Happy Birthday Elvis!!

Today, is the King of Rock and Roll’s birthday. By the king, I’m of course referring to Elvis Presley, forget about the others that have attempted to lay claim to that distinction… Elvis is, and always will be, The King. He would have become 75 years old, if he was still alive, today.

His all too brief career pretty much changed the entertainment industry in ways that were never before even considered possible.

His appeal reached out to all facets of the music industry. His influence on music is evidenced by almost all popular musical acts that have come after him.

His career spanned four decades. It was meteoric in the 1950s when the call for military service took him across the ocean and away from his fans and career at almost the pinnacle of his popularity.

When he returned from military service, the Colonel, Tom Parker, escalated and changed the direction of his career by getting him involved in the making of Hollywood films. He spent the better portion of this decade making a number of films (most while not garnering a lot of critical acclaim were entertaining and performed well at the box office). Most of these films included numerous opportunities for him to insert musical numbers or at a minimum some supporting music. Unfortunately, there was little music production outside of the movie production during this portion of his carreer.

Towards the tail end of the decade, Elvis retuned to making live musical appearances beginning with a wildly popular television special in 1968. This was called by many as his “comeback’ performance.

During the last decade of his career (and his life) his career took yet another turn. He concentrated almost exclusively on music and performing. He almost single handedly recharged the Las Vegas entertainment scene. He performed almost exclusive in Las Vegas during the 1970s foregoing the more common practice among musical performers of touring. His shows were phenomenally popular in this city famous for spectacle.

In his career, he performed in 33 successful films, made several historical television appearances and specials., sold over 1 billion records, was nominated for 14 Grammy nominations (3 wins) and was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Because he died at such a young age (42), it’s hard to imagine how he would look today. More importantly, it will always be a curiosity and speculation of what he might have accomplished and the music he might have produced had he not been taken from us back on August 16, 1977.