An American Tale - Elvis Presley

Elvis lives -- if not in the flesh, then as an icon of American culture. 

Two decades after his death at age 42 the story of Elvis Aaron Presley is more than just fascination. Elvis Presley is known as the king of rock 'n' roll. He was one of the first musicians to combine elements of African-American and white music, an explosive combination that changed music and culture to this day. 

More than a sex symbol who died before his time. The Elvis Presley phenomenon is a peculiarly American tale, and that no doubt explains a big part of its resonance. It's also a tragedy: a self-made man who gained everything in his dreams -- fame, wealth, and admiration -- only to become a victim of his own lifestyle. 

The only son of a working class family from Tupelo, Mississippi, he completed high school in Memphis and became a national sensation as a teen-ager. In his early years, everything Presley did worked like magic. His bump and grind on stage drove his mostly female audiences into a frenzy. Skilled musicians may have scoffed at his string-breaking act, but Presley knew how to sing with soul, and was a perfectionist when it came to recording. Moreover, he was a master at playing to the press, never coming across as cocky, despite the sneering rebel routine he practiced on stage. For years, Presley didn't drink or smoke, with the exception of the odd filtered cigars. 

"This is a decent, fine boy," Ed Sullivan said of Presley on national television in a huge boost to his career in 1957. 

With his fresh sound and attitude, Presley burst onto America at a time when the nation's parameters were narrow and its prosperous youth bursting with energy. And at time of pre-packaged stars, Elvis distinguished himself through his authenticity. With his physical performances, outrageous clothes and singing style, he broke many of the rules of his day, rules that today seem quaint by comparison. Presley was always a rebel at heart, but he never left his working-class roots. He had an effortless way of expressing himself that continues to inspire artists. 

Just as he was propelled by the forces he unleashed, Presley also became overwhelmed by them. In his later years he became sometimes sad and over weight parody of himself, surrounded by guns, languishing in the isolation of hotels and his white-columned estate near Memphis often induced by the now well documented pills. Even during his long decline during the 1970s, there were flashes of brilliance. But he grew increasingly unhappy and felt trapped by the persona he had built. Eventually, his stardom -- and his life -- veered out of control. 

Presley's humble upbringings were a big part of the legend. His father, Vernon, struggled to provide for the family by working odd jobs in Tupelo, once serving time in prison for writing a bad check. But he and Elvis' mother Gladys worked hard to provide a stable household for their only son, Elvis (his twin brother, Jessie Garon, died at birth). 

In search of opportunity, the Presley’s moved to Memphis in 1948, where they stayed in public housing for a while and eventually moved into a single-family home in a predominately black neighbourhood. 

Memphis was a music town, home to colourful talents and radio personalities who made it their business to offer their listeners the latest in country, gospel and blues. Elvis soaked up the melting pot of influences and relished the chance to hang out at any number of Beale Street clubs, nervously watching the habits and banter of the local talent. 

A loner in high school, Elvis made little impression. He slicked back his hair, carried his guitar on his back and hung out in record stores. He fancied himself a good singer, a talent he honed as a boy in gospel choirs at the Assembly of God church. Even as a boy, he had a knack for memorizing and interpreting tunes; during high school he nervously entertained classmates at a student talent show. Much to his amazement, he won the top prize and then performed an encore. Emboldened, he decided to give the studio a shot. His first recording: a demo acetate of "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin," cut at the legendary Sun Studios. 

Presley was driving a truck as an electrical apprentice after graduation, but he seemed to have an innate sense that he would become a star. When he told friends that he would some day drive a Cadillac, they laughed. The young Presley worked hard to make an impression. He drove an oil-burning old Lincoln and strolled down Beale Street in pink pants and white shoes. After another trip to Sun Studios, owner Sam Phillips was impressed enough to hook up Elvis with his first band, the Wranglers. They quickly made a mark in the Memphis club scene and within months were invited to play at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry. 

