Elvis+Presley+-+Soprony+cosmin

media type="youtube" key="VI94AsuvUUA&rel=1" height="355" width="425"media type="youtube" key="sFEU_9lZrTk&rel=1" height="355" width="425". "Elvis" redirects here. For other uses, see [|Elvis (disambiguation)].This article is about the singer. For other uses, see [|Elvis Presley (disambiguation)]. Elvis in 1970 || [|Tupelo], [|Mississippi], [|USA] || [|Memphis], [|Tennessee], [|USA] || Presley began his career as one of the first performers of [|rockabilly], an [|uptempo] fusion of [|country] and [|rhythm and blues] with a strong [|back beat]. His novel versions of existing songs, mixing "[|black]" and "[|white]" sounds, made him popular—and controversial—as did his uninhibited stage and television performances. He recorded songs in the [|rock and roll] genre, with tracks like "[|Hound Dog]" and "[|Jailhouse Rock]" later embodying the style. Presley had a versatile voice and had unusually wide success encompassing other genres, including gospel, blues, ballads and pop. To date, he is the only performer to have been inducted into four music [|halls of fame]. In the 1960s, Presley made the majority of his thirty-three movies—mainly poorly reviewed musicals. In 1968, he returned to live music in a [|television special] and thereafter performed across the U.S., notably in [|Las Vegas]. Throughout his career, he set records for concert attendance, television ratings and recordings sales. He is one of the best-selling and most influential artists in the history of popular music. Health problems plagued Presley in later life which, coupled with a punishing tour schedule and addiction to prescription medication, led to his premature death at age 42. hide] * [|1 Early life] 
 * ~ Elvis Presley ||
 * = [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/82/Elvis_Presley_1970.jpg/220px-Elvis_Presley_1970.jpg width="220" height="339" caption="Elvis in 1970" link="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Elvis_Presley_1970.jpg"]]
 * ~ Background information ||
 * ~ Birth name || Elvis Aaron Presley[|[1]] ||
 * ~ Also known as || Elvis ||
 * ~ Born || [|January 8], [|1935] ( 1935-01-08 )
 * ~ Origin || [|Memphis], [|Tennessee], [|USA] ||
 * ~ Died || [|August 16], [|1977] (aged 42)
 * ~ [|Genre(s)] || [|Rockabilly], [|Rock and Roll], [|Gospel], [|Blues], [|Country] ||
 * ~ Occupation(s) || [|Singer], [|Actor] ||
 * ~ [|Instrument(s)] || [|Vocals], [|Guitar], [|Piano] ||
 * ~ Years active || 1954–1977 ||
 * ~ [|Label(s)] || [|Sun], [|RCA Victor] ||
 * ~ Website || [|Elvis.com] ||
 * Elvis Aaron Presley**[|[1]][|[2]] ([|January 8], [|1935]–[|August 16], [|1977]), sometimes written **Aron**, [|a] was an [|American] [|singer], [|musician] and [|actor]. He is a [|cultural icon], often known as "**The King of Rock 'n' Roll**", or simply "**The King**".
