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Elvis Aaron Presley[a] (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), often referred to mononymously as Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, led him to both great success and initial controversy.
Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family when he was 13 years old. His music career began there in 1954, recording at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African-American music to a wider audience. Presley, on rhythm acoustic guitar, and accompanied by lead guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, was a pioneer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country music and rhythm and blues. In 1955, drummer D. J. Fontana joined to complete the lineup of Presley's classic quartet and RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, who would manage him for more than two decades. Presley's first RCA Victor single, "Heartbreak Hotel", was released in January 1956 and became a number-one hit in the United States. Within a year, RCA would sell ten million Presley singles. With a series of successful network television appearances and chart-topping records, Presley became the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll; though his performative style and promotion of the then-marginalized sound of African Americans[6] led to him being widely considered a threat to the moral well-being of the White American youth.
In November 1956, Presley made his film debut in Love Me Tender. Drafted into military service in 1958, Presley relaunched his recording career two years later with some of his most commercially successful work. He held few concerts, however, and guided by Parker, proceeded to devote much of the 1960s to making Hollywood films and soundtrack albums, most of them critically derided. Some of his most famous films included Jailhouse Rock (1957), Blue Hawaii (1961), and Viva Las Vegas (1964). In 1968, following a seven-year break from live performances, he returned to the stage in the acclaimed television comeback special Elvis, which led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and a string of highly profitable tours. In 1973, Presley gave the first concert by a solo artist to be broadcast around the world, Aloha from Hawaii. Years of prescription drug abuse and unhealthy eating habits severely compromised his health, and he died suddenly in 1977 at his Graceland estate at the age of 42.
Having sold over 400 million records worldwide, Presley is recognized as the best-selling solo music artist of all time by Guinness World Records. He was commercially successful in many genres, including pop, country, rhythm & blues, adult contemporary, and gospel. Presley won three Grammy Awards, received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, and has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame. He holds several records, including the most RIAA-certified gold and platinum albums, the most albums charted on the Billboard 200, the most number-one albums by a solo artist on the UK Albums Chart, and the most number-one singles by any act on the UK Singles Chart. In 2018, Presley was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, to Vernon Elvis (April 10, 1916 – June 26, 1979) and Gladys Love (née Smith; April 25, 1912 – August 14, 1958) Presley in a two-room shotgun house that his father built for the occasion. Elvis's identical twin brother, Jesse Garon Presley, was delivered 35 minutes before him, stillborn. Presley became close to both parents and formed an especially close bond with his mother. The family attended an Assembly of God church, where he found his initial musical inspiration.
A photo of Elvis's parents at the Historic Blue Moon Museum in Verona, Mississippi
Presley's father Vernon was of German, Scottish and English origins. He was a descendant of the Harrison family of Virginia through his ancestor Tunis Hood. Presley's mother Gladys was Scots-Irish with some French Norman ancestry. His mother and the rest of the family believed that her great-great-grandmother, Morning Dove White, was Cherokee. This belief was restated by Elvis's granddaughter Riley Keough in 2017. Elaine Dundy, in her biography, supports the belief.
Vernon moved from one odd job to the next, showing little ambition. The family often relied on help from neighbors and government food assistance. In 1938, they lost their home after Vernon was found guilty of altering a check written by his landowner and sometime-employer. He was jailed for eight months, while Gladys and Elvis moved in with relatives.
In September 1941, Presley entered first grade at East Tupelo Consolidated, where his teachers regarded him as "average". He was encouraged to enter a singing contest after impressing his schoolteacher with a rendition of Red Foley's country song "Old Shep" during morning prayers. The contest, held at the Mississippi–Alabama Fair and Dairy Show on October 3, 1945, was his first public performance. The ten-year-old Presley stood on a chair to reach the microphone and sang "Old Shep". He recalled placing fifth. A few months later, Presley received his first guitar for his birthday; he had hoped for something else—by different accounts, either a bicycle or a rifle. Over the following year, he received basic guitar lessons from two of his uncles and the new pastor at the family's church. Presley recalled, "I took the guitar, and I watched people, and I learned to play a little bit. But I would never sing in public. I was very shy about it."
In September 1946, Presley entered a new school, Milam, for sixth grade; he was regarded as a loner. The following year, he began bringing his guitar to school on a daily basis. He played and sang during lunchtime and was often teased as a "trashy" kid who played hillbilly music. By then, the family was living in a largely black neighborhood. Presley was a devotee of Mississippi Slim's show on the Tupelo radio station WELO. He was described as "crazy about music" by Slim's younger brother, who was one of Presley's classmates and often took him into the station. Slim supplemented Presley's guitar instruction by demonstrating chord techniques. When his protégé was 12 years old, Slim scheduled him for two on-air performances. Presley was overcome by stage fright the first time, but succeeded in performing the following week.
In November 1948, the family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. After residing for nearly a year in rooming houses, they were granted a two-bedroom apartment in the public housing complex known as the Lauderdale Courts. Enrolled at L. C. Humes High School, Presley received only a C in music in eighth grade. When his music teacher told him that he had no aptitude for singing, he brought in his guitar the next day and sang a recent hit, "Keep Them Cold Icy Fingers Off Me", to prove otherwise. A classmate later recalled that the teacher "agreed that Elvis was right when he said that she didn't appreciate his kind of singing". He was usually too shy to perform openly and was occasionally bullied by classmates who viewed him as a "mama's boy".
In 1950, he began practicing guitar regularly under the tutelage of Lee Denson, a neighbor two and a half years his senior. They and three other boys—including two future rockabilly pioneers, brothers Dorsey and Johnny Burnette—formed a loose musical collective that played frequently around the Courts. That September, he began working as an usher at Loew's State Theater. Other jobs followed at Precision Tool, Loew's again, and MARL Metal Products. Presley also helped Jewish neighbors, the Fruchters, by being their shabbos goy.
During his junior year, Presley began to stand out more among his classmates, largely because of his appearance: he grew his sideburns and styled his hair with rose oil and Vaseline. In his free time, he would head down to Beale Street, the heart of Memphis's thriving blues scene, and gaze longingly at the wild, flashy clothes in the windows of Lansky Brothers. By his senior year, he was wearing those clothes. Overcoming his reticence about performing outside the Lauderdale Courts, he competed in Humes' Annual "Minstrel" show in April 1953. Singing and playing guitar, he opened with "Till I Waltz Again with You", a recent hit for Teresa Brewer. Presley recalled that the performance did much for his reputation: "I wasn't popular in school ... I failed music—only thing I ever failed. And then they entered me in this talent show ... when I came onstage I heard people kind of rumbling and whispering and so forth, 'cause nobody knew I even sang. It was amazing how popular I became in school after that."
Presley, who received no formal music training and could not read music, studied and played by ear. He also frequented record stores that provided jukeboxes and listening booths to customers. He knew all of Hank Snow's songs, and he loved records by other country singers such as Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, Ted Daffan, Jimmie Rodgers, Jimmie Davis, and Bob Wills. The Southern gospel singer Jake Hess, one of his favorite performers, was a significant influence on his ballad-singing style. He was a regular audience member at the monthly All-Night Singings downtown, where many of the white gospel groups that performed reflected the influence of African-American spiritual music. He adored the music of black gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Like some of his peers, he may have attended blues venues—of necessity, in the segregated South—only on nights designated for exclusively white audiences. He certainly listened to the regional radio stations, such as WDIA-AM, that played "race records": spirituals, blues, and the modern, backbeat-heavy sound of rhythm and blues. Many of his future recordings were inspired by local African-American musicians such as Arthur Crudup and Rufus Thomas. B.B. King recalled that he had known Presley before he was popular when they both used to frequent Beale Street. By the time he graduated from high school in June 1953, Presley had already singled out music as his future.
Graceland is a mansion on a 13.8-acre (5.6-hectare) estate in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, which was once owned by the rock and roll singer Elvis Presley. His daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, inherited Graceland after his death in 1977. Following Lisa Marie Presley's death in 2023, the mansion is to be inherited by her daughters. In addition to being the final resting place of Elvis Presley himself, the property contains the graves of his parents, paternal grandmother and grandson, and contains a memorial to Presley's stillborn twin brother. In addition, Lisa Marie Presley will be buried there.
Graceland is located at 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard in the Whitehaven neighborhood, about nine miles (14 kilometers) south of central Memphis and fewer than four miles (6.4 km) north of the Mississippi border.[5] It was opened to the public as a house museum on June 7, 1982. The site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1991, becoming the first site recognized for significance related to rock music. Graceland was declared a National Historic Landmark on March 27, 2006, also a first for such a site. Graceland attracts more than 650,000 visitors annually.
Graceland Farms was originally owned by Stephen C. Toof, founder of S.C. Toof & Co., the oldest commercial printing firm in Memphis. He worked previously as the pressroom foreman of the Memphis newspaper, the Memphis Daily Appeal. The "grounds" (before the mansion was built in 1939) were named after Toof's daughter, Grace. She inherited the farm/property from her father in 1894. After her death, the property was passed to her niece Ruth Moore, a Memphis socialite. Together with her husband, Thomas Moore, Ruth Moore commissioned construction of a 10,266-square-foot (953.7 m2) Colonial Revival style mansion in 1939. The house was designed by architects Furbringer and Ehrman.
After Elvis Presley began his musical career, he purchased a $40,000 home for himself and his family at 1034 Audubon Drive in Memphis. As his success and fame grew, especially after his appearances on television, the number of fans who would congregate outside the house multiplied. Presley's neighbors, although happy to have a celebrity living nearby, soon concluded that the constant gathering of fans and journalists was a nuisance.
In early 1957, Presley gave his parents, Vernon and Gladys Presley, a budget of $100,000 and asked them to find a "farmhouse"-like property to purchase, with buffer space around it. At the time, Graceland was located in southern Shelby County, several miles south of Memphis' main urban area. In later years, Memphis would expand with residential developments, resulting in Graceland being surrounded by other properties. Presley purchased Graceland on March 19, 1957, for the amount of $102,500.
Later that year, Presley invited Richard Williams and singer Buzz Cason to the house. Cason said: "We proceeded to clown around on the front porch, striking our best rock 'n' roll poses and snapping pictures with the little camera. We peeked in the not-yet-curtained windows and got a kick out of the pastel colored walls in the front rooms with shades of bright reds and purples that Elvis most certainly had picked out." Presley was fond of claiming that the US government had mooted a visit to Graceland by Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union, "to see how in America a fellow can start out with nothing and, you know, make good."
After Gladys died in 1958 aged 46, Presley's father Vernon remarried to Dee Stanley in 1960, and the couple lived at Graceland for a time. There was some discord between Presley and his stepmother Dee at Graceland, however. Elaine Dundy, who wrote about Presley and his mother, said that
"Vernon had settled down with Dee where Gladys had once reigned, while Dee herself – when Elvis was away – had taken over the role of mistress of Graceland so thoroughly as to rearrange the furniture and replace the very curtains that Gladys had approved of." This was too much for the singer, who still loved his late mother deeply. One afternoon, "a van arrived ... and all Dee's household's goods, clothes, 'improvements,' and her own menagerie of pets, were loaded on ... while Vernon, Dee and her three children went by car to a nearby house on Hermitage until they finally settled into a house on Dolan Drive which ran alongside Elvis' estate."
According to Mark Crispin Miller, Graceland became for Presley "the home of the organization that was himself, was tended by a large vague clan of Presleys and deputy Presleys, each squandering the vast gratuities which Elvis used to keep his whole world smiling." The author adds that Presley's father Vernon "had a swimming pool in his bedroom", that there "was a jukebox next to the swimming pool, containing Elvis' favorite records", and that the singer himself "would spend hours in his bedroom, watching his property on a closed-circuit television." According to the singer's cousin, Billy Smith, Presley spent the night at Graceland with Smith and his wife Jo many times: "we were all three there talking for hours about everything in the world! Sometimes he would have a bad dream and come looking for me to talk to, and he would actually fall asleep in our bed with us."
Priscilla Beaulieu lived at Graceland for five years before she and Presley wed in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 1, 1967. Their daughter Lisa Marie Presley was born on February 1, 1968, and spent the first years of her life on the estate. After her parents divorced in 1972, her mother moved with the girl to California. Every year around Christmas, Lisa Marie Presley and all her family would go to Graceland to celebrate Christmas together. Lisa Marie often returned to Graceland for visits.
When Elvis would tour, staying in hotels, "the rooms would be remodeled in advance of his arrival, so as to make the same configurations of space as he had at home – the Graceland mansion. His furniture would arrive, and he could unwind after his performances in surroundings which were completely familiar and comforting." 'The Jungle Room' was described as being "an example of particularly lurid kitsch."[
On August 16, 1977, Presley died aged 42 at Graceland. The official cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia, although later toxicology reports strongly suggested that polypharmacy was the primary cause of death; "fourteen drugs were found in Elvis' system, with several drugs such as codeine in significant quantities. Presley lay in repose in a 900-pound (410 kg), copper-lined coffin just inside the foyer; more than 3,500 of his mourning fans passed by to pay their respects. A private funeral with 200 mourners was held on August 18, 1977, in the house, with the casket placed in front of the stained glass doorway of the music room. Graceland continued to be occupied by members of the family until the death of Presley's aunt Delta in 1993, who had moved in at Elvis's invitation after her husband's death. Elvis's daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, inherited the estate in 1993 when she turned 25.
Presley's tombstone, along with those of his parents Gladys and Vernon Presley, and his grandmother Minnie Mae Presley, are installed in the Meditation Garden next to the mansion. They can be visited during the mansion tours or for free before the mansion tours begin. A memorial gravestone for Presley's stillborn twin brother, Jesse Garon, is also at the site.
In 2019, the owners of Graceland threatened to leave Memphis unless the city provided tax incentives. The Memphis City Council subsequently voted on a deal to help fund a $100 million expansion of Graceland.
Constructed at the top of a hill and surrounded by rolling pastures and a grove of oak trees, Graceland is designed by the Memphis architectural firm, Furbringer and Erhmanis. It's a two-story, five-bay residence in the Colonial Revival style, with a side-facing gabled roof covered in asphalt shingles, a central two-story projecting pedimented portico, and two one-story wings on the north and south sides. Attached to the wing is an additional one-story stuccoed wing, which was originally a garage that houses up to four cars. The mansion has two chimneys; one on the north side's exterior wall, the second rising through the south side's roof ridge. The central block's front and side facades are veneered with tan Tishomingo limestone from Mississippi and its rear wall is stuccoed, as are the one-story wings. The front facade fenestration on the first floor includes 9x9 double-hung windows set in arched openings with wooden panels above, and 6x6 double-hung windows on the second floor.
Flanked by two marble lions, four stone steps ascend from the driveway to the two-story central projecting pedimented portico. The pediment has dentils and a small, leaded oval window in the center while the portico contains four Corinthian columns with capitals modeled after architect James Stuart's conjectural porticos for the "Tower of the Winds" in Athens, Greece. The portico's cornered columns are matched by pilasters on the front facade. The doorway has a broken arched pediment, full entablature, and engaged columns while its transom and sidelights contain elaborate and colorful stained glass. And above the main entrance is another rectangular window, completed with a shallow iron balcony.
Graceland is 17,552 square feet (1,630.6 m2) and has a total of 23 rooms, including eight bedrooms and bathrooms. To the right of the Entrance Hall, through an elliptical-arched opening with classical details, is the Living Room. The Living Room contains a 15-foot-long (4.6 m) white couch against the wall overlooking the front yard. To the left are two white sofas, a china cabinet and a fireplace with a mirrored wall. The painting that hangs in the room was Elvis' last Christmas present from his father, Vernon, and also displayed are photographs of Elvis' parents Vernon and Gladys, Elvis and Lisa Marie. Behind an adjoined doorway is the Music Room, framed by vivid large peacocks set in stained glass and contains a black baby grand piano and a 1950s style TV. And the third adjacent room is a bedroom that was occupied by Elvis' parents. The walls, carpet, dresser, and queen size bed are bright white with the bed draped in a velvet-looking dark purple bedspread along with an en-suite full bathroom done in pink.
To the left of the Entrance Hall, mirroring the Living Room, is the Dining Room, headlined by a massive crystal chandelier. It features six plush chairs in golden metal frames set around a marble table, all of which are placed on black marble flooring in the center with carpet around the perimeter. Connected to the Dining Room is the Kitchen, which was used by Elvis' aunt Delta until her death in 1993 before it was opened to the public two years later.
The original one-story wing on the north end of the residence includes a mechanical room, bedroom, and bath. In the mid-1960s, Presley enlarged the house to create a den known as the Jungle Room which features an indoor waterfall of cut field stone on the north wall. The room also contains items both related to and imported from the state of Hawaii because, after starring in the tropical film "Blue Hawaii" (1961), the musician wanted to bring some memorabilia from The Aloha State to his mansion, which gives visitors the same feeling. In 1976, the Jungle Room was converted into a recording studio, where he recorded the bulk of his final two albums, From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee (1976) and Moody Blue (1977); these were his final known recordings in a studio setting.[27] During the mid-1960s expansion of the house, Presley constructed a large wing on the south side of the main house that was a sidewalk, between the music room in the original one-story wing and the swimming pool area, that connected to the house by a small enclosed gallery. The new wing initially housed a slot car track and to store his many items of appreciation, but was later remodeled to what is now known as the Trophy Building, which now features an exhibit about the Presley family, and includes Priscilla's wedding dress, Elvis' wedding tuxedo, Lisa Marie's toy chest and baby clothes and more.
The Entrance Hall contains a white staircase leading to the house's second floor with a wall of mirrors. However, the second floor is not open to visitors, out of respect for the Presley family, and partially to avoid any improper focus on the bathroom which was the site of his death. Still, it features Elvis' bedroom at the southwest corner that connects to his dressing room and bathroom in the northwest. His daughter Lisa Marie's bedroom is in the northeast corner, and in the southeast is a bedroom that served as a private personal office for the musician. The floor has been untouched since the day Elvis died and is rarely seen by non-family members.
Downstairs in the basement is the TV room, where Elvis often watched three television sets at once, and was within close reach of a wet bar. The three TV sets are built into the room's south wall and there's a stereo, and cabinets for Elvis' record collection. And painted on the west wall is The King's 1970s logo of a lightning bolt and cloud with the initials TCB, both of which represent 'taking care of business in a flash'. And the last room in the mansion opposite of the TV room is the billiard room; an avid billiards player, Elvis bought the pool table in 1960 and had the walls and ceiling covered with 350–400 yards of pleated cotton fabric after the two basement rooms were remodeled in 1974. The pool balls are arranged just the way they were in the musician's final days along with a strict warning sign to visitors that says "Please Do Not Touch! Thank You!" in capital letters. And in one corner of the pool table, there's a rip in the green felt, which was caused by one of Elvis' friends in a failed attempt of a trick shot.
Critics such as Albert Goldman write: "Though it cost a lot of money to fill up Graceland with the things that appealed to Elvis Presley, nothing in the house is worth a dime." In chapter 1 of his book, Elvis (1981), the author describes Graceland as looking like a brothel: "it appears to have been lifted from some turn-of-the-century bordello down in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Lulu White or the Countess Willie Piazza might have contrived this plushy parlor for the entertainment of Gyp the Blood. The room is a gaudy mélange of red velour and gilded tassels, Louis XV furniture and porcelain bric-a-brac..." And he dismisses the interior as "bizarre," "garish" and "phony," adding that "King Elvis's obsession with royal red reaches an intensity that makes you gag."
In similar terms, Greil Marcus writes that people who visited the inside of Graceland—"people who to a real degree shared Elvis Presley’s class background, and whose lives were formed by his music—have returned with one word to describe what they saw: ‘Tacky.’ Tacky, garish, tasteless—words others translated as white trash."
According to Karal Ann Marling, Graceland is "a Technicolor illusion. The façade is Gone With the Wind all the way. The den in the back is Mogambo with a hint of Blue Hawaii. Living in Graceland was like living on a Hollywood backlot, where patches of tropical scenery alternated with the blackened ruins of antebellum Atlanta. It was like living in a Memphis movie theater... Diehard fans are sometimes disappointed by the formal rooms along the highway side of Graceland. They’re beautiful, in a chilly blue-and-white way, but remote and overarranged." The Jungle Room's "overt bad taste" lets nonbelievers "recoil in horror and imagine themselves a notch or two higher than Elvis on the class scale."
After purchasing the property Presley spent in excess of $500,000 carrying out extensive modifications to suit his needs including a pink Alabama fieldstone wall surrounding the grounds that has several years' worth of graffiti (signatures and messages) from visitors, who simply refer to it as "the wall". Designed and built by Abe Sauer is the wrought-iron front gate shaped like a book of sheet music, along with green colored musical notes and two mirrored silhouettes of Elvis playing his guitar. Sauer also installed a kidney shaped swimming pool and a racquetball court, which is reminiscent of an old country club, furnished in dark leather and a functional bar. There is a sunken sitting area with the ever-present stereo system found throughout Graceland, as well as the dark brown upright piano upon which Elvis played for what were to be his last songs, Willie Nelson's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" and "Unchained Melody".
However, reports conflict about which one was the last song. The sitting area has a floor-to-ceiling shatterproof window designed to watch the many racquetball games that took place there when Elvis was alive. In the early hours of the morning on which Elvis died, he played a game of racquetball with his girlfriend Ginger Alden, his first cousin Billy Smith and Billy's wife Jo before ending the game with the song on the piano before walking into the main house to wash his hair and go to bed. Today the two story court has been restored to the way it was when Elvis used the building.
Elsewhere on the estate is a small white building that served as an office for Vernon, along with an old smokehouse that housed a shooting range and a fully functional stable of horses.
One of Presley's better known modifications was the addition of the Meditation Garden, designed and built by architect Bernard Grenadier. It was used by the musician to reflect on any problems or situations that arose during his life. It is also where his entire family is buried: himself (1935–1977), his parents Gladys (1912–1958) and Vernon (1916–1979), and grandmother Minnie Mae Hood (1890–1980) while a small stone memorializes his twin brother Jesse Garon, who died at birth thirty minutes before Elvis was born on January 8, 1935. In late 2020, Lisa Marie's son Benjamin Keough was laid to rest on the opposite end of the Meditation Garden after his death from suicide in July of that year. Lisa Marie Presley died from sudden cardiac arrest in January 2023 and is buried next to her son.
After Elvis Presley's death in 1977, Vernon Presley served as executor of his estate. Upon his death in 1979, he chose Priscilla to serve as the estate executor for Elvis's only child, Lisa Marie, who was only 11. Graceland itself cost $500,000 a year in upkeep, and expenses had dwindled Elvis's and Priscilla's daughter Lisa Marie's inheritance to only $1 million. Taxes were due on the property; those and other expenses due came to over $500,000. Faced with having to sell Graceland, Priscilla examined other famous houses/museums, and hired a CEO, Jack Soden, to turn Graceland into a moneymaker. Graceland was opened to the public on June 7, 1982. Priscilla's gamble paid off; after only a month of opening Graceland's doors the estate made back all the money it had invested. Priscilla Presley became the chairwoman and president of Elvis Presley Enterprises, or EPE, stating at that time she would do so until Lisa Marie reached 21 years of age. The enterprise's fortunes soared and eventually the trust grew to be worth over $100 million.
