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Early life
Elvis Presley owed his ancestry to diverse European ethnic strains,
primarily British and German; Presley's lineage also included some
Native American, i.e., Cherokee descent. His father, Vernon Elvis
Presley(April 10, 1916–June 26, 1979), had several low-paying jobs,
including sharecropping and working as a truck driver. His mother,
Gladys Love Smith (April 25, 1912 – August 14, 1958) worked as a
sewing machinist. They met in Tupelo, Mississippi, and eloped to
Pontotoc County where they married on June 17, 1933.
Presley was born in a two-room shotgun house, built by his father,
in East Tupelo. He was an identical twin—his brother was stillborn
and given the name Jesse Garon. Growing up as an only child he "was,
everyone agreed, unusually close to his mother."The family lived
just above the poverty line and attended an Assembly of God church.
Vernon has been described as "a malingerer, always averse to work
and responsibility."His wife was "voluble, lively, full of spunk"
and had a fondness for drink. In 1938, Vernon was jailed for an
eight dollar check forgery. His eight-month incarceration caused
Gladys and her son to lose the family home, and they moved in with
relatives.
In September 1942, Presley entered first grade at Lawhorn School in
Tupelo. He was considered a "well-mannered and quiet child", but
sometimes classmates threw "things at him—rotten fruit and
stuff—because he was different... he stuttered and he was a mama's
boy."
On October 3, 1945, at age ten, he made his first public performance
in a singing contest at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show
at the suggestion of his teacher Mrs. J.C. Grimes.Dressed as a
cowboy, the young Presley had to stand on a chair to reach the
microphone and sang Red Foley's "Old Shep." He came fifth, winning
$5 and a free ticket to all the Fair rides.
In 1946, for his eleventh birthday, Presley received his first
guitar. He wanted a bicycle or rifle for his birthday, but his
parents could only afford a guitar.Over the following year, Vernon's
brother, Vester, gave Elvis basic guitar lessons. In September 1948,
the family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, allegedly because Vernon—in
addition to needing work—had to escape the law for transporting
bootleg liquor. In 1949, they lived at Lauderdale Courts, a public
housing development in one of Memphis' poorer sections. Presley
practiced playing guitar in the laundry room and also played in a
five-piece band with other tenants. One resident, another future
rockabilly pioneer, Johnny Burnette, recalled, "Wherever Elvis went
he'd have his guitar slung across his back... He'd go in to one of
the cafes or bars... Then some folks would say: 'Let's hear you
sing, boy.'"Presley enrolled at L. C. Humes High School where some
fellow students viewed his performing unfavorably; one recalled that
he was "a sad, shy, not especially attractive boy" whose guitar
playing was not likely to win any prizes. Presley was made fun of as
a 'trashy' kind of boy, playing 'trashy' hillbilly music." Other
children however, "would beg him" to sing, but he was apparently too
shy to perform.
In September 1950, Presley occasionally worked evenings as an usher
at Loew's State Theater—his first job—to boost the family income,
but his mother made him quit as she feared it was affecting his
school work. He worked again at Loew's in June the following year,
but was fired after a fistfight over a female employee. He began to
grow his sideburns and, when he could afford to, dress in the wild,
flashy clothes of Lansky Brothers on Beale Street. He stood out,
especially in the conservative Deep South of the 1950s, and was
mocked and bullied for it. Childhood friend Red West said: "In the
sea of 1600 pink-scalped kids at school, Elvis stood out like a
camel in the arctic. ... but ... his appearance expressed a defiance
which his demeanor did not match..."Despite any unpopularity or
shyness, he was a contestant in his school's 1952 "Annual Minstrel
Show" and won by receiving the most applause. His prize was to sing
encores, including "Cold Cold Icy Fingers" and "Till I Waltz Again
With You".
After graduation, Presley was still rather shy, a "kid who had spent
scarcely a night away from home". His third job was driving a truck
for the Crown Electric Company. He began wearing his hair longer
with a ducktail;the style of truck drivers at that time.
