Some saw the singer as a sexual pervert, and psychologists feared that teenaged girls and boys could easily be aroused to sexual indulgence and perversion by certain types of motions and hysteria—the type that was exhibited at one of his shows.

In his defence, Elvis insisted that there was nothing vulgar about his act, but regardless of this, In August 1956, a Florida judge called Presley a "savage" and threatened to arrest him if he shook his body while performing in Jacksonville as Elvis music was undermining the youth of America. With increased concerns over privacy and security, Graceland was bought and renovated in 1957, a mansion with several acres of land which became the singer's primary residence until his death.

Acting career

In 1956, Presley launched his career as a film actor after he screen-tested for Paramount Pictures by lip-synching "Blue Suede Shoes" and performing a scene as 'Bill Starbuck' in The Rainmaker.

After signing a seven-year contract with Paramount, Presley made his big-screen début with the musical western, Love Me Tender, which was slammed by critics but did really well at the box office.

Most of his films were musical comedies which were designed to propel him as both an actor and musician yet he did appear in some more dramatic films such as Jailhouse Rock.

The movies he did make, were generally criticized as a "pantheon of bad taste." as the majority of the scripts were all quite similar and many of the songs didn't exploit Elvis' musical abilities as well as they should have.

Presley was one of the highest paid actors during the 1960s, but as time went on, newer and cooler acts started to appear and other musicians began to dominate the airwaves.

The Sex Symbol

No article on the King would be complete without some mention of his sexual exploits; which started with the steel rod sewn to the inside of his pants to make it look like he had a weapon of heroic proportions!

There is little doubt that he had his fair share of lovers, but the actual amount might be over-exaggerated as many of his ex lovers have said that he refused to have full sex with them; this might support the claims that he actually only dated many of his co-stars for publicity.

However there was woman who managed to hook him, and that was Priscilla. the pair met in 1959 when she was 14 and he was 24, but regardless of the age gap they quickly began a serious relationship.

However, serious didn't mean sex, as in her autobiography, Priscilla says that Elvis refused to have sex with her until they were married. Shortly before Christmas 1966, Presley proposed to Priscilla and they married on May 1, 1967 at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas and their only child Lisa Marie, was born on February 1, 1968.

Musical Comeback

In 1968,Guitar Man failed to enter the U.S. Top 40 and Elvis became very unhappy with his career and in a bid to revive it he starred in Elvis which was aired on December 3, 1968 as a Christmas telecast and was later dubbed '68 Comeback Special by fans and critics, as it featured some lavishly staged studio productions.

Other songs however, were performed live with a band and marked his first live appearance as a performer since 1961 and he was clad in black leather, singing and playing guitar in an uninhibited style which were reminiscent of his rock and roll days.

This performance marked his 'comeback' if it could be said that he ever really went away as he sang with power and energy that people hadn't heard in so long and made him keen to resume regular live shows and led to him smashing many attendance records.

In January 1973, Presley performed two charity concerts in Hawaii for the Kui Lee cancer foundation and the concert, named Aloha from Hawaii was the world's first live concert satellite broadcast, reaching at least a billion viewers live and a further 500 million on delay.

The show's album went to number one and spent a year in the charts. The album also proved to be Presley's last U.S. Number One album during his lifetime.

However, things are sometimes too good to be true, as Elvis so tragically found out as part two explores his fall from grace.

Read The Rise And Fall Of Elvis Presley Part Two here

FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison

Re-live Elvis’ legendary Jailhouse Rock below;