Elvis Presley is one of the most influential Rock and Roll musicians of the 20th century. His legacy lives on even after forty-two years after passing. Presley, known as the King of Rock and Roll, was born in Tupelo, Mississippi on January 8, 1935. He had slick back black hair (dyed) that was significant, but his natural hair color was brown. He came from a very poor family and lived on welfare from week to week. They lived in a two-room shotgun house that his father had built. He had a twin brother that was stillborn, born 35 minutes before him.
When he was 13, his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. He was a shy kid and was not happy about showing his personality in public. Presley received a guitar as a gift, was not very happy about it. He hat is where he learned to play and sing. He was self-taught and never took lessons. He never really liked school, instead started to pick up on different types of music. The family attended an Assembly of God church and that is the first place Presley found his musical aspirations. Presley was known to an “Elvis trademark”, which was his sideburn hairstyle. He started out at Sun recording studio, to make a song for his mom but to secretly try to get a recording deal.
A record deal never came of it and he was turned away from many auditions and tryouts. Instead of continuing to try with music, he went on to become a truck driver. The same year he started truck driving, he was invited to come in for a recording session with Sun records. The session did not go as planned, but right as it was about to end the boss was impressed with Presley’s original song. They told him that he had a unique sound and style. The first song he ever performed and produced was the “1946 blues number, Arthur Crudup’s “That’s All Right.” This was the song that started up his music career in pop music.
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Presley was not just a rock and roll singer, he also sang country, gospel, pop, rhythm, and blues. People thought that he mixed both “black and white sounds” because of the way his voice sounded. The time that Presley started singing was the “era of tense civil rights campaigns.” When he performed people could not keep their eyes off him because he was thought of doing “flamboyance and provocativeness” moves and motions. People thought that rock and roll was “having a negative effect on American teenagers and making them more rebellious.” They thought that since Presley was famous and doing those things, that they could too.
When Presley was accused of these things, he would state “I don’t see how any type of music would have any bad influence of people when its only music.” Not only did he produce music, he was on tv talk shows and movies. He continued to become a national celebrity because of the “competition between presenters helped Elvis.” Presley did not just influence the listeners, but also on other musicians such as John Lennon in the Beatles. When people went to his concert, things would get out of control and wild. Since he could not control his concerts, this led Presley to stop having life performances for a while. Most celebrities have assassination attempts, as did Presley. So, he started performing with a gun in his each of his boots.
During his music career, he was drafted for the United States Army. He was stationed in Germany, he was not seen as Elvis Presley the musician, but as a normal army guy. There was a way for him to perform live music, but he wanted to stay in the regular army. While in Germany, he met his wife Priscilla Beaulieu. They got married after 7 years of being together, in 1967. They had their first child named Lisa Marie in 1968. When he was released from the Army, instead of going back to music he began doing movies. When that did not work out, he decided to give music another try. Presley was always in the spotlight and fame had consequences. He had health problems such as obesity and reliable on drugs. He died in 1976 when he was 42, they found fourteen drugs found in his system. Presley did not always live in his two-room gun house. When he became famous and healthy he built a mansion in Memphis, Tennessee on 13.8 acres called “Graceland.” His daughter lives there currently, since her father has passed. It has been opened to the public as a museum.
So, everyone knows what happened during his lifetime, but what did Elvis Presley contribute to music? He was different from other artists because he was interesting. He was relatable since had been born into a poor family and became famous. One of his songs “Living in the Ghetto” was about his life growing up and what he went through. Presley was the one who formed a style of music called rockabilly.
Rockabilly is an early style of rock n roll music, but it is a mix of country, rhythm, and blues. It is sometimes called “classic rock and roll.” He was not the first one to sing a rock n roll style music, but no one had created the unique rockabilly sound. Since he did not just do rock and roll music, he combined different types of music. His musical styles took place during the civil rights movement and prefiguring social integration. He was led to “persistent accusations of cultural appropriation.” Since he had lived in black neighborhood, he was able to speak to both races through his music. Presley was the person who connected with teens. They thought of themselves as “different from their parents’ generation.” During this time teens thought that the money they had was needed to be spent on them instead of helping the family to survive.
The money that they had was used to “dress themselves in fashion, went to the movies, and listened to music that appealed to them.” Presley did not always keep the same look and hairstyle. He changed with the generation to stay with the younger and older crowd. He was not popular with just one crowd since he was popular through the 1950-1970’s. He was labelled as a “sexhibitionist because of his suggestive manner.” The way he danced and moved was criticized by churches and claimed to “corrupt the minds of young Americans.” Presley is still known today because of the legacy he left behind. People still listen to Presley’s music because it is different than most music on the radio today. He did not use cuss words or say provocative things. He talked about life things in his music that happened to him and people can relate. Elvis Presley will always be a memorable figure of the music industry.
