The undisputed "King of Rock 'N' Roll", Elvis Aaron Presley was born to a poor family on 8^th January 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi, during the heart of Depression. Presley was the only child of Vernon and Gladys after his twin brother, Jesse Garon, was stillborn. When he was three, his father served a eight-month prison term for writing bad cheques. He grew up surrounded by the gospel music of the Pentecostal church. He was ten years old when he won second prize at a local show for his singing. The following year he received his first guitar for his birthday.

In 1948, his family moved to Memphis, where he was exposed to the sound of Southern popular music in the form of blues, country, bluegrass, and gospel. Presley spent much of spare time hanging around the black section of town, especially Beale Street, where some of the legendary bluesman started out. After graduating from high school in June 1953, he worked at the Precision Tool Company and then drove trucks for Crown Electric. That summer he visited the Memphis Recording Service, home of Sun Records, to record two ballads as a present for his mother.

Presley returned to the Recording Service again in January 1954 to record two more songs, this time meeting  the owner, Sam Phillips. Later that spring Phillips called him back to the studio to do a demo and afterwards Phillips began to believe he'd found what he was looking for: "a white man who sang black". In July 1954, almost a year after his initial recordings, Phillips teamed Presley with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black. Elvis' five Sun singles, That's All Right, Blue Moon Of Kentucky, Good Rockin' Tonight, Baby Let's Play House, and Mystery Train pioneered the blend of R&B and C&W that would characterize rockabilly music.

The singles sold well locally, and by 1955, after his first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry and his debut on The Louisiana Hayride radio show, were starting to sell well to country audiences throughout the South. Presley, Moore, and Black hit the road with a stage show that grew ever wilder and more provocative. Presley started to attract interest form larger recording companies and Colonel Parker became Elvis’ manager. In need of money to expand, Sun Records, after negotiation by Parker, sold Presley’s contract to RCA Records in late 1955 for the sum of $US35,000. Presley received a $US5000 advanced which he used to buy a pink Cadillac for his mother.

His last single for Sun and first for RCA I Forget to Remember to Forget / Mystery Train went to number one on the country charts. His next single, Heartbreak Hotel, became his first across-the-board hit, holding down the top spot for eight weeks. Presley became a huge star thanks largely to television exposure. His hip-swiveling performances on various TV variety shows generated enormous hysteria and controversy. Nevertheless, the hits keep rolling on in 1956 and included the giant double-sided Don’t Be Cruel / Hound Dog, one of the biggest selling records the industry had ever experienced up to that point.

Late 1956 saw Elvis make the first of many movies which produced hit songs such as Teddy Bear, Love Me Tender, Jailhouse Rock, All Shook Up, Treat Me Nice and Too Much. In March 1957 he purchased Graceland, a former church turned into  a twenty-three room mansion. Presley’s career momentum was interrupted when he was drafted into the US Army in March 1958. He had to take leave a few months later to be with his sick mother. She died  on 14^th August, the day after his arrival home in Memphis. Presley was then shipped to Germany, where he met his future wife, Priscilla.

The hits kept flowing during his stint in the army, from material he had previously recorded and had not yet been released. They included I Beg of You, Wear My Ring Around Your Neck, Hard Headed Woman and A Fool Such As I. He was discharged in March 1960 and his popularity was just as high as when he was drafted. That month, he recorded his first stereo record, Stuck On You, which went all the way to number one. Presley also started to gather around him the friends, employees and hangers-on that became known as the Memphis Mafia. They would accompany him almost everywhere. In early 1961 Priscilla, still a teenager, moved into Graceland to live with him.

He had a further four number one US hits and numerous Top Ten singles during the early Sixties including Good Luck Charm, Little Sister, She's Not You, Return to Sender, (You're the) Devil In Disguise and Bossa Nova Baby. After his last concert in March 1961, he spent the next eight years making movies and soundtrack recording.  On 1st May 1967 he married Priscilla in Las Vegas and on 1st February 1968 their only child, Lisa Marie, was  born. As pop music developed his sales dwindled and his movies became even more mediocre.

Unlike most rock 'n' rollers, he was not swept away by the British Invasion. His rock 'n' roll career was rekindled with an electrifying comeback TV special in December 1968. The following summer he topped the US charts for the first time in seven years and played his first live shows in over eight years. A year later, in 1970, he played his first concerts since before he'd entered the army. Riding the crest of his comeback, he released a series of singles that all reached the Top Ten. He was more popular than ever, and the fan worship that would blossom into the largest cult  in modern history, was taking hold.

The Seventies saw him constantly touring and performing to sold-out shows around the country, frequently breaking box-office records. However, he had also become isolated from the outside world, and except for professional appearances, he rarely ventured outside his Graceland mansion, a sad recluse. Dissatisfied with his life, he turned to a self-destructive diet of prescription drugs and junk food. It became too much for Priscilla and they were divorced in 1973.

Despite his clearly deteriorating health, having grown quite obese, he still had to maintain a frantic tour schedule, because in 1973 Colonel Parker had sold the rights to many of his songs in exchange for a lump-sum payment. In addition, Parker was also earning nearly fifty percent commission and there were no royalties on songs recorded before 1973, even though they continued to sell millions of copies. Together with his opposition to tax shelters Presley was facing financial disaster by the mid-Seventies. His last live performance was in June 1977 in Indianapolis.

Elvis Presley was found dead in his Graceland bathroom by his girlfriend on 16^th August 1977, at just forty-two years old. The cause of death remains a subject of wide-spread speculation, although it seems likely that drugs played a part. He is buried with his mother and his father, who died two years later, in the Meditation Garden in the grounds of his home. In total, he had one hundred and seven Top Forty hits including thirty-eight Top Ten. Elvis brought together blues, country and gospel influences to become rock’n’roll’s first superstar.

Elvis Presley was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.