2017 marks the fortieth anniversary of the sudden death of Elvis Presley. The singer, movie star and globally-known entertainer had been a mainstay in popular culture since he burst onto the scene over twenty years prior. Known for his southern charm, his manic on-stage gyrations, his many cookie-cutter film roles (with accompanying soundtracks) and countless hit records, Elvis is considered by many the greatest entertainer ever to live. Numerous outlets hailed him as the Greatest Artist of the 20th Century, despite only operating for a fifth of the century and only living for less than half of it. The acclaim is deserved, not only for the work he did between 1954-1977, but also for the impact he continues to have on the world today. “Elvis” today is no longer just the name of a singer/actor. “Elvis” is an icon. “Elvis” is an institution.
Elvis is the king, transcendent above other singers, actors or otherwise entertainers.
As legendary musician B.B. King quipped “Elvis is worth more dead than he was when he was alive.” Today, in the fortieth year since his death, his life and legacy remain a source of great interest to longtime fans as well as neophytes. A look back on his history as a musician, an actor, and just as a man pulled in every direction by the rapid winds of fame, is proper on this anniversary year.
PART ONE: IN THE BEGINNING…
Today, Tupelo, Mississippi, is a happy little town in love with Elvis Presley. In 1935, however, things were much different. The town, like all towns during the great depression, was a struggling one. It was a cotton town, whose textile mill provided most of her residents with only-meager employment. The town only acquired electricity a few months before Elvis was born. Like the rest of the 1930’s south, Tupelo was poor and her poor residents had few opportunities to rise out of their poverty; most were just happy to have a roof over their heads. It was Elvis’s grandfather who built the now-famous two-room house, in preparation for Elvis’s birth.
His birth came with tragedy, however. A twin brother, to be named Jesse, was delivered stillborn a half-hour before Elvis entered the world. As a result of their suddenly having an only child, Elvis’s parents—Vernon and Gladys—were especially overprotective of him, and he grew up very close to them (especially to his mother). His father Vernon never was able to hold down a job, and the family suffered one near-disaster after another for the first decade of his life. There was a tornado that nearly wiped out the town in 1936, and there was a winter of unemployment in 1940 where Christmas dinner was some bread and eggs provided by a neighbor. In between, Vernon spent eight months in jail for check kiting, trying desperately to keep his family afloat.
Though he was an average student, Elvis showed an early talent for music and was encouraged by teachers to enter competitions. He did, hoping to make a little prize money in so doing, but rarely ever reached higher than third place. On his eleventh birthday, he was gifted a guitar and the promise of playing lessons to be given by his uncles. What he really wanted was a rifle, but he took the lessons anyway and became just good enough to let his playing supplement his high tenor voice. He made friends (one of his few) with the younger brother of Carvel Lee Ausborn (a prominent disc jockey in the area who went by the name Mississippi Slim). Ausborn offered Elvis the chance to perform on his WELO radio show. On his first attempt, stage fright got the better of him and he was unable to utter a sound. He found the courage on his second try and played the song that was his go-to in those days, a ballad about a dog called Old Shep (a song he would later record for his second RCA album).
By this point, music was Presley’s passion, not a hobby, and when not singing or sleeping, Presley was usually found with his ear pressed to a speaker, listening. He was never formally trained, and he never learned to read music, but his ear was always open and he learned enough by observation. Fortunately for him, the Presleys moved to Memphis in 1948 and Elvis found himself in the heart of a city already bursting with musical culture.
A new school did not improve Elvis’s grades, and he even received a C- (below average grade) in music. His teacher now-infamously told him “you have no aptitude for music, Mr. Presley.” He returned to class the next day with a guitar in and a song (“Keep them Cold Icy Fingers Off Me”) to prove her wrong. Before playing, the rebellious Presley explained that his poor grade was just because she didn’t like his kind of singing. After his impromptu performance, she agreed.
He ended up with a C+ in music to end the year.
In his free time, Elvis would grease his air up and stroll through legendary-Beale Street, taking in the various jazz and blues sounds and flirting with the local waitresses. As his age increased so did his confidence and by the early 1950’s he was dressing flashier, acting sassier and singing wilder than anyone around him.
Meanwhile, entrepreneur Sam Phillips started up the Sun Studios recording booth and record label. It began in 1952 (but was the second attempt by Phillips’ to run a recording company) as a small and struggling business, offering anyone the chance to record and potentially sign a recording deal (whereupon Phillips would nearly kill himself driving across the southern-United States trying to pawn the records off to Disc Jockeys). A few famous black musicians (B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf) recorded for him, but it was of all things a prison band named—I kid you not—The Prisonaires—who scored Phillip’s label its biggest hit to date, “Just Walkin’ in the Rain” (which would later be covered to greater success by Johnnie Ray). The Prisonaires’ success earned Sun Studios a write-up in the local Memphis Press-Scimitar newspaper.
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The newspaper coverage of the song and its label motivated Elvis to seek out Sun Studios to cut a record.
In July of 1953, Presley entered Sam Phillips’ 706 Union Ave. building to record a couple of songs “as a gift for his mother.” That was only a pretense of course, as there were other (cheaper) places in town to cut a personalized record, and he had previously used them. What Sun Studios offered was the chance to be discovered. He paid the standard fee of $3.98 to record two songs, “My Happiness” and “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin” (the latter of which would be re-recorded in 1957 as the B-side to “All Shook Up”).
Elvis did well-enough on the recordings for Sam Phillips to instruct his secretary to take down his name and address. She did, adding “good ballad singer” to the note. Presley returned in January of ’54 to record “I’ll Never Stand in Your Way” and “It Wouldn’t Be the Same Without You.”
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When he first walked into Sun Studios, the receptionist asked him what kind of music he sang, and Elvis responded “I sing all kinds.” When she pressed him further, asking him who he sounded like, Presley mumbled “I don’t sound like nobody.” It was a lofty boast, but four songs and six months later, he had not demonstrated any more than just a “fine enough” falsetto and a little bit of bass. Mostly his style was “generic country ballad.” It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t attention-grabbing.
Soon after, Presley auditioned to join a Gospel quartet named The Songfellows. One of their members was leaving the group and Presley jumped at the chance to be in something…anything. Unfortunately, the member in question had a change of heart during Elvis’s audition and decided to stay. Presley then tried his luck at Memphis’ Hi-Hat (a country and western club that featured talent looking to sign recording deals), auditioning as a rhythm guitarist and background vocalist in a local band whose name was been lost to history. He was turned down, being told he couldn’t harmonize and that he’d never make it in music.