 * ==Contents==
 * [|2 Musical influences]
 * [|3 First recordings and performances]
 * [|4 Breakthrough: 1956]
 * [|5 Controversial king]
 * [|6 Military service and mother's death]
 * [|7 Acting career]
 * [|8 Sex symbol]
 * [|9 Family]
 * [|10 Influence of Colonel Parker and others]
 * [|11 1968 comeback]
 * [|12 Final year and death]
 * [|13 Legacy]
 * [|14 Discography]
 * [|15 Awards and recognition]
 * [|16 See also]
 * [|17 Notes]
 * [|18 References]
 * [|19 Footnotes]
 * [|20 Further reading]
 * [|21 External links] ||

Early life
Elvis Presley was of German, Scottish, French, Jewish and Cherokee ancestry.[|[3]][|[4]][|[5]][|[6]][|[7]] Presley's father, Vernon ([|April 10], [|1916]–[|June 26], [|1979]), had several low-paying jobs, including [|sharecropper] and truck driver. His mother, Gladys Love Smith ([|April 25], [|1912]–[|August 14], [|1958]) worked as a [|sewing machine] operator. They met in [|Tupelo, Mississippi], and eloped to [|Pontotoc County] where they married on [|June 17], [|1933].[|[8]][|[9]] Presley was born in a two room house, built by his father, in East Tupelo. He was the second of [|identical twins]—his brother was [|stillborn] and given the name Jesse Garon. He grew up as an [|only child] and "was, everyone agreed, unusually close to his mother."[|[10]] The family lived just above the poverty line and attended the [|Assembly of God] church.[|[11]] [|b] Vernon has been described as "a malingerer, always averse to work and responsibility."[|[12]] In 1938, he was jailed for an eight dollar check forgery. During his absence, his wife, described as "voluble, lively, full of spunk",[|[13]] lost the family home.[|[14]] [|Priscilla Presley] recalls her as "a surreptitious drinker and alcoholic."[|[15]] Presley was bullied at school; classmates threw "things at him—rotten fruit and stuff—because he was different... quiet and he stuttered and he was a mama's boy."[|[16]] At age ten, he made his first public performance in a singing contest at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show. Dressed as a cowboy, the young Presley had to stand on a chair to reach the microphone and sang [|Red Foley]'s "Old Shep." He won second prize.[|[17]] In 1946, Presley got his first guitar.[|[18]] In November 1948, the family moved to [|Memphis, Tennessee], allegedly because Vernon—in addition to needing work—had to escape the law for transporting bootleg liquor.[|[14]][|[19]] In 1949, they lived at Lauderdale Courts, a public housing development in one of Memphis' poorer sections. Presley practiced playing guitar in the laundry room and also played in a five-piece band with other tenants.[|[20]] Another resident, [|Johnny Burnette], recalled, "Wherever Elvis went he'd have his guitar slung across his back... [H]e'd go in to one of the cafes or bars... Then some folks would say: 'Let's hear you sing, boy.'"[|[21]] Presley attended L. C. Humes High School, but fellow students apparently viewed the young singer's performing unfavorably: One recalled that he was "a sad, shy, not especially attractive boy" whose guitar playing was not likely to win any prizes. Many of the other children made fun of him as a 'trashy' kind of boy playing 'trashy' hillbilly music."[|[22]] Presley occasionally worked evenings to boost the family income.[|[23]] He began to grow his sideburns and dress in the wild, flashy clothes of Lansky Brothers on [|Beale Street].[|[24]] He stood out, especially in the conservative [|Deep South] of the 1950s, and was mocked and bullied for it.[|[20]] Despite his unpopularity, he was a contestant in his school's 1952 "Annual Minstrel Show"[|[20]] and won by receiving the most applause and thus an encore (he sang "Cold Cold Icy Fingers" and "Till I Waltz Again With You").[|[21]] After graduation, Presley was still rather shy, a "kid who had spent scarcely a night away from home".[|[25]] His third job was driving a truck for the Crown Electric Company. He began wearing his hair longer with a "ducktail"—the style of truck drivers at that time.[|[26]] 

Musical influences
Initial influences came through his family's attendance at the [|Assembly of God], a Pentecostal Holiness church.[|[10]] //[|Rolling Stone]// wrote: "Gospel pervaded Elvis' character and was a defining and enduring influence all of his days."[|[27]] During breaks at recording sessions or after concerts, Presley often joined in private with others for informal gospel music sessions.[|[28]] The young Presley frequently listened to local radio; his first musical hero was family friend [|Mississippi Slim], a hillbilly singer with a radio show on Tupelo’s WELO. Presley performed occasionally on Slim’s Saturday morning show, //Singin’ and Pickin’ Hillbilly//. "He was crazy about music... That’s all he talked about," recalls his sixth grade friend, James Ausborn, Slim’s younger brother.[|[29]] Before he was a teenager, music was already Presley’s "consuming passion".[|[29]] J. R. Snow, son of 1940s country superstar [|Hank Snow], recalls that even as a young man Presley knew all of Hank Snow’s songs, "even the most obscure".