Elvis Aaron (or Arona) Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American musician and actor. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King".
Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, Presley at the age of thirteen moved with his family to Memphis, Tennessee. He began his career there in 1954 as one of the first performers of rockabilly, an uptempo fusion of country and rhythm and blues with a strong backbeat. His novel versions of existing songs, mixing "black" and "white" sounds, made him popular—and controversial—as did his uninhibited performances. With his commercial breakthrough in 1956, he was recognized as the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll. Presley had a versatile voice and unusually wide success encompassing many genres, including country, pop ballads, gospel, and blues. In November 1956, he made his film debut in Love Me Tender.
After two years of military service beginning in 1958, Presley returned to the studio and recorded some of his most commercially successful material. He staged few concerts, however, and proceeded to devote most of the 1960s to making unmemorable Hollywood movies and soundtrack albums. In 1968, after seven years away from the stage, he returned to live performance in a celebrated comeback television special which led to a string of successful tours and concert residencies, notably in Las Vegas. In 1973, Presley staged the first global live concert via satellite, Aloha from Hawaii, seen by approximately 1.5 billion viewers. It remains the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer in television history.[1] Prescription drug abuse severely compromised the singer's health, and he died suddenly in 1977 at the age of 42.
Presley is regarded as one of the most important figures of twentieth-century popular culture. He is the best-selling solo artist in the history of popular music, with sales of approximately 1 billion units worldwide.[2][3][4] Among many honors, he was nominated for 14 competitive Grammys (winning 3 times) and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36. He has been inducted into four music halls of fame.
Presley's gyrations created a storm of controversy.[82] Television critics were outraged: Jack Gould of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Presley has no discernible singing ability. ... His phrasing, if it can be called that, consists of the stereotyped variations that go with a beginner's aria in a bathtub. ... His one specialty is an accented movement of the body ... primarily identified with the repertoire of the blond bombshells of the burlesque runway."[83] Ben Gross of the New York Daily News opined that popular music "has reached its lowest depths in the 'grunt and groin' antics of one Elvis Presley. ... Elvis, who rotates his pelvis ... gave an exhibition that was suggestive and vulgar, tinged with the kind of animalism that should be confined to dives and bordellos".[84] Ed Sullivan, whose own variety show was the nation's most popular, declared him "unfit for family viewing".[85] To Presley's displeasure, he soon found himself being referred to as "Elvis the Pelvis", which he called "one of the most childish expressions I ever heard, comin' from an adult."[86]
Presley made his third and final Ed Sullivan Show appearance on January 6, 1957—on this occasion indeed shot only down to the waist. Some commentators have claimed that Parker orchestrated an appearance of censorship to generate publicity.[96][102] In any event, as critic Greil Marcus describes, Presley "did not tie himself down. Leaving behind the bland clothes he had worn on the first two shows, he stepped out in the outlandish costume of a pasha, if not a harem girl. From the make-up over his eyes, the hair falling in his face, the overwhelmingly sexual cast of his mouth, he was playing Rudolph Valentino in The Shiek, with all stops out."[85] Then, displaying his range and defying Sullivan's wishes, Presley closed with a gentle black spiritual, "Peace in the Valley". At the end of the show, Sullivan declared Presley "a real decent, fine boy".[103] Two days later, the Memphis draft board announced that Presley would be classified 1A and would probably be drafted sometime that year.
Each of the three Presley singles released in the first half of 1957 went to number one: "Too Much", "All Shook Up", and "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear". Between film shoots and recording sessions, the singer also found time to purchase an eighteen-room mansion eight miles south of downtown Memphis for himself and his parents: Graceland.[104] Loving You—the soundtrack to his second film, released in July—was Presley's third straight number one album. The title track was written by Leiber and Stoller, who were retained to write four of the six songs recorded at the sessions for Jailhouse Rock, Presley's next movie. The songwriting team effectively produced the sessions, and they developed a close working relationship with Presley, who came to regard them as his "good-luck charm".[105] Their title track was yet another number one hit, as was the Jailhouse Rock EP. During the year, Presley undertook four brief tours,[106] continuing to generate crazed audience responses. In Detroit, a newspaper suggested that "the trouble with going to see Elvis Presley is that you're liable to get killed."[107] In Philadelphia, Villanova students pelted him with eggs.[107] In Vancouver, the crowd rioted after the end of the show, destroying the stage.[108]
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley
Jail House Rock
"Jailhouse Rock" is a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller that first became a hit for Elvis Presley. The song was first released as a 45rpm single on September 24, 1957, to coincide with the release of Presley's motion picture, Jailhouse Rock. Composer Mike Stoller can be seen playing piano in the film presentation of the song.
The song as sung by Elvis Presley is #67 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time[1] and was named one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
Some of the characters named in the song are real people. Shifty Henry was a well known L.A. musician, not a criminal. The Purple Gang was a real mob. "Bugs" was probably Bugsy Siegel, the Jewish gangster. "Sad Sack" was a U.S. Army nickname in World War II for a loser, who also became a popular comic strip and comic book character.
As noted by Rolling Stone magazine parts of the lyrics in which the prisoners flirt and dance with one another may be hinting at homosexual relationships between inmates. [3]
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The warden threw a party in the county jail.
The prison band was there and they began to wail.
The band was jumpin' and the joint began to swing.
You should've heard those knocked out jailbirds sing.
Let's rock, everybody, let's rock.
Everybody in the whole cell block
was dancin' to the Jailhouse Rock.
Spider Murphy played the tenor saxophone,
Little Joe was blowin' on the slide trombone.
The drummer boy from Illinois went crash, boom, bang,
the whole rhythm section was the Purple Gang.
Let's rock, everybody, let's rock.
Everybody in the whole cell block
was dancin' to the Jailhouse Rock.
Number forty-seven said to number three:
"You're the cutest jailbird I ever did see.
I sure would be delighted with your company,
come on and do the Jailhouse Rock with me."
Let's rock, everybody, let's rock.
Everybody in the whole cell block
was dancin' to the Jailhouse Rock.
The sad sack was a sittin' on a block of stone
way over in the corner weepin' all alone.
The warden said, "Hey, buddy, don't you be no square.
If you can't find a partner use a wooden chair."
Let's rock, everybody, let's rock.
Everybody in the whole cell block
was dancin' to the Jailhouse Rock.
Shifty Henry said to Bugs, "For Heaven's sake,
no one's lookin', now's our chance to make a break."
Bugsy turned to Shifty and he said, "Nix nix,
I wanna stick around a while and get my kicks."
Let's rock, everybody, let's rock.
Everybody in the whole cell block
was dancin' to the Jailhouse Rock.
Elvis Presley Jailhouse Rock 1957 colorised
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Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
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