Early musical influences
Initial influences came through his family's attendance at the
Assembly of God. Rolling Stone wrote: "Gospel pervaded Elvis'
character and was a defining and enduring influence all of his
days." Presley himself stated: "Since I was two years old, all I
knew was gospel music. That music became such a part of my life it
was as natural as dancing. A way to escape from the problems. And my
way of release."Throughout his life—in the recording studio, in
private, or after concerts—Presley joined with others singing and
playing gospel music at informal sessions. The legendary Southern
Gospel singer Jake Hess was Presley's favorite singer and was the
greatest influence on his singing style.
The young Presley frequently listened to local radio; his first
musical hero was family friend Mississippi Slim, a hillbilly singer
with a radio show on Tupelo’s WELO. Presley performed occasionally
on Slim’s Saturday morning show, Singin’ and Pickin’ Hillbilly. "He
was crazy about music... That’s all he talked about," recalls his
sixth grade friend, James Ausborn, Slim’s younger brother. Before he
was a teenager, music was already Presley’s "consuming passion".J.
R. Snow, son of 1940s country superstar Hank Snow, recalls that even
as a young man Presley knew all of Hank Snow’s songs, "even the most
obscure".Presley himself said: "I loved records by Sister Rosetta
Thorpe, ... Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubbs, Ted Daffan, Jimmie Rodgers,
Jimmy Davis and Bob Wills."
In Memphis, Presley went to record stores that had jukeboxes and
listening booths, playing old records and new releases for hours. He
was an audience member at the all-night white—and black—"gospel
sings" downtown. Memphis Symphony Orchestra concerts at Overton Park
were another Presley favorite, along with the Metropolitan Opera.
His small record collection included Mario Lanza and Dean Martin.
Presley later said: "I just loved music. Music period."
Memphis had a strong tradition of blues music and Presley went to
blues as well as hillbilly venues. Many of his future recordings
were inspired by local African American composers and recording
artists, including Arthur Crudup, Rufus Thomas and B.B. King. King
says that he "knew Elvis before he was popular. He used to come
around and be around us a lot ... on Beale Street."
Presley "was an untrained musician who played [guitar and piano]
entirely by ear. 'I don't read music,' he confessed, 'but I know
what I like.' ... Because he was not a songwriter, Presley would
rarely have material prepared for recording sessions..." When later,
as a young singer, he "ventured into the recording studio he was
heavily influenced by the songs he had heard on the jukebox and
radio." First recordings
and performances
On July 18, 1953, Presley went to Sun Records' Memphis Recording
Service to record "My Happiness" with "That's When Your Heartaches
Begin", supposedly a present for his mother. During his initial
introduction at Sun Records, assistant Marion Keisker asked him who
he sounded like. Presley replied: "I don't sound like nobody." On
January 4, 1954, he cut a second acetate. At the time, Sun Records
boss Sam Phillips was on the lookout for someone who could deliver a
blend of black blues and boogie-woogie music; he thought it would be
very popular among white people. When Phillips acquired a demo
recording of "Without Love (There Is Nothing)" and was unable to
identify the vocalist, Keisker reminded him about the young truck
driver. She called him on June 26, 1954. Presley was not able to do
justice to the song (though he would record it years later).Phillips
would later recall that "Elvis was probably as nervous as anybody,
black or white, that I had seen in front of a microphone."Despite
this, Phillips invited local musicians Winfield "Scotty" Moore and
Bill Black to audition Presley. Though they were not overly
impressed, a studio session was planned.
During a recording break, Presley began "acting the fool" first with
Arthur Crudup's "That's All Right (Mama)". Phillips quickly got them
all to restart, and began taping. This was the sound he had been
looking for.[59] The group recorded other songs, including Bill
Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky". After the session, according to
Scotty Moore, Bill Black remarked: "Damn. Get that on the radio and
they'll run us out of town".
