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1935 births

Elvis Presley

Ch. 1 of 8
— CH. 1 · INTRODUCTION —

Contents

Elvis Presley

8 sections

  • Elvis Aaron Presley walked onto the stage of the International Hotel in Las Vegas on the 31st of July 1969, without a single word of introduction. The audience of 2,200 people gave him a standing ovation before he sang a note. Another followed his performance. A third came after his encore. He had not performed live in eight years. What had happened in between, and what brought him back, is one of the stranger stories in the history of popular music. A boy from Tupelo, Mississippi, who could not read sheet music and was told by a teacher that he had no aptitude for singing, he went on to sell an estimated 500 million records worldwide. He held the most RIAA-certified gold and platinum albums of any artist. He put more songs in the top 100 in a single year than any act since records were first charted. And he did it while triggering a letter to the FBI warning that he was a danger to national security. How a shy kid who played guitar in the hallways of L. C. Humes High School became the most commercially successful solo act on both the US and UK charts is the subject of this documentary.

  • Elvis's twin brother, Jesse Garon, was stillborn 35 minutes before Elvis arrived on the 8th of January 1935. That loss bound the surviving child tightly to his parents, especially his mother, Gladys. The family's circumstances were precarious from the start. In 1938, they lost their home after Vernon Presley was jailed for eight months for altering a check. The family relied on government food assistance and neighbors.

    Elvis's first public performance came at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show on the 3rd of October 1945, when he was 10. He sang "Old Shep" and recalled placing fifth. A few months later he received his first guitar for his birthday, taking lessons from two uncles and a pastor at the family's church. He later recalled, "I took the guitar, and I watched people, and I learned to play a little bit. But I would never sing in public. I was very shy about it."

    The family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in November 1948. At L. C. Humes High School, Elvis received a C in music in eighth grade. When his music teacher said he had no aptitude for singing, he brought his guitar to class and sang to prove otherwise. He was occasionally bullied as a "mama's boy" and was too shy to perform openly for much of his school years.

    Memphis changed him. He headed down to Beale Street, the city's blues hub, and spent hours admiring the flashy clothes at Lansky Brothers. By his senior year, he was wearing those clothes. He attended all-night gospel singings downtown, where white groups performed music shaped by African American spirituals. He listened to stations like WDIA that played what were then called "race records": spirituals, blues, and the heavy-backbeat rhythm and blues that would later mark his own sound. Guitarist Lee Denson, a neighbor, became his tutor. Practicing with Denson were two boys who would become future rockabilly pioneers: brothers Dorsey and Johnny Burnette.

    At Humes' 1953 annual talent show, Elvis sang Teresa Brewer's "Till I Waltz Again with You". He recalled that the audience had no idea he could sing: "I wasn't popular in school... I failed music - only thing I ever failed. And then they entered me in this talent show... when I came onstage, I heard people kind of rumbling and whispering... It was amazing how popular I became in school after that." He graduated that June, already certain that music was his future.

  • In August 1953, Elvis walked into Memphis Recording Service, the studio Sam Phillips ran before formally launching Sun Records, and paid to cut two sides onto an acetate disc: "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin". He would later claim he wanted a birthday gift for his mother, or that he was simply curious about what he sounded like. Biographer Peter Guralnick argued it was really about being discovered.

    Phillips, for his part, had a specific mission: to bring the sound of Black musicians on the Sun roster to a wider audience. He was seeking someone who could carry that sound across the color line. He invited guitarist Scotty Moore and upright bassist Bill Black to work with Elvis for a session on the evening of the 5th of July 1954. The session went nowhere for hours. Then, late in the night, Elvis picked up Arthur Crudup's 1946 blues number, "That's All Right", and started playing it loose and fast. Moore recalled: "All of a sudden, Elvis just started singing this song, jumping around and acting the fool, and then Bill picked up his bass, and he started acting the fool, too, and I started playing with them." Phillips started the tape rolling. That was the sound he had been looking for.

    Three days later, disc jockey Dewey Phillips played "That's All Right" on his Red, Hot, and Blue show. Listener response was intense enough that Phillips kept playing it for the remaining two hours of the broadcast. During an on-air interview, he asked Elvis which high school he attended - a way of clarifying for callers who had assumed, based on the sound, that the singer was Black.

    The trio followed with a distinctive version of Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky", recorded using a jury-rigged echo effect that Sam Phillips called "slapback". The blend of styles that resulted was so unusual that many radio programmers would not touch it. Country stations felt Elvis sounded too Black; R&B stations felt he sounded too country. That sound would eventually be named "rockabilly". Promoters of the period billed him as "The King of Western Bop", "The Hillbilly Cat", and "The Memphis Flash".

    By November 1954, Elvis had earned a year's worth of Saturday-night slots on Louisiana Hayride, a show that aired on 198 radio stations across 28 states. His first nervous set drew little reaction; his second, more composed performance drew an enthusiastic crowd. He traded his old guitar in for $8 and bought a Martin instrument for $175. Drummer D. J. Fontana joined the lineup in 1955, completing the classic quartet.

