0_Wizard
Elvis Presley was an American singer, musician, and actor.
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer, musician, and actor.
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Elvis Presley
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Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer, musician, and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King". Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family when he was 13 years old. His music career began there in 1954, recording at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African American music to a wider audience. Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, Presley was a pioneer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country music and rhythm and blues.
Joseph A. Tunzi
Joseph Anthony Tunzi (born July 25, 1953) is a Chicago, Illinois-based author, publisher, and producer. He has been described as "a renowned author from Chicago" and "one of the foremost authorities on Elvis Presley," authoring, self-publishing, and producing over fifty titles about Presley for the past thirty years. Tunzi has also compiled a massive photo archive, from which he licenses photographs of Presley. Adam Victor referred to Tunzi in his 2008 publication, "The Elvis Encyclopedia" as "one of the world's most prolific Elvis authors, with more than twenty books to his name, specializing in photo books about specific events and tours through his own publishing operation, J.A.T.
Hound Dog (song)
"Hound Dog" is a twelve-bar blues song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Recorded originally by Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton on August 13, 1952, in Los Angeles and released by Peacock Records in late February 1953, "Hound Dog" was Thornton's only hit record, selling over 500,000 copies, spending 14 weeks in the R&B charts, including seven weeks at number one. Thornton's recording of "Hound Dog" is listed as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll", and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in February 2013. "Hound Dog" has been recorded more than 250 times.
Lisa Marie Presley
Lisa Marie Presley (born February 1, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter. She is the only child of singer and actor Elvis Presley and actress and business magnate Priscilla Presley. Sole heir to her father's estate, she has developed a career in the music business and has issued three albums. Presley has been married four times, including to singer Michael Jackson and actor Nicolas Cage, before marrying music producer Michael Lockwood, father of her twin girls. Lisa Marie was born on February 1, 1968, to Elvis and Priscilla Presley at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, nine months to the day after her parents' May 1, 1967, wedding.
Elvis impersonator
An Elvis impersonator is someone who impersonates or copies the look and sound of musician Elvis Presley. Professional Elvis impersonators, commonly known as Elvis tribute artists (ETAs), work all over the world as entertainers, and such tribute acts remain in great demand due to the unique iconic status of Elvis. There are even a number of radio stations that exclusively feature Elvis impersonator material. Many impersonators sing Presley's songs. "While some of the impersonators perform a whole range of Presley music, the raw 1950s Elvis and the later 1970s Elvis are the favorites." Contrary to popular belief, Elvis impersonators have existed since the mid-1950s, just after Elvis began his career.
Colonel Tom Parker
Thomas Andrew "Colonel Tom" Parker (born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk; June 26, 1909 – January 21, 1997) was the Dutch-born American manager of Elvis Presley. His success with Presley defined the role of masterminding talent management, which involved every facet of the client's life and was seen as central to the success of Presley's career. Parker's exceptionally high earnings have led some to question whether it came at the detriment of his client. While other managers took compensation in the range of 1015 percent of earnings, Parker took as much as 50 percent toward the end of Presley's life.
Personal relationships of Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley had many close relationships throughout his career. The strongest of all the personal relationships of Elvis Presley, by far, was that he had with his mother Gladys, as described below. In a newspaper interview with "The Memphis Press Scimitar", Elvis himself was open about the close relationship to his mother. "She was the number-one girl in his life, and he was dedicating his career to her." Throughout her life, "the son would call her by pet names," and they communicated by baby talk. Presley even shared his mother's bed "up until Elvis was a young teen," simply because the family was so extremely poor that they couldn't afford the luxury of two beds.
1_Apprentice
I knew he was a singer, but I never knew he was an actor!
0_Wizard
Yea with a series of successful tv appearances and chart-topping records, he became the leading figure of rock and roll.
With a series of successful network television appearances and chart-topping records, he became the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll.
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Elvis Presley
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Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer, musician, and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King". Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family when he was 13 years old. His music career began there in 1954, recording at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African American music to a wider audience. Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, Presley was a pioneer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country music and rhythm and blues.
Music history of the United States in the 1950s
Many musical styles flourished and combined in the 1940s and 1950s, most likely because of the influence of radio had in creating a mass market for music. World War II caused great social upheaval, and the music of this period shows the effects of that upheaval. Popular music, or "classic pop," dominated the charts for the first half of the 1950s. Vocal-driven classic pop replaced Big Band/Swing at the end of World War II, although it often used orchestras to back the vocalists. 1940s style Crooners vied with a new generation of big voiced singers, many drawing on Italian bel canto traditions. Mitch Miller, A&R man at the era's most successful label, Columbia Records, set the tone for the development of popular music well into the middle of decade.
1950s in music
This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 1950s. In the First World, rock and roll, doo-wop, pop, swing, rhythm and blues, blues, Country music and rockabilly dominated and defined the decade's music. Rock and roll dominated popular music in the mid 1950s and late 1950s, and quickly spread to much of the rest of the world. Its immediate origins lay in a mixing together of various black musical genres of the time, including rhythm and blues and gospel music; with country and western and Pop. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music for a multi-racial audience, and is credited with first using the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the music.
Yea, Victoria
Yea ( ) is a town in Victoria, Australia north-east of Melbourne at the junction of the Goulburn Valley Highway and the Melba Highway, in the Shire of Murrindindi local government area. In an area originally inhabited by the Taungurong people, it was first visited by Europeans of the Hume and Hovell expedition in 1824, and within 15 years most of the land in the area had been taken up by graziers. Surveyed in 1855, the township grew as a service centre for grazing, gold-mining and timber-getting in the area. The town has had a fairly stable population (around 1,100) since 1900, though it now has a relatively old population.
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American major record label established in 1958 as the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group (WMG), and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. Warner Bros. Records was established on March 19, 1958, as the recorded-music division of the American film studio Warner Bros.. For most of its early existence it was one of a group of labels owned and operated by larger parent corporations. The sequence of companies that controlled Warner Bros. and its allied labels evolved through a convoluted series of corporate mergers and acquisitions from the early 1960s to the early 2000s.
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is an American popular music singer known for singing in a wide range of genres including rock, country, jazz, light opera, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American Music Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, and an ALMA Award, and many of her albums have been certified gold, platinum or multiplatinum in the United States and internationally. She has also earned nominations for a Tony Award and a Golden Globe award. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014. On July 28, 2014, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts and Humanities.
Rock music in Australia
Australian rock, also called Oz rock, is rock music from Australia. The nation has a rich history of rock music and an appreciation of the roots of various rock genres, usually originating in the United States or Britain, but also Ireland, continental Europe, and more recently the musical styles of Africa. Australian rock has also contributed to the development of some of these genres, as well as having its own unique Australiana sound with pub rock and its indigenous music. From 1955 to 1975 three distinct "waves" of Australian rock occurred. The first wave was from 1955 to 1963 and was influenced by American and British styles with local variants provided by artists such as Johnny O'Keefe, who had a hit with "Wild One", which appeared in July 1958.
1_Apprentice
Wow, I really didn't know that about him. What else do you know about Elvis then?
0_Wizard
He was born in Tupelo, Mississippi but then moved to Memphis, Tennessee with his family when he was only 13 years old.
Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family when he was 13 years old.
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Elvis Presley
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Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis () is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the fourth Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers. Memphis had a population of 652,717 in 2016, making it the second largest city in the state of Tennessee. The greater Memphis metropolitan area, including adjacent counties in Mississippi and Arkansas, had a 2014 population of 1,317,314. This makes Memphis the second-largest metropolitan area in Tennessee, surpassed by metropolitan Nashville. Memphis is the youngest of Tennessee's major cities, founded in 1819 as a planned city by a group of wealthy Americans including judge John Overton and future president Andrew Jackson.
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer, musician, and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King". Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family when he was 13 years old. His music career began there in 1954, recording at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African American music to a wider audience. Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, Presley was a pioneer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country music and rhythm and blues.
Tupelo, Mississippi
Tupelo is the county seat and the largest city of Lee County, Mississippi. The seventh-largest city in the state, it is situated in Northeast Mississippi, between Memphis, Tennessee, and Birmingham, Alabama. It is accessed by Interstate 22. As of the 2010 census, the population was 34,546, with the surrounding counties of Lee, Pontotoc and Itawamba supporting a population of 139,671  Tupelo was the first city to gain an electrical power grid under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's program of the Tennessee Valley Authority construction of facilities during the Great Depression. The city is also the birthplace of singer Elvis Presley.
Memphis Tigers football
The Memphis Tigers football team represents the University of Memphis in college football in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The Tigers play in the American Athletic Conference as an all-sports member. They play home games at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. The team's current head coach is Mike Norvell, who began his tenure in 2016. Since their inaugural season in 1912, the Memphis Tigers have won over 450 games and appeared in nine bowl games. The program has also claimed five conference championships with the most recent coming in 2014. West Tennessee State Normal School's football team had their first season in 1912.