"That's All Right" was aired on July 8, 1954, by DJ Dewey
Phillips.[61]b Listeners to the show began phoning in, eager to find
out who the singer was.[56] (The DJ mispronounced Presley's
apparently unusual name as "Elton Preston.")[62] The interest was
such that Phillips played the demo fourteen times.[56] During an
interview on the show, Phillips asked Presley what high school he
attended—to clarify Presley's color for listeners who assumed he
must be black. The first release of Presley's music featured "That's
All Right" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky". With Presley's version of
Monroe's song consistently rated higher, both sides began to chart
across the South.
Moore and Black began playing regularly with Presley. They gave
performances on the July 17 and July 24, 1954 to promote the Sun
single at the Bon Air, a rowdy music club in Memphis, where the band
was not well-received.On July 30 the trio, billed as The Blue Moon
Boys, made their first paid appearance at the Overton Park Shell,
with Slim Whitman headlining. A nervous Presley's legs were said to
have shaken uncontrollably during this show: his wide-legged pants
emphasized his leg movements, apparently causing females in the
audience to go "crazy". Scotty Moore claims it was just the natural
way he moved and had nothing to do with "nerves." Presley
consciously incorporated similar movements into future shows.
DJ and promoter Bob Neal became the trio's manager (replacing Scotty
Moore). Moore and Black left their band, the Starlight Wranglers
and, from August through October 1954, appeared with Presley at The
Eagle's Nest. Presley debuted at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville on
October 2; Hank Snow introduced Presley on stage. He performed "Blue
Moon of Kentucky" but received only a polite response. Afterwards,
the singer was allegedly told by the Opry's Jim Denny: "Boy, you’d
better keep driving that truck," though others deny it was Denny who
made that statement.Country music promoter and manager Tillman
Franks booked Presley for the Louisiana Hayride on October 16.
Before Franks saw Presley, he referred to him as "that new black
singer with the funny name".During Presley's first set, the reaction
was muted; Franks then advised Presley to "Let it all go!" for the
second set. House drummer D.J. Fontana (who had worked in strip
clubs) complemented Presley's movements with accented beats. Bill
Black also took an active part in encouraging the audience, and the
crowd became more responsive.
According to one source, regarding Presley's engagements from that
time, "Audiences had never before heard [such] music... [or] seen
anyone who performed like Presley either. The shy, polite, mumbling
boy gained self-confidence with every appearance... People watching
the show were astounded and shocked, both by the ferocity of his
performance, and the crowd’s reaction to it... Roy Orbison saw
Presley for the first time in Odessa, Texas: 'His energy was
incredible, his instinct was just amazing... I just didn’t know what
to make of it. There was just no reference point in the culture to
compare it.'" Sam Phillips said Presley "put every ounce of emotion
... into every song, almost as if he was incapable of holding back."
By August 1955, Sun Studios had released ten sides credited to
"Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill", all typical of the developing
Presley style. That style proved hard to categorize; he was billed
or labeled in the media as "The King of Western Bop", "The Hillbilly
Cat" and "The Memphis Flash".
On August 15, 1955, "Colonel" Tom Parker became Presley's manager,
signing him to a one year contract, plus renewals. Several record
labels had shown interest in signing Presley and, by the end of
October 1955, three major labels had made offers up to $25,000. On
November 21, 1955, Parker and Phillips negotiated a deal with RCA
Victor Records to acquire Presley's Sun contract for an
unprecedented $40,000, $5,000 of which was a bonus for the singer
for back royalties owed to him by Sun Records (Presley, at 20, was
officially still a minor, so his father had to sign the contract).By
December 1955, RCA had begun to heavily promote its newest star, and
by the month's end had re-released all of his Sun recordings
1956 Makes Elvis A Hit
On January 10, Presley made his first recordings
for RCA in Nashville, Tennessee. The session produced "Heartbreak
Hotel/I Was The One" which was released on January 27. The public
reaction to "Heartbreak Hotel" prompted RCA to release it as a
single in its own right (February 11). By April it had hit number
one in the U.S. charts, selling in excess of one million copies.
