The musician who was later nicknamed “the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” “the Father of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” and “Elvis the Pelvis” was born Elvis Aaron Presley in 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi. In the popular imagination, he is the personification of the “Fifties” era, and he became famous for his sideburns, iconic ducktail hairstyle, curled-lip smile, multicolored and leather jumpsuits, and his hip gyrations. During his lifetime and following his death, Elvis became a figure of American legend. As with other legends, his popular image is multifaceted and even contradictory: he was a notorious “bad boy,” but also a patriotic symbol in his army uniform; he was a fabulously wealthy entertainer, but also a man of common tastes and preoccupations; a generous and even deeply religious person, but also a self-indulgent and ultimately self-destructive antihero.
Elvis Aaron Presley (1935–1977) as Chad Gates in Blue Hawaii, 1961. Elvis, the “King of Rock and Roll,” was a larger-than-life figure who entered the upper reaches of the American mythic firmament after his untimely death. Graceland, his Memphis mansion, has become something of a secular Mecca for the many Americans who make the pilgrimage there, and its very name is a shorthand of sorts for popular references to Elvis, the cult of celebrity, and the dark underside of the rags-to-riches American Dream. (Paramount Pictures/Photofest)
Elvis, who eventually became known for fusing rockabilly, blues, and gospel genres in popular songs such as “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Hound Dog,” and “Jailhouse Rock,” was born to Vernon and Gladys Presley and raised in a two-bedroom shotgun house in rural Mississippi. The Tupelo home has become a popular tourist attraction, giving fans a look into Elvis’s rural, lower-class Southern childhood. During his teenage years, his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee.
In 1953, Elvis began his musical recording career with Sun Records in Memphis. Elvis recorded a two-sided record containing the songs “My Happiness” and “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin.” In July 1954, the music producer and record executive Sam Phillips (1923–2003) discovered Elvis and became interested in his work after hearing Elvis sing an upbeat version of “That’s All Right.” In 1956, Elvis, then twenty-one years of age, produced his first number-one single, “Heartbreak Hotel.” Elvis’s music appealed largely to a youth audience, composed of some who were sexually attracted to Elvis and others who desired to be him. Many people credit Elvis’s success to the booming middle class, which now had increased spending power following World War II.
Inspired by James Dean (1931–1955), Elvis also pursued an acting career, and in 1956 he performed in his first movie, Love Me Tender. In fact, many predicted that Elvis would be Dean’s successor and replacement after the screen heartthrob died the year before Elvis started his career. For his part, Elvis’s movies were often semiautobiographical, mixing details of his life with imaginary situations.
Along with Elvis’s fame and popularity came some public backlash and criticism. Some feared that Elvis’s lyrics were sexually suggestive and his dance movements were vulgar, and by his example he was turning American youth toward sin. Other Americans hated Elvis for spreading what they called “black music” among white teenagers and thereby crossing racial boundaries. Even politicians feared that Elvis’s brand of rock ‘n’ roll would corrupt the young at a time when the nation needed them in the struggle against the spread of communism.
Ironically, given the sharp criticism from Christian groups and leaders, Christianity was integral to Elvis’s long-lasting success. Elvis, who was raised in an Assembly of God Pentecostal church, grew up listening to and singing white and black gospel music. Elvis channeled gospel music into his overall style and even produced several gospel albums. Furthermore, from 1958 to 1960 Elvis served in the United States Army, giving rise to the popular image of Elvis as patriotic citizen. His 1960 film GI Blues also reinforced this image. No longer the Elvis associated with long sideburns and uncontrolled sexuality, Elvis-as-soldier stressed his maturity, humility, and sense of civic duty.
Elvis’s public image was enhanced because of his generosity as well. Elvis was known for many instances in which he gave away automobiles. For example, Elvis bought his famous 1956 pink Cadillac and gave the car to his mother—although she never drove. Many others recounted moments when Elvis gave away cars, including Cadillacs, Lincolns, and Mercedes, to his family, friends, bandmates, and even strangers. During performances, Elvis was known for wearing scarves that he would later give to fans.
In 1968, NBC aired Elvis’s ’68 Comeback Special, an attempt to rejuvenate the performer’s career and popularity, which had weakened due to a series of bad movies and the rising success of other musicians such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Originally, Elvis’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, often referred to as “the Colonel,” envisioned the Comeback as a Christmas special with Elvis singing carols and gospel songs. NBC producers, however, feared that younger viewers would see the performance as too old-fashioned and tacky. Instead, Elvis wore his iconic black, form-fitting leather suit. It was an important moment in the development of Elvis’s popular legend.
Elvis’s success was not without problems. Early in his career, he turned to drugs to relieve tension and stress. In the 1970s, Elvis began heavily taking narcotics, which greatly affected his speech, stability, and performances. He attempted rehabilitation several times, but his attempts failed, and he continued abusing narcotics—often with groups of friends at his Memphis home, Graceland.
