On his birthday in January he received a dollar guitar from his mother. In his seventh-grade year he reportedly took this guitar to school every day. Some years later, in Memphis, Tennessee, the young Presley "spent much of his spare time hanging around the black section of town, especially on Beale Street," where bluesmen like Furry Lewis and B. King said that he knew Elvis before he was popular. In addition to blues and country, the young Presley was deeply influenced by the gospel music tradition.
Presley's family attended the Assembly of God, a Pentecostal Holiness church. Rolling Stone magazine wrote that: This potent mix of musical influences flowed into a unique vocal talent. Presley's rich baritone voice possessed an extraordinary compass and a very wide range of vocal color. His range—about two octaves and a third—was impressive, but what made it extraordinary was where its "center of gravity" lay, nearly as strong at the extremes as at its center. He had a unique ability to sound like a full baritone when he hit low notes, and yet remained relaxed and unstrained singing tenor notes.
He was equally at home with rough blues shouts, country twang, and bel canto ballads. Finally, Presley possessed enormous charisma and magnetism. He was blessed with the nearly perfect package of talents for the uniquely American art that he was about to create. He reportedly gave the records to his mother as a belated birthday present. King , Little Milton and Junior Parker, [7] was looking for "a white man with a Negro sound and the Negro feel," with whom he "could make a billion dollars.
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Although that session was not productive, Phillips put Presley together with local musicians Scotty Moore and Bill Black to see what might develop. Presley began a regular touring schedule hoping to expand his fame beyond Tennessee. However, Sam Phillips had difficulty persuading Southern white disc jockeys to play Presley's first recordings, having better luck with stations that catered to the Negro sections of Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles.
Presley gained popularity as he toured the South. A big opportunity presented itself when country star Hank Snow arranged him to perform at the Grand Ole Opry on October 2, Other reviews of his unconventional style were mixed, and he did not perform there again. However, on October 16, , he made his first appearance on the Louisiana Hayride radio broadcast of live country music in Shreveport, Louisiana and was a hit with the show's large audience. His rockabilly genre releases began to reach high on the country charts.
Following this, Presley was signed to a one-year contract for a weekly performance on the show, during which time he was introduced to Colonel Tom Parker. Parker was a master promoter who wasted no time in furthering Presley's image. His first big step was to market Presley on television. It was the first of six appearances on the show. The second of these—featuring Presley's performance of "Hound Dog"—sparked a storm over his "gyrations" while singing. The controversy lasted throughout the rest of the s. However, that show drew such high ratings that Steve Allen ABC booked him for one appearance on his broadcast, on July 1, On September 9, , at his first of three appearances on the Sullivan show, Presley drew an estimated Elvis Presley had arrived.
Presley had no less than five number one hit singles in By the spring of , Presley had become a national phenomenon [9] and teenagers came to his concerts in unprecedented numbers. When he performed at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair in , one hundred National Guardsmen surrounded the stage to control crowds of excited fans. The singer was considered to represent a threat to the moral well-being of young American women.
Many Protestant preachers denounced him as a threat to the morality of Christian youth, and even the national Jesuit magazine America warned its readers against him in an article entitled "Beware Elvis Presley. Racism also played a role in the opposition to Presley. Social historian Eric Lott said, "All the citizens' councils in the South called Elvis' music 'n-gger music' and were terribly afraid that Elvis, white as he was—was going to corrupt the youth of America. The Louisville chief of police called for a rule to halt "any lewd, lascivious contortions that would excite the crowd.
He arouses things in them that shouldn't be aroused. Due to his controversial style of song and stage performances, municipal politicians began denying permits for Presley appearances, often motivating teens to pile into cars and travel elsewhere to see him perform. In August, in Jacksonville, Florida a local Juvenile Court judge called Presley a savage and threatened to arrest him if he shook his body while performing at Jacksonville's Florida Theatre, justifying the restrictions by saying his music was undermining the youth of America.
Throughout the performance, Presley stood still as ordered but poked fun at the judge by wiggling a finger. Similar attempts to stop his "sinful gyrations" continued for more than a year and included his often-noted January 6, appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show during which he performed the spiritual number "Peace in the Valley" , when he was filmed only from the waist up. Some radio programmers announced they would not play Presley's music on their stations. Many of Presley's records were condemned as wicked by fundamentalist preachers, warning congregations to keep "heathen" rock and roll music out of their homes and away from their children's ears.
News media published film clips and photos of frenzied girls screaming and fainting as Elvis sang. In the end, however, there was no stopping "Elvis the Pelvis. Moreover, the economic power of Presley's fans became evident when they tuned in those radio stations that did play his records. Presley's impact on the American youth consumer market was noted on the front page of The Wall Street Journal on December 31, , when business journalist Louis M. Kohlmeier wrote, "Elvis Presley today is a business," and reported on the singer's record and merchandise sales.
Half a century later, historian Ian Brailsford of the University of Auckland in New Zealand commented, "The phenomenal success of Elvis Presley in , convinced many doubters of the financial opportunities existing in the youth market. A major turn in Presley's career came when Parker negotiated a multi-picture seven-year contract with Metro Goldwyn Mayer. The move ultimately shifted Presley's focus from music to films. Under the terms of his movie-making contract, Presley earned a fee for performing plus a percentage of the profits on the films, most of which were huge moneymakers.
