elvis presly -the king of rock n roll

Birth name : Elvis Aron Presley

date of birth : 8 January 1935

place of birth : Tupelo, Mississippi, USA.

Date of death : 16 August 1977, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Nick name :à The Pelvis

àThe King

àThe king of Rock ‘n’ Roll

Height : 6' (1.83 m)

Although more than twenty years have passed since Elvis Presley’s untimely death, people around the world still remember him. The legendary King of Rock ‘n’ Roll was one of the first singers to combine African American blues and white country ‘n’ western music. It was an explosive combination that changed he music scene.

elvis, undoubtedly the pop icon of the twentieth century, came from a poor working class family from Tupelo, Mississippi. His parents were religious ant they often took Elvis to church. This was where Elvis first learnt to sing. When Elvis was a teenager, the Presleys moved to Memphis search a better life and settled down in a predominantly black neighborhood. Memphis was a music town, home a colourful talents and radio personality. It was here that young Elvis soaked up the latest in blues, gospel and country music.

This pimply-faced loner with slicked-back hair and a guitar on his back often hung out in record stores.

elvis worked as a truck driver after graduating from high school, but he always knew he would one day become a star. His friends often laughed at him when he said he would someday drive a Cadillac.

Elvis became a national sensation when his songs hit the charts. In his early years in the music industry, everything Elvis did worked like magic. His dance moves and trademark gyrations drove his mostly female fans into a frenzy. Elvis with his fresh sound, attitude, outrageous clothes and singing style broke many of the rules of his day.

in 1955, Elvis was cast in his first acting role in a supporting part in Love Me Tender (1956), the first of 33 movies he starred in. Critics blasted most of his films, but they did very well at the box-office earning upwards of $150 million total. Elvis's military service in the late 1950s and the "British invasion" of the 1960s reduced his concerts, though not his movie/recording income. Through the 1960s, Elvis settled in Hollywood where he starred in over 20 movies, acting alongside some of the most well known character actors in Hollywood.

in 1956, a twenty-one-year-old Elvis Presley was at the beginning of his remarkable and unparalleled career and photographer Alfred Wertheimer was asked by Presley’s new label, RCA Victor, to photograph the rising star.

with unimpeded access to the young performer, Wertheimer was able to capture the unguarded and everyday moments in Elvis' life during that crucial year, a year that took him from Tupelo, Mississippi to the silver screen, and to the verge of international stardom and his crowning as "The King of Rock 'n' Roll.”

aS Alfred Wertheimer photographed Elvis during 1956, and again in 1958,

he created classic images that are spontaneous, unrehearsed and completely without artifice.

Wertheimer’s photographs of Elvis are extraordinary and he appears almost ethereal, whether reading a newspaper while waiting for a cab, or washing his hands during one of his many train trips.

After 1958 and Elvis’ induction into the army, the world seemingly forgot about Wertheimer’s magical photographs- for nineteen years- until Aug 16, 1977, the day Elvis died and Time Magazine called. “The phone hasn’t really stopped ringing in the last thirty years,” observes Wertheimer. Many of the photographs in this visual treasury are previously unpublished and some have become almost as famous as the man himself.

In 1957, Elvis made his parents proud when

he bough Graceland, a white-columned mansion. He

and his family spent many happy times there.

In 1967 Elvis married his sweetheart,

They were blessed with a child,

In the later years of his life, he became increasingly unhappy and felt trapped by the very persona he had built. He grew increasingly paranoid and insecure, especially after his wife left him. He turned to drugs. Eventually, this self-made man who gained everything he had mad dreamt of fame, wealth, admiration – became overweight, lonely and miserable. He died of a drug overdose at the age of forty-two.

During his lifetime, Elvis sold over a billion records. He had ninety-four gold singles, over forty gold albums and thirty-three films, which grossed over $180 million. He remains the single biggest influence on the popular music of the twentieth century. Elvis Presley will remain forever as Rock n Roll’s first and most enduring idol.