Elvis on tour
A spectacular exhibition of Presley memorabilia is on its way to the O2 in London. We have a unique preview
Elvis Aaron Presley was born into poverty on January 8, 1935 in a shotgun shack in Tupelo, Mississippi. He died on August 16, 1977 outside Memphis, Tennessee on the bathroom floor of the mansion he by then barely left and which carried the name of a woman he had never met: Graceland.
As I pull off Elvis Presley Boulevard and pass through the famous wrought-iron entry gates, en route to our exclusive sneak preview of the memorabilia heading across the Atlantic, the King’s presence is palpable.
Presley’s antebellum, or pre-Civil War, home has become a place of pilgrimage. Graceland is the second most visited home in the US after the White House. More than 600,000 people a year pass through the 14 acres of parkland where Presley exercised his horses and fooled around on motorbikes.
They come from all over the world and from all ages and social groups. This May, Prince William and Prince Harry even took time off from a society wedding in Memphis to bring Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. Now, to celebrate the arrival of an unprecedented exhibition of Elvis Presley’s possessions at London’s O2, I’ve been given the unique opportunity to experience the contents of Graceland.
Chief curator Angie Marchese is in charge of the memorabilia, which runs from the famous black leather suit he wore for his careersaving 1968 comeback concert to the cap he wore when he went into the Army ten years earlier. More is granted access to everything, with one exception – the King’s bedroom remains untouched since the day he died, forbidden to all but his ex-wife Priscilla and daughter Lisa Marie. Each piece on show reveals something about this remarkable man: the clothes that reflect his physical insecurities; the keepsakes that speak of his love for his daughter; the luxury cars that remind us of his vast wealth. As she pulls on her white gloves, Marchese turns and says, ‘These things are priceless.’ She isn’t wrong.
Elvis At The O2 opens on December 12, see: www.theo2.co.uk