  • At the Country Disc Jockey Convention in early November 1955, Elvis was voted the year's most promising male artist. Three major labels had already made offers of up to $25,000 for his Sun contract. On the 21st of November 1955, Colonel Tom Parker, who had been managing Elvis since January, struck a deal with RCA Victor for an unprecedented $40,000. Elvis was 20 and still legally a minor; his father signed the contract.

    Parker also arranged with the Aberbach brothers, owners of Hill and Range Publishing, to create two entities called Elvis Presley Music and Gladys Music. Songwriters who wanted Elvis to record their work had to forgo one-third of their customary royalties in exchange. It was an arrangement that would shape the entire arc of his recording career.

    The first RCA session, held in Nashville on the 10th of January 1956, added pianist Floyd Cramer, guitarist Chet Atkins, and three background vocalists including Gordon Stoker of the Jordanaires to the existing band. That session produced "Heartbreak Hotel", released on January 27. Within twelve weeks it became Elvis's first US number-one pop hit. Within a year, RCA Victor had sold ten million Presley singles.

    Parker booked Elvis onto CBS's Stage Show for six appearances over two months, beginning the 28th of January 1956. His self-titled debut album followed on March 23 and included covers of Little Richard, Ray Charles, and the Drifters, alongside Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes". Critic Robert Hilburn called the Presley version of "Blue Suede Shoes" "an improvement over Perkins' in almost every way". The album topped the Billboard chart for ten weeks, becoming the first rock and roll album to reach number one.

    Cultural historian Gilbert B. Rodman argued that the album's cover image "of Elvis having the time of his life on stage with a guitar in his hands played a crucial role in positioning the guitar... as the instrument that best captured the style and spirit of this new music." Historian Marty Jezer later wrote that Elvis began the "biggest pop craze" since Glenn Miller and Frank Sinatra, and that he gave young Americans "a belief in themselves as a distinct and somehow unified generation - the first in America ever to feel the power of an integrated youth culture."

  • After a show in La Crosse, Wisconsin, an urgent message was sent on Catholic diocese letterhead to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, warning that Elvis was "a definite danger to the security of the United States". It cited his movements as capable of rousing the sexual passions of teenagers and reported that more than 1,000 of them had tried to rush his room after the show.

    The storm broke fully on the 5th of June 1956, when Elvis appeared on NBC's Milton Berle Show without his guitar - Berle had persuaded him to leave it backstage. During the performance, Elvis abruptly halted an up-tempo version of "Hound Dog" and slowed it into a grinding rendition with exaggerated body movements. Jack Gould of The New York Times wrote that Elvis had "no discernible singing ability" and that his one specialty was a body movement "primarily identified with the repertoire of the blond bombshells of the burlesque runway". Ben Gross of the New York Daily News called the performance the lowest point popular music had reached. Ed Sullivan, whose variety show was then the nation's most watched, declared Elvis "unfit for family viewing".

    Steve Allen booked Elvis for a July 1 appearance and introduced a "new Elvis" in a white bowtie and tails, having him sing "Hound Dog" to a basset hound wearing a top hat. Television historian Jake Austen described Allen as setting things up so that Elvis "would show his contrition". Elvis told a reporter beforehand, "I don't want to do anything to make people dislike me... but I won't be able to give the kind of show I do in a personal appearance." He later called it the most ridiculous performance of his career.

    Allen's show, partly because of the controversy, beat The Ed Sullivan Show in the ratings for the first time. Sullivan then booked Elvis for three appearances at an unprecedented $50,000. The first, on the 9th of September 1956, drew approximately 60 million viewers, a record 82.6 percent of the television audience. Presley's performance of the forthcoming ballad "Love Me Tender" generated a record-shattering million advance orders. The single "Don't Be Cruel" paired with "Hound Dog" ruled the charts for eleven weeks - a record that would not be surpassed for 36 years.

    On his third Sullivan appearance, the 6th of January 1957, Elvis was famously shot only from the waist up. Some observers believed Parker had engineered an appearance of censorship to generate further publicity. At the end of that broadcast, Sullivan declared Elvis "a real decent, fine boy". The Memphis draft board announced two days later that Elvis would likely be conscripted that year.

  • Presley made his film debut in Love Me Tender on the 21st of November 1956. The original title was The Reno Brothers, but the studio renamed it to capitalize on his current number-one single. Critics panned it, but the box office was strong. Presley received top billing on every film he made after that.

    Producer Hal Wallis, who produced nine of the films, summarized the formula plainly: "A Presley picture is the only sure thing in Hollywood." Parker pushed Elvis into a schedule of formulaic, modestly budgeted musical comedies. When two more dramatically ambitious films, Flaming Star and Wild in the Country, performed less commercially in 1960 and 1961, Elvis reverted to the formula.

    Over the 1960s, he made 27 films. Fifteen were accompanied by soundtrack albums and another five by soundtrack EPs. The rapid pace affected the quality of the music. Songwriter Jerry Leiber described the formula that was already set before Elvis left for the Army: "three ballads, one medium-tempo, one up-tempo, and one break blues boogie." Gordon Stoker of the Jordanaires recalled how Elvis would retreat from the studio microphone when the material was particularly weak: "The material was so bad that he felt like he couldn't sing it."

    From 1964 to 1968, Elvis had a single top-ten hit on the US pop chart - "Crying in the Chapel", a gospel number actually recorded in 1960. Between the June 1962 album Pot Luck and a November 1968 release, only one studio LP of new non-soundtrack material appeared: the gospel album How Great Thou Art in 1967. It won him his first Grammy, for Best Sacred Performance.

    His personal life was also in motion. He had met 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu while stationed in Bad Nauheim, West Germany. They married on the 1st of May 1967, in a ceremony at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, after a courtship of seven and a half years. Their only child, Lisa Marie, was born on the 1st of February 1968. That same year, of the eight singles released between January 1967 and May 1968, only two charted in the top 40. His forthcoming soundtrack album, Speedway, would rank at number 82.

  • The NBC television special simply called Elvis aired on the 3rd of December 1968. Director Steve Binder had worked hard to prevent it from becoming the hour of Christmas songs Parker had originally planned. The live segments showed Elvis in tight black leather, performing in front of a small audience for the first time since 1961. Jon Landau of Eye magazine wrote: "There is something magical about watching a man who has lost himself find his way back home. He sang with the kind of power people no longer expect of rock 'n' roll singers." The show captured 42 percent of the total viewing audience and was NBC's highest-rated program that season.

    Buoyed by the Comeback Special, Elvis recorded at American Sound Studio in a prolific series of sessions. The resulting album, From Elvis in Memphis, released in June 1969, was his first secular, non-soundtrack record from a dedicated studio period in eight years. Critic Dave Marsh called it "a masterpiece in which Presley immediately catches up with pop music trends that had seemed to pass him by during the movie years". The single "In the Ghetto" reached number three on the pop chart, his first non-gospel top ten hit in six years.

    "Suspicious Minds", drawn from the same sessions, reached the top of the US charts in November 1969, his first number-one pop single in over seven years. It would also be his last.

    At the International Hotel engagement beginning the 31st of July 1969, costume designer Bill Belew, who had created the leather look for the Comeback Special, gave Elvis a new stage wardrobe inspired by his passion for karate. Parker negotiated a five-year contract with the hotel for Elvis to play each February and August, at an annual salary of $1 million. In January 1973, the satellite broadcast Aloha from Hawaii aired live to prime-time audiences in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as to US servicemen across Southeast Asia. In Japan it broke viewing records, capping a nationwide Elvis Presley Week. The next night it was simulcast to 28 European countries. The accompanying double album went to number one and eventually sold over five million copies in the US, his last US number-one pop album during his lifetime.

  • By late 1973, Elvis had been hospitalized from a pethidine addiction and had twice overdosed on barbiturates, spending three days in a coma after the first incident. His primary care physician, George C. Nichopoulos, later said that Elvis "felt that by getting drugs from a doctor, he wasn't the common everyday junkie getting something off the street". That year also saw 168 concerts, his busiest schedule ever.

    Keyboardist Tony Brown described Elvis's arrival at a University of Maryland concert in September 1974: "He fell out of the limousine, to his knees. People jumped to help, and he pushed them away like, 'Don't help me.' He walked on stage and held onto the mic for the first thirty minutes like it was a post." Guitarist John Wilkinson recalled crying backstage as Elvis struggled to get through the songs, "so fucked up" that the lyrics were barely intelligible.

    On the 13th of July 1976, Vernon Presley fired three longtime bodyguards including Red West, Elvis's friend since the 1950s, citing the need to cut expenses. Elvis was in Palm Springs at the time and was not present for the dismissals. In 1976, RCA sent a mobile recording unit to Graceland to coax him back to work, producing two sessions, but the process had become a struggle.

    Elvis's cousin, Billy Smith, recalled hours of late-night conversations in which Elvis recounted favorite Monty Python sketches alongside his own past escapades, but was more often gripped by paranoid obsessions. Journalist Tony Scherman wrote that, by early 1977, Elvis "had become a grotesque caricature of his sleek, energetic former self. Grossly overweight, his mind dulled by the pharmacopoeia he daily ingested, he was barely able to pull himself through his abbreviated concerts".

    "Way Down", his last single issued during his lifetime, was released on the 6th of June 1977. CBS filmed two concerts for a television special that month. In Rapid City, South Dakota, on June 21, two days after a show described as nearly unrecognizable, Elvis looked healthier and performed better - one of his last documented good nights on stage. He died on the 16th of August 1977, at Graceland, at the age of 42. He won three Grammy Awards over his career. All three of his competitive wins, from fourteen total nominations, were for gospel recordings.

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Updated

Common questions

Where was Elvis Presley born and when?

Elvis Aaron Presley was born on the 8th of January 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi. His family relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, in November 1948, when Elvis was 13.

When did Elvis Presley sign with RCA Victor and for how much?

Elvis Presley's Sun Records contract was acquired by RCA Victor on the 21st of November 1955, for an unprecedented $40,000, arranged by Colonel Tom Parker. Elvis was 20 at the time and still legally a minor, so his father signed the contract.

What was the first Elvis Presley recording at Sun Records?

Elvis's breakthrough Sun Records recording was "That's All Right", Arthur Crudup's 1946 blues number, recorded on the evening of the 5th of July 1954, with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black. Memphis disc jockey Dewey Phillips played it on his Red, Hot, and Blue show three days later to immediate and intense listener response.

How many records did Elvis Presley sell worldwide?

Elvis Presley sold an estimated 500 million records worldwide. He holds the most RIAA-certified gold and platinum albums of any artist, the most albums charted on the Billboard 200, and the most number-one singles by any act on the UK Singles Chart.

What was the Elvis 1968 Comeback Special?

The Elvis Comeback Special, formally titled Elvis, aired on NBC on the 3rd of December 1968. Directed by Steve Binder, it featured live performances before a small audience - Elvis's first since 1961 - and captured 42 percent of the total television viewing audience, making it NBC's highest-rated program that season.

When and where did Elvis Presley die?

Elvis Presley died on the 16th of August 1977, at his Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 42 years old. Years of substance abuse and declining health had severely compromised his condition in the final years of his life.