To increase the singer's exposure, Parker finally brought Presley to
national television (In March 1955, Presley had failed an
audition for Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts). He booked six Dorsey
Brothers' Stage Show appearances in New York for CBS, beginning
January 28, 1956. Presley was introduced on the first by Cleveland
DJ Bill Randle. He stayed in town and on January 30, he and the band
headed for the RCA's New York Studio. The sessions yielded eight
songs, including "My Baby Left Me" and "Blue Suede Shoes". The
latter was the only hit single from the collection, but the
recordings marked the point at which Presley started moving away
from the raw, pure Sun sound to the more commercial and mainstream
sound RCA had envisioned for him.
On March 23, RCA Victor released Elvis Presley, his first album.
Like the Sun recordings, the majority of the tracks were country
songs. The album went on to top the pop album chart for 10 weeks.
On April 1, Presley launched his acting career with a screen-test
for Paramount Pictures. His first motion-picture, Love Me Tender,
was released on November 21.
Colonel Parker had also obtained a deal for two lucrative shows
with Milton Berle at NBC. Presley first appeared on The Milton Berle
Show from the deck of the USS Hancock in San Diego on April 3. His
performance was cheered by a live audience of appreciative sailors
and their dates.[83] A few days after, a flight taking Presley's
band to Nashville for a recording session left all three badly
shaken (the plane lost an engine and almost went down over Texas).
From April 23, Presley was scheduled to perform four weeks at the
New Frontier Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip—billed this
time as "the Atomic Powered Singer" (Since
Nevada was the home of
the U.S.'s atomic weapons testing, Parker thought the name would be
catchy). His shows were so badly received by critics and the
conservative, middle-aged guests, that Colonel Parker cut short the
engagement from four weeks to two. D.J. Fontana said, "I don't think
the people there were ready for Elvis..... We tried everything we
knew. Usually Elvis could get them on his side. It didn't work that
time". While in Vegas, Presley saw Freddie Bell and the Bellboys
live, and liked their version of Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog".
By May 16, he had added the song to his own act.
After more hectic touring, Presley made his second appearance on The
Milton Berle Show (June 5). Whilst delivering an uptempo version of
"Hound Dog" (without his guitar), he then stopped, and immediately
after began performing a slower version.Presley's "gyrations" during
this televised version of "Hound Dog" created a storm of
controversy—even eclipsing the 'communist threat' headlines
prevalent at the time.The press described his performance as
"vulgar" and "obscene".The furore was such that Presley was
pressured to explain himself on the local New York City TV show Hy
Gardner Calling: "Rock and roll music, if you like it, and you feel
it, you can't help but move to it. That's what happens to me. I have
to move around. I can't stand still. I've tried it, and I can't do
it." After this performance he was dubbed "Elvis the Pelvis".
Presley disliked the name, calling it "one of the most childish
expressions I ever heard."
The Berle shows drew such huge ratings that Steve Allen (NBC), not a
fan of rock and roll, booked him for one appearance in New York on
July 1. Allen wanted "to do a show the whole family can watch" and
introduced a "new Elvis" in white bow tie and black tails. Presley
sang "Hound Dog" for less than a minute to a Basset Hound in a top
hat. According to one author, "Allen thought Presley was talentless
and absurd... [he] set things up so that Presley would show his
contrition..." In his book "Hi-Ho Steverino!" Allen wrote the
following: "When I booked Elvis, I naturally had no interest in just
presenting him vaudeville-style and letting him do his spot as he
might in concert. Instead we worked him into the comedy fabric of
our program. We certainly didn't inhibit Elvis' then-notorious
pelvic gyrations, but I think the fact that he had on formal evening
attire made him, purely on his own, slightly alter his
presentation. "The day after (July 2), the single "Hound Dog" was
recorded and Scotty Moore said they were "all angry about their
treatment the previous night". (Presley often referred to the Allen
show as the most ridiculous performance of his career.)[88] A few
days later, Presley made a "triumphant" outdoor appearance in
Memphis at which he announced: "You know, those people in New York
are not gonna change me none. I'm gonna show you what the real Elvis
is like tonight."
