Elvis Presley: interesting facts, best songs, biography, listen

Many people still don't believe Elvis Presley died. However, the musician died on August 16, 1977 at the age of 42, having taken a lethal dose of drugs. Thousands of people came to say goodbye to the king of rock and roll.

An autopsy on the body of the king of rock and roll showed: Elvis Presley died of heart failure caused by an overdose of medications (drugs). Due to the fact that the investigation into the death took place in secrecy, the death of the idol of millions over time acquired many versions, among which there is a hypothesis that he is still alive.

This unfortunate day

This happened on August 16, 1977. He returned to his estate late at night, but refused to go to bed. Elvis spent the last morning of his life in a lively conversation with his fiancée Ginger Alden.

Having met the dawn, the girl went to bed. Presley could not sleep and, after taking another dose of sedative, he went into the bathroom with a book. His body was subsequently discovered there.

Ginger Alden woke up around 14:00, not finding her beloved man nearby, she goes in search of him. Entering the bathroom, the girl found Elvis lying on the floor.

The ambulance that was called did not have time to do anything. Doctors took the body to intensive care, but all efforts were unsuccessful; the king of rock and roll died at the age of 42.

Elvis Presley: personal life

Let's digress a little from the musical component and remember that Elvis was a man with a bright, memorable appearance. Many girls dreamed of getting this charming handsome guy. And who did the musician himself love?

Thanks to his religious upbringing, he was a home boy. I listened to my parents and trusted them in everything. The love of a mother for her son is natural, but the devoted love of a son for his mother makes you touch. Elvis Presley was attached to his mother all his life, until the last day of her life. When she died in 1958, he was serving in the army. He was given leave, and he barely had time to say goodbye to his sick mother.

Such a blow for a 23-year-old young man who had already known fame was very painful. Presley was used to unbridled fun, day-long parties, loud laughter and music. He forgot to think about illness, misfortune and death. As always happens, she came unexpectedly and did not ask permission to enter. Far from home while serving in the army, it was not easy for him to cope with the loss of his mother.

If we talk about the girls with whom fate brought him together, then everything is much more complicated here. Elvis Presley was passionate about music; he had no time to think about such earthly things as family and children. Women appeared in his life and disappeared, unnoticed by the artist himself. After the release of the musician's first album in 1954, general madness began. Fans wanted to tear the young star into pieces.

In every city, the singer was greeted with tears of happiness and cries of love. Elvis Presley didn’t want to hear about weddings and love “through thick and thin”; a cheering crowd was enough for him. While his mother was still alive, he had a relationship with a girl, Dixie. She often visited their home and went with the musician from a street musician to a rising star.

When conversations turned to the family nest, he made an excuse that it was too early. “I need to sort all this out, and then we’ll get married,” Presley lied to the naive girl more than once. They never got married to Dixie, and when the guy was drafted into the army, they broke up completely.

As for the army, here too for Elvis everything was different. He was hired at the peak of his popularity in 1958, when all of America was delighted with his new music - Rock 'n' Roll. The government felt that serving in the ACA for a generational idol would be an excellent publicity stunt. Who would refuse to join the army along with show business stars?!

Immediately after the death of his mother, his tank division was redeployed to Germany. His family managed to persuade his superiors, and he was allowed to live in a civilian house. The whole “Memphis mafia” registered with the soldier: his father, relatives and friends. The company regularly held parties at the expense of the “rank and file.”

The parties were not in vain; at one of them, Elvis Presley met the daughter of a US officer, Priscilla Bewley. At that time (1959) she was only 14 years old, but she managed to touch the heart of the American womanizer. 8 years later, after a chaotic relationship, Elvis finally proposed to her. Priscilla is the first and last wife of Elvis Presley; after her, the musician did not dare to take such a step.

The girl took her husband's last name - Priscilla Presley. She moved to live with her husband in Graceland back in 1963, when she turned 17, and waited a long time for a marriage proposal. Elvis was quite happy with this course of events; he was in no hurry to get married. 9 months after the wedding, on February 1, 1968, Presley’s only daughter, Lisa Marie, was born.

