Elvis Lives On

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Elvis was born as Elvis Aaron on the 8th of January 1935 to Vernon and Gladys Presley. They lived in a two bedroom house in Tupelo Mississippi. Elvis’s twin brother Jessie Garan was still born and so he grew up as an only child. The family moved to Memphis Tennessee in 1948.

Soon after that Elvis started writing song and the first song he recorded was ‘That’s all right mama’, in Juli 1954 he was 23 years of age. Earlier in 1953 and January 1954 he had recorded  the songs; ‘Careless love’, ‘My Hapiness’ and I never stand in your way’ in at Sun Records. It cost less than $ 10.- to make a record in those time.

Soon after his breakthrough Elvis started touring was acting in several film like ‘Viva Las Vegas’, ‘Blue Hawai’, ‘Love me tender’ and ‘Jailhouse rock’.  In 1958  Elvis did his delayed tour of duty in Germany.  

These were very turbulent years for Elvis and his fame grew bigger by the years. When he was at the top of game in the sixties he sold millions of concert tickets and did often 2 or 3 shows each day. This could be in two or three different locations, to which he had to travel. The intensive tour schedule had obviously demanded its toll and it no  secret That Elvis used drugs like Morphine, uppers and sleeping tables to keep himself going.

At the end of his life, his he was suffering from glaucoma, high blood pressure, spastic twisted colon, high blood sugar, mood swings and obesity. He had also significant debts and the sales of his records were not earning enough money, so he was forced to tour. On top of this his manager Colonel Tom Parker took 50% of Elvis’s earnings. Colonel Parker was an merciless man, he did not care about Elvis’s health, all that was important to him was that Elvis performed. Colonel Parker was a notorious gambler.

After having a turbulent life and giving millions of people around the world joy and a new form of music, he died on the 16th of August 1977 at the age of 42 in his bathroom in Graceland Memphis Tennessee. During his last years of his life, his security chief Lamar Fike, his body guards Jerry Schriller and Sonny West  had repeatedly tried to get him to stop his drugs and unhealthy eating habits.

However Elvis is death for more than 30 years, he still lives on in people’s hearth and his music is still loved by many.