All sources

214 references cited across the entry

  1. 1JournalElvis chooses NBC as stage for TV specialLarry Williams — January 18, 1968
  2. 2Director remembers landmark Elvis Presley performanceBruce Fessier Sun
  3. 3JournalJudge hears arguments in Presley caseJune 28, 1973
  4. 4JournalLawyer lauds unselfishnessJack Jones — October 10, 1973
  5. 5The Heartbreaking Truth About Elvis and Priscilla Presley's Love StoryNatalie Finn — January 6, 2024
  6. 6Zippin Pippin Roller Coaster Closed After 3 HurtPaul Srubas — June 20, 2016
  7. 7EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert
  8. 8EPiC WORLD PREMIERE at TIFF, 6th Sept in the Princess Of Wales Theatre! Oh, It's a happy day… #tiff50Baz Luhrmann
  9. 9"How Negroes Feel About Elvis," Sepia, April 1957
  10. 10Joyce Rochelle Vaughn, Thirty Pieces of Silver: The Betrayal of Elvis Presley, Preface, 2017
  11. 11BookBrandstorm: Surviving and Thriving in the New Consumer-Led MarketplaceLiz Nickles et al. — Macmillan Publishers — November 13, 2012
  12. 12NewsAn iconic guitar from Elvis Presley's Comeback Special is up for auctionCNN — March 14, 2021
  13. 13Best-selling solo artistGuinness World Records — November 26, 2024
  14. 14San Antonio street names and groupingsMerrisa Brown — September 30, 2014
  15. 15Denisoff (1975) p. 22Denisoff — 1975
  16. 16BookThe Girls' Guide to Elvis: The Clothes, the Hair, the Women, and More!Kim Adelman — Random House — 2002
  17. 17BookElvis & Ginger: Elvis Presley's Fiancée and Last Love Finally Tells Her StoryGinger Alden — Berkeley Publishing — 2014
  18. 18BookHi-Ho, Steverino!: My Adventures in the Wonderful Wacky World of TVSteve Allen — Thorndike Press — 1992
  19. 19BookAdolescence and Emerging Adulthood: A Cultural ApproachJeffrey Jensen Arnett — Pearson Prentice Hall — 2006
  20. 20BookHow High Should Boys Sing?Martin Ashley — Ashgate — 2009
  21. 21MagazineThe Top 100December 2006
  22. 22BookTV-A-Go-Go: Rock on TV from American Bandstand to American IdolJake Austen — Chicago Review Press — 2005
  23. 23BookUnnatural Death: Confessions of a Medical ExaminerMichael M. Baden et al. — Ballantine — 1990
  24. 24NewsAlbum Review: Elvis Presley Viva Elvis The AlbumRussell Baillie — November 6, 2010
  25. 25MagazineElvis and the Royal PhilharmonicRobert Baird — December 23, 2017
  26. 26NewsSinatra Is Voice of the CenturyApril 18, 2001
  27. 27NewsElvis Presley gets US Presidential Medal of FreedomNovember 16, 2018
  28. 28BookThe Beatles AnthologyThe Beatles — Chronicle Books — 2000
  29. 29BookRace, Rock, and ElvisMichael T. Bertrand — University of Illinois Press — 2000
  30. 30Magazine100 Greatest ArtistsBono — December 3, 2010
  31. 31NewsPriscilla Presley Keeps King AliveDany Bouchard — November 5, 2010
  32. 32Elvis (2022)Box Office Mojo
  33. 33MagazineChart BeatFred Bronson — July 3, 2004
  34. 34BookDown at the End of Lonely Street: The Life and Death of Elvis PresleyPeter Harry Brown et al. — Signet — 1997
  35. 35BookCounting Down Elvis: His 100 Finest SongsMark Duffett — Rowman & Littlefield Publishers — 2018
  36. 36BookThe Blue Moon Boys: The Story of Elvis Presley's BandKen Burke et al. — Chicago Review Press — 2006
  37. 37BookInterpreting Rock Movies: The Pop Film and Its Critics in BritainAndrew Caine — Palgrave Macmillan — 2005
  38. 38BookPopular Music in AmericaMichael Campbell — 2009
  39. 39NewsPopular DemandKeith Caulfield — November 25, 2016
  40. 40BookRock Music Styles: A HistoryKatherine Charlton — McGraw-Hill — 2006
  41. 41NewsChristgau's Consumer GuideRobert Christgau — December 24, 1985
  42. 42BookConspiracy Theories: The Philosophical DebateSteve Clarke — Ashgate — 2006
  43. 43BookElvis: By Those Who Knew Him BestDick Clayton et al. — Virgin Publishing — 2003
  44. 4440 Greatest Men in Country MusicCMT — 2005
  45. 45How Big Was The King?Dan Collins — CBS News — August 7, 2002
  46. 46BookGraceland National Historic Landmark Nomination FormJody Cook — United States Department of the Interior — 2004
  47. 47NewsThe King and KarateJohn Corcoran — March 1, 1998
  48. 48BookDevil's Music, Holy Rollers and Hillbillies: How America Gave Birth to Rock and RollJames A. Cosby — McFarland — 2016
  49. 49BookThe BeatlesHunter Davies — W. W. Norton — 1996
  50. 50BookSolid Gold: The Popular Record IndustryR. Serge Denisoff — Transaction Books — 1975
  51. 51Greatest AmericanDiscovery Channel — 2005
  52. 52BookUnderstanding Elvis: Southern Roots vs. Star ImageSusan Doll — Routledge — 2016
  53. 53BookElvis Culture: Fans, Faith, and ImageErika Lee Doss — University of Kansas Press — 1999
  54. 54BookElvis and GladysElaine Dundy — University Press of Mississippi — 2004
  55. 55MagazineThe Teenage RavePeter John Dyer — Winter 1959–1960
  56. 56Who was Elvis Presley's father Vernon and what happened to him after his son's death?Tom Eames — May 20, 2022a
  57. 57Who was Elvis Presley's mother Gladys? The heartbreaking story behind her life and deathTom Eames — May 20, 2022b