However, many critics believe the films also packaged Presley's talent too slickly, turning him from a truly great rock singer with an "edge" into syrupy matinee idol. Presley began his movie career with Love Me Tender opened on November 15, The movies Jailhouse Rock and King Creole are regarded as among his best early films. Most of his movies were musicals based around his performances. Over the years, much has been written about Parker, most of it critical. None of the critics, however, denies that he played a major role in Presley's meteoric rise to stardom.
On December 20 , at the peak of his career, Presley received his draft board notice for his mandatory service in the United States Army. Adoring fans wept to see his pompadour-style hair cropped, and crowds mourned when he left the country to serve in Europe. While working with the Army in Germany, Presley met his wife-to-be—the then year-old Priscilla Beaulieu. His marriage to this "child bride" was controversial, but by serving honorably in the military, Presley gained respect from older and more conservative crowds who initially disliked him before he entered the Army.
Presley also reportedly became more mature and lost his raw and rebellious edge during this period. Soon after his discharge from the military, at Colonel Parker's command, Presley withdrew from concerts and television appearances in order to make more movies.
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Presley was an enthusiastic James Dean fan and returned from the military eager to make a career as a movie star. However, his popularity as a singer now began to wane noticeably, and few of his releases neared the top of the charts, let alone reaching number one.
He could have demanded better, more substantial scripts but he didn't. Although some film critics excoriated these movies for their lack of depth, the fans turned out, and they were enormously profitable. Dissatisfied with the direction his career had taken and upset over his eclipse by such groups as the Beatles , Elvis sought to return to rock and roll roots. This led to a triumphant television performance, later dubbed the ' 68 Comeback Special, aired on the NBC television network on December 3, and released as an album by RCA.
The comeback of , was followed by a return to live performances, first in Las Vegas and then across the United States. The concerts were noted for the constant stream of sold-out shows, with many setting attendance records in the venues where he performed. Presley was even seen as a "definite danger to the security of the United States. Throughout the performance, Presley stood still as ordered but poked fun at the judge by wiggling a finger. Similar attempts to stop his "sinful gyrations" continued for more than a year and included his often-noted January 6, appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show during which he performed the spiritual number "Peace in the Valley" , when he was filmed only from the waist up.
Presley seemed bemused by all the criticism. On another of the many occasions he was challenged to justify the furor surrounding him, he said: If there's anything I've tried to do, I've tried to live a straight, clean life and not set any kind of a bad example. You cannot please everyone. In , Presley had to defend himself from claims of being a racist: Jet magazine, run by and for African-Americans, subsequently investigated the story and found no basis to the claim.
However, the Jet journalist did find plenty of testimony that Presley judged people "regardless of race, color or creed. His parents moved home in Memphis, but the singer lived there briefly.
Cultural impact of Elvis Presley
With increased concerns over privacy and security, Graceland was bought in , a mansion with several acres of land. This was Presley's primary residence until his death. In an interview with PBS television, social historian Eric Lott said, "all the citizens' councils in the South called Elvis 'nigger music' and were terribly afraid that Elvis, white as he was, being ambiguously raced just by being working-class, was going to corrupt the youth of America.
Other singers had been doing this for generations, but they were black. Social guardians blasted anyone responsible for exposing impressionable teenagers to his "gyrating figure and suggestive gestures. My mother stated emphatically that he was 'a bad influence for teenage girls. He arouses things in them that shouldn't be aroused. According to rhythm and blues artist Hank Ballard , "In white society, the movement of the butt, the shaking of the leg, all that was considered obscene. Now here's this white boy that's grinding and rolling his belly and shaking that notorious leg.
I hadn't even seen the black dudes doing that. This caused teens to pile into cars and travel elsewhere to see him perform. Adult programmers announced they would not play Presley's music on their radio stations due to religious convictions that his music was "devil music" and to racist beliefs that it was "nigger music. In an era when radio stations were shifting to an all-music format, in reaction to competition from television , profit-conscious radio station owners learned quickly when sponsors bought more advertising time on new all "rock and roll" stations, some of which reached enormous markets at night with clear channel signals from AM broadcasts.
Presley remains an immediately recognizable face even amongst groups not normally recognized as his fans. In , an 1,year-old Roman bust described as bearing a "striking" resemblance to Elvis was displayed ahead of an intended auction. A candle lighting is held in his hometown of Graceland, Tennessee each year on August 15 in his honor.
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Also, a "nostalgia concert" is held by singers that worked with Presley as a tribute to him. Elvis Presley was a big fan of Karate, and an Elvis Presley Memorial Karate Tournament was organized many years ago to let others enjoy something he used to love so much. The tournament has a large turnout, with around competitors each year. Last, a Sock Hop is held - playing his songs and portraying some of his artwork.
Elvis Presley made a large cultural impact on society, and that is why so many people choose to still honor him today. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Were postwar American teenagers ripe for harvest? Archived March 16, , at the Wayback Machine. The author adds, "One journalist wrote upon the singer's death that African Americans refused to participate in the numerous eulogies dedicated to him.
The Mystery Terrain , Haworth Press, p. No Rhythm, No Blues: Elvis and Gladys 2nd ed. University Press of Mississippi. Retrieved October 14, Down at the End of Lonely Street: The Life and Death of Elvis Presley. The Popular Record Industry. Retrieved on October 14, Retrieved March 8, Loving You King Creole G. Blues Blue Hawaii Girls!
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