Elvis Presley (1935 to 1977)

Towards the end of his schooling at Humes High School in Memphis, Elvis Presley began to wear his hair long and dyed black, with sideburns and an African-American style of dress. In addition, he was still firmly engaged in gospel.

Shortly before graduation, he participated in his school's talent contest, where he won 1st place thanks to his singing skills.

After finishing school, Elvis Presley worked at a machine repair service. With this salary he financed his first record in a recording studio. With the aim of making a record for his mother, Elvis Presley went to the Sam Phillips Memphis Recording Service. On that day, only Sam Phillips' assistant was there. Marion Keiskert, as she was called, was so enthusiastic about Elvis that she took his contact details.

At the end of 1953 Elvis Presley changed jobs and started working as a truck driver. In his spare time he earned some extra money with live performances.

In 1954 Elvis went back to Sam Phillips' recording studio. He made a second recording, still at his own expense. Sam Phillips, who incidentally had his own record label "Sun Records", was so enthusiastic that he organized more meetings. That's how the trio with Scotty Moore, a guitarist, and Bill Black, a bassist, was finally formed.

During an intermission, Elvis Presley then sang the song "That's all Right" by Arthur "Big Boy" Crudups. In a completely new interpretation of this blues number, the official first rockabilly title in history was created.

Thanks to the contact between Sam Phillips and a disc jockey named Dewey Phillips, the song came on the radio. The listeners were so enthusiastic that shortly after a second song had to be produced for a single. The trio decided to use the song "Blue Moon of Kentucky" by Bill Monroes and changed the rhythm and speed so that it also fell under rockabilly sounds.

The two songs were released together as a single by Sun Records on July 19, 1954. By then, 6000 pre-orders had already been received. The single hit the charts soon after and drew the attention of various influential people and well-known labels to Sun Records, but especially to Elvis Presley. Among them Jim Denny with contacts to Decca and Atlantic Records as well as to the RCA Records studio from New York.

Elvis Presley toured the southern states with his two already known bandmates Scotty Moore and Billy Black, as well as the newly added drummer D. J. Fontana. Through this, rockabilly became known throughout the region and people began to copy the style.

More and more Elvis Presley stole the show from other artists and stood out with his performances.

In 1955, Sam Phillips sold his contract between Sun Records and Elvis Presley to the RCA label for $40,000. The label was at that time nationally known and provided Presley with his music therefore also a greater reach. The deal was made by Colonel Tom Parker, who took over the management of Elvis Presley's finances until Presley's death in 1977.

Then in 1956 came the breakthrough for Elvis Presley. In January, the first recordings took place at the RCA studios in Nashville. This resulted in many well-known hits and also his first golden record. He played to sold-out crowds, toured, and was increasingly accompanied by police escorts. The famous expression "Elvis has left the building" comes from this time to keep fans from storming the stage after the concert. This expression is still known in today's pop scene.

In the course of the year Elvis appeared in many TV shows, which became a fierce national debate because of his appearance. His dancing style attracted great negative attention at the time. In some quarters, Elvis Presley was even held up as an example of depraved youth, and his dancing was described as striptease.

Also in the beginning of 1956, test recordings and negotiations took place with the well-known film producer Hal B. Wallis took place. Elvis Presley played the following two years in various films such as "Jailhouse Rock", "Love me tender" and "King Creole". Not only were the film shots popular, but the soundtracks to them were also played on the charts for weeks.

Elvis Presley was called up for military service at the end of 1957. In the spring of 1958 he did his basic training as a tank battalion at Fort Hood, Texas. On October 1, Elvis traveled to Bremerhaven, Germany on a group transport from the USS General Randall. Upon his arrival, hundreds of fans and German television awaited him.

From October 1, 1958 to March 2, 1960, Elvis Presley served in Friedberg, Germany in the 1st Medium Tank Battalion/32nd Armor of the 3rd U.S. Armored Division.

Elvis Presley's mother, who had been struggling with health problems for a long time, died of heart failure in 1958 shortly before Presley entered military service. She was 46 years old. For Elvis who had a very close relationship with his mother, her death came as a surprise.

Thanks to constant PR and the release of singles during his military service, Elvis Presley retained his celebrity and was able to re-enter the music and film business directly in 1960. In the next five years, Elvis released even more famous songs. He also starred in movies again, but they were not as successful as expected.

As the years went by, Elvis' target audience wanted more and more pop instead of the hard rockn roll rhythm. In 1965, a meeting took place between the Beatles and Elvis Presley, in which Paul McCartney advised Elvis to focus more on new songs than the film career. So it happened that Elvis still in 1965, according to his own statements, dared a musical reorientation.

Soon after, the album "How Great Thou Art" was created for which Elvis received his first Grammy in 1967.

On May 1, 1967, Elvis Presley married Priscilla Ann (formerly Beaulieu-Wagner) whom he had met in Germany in late 1959. They lived together in Bel Air, California since 1963.

On February 1, 1968, their daughter Lisa Marie Presley was born. She was later Michael Jackson's wife for two years.

The marriage of Elvis and Priscilla lasted six years. The divorce took place in October 1973.

In 1969 and the following years, Elvis Presley played more than 1100 concerts. Always in his jumpsuit, which in these years also became his trademark. Through a performance in Hawaii, which was broadcast worldwide by satellite, Elvis finally became internationally known. From 1970 to 1976, after about 15 years, he recorded again in his old home Nashville and brought out more hits through which he won two more Grammys.

During these long and intensive concert years, Elvis Presley's health deteriorated. Only a documentary film, which was shown after his death, showed the public how bad it was for him.

Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977. He was about to leave for another tour that day, but was then found dead by his then-girlfriend Ginger Alden at his Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee. On August 18, he was buried with great public sympathy, next to his mother Gladys. After attempted theft of the singer's body, his family was allowed to bury Elvis and Gladys in the meditation garden at Graceland.

To his cause of death was given for the time being sudden cardiac death. Through several debates and conspiracy theories, there were further investigations until finally in 1994 an independent investigation by the pathologist Joseph Davies took place. This confirmed that Elvis probably suffered a sudden cardiac death due to the influence of his chronic intestinal disease.