An annual procession through the estate and past Elvis's grave is held on the anniversary of his death. Known as Elvis Week, it includes a full schedule of speakers and events, including the only Elvis Mass at St. Paul's Church, the highlight for many Elvis fans of all faiths. The 20th Anniversary in 1997 had several hundred media groups from around the world that were present resulting in the event gaining its greatest media publicity.
One of the largest gatherings assembled on the 25th anniversary in 2002 with one estimate of 40,000 people in attendance, despite the heavy rain. On the 38th anniversary of Elvis's death, an estimated 30,000 people attended the Candlelight Vigil during the night of August 15–16, 2015. On the 40th anniversary of Elvis's death, on August 15–16, 2017, at least 50,000 fans were expected to attend the Candlelight Vigil. No official figure seems to have been released, maybe because, for the first time, attendees had to pay at least the lowest tour fare, $28.75, to cover the extra security costs due to a larger than usual crowd.
For many of the hundreds of thousands of people who visit Graceland each year, the visit takes on a quasi-religious perspective. They may plan for years to journey to the home of the 'King' of rock and roll. On site, headphones narrate the salient events of Elvis's life and introduce the relics that adorn the rooms and corridors. The rhetorical mode is hagiographic, celebrating the life of an extraordinary man, emphasizing his generosity, his kindness and good fellowship, how he was at once a poor boy who made good, an extraordinary musical talent, a sinner and substance abuser, and a religious man devoted to the Gospel and its music. At the meditation garden, containing Elvis's grave, some visitors pray, kneel, or quietly sing one of Elvis's favorite hymns. The brick wall that encloses the mansion's grounds is covered with graffiti that express an admiration for Presley as well as petitions for help and thanks for favors granted.
The Graceland grounds include a new exhibit complex, Elvis Presley's Memphis, which includes a new car museum, Presley Motors, which houses Elvis's Pink Cadillac. The complex features new exhibits and museums, as well as a studio for Sirius Satellite Radio's all-Elvis Presley channel. The service's subscribers all over North America can hear Presley's music from Graceland around the clock. Not far away on display are his two aircraft including Lisa Marie (a Convair 880 jetliner) and Hound Dog II (a Lockheed JetStar business jet). The jets are owned by Graceland and are on permanent static display.
In early August 2005, Lisa Marie Presley sold 85% of the business side of her father's estate. She kept the Graceland property itself, as well as the bulk of the possessions found therein, and she turned over the management of Graceland to CKX, Inc., an entertainment company (on whose board of directors Priscilla Presley sat) that also owns 19 Entertainment, creator of the American Idol TV show.
Graceland Holdings LLC, led by managing partner Joel Weinshanker, is the majority owner of EPE. Lisa Marie Presley's estate retains a 15% ownership in the company.
In August 2018, Gladys Presley's headstone, which contained the Jewish star of David on one side and a cross on the other and was designed by Elvis himself, which become publicly displayed when it placed in Graceland's Mediation Garden after being stored for many years in the Graceland Archive.
Lisa Marie Presley's estate, which is being held in trust for her daughters Riley Keough and Harper and Finley Lockwood, retain 100% sole personal ownership of Graceland Mansion itself and its over 13-acre original grounds as well as Elvis Presley's personal effects – including costumes, wardrobe, awards, furniture, cars, etc. Prior to her death in 2023, Lisa Marie Presley had made the mansion property and her father's personal effects permanently available for tours of Graceland and for use in all of EPE's operations.
According to Elvis Presley's Enterprises, staff at Graceland informally kept a list of celebrities who had visited in the first years following Elvis's death. This practice was not formalized for a decade. Muhammad Ali was an early celebrity visitor in 1978, as was singer Paul Simon. He toured Graceland in the early 80s and afterward wrote a song of the same name; it was the title track of his Grammy-winning album Graceland.
During the Joshua Tree Tour in 1987, U2 toured Graceland. The footage was filmed for the film Rattle & Hum. During the visit, drummer, Larry Mullen Jr., sat on Elvis Presley's motorcycle -- against the rules for Graceland visitors.
On June 30, 2006, then US President George W. Bush hosted Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for a tour of the mansion. It was one of the few private residences on United States soil to have been the site of an official joint-visit by a sitting US president and a serving head of a foreign government. On August 6, 2010, Prince Albert II, Head of State of the Principality of Monaco, and his fiancée (now Princess of Monaco) Charlene Wittstock, toured Graceland while vacationing in the US. On May 26, 2013, Paul McCartney of The Beatles visited Graceland. Prince William and Prince Harry, while in Memphis for a friend's wedding, visited Graceland on May 2, 2014.
The home has also been visited by former US President Jimmy Carter; the late Duchess of Devonshire, the sitting ambassadors of India, France, China, Korea and Israel to the United States; as well as several US governors, members of the US Congress, and at least two Nobel Prize winners, namely singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, a Literature Prize laureate, and the former President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, a Peace Prize honoree, who visited it on October 10, 2001.
In May 2016, Graceland welcomed a newlywed couple as its 20 millionth visitor.
In June 2022, actors Austin Butler and Tom Hanks visited the mansion and were interviewed virtually by the Good Morning America news program from the Jungle Room to talk about their biographical film Elvis.
In popular culture
Paul Simon named an album Graceland, as well as its title track. The song won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1987.
The song "Walking in Memphis" by Marc Cohn mentions Graceland; in the second verse, he refers to the mansion and the Jungle Room. This song was later covered by Cher and Lonestar, among others.
The film 3000 Miles to Graceland is about a group of criminals who plan to rob a casino during an international Elvis week, disguised as Elvis impersonators. No scenes take place at or near the estate.
The film Finding Graceland stars Harvey Keitel with Johnathon Schaech. Keitel is an impersonator who claims to be the real Elvis after Schaech picks him up as a hitch-hiker.
In the rock music "mockumentary" This Is Spinal Tap, band members gather around Presley's grave at Graceland and attempt to sing a verse of "Heartbreak Hotel".
Pop punk group Groovie Ghoulies have a song called "Graceland" on their 1997 album Re-Animation Festival.
