Elvis Presley did not invent rock and roll, but he undoubtedly did a lot to popularize it. Presley is considered one of the most successful performers of the twentieth century and one of the brightest figures in American popular culture. During his lifetime he was named the "King of Rock and Roll".
Elvis Presley: childhood, youth and early career
On January 8, 1935, two twin boys were born to the Presleys from the small town of Tupelo. One of them died immediately after birth, and the second survived, he was given the name Elvis. Elvis's father was not a qualified professional, he took on any paid job. And in general, the financial situation of the family, as a rule, was difficult.
As a child, Elvis periodically attended church and even participated in the choir with her. And the radio was always playing at home, thanks to which the boy could get acquainted with country-style songs.
In 1948, the family moved to the larger city of Memphis, where it was easier to find work. It was here that Elvis got acquainted with the styles of music common in the African American environment - boogie-woogie and rhythm and blues, which later influenced his work.
In 1953 he graduated from school and in the future he wanted to study exclusively music. But in order to have the means to live and help his parents, he temporarily got a job as a truck driver.
One day Elvis wandered into Sam Phillips' recording studio at Sun Records. Here, for his own money, he recorded a couple of songs with a guitar. Elvis, firstly, wanted to surprise his mother, and secondly, he wanted to listen to his voice on the recording. The owner of the studio, seeing talent in the young man, promised to call him.
The next meeting between Presley and Phillips took place in March 1954. For several weeks at the Sun Records studio, the aspiring singer rehearsed with the musicians, but nothing good came out. Once during a break, Presley began humming a classic country song in a non-standard, fast rhythm, and the musicians played along with him. Sam Phillips liked what the guys were doing (and they, in fact, were one of the first to play rock and roll), and he decided to experiment. The success of the Sun Records Presley album was impressive: twenty thousand copies were sold.
Elvis at the top of fame and in the movies
In the late summer of 1954, Presley and the musicians were given the opportunity to tour the southern states, their collective was called the Blue Moon Boys. In the fall of 1955, a contract was signed between Presley and the influential studio RCA Records, and in 1956 the singer had already become famous all over the world.
Elvis's touching compositions very often found themselves on the first lines in the charts, and his vinyl records were published in gigantic circulations not only in the USA, they had a lot of fans, for example, in Great Britain and Germany.
Presley's first appearances on American TV were especially resonant. The audience only talked about them: older people, as a rule, recognized his manners as mediocre and tasteless. Young people admired Elvis and imitated him in everything, even in clothes.
Musical success contributed to the fact that Hollywood producers turned their attention to Elvis Presley. The first film with the participation of the singer was released in 1956, it was the film "Love me dearly." Elvis was not entrusted with a very big role here, but four of his compositions sound in the film.
Over the next thirteen years, Elvis Presley starred in another three dozen films, among them "Burning Star", "Savage", "Fun in Acapulco", "Worker for Hire", "Blue Hawaii", etc.
Personal life of Elvis Presley
In early 1958, Elvis, despite his status as a rock and roll star, was drafted into the army. And he decided not to shirk his duty - he served for two years in a tank division in the FRG. It should be noted that during the service he was allowed to rent a separate house, where he could calmly engage in creativity.
It was in the army that Elvis met his future first wife, Priscilla Bouillet. Three years after they met, Priscilla moved to the States, and began to openly meet with Elvis. And three years later, the king of rock and roll proposed to her. They got married in the spring of 1967. In a marriage that lasted five years, until 1972, the singer had a daughter named Lisa-Marie.
Elvis' next marriage was a civil one - a rock 'n' roll partner was Linda Thompson, a beauty pageant. They lived together for four years.
And in the last months before his death, Elvis lived with model and actress Ginger Alden.
The official version of death
For a long time, Elvis took medications that doctors prescribed for him - to stay efficient after a sleepless night and to fall asleep, to calm down after a concert and to provide a burst of energy, etc. By the early seventies, the singer became addicted to these drugs.
On August 16, 1977, Elvis took sleeping pills and tried to sleep. But sleep still did not come, so the singer drank an extra dose … When it was already day, at 14:00, Elvis's girlfriend Ginger found him dead in the bathroom. After a couple of hours, doctors stated that the musician and singer had died due to the fact that he had taken too much sleeping pills.
He was buried first at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis, and then the coffin was moved to the Graceland family estate. The fact is that some fans did not believe in the death of the idol and tried to open the grave on their own. And someone in our time believes that Elvis then survived, he was simply tired of fame, and therefore faked his own death.
