Summary

Elvis Aaron Presley (Tupelo, January 8, 1935 - Memphis, August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor.

He was one of the most celebrated singers in history, an inspiration to so many rock and roll and rockabilly musicians and performers that he was given the nickname King of Rock and Roll. He was also nicknamed Elvis the Pelvis for a particular movement of his pelvis, an appellation he disliked and called a childish expression.

Throughout his career, he has ranged from rock and roll (of which, complicit with the historical period in which he embarked on his career, he is usually considered among the main creators) to rhythm and blues, country and western, gospel, spiritual, traditional, melodic, and pop music genres.

In his twenty-four-year career, he has released 61 albums, selling more than one billion records worldwide. Over the course of his career he saw his songs land several times on Billboard magazine's Top Chart. In the British market, Presley placed twenty-one singles at the top of the sales charts, sometimes with stays of 80 weeks at number one. His 45s remained on the charts for 1277 weeks, while the long plays containing songs he recorded stood continuously in the Top 10 from November 1958 to July 1964. Except for six concerts held in Canada in the late 1950s, he never performed outside the United States.

Birth and the early years

Elvis Aaron Presley was born at 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday, January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi. Of Gypsy-Scottish ancestry on his father's side and Jewish on his mother's side, he had a childhood marked by his family's poverty. His parents used to attend the Evangelical Church of the American Assemblies of God, and it was during the course of such meetings that Elvis, when he was only a few years old, began to come into contact with the world of music.

In the fall of 1941 he began attending elementary school in Lawhon; Oleta Grimes, one of his teachers, urged him to enter a radio music competition in Tupelo, in which he placed second. Later, in 1946, he received a guitar as a gift, with which he taught himself his first musical rudiments, trying to reproduce what he heard on the radio.

Three years later, he participated in an amateur contest at a trade show sponsored by WECO, a local radio station, the first in front of a sizeable audience, in which he interpreted, accompanying himself on Red Foley's Old Shep guitar and managed to place second. About a decade later, the same song was recorded in the studio by the singer and included on one of his first successful albums, released after he signed with RCA Records.

Since father Vernon Presley could not find stable employment in Tupelo, in September 1948 the Presley family decided to move to Memphis, in the state of Tennessee, with the hope of improving their living conditions. In May 1949, the family found accommodation in a small residential unit in the vicinity of the "Launderdale Courts" complex, the local public housing district. At that time, Elvis was attending the local school, called "Humes High School," with mediocre results.

The 1950s

After finishing school in 1953, with the aim of improving his and his family's economic conditions, Elvis began looking for steady employment, finding it, after some time, at Crown Electric, an electrical contractor. One day, casually passing through Union Street (he was then working as a truck driver and was in charge of bringing spare parts to the power line workers), the street where Sam Phillips' Sun Records studio fronted, he discovered that anyone, by going to it and shelling out four dollars (which was three according to Phillips), could record a demo record, which he could later take home.

Seizing that opportunity, he decided to record a record on July 18, 1953. The official biography reports that he intended to give it to his mother for her birthday. Nevertheless, some deny this claim, believing that since it fell on April 25, this is highly unlikely, considering also that Presleys did not have a record player that would allow them to listen to vinyl records. Those who support this theory assume that the artist actually wanted to try to make a career in music through the Sun. The title of the song chosen for the occasion was that of an old ballad, the title of which was My Happiness. He therefore introduced himself to Marion Keisker, the secretary working at the studio of the small record label, who agreed to his requests, and the recording was thus made.

During the second half of 1953, he frequented Beale Street, where he had the opportunity to attend several performances by bluesmen such as B.B. King and Furry Lewis, at the same time becoming passionate about the kind of music they offered. Also at that time, he would go to hear performances by the Blackwood Brothers and the Stamps, groups that would lead him to become interested in the gospel genre.

Phillips listened casually to the material that had been taken from that first performance and summoned two turntables who had worked in his studio before, bassist Bill Black and guitarist Scotty Moore, with the intention of creating a musical team, whose task it would be to collaborate with Elvis. From the testimonies given by those who dealt with the young singer during those years, it is inferred that he, although unable to read sheet music, possessed a remarkable musical ear, with which he made up for his lack of training and his theoretical deficiencies.

Following the advice he received from Phillips, the singer then began to collaborate with the two session men, continuing to rehearse new songs with them for many hours, or re-arranging and enlivening already well-known pieces with the unusual contribution of his voice, his particular style and arrangements, and thus refining his performing technique. Scotty Moore, who some time later would also become his first official manager, exploiting his connections then worked for the purpose of promoting the emerging singer to the local music circuits, and later D. J. Fontana, a drummer, also began to collaborate with the first two.

The group that had formed was christened the Blue Moon Boys, and its members participated in the making of films starring the singer, playing the role of themselves. They also accompanied him during his performances on nationally produced television shows that took place from the second half of the 1950s. Two of the three official members of the group also reappeared during the course of the making of the television show dubbed the 68 Elvis Comeback Special, which was televised in the year 1968. Missing from the ensemble's roster, however, was Bill Black, as he had passed away prematurely about two years earlier from a malignant brain tumor.

During a July night in 1954, after rehearsing with them for many hours without being able to produce himself in anything he considered acceptable or satisfactory, Elvis, said, turning to the other bystanders, "Do you know this one?" at the same time beginning to play an old tune belonging to the country genre, written long ago by Arthur Crudup, which a few years earlier had already been brought to success by other artists, entitled That's All Right, Mama. Phillips, after appreciating the atypicality of that impromptu performance, came out of the control room and stopped them saying, "No, I don't know it, but I'm making a record of it!!!"

The singer was officially signed by Phillips, and from that time on he began to collaborate and record other songs for Sun such as That's All Right (Mama), Blue Moon of Kentucky, Good Rockin' Tonight, and Baby Let's Play House, which at the time helped launch the young singer among those who were already appearing in the upper reaches of the charts inherent to Southern U.S. music celebrities. The style of music offered by the up-and-coming artist was considered by listeners to be highly original and sometimes revolutionary, so much so that they often phoned the DJs who featured him at local radio stations to try to find out who was what they referred to as a "black man singing country songs" and a "white man singing blues tunes."

The singer then gained a record, as he was the only artist appearing, achieving good rankings in both cases, in the charts pertaining to rhythm and blues music and in the charts pertaining to country music. The occurrence of that situation enabled him to achieve some notoriety, although it was still restricted to a purely local scope. Subsequently he began to perform, accompanied by his band, generally during the course of some fair event of a local character, usually gathering positive feedback.

As the situation developed, he realized that his new occupation was totally irreconcilable with the work he was doing at Crown Electric, so he decided to resign from the company where he had been working until then. This gesture of his also officially sanctioned the starting date of his new artistic career, since, from that point on, it would also be his only source of income. At that time the local media began to refer to him by nicknames such as "The Hillbilly Cat" or "The King of Western Bop."

On September 25, 1954, thanks to these positive responses, the young singer performed at what had always been considered the landmark venue for that genre of music, the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Albert Goldman, in a few paragraphs of his biography, emphasized the impartiality of the propaganda apparatus that had always gravitated around the character. According to his fans, what the singer did was always capable of total and unquestioning approval in front of any audience. In reality, this does not answer the truth, since, mainly in the early days of his career, he was also received coldly The following week the singer performed during the holding of the event that had always been considered to be at the antipodes of the previous one, that is, at the Louisiana Hayride, in Shreveport, where instead he was given an enthusiastic reception, and where he obtained a write-up, so much so that throughout the course of the year 1955, he continued to perform at the same, always obtaining largely positive feedback.

Scotty Moore meanwhile distanced himself from Elvis, and the emerging singer's new manager became Bob Neal, who managed to get him a series of engagements at a number of locations. Together with what had meanwhile been christened the "Blue Moon Boys," he produced himself on his first official tour, and in about three weeks he crisscrossed the southern United States, having started in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, performed in cities in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Virginia, and having concluded the cycle of shows in the city of Chattanooga, in the state of Tennessee.

As that tour unfolded, the singer realized that his frenetic style and provocative mimicry, both of which had been borrowed in his time from the performances of black performers he had witnessed during his adolescence, and which had particularly characterized his style from his earliest performances, was having little or no effect, if not counterproductive, when confronted by an audience composed of adult subjects.

Quite different, however, were the outcomes of his performances when they took place in the presence of an audience composed of young people. He therefore decided to direct all his efforts in that direction. During the course of his performances, in the presence of that type of audience the situation quickly evolved in a way favorable to him, and bystanders usually expressed their approval of Elvis's performances. It was precisely from that period that remarkable and repeated manifestations of collective hysteria began to occur as the singer's performances unfolded. This phenomenology occurred to a greater extent if the audiences composing the audience attending his performances were made up of what were called the "teenagers" (young, adolescents) and to a greater extent if they belonged to the female sex. On several occasions he had to struggle for the purpose of preserving his personal safety, since he could not complete his performances in a smooth manner, since on many occasions well before his show came to an end, he was assaulted by fans. When such incidents occurred he was forced to stop his performance and walk away from the stage escorted by local authorities. A journalist at that time asked the singer for clarifications inherent in his dynamism during the performance of his shows, and in this regard he expressed himself as follows, "One has to put on a show to attract people, otherwise everyone would stay at home and not come out to see me...." Asked later on the same subject, on another occasion, the singer expressed himself thus, "Some people move their legs, some snap their fingers, and some move from side to side. I do a little bit of everything together, I would say." Still questioned on the same issue, on yet another occasion, Elvis said, "Rhythm is something you either have or you don't, but when you have it Sam Phillips, on the other hand, uttered these words, "At the roots of this myth there is still so much mystery today. No one can claim to really know the man Presley well He was complicated, full of contradictions and even insecure in private, but at work he was always deeply convinced of what he was doing, and he was never wrong."

On November 22, 1955, the contract that bound the singer to Sam Phillips, who because of the modest size and consequent logistical and organizational limitations of his small label was manifesting increasing difficulties in managing the artist's rise, was sold by the latter to the giant Radio Corporation of America (RCA), for the then record sum of about $35,000. Paradoxically, Sam Phillips previously, a few months before signing the singer had stated, "If I could find a white man who sings with the soul of a black man, I would become a billionaire."

Those who collaborated with him at the time during recording sessions still remember the peculiar behavior enacted by the singer in the recording studio, since he tended to perform the songs he was recording in the studio with the same dynamism that distinguished him during his live performances. This way of operating caused quite a few problems of an organizational nature to arise since his collaborators, in order to try to achieve a technically acceptable end result, were forced to physically chase him around the studio while he was recording the tapes that were the subject of that session. None of them, however, ever questioned the singer's professionalism, so much so that later when interviewed on the subject, Steve Sholes, who at the time of the same became the new producer, expressed himself on the subject as follows: "Elvis was able to record about eighty tracks of the same song, and without even listening to them again, decide for sure which was the best, the one to be used to cut the record to be marketed...."

The first single that the singer recorded for RCA was a distinctly blues-inspired song titled Heartbreak Hotel (The Hotel of Broken Hearts), which achieved excellent commercial success internationally and helped to consolidate the singer's notoriety in a much broader geographic scope than before.

Also at that time, a vocal group of four choristers, called The Jordanaires, began to collaborate permanently with the singer and his ensemble. That quartet already enjoyed a good reputation at the time as performers of spiritual, gospel, and folk songs. It was its members who later also became the group that authored, as well as performed, those choral accompaniments that formed one of the fundamental parts of the musical structure of the songs from which the singles recorded by the singer during the course of the next decade were taken. Such choral accompaniments, blending perfectly with the singer's voice, helped to vocally distinguish such singles in a special way, so much so that those in the recording industry referred to their musical imprint as the "Presley Sound."

The Jordanaires participated both in the television shows that the singer attended and in the making of some of the films in which he starred, playing the role they played in reality, and after his death they recorded several albums containing covers of songs that at the time had represented his greatest recording successes. Still in their capacity as choristers, they have also often participated in memorial events concerning him organized in all parts of the world, and also collaborated with various Elvis impersonators.

Also during that period the singer also made the acquaintance of Colonel Tom Parker, who after some time became his new official manager, replacing Bob Neal. When this happened, an artistic partnership was also born, which for about twenty years inextricably linked the manager with his client, and whose termination was sanctioned, playfully, only by the latter's death. Colonel Tom Parker took action for the purpose of having him perform on shows organized by national television, thus making possible his simultaneous entry into all U.S. homes. Parker enjoyed a controversial reputation: although held responsible for Elvis's commercial fortunes, malignants described the manager as an individual with a dubious past, venal, cunning, cynical, callous, and greedy, as well as a great gambler, sometimes capable of taking advantage of the Tupelo artist's supposed submissiveness.

On April 10, 1955, the singer reached New York for the purpose of auditioning in order to be able to participate in the Talent Scouts program, hosted by critic Arthur Godfrey, but received a firm negative response from the latter. On January 28 of the following year he appeared for the first time on a nationally televised show, the Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show, enjoying good success. On April 3, 1956, he took part in one of the most watched shows at the time by television audiences, the "Milton Berle Show," and on that occasion more than forty million viewers thus simultaneously watched his performances. On January 12, 1957, he participated in the Ed Sullivan show, but his performance was partially censored because he was filmed from the waist up in order to avoid framing his famous and unseemly "pelvic movements."

During the course of the period, from the point of view of recording success, the results were always very positive, and the singles that were drawn at the time poured onto vinyl songs such as Heartbreak Hotel (5 million copies), (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear (4 million copies), Don't Be Cruel (6 million copies), Jailhouse Rock (which sold more than 9 million copies as a single), Hound Dog (13 million copies), Love Me Tender (5 million copies), and All Shook Up (7 million copies) are among his greatest hits. Also deserving of mention are lyricists and composers Leiber and Stoller, who were the writers of many of the artist's tracks during that period.