The child could not keep Elvis in the family home; he endlessly went to Hollywood. “True” friends and endless parties awaited him there. The love for the guitar and music has always been stronger than the love for girls. The subsequent relationship after the divorce from his wife is a clear confirmation of this.

Elvis Presley began dating Linda Thompson at the end of his career, and, as you know, life in 1973. The couple was formed from two successful people: the first is a famous singer, the second is the winner of the Tennessee beauty pageant. Feelings will not arise from desire alone, and here they quickly disappeared.

After a couple of years, Presley switched to model Ginger Alden. She was much younger than him, young and blooming. Noticeably flabby at the age of 42, Elvis only wanted to see a beauty next to him. Alden fit all the parameters and did not bother the artist with conversations about the wedding. It was Ginger who was with Presley on that fateful day of August 16, 1977.

Elvis Presley died of an overdose of sleeping pills and sedative pills in the bathroom. Alden found his body: he was lying on the cold tiled floor, and an open book was lying next to him. It is noteworthy that he visited the dentist that day. Perhaps the mixture of painkillers and his personal calming pills killed the artist.

Everyone is still interested in the question, how did Elvis Presley die? Could simple sleep pills really do this? After some time, it became known that the singer often resorted to sedatives. His interest in “medicines” began in the army. At first he took medication to keep him awake, then vice versa. In the end I switched to antidepressants and sleeping pills. We will no longer know what exactly the musician used.

Photo: pixabay.com

Declaration of death

The official announcement of Elvis Presley's death was made at 4:00 p.m. Heart failure is listed as the cause of death. However, the autopsy proved that the arrhythmia and heartbeat disturbance occurred as a result of medications taken in the morning. It is not their chemical composition that is considered lethal, but an excessive dosage.

The news of the death of the 42-year-old idol caused thousands of fans to gather around the Graceland estate. Crowds of fans did not believe that the great Presley was no more.

Soul mates

Ann-Margret was the complete opposite of Priscilla. She sparkled. She could dance, she could sing, she could be sexy, smart, but also shy and modest.

They met in 1964 while filming the film “Viva Las Vegas!” Elvis was head over heels in love. Journalists soon learned that this was not an ordinary Hollywood romance created by advertising agents. The articles and photographs drove Silla crazy. But Elvis convinced her over the phone that nothing was happening.

A delicacy that strengthens the immune system: Komarovsky told how ice cream is beneficial

Crispy celery with creamy filling: a healthy snack recipe

“Forget about chemistry”: a neighbor recommended a natural remedy for insomnia

However, pressure mounted on Presley to end his affair with Ann-Margret and fulfill his promise to his girlfriend and her family. After much deliberation, Elvis finally made a choice between two women, and it broke his heart.

During the remaining 10 years of Elvis's life, he and the actress tried to maintain a good relationship. They gave each other gifts and attended each other's shows. Their friendship lasted until Presley's death. Ann-Margret was the only celebrity to attend his funeral in Memphis. To this day, the actress speaks highly of Elvis.

Funeral

The musician's funeral took place on August 18, 1977. From early morning, crowds of fans began to flock to the estate again, wanting to see off their idol on his last journey. Not only Memphis, but also several thousand Americans from other states came to say goodbye to Elvis Presley.

The funeral ceremony stretched for several kilometers, many farewell wreaths, fresh flowers, hysterics, sobs and fainting - all this testified to the universal love for the deceased musician.

Music and cinema

In mid-1954, Phillips finally contacted Elvis, inviting him to take part in the recording of the song “Without You.” As a result, the recorded song did not suit either Sam or the musicians.

During the break, a frustrated Presley began playing "That's All Right, Mama", playing it in a completely different manner. Thus, the first hit of the future “king of rock and roll” appeared absolutely by accident. After a positive reaction from listeners, he and his colleagues recorded the track “Blue Moon of Kentucky.”

Both songs were released on record and sold 20,000 copies. An interesting fact is that this single took 4th place in the hit parade.

Even before the end of 1955, Elvis Presley's creative biography was replenished with 10 singles, which were a great success. The guys began performing in local clubs and radio stations, and also filming videos for their songs.

