| Elvis Presley
Birth Name: Elvis Aron Presley
Born: January 8, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi
Best Known As: The King of Rock 'n' Roll
Trivia: Never learned to read music
| Elvis was an only child (a twin brother was stillborn) raised in a religious home. As a boy he sang with his local Assembly of God church choir, which emulated the style of African-American psalm singing. At age ten he won a school singing contest and taught himself how to play the guitar. He moved with his family to Memphis, Tenn., where he graduated from high school in 1953 and began working as a truck driver and studying evenings to be an electrician. Later that year he made a private recording for his mother at the Memphis Sound Studio, where he attracted the attention of Sun Records. In July 1954, Presley recorded his first single, "That's All Right, Mama" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky". His first national television appearance was in 1955 on Jackie Gleason's Stage Show, but it was his 1956 appearance on Ed Sullivan's that made him a national sensation: his pelvic gyrations were considered so scandalous that he was shown only from the waist up. That same year he released his first million-selling single, "Heartbreak Hotel," and starred in Love Me Tender, the first of 33 movies he eventually made. After his divorce from Priscilla Presley in 1973, he spent his last years living reclusively at his Memphis home, Graceland. | | |
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