Joe Shooman [email protected]
Elvis was a hero to most, but he never meant s… hang on, that’s not the right sentiment here. Let’s try again.
Elvis remains a hero to many people and on 6 January celebrates his 77th birthday. We salute the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll for his continuing good health and look forward to riding in his taxi, buying a bag of chips from him or meeting him out in his country shack down Kalamazoo way.
In honour of the man with the pelvis that caused a population boom, here’s a clutch of facts about the one and only Elvis Aron Presley.
Elvis was one of twins — but his brother Jesse was stillborn.
His nickname for his whatsit was Little Elvis.
At the age of 10 he came fifth in a talent contest by standing on a chair and singing Old Shep.
Elvis purchased his first guitar when he was just 11 years old. He wanted a rifle but his mum persuaded him to have a guitar instead.
Aged 18 he paid $4 to make his first record, a present for his mum.
He sang My Happiness and That’s When Your Heartaches Begin.
When performing on TV in 1956, host Milton Berle advised Elvis not to use his guitar, saying: “Let ‘em see you, son.” Elvis’s gyrating hips caused outrage across the US. Within days he had been nicknamed Elvis the Pelvis. A Florida judge called Elvis a “savage” the same year because he said his music was undermining the youth. He was forbidden to shake his body at a gig — but he waggled his finger in protest.
Many think the reason Elvis never toured abroad was that manager Colonel Tom Parker was an illegal immigrant from Holland and would have been deported if he applied for a US passport.
By the end of Elvis’s career Colonel Tom was taking 50 per cent. Together with extra payments, it meant he was earning more than the singer.
The 1957 film Jailhouse Rock premiered at the Loews State Theater cinema in Memphis, where Elvis had been an usher.
He was drafted into the US army on 19 December, 1957, earning $78 a month and unable to get access to his monthly music income of $400,000.
Kevin Langley, the only man to win the English and Welsh Premierships, was known as Elvis during his time at Farrar Road when he played for Bangor City.
His 1960 single It’s Now Or Never was heard in jail by a prisoner who was so affected by it he vowed to pursue a career in the music industry. It was Barry White who had been jailed for four months for stealing tyres.
While on military service in Germany in 1959 Elvis met 14-year old Priscilla Beaulieu. Eight years later she would become his wife. At their wedding they danced romantically to his hit Love Me Tender.
Elvis only ever landed in the UK once — a stopover at Glasgow’s Prestwick airport in 1960, as he returned from military service. The airport now has an Elvis Bar. It was rumoured that Tommy Steele had once smuggled Elvis into London, but that was never proven.
In 1992, on the day a commemorative Elvis stamp was issued in the US, many people used it on letters with deliberately invalid addresses so that they would receive it back marked “return to sender”, increasing the stamp’s value.
Elvis really disliked his famous nickname, saying: “Jesus Christ is the King. I’m just an entertainer.”
Despite his addiction to prescription medicines, he was very anti-drugs. He wrote to President Richard Nixon asking to be made a Federal Agent at Large in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. Nixon sent him a Special Agent badge.
His 1973 Aloha from Hawaii concert was the first to be broadcast live by satellite. It was seen by a billion people.
Elvis wore a cross, the Hebrew letter chai, and a Jewish Star of David around his neck, saying: “I don’t want to miss out on Heaven due to a technicality.”
In 1977 Elvis saw a petrol station attendant being attacked by two youths. He got out of his limo and took up a karate stance. The shock of being confronted by the star calmed them down.
Elvis was a big Monty Python fan. His favourite film was The Holy Grail. It was in his video recorder when he died.
In 1977 there were 170 Elvis impersonators. By 2002 there were 85,000. At that rate of growth, by 2019 a third of the world’s population will be Elvis impersonators.
Impersonators include black Elvises, disabled Elvises, Jewish Elvises, Greek Elvises and child Elvises. A Mexican one is called El Vez. Elvis Herselvis is a lesbian one. Hovis Breadsley should be one, but isn’t.
Related Videos
