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Elvis lives!
There have been a few defining moments in the history of music. One night in early July 1954 changed forever the kind of sound that America, and eventually the rest of the world, would be listening to. That night, on his Red Hot & Blue Show aired from Memphis, Dewey Phillips played Elvis Presley’s first record That’s All Right Mama/Blue Moon of Kentucky, recorded by the singer as a birthday present for his mother. The result was orders totalling 7,000 copies for the records that was finally released on July 19, 1954.
World music has never been the same since then and now, 29 years after the death of Elvis on August 16, 1977, he is still the king of rock and roll, topping Forbes annual list of 10 Top Earning Dead Celebrities for the sixth straight year, generating $45 million for his estate in 2005.
Elvis fans who insist on referring to him as the ‘King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’ or simply as ‘The King’ are right in doing so as his influence and popularity globally are undeniably colossal — perhaps more than that of any other musician. Elvis has had 38 top 10 hits to his name, a number that remains unchallenged, and from 1956-59, there was not one week when an Elvis song was not on the charts. In the UK singles charts, Presley has reached number one 21 times, the most for any singer, and spent the most weeks there, 80 times, besides having had the most top 10 and top 40 hits. In all, he has spent 2, 574 weeks in both the UK singles and album charts, which is far ahead of his closest competitor, Cliff Richards at 1, 982 weeks.
The fact that Elvis is still popular in the 21st century and 50 years after he made his first record, can be gauged from the fact that when a compilation of Presley’s US and UK number one hits Elvis 30, was released in 2002, 25 years after his death, it reached the top of the charts in the US, UK, Australia and many other countries. And besides countless fans worldwide, the King has famous fans such as Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Boris Yeltsin and Junichiro Koizumi, the Japanese prime minister who is such an avid fan that he loves to impersonate Elvis and sing his songs — even on state dinners.
Even now, 29 years after the death of Elvis Presley on August 16, 1977, he is still the king of rock and roll, topping ‘Forbes’ annual list of 10 Top Earning Dead Celebrities for the sixth straight year, generating $45 million for his estate in 2005
On his official visit to the US recently, Koizumi was taken to Graceland by George and Laura Bush on a tour of Elvis’s home by his ex-wife Priscilla and daughter Lisa-Marie Presley. Sure enough, Koizumi got into his Elvis act by donning on huge sunglasses and belting out a few of his hits.
Elvis Presley’s name also spells big business, which is why he appears in songs, poems, movies, TV shows, comics, magazine, plays, novels, art exhibitions, greeting cards and much more. He has more impersonators than any other celebrity and Graceland welcomes thousands of visitors each year, making the Presley estate a very lucrative one.Like many other artistes, Elvis Presley was born poor and he got his break in music when he paid for recording a demo at Sun Studios. Upon hearing the recording, Sun’s founder, Sam Phillips, recognised his music potential and signed him on. What made Presley different and revolutionary was the fact that he successfully managed a natural fusion of the many influences around him. Elvis’ first major influence had been gospel music and taking inspiration from it, he borrowed the mood of country songs and blended these to rhythm and blues to create a kind of rock ‘n’ roll as only he could. For this reason, while being the most commercially successful rock and roll singer, he also made his mark with ballads and country music.
During the ’50s, Elvis brought along a cultural revolution that horrified parents and sent the younger generation into hysteria. For people today it is hard to imagine why a twitch of the hips from him brought screams from thousands of girls and religious leaders called his music ‘devilish’. Being used to the kind of senseless vulgarity that is seen on music videos and channels today, music fans still find Elvis’ movements anything but offensive. Today’s audience would not see Elvis’ performance of Hound Dog on the Milton Berle Show as “sinful gyrations.” The world has changed since then and Elvis with it.
The legendary crooner undoubtedly had explosive stage presence and that was something new for people then, leading them to label it in all sorts of ways. While singing, he acted on his instincts and expressed himself by the movement of his body and the way he held the microphone. Perhaps the single most important aspect of Elvis’ music was his inimitable and remarkable voice. His feel for a song and its expression have few parallels.His mournfully soulful expressions in Love Me Tender or Can’t Help Falling in Love With You, My Baby Left Me, and I Want You, I Need You, I Love You are haunting. And when he sang Heartbreak Hotel, he pulled on the listener’s heartstrings. On the other hand, where he belted out numbers such as Jailhouse Rock and That’s AII Right Mama, the energy that vibrated from his voice caught the listener by surprise.
Not until Beatlemania did a power come along to rival that of Elvis’ — but it took four Beatles to generate the excitement that one Elvis Presley created. Undoubtedly, Elvis Presley’s musical revolution fashioned the sound of music today. And that’s why he is still the King, still alive and rocking.
While most of Elvis Presley’s films were commercial successes, few were of great artistic merit as they were mostly vehicles for his musical skills. He starred in 31 feature films and two theatrically released concert documentary films, all making it big at the box office, grossing over $180 million.
Presley was a self-proclaimed James Dean fan and Rebel without a Cause was his favourite movie. Perhaps he was inspired by Dean and upon his return from the military duty in Germany, the singer decided that he wanted to become a movie star, too. He gave Colonel Parker, his Man Friday, complete charge of his film career and many blame the man for selecting plots that had the potential of becoming commercially successful but no scope for Elvis to act. However, these movies marked the transition of his image from that of a rebellious rock ‘n’ roll star to a family entertainer.
Among his movies, Jailhouse Rock (1957), King Creole (1958) and Flaming Star (1960) are widely regarded as his best by film critics. In Love Me Tender, Elvis’ character Clint dies at the end and this upset his fans so much that the producers had to alter the ending, adding a silhouette presence of Elvis singing the title song over the end credits.
For Jailhouse Rock, Elvis himself choreographed the title number and to this day it remains a Rock ‘n’ Roll classic. Blue Hawaii was one of Elvis’s biggest money makers and its soundtrack was the fastest-selling album of the year.
The biggest letdown of his film career was when Colonel Parker made him turn down the lead role in the film version of West Side Story. The movie went on to become a huge success and earned 10 Academy Awards, and Elvis is said to have never gotten over the loss. He also missed out on another role that went on to become the career-building on for another actor — he was offered the lead opposite Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which was eventually played by Paul Newman.Eleven of his movie soundtrack albums went to the Top 10, and four of these reached Number One. The soundtrack for G.I. Blues (1960), was number one on the Billboard Top 100 album chart for 10 weeks and remained on the chart for 111 weeks. The album from Blue Hawaii was Number One for 20 weeks and was on the chart for 79 weeks.
Closer to home, it is now common knowledge that the ’60s and ’70s Bollywood screen icon, Shammi Kapoor, crafted and honed his looks, histrionic and dancing skills along the lines of Elvis Presley who was a rage in those days. This not only gained Shammi immediate acceptance with the masses but also saw his popularity soar to dizzy heights as compared to the other leading men of his time. — A.A.
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