Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley:

Biography by Santiago Smith-Ruiz

March 29, 2017

Introduction

Elvis Presley was born January 8th, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi. His twin brother stillborn. After that tragic accident, Elvis was in for a bumpy ride but God knew that Elvis was definitely special. Elvis’s family eventually moved to Memphis, Tennessee.

About Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley was in a poor family and Elvis wanted things like a bike but his mom convinced him to get a guitar instead (they were too poor to get it for Elvis). So after that, Elvis started to play his guitar and eventually when Elvis was 11, on his mother’s birthday,

he went to a place called Sun Records (he was going to record a track for his mother’s birthday). He went in and paid them four dollars to record one track and when that was done the

people there were astounded by his voice.

They could not explain it.

They were frozen.

They had

nothing

to say,

noth-

ing

but,

”Wow! Amazing! It’s beautiful.”

Interests

Elvis liked music (church music hymns), dancing and acting. When Elvis got into school he stood apart from all the kids there. One kid told him, “You stand apart from all the kids”. Elvis said, “That’s what I’m looking for”.

Things That Nobody Knows About Elvis Presley

This is a list of things that you may not know about Elvis Presley:

#1- His first guitar cost 7 dollars and 95 cents.

#2- He was a truck driver before his rock n’ roll dreams.

#3- Elvis’s hair was brown and he dyed it jet black.

#4- Elvis loved food. One time, he ate 8 cheeseburgers, 2 BLT’s and

3 chocolate shakes in one sitting.

#5- He didn’t know how to dance and then he became the most famous dancer in the world.

Career

He was the king of Rock n’ Roll . He was a singer and actor,

and he was in movies like King Creole and Viva Las Vegas.

He sold 600 million records making him one of the best-selling artists. Elvis was a 19 year old kid working for a truck company when Sun Records recorded his first song. His first song was “That’s Alright (mama)”. Elvis’s voice made a really new sound. He was a combination of gospel, country and blues. In the 1950s Americans listened to big band like Frank Sinatra and then Elvis came along and got white Americans into rock n’ roll. Teens loved Elvis because of his reckless behavior and crazy music. His career grew huge in the 70s. Elvis got 110 gold, platinum record awards in history.

He got rid of racism on the radio by bringing rock n’ roll to the radio. So you’re asking “How did he get rid of racism on the radio?” Here’s your answer: Rock n’ Roll was a black kind of music and Elvis was not taught he was self taught and then he didn’t know that he was playing black music and here some other artists who play Rock n’ Roll Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Fats Domino.

World War II

Elvis went to world war II in the middle of his career. He met his future wife while he was in the army.. His mom died when he was at war.

The End(of his life)

Elvis’s marriage eventually fell apart, and he gained weight from

160 to 300 lbs due to his high fat diet. He died on August 16th, 1977.

Bibliography

McCann, Michelle Roehm. Boys Who Rocked the World. New York: Aladdin, 2012. Print.

Slaughter, Todd. The Elvis Archives. London: Omnibus Press, 2004. Print.

Presley, Elvis. Elvis, Walk a Mile in My Shoes, disc 4. USA: BMG Entertainment, 1995. Audio CD.