  58. 58News19 celebrities you didn't know were twins (Elvis and Jesse Presley)Jennifer Earl — February 14, 2017
  59. 59BookElvis Music FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the King's Recorded WorksMike Eder — Backbeat Books — 2013
  60. 60BookThe Columbia History of American TelevisionGary R. Edgerton — Columbia University Press — 2007
  61. 61NewsElvis Presley's Coat of ArmsMurray Eiland — 2018
  62. 62BookThe Big Book of Beastly MispronunciationsCharles Harrington Elster — Houghton Mifflin — 2006
  63. 63BookThe Encyclopedia of Country MusicColin Escott — Oxford University Press — 1998
  64. 64BookSpectacular Passions: Cinema, Fantasy, Gay Male SpectatorshipsBrett Farmer — Duke University Press — 2000
  65. 65NewsElvis at 75: Can We Ever Again See the Performer, Not the Punch Line?Mark Feeney — January 3, 2010
  66. 66BookThe FBI Files on Elvis PresleyThomas Fensch — New Century Books — 2001
  67. 68NewsA Whole Lotta Elvis Is Goin' to the Small ScreenCurt Fields — August 3, 2007
  68. 69Baz Luhrmann Working On New Elvis Presley Docu Feature – Watch Exclusive Teaser TrailerMike Jr Fleming — January 22, 2025
  69. 70BookIn the Groove: The People Behind the MusicTed Fox — St Martin's Press — 1986
  70. 71BookRock and Roll: A Social HistoryPaul Friedlander — Westview — 1996
  71. 72BookVested Interests: Cross-Dressing and Cultural AnxietyMarjorie Garber — Routledge — 1997
  72. 73MagazineKing's Crown Shines: First No. 1 DebutBrian Garrity — October 12, 2002
  73. 74MagazineElvis on Ed Sullivan: The Real StoryChristine Gibson — December 6, 2005
  74. 75BookRock and Roll Is Here To Stay: An AnthologyCharlie Gillett — W. W. Norton — 2000
  75. 76MagazineTop-Earning Dead CelebritiesLea Goldman et al. — October 29, 2007
  76. 77MagazineTop-Earning Dead CelebritiesLea Goldman et al. — October 29, 2007
  77. 78BookThe King on the RoadRobert Gordon — Bounty Books — 2005
  78. 79Elvis Presley's ex slams step-brother's claim that singer killed himselfNicki Gostin — June 27, 2023
  79. 80NewsTV: New Phenomenon—Elvis Presley Rises to Fame as Vocalist Who Is Virtuoso of Hootchy-KootchyJack Gould — June 6, 1956
  80. 81Elvis Presley, the MusicianGraceland Blog — December 3, 2015
  81. 82Elvis PresleyGrammy Awards — March 17, 2014
  82. 83MagazineThe Top-Earning Dead Celebrities of 2017Zack O'Malley Greenburg — October 30, 2017
  83. 84MagazineFlashback: Elvis Presley's 'Aloha From Hawaii' Marks His Final Truly Great MomentAndy Greene — July 31, 2018
  84. 85Chart Watch Extra: The Top 40 Christmas AlbumsPaul Grein — Yahoo! Music — December 5, 2008
  85. 86BookLost Highway: Journeys & Arrivals of American MusiciansPeter Guralnick — Vintage — 1989
  86. 87BookLast Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis PresleyPeter Guralnick — Little, Brown — 1994
  87. 88BookCareless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis PresleyPeter Guralnick — Back Bay Books — 1999
  88. 89NewsHow Did Elvis Get Turned into a Racist?Peter Guralnick — January 8, 2004
  89. 90BookElvis Day by Day: The Definitive Record of His Life and MusicPeter Guralnick et al. — Ballantine — 1999
  90. 91BookElvis People: The Cult of the KingTed Harrison — Fount — 1992
  91. 92BookThe Death and Resurrection of Elvis PresleyTed Harrison — Reaktion — 2016
  92. 93MagazineMadonna Leads Busy Billboard 200 with 7th No. 1Katie Hasty — May 7, 2008
  93. 94NewsDoctor FeelgoodAdam Higginbotham — August 11, 2002
  94. 95NewsFrom the Man Who Would Be KingRobert Hilburn — February 6, 2005
  95. 96MagazineHits of the WorldJuly 24, 2004
  96. 97BookElvis: The Final YearsJerry Hopkins — Berkley — 1986
  97. 98BookElvis in HawaiiJerry Hopkins — Bess Press — 2002
  98. 99BookElvisThe BiographyJerry Hopkins — Plexus — 2007
  99. 100MagazineTop-Earning Dead CelebritiesPeter Hoy — October 27, 2008
  100. 101BookThe Billboard Book of One-Hit WondersWayne Jancik — 1998
  101. 102Priscilla Presley and Elvis Presley's relationship story, in their own wordsJoyann Jeffrey et al. — June 27, 2022
  102. 103BookThe Dark Ages: Life in the United States 1945–1960Marty Jezer — South End Press — 1982
  103. 104BookElvis PresleyA Life in Music: The Complete Recording SessionsErnst Jorgensen — St Martin's Press — 1998
  104. 105BookElvis Presley: The Man, The Life, The LegendPamela Clarke Keogh — Simon & Schuster — 2004
  105. 106BookElvis Presley, Richard Nixon, and the American DreamConnie Kirchberg et al. — McFarland — 1999
  106. 107NewsShowtime: How Sin City evolved into 'The Entertainment Capital of the World'Ed Koch et al. — May 15, 2008
  107. 108NewsHe Wasn't My KingHelen Kolawole — August 15, 2002
  108. 109BookThe Complete '68 Comeback SpecialHarvey Kubernik — CD Booklet RCA/BMG. UPC 88697306262 — 2008
  109. 110Groundbreaking New Elvis Presley Album, 'Where No One Stands Alone', To Be Released August 10Sony Music Entertainment — June 21, 2018
  110. 111BookElvis Presley: Caught in a TrapSpencer Leigh — McNidder and Grace — 2017
