The rise and fall of Elvis Presley - Part one

04-09-2008 16:05

There is little doubt that one of the greatest icons of all time is Elvis Aaron Presley. However, as with so many of the icons of the past, a glorious rise is so often followed by a steep fall.

Here we have one of the prime examples of this sick twist of fate; born on January 8, 1935, to his father Vernon and mother Gladys, Elvis made such a name for himself that he is often known as The King of Rock and Roll or simply just; The King.

His climb on the ladder of stardom began on October 3, 1945, when, at age ten, he made his first public performance in a singing contest at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show at the suggestion of his teacher Mrs. J.C. Grimes. Dressed as a cowboy, the young Presley had to stand on a chair to reach the microphone and sang Red Foley's "Old Shep." He came second, winning $5 and a free ticket to all the Fair rides.

Then, in 1946, for his eleventh birthday, Presley received his first guitar, which wasn't exaclty what he wanted, as he was actually after a bicycle or rifle, but his parents could only afford a guitar.

Over the following year, Vernon's brother, Vester, gave Elvis basic guitar lessons and he began to practise playing in the laundry room of the Memphis public housing development which the family lived in.

Before he became the icon he is today, he earned his cash as an usher at Loew's State Theatre in the hope of boosting the family income, however, he was fired after he got caught in a fistfight over a female employee - the start of his heartbreaking days.

On July 18, 1953, Elvis went to Sun Records' Memphis Recording Service to record "My Happiness" with "That's When Your Heartaches Begin", as a present for his mother.

On January 4, 1954, he made a second disk and coincidentally Sun Records boss Sam Phillips was on the lookout for someone who could deliver a blend of black blues and boogie-woogie music; he thought it would be very popular among white people.

When Phillips acquired a demo recording of "Without Love (There Is Nothing)" and was unable to identify the vocalist, Keisker reminded him about the young Presley; during a recording break, he began singing Arthur Crudup's "That's All Right (Mama)" which prompted Phillips to get them all to restart and began taping as this was the sound he had been looking for.

"That's All Right" was aired on July 8, 1954, by DJ Dewey Phillips and went down really well as listeners began phoning in, eager to find out who the singer was.