NFIC; G8PJ KI@9LK
IT’S 40 years today since Elvis Presley died – and millions across the world are paying tribute to the man known simply as ‘The King’.
Thousands of fans attended a candlelit vigil at his Graceland home in Memphis to pay their respects to the rocker who broke the musical mould and sold a billion records.
Elvismania shows no sign of waning four decades on – and a whopping 600,000 people still make the pilgrimage to his grave every year.
And Elvis is also flying high in the UK charts with his new compilation album The 50 Greatest Hits.
Last year he earned $27million and worldwide there are at least 85,000 singers cashing in by impersonating The King.
Officially Elvis died, at the age of 42, from a heart attack. But some think that his death was faked – with a wave of sightings of the superstar since and plenty of conspiracy theories emerging about what really happened to him.
Born Elvis Aron Presley on January 8th, 1935, in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, his humble beginnings gave little indication that he would grow up to become a cultural icon.
His identical twin had been stillborn and he grew up as the only son of truck driver Vernon and devoted Gladys and found his first musical inspiration in the church they attended.
Styling
An average pupil at school, who once got a C grade in music, Elvis went on to win a singing talent contest and got his first guitar as an 11th birthday present, learning to play by ear.
When the family moved to Memphis he began styling his hair and, aged 18, walked into Sun Records – saying he wanted to make a record.
His singing impressed the boss and Elvis released his first single in 1954.
A unique voice and catchy tunes soon brought him a fanbase, but the draw wasn’t just the music. Elvis oozed sex appeal with his trademark lip curl and gyrating hips that would earn him the nickname “Elvis the Pelvis”.
By 1956 he’d got a record deal with the help of manager Colonel Tom Parker and had his first No1 hit, Heartbreak Hotel, before going on to star in his first film, Love Me Tender.
It would be the first of 31 flicks he’d star in, including the likes of Viva Las Vegas.
While serving in the army in Germany Elvis met 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, who would eventually become his wife in 1966 and mother to his only child, Lisa-Marie, now 49.
Meanwhile, Elvis notched up a string of hits including All Shook Up, Are You Lonesome Tonight and Return To Sender.
“Hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail,” said Bob Dylan.
And Beatles star John Lennon said: “Before Elvis there was nothing.”
Waterfall
He was also huge in the UK, claiming 21 number ones, despite only visiting once – briefly touching down at Glasgow’s Prestwick Airport in 1960.
Elvis enjoyed the riches his success brought, watching TV on three sets at once at his Graceland mansion which even boasted an indoor waterfall.
He also owned three pink Cadillacs and a private jet.
By the late 1960s Elvis’s singing career seemed to be on the wane and, despite making a comeback in 1968, his marriage to Priscilla fell apart and they divorced in 1973.
However, Elvis continued to tour, belting out the tunes in those infamous glittery jumpsuits.
Described as a fantastic kisser, he also dated a host of other beauties including actress Cybill Shepherd and Linda Thompson.
By the time of his death the King was addicted to prescription drugs and binge eating on treats like his favourite peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwiches. His weight ballooned to 25 stone.
Elvis’ last girlfriend, beauty queen Ginger Alden, was the person who discovered his lifeless body on the bathroom floor at Graceland – an undignified end for a superstar. Or was it? Eighty thousand people might have lined the streets for his funeral procession, but there were rumours that the real Elvis had really gone into hiding to escape fame.
Amid reports of a wax dummy in his coffin, some conspiracy theorists claim that a black helicopter which landed in Graceland hours before his body was found, had actually spirited Elvis away to