He was also addicted to junk food and gained considerable weight. In the last two years of his life, he made erratic stage appearances and lived nearly as a recluse. On the afternoon of August 16, , he was found unconscious in his Graceland mansion and rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He was buried on the grounds of Graceland, which continues to attract fans and has been turned into a highly successful tourist attraction.
But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Then the Jamaican, already the fastest man in the world, shatters his own world record in the On August 16, , a new magazine dedicated to covering sports appears on American newsstands.
Announcing itself with a striking cover photo of Milwaukee Braves third baseman Eddie Mathews, his swinging bat a blur against the dramatic backdrop of a crowded Milwaukee County The first pitch from the Yankees' Carl Mays strikes the un-helmeted Chapman Hull, a year-old veteran of the American Revolution, had lost hope of defending the settlement after seeing the large English and Indian force gathering For two days following, his body lay in state at the main entrance to Yankee Stadium, and tens of thousands of people stood in line to pay their last respects.
He was buried in After close to 30 hours of deliberation, a jury of six men and six women unanimously acquits the former automaker John Z. Presley attended the Assembly of God Church with his parents, where gospel music became an important influence for him. Presley received his first guitar as a gift from his mother on his 11th birthday in and had his first taste of musical success a few years later when he won a talent show at Humes High School in Memphis.
After graduating in , he worked a number of jobs while pursuing his musical dream. He cut his first demo record at what later became known as Sun Studio that year, and before long, Sam Phillips, the record label owner, decided to take the young performer under his wing. Presley soon began touring and recording, trying to catch his first big break.
In , Presley began to develop a following with fans being drawn to his unusual musical style, provocative gyrating hips and good looks. Presley was on a roll, scoring his first No. Despite the uproar that his sexy dance moves caused, he also became a popular guest on a number of television variety shows.
Soon, Presley was everywhere, working as a musician and actor. His first film, Love Me Tender , was a box office hit. Even a stint in the U. He received his draft notice in and was inducted into the Army the following March. He eventually served in Germany for about a year and a half. Shortly before Presley left for Europe, his beloved mother, Gladys, died. He was granted a leave and returned to Memphis for the funeral.
Deeply saddened by her death, Presley returned to duty. While in Germany, his spirits were lifted slightly when he met a young teenager named Priscilla Beaulieu. The pair fell in love and married on May 1, , in Las Vegas, Nevada.
After leaving the Army in , Presley resumed his career and was soon back at the top of the charts with the soundtrack for his film GI Blues.
He continued recording music and acting in such films as Blue Hawaii , Girls! RCA also managed to generate four albums compiling old material during this period, most successfully Elvis' Golden Records , which hit number three on the LP chart. Elvis Presley In The U. Elvis returned to the United States on March 2, , and was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant on March 5.
The train that carried him from New Jersey to Tennessee was mobbed all the way, and Elvis was called upon to appear at scheduled stops to please his fans. Back in Memphis, he wasted no time in returning to the studio. The album features several songs described by Greil Marcus as full of Chicago blues 'menace, driven by Elvis' own super-miked acoustic guitar, brilliant playing by Scotty Moore, and demonic sax work from Boots Randolph.
Elvis' singing wasn't sexy, it was pornographic'. As a whole, the record 'conjured up the vision of a performer who could be all things', in the words of music historian John Robertson: 'a flirtatious teenage idol with a heart of gold; a tempestuous, dangerous lover; a gutbucket blues singer; a sophisticated nightclub entertainer; a raucous rocker'. Released only days after recording was complete, it reached number two on the album chart. Elvis returned to television on May 12 as a guest on The Frank Sinatra Timex Special - ironic for both stars, given Sinatra's not-so-distant excoriation of rock and roll.
Also known as Welcome Home Elvis, the show had been taped in late March, the only time all year Elvis performed in front of an audience. The broadcast drew an enormous viewership.
It is important to note that at the time Elvis came to prominence it was the normal thing for a big star in the music field to cross over to movies. They did not have the technology nor music videos, MTV etc.
So Hollywood it was, and it was Elvis' dream to be a good actor, he held out hope for years that he would be given a good script and succeed in the movie business, eventually accepting this was not to be Elvis Presley starred in 31 feature films as an actor and two theatrically released concert documentary films , all of which enjoyed financial success.
For a number of years he was one of Hollywood's top box office draws and one of its highest-paid actors. His two most critically acclaimed films, Jailhouse Rock and King Creole have become classics of their era. His movies and concert films enjoy a healthy life today in television syndication and home video sales and rentals. Some of his top-selling music came from his movies. Eleven of his movie soundtrack albums went to the top ten, and of those, four went to number one.
