England has had kings on the throne for millenniums. Boomers know that America once had a king, too. But just one. Elvis Aron Pressley – born in a modest two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi on January 8, 1935 – was America’s king and his throne was any stage he occupied. Elvis Pressley was undeniably the most famous person of the Boomer generation. He was the King of Rock and Roll.
As a boy, Elvis loved music, but couldn’t read a note from a piece of sheet music. Rather, he picked up a guitar when he was 10 years old and taught himself how to play. After moving with his family to Memphis at age 13, the young musician developed a unique style, which blended an up-tempo type of country music with rhythm and blues and a touch of gospel. They called it rockabilly.
But Elvis was extremely shy as a young man. Often too frightened to appear on stage in public, it was his junior year in high school before the young Elvis began to feel confident. He let his sideburns grow and used a combination of Vaseline hair tonic and rose oil to style his wavy locks. In 1953, he competed in a minstrel show and sang “Till I Waltz With You”, previously recorded by Teresa Brewer. With that successful performance, his popularity was on the rise.
Frequenting Beale Street in Memphis, Elvis was exposed to some of the great black musicians of that era, but after graduating from high school, Pressley’s career as an aspiring musician hit more than a few bumps in the road. Elvis once failed in an audition for a local group – the Songfellows. They told him he couldn’t sing. He was also rejected as a vocalist for another band, and the leader advised him to stick to truck driving, “Because you’re never going to make it as a singer.”
All this while, Sam Phillips with Sun Records was diligently searching for a white man who could bring the appeal of black-influenced music to a larger stage. When Phillips heard Pressley singing “That’s All Right” in a jam session at a recording studio, it was game, set and match.
Signed by Col. Tom Parker, the premiere music promoter of the time, Elvis released Heartbreak Hotel in January 1956, and the King was crowned.
Appearing six times on the Ed Sullivan show to an audience of screaming young girls, Elvis took American by storm. Love Me Tender, Don’t Be Cruel, Hound Dog, All Shook Up, Teddy Bear, Any Way You Want Me, Jailhouse Rock, Loving You and Don’t were among his early smash hits. After a short stint as an Army GI, Elvis continued his assault on the Top 40 lists with Hard Headed Woman, Are You Lonesome Tonight, Can’t Help Falling in Love, Return to Sender, Viva Las Vegas, Crying in the Chapel, In the Ghetto, Suspicious Minds, and Kentucky Rain.
Even today, Elvis holds the records for most songs charting in Billboard’s top 40 and top 100 with 104 and 151 respectively.
The girls adored him and the boys imitated him, but there could only be one king in American, and that was and is Elvis Pressley.