Presley's raw performance didn't sit well at the Opry. But that didn't hinder his career. He and his band bowled over the crowd at the Opry's competition, the Louisiana Hayride, and he eventually signed up for regular gigs at the venue. It's at the Hayride where Presley met "Colonel" Tom Parker, a carnival journeyman who latched onto the rising star and became his manager and publicist for life. Crude and uncouth, the cigar-chomping Parker knew how to drive a hard bargain. 

Parker wasted no time in marketing his new product to the hilt, pushing Elvis buttons and trinkets -- even lipstick and cookware. Parker brokered Presley's first big record contract with RCA in 1955 for $35,000, and by the next year his client was a millionaire. By 1956, the sale of Elvis merchandise had soared to $22 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. 

During the mid-1950s, Presley toured almost non-stop, astonishing mostly female audiences with his frenzied routine and trademark gyrations. A riot erupted at a concert in Jacksonville, Florida, and girls mobbed the young musician wherever he went. His notoriety spreading, Presley became viewed by many as a threat, an unwelcome rebel influence at a time when tolerance for counterculture was nonexistent. 

Despite his soft-spoken humility in public, Presley's act didn't sit well with jealous boyfriends and national pundits who decried his growing influence. Presley was blamed in the national press for everything from the breakdown of morality and culture to race riots. U.S. Rep. Emanuel Celler of New York even brought up Presley in congressional hearings on music business "payola" and made a point of decrying the singer's "animal gyrations." Because of those moves, the cameras of the Ed Sullivan program showed Presley only from the waist up. 

But he was a hit; a phenomena. Moving from music to the movie screen Presley hit Hollywood and signed a seven picture deal in 1956. When he returned to Memphis, his parents were swollen with pride, and they had a surprise for him: Graceland, a white-columned estate, built in 1939. The property was for sale and without negotiating Presley bought it for slightly more than the $100,000 asking price. He and his family settled into his dream house in time for Christmas 1957, just as Presley was shifting into something of a creative and emotional funk. Even with his career in high gear, he struggled for inspiration, and friends expressed concern about his moodiness. 

Then there was the matter of his imminent draft into the military. Presley stoically refused to accept the special treatment offered by the Army. "I've worked in factories, drove a truck, cut grass for a living, and did a hitch in a defence plant. I'll do whatever they tell me, and I won't be asking no special favours," he said. 1958 was a pivotal year for the young star. In March he was inducted into the Army for a two-year stint, and a few months later his mother, perhaps his most stabilizing influence, died. 

Elvis in transition

Presley, who was promoted to the rank of sergeant in the Army, returned to Memphis after duty in Germany and was greeted by a huge reception. He promoted his return with a special "Welcome Home" episode of Frank Sinatra's variety show. At Parker's urging Presley shifted his focus from music to Hollywood. But due to his manager's financial demands, Presley passed over several significant roles to concentrate on money-making film with far less artistic merit. 

Presley's recordings also suffered due to Parker's stranglehold. The colonel established two recording companies for Presley, demanding that composers share their royalties with the singer. That scared off the most talented songwriters, and the quality of Presley's recordings suffered. In 1964, Parker limited Presley to nothing but movie soundtrack recordings. Presley performed occasional benefit and select concerts, but for the most part his considerable recording and performance skills languished as he spent more and more time secluded in Graceland and in Hollywood, focusing on karate and New Age spiritualism. 

Presley saw his status as a musician wane as a series of British bands ascended the charts. He became depressed as he allowed Parker to book him for weak soundtrack songs and boilerplate films. But there were bright moments. In August 1965, at the height of the mania swirling about them the Beatles made a storied visit to the King at his home in Los Angeles. As police encircled the house to keep fans away, the musicians stared at one another in silence for several minutes. Finally, Presley broke the ice. "Look, guys," he said, "if you're just going to sit there and stare at me, I'm going to bed." 

"Let's talk a bit, huh?" Presley said, "And then maybe play and sing a bit. Thrilled at the invitation to jam with their hero, the Beatles grabbed some of Presley’s instruments for an impromptu session that lasted late into the night. They never met again. 