In the movie Zombieland: Double Tap, the protagonists venture to Graceland in hopes of shelter during a zombie apocalypse, but are distressed to find it in a ruined state.
During the credits of Lilo & Stitch, there's a photograph of Lilo, Nani, David and Stitch visiting the front gates of Graceland. Almost 20 years later, the original painting of that shot was put on display as part of the traveling Walt Disney Archives exhibition at Graceland.
In the season three episode of American Dad “The Vacation Goo”, Steve Smith asks Stan Smith if they can go to Graceland for their next vacation and Stan says “Steve, if you want to pay your respects to a fat man who died on the toilet, we can visit your Aunt Mary’s grave.”
Phoebe Bridgers has a song "Graceland Too" on her second studio album Punisher.
In the third episode of National Treasure: Edge of History, "Graceland Gambit," the main protagonist, Jess (portrayed by Lisette Olivera) is on a treasure hunt that leads her and her friends to Graceland.
Florence + The Machine reference Graceland and Elvis in their song "Morning Elvis" on their 2022 album Dance Fever.
YOUR BABY IS DUE Aug 28:
You are currently 4 WEEKS PREGNANT
Estimated Date of Conception: Dec 05, 1988
(4 weeks 3 days or 1 months)
This is based on the cycle length provided, not an average cycle length of 28 days, however it is still an estimate.
PROGRESS: You are 12% of the way through your pregnancy.
12% Weekly Development WEEK 1 & 2
Weeks 1 & 2 of your pregnancy is Nov 22, 1988 - Dec 05, 1988
Baby Conceived: It's ovulation time. If sperm and egg meet, you're on your way to pregnancy.
WEEK 3: Week 3 of your pregnancy is Dec 06, 1988 - Dec 12, 1988
Implantation occurs: Your baby is a tiny ball of several hundred cells that are rapidly multiplying and burrowing into the lining of your uterus. The cells that become the placenta are producing hCG, the pregnancy hormone. It tells your ovaries to stop releasing eggs and keep producing progesterone. Once there's enough hCG in your urine, you'll get a positive pregnancy test result.
WEEK 4: Week 4 of your pregnancy is Dec 13, 1988 - Dec 19, 1988 - Positive Pregnancy Test: Your baby is an embryo made up of two layers, the hypoblast and the epiblast. The placenta is developing and preparing to provide nutrients and oxygen to your growing baby. The amniotic sac is developing and will surround and protect your baby while it continues to grow.
WEEK 5: Week 5 of your pregnancy is Dec 20, 1988 - Dec 26, 1988 - Your embryo is now made up of three layers, the ectoderm, the mesoderm and the endoderm which will later form all the organs and tissues. You might start to feel the first twinges of pregnancy such as tender breasts, frequent urination, or morning sickness.
WEEK 6: Week 6 of your pregnancy is Dec 27, 1988 - Jan 02, 1989
Heartbeat detectable by ultrasound. Your baby's heart is beating about 160 times a minute and the nose, mouth and ears are taking shape. Lungs and digestive system are forming organs.
WEEK 7: Week 7 of your pregnancy is Jan 03, 1989 - Jan 09, 1989 - Your baby is forming hands and feet. Key organs like the stomach, liver and esophagus are beginning to form. Your uterus has doubled in size. The umbilical cord is transferring blood and waste between baby and mother.
WEEK 8: Week 8 of your pregnancy is Jan 10, 1989 - Jan 16, 1989 - The respiratory system is forming now. Breathing tubes extend from the throat to the branches of the developing lungs.
WEEK 9: Week 9 of your pregnancy is Jan 17, 1989 - Jan 23, 1989 - Your baby is nearly an inch long now. If you watch closely, you may see your baby move if you have an ultrasound done
WEEK 10: Week 10 of your pregnancy is Jan 24, 1989 - Jan 30, 1989 - Your baby's organs are growing and beginning to mature. The baby's head comprises half the length of the body.
WEEK 11: Week 11 of your pregnancy is Jan 31, 1989 - Feb 06, 1989 - Fingers and toes have separated and the bones are beginning to harden. External genitalia has almost completely formed.
WEEK 12: Week 12 of your pregnancy is Feb 07, 1989 - Feb 13, 1989 - The kidneys can now secrete urine and the nervous system is maturing. You baby may be curling all 10 toes, practicing opening and closing fingers and sucking a thumb. And mom should have gained from 0,5 -3 kgs.
WEEK 13: Week 13 of your pregnancy is Feb 14, 1989 - Feb 20, 1989 - Miscarriage risk decreases. Your baby now has unique fingerprints and the kidney and urinary tract are completely functional, that means she's peeing. And if you are having a girl, her ovaries are already full of thousands of eggs.
WEEK 14: Week 14 of your pregnancy is Feb 21, 1989 - Feb 27, 1989 - Your baby's facial muscles are getting a workout as he squints, frowns, grimaces and practices his first smile for you.
WEEK 15: Week 15 of your pregnancy is Feb 28, 1989 - Mar 06, 1989 - Your baby is looking more like a baby with legs growing longer than the arms and all her limbs moving. The ears are properly positioned on the side of her head and the eyes are moving from the side of the head to the front of the face. At your doctor's visit, he should offer you a quad screening test to check for Down's syndrome or other chromosomal abnormalities.
WEEK 16: Week 16 of your pregnancy is Mar 07, 1989 - Mar 13, 1989 - Baby's heart is pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day. His eyes are working and moving side to side even though the eyelids are still sealed. Mom will have a "pregnancy glow" due to increased blood supply.
WEEK 17: Week 17 of your pregnancy is Mar 14, 1989 - Mar 20, 1989 - Baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone and her heart is now regulated by her brain. She's practicing her sucking and swallowing skills in preparation for that first suckle at your breast or the bottle. Mom's breasts may have increased a full bra size.
WEEK 18: Week 18 of your pregnancy is Mar 21, 1989 - Mar 27, 1989 - Gender reveal time. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticable now but he may hide them during an ultrasound. Are you feeling kickes and punches? Baby's hearing is also developing, so you may want to start talking to your baby.