Western Theater of the American Civil War
The Western Theater of the American Civil War encompassed major military operations in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee, as well as Louisiana east of the Mississippi River. Operations on the coasts of these states, except for Mobile Bay, are considered part of the Lower Seaboard Theater. Most other operations east of the Mississippi are part of the Eastern Theater. Operations west of the Mississippi River took place in the Trans-Mississippi Theater. The Western Theater served as an avenue of military operations by Union armies directly into the agricultural heartland of the South via the major rivers of the region (the Mississippi, the Tennessee, and the Cumberland).
Nathan Bedford Forrest
Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821 – October 29, 1877), called Bedford Forrest in his lifetime, was a Confederate Army general during the American Civil War and an early leader of the Ku Klux Klan. Before the war Forrest amassed a fortune as a planter, real estate investor, and slave trader. He was one of the few officers on either side to enlist as a private and be promoted to general officer and corps commander during the war. An expert cavalry leader, Forrest was given command of his own unit and established new doctrines for mobile forces, earning the nickname "The Wizard of the Saddle".
History of Memphis, Tennessee
The history of Memphis, Tennessee and its area began many thousands of years ago with succeeding cultures of indigenous peoples. In the first millennium, it was settled by the Mississippian Culture. The Chickasaw Indian tribe emerged about the 17th century, or migrated into the area. The earliest European exploration may have encountered remnants of the Mississippian culture by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. Later French explorers led by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle likely encountered the Chickasaw. The European-American city of Memphis was not founded until 1819. The city was named after the ancient capital of Egypt on the Nile River in North Africa.
1_Apprentice
I never would've guessed that he was born in Mississippi. Is that where he got the inspiration for his music?
0_Wizard
Indeed! His career began in 1954 at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips.
His music career began there in 1954, recording at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African American music to a wider audience.
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Elvis Presley
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Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer, musician, and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King". Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family when he was 13 years old. His music career began there in 1954, recording at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African American music to a wider audience. Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, Presley was a pioneer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country music and rhythm and blues.
Roy Orbison's Sun Recordings
Roy Orbison's Sun Recordings were made by Roy Orbison at Sun Studio with producer Sam Phillips. Sun Records was established in 1952 in Memphis, Tennessee, and during an eight-year period Sun Records signed such artists as Roy Orbison, B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Ike Turner, Rufus Thomas, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Harold Jenkins, and Charlie Rich. The musicians signed at Sun Records made music that laid the foundation of rock and roll in the 20th century. Roy Kelton Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas, on April 23, 1936, and he grew up in Wink, Texas. His parents Orbie Lee and Nadine, gave him a guitar for his sixth birthday and taught him the chords to "You Are My Sunshine".
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blues, leading to what is considered "classic" rock and roll. Some have also described it as a blend of bluegrass with rock and roll. The term "rockabilly" itself is a portmanteau of "rock" (from "rock 'n' roll") and "hillbilly", the latter a reference to the country music (often called "hillbilly music" in the 1940s and 1950s) that contributed strongly to the style.
Sun Studio
Sun Studio is a recording studio opened by rock-and-roll pioneer Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records label business. Reputedly the first rock and roll single, Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats' "Rocket 88" was recorded there in 1951 with song composer Ike Turner on keyboards, leading the studio to claim status as the birthplace of rock & roll. Blues and R&B artists like Howlin' Wolf, Junior Parker, Little Milton, B.B. King, James Cotton, Rufus Thomas, and Rosco Gordon recorded there in the early 1950s.
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis (born September 29, 1935) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and pianist, often known by his nickname, The Killer. He has been described as "rock & roll's first great wild man." A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis. "Crazy Arms" sold 300,000 copies in the South, but it was his 1957 hit "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" that shot Lewis to fame worldwide. He followed this with "Great Balls of Fire", "Breathless" and "High School Confidential". However, Lewis's rock and roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to his 13-year-old first cousin once removed when he was 23 years old.
Hound Dog (song)
"Hound Dog" is a twelve-bar blues song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Recorded originally by Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton on August 13, 1952, in Los Angeles and released by Peacock Records in late February 1953, "Hound Dog" was Thornton's only hit record, selling over 500,000 copies, spending 14 weeks in the R&B charts, including seven weeks at number one. Thornton's recording of "Hound Dog" is listed as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll", and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in February 2013. "Hound Dog" has been recorded more than 250 times.
