ELVIS
By: Timothy L. Kerofsky MA
07 June 2014
Historic facts about Elvis:
Born Elvis Aron Presley in Tupelo Mississippi
on January 8
th 1935
Elvis was distantly related to former U.S. Presidents
Abraham Lincoln and Jimmy Carter
Changed his middle name to Aaron
Born with brown hair, but died it black
On his first birthday he received a toy guitar as a gift
from his parents.
Elvis bought his first guitar at age 11, he wanted a rifle
but his mom said no.
At age 12 he was asked to perform on a local radio show, but
he was too shy to perform.
At age 18 Elvis paid $4 to record an album as a gift for his
mother.
In 1953 Elvis graduated from Humes High School.
In 1954 Elvis auditioned for a gospel quartet named The Songfellows. They said
no.
In 1954 Elvis began his singing career with the legendary
Sun Records label in Memphis.
That same year a local radio DJ played Elvis' version
of That's
All Right.
He went on to play it thirteen more times that
day,
but had trouble convincing his audience that Elvis was white.
In late 1955 Elvis’ recording contract was sold to RCA
Victor.
His breakthrough hit was Heartbreak
Hotel, released in 1956.
A song inspired by a newspaper article about a local
suicide.
When performing on TV in 1956, host Milton Berle, advised
Elvis to perform
without his guitar, reportedly saying, "Let 'em see
you, son."
Elvis' gyrating hips caused outrage across the United States
and within days he was nicknamed “Elvis the Pelvis”.
A Florida
judge called Elvis, "a savage" that same year
because he said that his music was "undermining the
youth."
He was subsequently forbidden from shaking his body at a
gig,
so he waggled his finger instead in protest.
After that Elvis was shown only from the waist up on TV.
This made him an international sensation; with an unique
sound and style,
in which no one even today could duplicate.
The reason why Elvis never did concert tours overseas is,
because his manager Col. Tom Parker was an illegal immigrant
from Holland.
He would have been deported if he applied for a passport.
The original artist of the song Hound Dog was Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton.
It took Elvis 31 takes to get it right at the recording studio.
In August 1956 Elvis began his film career. His first film
was, Love me Tender.
Elvis went on to make 32 other films including 2
documentaries.
On September 9th 1956 Elvis made his first appearance
on the Ed Sullivan Show,
which was the top television program of that era.
His performance attracted the highest ratings ever of any
television variety show.
Not even to this day has any singer or artist surpassed
Elvis’s ratings.
Elvis Presley Day was proclaimed on September 26th
1956.
This day is still honored in Elvis’ home town of Tupelo Mississippi.
In December 1957, Elvis was drafted into the U.S. Army,
which he earned only a $78 monthly salary.
During his brief two-year stint on active duty,
he was unable to access his music-generated income of
$400,000.
Elvis’ mother passed away on August 14th 1958.
She died of heart failure.
She was only 46 years old.
Elvis was given a short leave to return home
and help his father, Vernon,
with the funeral arrangements.
After his return to the Army in Germany in September 1958,
Elvis started up learning Shotokan Karate under the
instruction of Sensei Jurgen Seydal.
Later he took up Chito Ryu Karate under the instruction of Hank
Slemansky.
In November 1960 Elvis was awarded his Black Belt in Karate.
Elvis love of Karate became apparent throughout his life.
The way he wore a gi type jumper on stage with the long
sashes,
The way he incorporated karate kata moves with his dance,
And in some of the concerts in which he had the Kenpo Karate
design on his guitar.
His favorite form of fighting became American Kenpo.
In September 1959, while Elvis was stationed in Friedberg Germany,
he met and fell in love with a 14 ½ year old girl named
Priscilla Ann Beaulieu.
Her father was stationed there with the Air Force.
Today this would perceived as taboo; to fall in love with a
girl this young.
In August of 1964 Elvis, along with Bruce Lee, was invited
to attend the
first International Karate Competition in Long Beach California
by American Kenpo Master Edmund Parker.
Bruce Lee demonstrated at the Internationals that year,
while Elvis attended as a guest of Ed Parker.
Later that evening Elvis and Ed Parker had a long discussion
about Karate.
Ed Parker convinced Elvis to take up American Kenpo in which
he taught Elvis.
Ed Parker later became Elvis’ Personal Body Guard.
Elvis went up quickly in the Kenpo Ranks.
In 1976 he received his 7th Degree Black Belt
under Grand Master Ed Parker.
And after his death he was post-humanly awarded his 8
th
Dan Rank.
Elvis married his girlfriend Priscilla on May 1
st
1967.
On February 1
st 1968, their only child, Lisa
Marie Presley was born.
On October 9th 1973 Elvis and Priscilla divorced,
which was due most likely, to the drug problems he was going
through.
Elvis' popularity faded in the 1960's
with the rise of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and
others.
Elvis successfully re-launched his career with a 1968
television special
called “The Comeback Special” hosted by NBC television
network.
This special came about, because Elvis had walked down a
busy Los Angeles street
and sadly no one recognized or approached him.
Elvis recorded more than 600 songs, but did not write any of
them.
Elvis was nominated for 14 Grammy Awards, but only won 3 of
them.
He was the youngest person ever to receive a “Lifetime
Achievement Award”.
He received this award in 1970 at age 36.
On August 28th 1971 Elvis received the Bing
Crosby Award
from the National Academy
of Recording Arts and
Sciences.
From June 9th - 11th 1972 Elvis
performed four sold out concerts at
Madison
Square Gardens.
He set a record to be the first performer to sell out four
concerts in a row.
In 1972 while performing the song Suspicious Minds he added a karate kata sequence
to the end of the song while the musicians were performing.
During this concert, he also, talked about the history of
karate
and explained what a kata was. This I found fascinating.
During the 1970’s Elvis taught Karate at the Tennessee
Karate Institute.
In 1975 Elvis sat on a Kenpo Board of Masters with Grand
Master Ed Parker
to promote new American Kenpo Karate Black Belts.
In 1977 Grand Master Ed Parker toured with Elvis
and wrote a book about him entitled, “Inside Elvis”.
Elvis performed his last concert on June 26th 1977
at the Market Square
Arena in Indianapolis Indiana.
Elvis died on August 16th 1977 at his Graceland home.
The official cause of death was heart failure.
He was only 42 years old.
He was scheduled to fly to Portland Maine
for a concert the following day.
In 1978 the 15th Annual Ed Parker International
Karate Championships
were named:
Elvis Presley Memorial Championships.
Elvis was known as the King of Rock and Roll.
He was truly a legend.
Elvis released 69 gold, 43 platinum, 13 double platinum, 9
triple platinum,
1 quintuple platinum, and 1 sixfold platinum albums.
Elvis’ best number one single was the song Heartbreak Hotel,
which held the number one spot on the charts for eight
weeks.
Elvis’ best selling album was
Blue Hawaii, which sold over two million copies.
Elvis had 107 top 40 hit songs, which is most of any artist
in history.
Elvis sold 118 million albums, which is second only to the
Beatles.
Elvis was truly an inspiration.
Elvis Aaron Presley a
poor country boy who became a music legend!!!
Elvis Aaron Presley a singer, martial artist, husband,
father, and legend!!!
Elvis!
To add to the
Elvis notes:
Elvis’
favorite sandwich was not just the Peanut Butter and Fried Banana, but a
sandwich he created called the “Gold-Digger”.
Elvis
loved his 2 pounds of Bacon he ate every morning.
I
don’t know how he did it?
Not
to make a joke, but it is no wonder he died of heart failure.
This
is a lot of cholesterol…
The
Gold-Digger starts with a whole cabatta loaf
that is split in half,
The
bottom half is then spread with a half jar of peanut butter,
It
is then covered with an entire jar of black jam,
It
is then topped with 1 pound of crisp bacon,
Then
a split fried banana,
And
then of course topped with the other half of the cabatta loaf.
This
is one mean sandwich,
It
actually coast $49.95 in Memphis
and it is served with a Dom Perignon.
PS: Can get
it without the Banana
and it is
called the Gold Digger without gold.