Country vocalists The Jordanaires accompanied Presley on The Steve
Allen Show and their first recording session together produced "Any
Way You Want Me", "Don't Be Cruel" and "Hound Dog". The Jordanaires
would work with the singer through the 1960s.
Though Presley had been unhappy, Allen's show had, for the first
time, beaten The Ed Sullivan Show in the ratings, causing a critical
Sullivan (CBS) to book Presley for three appearances for an
unprecedented $50,000.
Presley's first Ed Sullivan appearance (September 9, 1956) was seen
by some 55–60 million viewers. Biographer Greil Marcus has written:
"Compared to moments on the Dorsey shows and on the Berle show, it
was ice cream."On the third Sullivan show, in spite of Presley's
established reputation as a "gyrating" performer, he sang only slow
paced ballads and a gospel song. Presley was nevertheless only shown
to the television audience 'from the waist up', as if to censor the
singer. Marcus claims he "stepped out in the outlandish costume of a
pasha, if not a harem girl", and was shot in close up during this
last broadcast, as if Sullivan had tried to 'bury' the singer. It
was also claimed that Colonel Parker had himself orchestrated the
'censorship' merely to generate publicity. In spite of any
misgivings about the controversial nature of his performing style
(see 'Sex symbol'), Sullivan declared at the end of the third
appearance that Presley was "a real decent, fine boy" and that they
had never had "a pleasanter experience" on the show.
On December 4, Presley dropped into Sun Records where Carl Perkins
and Jerry Lee Lewis were recording. Sam Phillips made sure the
session of the three performing was recorded; the results would
later appear on a bootlegged recording titled The Million Dollar
Quartet in 1977 (Johnny Cash is often thought to have performed with
the trio, but he was only present briefly at Phillips' instigation
for a photo opportunity). RCA would eventually iron out legal
difficulties and release an authorized version a few years later.
On December 29, Billboard revealed that Presley had placed more
songs in the Top 100 than any other artist since chart records
began. This news was followed by a front page report in the Wall
Street Journal on December 31, that suggested Presley merchandise
had grossed more than $22 million in sales.
Elvis Drafted Into the Army
On December 20, 1957, Presley received his draft
notice. Hal Wallis and Paramount Pictures had already spent $350,000
on the film King Creole, and did not want to suspend or cancel the
project. The Memphis Draft Board granted Presley a deferment to
finish it. On March 24, 1958, he was inducted as US Army private
#53310761 and completed basic training at Fort Hood, Texas on
September 17, 1958, before being posted to Friedberg, Germany with
the 3rd Armored Division, where his service took place from October
1, 1958 until March 2, 1960.
Fellow soldiers have attested to Presley's wish
to be seen as an able an ordinary soldier, despite his fame, and to
his generosity while in service. To supplement meager under-clothing
supplies, Presley bought an extra set of fatigues for everyone in
his outfit. He also donated his Army pay to charity, and purchased
all the TV sets for personnel on the base at that time.
Presley had chosen not to join 'Special Services', which would have
allowed him to avoid certain duties and maintain his public profile.
He continued to receive massive media coverage, with much
speculation echoing Presley's own concerns about his enforced
absence damaging his career. However, early in 1958, RCA Victor
producer Steve Sholes and Freddy Bienstock of Hill and Range
(Presley's main music publishers) had both pushed for recording
sessions and strong song material, the aim being to release regular
hit recordings during Presley's two-year hiatus.Hit singles—and six
albums—duly followed during that period.
As Presley's fame grew, his mother continued to drink excessively
and began to gain weight. She had wanted her son to succeed, "but...
the hysteria of the crowd frightened her."[ In early August 1958,
doctors had diagnosed hepatitis and her condition worsened. Presley
was granted emergency leave to visit her, arriving in Memphis on
August 12. Two days later, Gladys Presley died of heart failure,
aged forty-six. Presley was distraught, "grieving almost constantly"
for days.
