Presley, Elvis

Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), also known as "The King of Rock 'n' Roll" or just "The King" was an American singer, music producer and actor, a giant in the modern entertainment industry. more...

The home where he lived for 21 years, and where he died, Graceland, became a National Historic Landmark on March 27, 2006.

Presley remains a popular and enigmatic star and his legend has only grown stronger since his premature death at age 42. During an active recording career that spanned more than two decades, Presley set many records for concert attendance, television ratings and record sales. As of 2006, more than a quarter century after his death, Presley remains the best-selling solo artist in popular music history, according to the RIAA. He had 104 singles in the US top 40, almost twice as many as the runner-up, with 17 of these reaching number one according to Billboard's 2005 revised methodology. Presley's continuing worldwide popularity has resulted in his global sales reaching an estimated one billion records to date.

An American phenomenon

According to Rolling Stone magazine, "it was Elvis who made rock 'n' roll the international language of pop" . A PBS documentary once described Presley as "an American music giant of the 20th century who singlehandedly changed the course of music and culture in the mid-1950s." His recordings, dance moves, attitude and clothing came to be seen as embodiments of rock and roll. His music was heavily influenced by African-Americans who could not gain national attention because of their race. Presley sang both hard driving rockabilly and rock and roll dance songs and ballads, laying a commercial foundation upon which other rock and roll musicians would build. African-American performers like Little Richard and Chuck Berry came to national prominence after Presley's acceptance among mass audiences of white teenagers, even though his music was strongly influenced by some of those same African-American musicians. Singers like Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and others immediately followed in his wake, leading John Lennon to later observe, "Before Elvis, there was nothing."

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