Elvis Presley couldn't play music, but he conquered the world with his singing. The King of Rock and Roll would have been 90

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"When I first appeared on stage, it scared the hell out of me. I didn't understand why everyone was screaming so much. I didn't realize my body was moving, I was doing everything completely naturally, instinctively. So I said to the manager backstage, 'What did I do?' And he said, 'Whatever it is, go back and do it again'." Elvis Presley on his first performance on July 30, 1954 at the Bon Air Club in Memphis

Life Elvis Aaron Presley was the embodiment of the American dream. He was born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, into the poor family of Vernon, a laborer, and Gladys Presley, a seamstress. He grew up as an only child, his twin brother, Jess, dying just after birth. No one in the family had any musical chops. Elvis's talent began to show when his parents bought him a cheap guitar for his 11th birthday instead of an expensive bicycle they couldn't afford. His uncle Vester taught him the basic chords, but otherwise Elvis was self-taught, listening to blues and country music on the radio every day, which helped him hone his musical ear. In fifth grade, he entered a school talent contest, where he finished fifth. He also sang in the church choir.

In 1948, the family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Music at that time helped Elvis to integrate among his classmates. He enjoyed gospel, blues, spirituals, rhythm and blues, and country music. By combining these styles and "the haunting voice of a white man who sang like a black man", he created something that had not existed in popular music until then.

He graduated from high school in June 1953 and began working as a driver for the Electric Co. where he enrolled in night school. He planned to be an electrician. In July, he recorded two songs for four dollars at the Memphis Recording Service, My Happiness a That's When Your Heartaches Begin, and he dedicated the album to his mother Gladys, with whom he had a very strong emotional relationship, on her birthday. That decision changed his life.

Studio owner Sam Phillips noticed his talent and offered to work with him. So Elvis returned to the studio and recorded a few more songs. But it took almost a full year to produce the hit that made him famous - That's All Right Mama. After its airing on Memphis radio station WHBQ in July 1954, the song was played fourteen times that night.

It was difficult to succeed with black music in those days, but Elvis did. It is said that many listeners didn't believe that the voice of a white man was coming out of the ether, so Elvis had to say which high school he went to, which was proof positive in the then still racially segregated South.

He was then approached by the controversial but capable manager Tom Parker, with whom he moved to the major record label RCA Records. Elvis' single Heartbreak Hotel broke the top of the US chart in 1955 and also topped the UK chart. It soon sold more than a million records.

A huge wave of success followed. Elvis became a legend. He recorded, toured, toured all the time. He also appeared on the movie screen, making 33 films in all, and selling more than 130 million albums in just a few years. Over the 22 years of his career, over a billion records were sold. He became incredibly rich. In the summer of 1956, he was making about $40,000 a week. He bought his mother a pink Cadillac, and a year later, at age 22, he bought a $102,500 house in the Memphis suburbs, the Graceland mansion, for himself, his parents and his grandmother Minnie. The house is now a national landmark and welcomes more than 500,000 visitors each year.

From January 1956, Elvis also appeared on television. Due to his popularity, among other things, he played a large role in the national vaccination plan during the polio epidemic. In October 1956, he appeared on the famous The Ed Sullivan Showwhere he received the polio vaccine, which helped convince teenagers to get vaccinated.

When he began to perform live, he earned, in addition to the stormy enthusiasm of female fans, the opposition of church circles and many moralists. A charismatic young man who used to go to church with his parents for mass was transformed into an unbridled element on stage. His extravagant dress, typical hairstyle with long sideburns and specific dance creations, where he twisted his hips defiantly, earned him the nickname Elvis The Pelvis (Elvis Pan) or Rotating hip...on TV, the camera only ever picked him up from the waist up.

Elvis never knew music, never wrote songs, but he played guitar and piano. In 1956-58, he made successful films Love Me Tender, Loving You a Jailhouse Rock.

In December 1957, at the height of his fame, he received his draft order. Thanks to a delay in enlistment negotiated by his manager, he managed to complete the film King Creole and in March 1958, after completing basic training in Arkansas, he was transferred to Germany, where he served as a sergeant in Friedberg and Bad Nauheim.

In August 1958, his mother Gladys fell ill with acute hepatitis and died of cardiac arrest. Elvis immediately flew home to be with her. After her death, he returned to Germany. While serving in Bad Neuheim in September 1959, he met Priscilla Beaulieu, a 14-year-old American, the stepdaughter of a U.S. Air Force captain who had been transferred there and was staying with her family in the house next door. Elvis did not live in the barracks, but in a rented villa where he brought his father and grandmother. He was discharged from the army in March 1960.

She and Priscilla then wrote and talked on the phone for two years until, in the summer of 1962, her parents agreed to let her visit Elvis at Graceland. In mid-March 1963, two months before her eighteenth birthday, she moved permanently to Graceland. They were married on May 1, 1967, in Las Vegas. Exactly nine months later, on February 1, 1968, their daughter Lisa Marie was born.

After returning from military service, Elvis resumed his music and film career. He was perceived as a model private soldier and patriot, which earned him respect in the eyes of an older, more conservative public and eased the negative attitudes of some parents and teachers toward his music. His first concert was held at Bloch Arena on Pearl Harbor Air Force Base in Hawaii in 1961. It was a charity event to benefit the funding of the USS Arizona Memorial, which commemorates the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. It was his last live performance for a long time, not returning to the stage until 1969.

In the 1960s he devoted himself almost exclusively to his film career, making films such as G.I. Blues, Blue Hawaii a Viva Las Vegaswhich were a box office success but not well received by the critics.

There was also Elvis' retreat from the top of the charts, supported by the emergence of other singers and bands such as Elton John, the Beatles, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.

But in December 1968, Elvis was a phenomenal success on the TV show Elvis: 68 Comeback Specialbroadcast by NBC, when he played his greatest hits in his iconic leather suit and returned to his throne. Once again he found himself in the limelight of popular music, earning a concert tour of the USA and an engagement at the International (later Hilton) Hotel in Las Vegas, where his concerts became a phenomenon.

In January 1973, his concert Aloha from Hawaii became a revolutionary musical event. It took place in Honolulu and was the first solo performance broadcast by satellite to the entire world.

Elvis' personal life was as dramatic as his career. His marriage to Priscilla ended in divorce in 1973. This was due to Elvis' infidelities and his frequent absences from home, not least Priscilla's relationship with karate instructor Michael Stone. Elvis took up karate during his military service and earned a black belt, of which he was proud. Priscilla wanted to share her husband's interests, but in the end, karate definitely drove them apart. However, because of their young daughter, they stayed in touch, and Lisa Marie visited her dad at Graceland.

After the divorce, Elvis' girlfriend became actress and beauty queen Linda Thompson, who was replaced by model Ginger Alden, to whom he became engaged in 1976.

Personal and health problems, exacerbated by a long-term addiction to prescription drugs (he took sleeping pills, painkillers and stimulants to cope with his demanding lifestyle and concert touring), began to affect Elvis' career. He gained weight, his physical appearance and the quality of his performances deteriorated, but he continued to perform and record songs.

Between 1969 and 1977 he performed almost 1096 sold-out concerts. He was the first artist to sell out Madison Square Garden in New York in four consecutive performances. The fact that he was a world leader in the world of rock and pop was later recognised by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan and other artists.

Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977 at the age of just 42 at his Graceland residence in Memphis. He is buried there with his parents and grandmother. The cause of death was probably an overdose of drugs, amphetamines and barbiturates, but the official version states that the cause of death was a heart attack. The autopsy showed that Elvis suffered from cardiovascular arrhythmia and hypertension. His mother also died of cardiac arrest and his daughter, actress Lisa Marie, died in January 2023.

After Presley's death, his Graceland mansion was turned into a museum and became the second most visited house in the USA after the White House. Crowds of fans, Elvis impersonators and lookalikes flock here every year. Many films have been made about his life and many books have been published. His songs have been reissued time and time again and some people still believe he didn't die and will return one day.

Wikipedia/ Facebook/ Gnews.cz - Jana Černá