The innovative style of performing compositions created by Elvis became a real sensation not only in America, but also far beyond its borders. Soon the musicians began collaborating with producer Tom Parker, who helped them sign a contract with the major studio RCA Records.

It is fair to say that for Presley himself the contract was terrible, since he was entitled to only 5% of the sale of his work. Despite this, not only his compatriots, but also the whole of Europe learned about him.

Crowds of people came to Elvis’s concerts, wanting not only to hear the singer’s famous voice, but also to see him on stage. It is curious that the guy became one of the few rock singers who served in the army (1958-1960).

Presley served in a tank division that was based in West Germany. But even in such conditions, he found time to record new hits. Interestingly, the songs “Hard Headed Woman” and “A Big Hunk o' Love” even topped the American charts.

Returning home, Elvis Presley became interested in cinema, although he continued to record new hits and tour the country. At the same time, his face appeared on the covers of various authoritative publications around the world.

The success of the film “Blue Hawaii” played a cruel joke on the artist. This was due to the fact that after the premiere of the film, the producer insisted only on similar roles and songs sounding in the style of “Hawaii”. Since 1964, interest in Elvis's music began to decline, as a result of which his songs disappeared from the charts.

Over time, the films in which the guy appeared also ceased to interest viewers. Starting with the film Speedway (1968), the filming budget has always been lower than the box office receipts. Presley's latest works were the films "Charro!" and “Change of Habit,” filmed in 1969.

Losing popularity, Elvis refused to record new records. It was only in 1976 that he was persuaded to make a new recording.

Elvis Presley in his last years in his famous suit

Immediately after the release of the new album, Presley's songs again appeared at the top of the music ratings. However, he did not dare to record any more records, citing health problems. His last album was "Moody Blue", consisting of unreleased material.

Almost half a century has passed since that time, but no one has managed to break Elvis’s record (146 songs in the TOP 100 of the Billboard hit parade).

Fans don't believe Elvis Presley is dead

The death of Elvis Presley was a real shock for all humanity. Those who refused to believe what happened were found everywhere, so the tragic event grew over time with more and more new stories. Some of them contained multiple versions that the king was seen in different parts of the planet.

According to fans, all this could look as if the legendary musician was tired of popularity and decided to continue life in the quiet, measured atmosphere of an ordinary person.

As an example, here are some common versions:

flight to Latin America;
drug addiction treatment;
CIA involvement;
an attempt to get rid of fans and friends;
departure to spiritual hermitage.

Although some ideas seem crazy, fans, refusing to accept the death of an idol, stubbornly believe in their existence.

Elvis Presley: biography

The world heard the cry of the future star on January 8, 1935. First his twin brother was born, and then Elvis himself saw the light. That day, parents Vernon and Gladys Presley had more than just the joy of birth. Death that same night took the life of Jess's older twin. Considering the poverty in which the family lived, this turn of fate made it possible to raise one son in relative prosperity.

In Tupelo, Mississippi, the Presleys did not stay long and went in search of a better life. When his son was only three years old, Elvis's father was arrested for forging a check for four dollars. The singer recalled this in his interview: “My father is a rather tough person. You can’t even imagine what he went through.”

Elvis Presley was not exaggerating at all, because his father had nothing. He had no education, no rich parents, no money left as an inheritance. He was looking for quick money every day, like all hard workers like him. The United States was in a post-crisis state; many people had a hard time in the 1930s.

However, the musician always remembered his childhood with warmth. The main reason for this was their mother, with whom they had a tender relationship. Gladys doted on her only son. She protected him in every possible way and tried to give him everything she could. That's how, on his eleventh birthday, his mother gave Elvis his first guitar.

During those years, he studied at a Memphis high school, and his classmates made fun of his friendship with his mother. They teased Presley and called him a mama's boy, to which he did not seem to react. During breaks, he often secluded himself away from everyone. Behind his back, everyone considered him an eccentric, whom schools labeled him for the rest of his studies.

“I always knew that something would happen to me, I just didn’t know what exactly,”

- Elvis Presley said in an interview. Already in his school years, he stood out for his manner of dressing and behavior. Unlike the others, he wore pressed trousers instead of jeans. He didn’t recognize the jacket and put on an adult coat. Plus, it always came with a long scarf, elegantly curled around the neck.

