Vocabulario del texto

take up an activity: empezar a hacer una actividad

fail: fracasar, suspender una clase

to stick to an activity: persistir en hacer algo

tour: ir de giro (v) o giro (sust)

infuriate: enfurecer

lust: lujuria

Elvis Presley was born in 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi. He moved with his parents
to Memphis Tennessee when he was 13. His family didn’t have a lot of money, and
lived in public housing. As a teenager he was shy, but took up the guitar. His
teachers told him he had no talent for singing, and music class was the only class
he ever failed.

Presley was influenced by “black music” genres like gospel and blues, and worked
as a truck driver after graduating high school. In 1953 he recorded his first single
as a gift to his mother. He tried to join bands around Memphis, who rejected him–
advising him to stick to truck driving because he was never going to be successful
as a singer.

When he was 19 he was given the opportunity to do a studio recording. The

producer was hoping to find a white musician who could bring black music to a
wider audience. In the Southern US, whites and blacks were segregated and many
whites refused to listen to black music. In fact Presley had to go to see blues
concerts on special nights reserved only for a white audience. He recorded the
single “That’s All Right, which was played on the radio and well-received by the
public. He bought a new guitar for $145 and began touring with a backup band,
and quickly became a minor star in the South, famous for his energetic
performances in which he would convert his nervous trembling into a kind of dance
that infuriated men and drove women crazy with lust.

He signed a recording contract for $40,000 when he was just 20 years old. $40,000
was an unprecedented amount of money for a young artist at the time. The year
was 1955, and Elvis was about to change American culture forever…