Some months later, in Germany, "a sergeant had introduced Presley to
amphetamines when they were on maneuvers at Grafenwöhr... it seemed
like half the guys in the company were taking them." Friends around
Presley, like Joe Esposito, also began taking them, "if only to keep
up with Elvis, who was practically evangelical about their
benefits." The Army also introduced Presley to karate—something
which he studied seriously, even including it in his later live
performances.
Presley returned to the U.S. on March 2, 1960, and was honorably
discharged with the rank of sergeant on March 5. Any doubts Elvis
had about his popularity must have been dispelled as "The train
which carried him from New Jersey to Memphis was mobbed all the way,
with Presley being called upon to appear ... at whistle-stops" to
placate his fans. First
post-Army recordings
The first recording session, on March 20, 1960, was attended by all
of the significant businessmen involved with Presley; none had heard
him sing for two years, and there were inevitable concerns about him
being able to recapture his previous success. The session was the
first at which Presley was recorded using a three-track machine,
allowing better quality, post session remixing and stereophonic
recording.This, and a further session in April, yielded some of
Presley's best-selling songs. "It's Now or Never" ended with Presley
"soaring up to an incredible top G sharp ... pure magic." His voice
on "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" has been described as "natural,
unforced, dead in tune, and totally distinctive. Although some
tracks were up-tempo, none could be described as "rock and roll", and
many of them marked a significant change in musical direction. Most
tracks found their way on to an album—Elvis is Back!—described by
one critic as "a triumph on every level... It was as if Elvis had...
broken down the barriers of genre and prejudice to express
everything he heard in all the kinds of music he loved".The album
was also notable because of Homer Boots Randolph's acclaimed
saxophone playing on the blues songs "Like A Baby" and "Reconsider
Baby", the latter being described as "a refutation of those who do
not recognize what a phenomenal artist Presley was.
Elvis as an Actor
In 1956, Presley launched his career as a film
actor. He screen-tested for Paramount Pictures by lip-synching "Blue
Suede Shoes" and performing a scene as 'Bill Starbuck' in The
Rainmaker. Despite being quietly confident that The Rainmaker would
be his first film—even going as far as saying so in an interview—the
role eventually went to
Burt Lancaster.
After signing a seven-year contract with Paramount, Presley made his
big-screen début with the musical western, Love Me Tender. It was
panned by the critics but did well at the box office. The original
title—The Reno Brothers—was changed to capitalize on the advanced
sales of the song "Love Me Tender". The majority of Presley's films
were musical comedies made to "sell records and produce high
revenues."He also appeared in more dramatic films, like Jailhouse
Rock and King Creole. The dance sequence to the song "Jailhouse
Rock", which Presley choreographed himself, "is considered by many
as his greatest performance ever captured on film."To maintain box
office success, he would later even shift "into beefcake formula
comedy mode for a few years." He also made one non-musical western,
Charro!.
Presley in a promotional photo for Jailhouse Rock released by MGM on
November 8, 1957
Presley stopped live performing after his Army service with the
exception, ironically—given Sinatra's previously scathing
criticism—of a guest appearance on The
Frank Sinatra Timex Show:
Welcome Home Elvis (1960). He also performed three charity
concerts—two in Memphis and one in
Pearl Harbor (1961).
In the Army, Presley had said on many occasions that "more than
anything, he wanted to be taken seriously as a dramatic actor." His
manager had negotiated the multi-picture seven-year contract with
Hal Wallis with an eye on long-term earnings.The singer would later
star alongside several established or up-and-coming actors,
including Walter Matthau, Carolyn Jones, Angela Lansbury, Charles
Bronson, Barbara Stanwyck, Mary Tyler Moore—and even a very young
Kurt Russell in his screen debut. Although Presley was praised by
directors, like Michael Curtiz, as polite and hardworking (and as
having an exceptional memory), "he was definitely not the most
talented actor around." Others were more charitable; critic Bosley
Crowther of the New York Times said: "This boy can act," about his
portrayal in King Creole. Director Joe Pasternak believed "Elvis
should be given more meaty parts. ... He would be a good actor. He
should do more important pictures."