School passed unnoticed, and Elvis quickly became a young man. There was no time and nothing to study, so he went to work as a truck driver. Gladys and Vernon supported their son's desire for independence. Mom constantly dreamed that her son would get married and have children. They thought Elvis would make enough money and find the right girl.

The young man himself had other plans. He got a job with the sole purpose of getting funds to record a song in a studio. By that time, he already knew how to play the guitar quite well and had honed his vocals. This was helped by children's singing in the church choir and regular radio. For days on end he sang along with his favorite artists and pretended to play musical instruments.

Elvis Presley wanted to listen to quite different music:

rural country;
African American rhythm and blues;
measured blues and boogie-woogie;
popular pop music.

Children's pranks eventually grew into a serious passion for music. After Elvis was given a guitar, he became determined to become a rock superstar. He took playing lessons not at a music school, but from a guy named Jesse Lee. They played free concerts with the guys on the streets, whether passers-by wanted it or not. From this gang, the career of the King and not only him subsequently began.

He quickly got tired of the street, and Elvis Presley decided to record in a studio. He wanted to catch luck by the tail: what if someone “important” heard him? At school he won a couple of vocal competitions, there were victories at annual fairs, but it was not the same. A recording studio is a completely new quality level. Under the guise of a guy from the provinces who wanted to record songs for his mother, in 1953 he came to the music “factory”.

Elvis Presley recorded songs with a smooth, slow rhythm. One was called "My Happiness", and the second was called "That's When Your Heartaches Begin". The recording cost a whopping eight dollars. He longed to hear his recorded voice from the record as soon as possible. Having made one copy of the songs, the young man retreated from the studio and began to wait. What? While he himself did not know, he firmly believed that “it” was already close.

last years of life

The decline of artistic activity is marked by the mid-70s. last century. This period for Elvis is characterized by a number of serious problems:

health deteriorates;
the family breaks up, this happens after the birth of a daughter;
indicates a rift with manager Tom Parker;
the choice of feature film roles is limited. After the dizzying success of Blue Hawaii, Presley became an actor of “one role”;
disagreements arise with friends.

Health problems

Periodic malfunctions of the body have been appearing since the early 70s. The heaviest loads due to the colossal amount of daily work seriously undermined Elvis’s health. Addiction to drugs begins to appear. The use of energy drinks becomes the reason that Presley cannot fall asleep without sleeping pills.

In addition, a number of other serious diseases appear:

symptoms of bulimia (overeating and subsequent withdrawal from food) required the use of medications to maintain a normal weight;
Glaucoma of the left eye became the reason for constantly wearing black glasses. Fans accepted this as a change in image.

For 4 weeks, Elvis gave 2 concerts every day, starting at 22:00 and midnight. During the day, he acted in films and took part in Hollywood parties.

Betrayal of friends

The cause of depression was the publication of the book “What Happened, Elvis?” It was written by three of his bodyguards: brothers Sonny and Red West, David Gebler. The content of the documentary revealed all the nuances of the musician’s life, touching on drug addiction.

Despite the fact that all three were fired a year before the book was written, the musician regarded their act as a betrayal, since he knew the brothers from early childhood.

Elvis' achievements in music and film

During his creative career, the musician starred in 9 feature films. In one of them, “The Biography of Elvis Presley,” he plays the role of himself. However, neither film received the expected success. The exception is the aforementioned Blue Hawaii painting.

As for his musical legacy, Presley became a record holder for music sales. In total, more than 1 billion vinyl records and CDs were sold. Of these, about 600 million are located in the United States.

In the United States, Elvis has 150 albums that have reached the peak of gold, platinum or multi-platinum status. 10 of them repeatedly became chart leaders.

For his musical activities, the king of rock and roll received a Grammy Award three times for the following works:

eighth album “HowGreatThouArt” (Great God) - 1967;
sixteenth album “HeTouchedMe” (He Touched Me) - 1971;
concert version of the song “HowGreatThouArt” (Great God) – 1974

40 compositions were in the top ten and 18 took first place on the Billboard hit parade. In total, 149 Elvis songs were included in the Hot 100, creating a kind of record that has not yet been broken.

