it was depraved and far too sexy for his audiences. He obviously feared that it would launch an avalanche of protest and even damage his own reputation if he permitted Elvis to do his regular act.

All this, including Sullivan's attitude to Elvis would change dramatically. The television people tried ways to tone down Elvis' act, but even if he had wanted to it was almost an impossibility. To 'Elvis the Pelvis', as he was nicknamed by the American Press, the hip swaying thrusts were quite natural and not contrived. He later said in an interview: "I could have given up the way that I performed on stage, I suppose, but then that would have been a false act like changing my singing style the way folks at first said that I should." The way that Sullivan and the shows' producers managed to get around the problem, because they knew that Elvis would draw tremendous audience with all of the controversy surrounding him, was to stand him behind a balustrade. It sounds ridiculous, but that's the way things were. So Elvis went out on the Sullivan show, waist up, and the rest was left to the imagination. That performance guaranteed him millions of new fans and among those was none other than Ed Sullivan! From the moment he met Elvis he realised that he was a polite, nice guy and that he wasn't the evil' person that he had been made out to be. But it still didn't stop a vast section of conservative America from condemning Elvis. This hurt Elvis to quite a degree, because he always saw that any criticism of him was also a criticism of his parents and this upset him. But gradually, he began to win over even these lard nosed moralists.                     

However, the gold discs were piling up and even setting a record in themselves. No other artist had managed to accumulate so many so quickly. And in America, everyone loves a success story so showbiz people flocked to be his friend and admire his act. Some people think that Elvis only gravitated to the glittering twenty four hour gambling capital of Las Vegas, where the mega dollars for showbiz performers are almost mandatory, when he was in the full swing of his career. But Elvis did, in fact, begin performing there in 1956. Elvis in Las Vegas, with its miles of neon lights, Frank Sinatra and every other major showbiz star, seemed a million miles from his home town lifestyle. But Elvis managed to adapt to it as well and enjoyed the atmosphere, spending huge chunks of his time relaxing there. It would be a town that he would return to many times right up until the end of us career. But whilst more people acquiring his kind of status would have immediately bought a mansion in Beverley Hills or a plush apartment in New York, Elvis knew where his roots were and refused to move to California or Manhattan. As far as he was concerned lie was still a country boy and respected the place he grew up in and liked the kind of people he had been associated with; it was a life- style that he loved and he had no intention of turning his back on it, or the friends he had known. In later years, people would try to make out that he had too many hangers on, but to Elvis they were not those kind of spongers at all; they were friends and he liked to surround himself with them. Even more so as he had to stay reclusive because of the constant attention from fans and the media. The place that he chose as his retreat was a marvellous mansion of a house called Graceland in Memphis, which has since entered folklore and become a shrine for his millions of devoted followers who come to pay homage there. Elvis did not try to evade his duty when it came to his turn for service duty. He was himself as the All American boy and in the kind of elevated star position he now found himself in, he felt that he had to show an example. So in March 1958, he went to Fort Hood in Texas. It would have been easy for him to exploit his stardom. He could have tried special treatment if he had wanted, but he elected not to. Elvis wanted to be just like any other young man in army service. He might have wanted that, but the media saw this as the major event and the flashbulbs went off wherever he went. There they were as those famous sideburns were clipped to military size; when the hair was shorn into G.I. style; when the swearing in was performed and when he first appeared in Army uniform. This was all good stuff for the press and the fans naturally lapped it up, although they wept at the thought of Elvis being out of their lives for a couple of years. The thought of no Elvis records, films, shows or television appearances was just too much for some of them to take. Elvis was already a legend and he had only been going as a star performer for a couple of years. But he proudly announced to the world: "Outside in civilian life I'm a performer. In here, I'm a G.I" What made it even worse for the fans was not that Elvis was just in the Army; but that he was to be shipped overseas to Germany. Of course, this pleased the German fans to the point of ecstasy because 'the closest they had come to Elvis was in the magazines or on record. His military life started in the motor pool; quite ironic when you think he had been a truck driver for a while and had escaped that to show business. While he was based at Fort Hood, his mother became ill and died on the 14th. August in The Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Elvis was devastated and never got over her death. Back home in America, they had not been starved of Elvis. The newspapers and magazines were still full of practically his every move. Elvis returned to America from the army in 1960 and from then on threw himself into a film career and filmed twenty seven of them plus three documentaries during this decade, and making more records. In all during his career he recorded more than seven hundred songs, a wonderful legacy of a glittering career spanning a multitude of styles. Many of his fans would have liked him to record rock 'n' roll material like he had in the early days, but as his career progressed the recordings became more selective covering all styles of music including, country, ballads, and of course gospel which of course was always his first love. On May the 1st. 1967 he married Priscilla Beaulieu at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. Nine months later his only child Lisa Marie was born. In 1968 after seven years of concert inactivity Elvis and the Colonel had decided that it was time to return to live performances, so a TV special was filmed in June of 1968 and was aired on December 31st. of that year. The show received critical acclaim and good ratings. The King was back.                                                     Elvis also returned to the recording studio with a vengeance, after nearly eight years of mostly recording film tracks he returned to his roots with his first Memphis recording session since his 1954 Sun. Studios days. This recording session produced 'In The Ghetto" putting Elvis back on top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. He continued touring, selling out arenas all across America breaking attendance records at Madison Square Gardens etc. and then concentrated in the later years in Las Vegas. Just why he never gave any concerts outside of America is a mystery. Perhaps no one could afford him or there was some other reason, which was not of his making. Suffice to say that in the 1950s when English promoters tried to entice him to Britain, Colonel Parker was offered £20,000, a tremendous amount of money in those days. It was thought the only way they could afford him was to put Elvis in a kind of goldfish bowl in a football stadium, which would magnify him to tens of thousands of people. When Parker heard of the offer he is rumoured to have replied: "The fee is fine for me. What does my boy; Elvis get?" Elvis never came to Britain other than to step on Scottish soil for a couple of hours when his plane landed en route to Germany. Nor did he tour anywhere else in the world, except in Canada. Everything on a professional level was going fantastically well for him during the early seventies and reached a peak with his January 1973 live concert "Aloha From Hawaii", which was televised live by satellite to an audience of over one billion people, he was at the height of his power and was probably one of the best known people on the planet, but on a personal level, with the concert touring and his long absences from his home in Memphis an intolerable burden had been put on his marriage to Priscilla, and in October of 1973 they divorced. In the late 1970s, Elvis had put on a lot of weight and there was concern for his health, but he didn't hide himself from his fans and continued to perform, never losing that wonderful gift right up until the end, his fantastic and unique voice. He made his last appearance at the Market Arena in Indianapolis, Indiana, on June the 26th. 1976 He collapsed and died at his home on 16th August 1977 and the shock waves went around the world. Throughout the world Elvis fans went into mourning. When Elvis' funeral took place a couple of days later, tens of thousands mourned his passing as his body was driven to be placed at Forest Hills cemetery next to that of his beloved mother Gladys. The bodies were later removed to the grounds of Graceland. Elvis now rests in the Meditation Garden of his Memphis home. Elvis was gone. Not in the hearts and minds of his fans, however, who can never forget their idol. And even now, there is a new generation of Elvis fans growing up, buying the albums, and twenty seven years after his death is still toping the charts, for there was something special about the man 'who came to be known as The King, something that time can never change!     Listen to "Elvis Extra" live on line on Dublins Country Mix 106.8 fm every Sunday 7-8pm. www.perfectstation.com  Elvis, Elvis Presley, and Graceland are registered trademarks of Elvis Presley Enterprises.