#NOISE009: The Elvis Presley Story
On what would have been Elvis Presley's 90th birthday, a look back at the stellar career of "The King."
Elvis Aaron Presley was born into poverty on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, minutes after a twin brother, Jesse Garon, who was stillborn.
When he was 10 years old, Elvis finished second in a music contest at the 38th annual Mississippi-Alabama Fair & Dairy Show, singing “Old Shep” before an audience of 5,000 people.
After leaving high school, where his music teacher gave him a “c” grade and told him he couldn’t sing, he worked as a cinema usher and, while attending night school studying to be an apprentice electrician, as a Crown Electric truck driver.
In July of 1953, the music-obsessed 18-year-old paid $3.25. to record the song “My Happiness” at The Memphis Recording Service in Memphis. In those days, you could record a song and leave with a 78rpm acetate disc to play at home. It was ostensibly as a birthday gift for his mother, Gladys … even though her birthday was in April and the Presleys didn’t own a record player! His friend Ed Leak did, so after the session, Elvis called round at Ed’s house to play the record. He left the disc with Ed and never called round to pick it up again. Gladys never heard the performance and Elvis never recorded the song again.
But Elvis had made an impression on studio manager Marion Keisker, who made a note that she thought the kid had a good voice. Before the session started she had asked him who he sounded like and his reply – “I don’t sound like nobody” – has gone down in in rock & roll folklore. Over the next few months, the teenager dropped in at the studio from time to time, but owner Sam Phillips wasn’t particularly enthused.
Phillips had enjoyed success recording black artists including BB King, Howlin’ Wolf and a young Ike Turner, and with his own label, Sun Records, but was passionate about trying to introduce the music he loved to a wider audience. Sam was searching for something new … he just didn’t know what but was sure he’d recognize it when he heard it.
It was Keisker, who was Sam’s silent partner professionally and secret partner romantically, who pushed to give the kid a chance. Sam finally relented, teaming the youngster up with country musicians guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black. The trio jammed together at Scotty’s house one summer evening in 1954 and then convened in the studio the following night.
After a few fruitless hours, the session was petering out … until 19-year-old Elvis picked up his old guitar during a break and launched into an impromptu upbeat version of Arthur Crudup’s “That’s All Right.” Scotty and Bill joined in … and the sound they made had Sam Phillips scrambling to turn the recorders on. He knew he’d found what he was looking for the minute he heard it. It was July 5th, 1954 and he had just captured lightning in a bottle.
Before the year was out, with his revolutionary sound, outrageous dress and gyrating stage moves, Elvis was the fastest-rising star in the south. In 1955, having teamed up with promoter Colonel Tom Parker, he signed to RCA Victor, the label paying $40,000 to buy out his Sun contract from Sam Phillips.
By 1956, he was the hottest artist in the world, thanks to hits such as “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Hound Dog,” “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Don’t Be Cruel,” a series of incendiary tv appearances, and his movie debut in “Love Me Tender.”
1957’s string of hits, and the success of his third movie, “Jailhouse Rock,” confirmed his iconic status ... and then in 1958, his career was abruptly halted when he was drafted into the army.
The clean-cut entertainer who emerged two years later was a far cry from “The Memphis Flash” who had pioneered rock ‘n’ roll.
Although the hits kept coming, he abandoned live concerts in favor of a procession of increasingly inane movies. The Beatles and Rolling Stones conquered the world, and it seemed the King had been dethroned.
While in Germany, he had started dating American teen Priscilla Beaulieu. They married in 1967, and daughter Lisa Marie was born in 1968. Elvis and Priscilla divorced in 1973.
In late 1968, clad in black leather, Elvis roared back from the doldrums with a TV concert special that has since become the stuff of legend.
In 1969, a triumphant month-long run in Las Vegas marked his first live concerts in eight years. Two more Vegas runs in 1970 spawned a hit documentary movie, and were followed by his first concert tour since the 1950s. Between 1969 and 1977, Elvis played 1,145 concerts.
A 1973 concert, the first ever televised by satellite, drew a record worldwide audience of one billion viewers!
Sadly, Elvis was increasingly dependent on prescription drugs, and his weight ballooned as his health began to deteriorate. On August 16, 1977, “The King” was found dead in his Memphis mansion home, Graceland. He was 42 years old.
Lionized in life, Elvis Presley has been deified in death, and almost five decades later, he continues to be one of the highest earners in music history.
And that first recording Elvis made in 1953? The disc remained with the Leak family for decades, until it was was sold by his niece in 2015 for $300,000!