The fame of the King (as the Americans call him) is so high that the Graceland country house is the second most popular tourist attraction in the country. In just 1 year, 600,000 people visit it. Only the White House has more attendance.

The incredible talent and unique image of the musician left an indelible imprint on the history of world music. Although unique people periodically appear on earth and become legends during their lifetime, the creativity and appearance of Elvis Presley remains forever in the hearts of each of us.

The life of the king of rock and roll in 20 anecdotes

The film "Elvis and Nixon" was released - a comedy based on real events about the sudden trip of the king of rock and roll to the American president to get his FBI agent badge. Nikita Soldatov remembered other legendary stories from the life of Elvis Presley and built his biography out of them.

1935

Photo: Getty Images

His parents considered the birth of Elvis a miracle. The young family had no money for a maternity hospital, and Gladys Presley had to give birth right in the middle of a tiny house in Tupelo, where there was not even running water. At four o'clock in the morning on January 8, 1935, the first-born was born - the stillborn Jesse Garon Presley, named after his grandfather. As the family legend goes, the grief-stricken father ran out of the house into the street, at that moment the sky lit up with a bright blue flash and he heard a child crying. The boy was named Elvis Aron; upon reaching adulthood, he changed his middle name to Aaron - in memory of his twin brother, who gave his life to him.

1945

Elvis stuttered as a child. At the age of ten, his mother even sent him to the church choir, hoping for the therapeutic properties of singing. The priest who led the choir, however, found his stuttering charming and sent Elvis to a vocal competition held at the Tupelo Fair. Elvis took fifth place, but he really enjoyed performing in front of the public - at every opportunity he took a broom and pretended to sing country music. However, when a few months later his parents saved up money and bought him a real guitar for his birthday, it turned out that Elvis wanted a rifle more.

1948

Photo: Zuma Press

Elvis did not train to become a musician. His only professional education was Miss Marman's lessons at the Memphis school, where the Presleys moved in 1948. Miss Marman respected physical punishment, hated modern music, and forced her children to listen to Bach all day long. Miss Marman's children were disliked and afraid, so they were delighted with Elvis, who one New Year's Eve brought a guitar to class and, instead of the required Christmas carols, sang country classics - "Old Shep" and "Cold Icy Fingers." Miss Marman did not punish Elvis, noting only that he chose crappy songs.

1953

Elvis made his first recording as a gift to his mother. On the eve of her birthday in 1953, he went to the main Memphis recording studio, Sun Records, and recorded two songs for four dollars, “My Happiness” and “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin.” He hoped to charm the studio director with his voice, but he was not there, so he had to charm the secretary. There were no problems with this: amazed by his fashionable hairstyle and bright clothes, she timidly asked what style he sings in, to which Elvis replied that he sings in a style in which no one sings at all. The completely enchanted secretary secretly made a copy of Elvis's recording - the studio director, who accidentally heard it only a year later, invited Elvis to his place and concluded a contract with him.

1954

Photo: Zuma Press

Elvis was a C student. He skipped classes, preferring to play the guitar and listen to gospel music, and after school he could only get a job as a truck driver. However, he did not lose hope of becoming a singer and even went to audition for the gospel quartet Songfellows. He was not accepted into the group: the musicians disparaged his performance, saying that he “simply does not feel musical harmony” and that he would be better off continuing to turn his wheel. Maybe it was for the better: after just a few months, his debut album sold 20 thousand copies.

1957

Elvis acquired his famous black hair at the age of 22. By this time, he was already an aspiring actor - the make-up artist for the film “Loving You” (1957) came up with the idea of repainting Elvis’s light-blond hair, deciding that with such blue eyes it would be better to be a brunette. Elvis did not resist, deciding that he would become the spitting image of Tony Curtis and they would begin to offer him serious roles.

1958

Elvis was planning to leave the army, but changed his mind. He planned to serve in a special unit for celebrities like Burt Lancaster and Clint Eastwood, in other words, traveling around the country giving free performances at military bases, maintaining the morale of soldiers. However, it turned out that in this case the rights to recordings of performances belonged to the Ministry of Defense, and Elvis’s manager, Honorary Colonel Tom Parker, who once began by selling parrots repainted to look like exotic canaries to visitors of traveling circuses, ordered Elvis to go serve for real.