The soundtrack for G. Blues , was number one on the Billboard Top album chart for 10 weeks and remained on the chart for weeks.
The album from Blue Hawaii was number one for 20 weeks and was on the chart for 79 weeks G. Blues , the soundtrack to Elvis' first film since his return, was a number one album in October. It reached number 13 on the U. In February , Elvis performed two shows for a benefit event in Memphis, on behalf of 24 local charities. During a luncheon preceding the event, RCA presented him with a plaque certifying worldwide sales of over 75 million records.
A hour Nashville session in mid-March yielded nearly all of Elvis' next studio album, Something for Everybody. As described by John Robertson, it exemplifies the Nashville sound, the restrained, cosmopolitan style that would define country music in the s.
Presaging much of what was to come from Elvis himself over the next half-decade, the album is largely 'a pleasant, unthreatening pastiche of the music that had once been Elvis' birthright'.
It would be his sixth number one LP. Another benefit concert, raising money for a Pearl Harbor memorial, was staged on March 25, in Hawaii. It was to be Elvis' last public performance for seven years. On location for the picture 'Follow That Dream'. Parker had by now pushed Elvis into a heavy movie making schedule, focused on formulaic, modestly budgeted musical-comedies.
Elvis at first insisted on pursuing more serious roles, but when two films in a more dramatic vein - Flaming Star and Wild in the Country - were less commercially successful, he reverted to the formula.
For the remainder of the decade, during which he made 27 movies, there were few further exceptions. His films were almost universally panned; one critic dismissed them as a 'pantheon of bad taste'. Nonetheless, they were virtually all profitable. Hal Wallis , who produced nine of them, declared, 'An Elvis picture is the only sure thing in Hollywood'. Of Elvis' films in the s, 15 were accompanied by soundtrack albums and another 5 by soundtrack EPs.
The movies' rapid production and release schedules - he frequently starred in three a year - affected his music. According to Jerry Leiber , the soundtrack formula was already evident before Elvis left for the Army: 'three ballads, one medium-tempo number , one up-tempo, and one break blues boogie'.
As the decade wore on, the quality of the soundtrack songs grew 'progressively worse'. Julie Parrish, who appeared in Paradise, Hawaiian Style , says that he hated many of the songs chosen for his films. The Jordanaires ' Gordon Stoker describes how Elvis would retreat from the studio microphone: 'The material was so bad that he felt like he couldn't sing it'. Most of the movie albums featured a song or two from respected writers such as the team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman. But by and large, according to biographer Jerry Hopkins, the numbers seemed to be 'written on order by men who never really understood Elvis or rock and roll'.
Regardless of the songs' quality, it has been argued that Elvis generally sang them well, with commitment. In the first half of the decade, three of Elvis' soundtrack albums hit number one on the pop charts, and a few of his most popular songs came from his films, such as Can't Help Falling in Love and Return to Sender Viva Las Vegas , the title track to the film, was a minor hit as a B-side, and became truly popular only later.
But, as with artistic merit, the commercial returns steadily diminished. During a five-year span - through - Elvis had only one top ten hit: Crying in the Chapel , a gospel number recorded back in As for non-movie albums, between the June release of Pot Luck and the November release of the soundtrack to the television special that signaled his comeback, only one LP of new material by Elvis was issued: the gospel album How Great Thou Art Shortly before Christmas , more than seven years since they first met, Elvis proposed to Priscilla Beaulieu.
They were married on May 1, , in a brief ceremony in their suite at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. The flow of formulaic movies and assembly-line soundtracks rolled on.
It was not until October , when the Clambake soundtrack LP registered record low sales for a new Elvis album, that RCA executives recognized a problem. Elvis' only child, Lisa Marie , was born on February 1, , during a period when he had grown deeply unhappy with his career. Of the eight Elvis singles released between January and May , only two charted in the top 40, and none higher than number His forthcoming soundtrack album, Speedway, would die at number 82 on the Billboard chart. Parker had already shifted his plans to television, where Elvis had not appeared since the Sinatra Timex show in He maneuvered a deal with NBC that committed the network to both finance a theatrical feature and broadcast a Christmas special.
Later known as the '68 Comeback Special , the show featured lavishly staged studio productions as well as songs performed with a band in front of a small audience - Elvis' first live performances since The live segments saw Elvis clad in tight black leather, singing and playing guitar in an uninhibited style reminiscent of his early rock and roll days. Director and co producer Steve Binder had worked hard to reassure the nervous singer and to produce a show that was far from the hour of Christmas songs Parker had originally planned.