Presley staged a mini-comeback in 1967 with the release of "How Great Thou Art," a gospel record that went gold and earned him his first Grammy


Elvis meets Priscilla 

When Elvis met Priscilla Ann Beaulieu through the introduction of a friend, he was 24 years old, she 14. He was immediately taken with the petite, mousy-haired girl, and agreed to follow strict orders from her father, Air Force Capt. Joseph Beaulieu, to see Priscilla on a more and more frequent basis. He or his father had to pick her up for every date. And she was to be supervised for every visit. 

When he was discharged from the Army, he started his marathon string musicals. Priscilla didn't hear from him again for months. And she didn't see him again until 1962, when he asked her to visit him in Los Angeles. 

For this visit, Elvis agreed once again to a long list of stipulations from Priscilla's military father, including that she must write home daily. Breaking the rules, Elvis took her to Las Vegas the day after she arrived, where he bought her a new, sophisticated wardrobe and arranged for a hairdresser in their Las Vegas hotel to give her elaborate hairdos and heavy makeup, the way he liked it, daily. They made sure Priscilla's letters would be postmarked from the right city by having her pre-write several letters, which a friend of Elvis mailed from L.A. 

Elvis, not yet 30 years old, had already started taking sleeping pills to help him fall asleep. He and his entourage of bodyguards and assistants usually retired near dawn. 

Fashioning a perfect bride
Priscilla visited Elvis one more time, for Christmas at Graceland, before they arranged for her permanent move to Memphis. When she returned home from her Christmas trip, Elvis began asking her parents for permission to let her return; he promised to enrol her in a private Catholic school. Faced with a surly daughter increasingly uninterested in school in Germany, her parents reluctantly allowed her to move to Tennessee in 1961. 

She barely graduated, partly because of the odd hours associated with Elvis' social life. Elvis's hours were no shorter in Memphis than they were on the road; he rented entire movie theatres and skating rinks to entertain his friends throughout the evening hours, and took Priscilla on after-hours shopping sprees in exclusive Memphis boutiques. 

Whatever the activity, he was in charge -- his entourage catered to his whims, and Priscilla recalls that he expected her to do the same. He gradually modelled her into his ideal woman, directing her on how to dress, how to do her hair, what makeup to wear, even how to walk and what to say. 

Wedding bells

Six years after Priscilla moved to Memphis, she and Elvis finally wed in a small Las Vegas ceremony. According to Priscilla, the honeymoon is the first time they consummated their love. Nine months later to the day, Lisa Marie Presley was born, to the delight of Elvis, who doted on his child. 

At this point, it had been years since any of Elvis's songs were smash hits, and he was despondent. He sought answers in numerology and mysticism. Although he claimed that studying new mystic philosophies kept him strong and opened up his mind to new ideas, Colonel Parker saw it jeopardizing what little was left of his career, and advised him to give it up. 

He did, and finally rejuvenated his career in 1968, when he returned to live performing with the NBC special, "Elvis." This performance, and a 1972 live television appearance, "Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii -- Via Satellite," re-energized him. It forced him to get back in shape, briefly cut his reliance on sleeping pills and prescription painkillers, and inspired him to go back on tour. He was once again on the music charts. 

But with the constant touring, he began to lose touch with his wife, and she turned to new pursuits, for the first time learning something about her interests and talents. Discontent with her relationship with Elvis, and aware that he was unfaithful to her many times during their marriage, Priscilla finally took Lisa Marie and left. Their divorce became final in 1973, after more than a year of separation. 

They never stopped being friends, and Priscilla intimates in her book "Elvis and Me" that they were talking about remarrying. It was not to be. 

Elvis goes Hollywood
Fun in the sun, and not much else

Even as a boy, Elvis Presley wanted to be in movies. He realized his goal early in life and went on to star in 33 films. The movies made him lots of money but never satisfied his desire to be seen as a serious actor. 

