The Life Of Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley used to grace this earth with his one-of-a-kind music. His music will go down in history as one of the greatest. However, did this musical genius always want to be a generation-defining musician, a revolutionist, or maybe he simply wanted to have a more mundane life. A life without rock ‘n’ roll, a life with picket fences instead of crowds of fans shouting his name.

Elvis Aaron Presley was born to Vernon and Gladys Presley on January 8th, 1935. January 8th would always be an amazing day for Vernon and Gladys to celebrate, but it would also be a day for mourning.

Elvis had a twin brother, Jessie Garon, who sadly suffered from being stillborn. As Elvis grew up he worked several different jobs to help support his family. However, working to support his family and going to school to further his education didn’t cause him to lose track of his passion for music. Young Elvis grew up around all kinds of music.

When he received his first guitar at 11 years old he learned a few basic chords, and learned to play rhythm, which he played in the 1950s, he never wished to advance further as a guitar player. Instead, he wanted to improve his singing voice more than anything else. His exposure to music increased as time went on which subsequently increased his love for it. In 1948 Elvis and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee where Elvis graduated from Humes high school and discovered a whole plethora of music at his disposal.

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Moving to Tennessee exposed him to the pop and country music being created at the time. Not to mention the gospel music he listened to during church, the all-night gospel sings he participated in quite frequently, and finally, the black R&B he had the privilege of experiencing firsthand on the historic Beale Street in Memphis as a teenager. All of this exposure to this incredible music  dumped fuel onto Elvis’ already burning passion for music, it was only a matter of time before he set on on his journey to becoming a rock-n-roll legend.

After Elvis graduated in June of 1953, he ventured into the world of professional singing. Just one month later in July, Elvis ventured to 706 Union Avenue to a facility owned and ran by Sam Phillips. The facility allowed people to pay $3.98 to record a two-sided record of their singing. This facility was none other than the Sun Studio. Elvis used this amazing opportunity to get his foot in the door of the professional singing industry, an industry he would one day rule. The soon-to-be rock-n-roll legend picked “My Happiness” and “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin” for his first recorded performance at this facility. By some miracle these recordings, and Elvis’ sequel recording of “I’ll Never Stand In Your Way” / “It Wouldn’t Be The Same (Without You),” have survived all these years and are available on CD. When asked by Marion Keisker, the receptionist,  what type of singer Elvis was, Elvis replied with “I sing all kinds.” Unfortunately for the young rock-n-roll singer, this early time in his career had substantial adversity to concur. In 1954 he recorded “I’ll Never Stand In Your Way” and “It Wouldn’t Be The Same (Without You),” but sadly nothing came of these recordings, so his next plan was to try out for a quartet. However, this plan proved futile, he failed the audition and ended up back at square one. When talking to his father about the failed audition Elvis said: “They told me I couldn’t sing.” With his dreams seemingly tarnished Elvis took a job at the Crown Electric company, working as a truck driver. Even though Elvis worked as a truck driver he still loved music and would play local gigs with his friend Ronnie Smith. After they had played a few gigs Ronnie advised Elvis that he should get in contact with Eddie Bond. Eddie Bond led the Smith’s professional band at the time, and they had an opening for a vocalist. Elvis felt as if he had the chance to get back into professional singing and contacted Eddie Bond. Bond did not share Elvis’ optimism and rejected him, saying that he should continue being a truck driver because he would never succeed as a singer. Thankfully, Elvis paid no mind to this comment and went on to be the king of rock-n-roll.

In 1956 Elvis released “Mystery Train” which helped Elvis obtain a position on the top of the country charts. Better yet, Elvis created his first number-one song, called “Heartbreak Hotel” to gain entrance to the elusive “Hot 100.” “Heartbreak Hotel” would go on to hold this position for seven of the 27 weeks it was on this esteemed chart. The praise for this song does not end there, it also reached the top of the country charts, and symbolized Elvis’ incredible ability to mix country singing and rhythm-and-blues. For the remaining years in the 1950s, Elvis reached the “Living Legend” status of music. He achieved this status with the records “Hound Dog” (1056), “Don’t Be Cruel” (1956), “Blue Suede Shoes” (1956), “Love Me Tender” (1956), “All Shook Up” (1957), and last but not least “Jailhouse Rock” (1957). With the start of the 1960s came more music from Elvis, such as “It’s Now or Never” (1960) and “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” (1960), and his universal nickname of “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.”

Elvis Presley started  as a humble only child in Tupelo, moved to Memphis, and slowly but surely became the legendary icon we know him as today. He never gave up on his dream, even when people told him he did not have what it takes to be a singer he never gave up. He kept fighting to achieve his dream, and he did. Elvis Presley became and will always be, the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.