List of songs recorded by Elvis Presley on the Sun label
Elvis Presley recorded at least 24 songs at Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, between 1953 and 1955. The recordings reflect the wide variety of music that could be heard in Memphis at the time: blues, rhythm & blues, gospel, country & western, hillbilly, and bluegrass. Because of the recordings' historical significance in the foundation of rock and roll music, they were inducted into the US Congress's National Recording Registry in 2002. Of the 24 known taped songs, 22 survive. Ten were released by Sun as Elvis' first five singles between 1954 and 1955. With the exception of the first four songs, which were demos recorded at Presley's expense, all of the songs were produced by Sam Phillips and featured Scotty Moore on guitar and Bill Black on bass.
1_Apprentice
Cool! So what was one of his first major songs that made him so popular?
0_Wizard
I think his first single, "Heartbreak Hotel", was released back in 1956 and became a hit in the United States.
Presley's first RCA single, "Heartbreak Hotel", was released in January 1956 and became a number one hit in the United States.
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Elvis Presley
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Heartbreak Hotel
"Heartbreak Hotel" is a song recorded by American singer Elvis Presley. It was released as a single on January 27, 1956, Presley's first on his new record label RCA Victor. It was written by Tommy Durden and Mae Boren Axton. A newspaper article about the suicide of a lonely man who jumped from a hotel window inspired the lyrics. Axton presented the song to Presley in November 1955 at a country music convention in Nashville. Presley agreed to record it, and did so on January 10, 1956, in a session with his band, The Blue Moon Boys, the guitarist Chet Atkins, and the pianist Floyd Cramer. "Heartbreak Hotel" comprises an eight-bar blues progression, with heavy reverberation throughout the track, to imitate the character of Presley's Sun recordings.
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer, musician, and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King". Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family when he was 13 years old. His music career began there in 1954, recording at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African American music to a wider audience. Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, Presley was a pioneer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country music and rhythm and blues.
My Love Is Your Love
My Love Is Your Love is the fourth studio album by American recording artist Whitney Houston, released worldwide on November 17, 1998. It was Houston's first studio album in eight years, following "I'm Your Baby Tonight", although she had released several movie soundtracks in that time. "My Love Is Your Love" is composed of mid-tempo R&B, hip hop, ballads, urban-dance, reggae, and torch songs, produced by musicians such as Rodney Jerkins, Soulshock & Karlin, Missy Elliott, Wyclef Jean, David Foster, and Babyface. It is notable for introducing elements of hip hop into Houston's work, only sparingly used in her previous material.
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blues, leading to what is considered "classic" rock and roll. Some have also described it as a blend of bluegrass with rock and roll. The term "rockabilly" itself is a portmanteau of "rock" (from "rock 'n' roll") and "hillbilly", the latter a reference to the country music (often called "hillbilly music" in the 1940s and 1950s) that contributed strongly to the style.
Heartbreak Hotel (Whitney Houston song)
"Heartbreak Hotel" is a song by American singer Whitney Houston. It was released as the second single from her 1998 album "My Love Is Your Love". The song prominently features R&B singers Faith Evans and Kelly Price during the choruses and bridge. The song reached number two on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and peaked at number one on "Billboard"s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart on February 2, 1999. "Heartbreak Hotel" was certified Platinum by the RIAA. It was also a hit in many countries worldwide. The song received two nominations at the 2000 Grammy Awards for Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance by a Group or Duo.
Elvis Presley (album)
Elvis Presley (released in the UK as Elvis Presley Rock n' Roll) is the debut studio album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley. It was released on RCA Victor, in mono, catalogue number LPM 1254, in March 1956. The recording sessions took place on January 10 and January 11 at the RCA Victor recording studios in Nashville, Tennessee, and on January 30 and January 31 at the RCA Victor studios in New York. Additional material originated from sessions at Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on July 5, August 19 and September 10 of 1954, and on July 11, 1955. The album spent ten weeks at number 1 on the "Billboard" Top Pop Albums chart in 1956, the first rock and roll album ever to make it to the top of the charts, and the first million-selling album of that genre.
Tommy Durden
Thomas Russell "Tommy" Durden (December 15, 1919 – October 17, 1999) was an American steel guitarist and songwriter, who is most notable for co-writing Elvis Presley's breakthrough hit, "Heartbreak Hotel". He was born in Morgan County, Georgia, the son of a sharecropper and the youngest of seven children. The family later moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where he learned slide guitar and later steel guitar. He performed with the Westernaires as steel guitarist, and in the early 1950s, after moving to Gainesville, joined country band Smilin' Jack Herring and his Swingbillys. The band's other members were Herring, Pee Wee Jenkins, and Bob Chisolm.
1_Apprentice
Oh I've heard that, I never knew that was his claim to fame.