[|[30]] In Memphis, Presley went to record stores that had [|jukeboxes] and listening booths, playing old records and new releases for hours. He was an audience member at the all-night black and white "gospel sings" downtown.[|[31]] Memphis [|Symphony] Orchestra concerts at [|Overton Park] were another Presley favorite, along with the Metropolitan [|Opera]. His small record collection included [|Mario Lanza] and [|Dean Martin]. Presley later said, "I just loved music. Music period."[|[29]] Memphis had a strong tradition of blues music and Presley went to blues as well as hillbilly venues. Many of his future recordings were inspired by local African American composers and recording artists, including [|Arthur Crudup], [|Rufus Thomas] and [|B.B. King].[|[32]] King says that he "knew Elvis before he was popular. He used to come around and be around us a lot ... on [|Beale Street]."[|[33]] Presley "was an untrained musician who played entirely by ear. 'I don't read music,' he confessed, 'but I know what I like.' ... Because he was not a songwriter, Presley rarely had material prepared for recording sessions..." When he, as a young singer, "ventured into the recording studio he was heavily influenced by the songs he had heard on the jukebox and radio."[|[34]] 

First recordings and performances
//Main article: [|Elvis Presley's Sun recordings]// On [|July 18], [|1953], Presley went to Sun Records' [|Memphis Recording Service] to record "My Happiness" with "That's When Your Heartaches Begin", supposedly a present for his mother.[|[35]] On [|January 4], [|1954], he cut a second [|acetate]. Sun Records boss [|Sam Phillips] was on the lookout for someone who could deliver a blend of black blues and [|boogie-woogie] music; he thought it would be very popular among white people.[|[36]] Assistant [|Marion Keisker] called Presley on [|June 26], [|1954]. After an inauspicious session, Phillips invited local musicians [|Winfield "Scotty" Moore] and [|Bill Black] to audition Presley. Though not overly impressed, a studio session was planned.[|[37]] During a recording break, Presley began "acting the fool" first with Arthur Crudup's "[|That's All Right (Mama)]".[|[38]] Phillips got them all to restart and began taping. This was the sound he had been looking for.[|[39]] The group recorded other songs, including [|Bill Monroe]'s "[|Blue Moon of Kentucky]". "That's All Right" was aired on [|July 8], [|1954], by [|DJ] [|Dewey Phillips].[|[40]] [|d] After its release, both sides of "That's All Right"/"Blue Moon of Kentucky" began to chart across the South.[|[41]] Moore and Black began playing regularly with Presley. They gave a few performances in July [|1954] to promote the Sun single at the Bon Air, a rowdy music club where the band was not well-received.[|[42]] On [|July 30] the trio, billed as The Blue Moon Boys, made their first appearance at the Overton Park Shell, with [|Slim Whitman] headlining.[|[43]] A nervous Presley's legs were said to have shaken uncontrollably during this show: his wide-legged pants emphasized his leg movements, apparently causing females in the audience to go "crazy".[|[44]][|[45]] [|e] Presley consciously incorporated similar movements into future shows.[|[46]] DJ and promoter Bob Neal became the trio's manager (replacing Scotty Moore). Moore and Black left their band, the Starlite Wranglers and, from August through October 1954, appeared with Presley at The Eagle's Nest.[|[42]] Presley debuted at the //[|Grand Ole Opry]// in [|Nashville] on [|October 2]; Hank Snow introduced Presley on stage. He performed "Blue Moon of Kentucky" but received only a polite response. Afterwards, the singer was allegedly told: "Boy, you’d better keep driving that truck."[|[47]] [|f] [|[48]] [|g] [|[49]] [|h] Country music promoter and manager [|Tillman Franks] booked Presley for the //[|Louisiana Hayride]// on [|October 16]. Before Franks saw Presley, he referred to him as "that new black singer with the funny name".[|[50]] During Presley's first set, the reaction was muted; for the second, Franks advised Presley to "Let it all go!" As house drummer [|D.J. Fontana] (who had worked in strip clubs) complemented Presley's movements with accented beats and Bill Black engaged in his usual stage antics, the crowd was more responsive.[|[51]][|[52]] [|i] According to one source, "Audiences had never before heard [such] music... [or] seen anyone who performed like Presley either. The shy, polite, mumbling boy gained self-confidence with every appearance... People watching the show were astounded and shocked, both by the ferocity of his performance, and the crowd’s reaction to it... [|Roy Orbison] saw Presley for the first time in Odessa, Texas: 'His energy was incredible, his instinct was just amazing... I just didn’t know what to make of it. There was just no reference point in the culture to compare it.'"[|[53]] Sam Phillips said Presley "put every ounce of emotion ... into every song, almost as if he was incapable of holding back."[|[54]]