History Music / ElvisPresley

* GoodLookingPrivates: He was drafted in 1958 and served a tour of duty in Germany.

* DreamTeam: The Million Dollar Quartet. Elvis met up with JerryLeeLewis, JohnnyCash and CarlPerkins in Sun Studios in 1956 and they recorded a few songs in an impromptu jam session.

* {{Corpsing}}: Elvis throws in a random {{Mondegreen}} in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cgvWKyKW7A this]] live performance of "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" He thought it was funny and could not stop laughing. But after a while, neither could the audience.

* {{Corpsing}}: Elvis throws in a random {{Mondegreen}} in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5oEb-yAh4A this]] live performance of "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" He thought it was funny and could not stop laughing. But after a while, neither could the audience.

* BigEater: More like ''Huge'' Eater. Elvis (with a pair of Colorado cops) once flew all the way out to UsefulNotes/{{Denver}} at about midnight to eat a couple of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fool%27s_Gold_Loaf Fool's Gold Loaves]] (a hollowed-out, lightly-toasted Italian loaf) filled with a whole jar of peanut butter, a whole jar of grape jelly, and an [[BaconAddiction entire pound of bacon]]. That's right, we said a couple: he probably ate at least four of the things that night. Since one of the cops was the friend of the guy who owned the restaurant that made the damned things, they got a tray of them wheeled out to the Denver airport, where they and their pilots ate the sandwiches (washed down with Perrier sparkling and ''Dom Perignon'') and flew back to Memphis. Without even leaving the airport.

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Elvis Presley met TheBeatles once. No one recorded it. Cue agonised groans of despair from fans.

* NiceGuy: He was known to friends, fans an strangers for his extremely generous and kindhearted personality. This included often giving away objects to people who liked them (Including his cars), being a big and open supporter of Civil Rights and admiring Martin Luther King and getting Muhammad Ali a robe that read "The Peoples Champion" when most of his market was in the south, purchasing an electric wheelchair for an impoverished East Memphis woman and giving her daughter his car, and being fiercely proud of his Cherokee ancestry at a time when racial tensions with Native Americans were still high.

* NiceGuy: He was known to friends, fans an strangers for his extremely generous and kindhearted personality. This included often giving away objects to people who liked Them (Including his cars), being a big and open supporter of Civil Rights and admiring Martin Luther King and getting Muhammad Ali a robe that read "The Peoples Champion" when most of his market was in the south, purchasing an electric wheelchair for an impoverished East Memphis woman and giving her daughter his car, and being fiercely proud of his Cherokee ancestry at a time when racial tensions with Native Americans were still high.

''Elvis... has left the trope page''

Also in January 1956, Presley had his first screen test for {{Paramount}} Pictures. His first movie was ''LoveMeTender''. (Presley eventually starred in 31 fictional films, as well as two [[{{Documentary}} documentaries]].) Over the spring and summer of that year, he made several television appearances.

* BigEater: More like ''Huge'' Eater. Elvis (with a pair of Colorado cops) once flew all the way out to {{Denver}} at about midnight to eat a couple of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fool%27s_Gold_Loaf Fool's Gold Loaves]] (a hollowed-out, lightly-toasted Italian loaf) filled with a whole jar of peanut butter, a whole jar of grape jelly, and an [[BaconAddiction entire pound of bacon]]. That's right, we said a couple: he probably ate at least four of the things that night. Since one of the cops was the friend of the guy who owned the restaurant that made the damned things, they got a tray of them wheeled out to the Denver airport, where they and their pilots ate the sandwiches (washed down with Perrier sparkling and ''Dom Perignon'') and flew back to Memphis. Without even leaving the airport.

* {{Bishonen}}: For the first part of his career (to near-StupidSexyFlanders levels). Really, if you didn't catch on through the picture above...

* EvenTheGuysWantHim: One colleague said, "I'm straight as an arrow and I got to tell you, you stop, whether you're male or female, to look at him. [[DistractedByTheSexy He was that good looking]]."