Trying to capitalize on Presley's career as a music sensation, Paramount Pictures invited the 21-year-old sensation to take a screen test. Presley, who had a knack for memorizing lyrics and scripts, studied diligently for the role and wound up acing the test. He signed a seven-year movie contract with Hal Wallis and Paramount Pictures. His first film, originally titled "The Reno Brothers," was re-named "Love Me Tender" before its release to capitalize on the single released in September 1956. Presley offered an appealing performance, set during the Civil War South, and his Hollywood debut opened in New York to huge crowds and generally favourable reviews. 

Presley found movie-making to be a reprieve from the mayhem he encountered on the road, and he quickly took to the Hollywood party set. He spent many nights carousing with Natalie Wood, Dennis Hopper and others who considered themselves "rebels" in Hollywood. As for his acting, his technique was a bit raw, but Presley came across as sincere, and could cop a tough guy attitude when called. Directors generally appreciated his diligence and willingness to learn. 

Presley's early films are among his best. He endeared himself to audiences with his performances in the semi-autobiographical "Jailhouse Rock" (1957) and "King Creole," a 1958 film-noir co-starring Walter Matthau in which the pop singer is dogged by his ties to organized crime. 

After returning from a two-year stint in the Army in 1960, Presley concentrated on movies, urged on by his manager Col. Tom Parker. The cigar-chomping Dutchman figured that there was big money to be made in Hollywood and that Elvis' career in rock 'n' roll had run its course. Parker swiftly moved to cash in on Presley's celebrity and negotiated huge upfront payments to leverage his client's name to the hilt. He booked the star in a series of low-budget musical comedies with little artistic merit. The plan was to combine Presley's recording with his moviemaking. Produce a film, coordinate holiday appearances, record and release a soundtrack album. Despite the boilerplate formula, demand for Elvis was insatiable. And many of the early films, tailor-made for his personality and talent, fared well at the box office. 

It's not as if Presley, a millionaire at age 21, needed the money. He had the talent and the opportunity to rise above the B-movie rut and become an actor of repute. Film producers were desperate to find another brooding and good-looking rebel in the mould of James Dean, who died in 1955. Presley was offered significant movie roles, for instance "Thunder Road" (1958), a highly-regarded film about moon shining that went on to star Robert Mitchum. But Parker, who maintained an iron clasp on Presley's business decisions, nixed that offer and others. 

After the Army, Presley burned to break out of the sing and dance routine and play a serious role. He got his chance with the western "Flaming Star" (1960), co-starring Barbara Eden. Elvis also had a dramatic role in "Wild in the Country" (1961), but neither film proved to be the breakthrough that the young actor anticipated. 

Presley's most commercially successful film was "Blue Hawaii" (1960), in which he plays a solder returning to his Hawaiian home and sings "I Can't Help Falling in Love." Then, Presley shifted into beefcake formula comedy mode for a few years -- "Girls! Girls! Girls!" (1962) "Fun in Acapulco" (1963) "Girl Happy" (1964). By the mid 1960s, he was demanding a million dollars a picture and a sizeable chunk of profits, making him the richest person in Hollywood. Rumours of an affair were rife with co star Ann Margaret in the movie Viva Las Vegas but although probably true, there were always rumours surrounding Elvis’ leading ladies.

By 1967 or so, the formula had gone stale, and Presley's films flopped not only among critics, but at the box office. Moreover, the happy-go-lucky tone of Presley's films was decidedly out of synch with the increasingly angry tenor of youth culture during the Vietnam War. Top movie producers considered him an also-ran, and actors were reluctant to work with the increasingly temperamental star. Depressed by the rut he had dug for himself, Presley began to focus again on music, beginning with the Singer Special comeback televised in 1968 that launched the final stage of his career. Presley phased out of film during the 1970s as he reconnected with audiences and rediscovered his roots in rock 'n' roll. 

