62 Facts About Elvis

Elvis Aaron Presley, or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor.

Elvis held few concerts, however, and guided by Parker, proceeded to devote much of the 1960s to making Hollywood films and soundtrack albums, most of them critically derided.

In 1968, following a seven-year break from live performances, he returned to the stage in the acclaimed television comeback special Elvis, which led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and a string of highly profitable tours.

Elvis holds several records, including the most RIAA certified gold and platinum albums, the most albums charted on the Billboard 200, the most number-one albums by a solo artist on the UK Albums Chart, and the most number-one singles by any act on the UK Singles Chart.

Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, to Vernon Elvis and Gladys Love (nee Smith; April 25, 1912 – August 14, 1958) Presley in a two-room shotgun house that his father built for the occasion.

Related searches

Elvis was jailed for eight months, while Gladys and Elvis moved in with relatives.

Elvis was encouraged to enter a singing contest after impressing his schoolteacher with a rendition of Red Foley's country song "Old Shep" during morning prayers.

Elvis played and sang during lunchtime, and was often teased as a "trashy" kid who played hillbilly music.

Elvis was described as "crazy about music" by Slim's younger brother, who was one of Presley's classmates and often took him into the station.

Elvis was usually too shy to perform openly, and was occasionally bullied by classmates who viewed him as a "mama's boy".

Elvis frequented record stores that provided jukeboxes and listening booths to customers.

Elvis knew all of Hank Snow's songs, and he loved records by other country singers such as Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, Ted Daffan, Jimmie Rodgers, Jimmie Davis, and Bob Wills.

Elvis was a regular audience member at the monthly All-Night Singings downtown, where many of the white gospel groups that performed reflected the influence of African-American spiritual music.

Elvis adored the music of black gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

Elvis certainly listened to the regional radio stations, such as WDIA-AM, that played "race records": spirituals, blues, and the modern, backbeat-heavy sound of rhythm and blues.

Elvis later claimed that he intended the record as a birthday gift for his mother, or that he was merely interested in what he "sounded like", although there was a much cheaper, amateur record-making service at a nearby general store.

Elvis explained to his father, "They told me I couldn't sing.

Elvis was sufficiently affected by what he heard to invite two local musicians, guitarist Winfield "Scotty" Moore and upright bass player Bill Black, to work something up with Presley for a recording session.

Moore recalled, "All of a sudden, Elvis just started singing this song, jumping around and acting the fool, and then Bill picked up his bass, and he started acting the fool, too, and I started playing with them.

Elvis'd do something one time and then he would expand on it real quick.

Elvis had attended several shows by Freddie Bell and the Bellboys in Vegas and was struck by their cover of "Hound Dog", a hit in 1953 for blues singer Big Mama Thornton by songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.

Elvis is a great success and a fine actor, but I think he shouldn't have said it.

Elvis was granted a deferment to finish the forthcoming King Creole, in which $350, 000 had already been invested by Paramount and producer Hal Wallis.

Elvis became "practically evangelical about their benefits", not only for energy but for "strength" and weight loss as well, and many of his friends in the outfit joined him in indulging.

Elvis donated his Army pay to charity, purchased TV sets for the base, and bought an extra set of fatigues for everyone in his outfit.

Related searches

Elvis's films were almost universally panned; critic Andrew Caine dismissed them as a "pantheon of bad taste".

Elvis's forthcoming soundtrack album, Speedway, would rank at number 82 on the Billboard chart.

Elvis maneuvered a deal with NBC that committed the network to both finance a theatrical feature and broadcast a Christmas special.

Elvis sang with the kind of power people no longer expect of rock 'n' roll singers.

Elvis moved his body with a lack of pretension and effort that must have made Jim Morrison green with envy.

Elvis's recalled of their encounter, "He was so anti-drug when I met him.

Elvis asked Nixon for a Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs badge, to add to similar items he had begun collecting and to signify official sanction of his patriotic efforts.

Elvis: As Recorded at Madison Square Garden became one of Presley's biggest-selling albums.

Elvis often raised the possibility of her moving into Graceland, saying that he was likely to leave Priscilla.

Elvis's later stated in an interview that she regretted her choice of words in describing the incident, and said it had been an overstatement.

Elvis proposed to Alden and gave her an engagement ring two months later, though several of his friends later claimed that he had no serious intention of marrying again.

Elvis was devastated by the book, and tried unsuccessfully to halt its publication by offering money to the publishers.

Elvis concluded that Presley's "drug abuse had led to falls, head trauma, and overdoses that damaged his brain", and that his death was due in part to a toxic reaction to codeine—exacerbated by an undetected liver enzyme defect—which can cause sudden cardiac arrhythmia.

Elvis was placed second in 2006, returned to the top spot the next two years, and ranked fourth in 2009.

Elvis's mother recalled that from the age of two, at the Assembly of God church in Tupelo attended by the family, "he would slide down off my lap, run into the aisle and scramble up to the platform.

Elvis played electric bass guitar on Baby I Don't Care" after his bassist Bill Black had trouble with the instrument.

Elvis is credited with playing piano on later albums such as From Elvis in Memphis and "Moody Blue", and on "Unchained Melody" which was one of the last songs that he recorded.

Elvis recorded few new straight rock and roll songs thereafter; as he explained, they had become "hard to find".

Elvis denied making such a statement: "I never said anything like that, and people who know me know that I wouldn't have said it.

Notable among African-American entertainers expressly rejecting this view was Jackie Wilson, who argued, "A lot of people have accused Elvis of stealing the black man's music, when in fact, almost every black solo entertainer copied his stage mannerisms from Elvis.

Related searches

Elvis kept several horses at Graceland, and horses remain important to the Graceland estate.

Elvis's is one of three of the original staff members still working at the estate.

Elvis was only interested in 'now money'—get the buck and get gone.

Elvis was on the verge of quitting until Presley ordered the Hill and Range personnel out of the studio.

In Lacker's description, "The only thing that kept Elvis going after the early years was a new challenge.

Elvis's following was immense, and he was a symbol to people the world over of the vitality, rebelliousness, and good humor of his country.

American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein said, "Elvis Presley is the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century.

Elvis introduced the beat to everything and he changed everything—music, language, clothes.

In particular, his love of calorie-laden fried peanut butter, banana, and bacon sandwiches, now known as "Elvis sandwiches", came to stand for this aspect of his persona.

Elvis' breakthroughs are underappreciated because in this rock-and-roll age, his hard-rocking music and sultry style have triumphed so completely.

Elvis Presley is a supreme figure in American life, one whose presence, no matter how banal or predictable, brooks no real comparisons.

Elvis has emerged as a great artist, a great rocker, a great purveyor of schlock, a great heart throb, a great bore, a great symbol of potency, a great ham, a great nice person, and, yes, a great American.

Elvis holds the records for most British number-one hits with 21, and top ten hits with 76.

Elvis holds the record for most time spent at number one on the Billboard 200: 67 weeks.

Elvis holds the records for most gold albums, and most platinum albums (57).

Elvis has the third-most gold singles, and the eighth-most platinum singles (27).

Elvis's career began and he was most successful during an era when singles were the primary commercial medium for pop music.