WEEK 19: Week 19 of your pregnancy is Mar 28, 1989 - Apr 03, 1989 - Baby's brain is designating specialized areas for his 5 senses - vision, hearing, taste, smell and touch. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on his skin to prevent wrinkling.
WEEK 20: Week 20 of your pregnancy is Apr 04, 1989 - Apr 10, 1989 - Your baby weighs about 300 grams and is the size of a small banana. Her uterus is fully formed this week and she may have tiny primitive eggs in tiny ovaries now. His testicles are waiting for the scrotum to finish growing and will begin their descent soon. Mom can expect to gain about 1/2 lb per week for the rest of her pregnancy.
WEEK 21: Week 21 of your pregnancy is Apr 11, 1989 - Apr 17, 1989 - Feel all that moving and shaking going on! Baby's arms and legs are in proportion now and movements are much more coordinated. Bone marrow is now helping the liver and spleen produce blood cells. The intestines are starting to produce meconium, the thick tarry looking stool first seen in baby's diaper.
WEEK 22: Week 22 of your pregnancy is Apr 18, 1989 - Apr 24, 1989 - Senses are growing stronger. Now she can hear your heart beat, your breathing and digestion. Sense of sight is becoming more fine-tuned and he can preceive light and dark. Hormones are now developing which will the organs the commands they need to operate.
WEEK 23: Week 23 of your pregnancy is Apr 25, 1989 - May 01, 1989 - Premature baby may survive. Baby's organs and bones are visible through his skin, which has a red hue because of the developing veins and arteries beneath. He'll become less transparent as his fat deposits fill in. Baby is also developing surfactant which will help the lungs inflate if baby is born prematurely
WEEK 24: Week 24 of your pregnancy is May 02, 1989 - May 08, 1989 - Baby's face is almost fully formed complete with eyelashes, eyebrows and hair. Right now her hair is white because there's no pigment yet. Between now and 28 weeks, the doctor should send mom for a glucose screening test for gestational diabetes.
WEEK 25: Week 25 of your pregnancy is May 09, 1989 - May 15, 1989 - Baby is gaining more fat and looking more like a newborn. Hair color and texture is in place. His lungs are maturing and preparing for that first breath. You might feel the baby having hiccups.
WEEK 26: Week 26 of your pregnancy is May 16, 1989 - May 22, 1989 - Brain-wave activity is on high That means baby can hear noises and respond to them with an increase pulse rate or movement. Eyes are beginning to open but they don't have much pigmentation. That will develop over the next couple months and may even continue to change until she's about 6-months-old.
WEEK 27: Week 27 of your pregnancy is May 23, 1989 - May 29, 1989 - Start talking to your baby . Baby may recognize both your and your partner's voices. This is the time to read and even sing to your baby. She now has taste buds so when you eat spicy food, your baby will be able to taste the difference in the amniotic fluid. Her mealtime comes about two hours after yours. Feel some belly spasms? Those are likely hiccups from that spicy food. It doesn't bother the baby as much as you. Baby also has settled in to a regular sleep cycle, but it may be different from mom's.
WEEK 28: Week 28 of your pregnancy is May 30, 1989 - Jun 05, 1989 - During the third trimester the brain triples in weight adding billions of new nerve cells. Senses of hearing, smell and touch are developed and functional. Your baby is having different sleep cycles, including rapid eye movement. That means she's dreaming.
WEEK 29: Week 29 of your pregnancy is Jun 06, 1989 - Jun 12, 1989 - Baby can breathe. Baby's bones are soaking up lots of calcium as they harden so be sure to consume good sources of calcium. We recommend taking Nordic Naturals and Fairhaven Health supplements.
WEEK 30: Week 30 of your pregnancy is Jun 13, 1989 - Jun 19, 1989 - Baby's brain is taking on characteristic grooves and indentations to allow for an increased amount of brain tissue. Bone marrow has taken over the production of red blood cells. This means she'll be better able to thrive on her own when she's born Baby is now weighing about 1.36 kgs and is 28 centimetres.
WEEK 31: Week 31 of your pregnancy is Jun 20, 1989 - Jun 26, 1989 - Baby's brain is developing faster than ever and he's processing information, tracking light and perceiving signals from all five sense. She's probably moving a lot, especially at night when you're trying to sleep. Take comfort that all this activity means your baby is healthy. Mom may start feeling some Braxton Hicks contractions.
WEEK 32: Week 32 of your pregnancy is Jun 27, 1989 - Jul 03, 1989 - Baby can focus on large objects not too far away; toenails and fingernails have grown in along with real hair. He's practicing swallowing, breathing, kicking and sucking. All key skills for thriving after birth.
WEEK 33: Week 33 of your pregnancy is Jul 04, 1989 - Jul 10, 1989 - Immune system is maturing. The bones in your baby's skull are still pliable which makes it easier for her to fit through the birth canal. Your uterine walls are becoming thinner allowing more light to penetrate your womb. That helps baby differentiate between night and day.
WEEK 34: Week 34 of your pregnancy is Jul 11, 1989 - Jul 17, 1989 - Baby's fat layers are filling her out and will help regulate body temperture when she's born. If your baby is a boy, the testicles are making their way down from the abdomen to the scrotum.
WEEK 35: Week 35 of your pregnancy is Jul 18, 1989 - Jul 24, 1989 - Kidneys are fully developed and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her physical development is complete. She'll spend the next few weeks gaining weight and adding baby fat. Baby is settling lower into the pelvis preparing for delivery and this is called "lightening".
WEEK 36: Week 36 of your pregnancy is Jul 25, 1989 - Jul 31, 1989 - Hopefully your baby is in a head-down position. If not, your practitioner may suggest an external cephalic version to manipulate your baby into a head down position. The vernix caseosa has now disappeared.
WEEK 37: Week 37 of your pregnancy is Aug 01, 1989 - Aug 07, 1989 - Baby is considered full term. Baby is taking up most of the room in your womb so he's only kicking and poking you, no more somersaults. Baby is sucking her thumb, blinking eyes and inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid.
WEEK 38: Week 38 of your pregnancy is Aug 08, 1989 - Aug 14, 1989 - Baby's eyes right now are blue, gray or brown but once they're exposed to light they may change color or a shade. The lanugo, the fine downy hair that covered his body for warmth is falling off in preparation for delivery. Her lungs have strenthened and her vocal cords have developed. That means she's ready for her first cry.
WEEK 39: Week 39 of your pregnancy is Aug 15, 1989 - Aug 21, 1989 - Baby is ready to make his debut. He's adding more fat as his pinkish skin turns white or white-grayish. He won't have his final pigment until shortly after birth.
WEEK 40: Week 40 of your pregnancy is Aug 22, 1989 - Aug 28, 1989 - This is the official end of your pregnancy but because due dates are just a calculation he might be "late." No need to worry, your body knows the right time to go into labor, or your doctor may suggest you be induced. At birth your baby's eye sight is a little blurry since central vision is still developing. Just say hello and he'll recognize your voice.
During the Process of Fertilization, the sperm and the oocyte cease to exist as such, and a new human being is produced.
Here are some of our youth multipliers and scholarship holders who make up the AfroBreak dance group at Hummingbird. They are a pretty energetic group of youngsters who are more than dedicated to what they practice, which is mainly Break dancing.
With Beija-Flor na Comunidade (Hummingbird in the Community), it means we are taking Hummingbird to the community instead of the community coming to us. In other words, Hummingbird is spreading its wings!
The programme is part of a new strategy being developed by our youth mentors to get a preliminary feel in connection with their objectives to implant small Hummingbird nuclei in the more distant parts of our community, thus bringing our activities to the poorest kids who have no means of reaching our main centre.
The first community to be receiving some of Hummingbird’s vibrant activities is the Sitio Joaninha, which is a rough hilly area about 6 kilometres away from us, where many of the families who used to work on the rubbish tip live. The tip was closed down a few years ago and the area covered with topsoil so as to recuperate some of the natural vegetation.
Most of the shanty homes were constructed during the active years of the tip, when entire families found their livelihoods under the most unhealthy and hazardous working conditions. Since its closure there has been very few alternatives in the way of work and habitation, so very few have been able to move to better conditions. To the contrary; the area has rapidly grown to accommodate even more poverty-stricken families who have no other alternative than to grab a small plot of land and try to survive on what little is available in terms of public amenities in such places.
The majority of homes have no running water and depend on the council delivering drinking water by truck each day. Electricity is acquired through a series of illegal connections, which people have hooked-up to the main electricity network through a maze of literally thousands of metres of wiring crossing the landscape in all directions in order to bring power to one’s home.
This is quite common during the rapid growth of favela (shanty) areas and pressures from the inhabitants will eventually cause most councils to come up with a more satisfactory and less risky solution.
Many of the children who live here have a long way to walk to reach school, as there is no public transport. The tendency is therefore not to go, especially during the rainy or colder seasons. Very few have the willpower or even the means of getting to Hummingbird to participate in all the good things we have to offer in our Street Migration Prevention Programme, although there are some who do.
This is the main reason for us to bring Hummingbird to the kids. If we can manage to finance a more permanent solution we will be able to continue with a variety of activities throughout the entire year and not just during the school holiday season, which is our proposal in this phase of the project.
1000+ VIEWS.....
This is just my DEEPEST THANKS to you all who just Drop BUY
and VIEW my WORKS MORE POWER to US
This is one of the non-moon cards from the postcard show. It is a real photo postcard by *White Way Photo Studio" Broadway, New York. It was made with two mirrors that multiply the images of the subject. Only the back view is real while the other four are reflections. The card is dated Aug. 6th 1913 and is of Carl Horn of Lamar, Colorado.
I have posted an illustration showing how these images were made.
Same photo as before, but after duplicating a layer, setting the blend to 'multiply' and reducing the opacity of the top layer to 75% as per a Photoshop tutorial on over-exposed photos.
From Left to Right:
# 1: I won't pose, I better check out the view
# 2: Hello you in the camera!
# 3: Am I the only one who cares?
# 4: Hey! there's something in your shoe!!
# 5: Come on! Look at the camera!
Xeno Alejandro is a FIlipino Actor who appeared in several movies in the Philippines.
I was commissioned by Men's Division (Talent Agency c/o sir Chiqui) to do some shots of Xeno, for his portfolio books. Men's Division is the leading agency for male models and actors in town.
Xeno is a very nice guy and down to earth, not mention, a good model too. :-)
Thanks for the poses and for taking my directions very well..
Xeno's Film Appearances:
Desperadas (2008)
Roxxxanne (2007)
Pacquiao: The Movie (2006)
Bilog (2005)
Wanna have your own Jeff Yeo piece... please PM me here or contact 09179614443 to have your own photo shoot appointment.
Photo Credits:
Photography / Post Processing: Jeff Yeo
(http://jepoyyeo.multiply.com)
Styling/Direction: Jeff Yeo
Client: Xeno Alejandro (c/o Men's Division)
Wardrobe: Client's Own
***All photos are owned and copyrighted by Jeff Yeo (http://jepoyyeo.multiply.com)
2009 All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use, copy, editing, reproduction, publication, duplication and distribution of the digital photos, without his explicit permission, is punishable by law. Subject to Philippine and International Copyright Conventions on Intellectual Property Rights***
I have been working on a new stickerdesign for when my second kid is born.
It will be printed next week, but you won't see it on the streets before june. :-)
*this is a strong texture
*multiply is good for portrait surroundings or broken houses and inanimate objects.
*for portraits , overlay or screen mode may be more suitable as this texture makes your picture dark really quickly...
has cracks and lint look.
*this is also one of my favorite textures because it looks like cloth without the criss cross squares of polyester fabric (i dont like straight lines)
*we would like to see what you do with this! :D