1959

Photo: Zuma Press

In the army, Elvis became acquainted with psychotropic drugs and his future wife. At first he was enlisted in a tank division, where he almost became deaf - and was transferred to driver, and was soon sent to an American military base in Germany. There he made two important acquaintances, one of which grew into a lifelong passion. However, the second also deserves attention: at one of the army parties, the 14-year-old daughter of a US Air Force officer, Priscilla Bewley, approached him and expressed condolences for the loss of his wonderful sideburns, shaved by an army hairdresser. So Elvis realized that he had met his fate.

1961

Elvis had an alcoholic chimpanzee. Elvis loved animals since childhood, but his parents were against it, so, having become rich, he started his own zoo, which included racehorses, great Danes, poodles, chickens, pigs, goats, turkeys, peacocks, donkeys and a talking starling. But Elvis's favorite was Scatter, a circus chimpanzee purchased in 1961. The pet quickly adopted the owner's habits - he drank whiskey, loved to drive cars and climb under the skirts of the girls besieging Graceland. Scatter's character soon deteriorated, as did his relationships with his household. Once he tore off the wig of an elderly maid, and a few days later he died suddenly under mysterious circumstances: Elvis was sure that the maid had poisoned him, but the maid claimed that the monkey had finally drunk himself to the point of cirrhosis.

1965

Elvis dreamed of feeling God. He wore a cross and a Star of David around his neck, studied Buddhist and Hindu beliefs, sought a meeting with God and an answer to the question of why God made him Elvis Presley. On March 5, 1965, on his way to Los Angeles to film Harem Vacation, Elvis complained to his hairdresser that, despite all his efforts, he still could not “feel” God. After a couple of hours of driving through the desert, Elvis suddenly stopped, jumped out of the car and stared at the sky. Returning to the car, he said that he saw how the clouds formed into a portrait of Joseph Stalin, and a minute later turned into the face of Jesus - and believed that the Lord had finally given him a sign.

1965

Elvis was jealous of The Beatles. He listened to all their new releases (his favorite song was “I Saw Her Standing There”) and even rented a movie theater to secretly watch “A Hard Day’s Night.” However, when they finally met in August 1965, Elvis could not distinguish one band member from another and began to address them simply as “bug.” This did not bother the musicians - after all, he was their only American idol: Lennon admitted that without Presley their group would not have existed, and McCartney gave him a bass guitar lesson. However, when Lennon was threatened with deportation from the United States seven years later, Elvis refused to vouch for him.

1970

Photo: National Archive/Newsmakers/Getty Images

Elvis once brought a gun to the White House. It was in December 1970, Elvis ran away from home after a quarrel with his wife, who gave him a scandal because of exorbitant spending: as Christmas gifts that year he bought ten Mercedes and 32 pistols. After taking the pistols, a frustrated Elvis felt a strong desire to talk to Richard Nixon. In fact, he was not interested in politics, and had never been to an election, but Nixon’s tough style appealed to him - he sent a letter to the White House asking for a meeting. Nixon hated pop stars, and the meeting would never have taken place if his assistant had not turned out to be an Elvis fan: on December 21, the singer was invited to the Oval Office. The President of the United States and the King of Rock and Roll chatted for almost an hour: having presented the President with a World War II era Colt with a set of silver bullets, Presley stated that he supported his actions against drug addicts, hippies, the Beatles, the Black Panthers and other peddlers of anti-American sentiments and ready to personally fight them as an undercover FBI agent. As legend has it, Nixon immediately gave him a badge - not an FBI agent's badge, but a DEA badge.

1973

Elvis had a black belt in karate. He was a karate fan and forced everyone to fight him, driving his wife to the point where she cheated on him with her trainer. He opened the first Karate Institute in Tennessee, where he himself taught, was going to make a documentary about karatekas “The New Gladiators” with himself in the leading role, and continued to train even after he received a seventh dan black belt - seven was his favorite number. At concerts, Elvis liked to show his mastery of fighting techniques, but he seriously fought in public only once - in 1973, during a performance in Las Vegas. Mistaking four fans who had climbed onto the stage for killers, Elvis knocked all four down and held them until security came running.

