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Biography | Photo Gallery I | Photo Gallery II

Elvis Aaron Presley

Born: January 8, 1935 City and Country of Origin: Tupelo, Mississippi Music Background: Awards: 1974 Grammy Best Inspirational Performance (Non-Classical), "How Great Thou Art;" 1972 Grammy Best Inspirational Performance , "He Touched Me," 1967 Grammy Best Sacred Performance, "How Great Thou Art" Top Recordings: "That's All Right Mama," "Blue Moon of Kentucky," "Good Rockin' Tonight," "Baby Let's Play House," "Mystery Train," "Heart Break Hotel," "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You," "Hound Dog," "Don't Be Cruel," "Love Me Tender," "Jailhouse Rock," "All Shook Up," "Too Much," "Return to Sender," "My Way" Elvis Biography: Elvis was the surviving twin of Vernon and Gladys Presley. His brother, Jesse Garon, died at birth. The family moved from Tupelo, Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee when he was 13. After high school he drove a truck for the Crown Electric Company and his family envisioned a career as an electrician, but blessed with a great singing voice, a charming manner and devilish good looks Elvis had other ideas. His first recording was a $4 demo which found its way to the desk of Sun Records boss Sam Phillips. Phillips matched Elvis up with session musicians Scotty Moore and Bill Black. Although their first effort proved fruitless Phillips realized what he had in Elvis and persisted. Finally, he found his niche with the two-sided local hits "That's All Right" and the flipside "Blue Moon of Kentucky." The recordings released on Sam Phillips' Sun records label was pure rockabilly and broke into the national charts by 1955. It was about this time that Col. Tom Parker, Eddie Arnolds old manager, took a hankering to the young Elvis. He signed Elvis to a management contract and arranged for RCA to buy the rights to his recording contract from Sun records. His first offerings on his new label were 2 two-sided hits both released in 1956, "Heart Break Hotel," his first chart topper and the Elvis version of Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes," which also made the charts, (In those days it was not uncommon for 2 artists to have hit recordings of the same song) as well as "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel" one of the biggest selling records ever recorded. Sandwiched in between these two-sided hits he hit the top of the charts with "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You." By late 1956 Elvis had completed his first motion picture Love Me Tender, originally titled The Reno Brothers, the name was changed to accommodate the title recording from the film. He followed up his first cinematic offering with Jailhouse Rock often considered his best acting effort. More hit records followed including the title song from the movie "Jailhouse Rock," as well as "All Shook Up," and "Too Much." Although none of his more refined work with RCA recaptured the pure primal sound of his earlier efforts on the Sun label they were still among the best recordings of the early rock era. Even before his induction into the army Elvis developed the strange habit of paroding his own style with deeper more exaggerated vocal swoops, on ballads like "Loving You," a trait for which he was famous as well as winking to the audience and curling his upper lip. His hip swerving gyrations which he developped in his early years led to a public outcry from the more conservative elements in society and he was barred from moving on stage during some performances. This outcry also led to television shows limiting what he was allowed to do on stage and what he was not allowed to do. In 1958 his career was interrupted when he was drafted into the army. The colonel had arranged it so that enough material, both visual and audio, was available during his stint to keep him in the public spotlight. He was stationed in Germany where he met his bride to be Priscilla who was only 14 at the time. On his return to public life Elvis, strangely enough, would have been able to pick up where he left off, but he along with the colonel chose to maximize returns while limiting their efforts by concentrating solely on his movie career while using the films as a vehicle to sell the records. As a result he gave up his career as a live performer for the next several years. Neither the movies nor his acting garnered much critical acclaim and the songs were not much better, but he was able to continue to reap the financial rewards fueled by his fan base developed during the early years of his success. Elvis, much like earlier Hollywood performers, became more of a celebrity than a star with his name appearing more often in the gossip columns than on the top 40 chart. Died: August 16, 1977 Home