Throughout the course of his career, the singer never collaborated collegially with other artists, except in one circumstance, which was, moreover, entirely accidental and fortuitous, when on December 4, 1957, during the course of a recording session at the Sun Records studios, in which Carl Perkins was participating as the singer and Jerry Lee Lewis as his pianist, he happened to be passing by there in the company of Johnny Cash. During a break in the session that was taking place, the singer sat down at the piano, beginning to play it, and jokingly playing some gospel-type songs at the same time.

Afterwards he began to entertain the other bystanders, and they, shortly thereafter, joined him, producing in the subsequent interpretation of a series of songs, belonging to different musical genres, revisiting and interpreting them with a very informal flair. The whole thing happened in the presence of Sam Phillips who, sensing the peculiarity of the event, decided to record that atypical performance of the quartet that had been formed casually moments before, and from the recording of it some seventy minutes of material were obtained, which was later used to record an album, released after the death of the singer. Phillips at the time called the four, all artists who had long since carved out a considerable place for themselves in the musical sphere of the period, The Million Dollar Quartet. The recordings that were obtained at the time of that unintentional performance represent the only tangible evidence of any form of collaboration implemented by the singer with other artists of his time.

The singer officially embarked on his recording career by recording, in 1954, the first single for Sun Records That's All Right, Mama

Later, during 1955, the singer dismissed Milkcow Blues Boogie

When the singer was put under contract by RCA, he began recording albums edited in the "33 rpm" format, the first of which, Elvis Presley, contained both songs performed when he was still signed by Sun and songs sung after he was later signed by RCA. The cover would inspire many years later that of the album London Calling (1977) by the British Clash. The singer later recorded a second album, Elvis, containing only songs recorded after the record company change. Both albums were released during the year 1956, and were well received commercially, thus helping to consolidate the fame and notoriety of their performer internationally, and are usually considered by critics and fans to be two of his best albums.

Like most American artists who had previously achieved success, during 1957, the singer then recorded an album containing a collection of traditional Christmas songs, titled Elvis' Christmas Album, which also achieved excellent sales.

Also with the aim of keeping alive the interest and attention of the public towards his attendant, his manager, in agreement with the record company, took action with the purpose of releasing a series of albums of anthological character, containing for the most part collections of songs previously recorded by the singer, which were placed on the record market in the two-year period between the year 1958 and the year 1959. These albums, which achieved like most of the singer's record production during that period excellent results commercially were in order the albums entitled Elvis' Golden Records, released in the year 1958, and the next three albums, released in the year 1959, by the respective titles For LP Fans Only, A Date with Elvis, and 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong - Elvis Gold records vol. 2.

Concomitant with the start of the singer's film career, which began during the second half of the 1950s, began the release of soundtracks from some of the films he starred in during that period, which materialized placements and stays in the various charts even higher than those achieved by the studio-recorded albums. The songs constituting the soundtrack of the first and third films shot by the singer, respectively Rival Brothers (Love me tender) and The Rock and Roll Delinquent (Jailhouse Rock), were initially marketed only in the form of singles, and only later were the soundtracks from these films included in their entirety in the numerous anthology albums released later. His film career would be resumed, with greater conviction, during the following decade.

The singles released during the same period that achieved the greatest sales success were those containing songs such as Heartbreak Hotel, I Was the One, I Want You, I Need You, I Love You, My Baby Left Me, Don't Be Cruel, Hound Dog, Love Me Tender, Any Way You Want Me, All Shook Up, That's When Your Heartaches Begin, (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear, Loving You, Jailhouse Rock, and Treat Me Nice. Also during the same period, a considerable number of extended plays containing four songs were then released, notably by British RCA.

On December 20, 1957, while participating in the filming of The Way of Evil (King Creole), the singer was called up for military service. Thanks to his manager, Elvis obtained a special dispensation from the military commands that allowed him to postpone the date of his call to arms and finish working on the film; however, on March 24, 1958, he still had to report to the local military district for his draft examination. Parker wanted to turn the event into a media event and had every step of his military career documented and granted to the media. Elvis was drafted into the U.S. Army at the military detachment at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, was assigned to the "Tank Training School" in Texas, and transferred to Bremen, Germany, on October 1, 1958. The singer was enlisted into the ranks of the U.S. military stationed in Friedberg, in the occupation troops stationed in German territory for more than two decades after the end of World War II, as a tankman; according to reports, he accepted the change in his lifestyle, rejecting the benefits of his celebrity status. Also because of his military service, the singer had to stay away from the stage for two years; during that time, by implementing a commercial policy, Colonel Parker tried to keep the public's interest in his attendant alive.

Although forced, alas, to discontinue his singing activities and desert the official recording studios, he also produced a series of amateur recordings, pouring onto magnetic tape his personal interpretations of songs already brought to success by other artists of the time. He usually interpreted such pieces accompanying himself on the piano. Such interpretations, of which low-quality phonographic traces remain, will later be poured onto vinyl in order to market bootlegs, containing precisely such recordings. Among them is worth mentioning the one containing a particular version provided by the singer of a song brought to success a few years earlier by a famous American doo-wop group, The Penguins, entitled Heart Angel.

The 1960s

Elvis returned to the music scene in 1960 after two years of military service. Although the news had been welcomed by his fans and not without clamor in the press, Elvis' career was marked in part by the emergence of new musical expressions and bands such as the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Rolling Stones. The artist's style had also changed, becoming decidedly less aggressive and more melodic.

During 1960, the materialization of a commercial operation implemented by his manager resulted in the singer's appearance as a guest on the television show Welcome Home Elvis of which Frank Sinatra was the host. He appeared on the show a few days after returning from military service and performed singing accompanied by the Jordanaires vocal quartet Fame and fortune, Stuck On You and a pair of vocal duets with Sinatra of Love Me Tender and Witchcraft. Although Sinatra had in the past openly expressed his dislike for the Tupelo singer and for rock 'n' roll musicians more generally, the show went on unimpeded.

A series of studio-recorded albums were marketed, such as Elvis Is Back!, released in 1960, His Hand in Mine, released in 1960 and the first in a short series of three albums containing songs of "sacred" music, Pot Luck with Elvis, released in 1962, and Something for Everybody, released the following year. The albums Back In Memphis and From Elvis in Memphis, both from 1969, contained songs such as In the Ghetto and Suspicious Minds (of the latter the Fine Young Cannibals would produce a commercially successful cover), reached the top of the sales charts. Having returned to starring in films that featured him, Elvis's discography of the period was influenced by their soundtracks, as confirmed, for example, by the music for G.I. Blues (Cafe Europa), filmed in 1960, and that for Blue Hawaii, released the following year. Elvis' soundtracks managed to achieve higher chart placements than those of his studio albums also released in the 1960s. Also during the decade in question, a number of anthology albums were released, such as Elvis' Golden Records Volume 3, Elvis for Everyone! and Elvis' Gold Records Volume 4, which contained collections of songs previously released by the singer and which achieved decent placements on the various charts.

