Elvis Aaron Presley, in the humblest of circumstances, was born to Vernon and Gladys Presley in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi on January 8, 1935. His twin brother, Jessie Garon, was stillborn, leaving Elvis to grow up as an only child. He and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1948, and Elvis graduated from Humes High School there in 1953.

Elvis’ musical influences were the pop and country music of the time, the gospel music he heard in church and at the all-night gospel sings he frequently attended, and the black R&B he absorbed on historic Beale Street as a Memphis teenager. In 1954, he began his singing career with the legendary Sun Records label in Memphis. In late 1955, his recording contract was sold to RCA Victor. By 1956, he was an international sensation. With a sound and style that uniquely combined his diverse musical influences and blurred and challenged the social and racial barriers of the time, he ushered in a whole new era of American music and popular culture.

He starred in 33 successful films, made history with his television appearances and specials, and knew great acclaim through his many, often record-breaking, live concert performances on tour and in Las Vegas. Globally, he has sold over one billion records, more than any other artist. His American sales have earned him gold, platinum or multi-platinum awards for 150 different albums and singles, far more than any other artist. Among his many awards and accolades were 14 Grammy nominations (3 wins) from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, which he received at age 36, and his being named One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation for 1970 by the United States Jaycees. Without any of the special privileges his celebrity status might have afforded him, he honorably served his country in the U.S. Army.

His talent, good looks, sensuality, charisma, and good humor endeared him to millions, as did the humility and human kindness he demonstrated throughout his life. Known the world over by his first name, he is regarded as one of the most important figures of twentieth century popular culture. Elvis died at his Memphis home, Graceland, on August 16, 1977.

1958 to 1965

Late January- Early March, 1958
Elvis films and records for his fourth motion picture, King Creole.

March 24, 1958
Elvis Presley is inducted into the U.S. Army at the Memphis Draft Board and is assigned serial number 53310761.

March 25, 1958
Elvis gets his famous G.I. haircut at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas.

March 29, 1958
Private Presley arrives at Fort Hood, Texas for basic training and is stationed there for six months. His parents soon move to a temporary home near the base.

June 10, 1958
After basic training, while on his first leave, Elvis has a recording session, his last until 1960.
 

July, 1958
King Creole, Elvis’ fourth motion picture opens nationally and the reviews are the best he will ever have for his acting. Its impressive list of co-stars and supporting cast includes Carolyn Jones, Walter Matthau, Dean Jagger and Vic Morrow. It becomes a top five film at the box office. This Michael (Casablanca) Curtiz-directed movie, set in New Orleans and based upon the Harold Robbins novel, "A Stone for Danny Fisher," will come to be regarded as Elvis’ finest film, his greatest acting performance, and proof positive of his potential to have become a respected serious actor, though the realization of this desire will remain forever out of his grasp.
 

August, 1958
Gladys Presley becomes ill and returns to Memphis to be hospitalized with acute hepatitis. Elvis is granted emergency leave and arrives in Memphis on the afternoon of August 12th. He visits her that night, and the next day and night. A few hours after Elvis goes home to Graceland to rest, she dies in the early hours of August 14 at age 46. Her body lies in state at Graceland that afternoon. Services are at the Memphis Funeral Home on the 15th, with the Blackwood Brothers singing "Precious Memories" and "Rock of Ages," two of Gladys Presley’s favorite hymns. She is laid to rest at Forest Hill Cemetery, a few miles down the road from Graceland. Elvis is devastated.

August 25, 1958
Elvis reports back to Fort Hood.

September/October 1958
September 19, Elvis boards a troop train to New York, later boards the USS. Randall and sails to Germany, arriving on October 1. He will be stationed in Friedberg for 18 months, maintaining an off-base residence in Bad Nauheim, shared with his father and grandmother, and some friends from Memphis. He finds the fans in Europe to be as enthusiastic as those in America.

 

January 8, 1959
Elvis is interviewed off-camera via trans-Atlantic telephone by Dick Clark on his American Bandstand show on ABC-TV. The show commemorates the star’s twenty-fourth birthday. (Elvis never performed on American Bandstand.)

On a two-week leave, Elvis visits Munich, then goes clubbing in Paris, which includes a visit to the Lido.

Colonel Parker continues to keep Elvis’ career alive with promotions and hit record releases.
 

November 1959
Captain Joseph Beaulieu is transferred from Texas to Weisbaden Air Force Base near Friedberg, accompanied by his wife and children, including his fourteen-and-a-half- year-old stepdaughter, Priscilla Ann. (Priscilla is the only child from Ann Beaulieu’s marriage to her first husband, James Wagner, a Navy pilot who was killed in a plane crash when Priscilla was an infant.) Through a mutual friend, Priscilla is invited to a party at Elvis’ home soon after her arrival in Germany. They meet, and the rest is history.
 

1966 to 1969

February 1966
Elvis records the soundtrack music and shoots his twenty-second motion picture, Spinout, co-starring Shelley Fabares.

March 1966
Frankie and Johnny opens nationally and doesn’t do particularly well. The soundtrack album goes to number twenty.

June 1966
Paradise, Hawaiian Style is released and doesn’t do well. The soundtrack album peaks at number fifteen.
 

June-September 1966
Soundtrack recording and shooting for Elvis’ twenty-third motion picture (to be the twenty-fourth released), Double Trouble.

September 1966
Soundtrack recording and filming for Elvis’ twenty-fourth motion picture (the twenty-third to be released), Easy Come, Easy Go.

November 1966
Spinout opens nationally and doesn’t do well. The soundtrack album goes to number 18.

