1. Elvis Presley was born on January 8, 1935.

2. In 1948, his family moved to Memphis, one of the centers of musical activity in the country.

3. In 1950, Presley began practicing guitar regularly under the tutelage of Lee Denson, a neighbor.

4. His musical career began there in 1954, recording at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips.

5. Presley's first RCA single, "Heartbreak Hotel", was released in January 1956 and became a
number one hit in the United States.

6. In November 1956, Presley made his film debut in 'Love Me Tender'. Recruited for military
service in 1958, he relaunched his recording career two years later with some of his most
commercially successful works.

7. In 1958, at the height of his career, he was drafted into the army and assigned to West Berlin,
where he met Priscilla Ann Beaulieu, whom he would marry nine years later.

8. The early 1970s, however, meant a new creative slump for Elvis Presley, aggravated by his drug
addiction and confinement in his private fantasy world that became his Graceland mansion.

9. Presley's divorce was finalized on October 9, 1973. By then, his health was seriously
deteriorating. Twice during the year, he overdosed on barbiturates and spent three days in a
coma in his hotel suite after the first incident. At the end of 1973, he was hospitalized, semi-
comatose from an addiction to pethidine.

10. However, years of prescription drug abuse and unhealthy eating habits severely compromised
his health, and Presley died suddenly in 1977 at his Graceland estate at the age of 42.