  111. 112News40 Years After His Death, Elvis Presley Is Still the King in the YouTube AgeRandy Lewis — August 16, 2017
  112. 113BookFantasy Femmes of 60s Cinema: Interviews with 20 Actresses from Biker, Beach, and Elvis MoviesTom Lisanti — McFarland — 2000
  113. 114BookRace and the Subject of MasculinitiesEric Lott et al. — Duke University Press — 1997
  114. 115NewsElvis Presley, Who Died 34 Years Ago Today, Spurs Fresh TearsRene Lynch — August 16, 2011
  115. 116BookMystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll MusicGreil Marcus — E.P. Dutton — 1982
  116. 117BookElvis Presley: The Ed Sullivan ShowsGreil Marcus — DVD Booklet Image Entertainment. UPC 01438137302 — 2006
  117. 118BookMystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll MusicGreil Marcus — Plume — 2015
  118. 119BookThe Rolling Stone Record GuideDave Marsh — Virgin — 1980
  119. 120BookElvisDave Marsh — Times Books — 1982
  120. 121BookThe Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever MadeDave Marsh — Penguin Books — 1989
  121. 122BookThe New Rolling Stone Album GuideDave Marsh — Simon & Schuster — 2004
  122. 123NewsDid Elvis indoctrinate me? Probably – but I don't see it as a bad thingStefanie Marsh — December 21, 2015
  123. 124NewsMary Jenkins Langston, 78, Cook for PresleyDouglas Martin — June 5, 2000
  124. 125NewsIt's Good To Be KingEd Masley — August 15, 2002
  125. 126BookElvis PresleyBobbie Ann Mason — Penguin — 2007
  126. 127BookElvis Presley. A Study in MusicRobert Matthew-Walker — Midas Books — 1979
  127. 128Elvis: Do You Know These 5 Facts?Tim McPhate — Grammy Awards — August 15, 2017
  128. 129JournalThe velvet spiders: an atlas of the Eresidae (Arachnida, Araneae)Jeremy A. Miller et al. — May 18, 2012
  129. 130BookFlowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 1947–1977James Miller — Fireside — 2000
  130. 131Elvis Presley: How the King of Rock 'n' Rolling Developed His Signature Dance MovesMadison Miller — March 23, 2021
  131. 132NewsMariah Carey Surpasses Elvis in No. 1sNekesa Mumbi Moody — April 2, 2008
  132. 133BookThat's Alright, ElvisScotty Moore et al. — Schirmer Books — 1997
  133. 134BookGo Cat Go!: Rockabilly Music and Its MakersCraig Morrison — University of Illinois Press — 1996
  134. 135BookThe Gospel Side of ElvisJoe Moscheo — Center Street — 2007
  135. 136BookElvis: The King RememberedSusan M. Moyer — Sports Publishing LLC — 2002
  136. 137MagazineOne Million Times 98¢Don Murray — Ziff-Davis Publishing Company — October 1961
  137. 138Artists with the most Number 1 singles on the UK chartJustin Myers — Official Charts Company — September 30, 2022
  138. 139NewsArtists with the most Top 10 singles in the UKJustin Myers — Official Charts Company — September 17, 2021
  139. 140BookDon't Rhyme for the Sake of Riddlin': The Authorized Story of Public EnemyRussell Myrie — Canongate — 2009
  140. 141BookThe Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis PresleyAlanna Nash — Simon & Schuster — 2003
  141. 142BookElvis and the Memphis MafiaAlanna Nash — Aurum — 2005
  142. 143GracelandNational Park Service — 2010
  143. 144BookThe Elvis MoviesJames L. Neibaur — Rowman & Littlefield — 2014
  144. 145NewsLong Live the KingAugust 16, 2002
  145. 146NewsLove Me TenderSheila O'Malley — April 4, 2016
  146. 147BookElvis: Word for WordJerry Osborne — Harmony — 2000
  147. 148BookPresleyana VIII: The Elvis Presley Record, CD, and Memorabilia Price GuideJerry Osborne — Jerry Osborne Enterprises — 2017
  148. 149BookTeenagers: An American HistoryGrace Palladino — Westview — 1996
  149. 150BookSt. James Encyclopedia of Popular CultureSara Pendergast et al. — St. James Press — 2000
  150. 151Question of the Month: Elvis Presley and RacismDavid Pilgrim — Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia — March 2006
  151. 152BookPopular Music: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies, Volume 3: Popular Music AnalysisHenry Pleasants — Routledge — 2004
  152. 153MagazineThe Top-Earning Dead CelebritiesDorothy Pomerantz — October 25, 2011
  153. 154MagazineTop-Earning Dead CelebritiesDorothy Pomerantz et al. — October 27, 2009
  154. 155BookFortunate Son: The Life of Elvis PresleyCharles L. Ponce de Leon — Macmillan — 2007
  155. 156BookElvis and MePriscilla Presley — G.P. Putnam's Sons — 1985
  156. 157Cyril Wecht: Forensic PathologistCoverup for a KingKatherine Ramsland — TruTV — 2010
  157. 158Top 100 AlbumsRecording Industry Association of America — 2010
  158. 159Gold & Platinum: Top Artists (Albums)Recording Industry Association of America — 2020
  159. 160Gold & Platinum: ArtistsAlbums/EPs (Gold)Recording Industry Association of America — 2020
  160. 161Gold & Platinum: ArtistsAlbums/EPs (Platinum)Recording Industry Association of America — 2020
  161. 162Gold & Platinum: ArtistsAlbums/EPs (Multi-Platinum)Recording Industry Association of America — 2020