The show, NBC's highest rated that season, captured 42 percent of the total viewing audience. Jon Landau of Eye magazine remarked, 'There is something magical about watching a man who has lost himself find his way back home.
He sang with the kind of power people no longer expect of rock 'n' roll singers. He moved his body with a lack of pretension and effort that must have made Jim Morrison green with envy'. Buoyed by the experience of the Comeback Special, Elvis engaged in a prolific series of recording sessions at American Sound Studio , which led to the acclaimed From Elvis in Memphis. Released in June , it was his first secular, non-soundtrack album from a dedicated period in the studio in eight years.
As described by Dave Marsh, it is 'a masterpiece in which Elvis immediately catches up with pop music trends that had seemed to pass him by during the movie years.
He sings country songs, soul songs and rockers with real conviction, a stunning achievement'. The album featured the hit single In the Ghetto , issued in April, which reached number three on the pop chart - Elvis' first non-gospel top ten hit since Bossa Nova Baby in Elvis was keen to resume regular live performing.
Following the success of the Comeback Special, offers came in from around the world. He responded, 'That's fine for me, now how much can you get for Elvis? He was scheduled to perform 57 shows over four weeks beginning July Moore, Fontana, and the Jordanaires declined to participate, afraid of losing the lucrative session work they had in Nashville. Elvis assembled new, top-notch accompaniment, led by guitarist James Burton and including two gospel groups, The Imperials and Sweet Inspirations.
Nonetheless, he was nervous: his only previous Las Vegas engagement, in , had been dismal. Parker, who intended to make Elvis' return the show business event of the year, oversaw a major promotional push. For his part, hotel owner Kirk Kerkorian arranged to send his own plane to New York to fly in rock journalists for the debut performance. Elvis Presley : Las Vegas : August 17, Elvis took to the stage without introduction. The audience of 2,, including many celebrities, gave him a standing ovation before he sang a note and another after his performance.
A third followed his encore, Can't Help Falling in Love a song that would be his closing number for much of the s. At a press conference after the show , when a journalist referred to him as 'The King', Elvis gestured toward Fats Domino, who was taking in the scene.
Newsweek commented, 'There are several unbelievable things about Elvis, but the most incredible is his staying power in a world where meteoric careers fade like shooting stars'. Rolling Stone called Elvis' upernatural, his own resurrection'.
Suspicious Minds reached the top of the charts - Elvis' first U. Cassandra Peterson, later television's Elvira, met Elvis during this period in Las Vegas, where she was working as showgirl. She recalls of their encounter, 'He was so anti-drug when I met him. I mentioned to him that I smoked marijuana, and he was just appalled'. He said, 'Don't ever do that again'.
Elvis was not only deeply opposed to recreational drugs, he also rarely drank. Several of his family members had been alcoholics, a fate he intended to avoid.
Elvis returned to the International early in for the first of the year's two month-long engagements, performing two shows a night. Recordings from these shows were issued on the album On Stage. In late February, Elvis performed six attendance-record - breaking shows at the Houston Astrodome. Elvis was by now performing in a jumpsuit, which would become a trademark of his live act. Elvis had been the target of many threats since the s, often without his knowledge.
The FBI took the threat seriously and security was stepped up for the next two shows. Elvis went onstage with a Derringer in his right boot and a. The album That's the Way It Is , produced to accompany the documentary and featuring both studio and live recordings, marked a stylistic shift. As music historian John Robertson notes, 'The authority of Elvis' singing helped disguise the fact that the album stepped decisively away from the American-roots inspiration of the Memphis sessions towards a more middle-of-the-road sound.
Despite the hour, this was not unusual. Everyone around Elvis, who were either paid by him or enjoyed his largess, was always available. It had been raining and when they arrived, Billy told Elvis he wished it would stop.
Tuesday, August 16, , 4. He took a package of prescription drugs put together by 'Dr Nick' for twice-daily use. They were intended to help the star sleep. After Elvis's death, the doctor was investigated over the extraordinary amount of drugs he prescribed to the star and eventually disbarred.
Tuesday, August 16, , am: Still not able to sleep, Elvis took a second full package of the pills. They were handed to him by Ricky who was 'on duty' to noon that day. Elvis needed to sleep because he was due to fly out at 7pm to Portland, Maine for a concert on the 17th and then continue from there straight on with his current US tour. Tuesday, August 16, , am: Desperate to sleep, Elvis called Ricky to bring more medications but he could not be found.
Nurse Henley was at the office but reluctant to hand over any more pills. Eventually, she gave a third, smaller, package of the pills to Delta Mae containing two valmids, used to treat insomnia.
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