Elvis Presley: thirty years on

ELVIS PRESLEY, born Elvis Aaron Presley on January 8th, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi is probably one of the finest musical icons in American history even though he never wrote a single song of his own.  He made songs his own by the power and charisma of his own versatile singing voice.
  August 16th will see the thirtieth anniversary of The King’s untimely death at the age of 42. Most people of a certain age remember where they were when they heard that Elvis had died. I was at a trade union meeting in Cork. I had phoned home to let my mother know I had arrived safely.  She told me the shocking news. For this reason I always associate that city with Elvis Presley. My younger sister was devastated.  We were big Elvis fans in our house!
  Elvis started out as an early performer of rockabilly: a strong fusion of country and rhythm and blues with a strong back beat. In 1953 he went into the Memphis office of Sun Records where he paid $3.98 to record the first of two double-sided 'demo' acetates - "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin” as a present for his mother. A recording demo of 'That’s All Right, Mama' was played on a local radio station to great acclaim.  A week later, Sun received some 6000 advance orders for the disc.
  In 1956, he hit the big time.  'Heartbreak Hotel' came out in Jauary and reached Number One in the charts by April, selling over a million copies.  The first album came out in March, mainly covering country songs.
  In June he performed "Hound Dog" while shaking his legs with a series of hip thrusts in time to the beat. These "gyrations" created a storm of controversy: the next day's press used such words as "vulgar" and "obscene".  Elvis replied: "Rock and roll music, if you like it, and you feel it, you can't help but move to it. That's what happens to me. I have to move around. I can't stand still. I've tried it, and I can't do it". In response the Ed Sullivan Show censored his "gyrations": he was shown only above the waist
 In November his first film Love Me Tender was released. It was panned by the critics, but did well at the box office.  His record sales went stellar throughout the late 1950s, with hits like "All Shook Up", "(Let me Be Your) Teddy Bear" and "I Need Your Love Tonight". Jailhouse Rock, Loving You (both 1957) and King Creole (1958) were released and are regarded as the best of his early films.
  Most of the films, though were pretty dreadful formulaic affairs with so-so songs.  Gradually, Elvis began to lose his cool status.  By the late sixties only diehard fans were buying his records. He realised something had to be done to halt the decline, hence an NBC TV show, later known as the '68 Comeback Special, aired December 3, 1968 This included extracts from live sessions that saw him clad in black leather and performing in an uninhibited style, reminiscent of his rock and roll days. Elvis was back!
  1969 saw Presley making record-breaking appearances in Las Vegas. He later toured across the U.S. and had a stream of sold-out shows, performing in more than a thousand concerts between 1969 to 1977 although his music was by then out of step with the times.  One of the best examples of an Elvis tour is the electrifying MGM documentary, Elvis: That’s The Way It Is released at the end of 1970.
  After his divorce in 1973, Elvis became increasingly isolated and overweight, with prescription drugs and a faddy diet taking their toll on his health, mood and his stage act. Towards the end he struggled through every show. On August 16th 1977 he was found on the floor of his bathroom by his fiancée, Ginger Alden. According to the medical investigator, he had "stumbled or crawled several feet before he died.
According to Leonard Bernstein, "Elvis is the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century. He introduced the beat to everything, music, language, clothes, it's a whole new social revolution... the 60's comes from it.”  I couldn’t agree more.  The King is dead but the best of his music lives on forever!