The movies he did make, and the AIP beach movies (which were mainly
made for an early sixties teenage audience), were generally
criticized as a "pantheon of bad taste."[144] The scripts of his
movies "were all the same, the songs progressively worse."For Blue
Hawaii, "fourteen songs were cut in just three days." Julie Parrish,
who appeared in Paradise, Hawaiian Style, says that Presley hated
many of the songs chosen for his films; he "couldn't stop laughing
while he was recording" one of them.Others noted that the songs
seemed to be "written on order by men who never really understood
Elvis or rock and roll.
Whatever the quality of the material, some observers have argued
that Presley generally sang well in the studio, with commitment, and
always played with distinguished musicians and backing singers.
Despite this, critics maintained that "No major star suffered
through more bad movies than Elvis Presley."
Elvis in the film Viva Las Vegas (1964)
Presley movies were nevertheless very popular, and he "became a film
genre of his own." Hal Wallis would later remark: "An Elvis Presley
picture is the only sure thing in Hollywood."Elvis on celluloid was
the only chance for his worldwide fans to see him, in the absence of
live appearances (the only time he toured outside of the U.S. was in
Canada in 1957).e His Blue Hawaii even "boosted the new state's
tourism. Some of his most enduring and popular songs came from those
[kind of] movies," like "Can't Help Falling in Love," "Return to
Sender" and "Viva Las Vegas." His 1960s films and soundtracks
grossed some $280 million. On December 1, 1968, the New York Times
wrote: "Three times a year Elvis Presley ... makes
multimillion-dollar feature-length films, with holiday titles like
"Blue Hawaii", "Fun in Acapulco", "Viva Las Vegas", "Tickle Me",
"Easy Come, Easy Go", "Live a Little, Love a Little" and the latest
in the series, "Chataqua" [released as Charro!]. For each film Elvis
receives a million dollars in wages and 50 per cent of the profits.
... Every film yields an LP sound-track record which may sell as
many as two-million copies."
In 1964, Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole had starred in Hal Wallis'
acclaimed Becket. Wallis admitted to the press that the financing of
such quality productions was only possible by making a series of
profitable B-movies starring Presley. Elvis branded Wallis "a
double-dealing sonofabitch" (and he thought little better of Tom
Parker), realizing there had never been any intention to let him
develop into a serious actor.
Presley was similarly exploited the following year with the film
Tickle Me. Allied Artists had serious financial problems and hoped a
Presley film would help them "stay afloat".By agreeing to a lower
fee, using previously recorded songs and filming on the studio
back-lot, Allied Artists were able to keep costs very low.Considered
one of the weakest of all Presley pictures, it became the third
highest grossing picture in Allied Artists' history, and saved them
from bankruptcy at the time.
Presley was one of the highest paid actors during the 1960s, but
times were changing. "[The] Elvis Presley film was becoming passé.
Young people were tuning in, dropping out and doing acid. Musical
acts like Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, The Doors, Janis Joplin
and many others were dominating the airwaves. Elvis Presley was not
considered cool as he once was."Priscilla Presley recalls: "He
blamed his fading popularity on his humdrum movies" and "... loathed
their stock plots and short shooting schedules." She also notes: "He
could have demanded better, more substantial scripts, but he
didn't."
Change of Habit (1969) was the singer's final movie role. His last
two films were concert documentaries in the early 1970s, though
Presley was keen to consider dramatic movie roles..
As well as the formulaic movie songs of the 1960s, Presley added to
the studio recordings of Elvis Is Back, by recording other
noteworthy songs like "She's Not You", "Suspicion," "Little Sister",
"(You're the) Devil in Disguise" and "It Hurts Me." In 1966 he
recorded a cover of Bob Dylan's "Tomorrow is a Long Time" (which RCA
Victor relegated to a bonus track on the soundtrack album for
Spinout). He also produced two gospel albums: His Hand in Mine
(1960) and How Great Thou Art (1966). In 1967, he recorded some
well-received singles, like Guitar Man, by songwriter/guitar player
Jerry Reed. However, "during the Beatles era (1963-70), only six
Elvis singles reached number ten or better. 'Suspicious Minds' was
the lone number one.
