Elvis Aaron Presley was born to Vernon and Gladys Presley in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935. His twin brother, Jessie Garon, was stillborn, leaving Elvis to grow up as an only child.
Elvis and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1948, and Elvis graduated from Humes High School there in 1953. Elvis’ musical influences were the pop and country music of the time, the gospel music he heard in church and at the all-night gospel sings he frequently attended, and the black R&B he absorbed on historic Beale Street as a Memphis teenager. In 1954, Elvis began his singing career with the legendary Sun Records label in Memphis. In late 1955, his recording contract was sold to RCA Victor. By 1956, he was an international sensation.
With a sound and style that uniquely combined Elvis’ diverse musical influences and blurred and challenged the social and racial barriers of the time, he ushered in a whole new era of American music and popular culture. Elvis Presley’s dynamic life story from his humble beginnings through his rise to stardom is a fascinating journey which has earned Elvis his still undefeated title of the ‘King of Rock ‘N Roll’.
His songs are unforgettable – they have stood the test of time, especially his singles of the 1950s, a decade in which he had a song at No. 1. for a full 6 months of that year. An even more incredible statistic is Elvis only started at RCA in January of 1956, there is only two years until he is drafted in to the U.S. Army, he made 4 movies during this time. A testament to his incredible break-through is the fact that he managed to sell twice as many records in the entire decade of the 1950s with only these two years of recording than any other performer. (There were also the SUN years 1954-1955 but these were not huge foe record sales like when he became a national sensation in 1956).
They were also unpredictable. Who could know what the next one would be like? Elvis liberally altered his style to suit each song. There were the early country-boy rockabillies sung in a breathless high pitch, of which My Baby Left Me, Milkcow Blues Boogie and Money Honey are examples. His more mature, aggressive rock ‘n’ roll stance came out with songs such as Blue Suede Shoes, One Night and A Big Hunk O’ Love. his approach to ballads ranged from the ethereal vocal effects on the guitar-tapping version of Blue Moon to smooth crooning on As Long As I Have You, Can’t Help Falling In Love and many other slow numbers and movie songs.
Here’s Elvis Life Timeline:
