ELVIS PRESLEY

THE tragic death of Elvis Presley’s grandson Benjamin Keough has once again put the King of Rock ‘ n’ Roll’s family centre stage.

Next month marks 44 years since Elvis died on the lavatory but he’s still one of the most famous and revered performers who ever lived.

But here are some facts about Elvis that you may not have known…

ELVIS purchased his first guitar when he was just 11 years old. He wanted a rifle to shoot possums, but his mother convinced him to get a guitar instead.

IN 1947, a local radio show offered a young Elvis ( age 12) a chance to sing live on air, but he was too shy to go on.

1954, Elvis auditioned for a gospel quartet named the Songfellows. They said no.

THAT same year, a local radio DJ played Elvis’ version of That’s All Right. He went on to play it 13 more times that day, but had trouble convincing his audience that Elvis was white.

ELVIS’S nickname for his manhood was reportedly Little Elvis.

breakthrough hit was Heartbreak Hotel, released in 1956 – a song inspired by a newspaper article about a local suicide. WHEN performing on TV in 1956, host Milton Berle advised Elvis to perform without his guitar, reportedly saying, “Let ’ em see you, son.” Elvis’s gyrating hips caused outrage across the U. S. and within days he was nicknamed Elvis the Pelvis.

getting his claws into Elvis, the King’s manager

Colonel Tom Parker made money by painting sparrows yellow and selling them as canaries. ELVIS’S Tennessee mansion Graceland is named after a previous owner’s daughter, Grace.

Sport once had a reporter nicknamed Elvis, on account of his quiff and tubbiness. He now breeds quails on the Isle of Man.