Elvis was born in Mississippi, January 8th 1935. Upon his birth, he also had a twin brother named Jesse, who did not survive. In later years, Elvis ended up changing his middle name to Aron, to resemble his twin brother's middle name, Garon. In 1938 when Elvis was only 3, his father was sentenced to 8 months in prison. This change caused Elvis and his mother to move to Tulepo. Although they would still regularly visit his father, it was a very traumatic experience. In 1941, Elvis received his first guitar lesson from a pastor at his church by the name of Frank Smith. This could arguably be one of the most important moments in his life, as it was the beginning of his passion for music.
In 1948 Elvis and his family moved to the capital of music Memphis, Tennessee. While in Memphis, Elvis quickly made many friends with other people interested in music, and formed a band. When Elvis was 18 years old in 1953, he paid $3.95 to cut a record with Sam Phillips at Sun Records. When Sam Philips never called Elvis back, he decided to go cut another record in 1944, and soon after he got a call from Marion Keisker, asking if he could make it down to Sun Records by 3 o' clock. Elvis once said that he made it there before Marion even hung up the phone. After some struggles, Elvis, guitarist Scotty Moore, and bassist Bill Black finally had a break through. At age 19 Elvis released a debut single named "That's All Right" launching his career and changing the world of music completely.
After the popularity Elvis received from "Thats All Right", he performed on multiple TV Shows, such as The Ed Sullivan Show. The first time he performed, the show had 60 million viewers, which at the time was about 80% of people who had national TV. He also went on to sell more than 500 million records worldwide, revolutionizing American music. When Elvis performed, he had a way of shaking his left leg that drove the girls wild. When asked if Elvis would ever get rid of his "wiggle", he responded and said that if he took the wiggle out of it, then it would be finished. As of today Elvis has sold over one billion records, more than any other musician ever. He's also been nominated for 14 Grammy awards, 3 of which he won. As well as being a very successful musician, Elvis starred in 33 films that had great success, and also served in the U.S. Army. Elvis died August 16, 1977 when he was only 42 years old.
Elvis didn't just become so popular because he had a great voice and amazing stage presence. It was also because he influenced an entirely new style of music, called rockabilly. Rockabilly music is a combination of country music from the South, blues inspired by the African Americans, and pop music that was popular during that time on the radio. Although Elvis definitely wasn't the first person to sing rock n roll music, he was one of the first people to spread that music all across the country, making it very popular among teenagers. Elvis also had a different sense of style that people loved. His music, style, and hair, quickly became something that many teenagers were starting to dress as. Since many kids during the 1950s started dressing like this, and listening to this new kind of music, as well as a time in the economy where many people had money to spare, many people consider it the start of a new generation of people.
Elvis typically created music from the Rock and Roll genre, hence his nickname as the King of Rock and Roll. However, he also created music from other different types of genres as well, such as country blues, gospel rhythm, and the blues. Some of his most popular songs include: "That's All Right", "Heartbreak Hotel", and "Burning Love". Below are some YouTube videos where you can listen to some of these great classics!
Fun fact: Although Elvis recorded over 600 songs in his lifetime, he never wrote a single one of them!
(To play a song, click the YouTube logo in the bottom right corner)
Below are the awards that Elvis has been nominated for, and received. The awards won are in bold for easier distinction.
Name: Jake Martin
I'm a 19 year old student studying at Washington State University Vancouver to obtain my Bachelor's Degree with a major in Digital Technology and a Minor in English. This website was a project for my DTC 355 class, Multimedia Authoring. I first became really interested in Elvis when I went to Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee last year. Elvis was everywhere in Downtown Nashville, his music was constantly being played by others, there were walls of merch in stores dedicated just to Elvis, and it was an amazing experience. Since then, I've wanted to research and learn more about Elvis' life, and this project seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to not only learn more about him, but to be able to help others learn more about him and how important he was to music today. I currently have multiple Elvis records that my grandma gave me and they are really some of the coolest things I own. If you have a chance, I highly recommend listening to his work, if you haven't already.
Email: jacob.martin (@) wsu.edu