Biographic - Sunday August 12, 2007 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935 in Tupelo Mississippi, minutes after a twin brother Jessee Garon, who was stillborn. When he was 10 years old, Elvis finished second in a music contest at the 38th annual Mississippi Alabama fair & dairy show, singing "Old Sheep" before an audience of 5,000. After leaving high school, where his music teacher gave him a "C" grade and told him he couldn't sing, he worked as a cinema Usher and truck driver before he came to the attention of Sam Phillips, who signed him to his Un Records label in 1954. With his revolutionary sound, outrageous dressand grating stage moves, Elvis became an instant sensation. By 1956, now signed to RCA records and managed by colonel Tom Parker, he was the hottest star in the world, thanks to hits such as "Heartbreak Hotel" "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel" a string of incendiary tv appearances, and his movie debut in "Love Me Tender." 1957's string of hits, and the success of his third movie "Jailhouse Rock" confirmed his iconic status... and then in 1958, his career was abruptly halted when he was inducted into the Army! The clean-cut entertainer who emerged two years later was a far cry from "The Memphis Flash" who had pioneered rock 'n' roll. Although the hits kept coming, he abandoned live concerts in favor of a pocession of increasingly inane movies. In late 1968, Elvis roared back in a tv concert special. In 1969, a triumphant month-long run in Las Vegas marked his first live concerts in 8 years, two more Vegas runs into 1970 spawned a hit documentary movie, and were followed by his first concert tour since the 1950s. Between 1969 and 1977, Elvis played 1,145 concerts. A 1973 concert, the first-ever televised by satellite, drew a record worldwide audience of 1 billion viewers! While in Germany, he began dating American teenager Pricilla Beaulieu. They married in 1967, and daughter Lisa Marie was born in 1968. the couple divorced in 1973. But he was increasingly dependent on perscription drugs, and his weight ballooned as his health began to deteriorate on August 16, 1977, "The King" was found dead in his Memphis mansion. Lionized in life, he has been deified in death, and 30 years later, he continues to be one of the highest earners in music history.

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