Elvis Presley
Year: 1977; Age: 42
Elvis Presley’s easygoing demeanor, boyish good looks and, of
course, his golden voice, made him early rock & roll’s greatest
success story. Beginning in the mid-Fifties, he shook up a nation of
teenagers with his hip-swiveling performances on TV and Number
One records like “Hound Dog,” “Heartbreak Hotel” and “Don’t Be
Cruel.” He could sing country, rock & roll and gospel. He obeyed an
Army draft order in 1958 and took a two-year hiatus from per-
forming, which didn’t stymie his career, thanks to a string of hits
he’d recorded before entering the service and an appearance on
Frank Sinatra’s TV special in 1960. He’d spend much of the Sixties
making movies, but reestablished himself as a singing star with an
NBC special (his “’68 Comeback”), and began playing residencies
in Las Vegas, eventually getting his first Number One in close to a
decade with “Suspicious Minds.”
spite never touching alcohol. “I think the Vegas period is underrat-
ed,”Bono once said. “I find it the most emotional. By that point Elvis
was clearly not in control of his own life, and there is this incredible
pathos. The big opera voice of the later years – that’s the one that
really hurts me.” Presley was found dead in his bathroom at his
Graceland estate by his girlfriend. While his death was officially
ruled a casualty of heart disease, it’s been suggested that drug use
may have also been responsible. His legacy has only grown and
grown since then, from impersonators to new Number One hits (“A
Little Less Conversation”), proving he will always be the King. KG
It was in the Seventies, though, that his personal life began falling
apart. He divorced his wife Priscilla and began gaining weight and
dabbling with barbiturates, tranquilizers and amphetamines, de
iconz magazine