The singles that achieved the best commercial results during the decade were those entitled Are You Lonesome Tonight?, It's Now or Never, and Surrender, released during the two-year period encompassing the years 1960 and 1961, all of which were highly successful. In 1961 the single entitled Wooden Heart reached the top position on the Official Singles Chart holding it consecutively for six weeks.

Compounding the growing disinterest in films featuring Elvis, Colonel Parker, in order to reinvigorate the image of his aide, organized a Christmas television show in which Elvis would play the role of guest of honor, to hint that he would no longer wear the guise of an actor in order to focus on musical activity. The show in question, 68 Comeback Special was produced by the NBC television network, and Steve Binder, a young director already known for having worked on a number of rock 'n' roll documentaries, collaborated in its production.

He, during the course of the show, debuted by performing a medley of Trouble (a piece that had been at one time included in the soundtrack of one of the first films the singer shot in the year 1957, The Way of Evil), Lawdy Miss Clawdy, Guitar Man, and Baby, What You Want Me To Do. After that he then offered himself in the performance of Heartbreak Hotel, Hound Dog, All Shook Up, Can't Help Falling in Love, Jailhouse Rock, Don't Be Cruel, Blue Suede Shoes and Love Me Tender. This was followed by performances of some gospel and spiritual songs, such as Where Could I Go But The Lord, Up Above My Head, and Saved. Next, the singer produced himself in the performance of Baby, What You Want Me To Do, That's All Right (Mama), Blue Christmas, One Night, Tiger man, Trying To Get To You, Memories, and a medley consisting of Nothingville, Big Boss Man, Let Yourself Go, It Hurts Me, Guitar Man, Little Egypt, and Trouble. Also noteworthy, the song titled If I Can Dream, written especially for him, performed by the singer as the closing track of the show, helped after time to return the singer to the upper reaches of the charts. Often he interrupted the performance of the songs and along with them reminisced, commenting on them, the circumstances that had enabled the start of his artistic career, even ironically humoring the development of his acting career.

During the 1960s, Colonel Parker took action for the purpose of procuring a series of engagements for Elvis, while the latter worked to create an orchestra to support him in performing his comeback to the stage, and within a few months he formed its personnel, following especially the advice and directives of James Burton, his new guitarist. The members of what would later be known as the TCB Band, the group that would accompany him on all future tours in the 1970s, became bassist Jerry Scheff, drummer Ronnie Tutt, rhythm guitarist John Wilkinson, and pianist Glenn D. Hardin, who as of 1976 was replaced by Larry Muhoberac. In the meantime, an exclusive contract was signed with the International Hotel in Las Vegas, which sanctioned the singer's availability to perform a long series of performances, which would subsequently take place on the stage set up at the same.

The 1970s

Toward the end of 1970 Elvis took action for the purpose of obtaining an interview with then U.S. President Richard Nixon: the request he made was granted, and on December 21 of that year he went to the White House. With President Nixon's full approval, he was appointed in effect an agent of the F.B.I., Narcotics Section.

Over the course of the decade, a considerable number of anthologies came out, compiled from time to time by collecting songs that were part of the soundtracks of films performed by the singer during the 1960s, or by collecting the titles of singles dating back to the 1950s, when he was signed to Sun Records. In other cases, such collections were compiled by collecting the titles of the first singles recorded by the singer when he was signed to RCA, or by collecting titles also recorded for the same house, but more recent, or by simply putting together in bulk a miscellany of the material described above, without any rational order or logical connection.

Numerous albums were then released that were compiled with sequences of newly recorded studio songs, and among them were one entitled Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old), a concept album containing a series of country music songs, and one entitled Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas, a collection of Christmas-oriented songs, both of which were marketed in 1971. This was followed by the release of a collection of gospel-type songs, entitled He Touched Me, marketed in the year 1972. The album entitled Having Fun with Elvis on Stage, is a collection containing recordings of the dialogues that the singer had with his audience during the course of his concerts, marketed in 1974. Peculiar, on the other hand, were the two albums entitled Promised Land and Today, respectively, containing a long series of songs characterized by a decidedly melodic structure and from which a vein of considerable sadness shone through, both marketed in 1975. The last album released by the singer during the decade was one entitled Moody Blue, which contained a collection of distinctly country-inspired songs. The songs that achieved the most chart success as singles during that period were, in chronological order those titled Kentucky Rain and The Wonder of You, the latter a cover of an old Ray Peterson hit from the year 1959, respectively, both marketed in 1970, There Goes My Everything, marketed in the year 1971, Burning Love, marketed in 1972, Steamroller Blues, marketed in 1973, Promised Land, marketed in 1974, My Boy, and T-R-O-U-B-L-E, both marketed in 1975. Dating from that period is the release of a song from which a single of a strongly autobiographical nature was taken, entitled Always on My Mind, which enjoyed some success and of which a well-known group in vogue in the 1980s, the Pet Shop Boys, would produce a remake in 1987 in a dance key, which in turn enjoyed an excellent commercial response. The singer's last recording success during the decade in question was the release of the single entitled Moody Blue, marketed in 1977, which was also the last record released by the singer before his death on August 16 of that year. A number of these titles reached prominent positions in the various record charts, both on the American and European markets, even achieving in some cases notable periods of permanence in the upper reaches of them.

Presley began the new decade by producing himself in a second series of shows to which he devoted himself steadily for about a month, in the span of January 26 to February 23, 1970, again on stage at the International Hotel in Las Vegas. At that time the singer, when asked about the issues inherent in the new trends that were emerging in music, put it this way, "Music has improved a lot in the last few years. The sounds are better, the musicians are better. You know the Beatles and the Byrds...a rock 'n' roll, basically, is based on gospel and rhythm and blues." Elvis, from that point on, seemed intent on wanting to make up for the years he had spent away from the public eye, and over a period of seven years, between the year 1970 and the year 1977, he performed in nearly a thousand concerts, averaging about one performance every two and a half days. These concerts also usually included multiple performances, even two or three, taking place at different times of the same day.

Initially the musical lineup of the concerts was small, but as time went on it was enriched with a considerable amount of interludes, which contributed to the creation of an atmosphere of a solemn and celebratory character; moreover, beginning in 1971, the start of the performances was marked by the orchestral performance of Richard Strauss's Così parlò Zarathustra. As the years went by, the tone of the orchestral accompaniments became more and more elaborate, while the musical set list underwent a limited number of variations. Usually the singer would begin by performing traditional character pieces that had long become part of American popular music culture, such as See See Rider, followed by a performance of songs he had performed early in his career, such as That's All Right (Mama), Ready Teddy, Heartbreak Hotel, Don't Be Cruel, and Jailhouse rock. He normally continued his performances by playing a medley of more recent songs. During the course of his performances, the singer used to introduce his band members to the audience and entertain them by conversing with them. Then he would resume performances by interpreting songs brought to success in his time by other artists, such as Something by the Beatles, My Way by Frank Sinatra, and Welcome to my world by Marty Robbins.