The Comeback

With the music world bypassing him, Presley vowed a comeback. His record sales were plunging, and soon his movie contract would be at an end. Sensing that a new initiative was in order, Parker worked out a deal with NBC for a Presley television special. Presley was fired up by the prospect to show his stuff and he went to Hawaii and, like a hungry boxer, focused on getting into shape. In June 1968, when the show was taped before a live audience, Presley, aged 33, was in top form. His voice was mature, his showmanship polished, and for much of the show he wore a stunning leather outfit designed by Bill Belew. Backed by his old band, Scotty Moore (guitar) Bill Black (bass) DJ Fontana (drums) joined by army buddy Charlie Hodge he belted out "That's Alright Mama" and other rocker hits, and then shifted into crooner mode for a set of gospel numbers. For the closer, he sang "If I Can Dream," a song written for the show. When it aired December 1968, "Elvis" was one of the highest rated shows of the year. 

Presley continued his comeback with a stint of sell-out concerts at The International hotel, Las Vegas and in January 1969 went on to make his first recordings in Memphis in 14 years. The sessions yielded four hit singles: "In the Ghetto", "Don't Cry, Daddy," "Kentucky Rain" and "Suspicious Minds", his last number-one hit. This time however his new hand chosen band members where the best of the best musicians of the day and became known as the T C B band. (Taking care of business was one of Elvis’ insignias he had made in to jewellery and even painted on his private jet plane.

TCB band 

James Burton (guitar) Glen Hardin (Piano) Ronnie Tutt (Drums) Charlie Hodge (Acoustic) Gerry Shift (Bass) John Wilkerson (rhythm guitar)

Backed by the Sweet Inspirations and the Imperial Quartet and the Joe Gercio Orchestra

Later to be joined by J D Sumner and the Stamps Quartet

In 1970, Presley returned to Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, performed a number of concerts to an often celebrity filled audience including major movie stars as though it was a World heavyweight boxing title fight, where he moved cat like across the stage in a white jumpsuit, incorporating his karate moves and handing out the much in demand scarves as women flocked to the front of the stage. He increasingly indulged a fascination with firearms. Paranoid about his security, Presley stocked handguns all over his house, from the dining room to his bedroom. Another odd Presley fascination: Law enforcement. Presley fancied himself something of a crime vigilante, and after he wrote to President Nixon expressing his concern about drug abuse, he visited Nixon on a whim at the White House in December 1970 and Presley walked out with a certificate issued by the president naming him a narcotics officer. As for Nixon, he was given one of Presley's .45-caliber handguns. 

Presley spent much of the 1970s on the road. There were flashes of the old brilliance moves and handing out the much in demand scarves, his concerts never failed and packed shows at New York City's Madison Square Garden. But he suffered a devastating emotional blow with the break-up in 1972 of his marriage to Priscilla. Slender and tanned, he recovered with a January 1973 concert in Hawaii televised live across the world, a show that was watched by more people than the moon landing and more than a decade before the Live Aid concerts. However later that year, Presley was hospitalised for pneumonia. His weight ballooned, and he became increasingly dependent on powerful prescription pills. Through out 1974 to 77 his weight again fluctuated only this time, Presley would not get back into shape before going on tour. After yet another stint in the hospital in 1975, Elvis Presley went back on the road, and little did we know his last performance would be in June 1977 in Indianapolis when he would depart the stage for the final time to those famously announced words “ladies and Gentlemen, Elvis has left the building”.

His health and physique had deteriorated further during that last year, and with the publishing of a damming book “Elvis, what happened” by his former bodyguards, Sonny and Red West due for release, he was yet again about to embark on another sold out national tour when it all became to much. 

On his last day, shortly after midnight August 16, 1977, Elvis returned to Graceland from a game of racket ball.. He relaxed during the early hours of the morning before heading for the scheduled tour. He retired to his master suite around 7 a.m. By late morning he was found in the bathroom by his girlfriend former Miss Tennessee Ginger Alden and road manager Joe Esposito and was later pronounced dead on arrival at Memphis Baptist Memorial hospital. Memphis and the world lay in mourning as the shock waves reverberated around the globe. To this day he is unrivalled as the number one recording artiste of all time and voted only recently “Artiste of the century”.