Elvis Presley

“the King “
Elvis Presley was one of the most famous musicians during the 50’s, his
ability to mix sounds gave him his popularity. He was born on January 8,
1935, in Tupelo and he had a rough childhood. But, how did he start his
career in the world of the music? And how did it end? Well, let’s see it:
Elvis grew up within close-knit, in a working -class family, that didn’t have
so much money, but Vernon and Gladys (his parents) did their best to
provide him. They move from one house to another in Tupelo. Elvis
attended the assembly of God church with his family, and the music and
preaching register deeply with him. His Childhood influences included
black bluesmen in the neighborhood and country music radio programs
enjoyed by his family. Life continue being hard. Vernon and Gladys went
from job to job and Elvis worked at various jobs to help his parents. Him
and his family attended the assembly of God church. Elvis started being
known for singing with his guitar. He absorbs the black blues and gospel he
hears there, and he was also a regular audience member at the all-night,
white and black, gospel songs that are performed downtown. He wore his
hair long, and let his sideburns grew. At that time, he was so different from
the other kids, a good-natured misfit.
In 1954, at the age of 19, he began his singing career with the legendary
Sun records label in Memphis, that would emerge his musical personality.
In 1955, his recording contract was sold to RCA Victor. By 1956, he was an
international sensation. With a sound and a style that uniquely combined
his diverse musical influences and challenged the social and racial barriers
of the time, he ushered in a whole new era of American music and popular
culture.
He continued recording music and acting in such films as Blue Hawaii
(1961), Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), and Viva Las Vegas (1964). Although his
films were often hit or miss with both critics and audiences, they brought
in a profit, and the soundtracks usually sold well. Since this, he continued
recording music and acting. He married without much furor, became a
parent and with the arrive of the new decade (1970) he started taking
drugs. But, without people noticing, Elvis had a lot of problems, especially
with the addictions, that increased a lot when 3 unemployed workers of
the called “Memphis mafia” (a group of persons who cleaned the image of
Elvis, that’s why people, didn’t know all the problems that Elvis had) wrote
a book exposing Elvis. This event produced him a strong depression that
was satiated increasing his addictions, more woman’s, a lot of trash food
and of course a lot of drugs.
At the age of 42, he estimated won 67 awards (Grammys, golden discs,
etc) and he wanted to do the best show at that time to cleaned up his bad
image. Elvis was very overweighted, weighing 130 kg, eating 10000
calories a day, and consuming antihistamine, codeine, and Demerol (a
painkiller), as well as Valium and several other tranquilizers. This
combination of bad habits produced his death. He were found death at his
own house because of a heart attack, on the 16 of august of 1977.
His death impacted a lot in the world, specifically in the American society,
because Elvis was undoubtedly a pioneer and greatest exponent of rock
and roll, a man who influenced the history of the world beyond his music,
a precursor of musical rhythms never heard in that time, promoter of
fashions and a pioneering artist in everything he did.

Conclusion:
After we research and read all the information for this project, we realized
that our hypothesis wasn’t right at all. Because we thought that he had a
very good childhood, but we were right about all the influence he had on
the rock style.
On other hand, this project helps us a lot to investigate and learn more
about him, his beginnings, seeing those problems that he had in his young
life, those bad addictions that killed him, his music style, and how his
death impacted in the American society.