1973

Elvis loved to give gifts. In 1964, he donated Franklin Roosevelt’s Potomac yacht, purchased for $55,000, to St. Thaddeus Children’s Hospital in Memphis; the hospital, of course, sold the yacht; in 1980, it was discovered in San Francisco—local drug dealers were transporting goods on it. In 1973, for Valentine's Day, Elvis gave Muhammad Ali a boxing robe covered in rhinestones with the words "The People's Choice" on the back (actually, Ali's nickname was supposed to be "The People's Champion", but something went wrong ). The boxer entered the ring wearing it a month later - then he lost for the second time in his entire career and suffered a broken jaw. He never wore this robe again.

1973-1975

Elvis once traded his 32-diamond gold watch for a Mickey Mouse watch. A drunken Led Zeppelin manager Richard Cole showed up at his house in the company of the band's bassist John Paul Jones. Elvis could not stand it when people used foul language in front of him, and when he heard foul language from Cole’s mouth, he lost his temper. He intended to push the guests out of the house when he suddenly turned his attention to Jones, who was speechless with fear of his enraged idol. Presley was so moved by his pitiful appearance that he suggested that he exchange watches.

1976-77

One day Elvis decided to fake his death. The plan was this: with the help of a security guard, find a terminally ill man and, persuading a plastic surgeon, transplant Elvis’s face into him, and Elvis’s into his. Having waited for his imminent death, bury the unfortunate man with all honors in Graceland, and himself run away from his hated environment. The security guard could not be persuaded, and Elvis abandoned this idea, deciding instead to urgently have a son and name him Elvis Presley Jr.

1976

Photo: Zuma Press

Elvis loved to eat. One day, police captain Jerry Kennedy and organized crime detective Ron Pitrafeso came to visit him. Knowing Elvis to be a big gourmet, the police began to brag about what an amazing sandwich they made in Denver: a loaf of white bread, a jar of peanut butter, a jar of grape jam and a pound of bacon crackling. Elvis wanted to try the sandwich so much that he immediately called his private jet and, grabbing a couple of cases of champagne, went to Denver, where the author of the recipe with 22 sandwiches was already waiting for them, raised in the middle of the night.

1976

Photo: TopFoto/TASS

Elvis always carried a gun with him. He fired at squirrels from the window of his toilet in Graceland, could empty an entire clip into the front panel of a car if it did not start or stalled, and shot every TV in his path if the singer he hated Robert Goulet performed on it. Fearing an assassination attempt, he did not part with his weapon even on stage - there was always a pistol hidden in both of his boots. All his numerous entourage - from his wife and manager to karate and yoga trainers - were also armed. One day he decided to test the combat readiness of his assistants and ordered them to shoot all the drug dealers in Memphis overnight, while he himself recorded a new song, providing himself with an alibi. Discouraged assistants persuaded him to postpone the operation for a week in the hope that everything would resolve, and a week later the Memphis Police Department appointed Elvis an honorary captain: the idea of lynching disappeared by itself.

1977

Photo: WireImage/Getty Images

Elvis really wanted to see Star Wars. Accustomed to the fact that all his whims were immediately fulfilled, on August 15, 1977, he ordered his assistants to get a copy of the latest movie hit, hoping to watch the film with his daughter at Graceland. When his assistants failed the task, he went to the movies - but out of principle he went not to Star Wars, but to their competitor at the box office - the new Bond series The Spy Who Loved Me. The next day Elvis Presley died.

1977

Elvis loved Monty Python. On tour, he always took videos of the Flying Circus with him, and at home he could watch their episodes all night long, forcing first his wife Priscilla, and after the divorce of his girlfriends Linda Thompson and Ginger Alden, to memorize the sketches. A few hours before his death, he put “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” on the video player, and if it weren’t for the book about the Shroud of Turin, “A Scientific Study of the Face of Jesus,” which he read in the toilet, he would have died a happy man - looking at his favorite faces.