Marriage to Priscilla
Elvis and Priscilla met in 1959 at a party in Bad Nauheim, Germany
during his stay in the army. She was 14 at the time they met, while
he was 24. They quickly began a serious relationship and frequently
visited each other until he left Germany in 1960.
Priscilla and Elvis stayed in contact over the phone, though they
would not see each other again until the summer of 1962, when
Priscilla's parents agreed to let her visit for two weeks.After
another visit at Christmas, Priscilla's parents finally let her move
to America for good. Part of the agreement was that she would be
privately educated, to complete her senior year, and live with
Elvis' father and his wife, Dee, in their home—due to Presley's
difficulty with accepting his stepmother, he arranged for them to
live in a separate house on the Graceland estate.However, it wasn't
long until Priscilla was moved into Graceland to live with Elvis.
In her autobiography, Elvis and Me
, Priscilla says that Elvis
refused to have sex with her until they were married. However,
biographer Suzanne Finstad writes that Priscilla and Elvis slept
together on their second date.
Shortly before Christmas 1966, Elvis proposed to Priscilla. They
married on May 1, 1967 at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. In typical
fashion, Colonel Parker had arranged a photo session and press
conference to be conducted shortly after the ceremony.According to
Finstad, this marriage was part of a mastermind for fame hatched by
Priscilla and her mother.
Their only child, Lisa Marie, was born on February 1, 1968.
The 68 Come Back Special
Elvis, starring Elvis Presley, was the title of a 1968 United
States television special. It was directed by Steve Binder and
produced by Binder and Bones Howe. The executive producer was Bob
Finkel, musical director Billy Goldenberg. Sponsored by The Singer
Sewing Machine Company, it aired on December 3, 1968 on the NBC
television network. The special is commonly referred to as the '68
Comeback Special, because of subsequent developments in Presley's
career, but the soundtrack album was released simply as NBC-TV
Special.
Presley's informal jamming in front of a small audience in the '68
Comeback Special is regarded as a forerunner of the so-called
'Unplugged' concept, later popularized by MTV.
Elvis Meets Nixon
On December 21, 1970, Presley met with President
Richard Nixon at the White House (Presley arrived with a gift—a
handgun. It was accepted but not presented for security reasons).
Presley had engineered the encounter to express his patriotism, his
contempt for the hippie drug culture and his wish to be appointed a
"Federal Agent at Large".
Divorce from Priscilla
Off stage, Presley had continuing problems. His lifelong friend, Joe
Esposito, said Elvis "could never be true to any one woman." It was
widely known that Presley had several affairs during his 13-year
union with Priscilla, notably with
Ann-Margret. In spite of his own infidelity, Presley was furious
that Priscilla was having an affair with a mutual acquaintance—Mike
Stone, a
karate instructor she had met in 1971 backstage at one of
Presley's concerts. It was Presley himself who first suggested
Priscilla should take lessons from Stone. Once the news of their
affair came to his attention, he raged obsessively: "There's too
much pain in me... Stone [must] die." A bodyguard,
Red West, felt compelled to
get a price for a contract killing and was relieved when Presley
decided: "Aw hell... Maybe it's a bit heavy..." The Presleys
separated on February 23, 1972 and divorced on October 9, 1973,
agreeing to share custody of their daughter.
Following his separation from Priscilla, he lived with Linda
Thompson, a songwriter and one-time Memphis beauty queen, from July
1972 until just a few months before his death.
Aloha from
Hawaii
In January 1973, Presley performed two charity concerts in Hawaii
for the Kui Lee cancer foundation. The first (January 12) was
primarily a practice run for the main show which was broadcast live
on January 14 (The first show also served as a backup if technical
problems affected the live broadcast). The "Aloha from Hawaii"
concert was the world's first live concert satellite broadcast,
reaching at least a billion viewers live and a further 500 million
on delay. The show's album went to number one and spent a year in
the charts. The album also proved to be Presley's last U.S. Number
One album during his lifetime. |
