Must Haves. Music Edition. Elvis.

BACKGROUND HISTORY

Active1950s - 1970s

BornJanuary 8, 1935 in Tupelo, MS

DiedAugust 16, 1977 in Memphis, TN

Genre

Pop/Rock

Religious

Country

Styles

Contemporary Pop/Rock

Early Pop/Rock

Rock & Roll

Rockabilly

AM Pop

Country-Pop

Traditional Country

Gospel

Progressive Country

HITS

Can't Help Falling in Love, Love me tender, Jailhouse Rock, Hound Dog, Heartbreak Hotel, Blue Xmas, Suspicious Minds, All Shoock Up

ALBUMS

Elvis Presley (1956) Elvis Xmas Album (1957) His hand in mine (1960) Elvis The 68 Comeback Special (1968) Elvis Country (1971)

CULTURAL IMPACT

Elvis Presley is one of the few artists who changed the course of popular music in the twentieth century. He did not invent rock and roll, but he was unquestionably its first rock star, a singer whose charisma was tightly intertwined with his natural talent for a combination that seemed combustible, sexy, and dangerous when Presley seized America's imagination in 1956 with four consecutive number one singles. Elvis remained at the top of the charts for the next two decades, weathering fashion changes, self-inflicted career setbacks, and comebacks as his music expanded and evolved.

Presley never abandoned the rockabilly he pioneered on his early Sun Records singles, but he developed an effective counterpoint to his primal rockabilly by honing a rich, resonant ballad style while also delving into blues, country, and soul, progressions that came into sharp relief with his celebrated "comeback" in the late 1960s. Some musical nuances were overshadowed by Presley's phenomenal celebrity, which was sustained by a long string of B-movie appearances in the 1960s and extravagant Las Vegas shows in the 1970s, elements that were critical in creating a stardom that lasted long after his untimely death in 1977.

In his absence, the myth of Elvis grew, aided by the conversion of his Memphis home Graceland into a tourist attraction, transforming him into an enormous cultural icon only loosely connected to his rock & roll origins; fortunately, the passage of time helped clarify the depth and range of his musical achievements. He undeniably launched the rock and roll era, influencing the sound and attitudes of the last few decades of the twentieth century, but he also created a distinct body of work that reflected the best of what American music had to offer.