* HotbloodedSideburns

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* CreatorBacklash: Presley grew to hate the movies he was starring in (several sources such as the documentary ''This is Elvis'' suggest he even got physically ill from them at one point), and certainly you can scour Elvis' live performances from 1969 to 1977 and except for one or two exceptions that became regular parts of his act you'll find very few performances of movie songs from the post-1960 era.

* [[TheOprahWinfreyShow Oprah Winfrey]]: He was her distant cousin.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Elvis never toured outside of the US, mainly because his manager, Colonel Tom Parker (real name: Andreas van Kuijk) was an illegal immigrant from the Netherlands and couldn't get a passport.
** More like a case of DidNotDoTheResearch on Parker's part: he had served in the US Army and was married to an American citizen. Parker could have applied for legal citizenship at any time based on either of those two factors. Maintaining his Dutch citizenship, however, did prove advantageous to him in avoiding legal trouble.
*** According to Parker's biographer, he may have fled The Netherlands because of a DarkAndTroubledPast and he was fearful of having his true identity revealed.
** BarbraStreisand wanted Elvis to star with her in her remake of ''AStarIsBorn'' but Col. Parker nixed it, insisting Elvis get top billing and a huge amount of money. KrisKristofferson got the role instead.
** When Sam Phillips decided to sell Elvis's contract in 1955, Atlantic Records entered into the bidding for him. Atlantic bid $30,000, but was outbid by RCA Victor who paid $40,000. Atlantic vice president Jerry Wexler loved Elvis's singing and bid aggressively, although he later admitted he didn't know how Atlantic could have raised the $30,000 if their offer had been accepted.

** Might've been used as a DetractorNickname, too. Elvis notably disliked the nickname, saying something along the lines of "I can't fathom what sort of adult would come up with that" in an interview (which can be viewed in Graceland, Memphis, if you take a tour of the estate as it is).

* BigEater: More like ''Huge'' Eater. Elvis (with a pair of Colorado cops) once flew all the way out to {{Denver}} at about midnight to eat a couple of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fool%27s_Gold_Loaf Fool's Gold Loaves]] (a hollowed-out, lightly-toasted Italian loaf) filled with a whole jar of peanut butter, a whole jar of grape jelly, and an [[BeyondTheImpossible entire pound of bacon]]. That's right, we said a couple: he probably ate at least four of the things that night. Since one of the cops was the friend of the guy who owned the restaurant that made the damned things, they got a tray of them wheeled out to the Denver airport, where they and their pilots ate the sandwiches (washed down with Perrier sparkling and ''Dom Perignon'') and flew back to Memphis. Without even leaving the airport.

* BigEater: More like ''Huge'' Eater. Elvis (with a pair of Colorado cops) once flew all the way out to {{Denver}} at about midnight to eat a couple of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fool%27s_Gold_Loaf Fool's Gold Loaves]] (a hollowed-out, lightly-toasted Italian loaf filled with a whole jar of peanut butter, a whole jar of grape jelly, and an [[BeyondTheImpossible entire pound of bacon]]. That's right, we said a couple: he probably ate at least four of the things that night. Since one of the cops was the friend of the guy who owned the restaurant that made the damned things, they got a tray of them wheeled out to the Denver airport, where they and their pilots ate the sandwiches (washed down with Perrier sparkling and ''Dom Perignon'') and flew back to Memphis. Without even leaving the airport.

Elvis Aron Presley (1935-1977), known as "the King of Rock 'n' Roll", was one of the most influential singers of the mid-20th century, selling over a billion records worldwide. He began his professional singing career and signed his first contract in 1954 with when SamPhillips, the owner of Sun Records, who teamed him with two other musicians, guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black. (They were later joined by drummer D.J. Fontana.)

* Hell-BentForLeather: The Elvis 1968 special: The man rocks both the music and his black leather jacket and tight pants.

* MommasBoy

* GoNagaiSideburns

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Elvis Presley met TheBeatles once and performed a few songs with them. No one recorded it. Cue agonised groans of despair from fans.