Elvis died unexpectedly in 1977 at Graceland. The official cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia (heart failure), but later toxicology reports found a significant amount of prescription drugs in his system. His death has been embedded into the American imagination for both comical and serious reasons. First, his death is a popular image for comical reasons because he died on his bathroom toilet, a site that many comedians have dubbed his last or final “throne.” Elvis’s death is more than simply a laughing matter, however. His death attracted tens of thousands of fans to Graceland. Fans gathered, sang his songs, and held candlelight vigils. Many fans stayed from the moment of Elvis’s death until his funeral.
Other fans have claimed that Elvis did not actually die; instead, according to these fans, he faked his death and went into hiding. Elvis, burned out and tired of media attention, allegedly became a recluse. For example, Gail Brewer-Giogio’s Is Elvis Alive? (1988) proposed a theory that Elvis staged his own death. Some people mockingly spread the “King is alive” legend and sarcastically insist that Elvis is hiding out in bars or trailers, surviving on a diet of his favorite meal, fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches. The “King is alive” story is one of the more popular urban legends of the last half-century.
Since his death, Elvis has become a quasi-religious figure for some of his followers. Graceland serves as a pilgrimage site for thousands of fans and tourists. In 1989 the 24-Hour Church of Elvis opened in Portland, Oregon, offering fans Elvis-inspired catechisms, sermons, fortunes, and marriages. Many places, especially in Las Vegas, offer weddings presided over by Elvis impersonators. More recently, fans have created online shrines and churches, such as the First Presbyterian Church of Elvis the Divine. In addition to their “sacred” sites, Elvis fans have “religious” festivals. In 1978, many fans met in Memphis to informally commemorate the one-year anniversary of Elvis’s death. Eventually, this informal meeting transformed into a formal event called Elvis Week, a celebration with impersonator contests, concerts, candlelight vigils, lectures, and more.
Although fans have been unable to reach a consensus as to whether Elvis is still alive, they can agree that he lives on through the tens of thousands of Elvis impersonators or tribute artists. Fans impersonated Elvis as early as the 1950s, but after his death, a subculture of Elvis impersonators arose. Chicago held the First Annual Elvis Presley International Impersonators Association Convention in 1990. Since 2007 Elvis Presley Enterprises has held annual Elvis tribute artist contests. Today, no trip to Las Vegas would be complete without paying homage to Elvis in the form of a professional impersonator.
Elvis-themed products are widespread. His image appears on T-shirts, towels, dolls, dishes, blankets, books, stickers, and stamps. Above all, the U.S. Postal Service’s Elvis stamp demonstrates Elvis’s significance as an American cultural icon. In 1992 the U.S. Postal Service held a contest to determine which Elvis stamp they would issue. The American public voted between “young Elvis” and “old Elvis,” and the “young Elvis” won. A post office in Dallas even hired an impersonator to sign autographs. In 2015, the U.S. Post Office issued an “Elvis Presley Forever Stamp” to honor his legacy.
For some younger people, however, Elvis is a distant figure associated with older generations. For them, he is the obese, drug-dependent “has-been” who died on his toilet. Cartoons, comics, and comedians often rely on the image of Elvis as older and bloated. For example, the television cartoon South Park often depicts Elvis as confused and inarticulate.
Graceland
The home and retreat of “the King” of rock and roll, Elvis Presley, Graceland now is a site of pilgrimage for well over half a million visitors per year, is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, and is a National Historic Landmark. An estate of more than a dozen acres in the environs of Memphis, Tennessee, Graceland is where Elvis died and was buried alongside other members of the Presley family; it evokes mystical and quasi-religious emotional responses from many of Elvis’s fans. The name itself has become iconic in American culture and is evoked, for example, in a landmark song and eponymous album by Paul Simon, as well as in a seemingly unrelated TV series of the same name that explores the tensions between beautiful exteriors and twardy undersides, a tension arguably at the core of the Elvis legend.
C. Fee
In part, Elvis’s popularity in the American folkloric imagination owes to his rise from rural poverty to wealth and international superstardom. He embodies the Horatio Alger myth of “rags to riches” or the American dream. His story is not only a success story, though. His life was riddled with tragedy. His addiction and early death prompted by painkillers positions him as the popular narcotic-addicted celebrity who loses his stability, fame, and life to drugs. Perhaps his fluid and conflicted identities are the cause of his sustained popularity as an American myth. He is the shy Southern star or the energetic rocker, the Christian gospel singer or the dangerous sex symbol, the figure of teenage rebellion or the drugged-out and bloated has-been. Elvis might not have faked his death to live as a recluse, but he lives on through these various images in the American imagination.
James M. Cochran
See also Blues as Folklore; Legend Tripping; Urban Legends/Urban Belief Tales
Further Reading
Doll, Susan. 1998. Understanding Elvis: Southern Roots vs. Star Image. London: Taylor & Francis.
Doss, Erika Lee. 1999. Elvis Culture: Fans, Faith, Image. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.
Keogh, Pamela Clarke. 2008. Elvis Presley: The Man. The Myth. The Legend. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Reece, Gregory L. 2006. Elvis Religion: The Cult of the King. New York: I. B. Tauris.
Rodman, Gilbert B. 1996. Elvis After Elvis: The Posthumous Career of a Living Legend. New York: Routledge.