  162. 163Gold & Platinum: ArtistsSingles (Gold)Recording Industry Association of America — 2020
  163. 164Gold & Platinum: ArtistsSingles (Platinum)Recording Industry Association of America — 2020
  164. 165MagazineRed Carpet for Elvis LPApril 18, 1960
  165. 166NewsUniversal Music can't help falling for Elvis Presley, to manage song catalogApril 12, 2022
  166. 167BookElvis Presley: The Complete Guide to His MusicJohn Robertson — Omnibus Press — 2004
  167. 168Elvis PresleyRock and Roll Hall of Fame — 2010
  168. 169MagazineElvis Presley: 'King of Rock'1956
  169. 170MagazineRock 'N Roll Stars (1956)Jans Rabbers — July 11, 2013
  170. 171BookElvis After Elvis: The Posthumous Career of a Living LegendGilbert B. Rodman — Routledge — 1996
  171. 172BookElvis After Elvis: The Posthumous Career of a Living LegendGilbert B. Rodman — Taylor & Francis — 2013
  172. 173BookRock 'n' RollDave Rogers — Routledge & Kegan Paul — 1982
  173. 174MagazineThe Immortals: The First FiftyApril 15, 2004
  174. 175Magazine1969 Rolling Stone Covers2009
  175. 176MagazineThe 200 Greatest Singers of All TimeJanuary 1, 2023
  176. 177MagazineTop-Earning Dead CelebritiesLacey Rose — October 24, 2006
  177. 178MagazineIn Pictures: The 13 Top-Earning Dead CelebsNo. 2 Elvis PresleyLacey Rose et al. — October 25, 2010
  178. 179BookThe Norton/Grove Concise Encyclopedia of MusicW. W. Norton — 1994
  179. 180NewsPresley Records a Craze in SovietHarrison Salisbury — February 3, 1957
  180. 181MagazineElvis DiesTony Scherman — August 16, 2006
  181. 182JournalLe rite de la CandlelightGabriel Segré — 2002
  182. 183MagazineNew Presley Reissue Campaign Aimed at U.K.Paul Sexton — August 3, 2007
  183. 184MagazineThe King Reigns Again as Elvis Presley Takes U.K. Album HonorsPaul Sexton — October 28, 2016
  184. 185NewsGrease Is the WordNigel Slater — August 11, 2002
  185. 186BookThe Elvis ArchivesTodd Slaughter et al. — Omnibus Press — 2004
  186. 187NewsAin't Nothin' but a Chow HoundLiz Smith — November 10, 2002
  187. 188Elvis Presley's Former Fiancée Ginger Alden Pays Tribute to Lisa Marie: 'You Were Loved'Kimberlee Speakman — January 13, 2023
  188. 189BookThe Elvis EncyclopediaDavid Stanley et al. — Virgin Books — 1998
  189. 190NewsGirls! Girls! Girls!Ruthe Stein — August 3, 1997
  190. 191BookA Time to Rock: A Social History of Rock 'n' RollDavid Szatmary — Schirmer Books — 1996
  191. 192BookGenre, Gender, Race, and World Cinema: An AnthologyYvonne Tasker — Blackwell — 2007
  192. 193MagazineElvis Presley: Head Trauma, Autoimmunity, Pain, and Early DeathForest Tennant — June 2013
  193. 194BookThe Seeker King: A Spiritual Biography of Elvis PresleyGary Tillery — Quest Books — 2013
  194. 195MagazineElvis Presley's Billboard Chart RecordsGary Trust — January 8, 2015
  195. 196MagazineDrake & 21 Savage's 'Jimmy Cooks' Soars in at No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100Gary Trust — June 27, 2022
  196. 197MagazineMariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' Adds 12th Week Atop Hot 100, Nat King Cole Hits Top 10Gary Trust — January 3, 2023
  197. 198BookFrank SinatraJohn Frayn Turner — Taylor Trade Publications — 2004
  198. 199BookPresley, Elvis Aron; DD 214: Armed Forces of the United States Report of Transfer or DischargeUnited States Department of Defense — March 5, 1960
  199. 200NewsAppropriation or appreciation? How 'Elvis' highlights his complicated history with Black musicNaledi Ushe — June 30, 2022
  200. 201Magazine100 Icons of the Century2005
  201. 202100 Greatest Artists of Rock & RollVH1 — 1998
  202. 203BookThe Elvis EncyclopediaAdam Victor — Overlook Duckworth — 2008
  203. 204NewsJake HessPaul Wadey — January 8, 2004
  204. 205Elvis Presley's Dilapidated Private Jet Sat in the Desert for 40 Years. It Just Sold for $260,000.Howard Walker — January 9, 2023
  205. 206BookThe Complete Book of the British Charts: Singles & AlbumsNeil Warwick et al. — Omnibus Press — 2004
  206. 207JournalCome Softly, Darling, Hear What I Say: Listening in a State of DistractionA Tribute to the Work of Walter Benjamin, Elvis Presley, and Robert ChristgauLindsay Waters — Spring 2003
  207. 208BookBillboard Top 1000 Singles 1955–1992Joel Whitburn — Billboard Books — 1993
  208. 209BookThe Billboard Book of Top 40 Country HitsJoel Whitburn — Billboard Books — 2006
  209. 210BookThe Billboard Book of Top 40 HitsJoel Whitburn — Billboard Books — 2010
  210. 211NewsWhy I Stopped Hating Elvis PresleyTodd Williams — August 20, 2012
  211. 212BookElvis Presley: A Southern LifeJoel Williamson — Oxford University Press — 2015
  212. 213BookSandwich: A Global HistoryBee Wilson — Reaktion — 2010
  213. 214BookAmazing Grace: His Greatest Sacred PerformancesCharles Wolfe — CD Booklet RCA/BMG. UPC 7863664212 — 1994
  214. 215Jimmy Carter: Death of Elvis Presley Statement by the PresidentJohn T. Woolley et al. — University of California, Santa Barbara — August 17, 1977

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