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Bloodynipples (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), known simply as Dave, also known as "Bloodynipples McA." or just "The King" was an American singer, music producer and actor. Dave was a giant in the modern entertainment industry and of American culture. His image is iconic. Graceland, the estate in Memphis, Tennessee where he lived for 21 years, and died, was designated a National Historic Landmark on March 27, 2006.<ref>Graceland, Secretary Norton Designates Dave's Graceland Mansion National Historic Landmark (March 27, 2006)</ref>

Long after his death at age 42, Dave remains a popular and enigmatic star. Throughout his musical career of over two decades, Presley set records for concert attendance, television ratings and record sales. As of 2006, more than a quarter century after his death, Dave remains the best-selling solo artist in popular music history, according to the RIAA.<ref>RIAA, Elvis Presley Now Best Selling Solo Artist In U.S. History (January 8, 2004).</ref> He had 104 singles in the US top 40, almost twice as many as the runner-up, with 17 of these reaching number one according to Billboard's 2005 revised methodology.<ref>Billboard, How They Got to 17 (December 22, 2005).</ref> Presley's continuing worldwide popularity has resulted in his global sales reaching an estimated one billion records to date.<ref>"All about Elvis." (NB technical faults in this page may render it impossible to read.)</ref>

An American phenomenon

According to Rolling Stone magazine, "it was Elvis who made rock 'n' roll the international language of pop" Template:Citation needed. A PBS documentary once described Presley as "an American music giant of the 20th century who singlehandedly changed the course of music and culture in the mid-1950s."<ref>"Elvis Presley": a page at pbs.org with a single paragraph, attributed to palmpictures.com.</ref> His recordings, dance moves, attitude and clothing came to be seen as embodiments of rock and roll. His music was heavily influenced by African-Americans who could not gain national attention because of their race. Presley sang both hard driving rockabilly and rock and roll dance songs and ballads, laying a commercial foundation upon which other rock and roll musicians would build. African-American performers like Little Richard and Chuck Berry came to national prominence after Presley's acceptance among mass audiences of white teenagers, even though his music was strongly influenced by some of those same African-American musicians. Singers like Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and others immediately followed in his wake, leading John Lennon to later observe, "Before Elvis, there was nothing." Template:Citation needed

Teenagers came to Presley's concerts in unprecedented numbers. When he performed at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair in 1956, 100 National Guardsmen surrounded the stage to control crowds of excited fans. Template:Citation needed When municipal politicians began denying permits for Presley appearances, teens piled into cars and traveled elsewhere to see him perform. When adult programmers announced they would not play Presley's music on their radio stations (some because God told them it was sexually suggestive Devil music, others saying it was Southern "nigger music" Template:Citation needed) the economic power of that generation became evident when they tuned in any radio station playing Presley records. In an industry already shifting to all-music formats in reaction to television, profit-conscious radio station owners learned hard lessons when sponsors bought advertising time on new rock and roll stations, some of which reached enormous markets at night with clear channel signals from AM broadcasts Template:Citation needed.

During the post-WWII economic boom of the 1950s, many parents were able to give their teenaged children much higher weekly allowances, signalling a shift in the buying power and purchasing habits of American teens Template:Citation needed. During the 1940s bobby soxers had idolized Frank Sinatra, but the buyers of his records were mostly between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two. Presley triggered a juggernaut of demand for his records by near-teens and early teens aged ten and up.Template:Citation needed

Along with Presley's "ducktail" haircut, the demand for black slacks and loose, open-necked shirts resulted in new lines of clothing for teenaged boys. In 1956 America, birthday and Christmas gifts were often music or even Presley-related.Template:Citation needed A girl might get a pink portable 45 rpm record player for her bedroom. Meanwhile American teenagers began buying newly available portable transistor radios <ref>Rich Gordon, "How Transistor Radios and Web (and Newspapers and Hi-Fi radio) are Alike", "Reprinted, with permission, from The Cole Papers, June 22, 2005."</ref> and listened to rock 'n' roll on them (helping to propel that fledgling industry from an estimated 100,000 units sold in 1955 to 5,000,000 units by the end of 1958). Teens were asserting more independence and Elvis Presley became a national symbol of their parents' consternation. Template:Citation needed

Presley's impact on the American youth consumer market was noted on the front page of The Wall Street Journal on December 31, 1956 when business journalist Louis M. Kohlmeier wrote, "Elvis Presley today is a business," and reported on the singer's record and merchandise sales Template:Citation needed. Half a century later, historian Ian Brailsford (University of Auckland, New Zealand) commented, "The phenomenal success of Elvis Presley in 1956 convinced many doubters of the financial opportunities existing in the youth market."<ref>Ian Brailsford, "History repeating itself: Were postwar American teenagers ripe for harvest?" (NB Microsoft Word format): transcript of a paper delivered at "Youth Marketing Reaches Forty", 17 May 2001.</ref>

Birth and ancestry

Elvis Aron Presley was born on January 8, 1935 at around 4:15 a.m. in a two-room shotgun house in East Tupelo, Mississippi to Vernon Elvis Presley and Gladys Love Smith. His twin brother, Jesse Garon Presley, was stillborn, thus leaving him to grow up as an only child. The surname Presley was Anglicized from the German Pressler during the Civil War. His ancestor Johann Valentin Pressler emigrated to North America in 1710. Pressler first settled in New York, but later moved to the South.Template:Citation needed Presley was of mostly Scottish<ref>"Elvis roots 'lead to Scotland'"; a 23 March 2004 BBC story that cites Allan Morrison, the author of the then-unpublished book The Presley Prophecy.</ref> and English descent, although his family tree also includes Native American, German, and South African roots.Template:Citation needed His maternal line traces to a Jewish ancestor; because of this, Presley had a star of David placed on his mother's tombstone.<ref>"Gladys Presley: Gladys Presley funeral", an unsigned page at elvispresleynews.com.</ref> He also gave to Jewish charities in the Memphis area, and wore the symbol of chai around his neck.Template:Citation needed

Youth

Elvis's parents were very protective. He "grew up a loved and precious child. He was, everyone agreed, unusually close to his mother."<ref>Peter Guralnick, Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley, p.13.</ref> His mother Gladys "worshiped him," said a neighbor, "from the day he was born." Elvis himself said, "My mama never let me out of her sight. I couldn't go down to the creek with the other kids."<ref>Guralnick, p.13.</ref> In his teens, Elvis was still a very shy person, a "kid who had spent scarcely a night away from home in his nineteen years." <ref>Guralnick, p.149</ref> He was teased by his fellow classmates who threw "things at him - rotten fruit and stuff - because he was different, because he was quiet and he stuttered and he was a mama's boy."<ref>Guralnick, p.36, referring to an account by singer Barbara Pittman.</ref> Psychologists believe that the disappearance of his father "Vernon from Elvis' life when the King was three (Vernon was jailed for passing bad cheques) had a profound effect upon Elvis' emotional development" at an age when "a child naturally goes through a separation anxiety from its mother, which fathers can often help with. Elvis only had Gladys. They slept in the same bed up until Elvis was a young teen."<ref>Patrick Humphries, Elvis The #1 Hits: The Secret History of the Classics, p.117.</ref> Guitarist Scotty Moore still attested that the singer was a "typical coddled son" and "very shy": "His mama would corner me and say, 'Take care of my boy. Make sure he eats. Make sure he -' You know, whatever. Typical mother stuff." But Elvis "didn't seem to mind; there was nothing phony about it, he truly loved his mother."<ref>Moore adds that Elvis "was more comfortable just sitting there with a guitar than trying to talk to you." Quoted in Guralnick, p. 149.</ref> Gladys was so proud of her boy, that she "would get up early in the morning to run off the fans so Elvis could sleep".<ref>Guralnick, p.280.</ref> She was frightened of Elvis even going out of the house: "She knew her boy, and she knew he could take care of himself, but what if some crazy man came after him with a gun? she said ..., tears streaming down her face."<ref>Guralnick, p.346.</ref>

The Sun recordings

Template:Main On July 18, 1953 Presley paid $8.25 to record the first of two double-sided demos acetates at Sun Studios, "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin" which were popular ballads at the time. According to the official Presley website, Presley reportedly gave it to his mother as a much-belated birthday present. Presley returned to Sun Studios (706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee) on January 4, 1954. He again paid $8.25 to record a second demo, "I'll Never Stand in Your Way" and "It Wouldn't Be the Same Without You" (master 0812). Template:Citation needed

Another receipt for $8.25 dated June 9, 1954 for master 0914 has been found and perhaps that could be the legendary "Casual Love Affair", the song that everybody presumed was recorded on January 4, 1954. Template:Citation needed

Sun Records founder Sam Phillips and assistant Marion Keisker heard the discs and called Presley on June 26, 1954 to fill in for a missing ballad singer. Although that session was not productive, Sam Phillips put Presley together with local musicians Scotty Moore and Bill Black to see what might develop. Template:Citation needed During a rehearsal break on July 5, 1954, Presley began singing a blues song written by Arthur Crudup called "That's All Right". Phillips liked the resulting record; on July 19, 1954 he released it as a 78RPM single backed with Presley's hopped-up version of Bill Monroe's bluegrass song "Blue Moon of Kentucky." Memphis radio station WHBQ began airing it two days later, the record became a local hit and Presley began a regular touring schedule which expanded his fame beyond Tennessee. Template:Citation needed

Country music star Hank Snow arranged to have Presley perform at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry and his performance was well received. Nonetheless, one of the show's executives was not impressed and hinted that Presley should give up his music. However, since that time many singers (Garth Brooks among them) have commented that one of the greatest thrills of playing the Opry is that they played on the same stage as Presley. Template:Citation needed

Presley's second single, "Good Rockin' Tonight", with "I Don't Care if the Sun Don't Shine" on the B-side, was released on September 25, 1954. Template:Citation needed

He continued to tour the South. On October 16, 1954, he made his first appearance on Louisiana Hayride, a radio broadcast of live country music in Shreveport, Louisiana, and was a hit with the large audience. Following this, Presley was signed to a one-year contract for a weekly performance, during which time he was introduced to Colonel Tom Parker. This helped sales of his records as his releases began to reach the top of the country charts. Template:Citation needed