At such events, the artist wore stage costumes by designer Bill Belew that were inspired by Japanese kimonos as they were meant to reflect the artist's passion for karate (a discipline whose movements he sometimes emulated on stage). Such clothes would later be displayed in his Graceland home-museum in Memphis or sold at auctions. He made a habit, toward the end of his performances, of throwing the trappings that accompanied his stage costumes, such as capes and scarves, toward the audience. Usually, concert announcers would announce the end of the performance and the singer's subsequent quick departure from the stage by uttering in a solemn tone the phrase "Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building!" ("Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building!"). His performances in the 1970s, as had been the case during his concert activity in the 1950s, resulted in displays of collective hysteria witnessed in the documentary Elvis: That's the Way It Is, produced at that time. In the early 1970s, the singer began to manifest problems with his eyesight and, after undergoing a series of eye examinations, he discovered that he was suffering from a form of secondary glaucoma: he suffered from this problem until the end of his days because the continuous exposure to the strong stage lights, unavoidable during the performance of concert activity, worsened the pathology from which he was afflicted.

Colonel Parker, in an attempt to capitalize on the wave of renewed success, began to organize a large concert of which the singer would be the star, and this intention later materialized in the organization of Aloha from Hawaii, which would be broadcast via satellite around the world.

On January 14, 1973, after the performance of a rehearsal concert, which was later called the Aloha from Hawaii - Rehearsal Concert, which took place in the days immediately preceding the official one, and of which some visual and phonographic traces remain, later used for the purpose of marketing various "pirated" recordings of the same, the first show via satellite from Honolulu, officially named the Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite, was filmed and broadcast worldwide, which was watched by an estimated audience of over one billion viewers in forty countries. By many accounts, the performance was the best Elvis made during the decade, but also the last good one before that phase of decline preceding his death.

The singer interpreted such recent pieces as Burning Love and Suspicious Minds, songs previously performed by other artists such as Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry, Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On by Jerry Lee Lewis, Long Tally Sally by Little Richard, Steamroller Blues by James Taylor, My Way by Frank Sinatra, What Now My Love by Gilbert Bécaud, Something by The Beatles, You Give Me a Mountain by Marty Robbins, It's Over by Jimmie Rodgers, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry by Hank Williams, I Can't Stop Loving You by Don Gibson and I'll Remember You by Kuiokalani Lee. The singer then played a traditional medley, American Trilogy, consisting of three traditional songs of distinct patriotic inspiration, and also a medley including some of his most famous songs, namely Blue Suede Shoes, Hound Dog, A Big Hunk O' Love, Love Me Tender, Fever, and Can't Help Falling in Love. From the concert came Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite, the first album recorded in quadraphony that sold five million copies.

In 1973, due to his divorce from his wife Priscilla, the singer began to suffer from a severe form of depression. That same year, he was hospitalized on two occasions for drug overdoses: the first time he had spent three days in a coma in the hotel suite where he was staying, while in the second episode, which occurred at the end of the year, he was hospitalized in a comatose state from a pethidine overdose. According to his personal physician George C. Nicophoulos, Elvis thought "he was not like a junkie who buys the stuff on the street because he was taking drugs prescribed by a doctor." Over the next three years he produced six albums of songs that met with mixed reviews from critics and audiences; five of these albums entered the top five for some time and three reached the number one spot. The various singles had some success but did not reach the top of the charts.

One sign of problems related to the singer's health was that although he continued to hold concerts, the duration of these was shortened, and as a rule they lasted no more than an hour, sometimes 50 minutes. Despite the problems that plagued him, the singer continued to perform on many tours, most of them in the United States, and did not change his lifestyle, despite warnings from doctors. John Wilkinson, a guitarist who worked in his final years with Presley, described him as "Swollen as a wineskin, stammering, a real wreck there was something absolutely wrong with his physique..."

Although he alternated between often critical physical conditions, on a few occasions he did not fail to produce appreciated performances, such as one that took place in Rapid City at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center on June 21, 1977, during which he performed a rendition of Unchained Melody, a song later used in the 1980s as the soundtrack to the film Ghost in the 1965 version recorded by The Righteous Brothers. He performed continuously until shortly before his death. He gave his last concert on June 26, 1977, at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis before an audience of 18,000 (clips of the soundtrack from that last performance are contained on the CD released in 2002 and titled Adios: The Final Performance).

During 1977 a television special was produced by CBS, made by assembling a series of footage taken during the course of some of the singer's last concert performances. During the course of the performances he played what was considered his best-known repertoire, reenacting some versions of his recording hits. The recording of these performances, however, represents the last media record of the typical concert activity in which he had produced himself throughout the 1970s, and was called Elvis in Concert. From the soundtrack of the same special, an album was also made, released after the singer's death, which at the time reached positions of some prominence on the charts compiled by Billboard magazine.

After his last performance at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis on June 26, 1977, when he was forty-two years old, the singer returned to Memphis for a period of rest and to devote himself to organizing the new tour, which was to begin around the second half of August. On August 16 Elvis returned to Graceland late in the evening, following a busy day in which he had also undergone a dental examination. Although he had already taken a heavy dose of barbiturates, some of them for the filling of a molar he had undergone, he remained awake until the early hours of the morning, hanging out with his family and staff, attending to the final details of the concert that was to take place in Portland, Maine, the next day. Later he retired to his room to try to get some rest before departure but, unable to sleep, decided to take an extra dose of barbiturates and started reading a book. At 9:30 the next morning he headed for the bathroom; after about four hours, at about 1:30, he was found in the bathroom floor by companion Ginger Alden. The singer, who had been dead for several hours, was transported by ambulance to Baptist Memorial Hospital, where he arrived at 2:56 p.m. and was pronounced dead at 3 p.m.

The death was immediately attributed to "cardiac arrest," although there was still no medico-legal finding. Peter Guralnick, the singer's biographer, reported that Elvis vomited immediately after the heart attack, and crawled on the floor in an attempt to get to the bathroom door. After conducting an autopsy of the corpse, a high rate of drug intoxication was found and the presence of traces of as many as fourteen different medicinal substances, which were later found to have been legally prescribed by the attending physician.

The doctors who treated Elvis at the time, including Dr. Nichopoulos, his personal physician, had already tried to persuade him to replace his dietary regimen with a healthier and more regular one, but without achieving the slightest success, as early as 1974.

Another cause that was immediately attributed to Presley's death was obesity. According to the estimate of the doctor who performed the autopsy on the singer's body, Elvis weighed about 158 kg at the time of his death. He had visibly gained weight, especially in the last period of his life, due to a more sedentary lifestyle than in the past. Also not insignificant was the hypothesis of anaphylactic shock, caused by a partial allergy to codeine, a substance present in high doses in the toothache medication he was taking in large doses during those days.

According to some theories that have never been confirmed, Elvis never died but hid.

Elvis began acting during the mid-1950s, when, Colonel Parker, convinced of the acting potential of his aide, took action for the purpose of getting the singer into the various film circuits. He solicited the execution of a series of auditions, which were carried out at the Paramount Pictures studios, and they all yielded an overall satisfactory outcome, so much so that producer Hal B. Wallis signed an exclusive contract with the singer in order to have him among the leads in his films. The contract with the Paramount Pictures film company bound the singer for a period of seven years, and he began working steadily for it as a lead actor. When asked by reporters about his motivations for pursuing his new career as a film actor, he expressed himself thus, "Singers are known to come and go, but if you're a good actor, then you can last a long time...." Some film critics agree that he had a flair for acting, but that he was always given roles that were very unfavorable for bringing out his acting talents. Others, however, believe that Elvis was not a skilled actor. After the debut of the film Love Me Tender, the film magazine Reporter declared that "He (Elvis) is an obscene little boy, and is only capable of swaying vacillating between a cry and a groan."

A few years earlier, in 1954, the singer had been chosen by Barbra Streisand to star in A Star Is Born, but due to the demands of Colonel Parker this did not happen. In the two-year period between 1956 and 1958 he took part in the making of four films, directed by such directors as Robert Wise and Michael Curtiz, and until the date of his departure to perform military service, which forced him to interrupt his film career, he made in order the films Love Me Tender (Rival Brothers, 1956), Loving You (Love Me Tenderly, 1957), The Rock and Roll Thug (Jailhouse Rock, 1957, usually considered by his fans to be his most successful film) and The Way of Evil (King Creole, 1958). The artist was to play the title character in The Cat on the Hot Tin Roof in the role formerly held by Paul Newman.

Reduced from his military service and after a couple of live performances made for charity, which took place starting on March 25, 1961 at the "Ellis Auditorium" in Memphis, the singer decided to sever all direct relations with his audience to focus on the film strand. Over the course of the decade he starred, together with various film celebrities, in twenty-nine films, poorly received by critics, some of them unreleased in Italy, and all of them focused on the figure of the singer, who always played the hero protagonist such as Café Europa (1960), Blue Hawaii (1961) and Viva Las Vegas (1964). After initial positive commercial feedback, fans became increasingly reticent about Presley movies, until the fad waned toward the end of the decade. In 1969 the singer was asked to star in A Man on the Sidewalk, a part that later went to Jon Voight. Elvis disliked the films in which he starred, to the point that he declared, "The only thing worse than having to watch a bad movie is having starred in it...."

There is then news of an ambitious film project in which the singer participated during the 1970s, a few years before his death, namely the making of a documentary film focused on martial arts and in which he would play the lead role. That project then, due to the serious health problems that began to afflict the singer, mainly due to his conduct of life, as well as the consequent and excessive consumption of drugs implemented for the purpose of sustaining his rhythm, was later shelved and the film in question never reached theaters. There are, however, a few clips of amateur footage shot at the gymnasium where he worked out in the company of his entourage, which were to be used in the course of making the documentary.

There is evidence that the singer, beginning in the early 1960s, having consolidated his wealth, had begun to collaborate with a number of organizations involved in raising funds to later donate them to charity, making a long series of cash donations, moreover of significant size, to them, and that he maintained this habit until the end of his days.

The Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite concert (1973) was conceived as a charity event to raise proceeds for a charity called "Kui Lee Cancer Benefit." The fundraiser had already kicked off in June 1972, in memory of Hawaiian composer Kui Lee, who had died of cancer a few years back on December 3, 1966, at the age of 34. It had been championed by journalist Eddie Sherman, who worked with a local newspaper called the Honolulu Advertiser.

Musical historians consider Elvis a central figure in the development of rockabilly. Craig Morrison reported that such stylistics "crystallized into a well-defined style in 1954, when Elvis' first Sun release came out." Paul Friedlander believed that rockabilly is "essentially (...) a creation of Elvis Presley" that features the genre's own elements such as "the rough, emotive, muddled vocal style, the emphasis on the rhythmic feel of the blues with string accompaniment, and the strummed rhythm guitar of country." On That's All Right, the first Elvis trio record, Scotty Moore's guitar solo was described as "a microcosm in which country played on the slide, fingerpicking and double-stop techniques of Merle Travis plus the distorted string instruments of the blues converge." Katherine Charlton concurred that Presley was the originator of rockabilly. In contrast, Carl Perkins said that "(according to Michael Campbell, the first great rockabilly song was recorded by Bill Haley. From Moore's point of view, "it had been around for a long time. Carl Perkins was doing basically the same thing on Jackson's side. I know for a fact that Jerry Lee Lewis had been playing that kind of music since he was ten years old."

While recording for RCA Victor, Presley moved away from rockabilly to embrace a more aggressive rock and roll style accompanied by choruses and relying more on guitar playing. Although Elvis used to revisit all of his sources of inspiration in rockabilly and rock and roll, during the early part of his career, he recorded songs from other genres as confirmed by his cover of Blue Moon, recorded when he was still signed to Sun, the country of How's the World Treating You?, which appeared on his second LP, issued by RCA Victor, and the blues of Santa Claus Is Back in Town. In 1957 he released Peace in the Valley, his first gospel record, a genre he would also try his hand at later.

Beginning in 1960, when he returned from military service, Elvis softened his rock and roll style, as confirmed, for example, by his first sixties hit Stuck on You. The music of the new phase was called "light rock rhythm" by RCA Victor publicity people; discographer Ernst Jorgensen called it "upbeat pop." She's Not You (1962) "completely complements the music of the Jordanaires; it's practically doo-wop." The blues

During the Comeback Special, which aired in 1968, Presley performed many of his ballads alternating them with moments of more aggressive rock and roll, a style to which he would return again in the years to come. From this period is the release of Burning Love, a song that traces the rock and roll of its origins thus distinguishing itself from the more melodic and slower songs of this phase of his career. During his later years, Presley reworked pop and country songs, but in markedly different permutations. His stylistic range now began to embrace an up-to-the-minute rock that cited the soul and funk genres, as confirmed by the album From Elvis in Memphis and the song Suspicious Minds. Elvis became a country celebrity during the mid-1970s, a time when many of his singles were broadcast by stations dedicated to the genre.

The singer's collaborators in the 1950s

The singer during the 1950s, in addition to the cooperation of what may be considered the "historical" members of his band, and his official backing vocalists, availed himself of the contributions of a remarkable array of musicians, among whom may be mentioned pianists Marvin Hughes, Frederick Earl "Shorty" Long, Floyd Cramer, Dudley Brooks, guitarists Vito Mumolo, Chet Atkins, Luther "Red" Roundtree, Tiny Timbrell, trumpeters Teddy Buckner and Warren Smith, saxophonist Justin Gordon, drummers Johnny Bernero and Richard Connell, clarinetist Mahlon Klark, multi-instrumentalist Ray Siegel, gospel choristers Ben Speer and Brook Speer, the Ken Darby Trio (Rad Robinson, Jon Dodson, and Charles Prescott), bassist Myer Rubin, trombonists Elmer Schneider and Warren Smith, and harmonica players Dominic Frontiere and Carl Fortina. These artists collaborated with the singer both during the making of the songs from which the singles and albums released during the decade were taken and during the making of the soundtracks for the films in which he participated during the same period.

