Elvis Presley
The Boy Who Sang Like Nobody
Born Elvis Aron Presley on 8 January 1935 in East Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis Presley fused gospel, blues and country into the sound that made rock and roll a mass culture — selling records on an unprecedented scale, making thirty-one feature films and staging the 1968 Comeback Special before his death at Graceland in 1977.
- 16 min listen
- King of Rock and Roll
- Singer
- Film star
Elvis Presley’s full 16 min audio biography, The Boy Who Sang Like Nobody, is available on Lyfestori for iOS. Listen to a free preview below.
A life in brief
Elvis Presley: life and timeline.
His twin brother was stillborn thirty-five minutes before him in a two-room house in East Tupelo. His father went to prison for forging a cheque. At ten Elvis stood on a chair at a county fair to sing "Old Shep" and came fifth. By nineteen he was a Memphis truck driver who, fooling around between takes at Sun Studio in July 1954, sped up an Arthur Crudup blues song. Two years later sixty million Americans watched him on Ed Sullivan. Twenty-one years after that he was dead at Graceland, at forty-two.
- 1935
Born in East Tupelo
Born on 8 January to Gladys and Vernon Presley. His identical twin, Jesse Garon, is stillborn about thirty-five minutes earlier. When Elvis is a toddler, Vernon serves time in the Mississippi State Penitentiary for altering a cheque.
- 1945
"Old Shep" at the fair
At ten he sings at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show and places fifth. Around his eleventh birthday his mother buys him a guitar at Tupelo Hardware — he had wanted a rifle or a bicycle.
- 1948
Moves to Memphis
The family moves to Memphis looking for steadier work, later living in the Lauderdale Courts public housing complex. He attends Humes High School, graduating in 1953.
- 1953
The acetate at Memphis Recording Service
He pays to record a two-sided disc at Sam Phillips's studio. Asked by assistant Marion Keisker who he sounds like, he gives the answer that became legend.
- 1954
"That's All Right"
On 5 July, with Scotty Moore and Bill Black, he tears into Arthur Crudup's blues song at Sun. DJ Dewey Phillips plays it repeatedly on Memphis radio, and the single is released on 19 July.
- 1956
"Heartbreak Hotel" and Ed Sullivan
After Colonel Tom Parker engineers his move from Sun to RCA Victor for $35,000, his first RCA single becomes a national smash. His first Ed Sullivan Show appearance in September draws an estimated sixty million viewers.
- 1958
Drafted, and Gladys dies
Inducted into the US Army in March as an ordinary enlisted soldier. On 14 August his mother dies at forty-six; he is devastated. In the autumn he ships out to West Germany, where he meets fourteen-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu.
- 1960
Discharged a sergeant
Leaves the Army in March and is steered by Parker into Hollywood. By 1969 he has made thirty-one feature films, most of them formulaic musical comedies.
- 1967
Marries Priscilla
Marries Priscilla Beaulieu in Las Vegas on 1 May. Their daughter, Lisa Marie, is born on 1 February 1968.
- 1968
The '68 Comeback Special
Director Steve Binder puts him in black leather and back in front of a live audience. Aired on 3 December, it is the top-rated programme of its week and revives his career.
- 1973
Aloha from Hawaii and divorce
In January a concert in Honolulu is broadcast by satellite to a huge international audience. He and Priscilla divorce in October as his prescription drug dependence deepens.
- 1977
Death at Graceland
On 16 August his fiancée, Ginger Alden, finds him unresponsive on the bathroom floor. He is pronounced dead at Baptist Memorial Hospital, aged forty-two, after years of heavy prescription drug use and chronic illness.
Major achievements
Elvis Presley: major achievements.
- 01
The Sun recordings
From "That's All Right" in 1954, his Sun singles fused rhythm and blues, country and gospel into a sound that defined rock and roll for a mass white audience in the segregated South — and beyond.
- 02
Television's first rock star
His September 1956 debut on The Ed Sullivan Show reached an estimated sixty million viewers, more than 80 per cent of the television audience that night.
