Elvis songs

Elvis Presley's family moved to Memphis when he was 13. After working as a movie theater usher and a truck driver, he began singing locally as "The Hillbilly Cat", then signed with a local recording company, then in 1955 with RCA. He did much to establish early rock and roll music, bringing black blues singing into the white, teenage mainstream.

When he died he had sold over 600-million singles and albums. The first of his 33 films was Love Me Tender (1956); critics blasted most of his films, but they did very well at the box-office earning upwards of $150 million. Military service in the late 1950s and the "British invasion" of the 1960s reduced his concerts, though not his movie/recording income. He made a comeback in the 1970s, but his increasing weight and dependence upon stimulants and depressants took their toll.

Presley started as a singer of rockabilly, singing many songs from rhythm and blues, gospel and country. He was first billed as "The Hillbilly Cat". His combination of country music with bluesy vocals and a strong back beat marked a clear path toward rock & roll. He was the most commercially successful singer of rock and roll, but he also had success with ballads, country, gospel, blues, pop, folk and even semi-operatic and jazz standards.

In the late 1960s, Presley re-emerged as a live performer of old and new hit songs, both on tour and in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was known for his on-stage highly energetic performances both vocally and physically, his sartorial jump-suits and capes adding to the drama.