The singer's collaborators in the 1960s

In the 1960s Elvis, in addition to the support of his regular collaborators, enlisted the help of musicians including pianists Floyd Cramer and Aurhus Robbins, guitarists Hank Garland, Grady Martin, Harold Dradley, Ray Edenton, Pete Drake (steel guitar specialist) and Charlie Hodge (the latter also a member of the Memphis Mafia), saxophonists Justin Gordon and Boots Randoph, bassist Bob Moore, percussionist Buddy Harman, choristers belonging to the vocal group Anita Kerr Singers, chorister Millie Kirkham, and violinist Tommy Jackson. These musicians collaborated with the singer both during the making of the songs from which the singles and albums released during the decade were taken and during the making of the soundtracks for the films in which he participated during the same period.

The singer's collaborators in the 1970s

The singer during the course of the 1970s, availed himself of the fundamental contribution of a considerable number of musicians, among whom may be mentioned pianists Glen D. Hardin and Tony Brown, guitarists James Burton, John Wilkinson, Charlie Hodge (the latter, a member of the "Memphis mafia," also often served as a backing vocalist), Chip Young, Bill Sandford, percussionist Farrell Morris, multi-instrumentalist Dennis Lind, gospel choristers Wendellyn Suits, Dolores Edgin and Hurshel Wiginton, bassists Jerry Sheff and Norbert Putnam, drummer Ronnie Tutt, keyboardists David Briggs, Bobby Emmons and Shane Keister. These musicians, who had long since built up an excellent reputation in the musical sphere of the time, collaborated with the singer both during the making of the songs from which the singles and albums released later in the decade were taken and during the conduct of live performances.

Throughout the unfolding of that long period, the singer then availed himself of the crucial collaboration of Cissy Houston, known to most for being the mother of the famous Whitney Houston, who was hugely popular in the 1980s and passed away on February 11, 2012. A few years earlier, in 1963, Cissy Houston had founded an all-female vocal group, christened as The Sweet Inspirations, of which Dionne Warwick was also a member at that time, and which had previously collaborated with artists such as Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Lou Rawls, Otis Redding, The Drifters, Dusty Springfield, Jimi Hendrix, and Van Morrison.

The singer also availed himself at first of the collaboration of a vocal quartet called The Imperial Quartet, and later, beginning in 1971, of the collaboration of another similar quartet, that called The Stamps, led by J. D. Sumner. That group, albeit with some lineup changes, continued to collaborate with the singer until his death, serving as vocal support during his performances throughout the course of the 1970s. Also deserving of special mention is Kathy Westmoreland, a backing vocalist whose artistic career had begun about ten years earlier and who had previously collaborated with artists such as Bobby Darin and Ray Conniff. In August 1970 she was recruited as a soprano voice in the ensemble of choirs that accompanied the singer's performances, both live and in the studio, and she too continued to collaborate with him until his death.

The Memphis Mafia

Some of the people closest to Elvis belonged to that controversial circle dubbed the "Memphis Mafia," whose members were affectionately referred to as "The Guys." (On some occasions, Elvis would rent a huge venue, a large theater, or an entire Luna park to the full house so that he could then spend an exclusive evening there. Although held responsible for defending the singer from any influence it deemed undesirable (one of its members, Marty Lacker, would declare in its defense, "Presley was the architect of his own destiny, he was the boss If we hadn't been around, he would have died long before."), the Memphis Mafia was also accused of preventing the artist from having healthy and constructive relationships with the outside world.

The accusations of racism

When Dewey Phillips first aired That's All Right, Mama on Radio Memphis, many listeners phoned the radio station for information about the singer, assuming he was black. It is noteworthy that from the very beginning of his career, the singer always expressed respect for African Americans and disdain for the typical norms of racial segregation.

Interviewed in 1956 about the circumstances under which his interest in the musical world had arisen, he recalled how in his childhood he had listened with interest to the music put forth by bluesman Arthur Crudup (author of That's All Right (Mama)), and how it had inspired him to pursue a subsequent musical career. The Memphis World, an African American newspaper, reported how the singer, "the Rock 'n' Roll phenomenon, had broken racial segregation laws in Memphis by frequenting the local amusement park that was usually frequented by black people." Such statements led to the singer being generally well received in the black community during the early days of his stardom.

Conversely, many white adults regarded him as depraved because of the movements of his performances, which were considered obscene and which he had borrowed precisely from black people. Despite the largely positive opinion black people had of the singer, around mid-1957 there was a rumor that he, when interviewed by a reporter, had at one point expressed himself as follows, "The only thing niggers can do for me is buy my records and shine my shoes."

A reporter for the American weekly Jet, Louie Robinson, tried to investigate the veracity of the report. On the set of the film The Thug of Rock and Roll, a place where the singer granted him an interview, Elvis categorically denied ever having said such a phrase and claimed that he was in no way a racist. During the course of his investigation, the reporter gathered no evidence that the phrase had ever actually been uttered.

The thesis that the singer was heavily inspired by the music of black people in order to sweeten it and make it more palatable to white ears in order to make a profit from it finds many proselytes. In particular, African-American musician Jackie Wilson took pains to disprove this theory, stating, "A lot of people have accused Elvis of stealing black people's music, when in fact, almost every black solo artist has copied his mannerisms!" In his career, Elvis never disclaimed the enormous debt of musical character he owed to black musicians.

The persecutions carried out by religious associations

The artist was judged scandalous and obscene because of the aggressiveness of his music and the sensual movements he made on stage. Denigrating demonstrations were carried out against him, impromptu preachers produced "anti-Elvis" sermons, various Christian-oriented associations called him a very dangerous vehicle of perdition for the youth of the time, and his records destroyed because they were called containers of "demonic" music. Asked about the fierce persecution he was subjected to by the aforementioned associations, the singer at the time put it this way, "I don't think I'm bad for people. If I thought I was bad for people, I would be back driving a truck...."

Studio album

After his demise, fanciful inferences were spread that he had been put to death by an alleged staging in order to allow him a final escape from his overly wearisome existence.

Subsequently, sightings of the singer have been reported almost everywhere in the world. There is a fair number of associations, particularly from the United States, in support of these legends. Among the most far-fetched hypotheses is that of a possible alien origin of the singer mentioned in the final scenes of the film Men in Black.

Other hypotheses would be an alleged inclusion in the "witness protection" program by the FBI and one that attributes him to involvement in the plot that resulted in the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy during the 1960s.