- 03
Three halls of fame
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll, Country Music and Gospel Music halls of fame — one of very few artists honoured by all three. His three competitive Grammys were all for gospel recordings.
- 04
The '68 Comeback Special
After years of formula films, a single NBC special reintroduced him as a raw, funny, dangerous live performer and led straight to his 1969 Memphis sessions — "In the Ghetto" and "Suspicious Minds", his last US number one.
- 05
Graceland
Opened to the public in 1982, his Memphis home became one of the most visited house museums in the United States and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006.
Turning points
Elvis Presley: defining moments.
- 5 July 1954
Fooling around at Sun
After hours of unconvincing ballads, Elvis began clowning through "That's All Right" during a break. Scotty Moore and Bill Black joined in, and Sam Phillips asked what they were doing and told them to start again. Within days Memphis radio was playing it over and over.
- 1955
Colonel Tom Parker
A Dutch-born former carnival promoter, born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk and never naturalised, took control of his career and secured the sale of his Sun contract to RCA. Parker built the empire — and later locked Elvis into a factory line of films and Las Vegas residencies.
- 1958
The Army and his mother's death
At the height of his fame he was drafted and served as a regular soldier. Months later Gladys, the person who had believed in him first, died at forty-six. Friends said he was never quite the same.
- 1968
Black leather
Parker wanted a Christmas special. Steve Binder wanted Elvis to perform. The result, closing with "If I Can Dream", written after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, broke the spell of the Hollywood years.
I don't sound like nobody.
Elvis Presley to Marion Keisker at Memphis Recording Service, 1953, as she recalled it
What you’ll take away
Lessons from Elvis Presley’s life.
- 01
Range is built from many sources
Assembly of God hymns, Beale Street blues, country radio, Dean Martin crooning. He absorbed all of it, and the combination is what sounded new in 1954.
- 02
Whoever controls the schedule controls the art
Parker's commission-driven choices filled the 1960s with lightweight films Elvis found embarrassing. It took an outside director, Steve Binder, to put him back on a stage.
- 03
A comeback needs risk
The 1968 special worked because it abandoned the safe format — no tuxedo, no Christmas medley at its heart, just Elvis in a small square of audience, sweating.
- 04
Fame does not protect the body
Surrounded by people paid to keep him working, he was prescribed thousands of doses of medication in his final year. The empire outlasted the man by decades.
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FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Elvis Presley.
What was Elvis Presley's middle name?
Aron, on his birth certificate. He later preferred the biblical spelling Aaron, which is the spelling on his gravestone at Graceland. The name echoed his stillborn twin, Jesse Garon.
Did Elvis Presley have a twin brother?
Yes. Jesse Garon Presley was stillborn about thirty-five minutes before Elvis on 8 January 1935 and was buried in an unmarked grave in Tupelo.
How did Elvis Presley die?
He was found unresponsive in his bathroom at Graceland on 16 August 1977 and pronounced dead at Baptist Memorial Hospital, aged forty-two. The official cause was given as cardiac arrhythmia; toxicology later found numerous prescription drugs in his system, and heavy drug use alongside chronic illness is widely seen as the underlying cause.
Where did Elvis Presley grow up?
In East Tupelo, Mississippi, until he was thirteen, then in Memphis, Tennessee. The family moved in 1948, and he graduated from Humes High School in 1953.
What did Elvis Presley do in the army?
He served as an ordinary enlisted soldier from March 1958 to March 1960, mostly in West Germany with an armoured unit, and was discharged as a sergeant. Parker turned down offers of an entertainment posting because regular service helped Elvis's image.
Who was Elvis Presley's manager?
Colonel Tom Parker. Born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk in the Netherlands, he took control of Elvis's career in 1955 and took an unusually large commission, commonly reported at 25 per cent and later more.
Who was Elvis Presley's wife?
Priscilla Beaulieu. They met in West Germany in 1959, married in Las Vegas on 1 May 1967, had a daughter, Lisa Marie, in 1968, and divorced in 1973.
Is Elvis Presley's daughter still alive?
No. Lisa Marie Presley died on 12 January 2023, aged fifty-four. She is buried at Graceland, near her father.
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16 min · one sitting