PAST TIMES The world was all shook up 40 years ago when Elvis Presley died. MARION McMULLEN goes back to the early days to discover how a fledgling singer became an international star, capturing the hearts of millions worldwide

IT COST Elvis Presley the grand sum of $3.98 to record his first song back in 1953. He went along to Sun Records at Union Avenue in Memphis home to the Memphis Recording Service. They offered people the chance to record a two-sided record of their own performance and the teen Elvis chose a chart hit called My Happiness and That’s When Your Heartaches Begin by American singing group The Ink Spots.

He went back the next year and recorded and played guitars on ballads I’ll Never Stand In Your Way and It Wouldn’t Be The Same (Without You). But breaking into the music business was tough and Elvis faced a lot of rejections as he tried to make his mark.

He auditioned to be a replacement singer for a group called The Songfellows but was turned down and was then offered the chance to sing with Memphis bandleader Eddie Bond and his band at the Hi-Hat Club, but after a few songs done to his own accompaniment, the club’s owner had heard enough and Elvis was not invited back.

His first recording for record producer and music executive Sam Phillips – a song called Without You – failed to impress, but Sam then allowed him to sing everything he knew and his raw talent shone through.

Guitarist Scotty Moore and bass player Bill Black worked with the young Elvis and remember their first meeting with him in 1954 when he turned up wearing pink slacks with a guitar in his hand.

Scotty later said: “Well, he’s got a good voice, good singer, if we can find the right material.”

The early recordings from Elvis can be heard on new release Elvis Presley – A Boy From Tupelo, which covers the years from 1953 to 1955 and includes every known Sun Records master and out-take, live performances and radio recordings, Elvis’s self-financed first acetates and a newly discovered previously unreleased recording.

Elvis grew up surrounded by music. His parents bought him his first guitar when he was 11 and his mother Gladys later wrote to a fan telling how she carried him to church every Sunday when he was little.

She said: “He would slide off my lap, run down the aisle, and scramble up to the platform of the church. He would stand looking at the choir and try and sing with them. He was too little to know the words, but he could carry the tune.”

It was the first step on the road to success for Elvis and in 1955 he signed a three-year deal with RSC Elvis backstage at the Louisiana Hayride, October 16, 1954. Photo courtesy of Michell/The Magic Collection Elvis Presley at RCA Studios, December 1, 1955. Photo by William “PoPsie” Randolph courtesy of Sony Music Archives Elvis in front of the S&S Drug Store on Poplar Avenue in Memphis, 1949. Elvis and his family lived a little further down the street at a rooming house at 572 Poplar Avenue. Photo courtesy of Wade Jones Colonel Parker, labelmate Eddy Arnold, Elvis and Steve Sholes at RCA Studios. December 1, 1955. Photo by William “PoPsie”Randolph courtesy of Sony Music Archives