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(NB: the number of weeks at the top is shown in parentheses)

Sources

1. Elvis Presley
2. Elvis Presley
3. ^ a b Although some pronounce his surname /ˈprɛzli/ PREZ-lee, Presley himself pronounced it /ˈprɛsli/ PRESS-lee, as did his family and those who worked with him.[2]The correct spelling of his middle name has long been a matter of debate. The physician who delivered him wrote "Elvis Aaron Presley" in his ledger.[3] The state-issued birth certificate reads "Elvis Aron Presley". The name was chosen after the Presleys' friend and fellow congregation member Aaron Kennedy, though a single-A spelling was probably intended by Presley's parents to parallel the middle name of Presley's stillborn brother, Jesse Garon.[4] It reads Aron on most official documents produced during his lifetime, including his high school diploma, RCA Victor record contract, and marriage license, and this was generally taken to be the proper spelling.[5] In 1966, Presley expressed the desire to his father that the more traditional biblical rendering, Aaron, be used henceforth, "especially on legal documents".[3] Five years later, the Jaycees citation honoring him as one of the country's Outstanding Young Men used Aaron. Late in his life, he sought to officially change the spelling to Aaron and discovered that state records already listed it that way. Knowing his wishes for his middle name, Aaron is the spelling his father chose for Presley's tombstone, and it is the spelling his estate has designated as official.[5]
4. ^ a b The estimates of Elvis Presley's record sales vary from 500 million – 1 billion records worldwide.[401][402][403]
5. ^ Of the $40,000, $5,000 covered back royalties owed by Sun.[73]
6. ^ In 1956–57, Presley was also credited as a co-writer on several songs where he had no hand in the writing process: "Heartbreak Hotel"; "Don't Be Cruel"; all four songs from his first film, including the title track, "Love Me Tender"; "Paralyzed"; and "All Shook Up".[76] (Parker, however, failed to register Presley with such musical licensing firms as ASCAP and its rival BMI, which eventually denied Presley annuity from songwriter's royalties.) Presley received credit on two other songs to which he did contribute: he provided the title for "That's Someone You Never Forget" (1961), written by his friend and former Humes schoolmate Red West; they collaborated with another friend, guitarist Charlie Hodge, on "You'll Be Gone" (1962).[77]
7. ^ Sony Music.
8. ^ Goldman, pp. 188-189.
9. ^ a b c Lodetti, p. 50.
10. ^ a b c d e f g Rodogna, pp. 58-59.
11. Over de juiste spelling van zijn middelste naam bestaat uitvoerige discussie. Bij de bevalling schreef de aanwezige arts Elvis Aron Presley in zijn logboek. (Nash (2005) p. 11) Ook het geboortecertificaat van de staat Mississippi heeft Elvis Aron Presley. Het was een vernoeming naar Aaron Kennedy, een vriend en medekerkganger van de Presleys, maar de spelling met een enkele A wijst waarschijnlijk op de intentie van Presleys ouders om een parallel te creëren met de middelste naam van Presleys dood geboren broer Jesse Garon (Guralnick (1994), p. 13) Aron is de lezing van de meeste officiële documenten die tijdens zijn leven gemaakt werden, waaronder zijn schooldiploma, platencontract van RCA en huwelijkscertificaat, en dit werd algemeen gezien als de juiste spelling (Adelman (2002), p. 13-15). In 1966 uitte Presley tegenover zijn vader de wens dat de meer traditionele Bijbelse schrijfwijze, Aaron, voortaan gebruikt zou worden, met name op officiële documenten (especially on legal documents Nash (2005) p. 11) Vijf jaar later stond Aaron op het Jaycees document dat hem eerde als een van Amerika's Outstanding Young Men. In zijn laatste jaren ondernam hij stappen om de spelling officieel in Aaron om te zetten en ontdekte dat overheidsdocumenten de naam al zo schreven. De wensen van zijn zoon kennende, liet zijn vader Aäron spellen op Presleys grafsteen en ook de erven hebben deze spelling aangemerkt als officieel (Adelman (2002), p. 13-15.)
12. Volgens een derdegraads neef van de Presleys was een van Gladys' betovergrootmoeders joods (Dundy (2004), p. 21). Er zijn geen aanwijzingen dat Presley of zijn moeder dit geloof aan een joodse afkomst deelden. Columnist Nate Bloom heeft de bewering van het familielid in twijfel getrokken en een ongeloofwaardig verhaal genoemd
13. In 1956–57 werd de naam van Presley ook opgevoerd als medecomponist in verschillende gevallen waarin hij geen deel had aan het schrijfproces: Heartbreak Hotel, Don't Be Cruel, alle vier de liedjes uit zijn eerste film inclusief de titelsong, Love Me Tender, Paralyzed en All Shook Up (Jorgensen (1998), p. 35, 51, 57, 61, 75). Parker verzuimde echter Presley in te schrijven bij firma's in muzieklicenties als ASCAP en concurrent BMI, die uiteindelijk Presleys jaarlijkse inkomsten uit royalty's zouden tegenhouden. Hij kreeg vermelding voor twee andere nummers waaraan hij wel had bijgedragen: hij leverde de titel voor That's Someone You Never Forget (1961), geschreven door Red West, zijn vriend en voormalige klasgenoot van Humes; Presley en West werkten samen met een andere wederzijdse vriend, gitarist Charlie Hodge, aan You'll Be Gone (1962) (Jorgensen (1998), p. 157-58, 166, 168)
14. Aunque algunos pronuncian su nombre como PREZ-lee, Presley mismo utilizaba la pronunciación de los Estados del Sur, PRESS-lee, como su familia y quienes trabajaban con él lo hacían.[1]​ El correcto deletreo de su segundo nombre ha sido un tema de amplio debate. El médico que ayudó en el parto escribió «Elvis Aaron Presley» en su partida de nacimiento,[2]​ mientras que el certificado estatal reza «Elvis Aron Presley». Se eligió el nombre por el amigo y compañero en la congregación Aaron Kennedy, aunque el deletreo con solamente una «a» fue probablemente un intento de imitar el segundo nombre del hermano fallecido de Presley, Jesse Garon.[3]​ En la mayor parte de los documentos oficiales que firmó durante su vida figura como «Aron», entre los que se incluyen su diploma de la secundaria, el contrato con RCA y su certificado de matrimonio y generalmente se lo consideraba el deletreo correcto.[4]​ En 1966, Presley expresó a su padre el deseo de que el nombre más tradicional bíblicamente, Aaron, se usara desde ese entonces, «especialmente en documentos legales».[2]​ Cinco años más tarde, la cita de Jaycees donde se lo menciona como uno de los jóvenes más sobresalientes del país empleó «Aaron». Más tarde, a lo largo de su vida, buscó cambiar su ortografía a «Aaron» y descubrió que estaba registrado en el Estado de esta manera. Como su padre tuvo en cuenta esta preferencia, eligió esta forma de escribir el nombre para su lápida y en su estado, se la designó como oficial.[4]​