Elvis Presley is known as "The King of Rock and Roll". Elvis was a major part of the turning of rock and roll music. The King still lives on thru his daughter Lisa Marie, Elvis impersonators, Graceland, ect. No one in the history of music has played such an important role and impact on the music industry as Elvis did. He still holds the record on his accomplishments - no one has even came close.

Elvis did have a rough and bumpy road in the start of his success. It wasn't all roses and flowers. Growing up - his family was poor. They did not have very much money. Elvis deleloped his own style of music from different areas such as the soul music and gospel music that he heard and listened to. With his charm, good looks, and ability to entertain he became very popular with the ladies.

When he first started performing on tv they would only show the upper half of his body. With all the twists and hip action that he was known for - the tv producers did not feel it was appropriate to show it on tv. Finally the tv producers allowed him to be filmed showing his whole body on the tv - including all the "pelvis" action he did.

Another small barrier that he faced was while his career was rising he left and served his country. He did not get any special attention due to his status or who he was. He served just like everyone else that serves our country and finally got to come back and pick up his career where he left off.

Record Achievements

• Has sold over one billion record units worldwide.
• 150 different albums and singles that have been certified gold, platinum, or multi-platinum by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America)
• More certifications are expected as his record sales go on and more research into his record sales from the past.
• An estimation of 40% of Elvis' sales were outside of the US. Research is currently being done to document his achievements in sales outside the US.
• Elvis also acquired gold, platinum, and other awards from other countries. Some countries are Norway, Yugoslavia, England, Japan, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. Only a handful of soundtracks were recorded in other languages. Also, except for a few shows in Canada Elvis did not perform in concerts outside the US.
• 149 songs in Billboards top 100 in America
• 114 top 40 songs
• 40 top 10 songs
• 18 number 1 songs
• His number 1 singles spent 80 weeks at number 1
• Over 90 charted albums
• 10 albums went number 1

The above figures are only for in America and the Pop Charts. He was also successful in country, R&B, and gospel and had hits in those genres as well.

TV Achievements

After Elvis did a performance on tv of Hound Dog that caused the national scandal since it was so provacativ (for that time) he appeared on the Steve Allen Show. Ed Sullivan once stated that he would never have Elvis on his top rated show a week before the Steve Allen show surpassed Sullivan's ratings. Sullivan paid Elvis $50,000 to appear on his show three times. At that time that was the most money that any performer had been paid by a network. The next appearance by Elvis was on the Frank Sinatra themed show "Welcome Home, Elvis" to welcome him back from the Army. Frank paid Elvis $125,000 which once again broke history of the amount paid to have someone appear on a show.

Elvis is still alive and is remembered by many to this day. From his daughter Lisa Maria to Graceland to Elvis Impersonators. Lisa Marie has came out with a duet singing with her dad. It is a very good video and she sounds a lot like her dad. She has an incredible voice. Listen to the video on the right.

Graceland - the home of Elvis - is open for tourists. Graceland is located in Memphis and is the 2nd most visited house in the US. The first is the White House. It is also in the top 5 most visited tourist sites in the US. You can see walk through Graceland and see where "The King" lived. However, the upstairs in off limits. That was and still is the private part of Elvis' life and will never be opened up to the public.

Impersonators of Elvis. First off - there is never going to be another Elvis. People try and some are good and close and others are WAY off. The Elvis impersonators that are good actually make a living off doing shows.

Doug Church is said to be the best Elvis impersonator out there. He travels and does shows all over the US. An up and coming Elvis impersonator is Justin Shander who can do the young Elvis and the older Elvis impersonations.

The hot reality music show American Idol plays a tribute to Elvis. Through technology they brought the King back to life to perform a duet with Cilene Dion. This is awesome you have to watch the video to the right.

Also on the same tribute show the last four American Idol contests of the season performed an Elvis Medley to Tribute the very first "American Idol".