In Elvis Presley biography, he also sang gospel music.

King Creole

In Elvis Presley biography, he was born January 8, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi.

In 1954 he began his music career with Sam Phillips who was the owner of Sun Records.

In 1946, Vernon and Gladys moved into Tupelo and Vernon found a job as a truck driver.

They lived in a two room house with a kitchen and one bedroom.

The Presleys loved Elvis and looked after him very well and Gladys even walked him to school every day.

Elvis probably got his music urge from his uncles Johnny Smith and Vestor Presley who played guitar and sang hill billy songs in the Mississippi way.

Elvis Presley biography continues, Elvis liked to listen to them singing, when they were sitting out on the front porch, of the little house.

He learned a great deal of gospel music in church, as the congregation sang with the Pastor.

When he was twelve he got a guitar for his birthday and his uncles taught him how to play but Elvis practiced very hard by himself and sang along with his guitar music.

Elvis Presley biography continues, in 1948 his father Vernon found a job and they moved to Memphis.

Elvis hung around with the people on Beale Street the home of most of the blues singers.

Elvis attended L.C.Humes High School and graduated in 1953.

He was the first person in the family to ever finish school with a diploma.

He found a job as a truck driver for the Crown Electric Company and sang at nights in the small clubs around Memphis.

In the summer of 1953, he passed by The Memphis Recording Service on Union Avenue, which was owned by Sam Phillips and recorded a record for four dollars that he said was for his mother's birthday.

Elvis Presley biography continues, in September 9th 1954, he recorded the songs, "Good Rocking Tonight" and "I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine".

On the 9th of October 1954, Elvis signed a contract to play on the Louisanna Hayride. He was paid eighteen dollars every saturday night for a year.

In Elvis Presley biography, he began to hang around the studio and make friends with everybody in the studio.

One day he was fooling around and singing a song titled, "That's All Right" and Sam Phillips asked him to sing the song again.

Elvis recorded, "That's All Right" on one side of the record and "Blue moon of Kentucky" on the other side.

They decided to play it on WHBQ Radio and the phone lines lit up, the people were asking who was the singer and some thought he must be a black person to sing so well.

"That's All Right" became a hit and Elvis released other songs with Sam Phillips Studio or Sun Records.

In 1955 he released, "Mystery train", "I Forgot to Remember To Forget", "You're a Heartbreaker", "Baby let's Play House" and many other songs.

Sam Phillips thought Elvis was getting too popular to handle by himself, and Colonel Tom Parker took over as Elvis Presley's Manager.

Colonel Tom Parker had been manager for Eddie Arnold and Hank Snow, so he had good experience in handling singers and artists.

Continuing with Elvis Presley biography, in late 1955, Tom Parker signed the contract with RCA Records to buy Elvis Presley's contract from Sam Phillips Studio for a sum of about $30,000 dollars plus a Cadillac car.

Included in Sun masters purchased by RCA were the tapes for, "I Love You Because" recorded July 6, 1954.

In January 28, 1956 Elvis made his first TV appearance with Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey on the Dorsey Brothers TV Show.

His Hip-swinging performance of Heartbreak Hotel and the furor that followed is now part of show business history.

The record single, "Heartbreak Hotel" released the same week, shot to the top of the charts and became the first in a line of gold records for Elvis.

He later played on the the Milton Berle Show and later Steve Allen Show.

Elvis Presley biography continues, in April of 1956 the first Elvis LP titled, "Elvis Presley Album Of Juke Box Favorites" was released. Most of the recording was done in RCA's New York Studios, making it the first time Elvis had recorded outside of the south.

With his success with these TV shows, Elvis was ready to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show. Colonel Parker arranged it for the sum of fifty thousand dollars for three shows.

It was with the Ed Sullivan show, September 9, 1956 that Elvis's popularity really took off, as teenagers went wild with his looks and his singing. Elvis introduced, "Love Me Tender" the title song from his first movie.

Elvis Presley biography continues, CBS censored the last show, insisting that Presley's gyrating performance fringed on obscenity.

In 1956 and 1957 Elvis released the songs, "Heartbreak Hotel", "Hound Dog", "Love me Tender", "All Shook Up", "Jail House Rock" and many More.

On January 7, 1957 on the Ed Sullivan Show Elvis sang the song, "Peace In The Valley", which made it possible to make his first gospel album.

He toured Toronto, Canada on the 2nd of April, 1957. He performed two concerts, and the City turned out by the thousands to see him sing.

He was accompanied by Scotty Moore, Bill Black and D.J. Fontana who were still with Elvis from the Sun Record days.

Elvis used his own sound system with Gibson Speakers which was not like the giant sound systems he would be using in his future concerts.

Elvis Toured Vancouver, Canada on August 31, 1957. Canada was one of the only places outside of the United States, that Elvis toured.

Continuing with Elvis Presley biography, in this time period he went to Hollywood and began making films.

A few of his best films were "Loving You", "Love Me Tender", "Jailhouse Rock" and "King Creole".

Elvis Presley biography continues, he went to do military service in Germany, from 1958 till 1960. He told a reporter the first place he would like to go was to Paris, France.

Before going to Germany, he was sent to Fort Hood in Texas for basic training.

He insisted on being treated like all the other soldiers in the Army, but because of his popularity the reporters keep him very often in the news.

Before he went to Germany, his mother became very sick and Elvis went to visit her. Gladys died August 14, 1958 at the young age of 43 in Memphis Tennessee.

It is said Elvis never recovered from that tragedy, as Gladys was the closest person to him in his life.

He was stationed in West Germany, and he took singing lessons to keep his voice in top shape, and when he came back he became even more popular than before his service in the military.

Elvis made many movies such as, "Fun In Acapulco", "Girls Girls Girls", "It Happened at the World's Fair", "Clambake", "Double Trouble", "Frankie and Johnny" and many other super songs.

Continuing with Elvis Presley biography, somesongs sung by Elvis in the fifties were: