A Celebration of Women

shares this Tribute to a Soul in our History that passed this 16th day of August, 34 years ago.

Let’s all take a moment in our day to remember this man of our times, Elvis Presley.

Team Celebration sends our heartfelt blessings and warmest wishes to the surviving family.

Tribute to The King

Elvis Presley

(January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977)

Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century.

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.

Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, Presley moved to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family at the age of 13.

He began his career there in 1954 when Sun Records owner Sam Phillips,

eager to bring the sound of African American music to a wider audience, saw in Presley the means to realize his ambition. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis.

He is often referred to as the…

“King of Rock and Roll” or simply “the King”.

Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black,

Presley was one of the originators of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country and rhythm and blues.

RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker,

who would manage the singer for over two decades.

Presley’s first RCA single, “Heartbreak Hotel“, released in January 1956, was a number one hit.

He became the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll with a series of network television appearances and chart-topping records. His energized interpretations of songs, many from African American sources, and his uninhibited performance style made him enormously popular—and controversial.

He staged few concerts, however, and, guided by Parker, proceeded to devote much of the 1960s to making Hollywood movies and soundtrack albums, most of them critically derided.

In November 1956, he made his film debut in Love Me Tender.

Conscripted into military service in 1958, Presley relaunched his recording career two years later with some of his most commercially successful work.

Presley is regarded as one of the most important figures of 20th-century popular culture. He had a versatile voice and unusually wide success encompassing many genres, including country, pop ballads, gospel, and blues.

Priscilla and Elvis met in November 1959 at a party at Elvis’ off-base residence in Bad Nauheim in Germany. She was 14 1/2 years old.

Priscilla moved to Graceland in early 1963. Elvis formally proposed marriage to Priscilla in December 1966 and gave her an engagement ring with a three-and-a-half-carat diamond that was surrounded by a detachable row of smaller diamonds.

Elvis and Priscilla were married on May 1, 1967 in Milton Prell’s suite at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Their civil ceremony was performed by Nevada Supreme Court Justice David Zenoff. The maid of honor was Michelle Beaulieu and best men were Marty Lacker and Joe Esposito. According to a Las Vegas SUN news report about their wedding, “Presley wore a black brocade silk tuxedo and Western boots, while Priscilla wore a floor-length wedding gown of her own design: white silk chiffon, with beaded yoke, trimmed in seed pearls and topped with a three-foot tulle veil secured by a rhinestone crown.”

Their 8-minute morning wedding ceremony was attended by a small number of family and friends and was followed by a press conference and a breakfast reception for 100 guests.

Their wedding cake had six-tiers.

Elvis and Priscilla reportedly danced to “Love Me Tender” at their wedding reception.

Tribute to Priscilla…..

They honeymooned in Palm Springs, California for a few days. Elvis was thirty-two years old and Priscilla was twenty-one years old when they married. Priscilla and Elvis had a second wedding reception at Graceland on May 29, 1967 for family and friends who could not make it to Las Vegas for their wedding.

The birth of their only child, named Lisa Marie Presley was born in Memphis, Tennessee, exactly nine months after her parents’ wedding. She lived at Graceland, Elvis’ Memphis estate, until her parents’ separated in 1972. Following their separation, and subsequent divorce, she divided her time between living at Graceland with her father and in Beverly Hills with her mother. This arrangement continued until her father died on August 16, 1977, after which she lived exclusively in Beverly Hills.

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…a Return to the World of “Rock & Roll”, 1968

In 1968, after seven years away from the stage, he returned to live performance in a celebrated comeback television special that led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and a string of profitable tours.

In 1973,

Presley staged the first concert broadcast globally via satellite,

Aloha from Hawaii, seen by approximately 1.5 billion viewers.

Presley is regarded as one of the most important figures of 20th-century popular culture. He had a versatile voice and unusually wide success encompassing many genres, including country, pop ballads, gospel, and blues.

The passing of this amazing human being was an unexpected event that shocked the world.

In fact,the social denial of this passing over the years has created sightings, misgivings, public rebukes, questions and has taken many more forms of manifestations, all in hope that the “King” is still alive, here on Earth. May the memory of this talent ‘Live Forever’..

Prescribed drugs severely compromised his health, and he died suddenly in 1977 at the age of 42.

• He is the best-selling solo artist in the history of popular music.
• Nominated for 14 competitive Grammys, he won three, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36.
• He has been inducted into four music halls of fame.

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A Celebration of Women

celebrates the Life of this Amazing Soul,

celebrates the Spirit of this Man,

honours the passing of this Life.

Rest in Peace, Elvis.