December 1966
Elvis formally proposes marriage to Priscilla.

February 1967
Elvis buys a 163-acre ranch in Mississippi, minutes across the Tennessee state line from Graceland. He and his entourage and their wives had become interested in horseback riding after Elvis purchased a horse for Priscilla as a gift. The hobby had outgrown the pasture at Graceland. Over the months to come, Elvis and the gang will enjoy spending a lot of time at the Circle G. It becomes a happy diversion for Elvis as his frustration and unhappiness over the state of his career reaches its height.

March 1967
Easy Come, Easy Go opens nationally and doesn’t do well.

RCA releases Elvis’ second gospel album, How Great Thou Art, which was recorded in mid-1966. It gets very good reviews and goes on to earn Elvis the Grammy Award for Best Sacred Performance from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. This is the first of his three Grammy wins.

February-April, 1967
Soundtrack recording and filming for Clambake, Elvis’ twenty-fifth movie. It is the third of three Elvis movies to co-star Shelley Fabares.

April 1967
Double Trouble opens nationally. Although better than some of his recent screen efforts, it doesn’t do well at the box office.
 

May 1967
On May 1, Elvis and Priscilla are married in a private ceremony amongst a small group of family and friends at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, just after 9:30 AM. A press conference and breakfast reception follow. The couple honeymoon for a few days in Palm Springs. Elvis wraps up some over-dubbing on Clambake. Then they return to Memphis.
 

May 29, 1967
Elvis and Priscilla dress in their wedding clothes and have a second wedding reception in the trophy room at Graceland to accommodate family and friends who were not in Las Vegas for the wedding.

June-July 1967
Soundtrack recording and filming for Elvis' twenty-sixth movie (to be the twenty-seventh released), Speedway, co-starring Nancy Sinatra. During the production, news of Priscilla's pregnancy is announced.

September-November, 1967
Soundtrack recording and filming for Elvis' twenty-seventh movie (to be the twenty-sixth released), Stay Away, Joe. In this western-themed comedy he once again plays a character who is part Native American. It's a real departure from the virtually interchangeable plots and characters in most of the films over the past several grueling years. He has fun with this one.

December 1967
Clambake is released nationally and goes to number fifteen at the box office. The soundtrack album goes to number 40.

 

next

1970 to 1977

January/February 1970
Some say it is a mistake to go back to Vegas so soon, especially during the slowest season for the city. Can he fill the seats? But, Elvis returns to the International Hotel for another month-long engagement. This time he breaks his own attendance records. Another live album is recorded, On Stage, February 1970.

February/March 1970
A press conference in Houston on the 27th. Elvis performs afternoon and evening shows at the Houston Astrodome. Two more shows follow on the 28th. Two more follow on March 1. A closing press conference and banquet follow, and Elvis is presented an armload of recent gold record awards. The six shows attract 207,494 people and set records. There is speculation among the press and the public that Elvis might tour in concert for the first time since the fifties.

June 1970
Elvis has recording sessions in Nashville.
 

July/September 1970
Back to Las Vegas for rehearsals for another month-long engagement at the International. He opens on August 10 and closes on September 7. MGM is on hand to shoot a documentary film called Elvis -That’s the Way It Is that will show Elvis off stage, in rehearsals, in the recording studio, and on stage. RCA will also release an album with the same title.

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September 1970
From the 9th through the 14th Elvis takes his show on a nine-city tour. It is a smashing success, the first tour since 1957, only these days the show is much more elaborate . MGM films portions of the first show on this tour for use in Elvis - That’s the Way It Is.

Elvis has a recording session in Nashville.

November 1970
Elvis, That’s the Way It Is, Elvis thirty-second film, opens in theaters to good reviews and good box office. Documentaries traditionally do not do well at the box office, but this one makes a respectable showing. It, like other Elvis movies will go on to have a life on television and home video in years to come. An album of the same title is released, but only one song, I Just Can't Help Believin', is actually from a stage performance included in the film. The other songs are studio recordings, some of which Elvis performs live on stage or in rehearsal footage in the film.

Elvis does a successful eight-city concert tour.

December 1970
Elvis’ famous visit with President Richard Nixon at the White House occurs.

January 16, 1971
Elvis attends a day of functions culminating in an evening awards banquet. He and nine others accept the honor of being named One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation by the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce (The Jaycees). He is nervous about his acceptance speech. He is touched, excited and deeply proud. This national honor has been given each year since the late 1930’s and recognizes young men who have made great achievements in their field of endeavor, illustrating the opportunities available in the free enterprise system. It also applauds humanitarianism and community service. Scientists, inventors, performers, film makers, politicians bound for the Presidency, and men of greatness in all fields, have been selected for this award over the years. For Elvis, a man who grew up poor, and, in his early career knew the sting of ridicule from the Establishment, who, through the years has known criticism of his work, this is one of his proudest moments. It is a sign that he has achieved acceptance, recognition, and respect for his work and for the kind of person he is.

Late January/February 1971
Elvis plays another month-long engagement at the International Hotel in Las Vegas.

March 1971
Elvis begins a recording session in Nashville, but cancels it due to pain and inflammation in an eye. He is treated at a Nashville hospital where he is diagnosed with secondary glaucoma. This eye condition will plague him from time to time in varying degrees for the rest of his life.

May 1971
Elvis is featured on the cover of Look Magazine, which carries an installment of the forthcoming biography on Elvis by Jerry Hopkins. Many books and articles have been written over the years, but this is the first in-depth, serious biography. The book Elvis : A Biography will be released in October.

Elvis has recording sessions in Nashville. Much of the work is for his forthcoming album Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas.