Carl Perkins

Saturday, 29 September 2012

Carl Perkins & Friends Rockabilly Session Part 1

Rockabilly Session; Carl Perkins & Friends

Jerry Lee Lewis & Carl Perkins - Mean Woman Blues/Blue Suede

Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins & Eric Clapton - Matchbox

Carl Perkins & Friends Rockabilly Session Part 2

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Richard Starkey, MBE (born 7 July 1940), better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr belonged to another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became the Beatles' drummer in 1962, taking over from Pete Best. In addition to his contribution as drummer, Starr featured as lead singer on a number of successful Beatles songs (in particular, "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Yellow Submarine", and the Beatles version of "Act Naturally") and as songwriter with the songs "Don't Pass Me By", "What Goes On" and "Octopus's Garden".
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Carl Perkins & Friends Rockabilly Session Part 1

Carl Perkins & Friends Rockabilly Session with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Ringo St...

published: 15 Aug 2007

Author: axis303

Rockabilly Session; Carl Perkins & Friends

Carl Perkins & Friends ( George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Rosanne Cash, &am...;

published: 01 Sep 2011

Author: SirCoxsone69

Jerry Lee Lewis & Carl Perkins - Mean Woman Blues/Blue Suede

From the 1971 "Jerry Lee Lewis Show"...

published: 14 Jan 2007

Author: boulebleu

Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins & Eric Clapton - Matchbox

Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins & Eric Clapton - Matchbox...

published: 23 Sep 2007

Author: Hank Hamm

Carl Perkins Matchbox

music video...

published: 23 Jun 2008

Author: slaphappynamwen

carl perkins

carl perkins and friends...

published: 24 Mar 2006

Author: Maryjuanamac

Carl Perkins - Honey don't

Carl Perkins - Honey don't (SUN)...

published: 02 Sep 2009

Author: oldvinylrecordings

Carl Perkins "That's alright mama"

In 1987, British independent television broadcast ''Love Me Tender,'' an a...

published: 29 Aug 2007

Author: longtall75011

carl perkins and friends - honey don't

the welsh connection...

published: 17 Jun 2008

Author: hollopop

Carl Perkins - Blue suede shoes

Carl Perkins - Blue suede shoes (SUN)...

published: 02 Sep 2009

Author: oldvinylrecordings

Carl Perkins - Matchbox

This song is based on Blind Lemon Jeffersons "Matchbox Blues". Most of the lyric...

published: 06 Feb 2010

Author: tormentor91

Carl Perkins & Friends Rockabilly Session Part 2

Carl Perkins & Friends Rockabilly Session with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Ringo St...

published: 15 Aug 2007

Author: axis303

Eric Clapton, Carl Perkins and Ringo - LIVE - HQ

Three legends burst forth with a sweet reading of "Matchbox", in 1986. For more ...

published: 05 Jan 2010

Author: disparatedan

Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins & Johnny Cash

Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins & Johnny Cash (Behind Stage 1955)...

published: 24 Aug 2006

Author: poozhaan

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US Navy / Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class James R. Evans
US Navy / Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Holly Whitfill

Photo: AP / Alan Diaz

This photo taken Oct. 14, 2011, shows a customer at a Bank of America ATM in Hialeah, Fla. Bank of America Corp. is scrapping its plans to charge a $5 monthly debit card fee.

Hackers, Possibly From Middle East, Block U.S. Banks' Websites

ABC News

28 Sep 2012

The financial and banking industries are on high alert tonight as a massive cyberattack continues, with potentially millions of customers of Bank of America, PNC and Wells Fargo finding themselves...

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Photo: UN / J Carrier

Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, addresses the general debate of the sixty-seventh session of the General Assembly.

Netanyahu asks U.N. to draw 'red line' on Iran's nuclear bomb plans

CNN

28 Sep 2012

updated 7:16 PM EDT, Thu September 27, 2012 (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exhorted the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday to draw "a clear red line" to stop Iran from...

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Photo: UN / http://www.unmultimedia.org/photo/detail.jsp?id=528/528253&key;=1&query;=Mahmoud%20Ahmadinejad⟨=en&sf;=

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran addresses the general debate of the sixty-seventh session of the General Assembly.

Ahmadinejad denounces "uncivilized Zionists," urges new order

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27 Sep 2012

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran's president said on Wednesday his country was under constant threat of military action from "uncivilized Zionists" and called for a new world order not dominated by...

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Photo: US Navy / Bob Torres

File - A technician prepares to launch an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Surveillance) Predator.

Report: One in fifty US drone attack victims in Pakistan are known militants

Belfast Telegraph

26 Sep 2012

Late in the evening on 6 June this year an unmanned drone was flying high above the Pakistani village of Datta Khel in north Waziristan. The buzz emitted by America's fleet of Predators and Reapers...

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Photo: AP / Manu Brabo

Free Syrian Army fighter scans for targets from a building in Aleppo, Syria, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012.

Clashes in Aleppo after rebels launch 'decisive' battle

BBC News

28 Sep 2012

Fierce fighting has been reported in Syria's second city of Aleppo, a day after the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) said a "decisive" battle had begun. Both residents and activists...

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Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash come to Orlando 20 Sep 2012

The Examiner Related topics Performing ArtsmusicalMillion Dollar QuartetelvisJohnny Cash Advertisement Tickets go on sale Friday, Sept. 21 at 10:00 a.m. for the national tour of the Broadway award-winning musical “Million Dollar Quartet,” inspired by the true story of the night Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl...(size: 7.4Kb)

King of 'Suede': Carl Perkins' son looks back 20 Aug 2012

WPXI Almost 15 years after his death, rock legend Carl Perkins is set to receive one more honor. A life-sized silhouette of him and other music legends will be ringed around a monument shaped like a Epiphone guitar next month. The monument is meant to honor the musical greats who played at clubs along...(size: 7.2Kb)

Bob Dylan's connection to Rockabilly legend Carl Perkins 10 Apr 2012

The Examiner Rockabilly legend Carl Lee Perkins, one of the early stars at Sun Records and author of such classics as "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby Now," was born on April 9, 1932. He would have been 80 years old today. While often associated with the Beatles and Sun-mates Elvis...(size: 8.1Kb)

The Guitar Played on “Blue Suede Shoes” By Carl Perkins Identified by Vince Gordon of ... 24 Mar 2012

Yahoo Daily News The guitars played by Rockabilly King Carl Perkins on “Blue Suede Shoes”, “Honey Don’t” and “Matchbox” have been identified by guitar player and editor of The Rockabilly Guitar Page, Vince Gordon by research and interviews with members from the Perkins...(size: 2.1Kb)

Elvis, schmelvis. For rockabilly fans, Carl Perkins remains the go-to guy. 31 May 2011

Forbes Stan Perkins, son of rockabilly pioneer Carl Perkins,...(size: 0.4Kb)

Carl Perkins: In A Nutshell 02 Sep 2010

The Examiner "Well, it's one for the money/Two for the show/Three to get ready/Now go, cat, go!" Carl Lee Perkins was one of the greatest rockabilly guitar players in the history of rock 'n' roll. He was also famous for his vocal and songwriting abilities. Perhaps one of his famous songs, "Blue Suede Shoes", is...(size: 2.7Kb)

Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins take the stage in "Million Dollar Quartet" 06 Jun 2010

The Examiner The Cast of "Million Dollar Quartet" Courtesy of PicApp If you like this ... Celebrities hit Broadway Green Day's "American Idiot" up for Tony? View all »...(size: 2.7Kb)

Carl Perkins: Rockin' Rebel Invents Rock Guitar 21 May 2010

Guitar.com He's been hailed as the "Father of Rockabilly," and rightfully so. For more than four decades, Carl Perkins delighted critics and fans alike with his unique fusion of country, gospel, blues and bluegrass elements punctuated by a driving backbeat and some stinging, sizzling guitar playing. In 1956,...(size: 8.9Kb)

New musical about Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins opens on Broadway in April 04 Nov 2009

The Examiner "Million Dollar Quartet", a new musical about the one and only jam session of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins, will open on Broadway in April, the producers* announced. The show, and the December 4, 1956 jam session at the legendary Sun Records in...(size: 2.1Kb)

Johnny Cash, Eric Clapton, Carl Perkins video surfaces 31 Jan 2009

The Examiner Add a Comment by Michael McGuire, SF Country Music Examiner « Previous I As I noted in an earlier column, a two-disc DVD set is available featuring about five dozen of the best music performances on the...(size: 1.4Kb)

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For other people named Carl Perkins, see Carl Perkins (disambiguation).

This article may contain excessive or improper use of copyrighted material. Please review the use of non-free media according to policy and guidelines and correct any violations. The talk page may have details. (July 2011)

Carl Perkins

Background information
Birth name	Carl Lee Perkins
Born	(1932-04-09)April 9, 1932 Tiptonville, Tennessee, USA
Died	January 19, 1998(1998-01-19) (aged 65) Jackson, Tennessee
Genres	Rock and roll, rockabilly, country
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, guitarist
Instruments	Guitar, vocals
Years active	1946–1998
Labels	Sun, Columbia, Mercury
Associated acts	Perkins Brothers Band Johnny Cash Elvis Presley Jerry Lee Lewis

Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)^[1] was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954. His best known song is "Blue Suede Shoes".

According to Charlie Daniels, "Carl Perkins' songs personified the rockabilly era, and Carl Perkins' sound personifies the rockabilly sound more so than anybody involved in it, because he never changed."^[2] Perkins' songs were recorded by artists (and friends) as influential as Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Johnny Cash, which further cemented his place in the history of popular music.

Called "the King of Rockabilly", he was inducted into the Rock and Roll, the Rockabilly, and the Nashville Songwriters Halls of Fame; and was a Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipient.

1 Biography
2 Legacy
3 Discography
- 3.1 Charted albums
- 3.2 Charted singles
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links

Biography [link]

Early life [link]

Perkins was the son of poor sharecroppers, Buck and Louise Perkins (misspelled on his birth certificate as "Perkings") near Tiptonville, Tennessee.^[3] He grew up hearing Southern gospel music sung by whites in church, and by black field workers when he started working in the cotton fields at age six. During spring and autumn, the school day would be followed by several hours of work in fields. During the summer, workdays were 12–14 hours, "from can to can't." Carl and his brother Jay together would earn 50 cents a day. With all family members working and not having any credit, there was enough money for beans and potatoes, some tobacco for Carl's father Buck, and occasionally the luxury of a five-cent bag of hard candy.^[4]

During Saturday nights Carl would listen to the radio with his father and hear the Grand Ole Opry, and Roy Acuff's broadcasts on the Opry inspired him to ask his parents for a guitar.^[5] Because they could not afford a real guitar, Carl's father fashioned one from a cigar box and a broomstick. When a neighbor in tough straits offered to sell his dented and scratched Gene Autry model guitar with worn-out strings, Buck purchased it for a couple of dollars.

For the next year Carl taught himself parts of Acuff's "Great Speckled Bird" and "The Wabash Cannonball", which he had heard on the Opry. He also cited the fast playing and vocals of Bill Monroe as an early influence.^[6]

Carl began learning more about playing his guitar from a fellow field worker named John Westbrook who befriended him. "Uncle John," as Carl called him, was an African American in his sixties who played blues and gospel on his battered acoustic guitar. Most famously, "Uncle John" advised Carl when playing the guitar to "Get down close to it. You can feel it travel down the strangs, come through your head and down to your soul where you live. You can feel it. Let it vib-a-rate." Because Carl could not afford new strings when they broke, he retied them. The knots would cut into his fingers when he tried to slide to another note, so he began bending the notes, stumbling onto a type of "blue note."^[2]^[7]

Carl was recruited to be a member of the Lake County Fourth Grade Marching Band, and because of the Perkins' limited finances, was given a new white shirt, cotton pants, white band cap and red cape by Miss Lee McCutcheon, who was in charge of the band.^[8]

During January 1947, Buck Perkins moved his family from Lake County to Madison County. A replacement radio which operated by electricity rather than a battery and the proximity of Memphis made it possible for Carl to hear a greater variety of music.^[9] At age fourteen years, using the I IV V chord progression common to country songs of the day,^[10]^[11] he wrote what came to be known around Jackson as "Let Me Take You To the Movie, Magg"^[12] (the song would convince Sam Phillips to sign Perkins to his Sun Records label).

Beginnings as a performer [link]

Perkins and his brother Jay had their first paying job (in tips) as entertainers at the "Cotton Boll" tavern on Highway 45 some twelve miles south of Jackson, starting on Wednesday nights during late 1946. Carl was only 14 years old. One of the songs they played was an uptempo, country blues shuffle version of Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky". Free drinks were one of the perks of playing in a tavern, and Carl drank four beers that first night. Within a month Carl and Jay began playing Friday and Saturday nights at the Sand Ditch tavern near the western boundary of Jackson. Both places were the scene of occasional fights, and both of the Perkins Brothers gained a reputation as fighters.^[13]

During the next couple of years the Perkins Brothers began playing other taverns, including El Rancho, The Roadside Inn, and the Hilltop around Bemis and Jackson as they became well known. Carl persuaded his brother Clayton to play the bass fiddle to complete the sound of the band.^[14]

Perkins began performing regularly on WTJS-AM in Jackson during the late 1940s as a sometime member of the Tennessee Ramblers. He also appeared on Hayloft Frolic where he performed two songs, sometimes including "Talking Blues" as done by Robert Lunn on the Grand Ole Opry. Perkins and then his brothers began appearing on The Early Morning Farm and Home Hour. Overwhelmingly positive listener response resulted in a 15-minute segment sponsored by Mother's Best Flour. By the end of the 1940s, the Perkins Brothers were the best-known band in the Jackson area.^[15]

Perkins had day jobs during most of these early years, working first at picking cotton, then at Day's Dairy in Malesus, then at a mattress factory and in a battery plant. He then worked as a pan greaser for the Colonial Baking Company from 1951 through 1952.^[16]^[17]

During January 1953, Perkins married a woman he had known for a number of years, Valda Crider. When his job at the bakery was reduced to part-time, Valda, who had her own job, encouraged Carl to begin working the taverns full-time. He began playing six nights a week. Late the same year he added W.S. "Fluke" Holland to the band as a drummer, who had not any previous experience as a musician but had a good sense of rhythm.^[18]

Malcolm Yelvington remembered the Perkins brothers from 1953 when they played in Covington, Tennessee. He noted that Carl had a very unusual blues-like style all his own.^[19] One of Carl's friends had a tape recorder, and he had used it to make tapes of his materials that he sent to Columbia and RCA. He never heard back from them.^[20]

During July 1954, Perkins and his wife heard a new release of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" by Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore and Bill Black on the radio.^[21], and Valda told Carl that someone in Memphis understood what he was doing and he should go see him.^[22] Later, Presley told Perkins that he had traveled to Jackson and seen Perkins and his group playing at El Rancho.^[23] As "Blue Moon of Kentucky faded out, Carl said, "There's a man in Memphis who understands what we're doing. I need to go see him."^[24]

Years later fellow musician Gene Vincent told an interviewer that, rather than "Blue Moon of Kentucky" being a "new sound", "a lot of people were doing it before that, especially Carl Perkins."^[25]

Sun Records [link]

Perkins successfully auditioned for Sam Phillips at Sun Records during early October 1954. "Movie Magg" and "Turn Around" were released on the Phillips-owned Flip label (151) March 19, 1955,^[26] with "Turn Around" becoming a regional success.^[1] With the song getting airplay across the South and Southwest, Perkins was booked to appear along with Elvis Presley at theaters in Marianna and West Memphis, Arkansas. Commenting on the audience reaction to both Presley and himself Perkins said, "When I'd jump around they'd scream some, but they were gettin' ready for him. It was like TNT, man, it just exploded. All of a sudden the world was wrapped up in rock."^[27]

Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two were the next musicians to be added to the performances by Sun musicians. During the summer of 1955 there were junkets to Little Rock, Forrest City, Arkansas, Corinth and Tupelo, Mississippi. Again performing at El Rancho, the Perkins brothers were involved in an automobile accident. A friend, who had been driving, was pinned by the steering wheel. Perkins managed to drag him from the car, which had begun burning. Clayton had been thrown from the car, but was not injured seriously.^[28]

Another Perkins' tune, "Gone Gone Gone",^[29]^[30] released in October 1955 by Sun,^[31] was also a regional success. It was "a bounce blues in flavorsome combined country and r.&b. idioms". ^[32] It was backed by the more traditional "Let The Juke Box Keep On Playing," complete with fiddle, "Western Boogie" bass line, steel guitar and weepy vocal.^[33]

Commenting on Perkins' playing, Sam Phillips has been quoted as saying that, "I knew that Carl could rock and in fact he told me right from the start that he had been playing that music before Elvis came out on record... I wanted to see whether this was someone who could revolutionize the country end of the business."^[34]

That same autumn, Perkins wrote "Blue Suede Shoes" after seeing a dancer get angry with his date for scuffing up his shoes.^[35] Several weeks later, on December 19, 1955, Perkins and his band recorded the song during a session at Sun Studio in Memphis. Phillips suggested changes to the lyrics ("Go, cat, go") and the band changed the end of the song to a "boogie vamp".

File:Carl Perkins Ozark Jubilee.jpg

On Ozark Jubilee

^[36] Presley left Sun for a larger opportunity with RCA in November, and on December 19, 1955, Phillips, who had begun recording Perkins in late 1954, told Perkins, "Carl Perkins, you're my rockabilly cat now."^[37] Released on January 1, 1956, "Blue Suede Shoes" was a massive chart success. In the United States, it scored No. 1 on Billboard magazine's country music charts (the only No. 1 success he would have) and No. 2 on Billboard's Best Sellers popular music chart. On March 17, Perkins became the first country artist to score No. 3 on the rhythm & blues charts.^[36]^[38] That night, Perkins performed the song during his television debut on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee (Presley performed it for the second time that same night on CBS-TV's Stage Show; he'd first sung it on the program on February 11).

In the United Kingdom, the song became a Top Ten success, scoring No. 10 on the British charts. It was the first record by a Sun label artist to sell a million copies. The B side, "Honey Don't", was covered by The Beatles, Wanda Jackson and (in the 1970s) T. Rex. John Lennon sang lead on the song when the Beatles performed it before it was given to Ringo Starr to sing. Lennon also performed the song on the Lost Lennon Tapes.^[38]

The accident [link]

After playing a show in Norfolk, Virginia on March 21, 1956, the Perkins Brothers Band headed to New York City for a March 24 appearance on NBC-TV's Perry Como Show. Shortly before sunrise on March 22 on Route 13 between Dover and Woodside in Dover, Delaware, Stuart Pinkham (aka Richard Stuart and Poor Richard) assumed duties as driver. After hitting the back of a pickup truck, their car went into a ditch of water about a foot deep, and Perkins was lying face down in the water. Drummer Holland rolled Perkins over, saving him from drowning. He had suffered three fractured vertebrae in his neck, a severe concussion, a broken collar bone, and lacerations all over his body in the crash. Perkins remained unconscious for an entire day. The driver of the pickup truck, Thomas Phillips, a 40-year old farmer, died when he was thrown into the steering wheel.^[39] Carl's brother Jay had a fractured neck along with severe internal injuries, later dying from these complications.

On March 23, Bill Black, Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana visited Perkins on their way to New York to appear with Presley the next day. D.J. Fontana recalled Perkins saying, "Of all the people, I looked up and there you guys are. You looked like a bunch of angels coming to see me."^[40] Black told him, "Hey man, Elvis sends his love," and lit a cigarette for him, even though the patient in the next bed was in an oxygen tent. A week later, Perkins was given a telegram from Presley (which had arrived on March 23), wishing him a speedy recovery.^[41]

Sam Philips had planned to surprise Perkins with a gold record on The Perry Como Show. "Shoes" had already sold more than 500,000 copies by March 22.^[42] Now, while Carl recuperated from the accident, "Blue Suede Shoes" scored No. 1 on most popular, R&B, and country regional music charts. It also scored No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and country charts. Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" scored number one on the pop and country charts, while "Shoes" did better than "Heartbreak" on the R&B charts. By mid-April, more than one million copies of "Blue Suede Shoes" had been sold.^[43]

On April 3, while still recuperating in Jackson, Perkins would see Presley perform "Blue Suede Shoes" on his first Milton Berle Show appearance, which was his third performance of the song on national television.^[44]^[45] He also made references to it twice during an appearance on The Steve Allen Show. Although his version became more famous than Perkins', it only scored No. 20 on Billboard's popular music chart.^[46]

Return to recording and touring [link]

	"Dixie Fried" The rockabilly song "Dixie Fried" performed by Carl Perkins.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Perkins returned to live performances on April 21, 1956, beginning with an appearance in Beaumont, Texas, with the "Big D Jamboree" tour.^[47] Before resuming touring, Sam Phillips arranged a recording session at Sun with Ed Cisco filling in for the still- recuperating Jay. By mid-April, "Dixie Fried", "Put Your Cat Clothes On", "Right String, Wrong Yo-Yo", "You Can't Make Love to Somebody", "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby", and "That Don't Move Me" had been recorded.^[48]

File:Jamboree Carl Perkins.jpg

Carl Perkins (2nd from left) performing "Glad All Over" with (left-right) Clayton Perkins, W.S. "Fluke" Holland, and Jay Perkins in the movie Jamboree.

Beginning during early summer, Perkins was paid $1,000 to play just two songs a night on the extended tour of "Top Stars of '56." Other performers on the tour were Chuck Berry and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. When Perkins and the group entered the stage in Columbia, South Carolina, he was appalled to see a teenager with a bleeding chin pressed against the stage by the crowd. During the first guitar intermission of "Honey Don't" they were waved off stage and into a vacant dressing room behind a double line of police officers. Perkins was quoted as saying, "It was dangerous. Lot of kids got hurt. There was a lot of rioting going on, just crazy, man! The music drove 'em insane." Appalled by what he had seen and experienced, Perkins left the tour.^[49] Appearing with Gene Vincent and Lillian Briggs in a "rock 'n' roll show", he helped pull 39,872 people to the Reading Fair in Pennsylvania on a Tuesday night in late September. A full grandstand and one thousand people who stood in a heavy rain to hear Perkins and Briggs at the Brockton Fair in Mass.^[50]

Sun issued more Perkins songs in 1956: "Boppin' the Blues"/"All Mama's Children" (Sun 243), the B side co-written with Johnny Cash, "Dixie Fried"/"I'm Sorry, I'm Not Sorry" (Sun 249). "Matchbox"/"Your True Love" (Sun 261 ^[51]) came out in February 1957.^[31] "Boppin' the Blues" reached No. 47 on the Cashbox pop singles chart, No. 9 on the Billboard country and western chart, and No. 70 on the Billboard Top 100 chart.

"Matchbox" is considered a rockabilly classic. The day it was recorded, Elvis Presley visited the studio. Along with Johnny Cash (who left early), Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Presley spent more than an hour singing gospel, country and rhythm-and-blues songs while a tape rolled. The casual session was called The Million Dollar Quartet by a local newspaper the next day, and it was eventually released on CD in 1990.^[1]

On February 2, 1957, Perkins again appeared on Ozark Jubilee, singing "Matchbox" and "Blue Suede Shoes". He also made at least two appearances on Town Hall Party in Compton, California in 1957^[52] singing both songs. Those performances were included in the Western Ranch Dance Party series filmed and distributed by Screen Gems.

The 1957 film Jamboree included a Perkins performance of "Glad All Over" (not to be confused with The Dave Clark Five song of the same name), that ran 1:55. "Glad All Over", written by Aaron Schroeder, Sid Tepper, and Roy Bennett,^[53] was released by Sun in January 1958.^[54]

Life after Sun [link]

During 1958, Perkins moved to Columbia Records where he recorded songs such as "Jive After Five", "Rockin' Record Hop", "Levi Jacket (And a Long Tail Shirt)", "Pop, Let Me Have the Car", "Pink Pedal Pushers", "Any Way the Wind Blows", "Hambone", "Pointed Toe Shoes", "Sister Twister", and "L-O-V-E-V-I-L-L-E".^[31]

In 1959, he wrote the country and western song "The Ballad of Boot Hill" for Johnny Cash who released the song as part of an EP on Columbia Records.

He performed often in The Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas during 1962 and 1963, and also in nine Midwestern states and a tour of Germany.

During May 1964, Perkins toured England along with Chuck Berry.^[55] The Animals backed the two performers. On the last night of the tour, Perkins attended a party that turned out to be for him, and ended up sitting on the floor sharing stories, playing guitar, and singing songs while surrounded by The Beatles. Ringo Starr asked if he could record "Honey Don't". "Man," answered Perkins, "go ahead, have at it."^[56] The Beatles would cover "Matchbox", "Honey Don't" and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" recorded by Perkins but adapted from a song originally recorded by Rex Griffin during 1936 with new music composed by Carl Perkins, a song with the same title also recorded by Roy Newman in 1938. The Beatles recorded two versions of "Glad All Over" in 1963.^[57] Another tour to Germany followed in the autumn.

He released "Big Bad Blues" backed with "Lonely Heart" as a single on Brunswick Records with The Nashville Teens in June 1964.^[58]

Although he had been trying to rehabilitate himself by drinking only beer (but large amounts of it), during 1968, while on tour with the Johnny Cash troupe, Perkins began a four-day drunk in Tulsa, Oklahoma, starting with a bottle of Early Times. Nevertheless, with the urging of Cash, he opened a show in San Diego, California, by playing four songs after seeing "four or five of me in the mirror," and while being able to see "nothin' but a blur." After drinking yet another pint of Early Times, he passed out on the tour bus. By morning he started hallucinating "big spiders, and dinosaurs, huge, and they were gonna step on me." The bus was parked on a beach at the ocean. He was tempted by yet another pint of whiskey that he had hidden. He took the bottle with him onto the beach and fell on his knees and said, "Lord... I'm gonna throw this bottle. I'm gonna show You that I believe in You. I sailed it into the Pacific... I got up, I knew I had done the right thing." Perkins and Cash, who had his own problems with drugs, then gave each other support to refrain from their drug of choice.^[59]

During 1968, Cash recorded the Perkins-written "Daddy Sang Bass" (which incorporates parts of the American standard "Will the Circle Be Unbroken") and scored No. 1 on the country music charts for six weeks. Glen Campbell also covered the song, as did The Statler Brothers and Carl Story. "Daddy Sang Bass" was also a Country Music Association nominee for Song of the Year. Perkins also played lead guitar on the Cash smash single "A Boy Named Sue" which was No. 1 for five weeks on the country chart and No. 2 on the popular music chart. Perkins spent a decade in Cash's touring revue and appeared on The Johnny Cash Show. He played "Matchbox" with Cash and Derek and the Dominoes. Cash also featured Perkins in rehearsal jamming with José Feliciano and Merle Travis.

A Kraft Music Hall episode hosted by Cash on April 16, 1969 had Perkins singing his song "Restless".^[60]^[61] Country music fans may recognize The Statler Brothers' song, "Flowers on the Wall", which was also featured on the show.

During February 1969, Perkins joined with Bob Dylan to write "Champaign, Illinois". Dylan was recording in Nashville from February 12 through February 21 for an album that would be titled Nashville Skyline, and met Perkins when he appeared on The Johnny Cash Show on June 7.^[62] Dylan had written one verse of a song, but was stuck. After Perkins worked out a loping rhythm and improvised a verse ending lyric, Dylan said, "Your song. Take it. Finish it."^[63] The co-authored song was included in Perkins' 1969 album On Top.^[64]^[65]

Perkins was also united in 1969 by Columbia's Murray Krugman with a "rockabilly" group based in New York's Hudson Valley, the New Rhythm and Blues Quartet. Carl and NRBQ recorded "Boppin' the Blues" which featured the group backing him on songs like his staples "Turn Around" and "Boppin' the Blues" and included songs recorded separately by Perkins and NRBQ.^[66] One of his TV appearances with Cash was on the popular country series Hee Haw on February 16, 1974.

Johnny Cash's brother Tommy Cash had a Top Ten country gospel hit in 1970 with a recording of the song "Rise and Shine" which was written by Carl Perkins. Tommy Cash reached no. 9 on the Billboard country chart and no. 8 on the Canadian country chart with his version of the song. Arlene Harden had a Top 40 country hit in 1971 with the Carl Perkins composition "True Love Is Greater Than Friendship" from the film Little Fauss and Big Halsy (1971) which reached no. 22 on the Billboard country chart and no. 33 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart for Al Martino that same year.

After a long legal struggle with Sam Phillips over royalties, Perkins gained ownership of his songs during the 1970s.^[67]

Later years [link]

During 1981 Perkins recorded the song "Get It" with Paul McCartney, providing vocals and playing guitar with the former Beatle. This recording was included on the chart-topping album Tug Of War released in 1982.^[68] This track also comprised the B-side of the title track single in a slightly edited form. One source states that Perkins "wrote the song with Paul McCartney."^[69] The song ends with a fade-out of Perkins' impromptu laughter.

The "rockabilly" revival of the 1980s helped bring Perkins back into the limelight. During 1985, he re-recorded "Blue Suede Shoes" with Lee Rocker and Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats, as part of the soundtrack for the movie, Porky's Revenge.

In October 1985, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Dave Edmunds, Lee Rocker, Rosanne Cash and Ringo Starr appeared with him on stage for a television special that was taped live at the Limehouse Studios London before an ecstatic audience called Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session. The show was later shown on Channel 4 on the 1st January 1986. Perkins performed 16 songs with 2 encores in an extraordinary performance. Perkins and his friends ended the session by singing his most famous song, 30 years after its writing, which brought Perkins to tears. The concert special was a memorable highlight of Perkins' later career and has been highly praised by fans for the spirited performances delivered by Perkins and his famous guests. The concert was released for DVD by Snapper Music in 2006.^[70]

File:Carl Perkins 2.jpg

Perkins in the 1990s

Also during 1985, Perkins was inducted to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 1987, wider recognition of his contribution to music came with his induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition, "Blue Suede Shoes" was chosen as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, and as a Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipient. His pioneering contribution to the genre was also recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Perkins' only notable film performance as an actor was in John Landis' 1985 film Into the Night, a cameo-laden film that includes a scene where characters played by Carl and David Bowie die at each other's hand.^[71]

As a guitarist Perkins used: finger picking, imitations of the pedal steel guitar, right-handed damping (muffling strings near the bridge with the palm), arpeggios, advantageous use of open strings, single and double string bending (pushing strings across the neck to raise their pitch), chromaticism (using notes outside of the scale), country and blue licks, and tritone and other tonality clashing licks (short phrases that include notes from other keys and move in logical, often symmetric patterns).^[72] A rich vocabulary of chords including sixth and thirteenth chords, ninth and add nine chords, and suspensions, show up in rhythm parts and solos. Free use of syncopations, chord anticipations (arriving at a chord change before the other players, often by a 1/8 note) and crosspicking (repeating a three 1/8 note pattern so that an accent falls variously on the upbeat or downbeat) are also in his bag of tricks.^[73]

During 1986, he returned to the Sun Studio in Memphis, joining Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison on the album Class of '55. The record was a tribute to their early years at Sun and, specifically, the Million Dollar Quartet jam session involving Perkins, Presley, Cash, and Lewis in 1956.

During 1989, Perkins co-wrote and played guitar on The Judds' No. 1 country success, "Let Me Tell You About Love". During 1989, Perkins also signed a record deal with Platinum Records LTD for an album with the title Friends, Family, and Legends, featuring performances by Chet Atkins, Travis Tritt, Steve Wariner, Joan Jett and Charlie Daniels, along with Paul Shaffer and Will Lee. During 1992, during the production of this CD, Perkins developed throat cancer.

He returned to Sun Studios to record with Scotty Moore, Presley's first guitar player. The CD was called 706 ReUNION, released on Belle Meade Records, and featured D.J. Fontana, Marcus Van Storey and The Jordanaires. During 1993, Perkins performed with the Kentucky Headhunters in a music video remake, filmed in Glasgow, Kentucky, of his song "Dixie Fried." In 1994, Perkins teamed up with Duane Eddy and The Mavericks to contribute "Matchbox" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization.

Perkins' last album, Go Cat Go!, was released during 1996, and featured new collaborations with many of the above artists, as well as George Harrison, Paul Simon, John Fogerty, Tom Petty, and Bono. It was released by the independent label Dinosaur Records and distributed by BMG.^[74]^[75]

His last major concert performance was the Music for Montserrat all-star charity concert at London's Royal Albert Hall on September 15, 1997.

Perkins died four months later, on January 19, 1998 at the age of 65 at Jackson-Madison County Hospital in Jackson, Tennessee from throat cancer after suffering several strokes. Among mourners at the funeral at Lambuth University were George Harrison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Wynonna Judd, Garth Brooks, Nashville Agent Jim Dallas Crouch, Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. Perkins was interred at Ridgecrest Cemetery in Jackson.

His widow, Valda deVere Perkins, died November 15, 2005 in Jackson.

Legacy [link]

Perkins collaborated on a 1996 biography, Go, Cat, Go, with New York–based music writer David McGee. Plans for a biographical film were announced by Santa Monica-based production company Fastlane Entertainment.^[76]^[77] was slated for release in 2009.

During 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Perkins number 99 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.^[78]

His version of "Blue Suede Shoes" was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2006.^[79]

The Perkins family still owns his songs, which are administered by former Beatle Paul McCartney's company MPL Communications.^[67]

Drive-By Truckers, on their album The Dirty South, recorded "Carl Perkins' Cadillac" that has a history of the artist and his relationships.

George Thorogood & the Destroyers covered "Dixie Fried" on their 1985 album, Maverick. The Kentucky Headhunters also covered the song as did Keith de Groot on a 1968 album entitled No Introduction Necessary that featured Jimmy Page on lead guitar and John Paul Jones on bass.^[80]

Ricky Nelson covered Perkins' "Boppin' The Blues" and "Your True Love" on his 1957 debut album Ricky.

Perkins was portrayed by Johnny Saint Holiday in the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line.

Perkins' first-born son Stan Perkins is a recording artist as well. In 2010, Stan joined forces with Jerry Naylor to record a duet tribute to Carl, “To Carl; Let it Vibrate.” Stan Perkins has been inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Discography [link]

Charted albums [link]

Year	Album	Peak positions	Label
Year	Album	US Country	Label
1969	Carl Perkins' Greatest Hits	32	Columbia
1969	On Top	42	Columbia
1970	Original Golden Hits	43	Sun
1974	My Kind of Country	48	Mercury
1982	The Survivors Live (with Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis)	21	Columbia
1986	Class of '55 (with Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash)	15	America Smash

Charted singles [link]

Year	Single	Peak chart positions			Album
Year	Single	US Country	US	CAN Country	Album
1956	"Blue Suede Shoes"^A	1	2	—	Dance Album of...Carl Perkins
	"Boppin' the Blues"	7	70	—	Dance Album of...Carl Perkins
	"Dixie Fried"	10	—	—	Original Golden Hits
	"I'm Sorry, I'm Not Sorry"	flip	—	—	Blue Suede Shoes
1957	"Your True Love"	13	67	—	Dance Album of...Carl Perkins
1958	"Pink Pedal Pushers"	17	91	—	The King of Rock
1959	"Pointed Toe Shoes"	—	93	—	The King of Rock
1966	"Country Boy's Dream"	22	—	—	Country Boy's Dream
1967	"Shine, Shine, Shine"	40	—	—	Country Boy's Dream
1969	"Restless"	20	—	—	Carl Perkins' Greatest Hits
1971	"Me Without You"	65	—	—	The Man Behind Johnny Cash
1971	"Cotton Top"	53	—	—	The Man Behind Johnny Cash
1972	"High on Love"	60	—	—	Single only
1973	"(Let's Get) Dixiefried" (1973 version)	61	—	—	My Kind of Country
1986	"Birth of Rock and Roll"	31	—	44	Class of '55
1987	"Class of '55"	83	—	—	Class of '55
1989	"Charlene"	—	—	74	Born to Rock

^A"Blue Suede Shoes" also peaked at No. 2 on the R&B charts and No. 10 in the United Kingdom.

Notes [link]

^ ^a ^b ^c Pareles.
^ ^a ^b Naylor, p. 118.
^ Carl Perkins: Biography : Rolling Stone^{[dead link]}
^ Perkins, pp. 8–9.
^ Naylor.
^ Perkins, pp. 11–12.
^ Perkins, pp. 13–14.
^ Perkins, p. 21.
^ Perkins, p. 30, 55.
^ "Beginner on guitar? Learn these ten chords!". GuitarTools.co.uk. 2007-09-05. http://www.guitartools.co.uk/Beginner_On_Guitar_Learn_These_Ten_Chords!.html. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
^ [1]^{[dead link]}
^ Perkins, p. 30, 68.
^ Perkins, pp. 36–41.
^ Perkins, p. 48.
^ Perkins, pp. 48–49.
^ Perkins, pp. 32, 70–71.
^ "The Legend Carl Perkins". Rockabillytennessee.com. 1998-01-19. http://rockabillytennessee.com/legend_carl_perkins.htm. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
^ Perkins, pp. 70–71.
^ Perkins, p. 77.
^ The Atlantic. Dec 1970. page 100
^ Blue Moon of Kentucky label shot with credits^{[dead link]}
^ Rockabilly Legends. Naler. page 121.
^ The Atlantic. Dec. 1970. p. 100. The Top Beats the Bottom: Carl Perkins and his Music.
^ Perkins, pp. 79–90.
^ Race with the Devil. Susan VanHecke. 2000. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-26222-1. page 219
^ Flip (RCS Label Listing)^{[dead link]}
^ Perkins, pp. 106–108.
^ Perkins, pp. 122–124.
^ [2]^{[dead link]}
^ http://rcs-discography.com/rcs/ss/03/ss3287.mp3
^ ^a ^b ^c [3]^{[dead link]}
^ Billboard Oct 22, 1955. Reviews of New C&W Records. p 44
^ http://rcs-discography.com/rcs/ss/08/ss8095.mp3
^ Good Rockin' Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock 'n' Roll By Colin Escott, Martin Hawkins. Google eBook retrieved 10.11.2011
^ Go, Cat, Go! by Carl Perkins and David McGee 1996 p.129 Hyperion Press ISBN 0-7868-6073-1
^ ^a ^b Miller, James (1999) Flowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 1947–1977. Simon & Schuster (124-25). ISBN 0-684-80873-0.
^ Naylor, p. 135.
^ ^a ^b Naylor, p. 137.
^ Perkins, pp. 178, 180.
^ The Blue Moon Boys - The Story of Elvis Presley's Band. Ken Burke and Dan Griffin. 2006. Chicago Review Press. page 88. ISBN 1-55652-614-8
^ Perkins, pp. 182, 184.
^ Perkins, p. 173.
^ Perkins, p. 187.
^ Perkins, p. 184.
^ "Elvis' Television Appearances 1956 - 1973". Kki.pl. http://www.kki.pl/elvisal/elvis_tv.htm. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
^ "Top 20 Billboard Singles: Billboard Chart Statistics: All About Elvis". Elvis.com. http://www.elvis.com/elvisology/billboard/elvis_singles.asp. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
^ Perkins, p. 191.
^ Perkins, p. 198.
^ Perkins, pp. 188, 210, 212.
^ Billboard Sep 29, 1956. pages 73, 78.
^ label image @ Rockin Country Style hosted @ Emory
^ "Town Hall Party". hillbilly-music.com. http://www.hillbilly-music.com/programs/story/index.php?prog=170. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
^ [4]^{[dead link]}
^ [5]^{[dead link]}
^ "Tour Information 1964". Chuckberry.de. http://www.chuckberry.de/tour1964.htm#Chuck%20Berry. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
^ Naylor, p. 142.
^ THE BEATLES "Glad All Over". "THE BEATLES lyrics - Glad All Over". Oldielyrics.com. http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/the_beatles/glad_all_over.html. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
^ 45cat.com.
^ Perkins, pp. 309–310.
^ "Restless - Carl Perkins". Rockabillyeurope.com. http://www.rockabillyeurope.com/lyrics3/r0051.htm. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
^ "Kraft Music Hall: Johnny Cash...On The Road Episode Summary". TV.com. http://www.tv.com/kraft-music-hall/johnny-cash...on-the-road/episode/170681/summary.html. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
^ 9:00pm. "The Johnny Cash Show Season 2 Episode Guide". TV.com. http://www.tv.com/the-johnny-cash-show/show/8950/episode.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=tabssh&tag=tabs;episodes. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
^ Perkins.
^ "RAB Hall of Fame: Carl Perkins". Rockabilly Hall of Fame. http://www.rockabillyhall.com/CarlPerkins.html. Retrieved 2007-01-18.
^ "On Top - Carl Perkins". AOL Music. http://music.aol.com/album/on-top/12282. Retrieved 2007-01-18.
^ Boppin' the Blues Columbia CS9981 1969
^ ^a ^b Mike Kovacich (April 17, 2003). "MACCA-News: McCartney To Administer Perkins' music". Macca-central.com. http://www.macca-central.com/macca-news/morenews.php?id=1157. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
^ "Tug Of War". Jpgr.co.uk. http://www.jpgr.co.uk/pctc259.html. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
^ Naylor, p. 145.
^ DVD Carl Perkins & Friends. Released by Graham Nolder/Snapper Music.2006. Cat:SDVD514
^ [6]
^ http://www.paul-clark.com/pages/tutorial/Pentatonics.pdf
^ Perkins, p. 78.
^ "Carl Perkins/Various Artists: Go Cat Go!". Theband.hiof.no. http://theband.hiof.no/albums/go_cat_go.html. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
^ [7]^{[dead link]}
^ "''The Carl Perkins Story''". Billboardpublicitywire.com. http://www.billboardpublicitywire.com/releases/2007/8/prweb549339.htm. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
^ "Rock 'N Roll Legend Carl Perkins' Much Anticipated Story To Come To The Big Screen". Billboard Publicity Wire. http://www.billboardpublicitywire.com/releases/2007/8/prweb549339.htm.
^ "The Immortals: The First Fifty". Rolling Stone (946). http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5939214/the_immortals_the_first_fifty.
^ "2006 National Recording Registry choices". Loc.gov. 2011-05-13. http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/nrpb-2006reg.html. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
^ "George Thorogood & The Destroyers Albums". Softshoe-slim.com. http://www.softshoe-slim.com/lists/t/thorogood.html. Retrieved 2011-11-25.

References [link]

Guterman, Jimmy. (1998.) "Carl Perkins." In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Ed. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 412–413.
Naylor, Jerry; Halliday, Steve. The Rockabilly Legends: They Called It Rockabilly Long Before They Called It Rock and Roll. Milwaukee, Wisc.: Hal Leonard. ISBN 978-1-4234-2042-2. OCLC 71812792.
Pareles, Jon (20 January 1998). "Carl Perkins Dies at 65; Rockabilly Pioneer Wrote 'Blue Suede Shoes'". The New York Times: p. B12. http://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/20/arts/carl-perkins-dies-at-65-rockabilly-pioneer-wrote-blue-suede-shoes.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
Perkins, Carl; McGee, David (1996). Go, Cat, Go!. New York: Hyperion Press. ISBN 0-7868-6073-1. OCLC 32895064. .

External links [link]

Persondata
Name	Perkins, Carl
Alternative names
Short description	American rockabilly musician
Date of birth	April 9, 1932
Place of birth	Tiptonville, Tennessee, United States
Date of death	January 19, 1998
Place of death	Jackson, Tennessee, United States

http://wn.com/Carl_Perkins

http://it.wn.com/Carl Perkins

http://cs.wn.com/Carl Perkins

http://es.wn.com/Carl Perkins

http://ru.wn.com/Перкинс, Карл

http://nl.wn.com/Carl Perkins

http://pt.wn.com/Carl Perkins

http://pl.wn.com/Carl Perkins

http://fr.wn.com/Carl Perkins

http://de.wn.com/Carl Perkins

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Perkins

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

Jerry Lee Lewis
Lewis at Credicard Hall in September 2009
Background information
Birth name	Jerry Lee Lewis
Also known as	The Killer
Born	(1935-09-29) September 29, 1935 (age 76)
Origin	Ferriday, Louisiana, U.S.
Genres	Rock and roll, country, rockabilly, blues, Honky tonk, gospel
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, pianist
Instruments	Vocals, piano, guitar
Years active	1954–present
Labels	Sun, Mercury, Sire/Warner Bros, MCA
Website	www.jerryleelewis.com

Jerry Lee Lewis (born September 29, 1935) is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. He is known by the nickname "The Killer". An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis had hits in the late 1950s with songs such as "Great Balls of Fire", "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", "Breathless" and "High School Confidential". However, Lewis' rock 'n' roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to his young cousin. He had little success in the charts following the scandal until his popularity recovered in the late 1960s after he extended his career to country and western music with songs such as "Another Place, Another Time". More country hits soon followed over the late 1960s and through the 1970s. Lewis's successes continued throughout the decade and he embraced his rock 'n' roll past with songs such as a cover of the Big Bopper's "Chantilly Lace" and "Rockin' My Life Away". In the 21st century Lewis continues to tour to audiences around the world and still releases new albums. One such new album, titled Last Man Standing, is his best selling to date at over a million copies sold worldwide.

Lewis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. In 2003, Rolling Stone Magazine listed his box set All Killer, No Filler: The Anthology number 242 on their list of "500 greatest albums of all time".^[1] In 2004, they ranked him number 24 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.^[2] His live album Live at the Star Club, Hamburg is often regarded by many music journalists and fans as one of the wildest and greatest rock and roll concert albums ever. In 2008, he was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

Lewis is the last surviving member of Sun Records' Million Dollar Quartet and the Class of '55 album, which altogether included Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley, as well as Lewis himself.

1 Early life
2 Discography
- 2.1 Hits and awards
3 Compositions
4 Footnotes
5 References
6 External links and sources
- 6.1 Selected videos

Early life [link]

Jerry Lee Lewis Drive in Ferriday, Louisiana

Lewis was born to the poor family of Elmo and Mamie Lewis in Ferriday in Concordia Parish in eastern Louisiana, and began playing piano in his youth with two cousins, country music singer Mickey Gilley and TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart. His parents mortgaged their farm to buy him a piano. Influenced by a piano-playing older cousin, Carl McVoy (who later recorded with Bill Black's Combo), the radio, and the sounds from the black juke joint across the tracks called Haney's Big House.^[3] Lewis's main influence growing up was Moon Mullican.^[4]

His mother enrolled him in Southwest Bible Institute in Waxahachie, Texas, so that her son would be exclusively singing his evangelical songs. But Lewis daringly played a boogie woogie rendition of "My God Is Real" at a church assembly that sent him packing the same night. Pearry Green, then president of the student body, related how during a talent show Lewis played some "worldly" music. The next morning, the dean of the school called Lewis and Green into his office to expel them. Lewis said that Green should not be expelled because "he didn't know what I was going to do." Years later Green asked Lewis: "Are you still playing the devil's music?" Lewis replied "Yes, I am. But you know it's strange, the same music that they kicked me out of school for is the same kind of music they play in their churches today. The difference is, I know I am playing for the devil and they don't."

After that incident, he went home and started playing at clubs in and around Ferriday and Natchez, Mississippi, becoming part of the burgeoning new rock 'n' roll sound and cutting his first demo recording in 1954. He made a trip to Nashville circa 1955 where he played clubs and attempted to build interest, but was turned down by the Grand Ole Opry as he had been at the Louisiana Hayride country stage and radio show in Shreveport. Recording executives in Nashville suggested he switch to playing a guitar.

Lewis in the 1950s.

Lewis traveled to Memphis, Tennessee in November 1956, to audition for Sun Records. Label owner Sam Phillips was in Florida, but producer and engineer Jack Clement recorded Lewis's rendition of Ray Price's "Crazy Arms" and his own composition "End of The Road". During December 1956, Lewis began recording prolifically, as a solo artist and as a session musician for such Sun artists as Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. His distinctive piano can be heard on many tracks recorded at Sun during late 1956 and early 1957, including Carl Perkins's "Matchbox", "Your True Love", "You Can Do No Wrong", and "Put Your Cat Clothes On", and Billy Lee Riley's "Flyin' Saucers Rock'n'Roll". Formerly, rockabilly had rarely featured piano, but it proved an influential addition and rockabilly artists on other labels also started working with pianists.

On December 4, 1956, Elvis Presley dropped in on Phillips to pay a social visit while Perkins was in the studio cutting new tracks with Lewis backing him on piano. Johnny Cash was also there watching Perkins. The four then started an impromptu jam session, and Phillips left the tape running. These recordings, almost half of which were gospel songs, survived, and have been released on CD under the title Million Dollar Quartet. Tracks also include Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" and "Paralyzed", Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man", Pat Boone's "Don't Forbid Me" and Presley doing an impersonation of Jackie Wilson (who was then with Billy Ward and the Dominoes) on "Don't Be Cruel".

Lewis's own singles (on which he was billed as "Jerry Lee Lewis and his Pumping Piano") advanced his career as a soloist during 1957, with hits such as "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and "Great Balls of Fire", his biggest hit, bringing him international fame, despite criticism for the songs' overtly sexual undertones which prompted some radio stations to boycott them. In 2005, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.

According to several first hand sources, including Johnny Cash, Lewis himself, who was devoutly Christian, was also troubled by the sinful nature of his own material, which he firmly believed was leading himself and his audience to hell.^[5] This aspect of Lewis's character was depicted in Waylon Payne's portrayal of Lewis in the 2005 film Walk the Line, based on Cash's autobiographies.

As part of his stage act, Lewis would often kick the piano bench aside and play standing, rake his hands up and down the keyboard for dramatic accent, sit on the keyboard and even stand on top of the instrument. His first TV appearance, in which he demonstrated some of these moves, was on The Steve Allen Show on July 28, 1957, where he played the song "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On".^[6]^[7] It is widely believed that he once set fire to a piano at the end of a live performance, in protest of being billed below Chuck Berry.^{[citation needed]} but he is quoted in an online article in Esquire Magazine as saying "I never set fire to a piano. I'd like to have got away with it, though. I pushed a couple of them in the river. They wasn't any good."

His dynamic performance style can be seen in films such as High School Confidential (he sang the title song from the back of a flatbed truck), and Jamboree. He has been called "rock & roll's first great wild man" and also "rock & roll's first great eclectic".^[8] Classical composer Michael Nyman has also cited Lewis's style as the progenitor of his own aesthetic.^[9]

Marriage to minor [link]

Lewis's turbulent personal life was hidden from the public until a May 1958 British tour where Ray Berry, a news agency reporter at London's Heathrow Airport (the only journalist present), learned about Lewis's third wife, Myra Gale Brown. She was Lewis's first cousin once removed^[10]^[11] and was only 13 years old at the time. (Brown, Lewis, and his management all insisted that she was 15). Lewis was 22 years old. The publicity caused an uproar and the tour was canceled after only three concerts.

The scandal followed Lewis home to America, and as a result, he was blacklisted from radio and almost vanished from the music scene. Lewis felt betrayed by numerous people who had been his supporters. Dick Clark dropped him from his shows. Lewis even felt that Sam Phillips had sold him out when the Sun Records boss released "The Return of Jerry Lee", a bogus "interview" cut together by Jack Clement from excerpts of Lewis's songs that "answered" the interview questions, which made light of his marital and publicity problems. Only Alan Freed stayed true to Lewis, playing his records until Freed was removed from the air because of payola allegations.

Lewis was still under contract with Sun Records, and kept recording, regularly releasing singles. He had gone from $10,000 a night concerts to $250 a night spots in beer joints and small clubs. He had few friends at the time whom he felt he could trust. It was only through Kay Martin, the president of Lewis's fan club, T. L. Meade, (aka Franz Douskey) a sometime Memphis musician and friend of Sam Phillips, and Gary Skala, that Lewis went back to record at Sun Records.^[when?]

By this time,^[when?] Phillips had built a new state-of-the-art studio at 639 Madison Avenue in Memphis, thus abandoning the old Union Avenue studio where Phillips had recorded B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Lewis, Johnny Cash and others, and also opened a studio in Nashville. It was at the latter studio that Lewis recorded his only major hit during this period, a rendition of Ray Charles' "What'd I Say" in 1961. In Europe other updated versions of "Sweet Little Sixteen" (September 1962 UK) and "Good Golly Miss Molly" (March 1963) entered the Hit Parade. On popular EPs, "Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes", "I've Been Twistin'", "Money" and "Hello Josephine" also became turntable hits, especially in nascent discothèques. Another recording of Lewis playing an instrumental boogie arrangement of the Glenn Miller Orchestra favorite "In the Mood", was issued on the Phillips International label under the pseudonym "The Hawk", but disc jockeys quickly figured out the distinctive piano style, and this gambit failed.

Lewis's Sun recording contract ended in 1963 and he joined Smash Records, where he made a number of rock recordings that did not further his career.

His popularity recovered somewhat in Europe, especially in the UK and Germany, during the mid-1960s. A concert album, Live at the Star Club, Hamburg (1964), recorded with The Nashville Teens, is widely considered one of the greatest live rock and roll albums ever.^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15]^[16]^[17] Music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine writes: "Live at the Star Club is extraordinary, the purest, hardest rock & roll ever committed to record."^[16]

Family [link]

Lewis has been married seven times.^[18] His first marriage, to Dorothy Barton, lasted for 20 months, from February 1952 to October 1953 (although there is a possibility that Lewis may have married Barton earlier than 1952). In a 1978 People magazine interview Lewis stated "I was 14 when I first got married. My wife was too old for me; she was 17."^[19] His second marriage, to Jane Mitchum, was of dubious validity because it occurred 23 days before his divorce from Barton was final. They were married for four years, from September 1953 to October 1957, and had two children. He then married Myra Gale Brown in December 1957. The couple went through a second marriage ceremony because his divorce from Jane Mitchum was not complete before the first ceremony took place. Lewis and Myra had two children and were divorced in December 1970 after 13 years of marriage. Lewis's fourth marriage was to Jaren Elizabeth Gunn Pate, and ended when she drowned in the swimming pool at their home. They were married for 12 years, from October 1971 to August 1983.^{[clarification needed]} His fifth wife was Shawn Stephens. This marriage ended with her death from a methadone overdose. They were married for three months, from June to August 1984. His sixth marriage was to Kerrie McCarver, with whom he had one child. This marriage lasted 20 years and ended in divorce in 2004. On March 9, 2012, Lewis married his seventh wife Judith Brown.^[18]

Lewis has had at least four children. Two additional people have claimed to be his children, but they had no proof. In 1962, his son Steve Allen Lewis drowned in a swimming pool accident when he was three, and in 1973, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jr., died at the age of 19^[19]^[20] when he overturned the Jeep he was driving.^[19] His current living children are a son, Jerry Lee Lewis III, and a daughter, Phoebe Allan Lewis.

Later career [link]

In the 1960s, Lewis's attempts at a comeback as a rock and roll performer had stalled during four years with Smash Records until he began recording country ballads.

Lewis in concert, in 1977

He had already recorded a country-oriented LP for the label Country Songs for City Folks. In 1968, his single "Another Place, Another Time" became a Top 10 success and led to a string of Top Ten singles including the 1968 number-one country single "To Make Love Sweeter For You" that brought Lewis renewed stardom among country music fans, much like that which ex-rockabilly Conway Twitty began to cultivate during that same time. His shift to country reflected the fact that he had grown up listening to the Grand Ole Opry.^{[citation needed]} Lewis's country hits during this period include "What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me)", "She Still Comes Around (To Love What's Left of Me)", "She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye", "Once More With Feeling", "There Must Be More to Love Than This", "Touching Home", "Would You Take Another Chance on Me", "Me & Bobby McGee", "Think About It, Darlin'", "Sometimes a Memory Ain't Enough", and "Tell Tale Signs". Lewis's singles and albums were issued on Mercury records instead of Smash from 1970 on. Lewis's renewed popularity encouraged Sun International Inc. to issue previously unpublished recordings dating from 1963 including "Invitation to Your Party", "One Minute Past Eternity", "I Can't Seem To Say Goodbye" and "Waiting For A Train" on singles that also did well on the country music charts in 1969/70. Lewis's successes continued throughout the decade and he eventually began to re-emphasize his rock and roll past with hits like his 1972 revival of The Big Bopper's rock classic "Chantilly Lace" and "Drinkin' Wine Spo dee-o dee" as well as looking at middle age with the 1977 "Middle Age Crazy". In 1979, he signed with Elektra Records and had his last major country hit with 1981's "Thirty-Nine and Holding". He spent a very brief period with MCA Records in 1983 but left the label due to unspecified differences.

In 1989, a major motion picture based on his early life in rock & roll, Great Balls of Fire!, brought him back into the public eye, especially when he decided to re-record all his songs for the movie soundtrack. The film was based on the book by Lewis's ex-wife, Myra Gale Lewis, and starred Dennis Quaid as Lewis, Winona Ryder as Myra, and Alec Baldwin as Jimmy Swaggart. The movie focuses on Lewis's early career and his relationship with Myra, and ends with the scandal of the late 1950s. A year later, in 1990, Lewis made minor news when a new song he co-wrote called "It Was the Whiskey Talkin' (Not Me)" was included in the soundtrack to the hit movie Dick Tracy. The song is also heard in the movie, playing on a radio.

The public downfall of his cousin, television evangelist Jimmy Swaggart, resulted in more adverse publicity to a troubled family. Swaggart is also a piano player, as is another cousin, country music star Mickey Gilley. All three listened to the same music in their youth, and frequented Haney's Big House, the Ferriday club that featured black blues acts. Lewis and Swaggart have had a complex relationship over the years.

Linda Gail Lewis, touring with her brother, in 1977, in Ludwigshafen, Germany

Lewis's sister, Linda Gail Lewis has recorded with Lewis, toured with his stage show for a time and more recently recorded with Van Morrison.

"The Killer", a nickname he has had since childhood, is known for his forceful voice and piano production on stage. He was described by Roy Orbison as the best raw performer in the history of rock and roll music.^[21]

In 1986, Lewis was one of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That year, he returned to Sun Studio in Memphis to team up with Orbison, Cash, and Perkins along with longtime admirers like John Fogerty to create the album Class of '55, a sort of followup to the "Million Dollar Quartet" session, though in the eyes of many critics and fans, lacking the spirit of the old days at Sun.

In 1998 he toured Europe with Chuck Berry and Little Richard. On February 12, 2005, he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by The Recording Academy (which also grants the Grammy Awards). On September 26, 2006, a new album titled Last Man Standing was released, featuring many of rock and roll's elite as guest stars. Receiving positive reviews, the album charted in four different Billboard charts, including a two week stay at number one on the Indie charts.

A DVD entitled Last Man Standing Live, featuring concert footage with many guest artists, was released in March 2007, and the CD achieved Lewis's 10th official gold disk for selling over half-a-million copies in the US alone. Last Man Standing is Lewis's biggest selling album of all time. It features contributions from Mick Jagger, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards and Rod Stewart, among others.

On November 5, 2007, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, honored Lewis with six days of conferences, interviews, a DVD premiere and film clips, dedicated to him entitled The Life And Music of Jerry Lee Lewis.^{[citation needed]} On November 10, the week culminated with a tribute concert compered by Kris Kristofferson. Lewis was present to accept the American Music Masters Award and closed his own tribute show with a rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".

On February 10, 2008, he appeared with John Fogerty and Little Richard on the 50th Grammy Awards Show, performing "Great Balls of Fire" in a medley with "Good Golly Miss Molly".

Lewis now lives on a ranch in Nesbit, Mississippi with his family.^[22]^[23]^[24]

On June 4, 2008, Lewis was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

On July 4, 2008, he appeared on A Capitol Fourth and performed the finale's final act with a medley of "Roll Over Beethoven", "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On" and "Great Balls of Fire".

In October 2008, as part of a very successful European tour, Lewis returned to the UK, almost exactly 50 years after his ill-fated first tour. He appeared at two London shows: a special private show at the 100 Club on October 25 and at the London Forum on October 28 with Wanda Jackson and his sister, Linda Gail Lewis.^[25]

2009 marked the sixtieth year since Lewis's first public performance when he performed "“Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" at a car dealership on November 19, 1949 in Ferriday Louisiana.^{[citation needed]}

In August 2009, in advance of his new album, a single entitled "Mean Old Man" was released for download. It was written by Kris Kristofferson. An EP featuring this song and four more was also released on amazon.com on November 11.

On October 29, 2009, Lewis opened the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary concert at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Discography [link]

Main article: Jerry Lee Lewis discography

Hits and awards [link]

Between 1957 and 2006, the date of Last Man Standing's release, 47 singles and 22 albums (The Session counted as 2 albums) made the Top Twenty Pop, Jukebox, Rock, Indie and/or Country charts in the US or the UK. Fourteen^{[clarification needed]} reached the number 1 position. He has had ten official gold disks, the latest being for the 2006 album Last Man Standing, plus unofficial ones issued by his record company Mercury for albums which sold over a quarter of a million copies. His 2006 duets CD Last Man Standing has sold over half a million worldwide, his biggest selling album ever. Lewis is also among the Top 50 all-time Billboard Country artists. It is also rumored that the soundtrack album to the movie Great Balls Of Fire has now sold over a million copies. The original Sun cut of "Great Balls of Fire" was elected to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998, and Lewis's Sun recording of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On" received this honor in 1999. Only recordings which are at least 25 years old and have left a lasting impression can receive this honor. Along with Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison, Lewis received a Grammy in the spoken word category for the very rare album of interviews released with some early copies of the Class of '55 album in 1986. On February 12, 2005, Lewis received the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award the day before the Recording Academy's main Grammy Awards ceremony, which he also attended. On October 10, 2007, Lewis received the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's American Music Masters Award. His newest album, Mean Old Man, was released in September 2010 and reached No. 30 on the Billboard 200 album chart.

Compositions [link]

Lewis has written or co-written many songs during his career:

"End of the Road", 1956 – this is an original song and not the same as Irving Berlin's song (that inspired it) as the lyrics and melody are totally different apart from the refrain "the way is dark and the night is long" (which Lewis turns around) and "waiting at the end of the road".
"Jerry's Boogie" (a.k.a. "Black Bottom Stomp"), 1956 – was previously recorded as Black Bottom Stomp by Jelly Roll Morton but Lewis's rendition is his own and changes a lot of the old song.
"Lewis Boogie", 1956
"Pumpin' Piano Rock", 1957
"All Night Long", 1957
"High School Confidential", 1958
"Live & Let Live", 1958 – sometimes credited to Lewis, but this actually was recorded by Bill Monroe, Moon Mullican, Gene Sullivan & Wiley Walker, and Jimmie Davis before.
"Memory Of You", 1958
"Hello, Hello Baby", 1958
"Baby, Baby, Bye Bye", 1960
"Lewis Workout", 1960
"Whole Lotta Twistin' Goin' On", 1962 – new lyrics
"He Took It Like A Man", 1963
"Baby, Hold Me Close", 1965
"My Baby Don't Love No One But Me", 1965
"Rockin' Jerry Lee", 1966
"What A Heck Of A Mess", 1966
"Lincoln Limousine", 1966
"Alvin", 1970
"Pilot Baby", 1980s
"Crown Victoria Custom '51, 1995
"New Orleans Boogie" ("Jerry Lee's Boogie"), 1952
"Blues Like Midnight", 1980s–2000s – a 12 bar blues often done by Lewis in concert. It is sometimes entirely based around Jimmie Rodgers verses but not recorded by Rodgers in this form. On other versions, Lewis adds in original verses as well.

Footnotes [link]

^ All Killer, No Filler! Rolling Stone Magazine online. (November 1, 2003). Accessed September 30, 2007.
^ "The Immortals: The First Fifty". Rolling Stone Issue 946. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5939214/the_immortals_the_first_fifty.
^ Natchez Under The Hill Saloon – Natchez Mississippi. Underthehillsaloon.com (2004-04-16). Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
^ Moon Mullican – a main influence on Jerry Lee and Kyle Esplin – Scotland's No 1 boogie-woogie singer pianist Kyle Esplin!. Kyleesplin.com. Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
^ Johnny Cash, Cash: The Autobiography, 1997, p. 98.
^ Jerry Lee Lewis – Greatest Live Performances of the '50s, '60s and '70s – DVD, 2007.
^ "The Steve Allen Show" (1956–1957) (Retrieved on January 31, 2008)
^ AllMusic review: Live at the Star Club
^ Andrew Ford. "Jerry Lee Lewis Plays Mozart". Composer to Composer London: Quartet Books, 1993. pp 192–195, p 194
^ Myra Lewis-Williams Interview. Jerry9.tripod.com (1998-04-17). Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
^ What's wrong with cousins marrying?. The Straight Dope (2004-10-01). Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
^ Peter Checksfield, "Jerry Lee Lewis. The Greatest Live Show on Earth", Record Collector, No.188 – April 1995, p. 79.
^ Milo Miles, Album review of Live at the Star Club, Hamburg. Rolling Stone, #899/900 – July 2002, p.112.
^ Q Magazine, #1, 2002, p.59.
^ Mojo, 3/01/04, p.52.
^ ^a ^b Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Album Review: "Live at the Star Club, Hamburg" at Allmusic.
^ Steven Stoulder, Editorial review of "Live at the Star Club, Hamburg" at Amazon.com.
^ ^a ^b "Cousin's ex becomes Jerry Lee Lewis's 7th wife". CNN. CNN.com. March 29, 2012. http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/29/showbiz/jerry-lee-lewis-wedding/index.html?hpt=hp_t2. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c Jerome, Jim. "Fame, Tragedy and Fame Again: Jerry Lee Lewis Has Been Through Great Balls of Fire, Otherwise Known as Hell", People April 24, 1978, Vol. 9 No. 16. Retrieved 2010-06-10.
^ Simons, Jeff (June 18, 2000). "Jerry lee is Still Burnin' Down the House". Sunday Free Lance Star. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=su8yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nAgGAAAAIBAJ&pg=6568,4893058&dq=jerry+lee+lewis+jr&hl=en. Retrieved 2010-06-10.
^ Rob Patterson, "Jerry Lee Lewis: 'The Killer' Keeps Comin' Back", at BMI / MusicWorld, December 22, 2006.
^ Jerry Lee Lewis FAQ – Nesbit Ranch. Oldies.about.com (2010-06-17). Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
^ Jerry Lee Lewis. Classicbands.com. Retrieved on 2011-07-15.
^ Jerry Lee Lewis Home, Nesbit, Mississippi – Backroads of American Music
^ Official London Rock 'n' Roll Festival website.

References [link]

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (October 2008)

Bonomo, Joe (2009). Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found. New York: Continuum Books.
Tosches, Nick (1982). Hellfire. New York: Grove Press.
Gutterman, Jimmy (1991). Rockin' My Life Away: Listening to Jerry Lee Lewis. Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press.
Gutterman, Jimmy (1993). The Jerry Lee Lewis Anthology: All Killer, No Filler. Rhino Records.
Silver, Murray (1981). Great Balls of Fire: The Uncensored Story of Jerry Lee Lewis. William Morrow/Quill/St. Martin's Press.
Whitburn, Joel (1985). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits.

External links and sources [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jerry Lee Lewis

Selected videos [link]

Whole Lotta Shakin' Going on

Persondata
Name	Lewis, Jerry Lee
Alternative names
Short description	Singer, Songwriter, Pianist
Date of birth	1935-9-29
Place of birth	Ferriday, Louisiana, United States
Date of death
Place of death

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This article is about the singer. For other uses, see Johnny Cash (disambiguation).

Johnny Cash
Cash in 1969.
Background information
Birth name	John R. Cash
Born	(1932-02-26)February 26, 1932 Kingsland, Arkansas, United States
Origin	Kingsland, Arkansas, United States
Died	September 12, 2003(2003-09-12) (aged 71) Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Genres	Country, rock and roll, folk, americana, gospel, blues, rockabilly
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician, actor
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, harmonica, mandolin
Years active	1955–2003
Labels	Sun, Columbia, Mercury, American, House of Cash, Legacy Recordings
Associated acts	The Tennessee Three, The Highwaymen, June Carter Cash, The Statler Brothers, The Carter Family, The Oak Ridge Boys, Area Code 615, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Website	johnnycash.com
Notable instruments
Martin Acoustic Guitars^[1]

John R. "Johnny" Cash (February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003), was an American singer-songwriter, actor,^[2] and author,^[2] who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.^[3] Although he is primarily remembered as a country music icon, his songs and sound spanned many other genres including rockabilly and rock and roll—especially early in his career—as well as blues, folk, and gospel. This crossover appeal led to Cash being inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

Cash was known for his deep, distinctive bass-baritone voice;^[4]^[5]^[6] for the "boom-chicka-boom" sound of his Tennessee Three backing band; for his rebelliousness,^[7]^[8] coupled with an increasingly somber and humble demeanor;^[4] for providing free concerts inside prison walls;^[9]^[10] and for his dark performance clothing, which earned him the nickname "The Man in Black".^[11] He traditionally started his concerts by saying, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash."^[12]^[13] and usually following it up with his standard "Folsom Prison Blues".

Much of Cash's music, especially that of his later career, echoed themes of sorrow, moral tribulation and redemption.^[4]^[14] His signature songs include "I Walk the Line", "Folsom Prison Blues", "Ring of Fire", "Get Rhythm" and "Man in Black". He also recorded humorous numbers, including "One Piece at a Time" and "A Boy Named Sue"; a duet with his future wife, June Carter, called "Jackson"; as well as railroad songs including "Hey, Porter" and "Rock Island Line".^[15] Late in his career, Cash covered songs by several rock artists, most notably "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails - the resulting music video was voted one of the best of all time and is sometimes seen as Cash's epitaph.

Cash, a troubled but devout Christian,^[16]^[17] has been characterized as a "lens through which to view American contradictions and challenges."^[18]^[19]^[20] A Biblical scholar,^[2]^[21]^[22] he penned a Christian novel titled Man in White,^[23]^[24] and he made a spoken word recording of the entire New King James Version of the New Testament.^[25]^[26] Even so, Cash declared that he was "the biggest sinner of them all", and viewed himself overall as a complicated and contradictory man.^[27]^[28] Accordingly,^[29] Cash is said to have "contained multitudes", and has been deemed "the philosopher-prince of American country music".^[30]^[31]

Personal life [link]

Early life [link]

Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas,^[32] the fourth of seven children to Ray Cash (May 13, 1897, Kingsland, Arkansas – December 23, 1985, Hendersonville, Tennessee)^[33] and Carrie Cloveree Rivers (March 13, 1904, Rison, Arkansas – March 11, 1991, Hendersonville, Tennessee).^[34]^[35] Cash was named John R. Cash because his parents couldn't think of a name, but he went by J. R. all throughout his childhood as a shortened version of his real name. When Cash enlisted in the Air Force, they wouldn't let him use initials as his name, so he began to use his legal name of John R. Cash. In 1955, when signing with Sun Records, he took Johnny Cash as his stage name.^[36]

The Cash children were, in order: Roy, Margaret Louise, Jack, J. R., Reba, Joanne and Tommy.^[37]^[38] His younger brother, Tommy Cash, also became a successful country artist.

In March 1935, when Cash was three years old, the family settled in Dyess, Arkansas. He started working in cotton fields at age five, singing along with his family simultaneously while working. The family farm was flooded on at least two occasions, which later inspired him to write the song "Five Feet High and Rising".^[39] His family's economic and personal struggles during the Great Depression inspired many of his songs, especially those about other people facing similar difficulties.

Cash was very close to his older brother, Jack.^[40] In May 1944, Jack was pulled into a whirling head saw in the mill where he worked and was almost cut in two. He suffered for over a week before he died on May 20, 1944, at age 15.^[39] Cash often spoke of the horrible guilt he felt over this incident. According to Cash: The Autobiography, his father was away that morning, but he and his mother, and Jack himself, all had premonitions or a sense of foreboding about that day, causing his mother to urge Jack to skip work and go fishing with his brother. Jack insisted on working, as the family needed the money. On his deathbed, Jack said he had visions of heaven and angels. Decades later, Cash spoke of looking forward to meeting his brother in heaven.

Cash's early memories were dominated by gospel music and radio. Taught by his mother and a childhood friend, Cash began playing guitar and writing songs as a young boy. In high school he sang on a local radio station; decades later he released an album of traditional gospel songs, called My Mother's Hymn Book. He was also significantly influenced by traditional Irish music that he heard performed weekly by Dennis Day on the Jack Benny radio program.^[41]

Cash enlisted in the United States Air Force on July 7, 1950.^[42] After basic training at Lackland Air Force Base and technical training at Brooks Air Force Base, both in San Antonio, Texas, Cash was assigned to a U.S. Air Force Security Service unit, assigned as a Morse Code Intercept Operator for Soviet Army transmissions at Landsberg, Germany "where he created his first band named The Landsberg Barbarians."^[43] He was the first radio operator to pick up the news of the death of Joseph Stalin.^[44] After he was honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant on July 3, 1954, he returned to Texas.^[45]

Marriages and family [link]

On July 18, 1951, while in Air Force training, Cash met 17-year-old Vivian Liberto at a roller skating rink in her native San Antonio. They dated for three weeks, until Cash was deployed to Germany for a three year tour. During that time, the couple exchanged hundreds of pages of love letters.^[46] On August 7, 1954, one month after his discharge, they were married at St. Anne's Catholic church in San Antonio. The ceremony was performed by her uncle, Father Vincent Liberto. They had four daughters: Rosanne, Kathy, Cindy and Tara. Cash's drug and alcohol abuse, constant touring, and affairs with other women, and his close relationship with future wife June Carter, led Liberto to file for divorce in 1966.^[47]

In 1968, 13 years after they first met backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, Cash proposed to June Carter, an established country singer, during a live performance in London, Ontario,^[48] marrying on March 1, 1968, in Franklin, Kentucky. They had one child together, John Carter Cash (born March 3, 1970). They continued to work together and tour for 35 years, until June Carter died in 2003. Cash died just four months later. Carter co-wrote one of Cash's biggest hits, "Ring of Fire," with singer Merle Kilgore. She and Cash won two Grammy awards for their duets.

Vivian Liberto claims a different version of the origins of "Ring of Fire" in I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny, stating that Cash gave Carter the credit for monetary reasons.^[49]

Heritage [link]

Cash's heritage was a British Isles mix. He learned upon researching his heritage that he was of Scottish royal descent on his father's side, traced back to Malcolm I of Scotland.^[50]^[51]^[52] After meeting with now-dead laird Major Michael Crichton-Stuart of Falkland, Fife, Scotland, Johnny traced the Cash family tree to eleventh-century Fife;^[53]^[54]^[55] Cash Loch and other locations in Fife bear the name of his family.^[53]

Cash also had English and Scots-Irish ancestry. Though he did not have American Indian ancestry, his empathy and compassion for Native American Indians were unabated. These feelings were expressed in several of his songs, including "Apache Tears" and "The Ballad of Ira Hayes", and on his album, Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian. Through his maternal grandmother, Rosanna Lee (Hurst) Rivers, Cash is distantly related to millionaire William Randolph Hearst and socialite Patty Hearst.^{[citation needed]}

Friends [link]

Cash was a long time friend of Woody Hayes (ex Ohio State Buckeyes football coach). The lyrics "I braided Twigs of Willows Made a String of Buckeye Beads" from the song Flesh and Blood was for Woody.^{[citation needed]}

Career [link]

Early career [link]

In 1954, Cash and Vivian moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he sold appliances while studying to be a radio announcer. At night he played with guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant. Perkins and Grant were known as the Tennessee Two. Cash worked up the courage to visit the Sun Records studio, hoping to get a recording contract. After auditioning for Sam Phillips, singing mostly gospel songs, Phillips told him that he didn't record gospel music any longer. It was once rumored that Phillips told Cash to "go home and sin, then come back with a song I can sell," though in a 2002 interview Cash denied that Phillips made any such comment.^[56] Cash eventually won over the producer with new songs delivered in his early rock'a'billy style. In 1955 Cash made his first recordings at Sun, "Hey Porter" and "Cry! Cry! Cry!", which were released in late June and met with reasonable success on the country hit parade.

File:Million Dollar Quartet.jpg

Cash (standing at right) with Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis. Cash wrote in his book, Cash: the Autobiography, that he sang the songs on the recordings, but was the one who was the farthest from the microphone and was singing the songs in a higher pitch to blend in with Elvis.

On December 4, 1956, Elvis Presley dropped in on studio owner Sam Phillips to pay a social visit while Carl Perkins was in the studio cutting new tracks, with Jerry Lee Lewis backing him on piano. Cash was also in the studio and the four started an impromptu jam session. Phillips left the tapes running and the recordings, almost half of which were gospel songs, survived and have since been released under the title Million Dollar Quartet.

Cash's next record, "Folsom Prison Blues", made the country Top 5, and "I Walk the Line" became No. 1 on the country charts and entered the pop charts Top 20. "Home of the Blues" followed, recorded in July 1957. That same year Cash became the first Sun artist to release a long-playing album. Although he was Sun's most consistently selling and prolific artist at that time, Cash felt constrained by his contract with the small label partly due to the fact that Phillips wasn't keen on Johnny recording gospel, and he was only getting a 3% royalty as opposed to the standard rate of 5%. Presley had already left Sun, and Phillips was focusing most of his attention and promotion on Lewis. The following year Cash left the label to sign a lucrative offer with Columbia Records, where his single "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" became one of his biggest hits.

In the early 1960s, Cash toured with the Carter Family, which by this time regularly included Mother Maybelle's daughters, Anita, June and Helen. June, whom Cash would eventually marry, later recalled admiring him from afar during these tours. In the 1960s he appeared on Pete Seeger's short lived Rainbow Quest.^[57]

He also acted in a 1961 film entitled Five Minutes to Live, later re-released as Door-to-door Maniac. He also wrote and sang the opening theme.

Outlaw image [link]

As his career was taking off in the late 1950s, Cash started drinking heavily and became addicted to amphetamines and barbiturates. For a brief time, he shared an apartment in Nashville with Waylon Jennings, who was heavily addicted to amphetamines. Cash used the uppers to stay awake during tours. Friends joked about his "nervousness" and erratic behavior, many ignoring the warning signs of his worsening drug addiction. In a behind-the-scenes look at The Johnny Cash Show, Cash claims to have "tried every drug there was to try."

Although in many ways spiraling out of control, Cash's frenetic creativity was still delivering hits. His rendition of "Ring of Fire" was a crossover hit, reaching No. 1 on the country charts and entering the Top 20 on the pop charts. The song was written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore. The song was originally performed by June's sister, but the signature mariachi-style horn arrangement was provided by Cash, who said that it had come to him in a dream.

In June 1965, his truck caught fire due to an overheated wheel bearing, triggering a forest fire that burnt several hundred acres in Los Padres National Forest in California.^[58]^[59] When the judge asked Cash why he did it, Cash said, "I didn't do it, my truck did, and it's dead, so you can't question it."^[39] The fire destroyed 508 acres (206 ha), burning the foliage off three mountains and killing 49 of the refuge's 53 endangered condors. Cash was unrepentant: "I don't care about your damn yellow buzzards." The federal government sued him and was awarded $125,172 ($923,127 today). Cash eventually settled the case and paid $82,001.^[60] He said he was the only person ever sued by the government for starting a forest fire.^[39]

Although Cash carefully cultivated a romantic outlaw image, he never served a prison sentence. Despite landing in jail seven times for misdemeanors, each stay lasted only a single night. His most infamous run-in with the law occurred while on tour in 1965, when he was arrested October 4 by a narcotics squad in El Paso, Texas. The officers suspected that he was smuggling heroin from Mexico, but it was 688 Dexedrine capsules and 475 Equanil tablets that the singer had hidden inside his guitar case. Because they were prescription drugs rather than illegal narcotics, he received a suspended sentence.

Johnny Cash and his second wife, June Carter

Cash was later arrested on May 11, 1965, in Starkville, Mississippi, for trespassing late at night onto private property to pick flowers. (This incident gave the spark for the song "Starkville City Jail", which he spoke about on his live At San Quentin prison album.)

In the mid 1960s, Cash released a number of concept albums, including Ballads Of the True West (1965), an experimental double record mixing authentic frontier songs with Cash's spoken narration, and Bitter Tears (1964), with songs highlighting the plight of the Native Americans. His drug addiction was at its worst at this point, and his destructive behavior led to a divorce from his first wife and canceled performances.

In 1967, Cash's duet with June Carter, "Jackson", won a Grammy Award.

Johnny Cash's final arrest was in Walker County, Georgia where he was taken in after being involved in a car accident while carrying a bag of prescription pills. Cash attempted to bribe a local deputy, who turned the money down, and then spent the night in a LaFayette, Georgia jail. The singer was released after a long talk with Sheriff Ralph Jones, who warned him of his dangerous behavior and wasted potential. Johnny credited that experience for saving his life, and he later came back to LaFayette to play a benefit concert that attracted 12,000 people (the city population was less than 9,000 at the time) and raised $75,000 for the high school.^[61]

Cash curtailed his use of drugs for several years in 1968, after a spiritual epiphany in the Nickajack Cave, when he attempted to commit suicide while under the heavy influence of drugs. He descended deeper into the cave, trying to lose himself and "just die", when he passed out on the floor. He reported to be exhausted and feeling at the end of his rope when he felt God's presence in his heart and managed to struggle out of the cave (despite the exhaustion) by following a faint light and slight breeze. To him, it was his own rebirth. June, Maybelle, and Ezra Carter moved into Cash's mansion for a month to help him conquer his addiction. Cash proposed onstage to June at a concert at the London Gardens in London, Ontario on February 22, 1968; the couple married a week later (on March 1) in Franklin, Kentucky. June had agreed to marry Cash after he had "cleaned up".^[62] He rediscovered his Christian faith, taking an "altar call" in Evangel Temple, a small church in the Nashville area, pastored by Rev. Jimmie Rodgers Snow, son of country music legend Hank Snow.

According to longtime friend Marshall Grant, Cash's 1968 rebirth experience did not result in his completely stopping use of amphetamines. However, in 1970, Cash ended all drug use for a period of seven years. Grant claims that the birth of Cash's son, John Carter Cash, inspired Cash to end his dependence. Cash began using amphetamines again in 1977. By 1983, he was once again addicted, and entered the Betty Ford Clinic in Rancho Mirage, California for rehabilitation. Cash managed to stay off drugs for several years, but by 1989, he was dependent again and entered Nashville's Cumberland Heights Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center. In 1992, he entered the Loma Linda Behavioural Medicine Centre in Loma Linda, California for his final rehabilitation (several months later, his son followed him into this facility for treatment).^[63]^[64]^[65]

Folsom Prison Blues [link]

Cash felt great compassion for prisoners. He began performing concerts at various prisons starting in the late 1950s. His first ever prison concert was held on January 1, 1958 at San Quentin State Prison.^[66] These performances led to a pair of highly successful live albums, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (1968) and Johnny Cash at San Quentin (1969).

The Folsom Prison record was introduced by a rendition of his classic "Folsom Prison Blues", while the San Quentin record included the crossover hit single "A Boy Named Sue", a Shel Silverstein-penned novelty song that reached No. 1 on the country charts and No. 2 on the U.S. Top Ten pop charts. The AM versions of the latter contained a couple of profanities which were edited out. The modern CD versions are unedited and uncensored and thus also longer than the original vinyl albums, though they still retain the audience reaction overdubs of the originals.

In addition to his performances at U.S. prisons, Cash also performed at the Österåker Prison in Sweden in 1972. The live album På Österåker ("At Österåker") was released in 1973. Between the songs, Cash can be heard speaking Swedish, which was greatly appreciated by the inmates.

"The Man in Black"[link]

Cash advocated prison reform at his July 1972 meeting with United States President Richard Nixon.

From 1969 to 1971, Cash starred in his own television show, The Johnny Cash Show, on the ABC network. The Statler Brothers opened up for him in every episode; the Carter Family and rockabilly legend Carl Perkins were also part of the regular show entourage. However, Cash also enjoyed booking more mainstream performers as guests; such notables included Neil Young, Louis Armstrong, Kenny Rogers and The First Edition (who appeared a record four times on his show), James Taylor, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton (then leading Derek and the Dominos), and Bob Dylan. During the same period, he contributed the title song and other songs to the film Little Fauss and Big Halsey, which starred Robert Redford, Michael J. Pollard, and Lauren Hutton. The title song, The Ballad of Little Fauss and Big Halsey, written by Carl Perkins, was nominated for a Golden Globe award.

Cash had met with Dylan in the mid 1960s and became closer friends when they were neighbors in the late 1960s in Woodstock, New York. Cash was enthusiastic about reintroducing the reclusive Dylan to his audience. Cash sang a duet with Dylan on Dylan's country album Nashville Skyline and also wrote the album's Grammy-winning liner notes.

Another artist who received a major career boost from The Johnny Cash Show was songwriter Kris Kristofferson, who was beginning to make a name for himself as a singer/songwriter. During a live performance of Kristofferson's "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", Cash refused to change the lyrics to suit network executives, singing the song with its references to marijuana intact: "On a Sunday morning sidewalk / I'm wishin', Lord, that I was stoned."^[67]

By the early 1970s, he had crystallized his public image as "The Man in Black". He regularly performed dressed all in black, wearing a long black knee-length coat. This outfit stood in contrast to the costumes worn by most of the major country acts in his day: rhinestone suit and cowboy boots. In 1971, Cash wrote the song "Man in Black", to help explain his dress code: "We're doing mighty fine I do suppose / In our streak of lightning cars and fancy clothes / But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back / Up front there ought to be a man in black."

Cash attired in black performing in Bremen, Northern Germany, in September 1972

He wore black on behalf of the poor and hungry, on behalf of "the prisoner who has long paid for his crime",^[68] and on behalf of those who have been betrayed by age or drugs.^[68] "And," Cash added, "with the Vietnam War as painful in my mind as it was in most other Americans', I wore it 'in mournin' for the lives that could have been.' ... Apart from the Vietnam War being over, I don't see much reason to change my position ... The old are still neglected, the poor are still poor, the young are still dying before their time, and we're not making many moves to make things right. There's still plenty of darkness to carry off."^[68]

He and his band had initially worn black shirts because that was the only matching color they had among their various outfits.^[39] He wore other colors on stage early in his career, but he claimed to like wearing black both on and off stage. He stated that, political reasons aside, he simply liked black as his on-stage color.^[39] To this day, the US Navy's winter blue uniform is referred to by sailors as "Johnny Cashes", as the uniform's shirt, tie, and trousers are solid black.^[69]

In the mid 1970s, Cash's popularity and number of hit songs began to decline. He made commercials for Amoco, an unpopular enterprise in an era in which oil companies made high profits while consumers suffered through high gasoline prices and shortages. However, his autobiography (the first of two), titled Man in Black, was published in 1975 and sold 1.3 million copies. A second, Cash: The Autobiography, appeared in 1997. His friendship with Billy Graham led to the production of a film about the life of Jesus, The Gospel Road, which Cash co-wrote and narrated.

He also continued to appear on television, hosting an annual Christmas special on CBS throughout the 1970s. Later television appearances included a role in an episode of Columbo (Swan Song). He also appeared with his wife on an episode of Little House on the Prairie entitled "The Collection" and gave a performance as John Brown in the 1985 American Civil War television mini-series North and South. Johnny and June also appeared in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman (TV series) as a recurring couple. Cash also had a starring role in a Columbo film.

He was friendly with every US President starting with Richard Nixon. He was closest to Jimmy Carter, with whom he became close friends.^[39] He stated that he found all of them personally charming, noting that this was probably essential to getting oneself elected.^[39]

When invited to perform at the White House for the first time in 1970,^[70] Richard Nixon's office requested that he play "Okie from Muskogee" (a satirical Merle Haggard song about people who despised youthful drug users and war protesters) and "Welfare Cadillac" (a Guy Drake song which denies the integrity of welfare recipients). Cash declined to play either and instead selected other songs, including "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" (about a brave Native American World War II veteran who was mistreated upon his return to Arizona), and his own compositions, "What Is Truth" and "Man in Black". Cash wrote that the reasons for denying Nixon's song choices were not knowing them and having fairly short notice to rehearse them, rather than any political reason.^[39] However, Cash added, even if Nixon's office had given Cash enough time to learn and rehearse the songs, their choice of pieces that conveyed "antihippie and antiblack" sentiments might have backfired.^[71]

Highwaymen [link]

File:Highwaymen.jpg

From left to right Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, who formed the country music supergroup, The Highwaymen

In 1980, Cash became the Country Music Hall of Fame's youngest living inductee at age 48, but during the 1980s his records failed to make a major impact on the country charts, although he continued to tour successfully. In the mid 1980s, he recorded and toured with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson as The Highwaymen, making three hit albums which were released beginning with the originally titled "Highwaymen" in 1985, followed by "Highwaymen 2" in 1990, and concluding with "Highwaymen - The Road Goes on forever" in 1995.

During that period, Cash appeared in a number of television films. In 1981, he starred in The Pride of Jesse Hallam, winning fine reviews for a film that called attention to adult illiteracy. In the same year, Cash appeared as a "very special guest star" in an episode of the Muppet Show. In 1983, he appeared as a heroic sheriff in Murder in Coweta County, based on a real-life Georgia murder case, which co-starred Andy Griffith as his nemesis. Cash had tried for years to make the film, for which he won acclaim.

Cash relapsed into addiction after being administered painkillers for a serious abdominal injury in 1983 caused by an unusual incident in which he was kicked and wounded by an ostrich he kept on his farm.^[72]

At a hospital visit in 1988, this time to watch over Waylon Jennings (who was recovering from a heart attack), Jennings suggested that Cash have himself checked into the hospital for his own heart condition. Doctors recommended preventive heart surgery, and Cash underwent double bypass surgery in the same hospital. Both recovered, although Cash refused to use any prescription painkillers, fearing a relapse into dependency. Cash later claimed that during his operation, he had what is called a "near death experience". He said he had visions of Heaven that were so beautiful that he was angry when he woke up alive.^{[citation needed]}

Cash's recording career and his general relationship with the Nashville establishment were at an all-time low in the 1980s. He realized that his record label of nearly 30 years, Columbia, was growing indifferent to him and was not properly marketing him (he was "invisible" during that time, as he said in his autobiography). Cash recorded an intentionally awful song to protest, a self-parody.^{[citation needed]} "Chicken in Black" was about Cash's brain being transplanted into a chicken. Ironically, the song turned out to be a larger commercial success than any of his other recent material. Nevertheless, he was hoping to kill the relationship with the label before they did, and it was not long after "Chicken in Black" that Columbia and Cash parted ways.

In 1986, Cash returned to Sun Studios in Memphis to team up with Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins to create the album Class of '55. Also in 1986, Cash published his only novel, Man in White, a book about Saul and his conversion to become the Apostle Paul. He also recorded Johnny Cash Reads The Complete New Testament in 1990.

American Recordings [link]

Johnny Cash sings a duet with a Navy lieutenant c.1987.

After Columbia Records dropped Cash from his recording contract, he had a short and unsuccessful stint with Mercury Records from 1987 to 1991 (see Johnny Cash discography).

His career was rejuvenated in the 1990s, leading to popularity with an audience not traditionally interested in country music. In 1991, he sang a version of "Man in Black" for the Christian punk band One Bad Pig's album I Scream Sunday. In 1993, he sang "The Wanderer" on U2's album Zooropa. Although no longer sought after by major labels, he was offered a contract with producer Rick Rubin's American Recordings label, better known for rap and hard rock.

Under Rubin's supervision, he recorded American Recordings (1994) in his living room, accompanied only by his Martin Dreadnought guitar – one of many Cash played throughout his career.^[73] The album featured covers of contemporary artists selected by Rubin and had much critical and commercial success, winning a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Cash wrote that his reception at the 1994 Glastonbury Festival was one of the highlights of his career. This was the beginning of a decade of music industry accolades and commercial success. Cash teamed up with Brooks & Dunn to contribute "Folsom Prison Blues" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization. On the same album, he performed the Bob Dylan favorite "Forever Young".

Cash and his wife appeared on a number of episodes of the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman starring Jane Seymour. The actress thought so highly of Cash that she later named one of her twin sons after him. He lent his voice for a cameo role in The Simpsons episode "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)," as the "Space Coyote" that guides Homer Simpson on a spiritual quest. In 1996, Cash enlisted the accompaniment of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and released Unchained, which won the Best Country Album Grammy. Believing he did not explain enough of himself in his 1975 autobiography Man in Black, he wrote Cash: The Autobiography in 1997.

Last years [link]

In 1997, Cash was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease Shy-Drager syndrome, a form of multiple system atrophy. The diagnosis was later altered to autonomic neuropathy associated with diabetes. This illness forced Cash to curtail his touring. He was hospitalized in 1998 with severe pneumonia, which damaged his lungs. The albums American III: Solitary Man (2000) and American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002) contained Cash's response to his illness in the form of songs of a slightly more somber tone than the first two American albums. The video that was released for "Hurt", a cover of the song by Nine Inch Nails, fits Cash's view of his past and feelings of regret. The video for the song, from American IV, is now generally recognized as "his epitaph,"^[74] and received particular critical and popular acclaim.

Cash's grave (top) and the Cash/Carter memorial (bottom)

June Carter Cash died on May 15, 2003, at the age of 73. June had told Cash to keep working, so he continued to record, completing 60 more songs in the last four months of his life, and even performed a couple of surprise shows at the Carter Family Fold outside Bristol, Virginia. At the July 5, 2003, concert (his last public performance), before singing "Ring of Fire", Cash read a statement about his late wife that he had written shortly before taking the stage:

The spirit of June Carter overshadows me tonight with the love she had for me and the love I have for her. We connect somewhere between here and heaven. She came down for a short visit, I guess, from heaven to visit with me tonight to give me courage and inspiration like she always has.

Death [link]

Cash died of complications from diabetes at approximately 2:00 a.m. CT on September 12, 2003, while hospitalized at Baptist Hospital in Nashville - less than four months after his wife. It was suggested that Johnny's health worsened due to a broken heart over June's death.^[75]^[76] He was buried next to his wife in Hendersonville Memory Gardens near his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

On May 24, 2005, Vivian Liberto, Cash's first wife and the mother of Rosanne Cash and three other daughters, died from surgery to remove lung cancer at the age of 71. It was her daughter Rosanne's 50th birthday.^[77]

In June 2005, Cash's lakeside home on Caudill Drive in Hendersonville was put up for sale by his estate. In January 2006, the house was sold to Bee Gees vocalist Barry Gibb and wife Linda and titled in their Florida limited liability company for $2.3 million. The listing agent was Cash's younger brother, Tommy Cash. During a major restoration of the property by the new owner, Cash's home was accidentally destroyed by workers using linseed oil products in a spontaneous combustion-ignited fire on April 10, 2007.^[78]

One of Cash's final collaborations with producer Rick Rubin, entitled American V: A Hundred Highways, was released posthumously on July 4, 2006. The album debuted in the No.1 position on the Billboard Top 200 album chart for the week ending July 22, 2006.

On February 23, 2010, three days before what would have been Cash's 78th birthday, the Cash Family, Rick Rubin, and Lost Highway Records released his second posthumous record, titled American VI: Ain't No Grave.

Legacy [link]

From his early days as a pioneer of rockabilly and rock and roll in the 1950s, to his decades as an international representative of country music, to his resurgence to fame in the 1990s as a living legend and an alternative country icon, Cash influenced countless artists and left a large body of work. Upon his death, Cash was revered by the greatest popular musicians of his time. His rebellious image and often anti-authoritarian stance influenced punk rock.^[79]^[80]

Among Cash's children, his daughter Rosanne Cash (by first wife Vivian Liberto) and his son John Carter Cash (by June Carter Cash) are notable country-music musicians in their own right.

Cash nurtured and defended artists on the fringes of what was acceptable in country music even while serving as the country music establishment's most visible symbol. At an all-star concert which aired in 1999 on TNT, a diverse group of artists paid him tribute, including Bob Dylan, Chris Isaak, Wyclef Jean, Norah Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Dom DeLuise and U2. Cash himself appeared at the end and performed for the first time in more than a year. Two tribute albums were released shortly before his death; Kindred Spirits contains works from established artists, while Dressed in Black contains works from many lesser-known artists.

In total, he wrote over 1,000 songs and released dozens of albums. A box set titled Unearthed was issued posthumously. It included four CDs of unreleased material recorded with Rubin as well as a Best of Cash on American retrospective CD.

In recognition of his lifelong support of SOS Children's Villages, his family invited friends and fans to donate to that charity in his memory. He had a personal link with the SOS village in Diessen, at the Ammersee Lake in Southern Germany, near where he was stationed as a GI, and also with the SOS village in Barrett Town, by Montego Bay, near his holiday home in Jamaica.^[81] The Johnny Cash Memorial Fund was founded.^[82]

In 1999, Cash received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Cash^[83] No.31 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.^[84]

In a tribute to Cash after his death, country music singer Gary Allan included the song "Nickajack Cave (Johnny Cash's Redemption)" on his 2005 album entitled Tough All Over. The song chronicles Cash hitting rock bottom and subsequently resurrecting his life and career.

The main street in Hendersonville, Tennessee, Highway 31E, is known as "Johnny Cash Parkway"; the Johnny Cash Museum is located in the town.

On November 2–4, 2007, the Johnny Cash Flower Pickin' Festival was held in Starkville, Mississippi. Starkville, where Cash was arrested over 40 years earlier and held overnight at the city jail on May 11, 1965, inspired Cash to write the song "Starkville City Jail". The festival, where he was offered a symbolic posthumous pardon, honored Cash's life and music, and was expected to become an annual event.^[85]

JC Unit One, Johnny Cash's private tour bus from 1980 until 2003, was put on exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum in 2007. The Cleveland, Ohio museum offers public tours of the bus on a seasonal basis (it is stored during the winter months and not exhibited during those times).

WWE Superstar The Undertaker used Cash's song "Aint No Grave" (from American VI: Ain't No Grave) to announce his return following an absence in February, 2011, and as his entrance music for Wrestlemania XXVII. Independent circuit wrestlers Tyson Dux and Brodie Lee also use "God's Gonna Cut You Down" (from American V: A Hundred Highways) as entrance music. Other professional wrestlers who have used Cash's songs as entrance music include Austin Aries, who used his cover of the Depeche Mode's song "Personal Jesus" (from American IV: The Man Comes Around), and Necro Butcher, who used both "The Man Comes Around" and "Hurt". WWE also used "Hurt" in a special video package that was aired on Monday Night RAW in November 2005 as a tribute to Eddie Guerrero, a popular WWE Superstar who had died of heart failure while he was still contracted with the company. It is also noted that current WWE Superstar Ted DiBiase, Jr. is a huge fan of Cash, as is former WWE Diva and current TNA Knockout Mickie James.

The television show "The Deadliest Catch" is using the song "Ain't No Grave" as the theme song in many of their commercials.

One of Cash's greatest hits, "Hurt", was also used to advertise Prototype 2 in the trailer called "The Power Of Revenge".

Portrayals [link]

The Canada Trust company used his name and images for their Johnny Cash automatic bank machines during the late 80s and early 90s.

In 1998, country singer Mark Collie was the first to portray Cash, in the short film, I Still Miss Someone.

In November of 2005, Walk the Line, an Academy Award-winning biopic about Cash's life starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny (for which he was nominated for the 2005 Best Actor Oscar) and Reese Witherspoon as June (for which she won the 2005 Best Actress Oscar), was released in the United States on to considerable commercial success and critical acclaim. Both Phoenix and Witherspoon have won various other awards for their roles, including the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy and Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, respectively. They both performed their own vocals in the film, and Phoenix learned to play guitar for his role as Cash. Phoenix received the Grammy Award for his contributions to the soundtrack. John Carter Cash, the first child of Johnny and June, served as an executive producer on the film.

On March 12, 2006 Ring of Fire, a jukebox musical of the Cash oeuvre, debuted on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, but closed due to harsh reviews and disappointing sales on April 30, 2006.

On April 11, 2010, Million Dollar Quartet, a musical portraying the early Sun recording sessions involving Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins, debuted on Broadway. Actor Lance Guest portrayed Cash. The musical was nominated for three awards at the 2010 Tony Awards, and won one.

Discography [link]

See Johnny Cash discography, and Johnny Cash Sun Records discography.

Awards and honors [link]

For detailed lists of music awards, see List of Johnny Cash awards.

Cash received multiple Country Music Association Awards, Grammys, and other awards, in categories ranging from vocal and spoken performances to album notes and videos.

In a career that spanned almost five decades during which he rose to recording industry icon status, Cash was the personification of country music to many people around the world. Cash was a musician who was not tied to a single genre. He recorded songs that could be considered rock and roll, blues, rockabilly, folk, and gospel, and exerted an influence on each of those genres. Moreover, he had the unique distinction among country artists of having "crossed over" late in his career to become popular with an unexpected audience, young indie and alternative rock fans. His diversity was evidenced by his presence in three major music halls of fame: the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1977), the Country Music Hall of Fame (1980), and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1992). Only thirteen performers are in both of the last two, and only Hank Williams Sr., Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills, and Bill Monroe share the honor with Cash of being in all three. However, only Cash was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the regular manner, unlike the other country members, who were inducted as "early influences." His pioneering contribution to the genre has also been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.^[86] He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1996. Cash stated that his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, in 1980, was his greatest professional achievement. In 2001, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.^[87] He was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for best cinematography for "Hurt" and was supposed to appear, but died during the night.

In 2007, Cash was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.^[88]

Sources [link]

Notes [link]

^ Über Pro Audio LLC (2009). Johnny Cash—Guitars and Equipment. Retrieved on May 15, 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c Last.fm (2010). Johnny Cash & June Carter. Retrieved January 20, 2010.
^ Eugene Register-Guard (2003, September 13). The Man in Black: Legendary Johnny Cash dead at 71. Retrieved on October 20, 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c Pareles J (1994). "Pop Review: Johnny Cash, austerely direct from deep within". The New York Times. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
^ Although Cash's voice type endured over the years, his timbre changed noticeably: "Through a recording career that stretche[d] back to 1955", Pareles writes, Cash's "bass-baritone voice [went] from gravelly to grave".
^ Urbanski D (2003). The man comes around: The spiritual journey of Johnny Cash. Lake Mary, FL: Relevant Media, p. xiv.
^ Dickie M (2002). "Hard talk from the God-fearin, pro-metal man in Black". In M Streissguth (Ed.), Ring of fire: The Johnny Cash reader. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo, pp. 201–205. Original work published 1987.
^ Streissguth M (2006). Johnny Cash: The biography. Philadelphia: Da Capo, p. 196.
^ Fox JA (October 17, 2005). "The Boston Herald: Hard time's never a 'circus'". Baylor University. Retrieved March 22, 2010.
^ Streissguth M (2005). Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: The making of a masterpiece. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo.
^ For Cash, black stage attire was a "symbol of rebellion—against a stagnant status quo, against ... hypocritical houses of God, against people whose minds are closed to others' ideas"; Cash J; Carr P (2003). Cash: The Autobiography. San Francisco: HarperCollins, p. 64.
^ Schultz B (2000, July 1). "Classic Tracks: Johnny Cash's 'Folsom Prison Blues'". Mix. Retrieved March 22, 2010. Schultz refers to this phrase as Cash's "trademark greeting", and places his utterance of this line, on Cash's At Folsom Prison, album "among the most electrifying [seconds] in the history of concert recording."
^ For additional quotations by Johnny Cash, consult the Johnny Cash page at Wikiquote,
^ Mulligan J (2010, February 24). "Johnny Cash: American VI: Ain't No Grave". entertainment.ie. Retrieved March 22, 2010.
^ For discussion of, and lyrics to, Cash's songs, see Cusic D (Ed.) (2004). Johnny Cash: The songs. New York: Thunder's Mouth.
^ Clapp R (2008). Johnny Cash and the great American contradiction: Christianity and the battle for the soul of a nation. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, p. xvi.
^ Urbanski (2003).
^ Clapp (2008), p. xviii.
^ Other appraisals of Cash's iconic value have been even bolder. Clapp (2008) writes: "Very few figures in recent history are seen as more representative of American identity as Cash ... His has often been suggested as the face that should be added to the select pantheon on Mt. Rushmore", p. xvi.
^ See also Miller S (2003). Johnny Cash: The life of an American icon. London: Omnibus, p. 227.
^ Stoudt C (June 9, 2009). "Review: 'Ring of Fire' at La Mirada Theatre". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 20, 2010.
^ Public Radio Exchange (2010). "Johnny Cash: Amazing Grace" Retrieved January 20, 2010.
^ Cash J (2008). Man in white: A novel about the Apostle Paul. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
^ BBC News (2003). Obituary: Johnny Cash. Retrieved January 20, 2010.
^ Rivkin D (Producer) (2007). Johnny Cash reading the complete New Testament (Deluxe Ed.). Audio recording. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
^ Morris E (December 24, 2008). "Johnny Cash's reading of the New Testament now on DVD". Country Music Television. Retrieved January 20, 2010.
^ Urbanski (2003), pp. xx–xxi.
^ For example, Urbanski (2003, p. 39) notes that Cash's habit of performing in black attire began in a church. In the following paragraph, Urbanski (pp. 39–40) quotes Cash (cf. Cash & Carr, 2003, p. 64) as indicating that this habit was partially reflective of Cash's rebellion "against our hypocritical houses of God".
^ Urbanski D (2010). "Johnny Cash's complicated faith: Unwrapping the enigma of the Man in Black". Relevant Magazine. Retrieved March 22, 2010. According to Urbanski, Cash's self-perception was accurate: "He never intended to be categorized or pigeonholed", and indeed he amassed a "cluster of enigmas" which "was so impenetrably deep that even those closest to him never got to see every part of him".
^ Huss J; Werther D (Eds.) (2008). Johnny Cash and philosophy: The burning ring of truth. Chicago: Open Court.
^ Open Court Publishing Company (2007). Johnny Cash and Philosophy. Retrieved March 22, 2010.
^ Miller (2003), p. 341.
^ Ray Cash at findagrave.com
^ Carrie Cash at findagrave.com
^ Streissguth (2005), p. 11.
^ "Cash, Johnny". Oxford Music Online. May 18, 2010.
^ Johnny Cash's Funeral. Johnny and June Carter Cash Memorial Website. Retrieved on January 16, 2009.
^ Reba Cash Hancock. Harpeth Family Funeral Services. Retrieved on January 16, 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Cash, Johnny. Cash: The Autobiography.
^ Jack D. Cash at findagrave.com
^ Gross, Terry. All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists.
^ Billy Abbott. "Johnny Cash - February 26, 1932 - September 12, 2003". Southernmusic.net. http://www.southernmusic.net/johnnycash.html. Retrieved 2011-12-31.
^ Malone, Bill, and Judith McCulloh. Stars of Country Music. Chicago: 1975.
^ Miller (2003), p.40
^ Berkowitz, Kenny (June 2001). "No Regrets Johnny Cash, the man in black, is back at the top of his game". Acoustic Guitar (102). http://www.acousticguitar.com/issues/ag102/featureA102.shtml. Retrieved June 28, 2009.
^ Turner, Steve. (2004) The Man Called Cash: The Life, Love, and Faith of an American Legend. W Publishing Group, pp. 43–44.
^ Turner, Steve. (2004) The Man Called Cash: The Life, Love, and Faith of an American Legend. W Publishing Group, pp. 116–117.
^ Sweeting, Adam (2003-09-12). Obituary: Johnny Cash. The Guardian. Retrieved on January 26, 2009.
^ Liberto, I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny, p. 294.
^ Millar, Anna. June 4, 2006.Celtic connection as Cash walks the line in Fife. Scotland on Sunday. Scotsman.com. Retrieved April 12, 2011.
^ Cash, Roseanne (2010). Composed a memoir. Viking Press/Penguin Group. ISBN 978-1-101-45769-6.
^ Manzoor, Sarfraz (Sunday February 7, 2010).Scottish roots of Johnny Cash, the man in black tartan.Guardian.uk.co, The Observer. Retrieved April 12, 2011.
^ ^a ^b Miller, Stephen (2003). Johnny Cash: The Life of an American Icon. Omnibus. ISBN 0-7119-9626-1.
^ Dalton, Stephanie. January 15, 2006. "Walking the line back in time." Scotland on Sunday Scotsman.com. Retrieved June 28, 2007.
^ Cash, John R. with Patrick Carr. (1997) Johnny Cash, the Autobiography. Harper Collins. p. 3.
^ The Man in Black's Musical Journey Continues. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
^ "Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest" http://www.richardandmimi.com/rainbowquest.html
^ "Major brush fire." Los Angeles Times, June 28, 1965, p. 1.
^ "Control of Brush Fire Near; 700 Acres Burned." Los Angeles Times, June 29, 1965, p. 27.
^ Williford, Stanley and Howard Hertel. "Singer Johnny Cash Pays $82,000 to U.S. in Fire Case." Los Angeles Times, Jul 3, 1969, p. A3.
^ Rome News Tribune, Aug 14, 1970
^ Zwonitzer, Mark (2002). Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone, The Carter Family and Their Legacy in American Music. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-85763-4.
^ Grant, Marshall (2005). I Was There When It Happened – My Life With Johnny Cash. Cumberland House. ISBN 1-58182-510-2.
^ Cash, John Carter (2007). Anchored In Love. Thomas Nelson. ISBN 0-8499-0187-1.
^ Cash In Treatment, Orlando Sentinel, November 26, 1989
^ "Inmate Merle Haggard hears Johnny Cash play San Quentin State Prison",
^ The Best of the Johnny Cash TV Show 1969–1971, Disc 1 (of 2), Reverse Angle Production, 2007.
^ ^a ^b ^c Cash & Carr (1997), pp. 85–86.
^ The good, bad and ugly of proposed uniforms. Navy Times. October 4, 2004.
^ 17 April 1970: RN Welcomes The Man In Black to the White House Nixon Foundation blog. April 17, 2011.
^ Cash & Carr (2003), p. 212.
^ Johnny Cash: The Rebel Page 3.
^ Fretbase, The Guitars of Johnny Cash.
^ Rolling Stone Magazine, The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, 2004 (bibliographic information is needed for this reference).
^ December 30, 2011 (2003-11-24). "Death from a Broken Heart, on". Medicinenet.com. http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=52318. Retrieved 2011-12-31.
^ "Johnny Cash Dead at Age 71". Countrymusic.about.com. 2003-09-12. http://countrymusic.about.com/library/bljohnnycashobit.htm. Retrieved 2011-12-31.
^ Rosanne Cash, liner notes for Black Cadillac.
^ "Fire destroys Johnny Cash house". BBC News. April 11, 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6543503.stm. Retrieved September 29, 2010.
^ The original punk rocker BY JIM DeROGATIS Pop Music Critic, September 14, 2003. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
^ Johnny Cash Made the Most Punk-Rock Album Ever. In 1969. by Matt Cibula, September 15, 2003. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
^ Johnny Cash profile at SOS Children's Villages.
^ Johnny Cash profile at SOS Children's Villages - USA.
^ Kristofferson, Kris. "31 Johnny Cash". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5940054/31_johnny_cash. Retrieved December 31, 2007.
^ "The Immortals: The First Fifty". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5939214/the_immortals_the_first_fifty. Retrieved December 31, 2007.
^ "Mississippi town to honor the 'Man in Black'". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20611738/. Retrieved December 31, 2007.
^ "RHOF Inductees with Certificates". Rockabilly Hall of Fame. http://www.rockabillyhall.com/Certificates.html. Retrieved December 31, 2007.
^ Lifetime Honors – National Medal of Arts
^ "Johnny Cash". Hit Parade Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on January 6, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080106180837/http://www.hitparadehalloffame.org/xhtml_heads/Candidates/Inductee_johnny_cash.html. Retrieved December 31, 2007.

References [link]

D'Ambrosio, Antonino (2009). A Heartbeat and A Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears. With Original Art by Shepard Fairey and Photos by Jim Marshall. Perseus Books/Nation Books ISBN 978-1-56858-407-2
Gross, Terry (2006). All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists. Hyperion. ISBN 1-4013-0010-3.
Millier, Bill. (retrieved September 7, 2004). Johnny Cash Awards. JohnnyCash.com.
Miller, Stephen (2003). Johnny Cash: The Life of an American Icon. Omnibus. ISBN 0-7119-9626-1. http://books.google.ca/books?id=NZDEbEHKMPsC&lpg=PP1&dq=Johnny%20Cash%3A%20The%20Life%20of%20an%20American%20Icon&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true.
Streissguth, Michael. Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: The Making of a Masterpiece, Da Capo Press (2004). ISBN 0-306-81338-6.
Urbanski, Dave. The Man Comes Around: The Spiritual Journey of Johnny Cash. New York: Relevant Books. ISBN 0-9729276-7-0.
Cash, Johnny; Patrick Carr (1997). Cash: The Autobiography. Harper Collins. ISBN 0-06-101357-9.
Cash, Johnny. May 18, 2010. ^{[clarification needed]}
Turner, Steve. The Man Called Cash: The Life, Love, and Faith of an American Legend. Nashville, W Publishing Group, 2004. (The Authorized Biography).
Thomson, Liz. Cash, Johnny. www.oxfordmusiconline.com. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/05087?q=Johnny+Cash&hbutton_search.x=23&hbutton_search.y=8&hbutton_search=search&source=omo_t237&source=omo_gmo&source=omo_t114&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
Holmes, Cynthia S. (January, 2004), Remembering H. Dale Jackson, Connect: Newsletter of the CBF of Missouri, p. 2

Published works [link]

Cash, Johnny. Man in Black: His Own Story in His Own Words. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975. ISBN 99924-31-58-X.
Cash, Johnny, with Patrick Carr. Cash: The Autobiography. New York: Harper Collins, 1997. ISBN 0-06-101357-9.
Cash, Johnny, with June Carter Cash. Love liner notes. New York: Sony, 2000.
Cash, Johnny, The Man in White, 1986.

External links [link]

	Book: Johnny Cash
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Johnny Cash

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Johnny Cash

Awards
First None recognized before	First Amendment Center/AMA "Spirit of Americana" Free Speech Award 2002	Succeeded by Kris Kristofferson
Preceded by Buddy & Julie Miller	AMA Album of the Year (artist) 2003	Succeeded by Loretta Lynn
Preceded by Jim Lauderdale	AMA Artist of the Year 2003	Succeeded by Loretta Lynn

v t e Johnny Cash

Studio albums	With His Hot and Blue Guitar Sings the Songs That Made Him Famous The Fabulous Johnny Cash Greatest! Sings Hank Williams Now, There Was a Song! Now Here's Johnny Cash The Sound of Johnny Cash All Aboard the Blue Train Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash I Walk the Line Orange Blossom Special Everybody Loves a Nut Happiness is You Old Golden Throat More of Old Golden Throat Hello, I'm Johnny Cash Man in Black A Thing Called Love Any Old Wind That Blows Ragged Old Flag Junkie and the Juicehead Minus Me John R. Cash Look at Them Beans One Piece at a Time The Last Gunfighter Ballad I Would Like to See You Again Gone Girl Silver Rockabilly Blues The Baron The Adventures of Johnny Cash Johnny 99 Rainbow Johnny Cash is Coming to Town Classic Cash: Hall of Fame Series Water from the Wells of Home Boom Chicka Boom The Mystery of Life American Recordings Unchained American III: Solitary Man American IV: The Man Comes Around American V: A Hundred Highways American VI: Ain't No Grave

Concept albums	Songs of Our Soil Ride This Train The Lure of the Grand Canyon Blood, Sweat and Tears Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian Sings the Ballads of the True West From Sea to Shining Sea America: A 200-Year Salute in Story and Song The Johnny Cash Children's Album The Rambler

Gospel albums	Hymns by Johnny Cash Hymns from the Heart The Holy Land Sings Precious Memories A Believer Sings the Truth Believe in Him My Mother's Hymn Book

Christmas albums	The Christmas Spirit The Johnny Cash Family Christmas Classic Christmas Johnny Cash Country Christmas

Collaborations	Carryin' On with Johnny Cash and June Carter Johnny Cash and His Woman The Legend of Jesse James The Survivors Live Highwayman Heroes Class of '55 Highwayman 2 The Road Goes on Forever VH1 Storytellers

Live albums	At Folsom Prison At San Quentin The Johnny Cash Show På Österåker Strawberry Cake At Madison Square Garden A Concert Behind Prison Walls

Soundtrack albums	I Walk the Line Little Fauss and Big Halsy The Gospel Road Return to the Promised Land

Compilation albums	Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 Heart of Cash The World of Johnny Cash Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 Sunday Morning Coming Down International Superstar Five Feet High and Rising Greatest Hits, Vol. 3 The Unissued Johnny Cash Johnny & June Tall Man Encore Biggest Hits The Man in Black 1954–1958 The Man in Black 1959–1962 Come Along and Ride this Train Wanted Man The Man in Black 1963–1969 16 Biggest Hits Love, God and Murder The Essential Johnny Cash Unearthed The Legend The Legend of Johnny Cash 16 Biggest Hits: Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash Personal File The Legend of Johnny Cash Vol. II

Songs	"25 Minutes to Go" "Any Old Wind That Blows" "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" "Ballad of a Teenage Queen" "Big River" "Blistered" "A Boy Named Sue" "Busted" "Cat's in the Cradle" "Cocaine Blues" "Cry! Cry! Cry!" "Daddy Sang Bass" "Dark as a Dungeon" "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" "Engine 143" "Flesh and Blood" "Folsom Prison Blues" "Get Rhythm" "Goodnight, Irene" "Green, Green Grass of Home" "Greystone Chapel" "Guess Things Happen That Way" "Hey Porter" "Home of the Blues" "Hurt" "I Still Miss Someone" "I Walk the Line" "If I Were a Carpenter" "It Ain't Me Babe" "In My Life" "In the Jailhouse Now" "Jackson" "Kate" "The Man Comes Around" "Man in Black" "The Matador" "Oh Lonesome Me" "One Piece at a Time" "Oney" "Orange Blossom Special" "The One on the Right Is on the Left" "Remember the Alamo" "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky" "Ring of Fire" "Rock Island Line" "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" "Tennessee Flat Top Box" "A Thing Called Love" "Understand Your Man" "What Is Truth" "What'd I Say"

Family	June Carter Cash John Carter Cash Rosanne Cash Carlene Carter Vivian Liberto Tommy Cash Carter Family

Related articles	Discography Sun Records discography Highwaymen Walk the Line

Book:Johnny Cash

Highwaymen

Johnny Cash
Waylon Jennings
Kris Kristofferson
Willie Nelson

Studio albums

Singles

"Highwayman"
"Desperados Waiting for a Train"
"Silver Stallion"
"It Is What It Is"

Compilations

The Highwaymen Ride Again
Super Hits
Country Legends
The Highwayman Collection
The Essential Highwaymen

Videography

Music Videos	"Highwayman" "Silver Stallion" "It Is What It Is"

Concerts	Highwaymen Live! On the Road Again

Supergroup

v t e Kennedy Center Honorees (1990s)

1990	Dizzy Gillespie Katharine Hepburn Risë Stevens Jule Styne Billy Wilder

1991	Roy Acuff Betty Comden & Adolph Green Fayard & Harold Nicholas Gregory Peck Robert Shaw

1992	Lionel Hampton Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward Ginger Rogers Mstislav Rostropovich Paul Taylor

1993	Johnny Carson Arthur Mitchell Sir Georg Solti Stephen Sondheim Marion Williams

1994	Kirk Douglas Aretha Franklin Morton Gould Harold Prince Pete Seeger

1995	Jacques d'Amboise Marilyn Horne B.B. King Sidney Poitier Neil Simon

1996	Edward Albee Benny Carter Johnny Cash Jack Lemmon Maria Tallchief

1997	Lauren Bacall Bob Dylan Charlton Heston Jessye Norman Edward Villella

1998	Bill Cosby Fred Ebb & John Kander Willie Nelson André Previn Shirley Temple Black

1999	Victor Borge Sean Connery Judith Jamison Jason Robards Stevie Wonder

complete list 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s

Persondata
Name	Cash, Johnny
Alternative names	Cash, John R.; Cash, J.R.
Short description	Singer and songwriter
Date of birth	(1930-02-26)February 26, 1930
Place of birth	Kingsland, Arkansas
Date of death	September 12, 2003(2003-09-12)
Place of death	Nashville, Tennessee

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Eric Clapton CBE
Clapton on stage at the Hard Rock Calling concert, Hyde Park, London on 28 June 2008.
Background information
Birth name	Eric Patrick Clapton
Also known as	Slowhand
Born	(1945-03-30) 30 March 1945 (age 67) Ripley, Surrey, England
Genres	Rock, blues rock, blues, psychedelic rock, hard rock
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, artist
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1962–present
Labels	Warner Bros., Reprise, Polydor, RSO, Atco, Apple, Deram^[1]
Associated acts	The Yardbirds, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Powerhouse, Cream, Free Creek, The Dirty Mac, Blind Faith, J.J. Cale, The Plastic Ono Band, Delaney, Bonnie & Friends, Derek and the Dominos, Sheryl Crow, The Beatles, Phil Collins, The Rolling Stones, Luciano Pavarotti, The Band, Freddie King, B.B. King, Mark Knopfler, Brian Wilson, John Mayer, Roger Waters, Dire Straits
Website	www.ericclapton.com
Notable instruments
See: Guitars section "Blackie": Fender Stratocaster "Brownie": Fender Stratocaster

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, (born 30 March 1945) is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time.^[2] Clapton ranked second in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time"^[3] and fourth in Gibson's Top 50 Guitarists of All Time.^[4]

In the mid 1960s, Clapton departed from the Yardbirds to play blues with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. In his one-year stay with Mayall, Clapton gained the nickname "Slowhand". Immediately after leaving Mayall, Clapton formed Cream, a power trio with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce in which Clapton played sustained blues improvisations and "arty, blues-based psychedelic pop." For most of the 1970s, Clapton's output bore the influence of the mellow style of J.J. Cale and the reggae of Bob Marley. His version of Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" helped reggae reach a mass market.^[5] Two of his most popular recordings were "Layla", recorded by Derek and the Dominos, another band he formed and Robert Johnson's "Crossroads", recorded by Cream. A recipient of seventeen Grammy Awards,^[6] in 2004 Clapton was awarded a CBE for services to music.^[7] In 1998, Clapton, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, founded the Crossroads Centre on Antigua, a medical facility for recovering substance abusers.^[8]

Early life [link]

Eric Patrick Clapton was born in Ripley, Surrey, England, the son of 16-year-old Patricia Molly Clapton (b. 7 January 1929 d. March 1999) and Edward Walter Fryer (21 March 1920 – 15 May 1985), a 25-year-old soldier from Montreal, Quebec.^[9] Fryer shipped off to war prior to Clapton's birth and then returned to Canada. Clapton grew up with his grandmother, Rose, and her second husband, Jack Clapp, who was stepfather to Patricia Clapton and her brother Adrian, believing they were his parents and that his mother was actually his older sister. The similarity in surnames gave rise to the erroneous belief that Clapton's real surname is Clapp (Reginald Cecil Clapton was the name of Rose's first husband, Eric Clapton's maternal grandfather).^[10] Years later, his mother married another Canadian soldier and moved to Germany,^[11] leaving young Eric with his grandparents in Surrey.^[12]

Clapton received an acoustic Hoyer guitar, made in Germany, for his thirteenth birthday, but the inexpensive steel-stringed instrument was difficult to play and he briefly lost interest.^[12] Two years later Clapton picked it up again and started playing consistently.^[12] Clapton was influenced by the blues from an early age, and practised long hours to learn the chords of blues music by playing along to the records.^[13] He preserved his practice sessions using his portable Grundig reel-to-reel tape recorder, listening to them over and over until he felt he'd got it right.^[13]^[14]

After leaving Hollyfield School, in Surbiton, in 1961, Clapton studied at the Kingston College of Art but was dismissed at the end of the academic year because his focus remained on music rather than art. His guitar playing was so advanced that by the age of 16 he was getting noticed.^[14] Around this time Clapton began busking around Kingston, Richmond, and the West End.^[15] In 1962, Clapton started performing as a duo with fellow blues enthusiast David Brock in pubs around Surrey.^[14] When he was seventeen years old Clapton joined his first band, an early British R&B group, "The Roosters", whose other guitarist was Tom McGuinness. He stayed with this band from January through August 1963.^[16] In October of that year, Clapton did a seven-gig stint with Casey Jones & The Engineers.^[16]

Career [link]

1960s [link]

The Yardbirds and the Bluesbreakers [link]

Main articles: The Yardbirds and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers

In October 1963 Clapton joined The Yardbirds, a blues-influenced rock and roll band, and stayed with them until March 1965. Synthesising influences from Chicago blues and leading blues guitarists such as Buddy Guy, Freddie King, and B. B. King, Clapton forged a distinctive style and rapidly became one of the most talked-about guitarists in the British music scene.^[17] The band initially played Chess/Checker/Vee-Jay blues numbers and began to attract a large cult following when they took over the Rolling Stones' residency at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond. They toured England with American bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson II; a joint LP album, recorded in December 1963, was issued in 1965.

It was during this time period that Clapton's Yardbirds rhythm guitarist, Chris Dreja, recalled that whenever Clapton broke a guitar string during a concert, he would stay on stage and replace it. The English audiences would wait out the delay by doing what is called a "slow handclap". Clapton told his official biographer, Ray Coleman, that, "My nickname of 'Slowhand' came from Giorgio Gomelsky. He coined it as a good pun. He kept saying I was a fast player, so he put together the slow handclap phrase into Slowhand as a play on words".^[18]

In March 1965 the Yardbirds had their first major hit, "For Your Love", on which Clapton played guitar. The Yardbirds elected to move toward a pop-oriented sound, in part because of the success of "For Your Love", written by pop songwriter-for-hire Graham Gouldman, who had also written hit songs for Herman's Hermits and The Hollies. Still musically devoted to the blues, Clapton was opposed to the move, and left the band. He recommended fellow guitarist Jimmy Page as his replacement, but Page was at that time unwilling to relinquish his lucrative career as a freelance studio musician, so Page in turn recommended Clapton's successor, Jeff Beck.^[17] While Beck and Page played together in the Yardbirds, the trio of Beck, Page, and Clapton were never in the group together. However, the trio did appear on the 12-date benefit tour for Action for Research into Multiple Sclerosis in 1983, as well as on the album Guitar Boogie.

Clapton joined John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers in April 1965, only to quit a few months later. In the summer of 1965 he left for Greece with a band called The Glands, which included his old friend Ben Palmer on piano. In November 1965 he rejoined John Mayall. During his second Bluesbreakers stint, Clapton gained a reputation as the best blues guitarist on the club circuit. Although Clapton gained world fame for his playing on the influential album, Blues Breakers – John Mayall – With Eric Clapton, this album was not released until Clapton had left the Bluesbreakers for the last time. Having swapped his Fender Telecaster and Vox AC30 amplifier for a 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar and Marshall amplifier, Clapton's sound and playing inspired a well-publicised graffiti that deified him with the famous slogan "Clapton is God". The phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington Underground station in the autumn of 1967. The graffiti was captured in a now-famous photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall. Clapton is reported to have been embarrassed by the slogan, saying in his The South Bank Show profile in 1987, "I never accepted that I was the greatest guitar player in the world. I always wanted to be the greatest guitar player in the world, but that's an ideal, and I accept it as an ideal". The phrase began to appear in other areas of Islington throughout the mid 1960s.^[19]

Cream [link]

Main article: Cream (band)

Clapton left the Bluesbreakers in July 1966 (to be replaced by Peter Green) and formed Cream, one of the earliest supergroups, with Jack Bruce on bass (also of Manfred Mann, the Bluesbreakers, and the Graham Bond Organisation) and Ginger Baker on drums (another member of the Graham Bond Organisation). Before the formation of Cream, Clapton was not well known in the United States; he left the Yardbirds before "For Your Love" hit the American Top Ten, and had yet to perform there.^[20] During his time with Cream, Clapton began to develop as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, though Bruce took most of the lead vocals and wrote the majority of the material with lyricist Pete Brown.^[17] Cream's first gig was an unofficial performance at the Twisted Wheel Club in Manchester on 29 July 1966 before their full debut two nights later at the National Jazz and Blues Festival in Windsor. Cream established its enduring legend with the high-volume blues jamming and extended solos of their live shows.

In early 1967 Clapton's status as Britain's top guitarist was rivalled by the emergence of Jimi Hendrix, an acid rock-infused guitarist who used wailing feedback and effects pedals to create new sounds for the instrument. Hendrix attended a performance of the newly-formed Cream at the Central London Polytechnic on 1 October 1966, during which Hendrix sat in on a double-timed version of "Killing Floor". Top UK stars including Clapton, Pete Townshend, and members of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles avidly attended Hendrix's early club performances. Hendrix's arrival had an immediate and major effect on the next phase of Clapton's career, although Clapton continued to be recognised in UK music polls as the premier guitarist.

Clapton first visited the United States while touring with Cream. In March 1967, Cream performed a nine-show stand at the RKO Theater in New York. They recorded Disraeli Gears in New York from 11–15 May 1967. Cream's repertoire varied from hard rock ("I Feel Free") to lengthy blues-based instrumental jams ("Spoonful"). Disraeli Gears featured Clapton's searing guitar lines, Bruce's soaring vocals and prominent, fluid bass playing, and Baker's powerful, polyrhythmic jazz-influenced drumming. Together, Cream's talents secured them as an influential power trio.

In 28 months, Cream had become a commercial success, selling millions of records and playing throughout the U.S. and Europe. They redefined the instrumentalist's role in rock and were one of the first blues-rock bands to emphasise musical virtuosity and lengthy jazz-style improvisation sessions. Their U.S. hit singles include "Sunshine of Your Love" (#5, 1968), "White Room" (#6, 1968) and "Crossroads" (#28, 1969) – a live version of Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues". Though Cream was hailed as one of the greatest groups of its day, and the adulation of Clapton as a guitar hero reached new heights, the supergroup was short-lived. Drug and alcohol use escalated tension between the three members, and conflicts between Bruce and Baker eventually led to Cream's demise. A strongly critical Rolling Stone review of a concert of the group's second headlining U.S. tour was another significant factor in the trio's demise, and it affected Clapton profoundly.^[21]

Cream's farewell album, Goodbye, featuring live performances recorded at The Forum, Los Angeles, 19 October 1968, was released shortly after Cream disbanded; it also featured the studio single "Badge", co-written by Clapton and George Harrison. Clapton met Harrison and became friends with him after the Beatles shared a bill with the Clapton-era Yardbirds at the London Palladium. The close friendship between Clapton and Harrison resulted in Clapton's playing on Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" from the Beatles' White Album (1968). Harrison also released his solo debut album, Wonderwall Music, in 1968. It became the first of many Harrison solo records to feature Clapton on guitar. Clapton would go largely uncredited for his contributions to Harrison's albums due to contractual restraints. The pair would often play live together as each other's guest. A year after Harrison's death in 2001, Clapton helped organise a tribute concert, for which he was musical director.^[22]

Cream briefly reunited in 1993 to perform at the ceremony inducting them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; a full reunion took place in May 2005, with Clapton, Bruce, and Baker playing four sold-out concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall,^[23] and three shows at New York's Madison Square Garden that October.^[24] Recordings from the London shows, Royal Albert Hall London May 2-3-5-6, 2005, were released on CD, LP, and DVD in September/December 2005.^[25]

Blind Faith and Delaney and Bonnie and Friends [link]

Main articles: Blind Faith and Delaney and Bonnie and Friends

Clapton's next group, Blind Faith (1969), was composed of Cream drummer Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood of Traffic, and Ric Grech of Family, and yielded one LP and one arena-circuit tour. The supergroup debuted before 100,000 fans in London's Hyde Park on 7 June 1969. They performed several dates in Scandinavia and began a sold-out American tour in July before their only album was released. The LP Blind Faith consisted of just six songs, one of them a 15-minute jam entitled "Do What You Like". The album's jacket image of a topless pubescent girl was deemed controversial in the United States and was replaced by a photograph of the band. Blind Faith dissolved after less than seven months.

Clapton subsequently toured as a sideman for an act that had opened for Blind Faith, Delaney and Bonnie and Friends. He also played two dates as a member of The Plastic Ono Band that autumn, including a recorded performance at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival in September 1969 released as the album Live Peace in Toronto 1969.^[26] On 15 December 1969 Clapton performed with John Lennon, George Harrison, and others as the Plastic Ono Band at a fundraiser for UNICEF in London.^[26]

Delaney Bramlett encouraged Clapton in his singing and writing. During the summer of 1969, Clapton and Bramlett contributed to the Music From Free Creek "supersession" project. Clapton, appearing as "King Cool" for contractual reasons, played with Dr. John on three songs, joined by Bramlett on two tracks.

Using the Bramletts' backing group and an all-star cast of session players (including Leon Russell and Stephen Stills), Clapton recorded his first solo album during two brief tour hiatuses, fittingly named Eric Clapton. Delaney Bramlett co-wrote six of the songs with Clapton,^[27] and Bonnie Bramlett co-wrote "Let It Rain".^[28] The album yielded the unexpected U.S. #18 hit, J. J. Cale's "After Midnight". Clapton went with Delaney and Bonnie from the stage to the studio with the Dominos to record George Harrison's All Things Must Pass in spring 1970. During this busy period, Clapton also recorded with other artists including Dr. John, Leon Russell, Plastic Ono Band, Billy Preston, and Ringo Starr.

1970s [link]

Derek and the Dominos [link]

Main article: Derek and the Dominos

	"Layla" noicon 27-second sample of the song "Layla", as performed by Derek and the Dominos
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

With the intention to counteract the "star" cult faction that had begun to form around him, Clapton assembled a new band composed of Delaney and Bonnie's former rhythm section, Bobby Whitlock as keyboardist and vocalist, Carl Radle as the bassist, and drummer Jim Gordon, with Clapton playing guitar. It was his intention to show that he need not fill a starring role, and functioned well as a member of an ensemble.^[29] Naming the band, "Eric Clapton and Friends" at first, the name "Derek and the Dominos" was a fluke. It occurred when the band's provisional name of "Del and the Dynamos" was misread as Derek and the Dominos.^[30] Clapton's biography states that Tony Ashton of Ashton, Gardner and Dyke told Clapton to call the band "Del and the Dominos", since "Del" was his nickname for Eric Clapton. Del and Eric were combined and the final name became "Derek and the Dominos".^[31]

Clapton's close friendship with George Harrison brought him into contact with Harrison's wife, Pattie Boyd, with whom he became deeply infatuated. When she spurned his advances, Clapton's unrequited affections prompted most of the material for the Dominos' album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970). Heavily blues-influenced, the album features the twin lead guitars of Duane Allman and Clapton, with Allman's slide guitar as a key ingredient of the sound. Working at Criteria Studios in Miami with Atlantic Records producer Tom Dowd, who had worked with Clapton on Cream's Disraeli Gears, the band recorded a double album.

The album features the hit love song "Layla", inspired by the classical poet of Persian literature, Nizami Ganjavi's The Story of Layla and Majnun, a copy of which Ian Dallas had given to Clapton. The book moved Clapton profoundly, as it was the tale of a young man who fell hopelessly in love with a beautiful, unavailable woman and who went crazy because he could not marry her.^[32]^[33] The two parts of "Layla" were recorded in separate sessions: the opening guitar section was recorded first, and for the second section, laid down several months later, drummer Jim Gordon composed and played the piano part.^[31]

The Layla LP was actually recorded by a five-piece version of the group, thanks to the unforeseen inclusion of guitarist Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band. A few days into the Layla sessions, Dowd—who was also producing the Allmans—invited Clapton to an Allman Brothers outdoor concert in Miami. The two guitarists met first on stage, then played all night in the studio, and became friends. Duane first added his slide guitar to "Tell the Truth" and "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out". In four days, the five-piece Dominos recorded "Key to the Highway", "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" (a blues standard popularised by Freddie King and others), and "Why Does Love Got to be So Sad". In September, Duane briefly left the sessions for gigs with his own band, and the four-piece Dominos recorded "I Looked Away", "Bell Bottom Blues", and "Keep on Growing". Duane returned to record "I am Yours", "Anyday", and "It's Too Late". On 9 September, they recorded Hendrix's "Little Wing" and the title track. The following day, the final track, "It's Too Late", was recorded.^[34]

Eric Clapton in Barcelona, 1974

Tragedy dogged the group throughout its brief career. During the sessions, Clapton was devastated by news of the death of Jimi Hendrix; eight days previously the band had cut a cover of "Little Wing" as a tribute to Hendrix. On 17 September 1970, one day before Hendrix's death, Clapton had purchased a left-handed Fender Stratocaster that he had planned to give to Hendrix as a birthday gift. Adding to Clapton's woes, the Layla album received only lukewarm reviews upon release. The shaken group undertook a U.S. tour without Allman, who had returned to the Allman Brothers Band. Despite Clapton's later admission that the tour took place amidst a veritable blizzard of drugs and alcohol, it resulted in the live double album In Concert.^[35] The band had recorded several tracks for a second album in London during the spring of 1971 (five of which were released on the Eric Clapton box-set Crossroads), but the results were mediocre.

A second record was in the works when a clashing of egos took place and Clapton walked, thus disbanding the group. Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident on 29 October 1971. Although Radle would remain Clapton's bass player until the summer of 1979 (Radle died in May 1980 from the effects of alcohol and narcotics), it would be 2003 before Clapton and Whitlock appeared together again (Clapton guested on Whitlock's appearance on the Later with Jools Holland show). Another tragic footnote to the Dominos story was the fate of drummer Jim Gordon, who was an undiagnosed schizophrenic and years later murdered his mother during a psychotic episode. Gordon was confined to 16-years-to-life imprisonment, later being moved to a mental institution, where he remains today.^[17]

Solo career [link]

Clapton's career successes in the 1970s were in stark contrast with his personal life, which was troubled by romantic longings and drug and alcohol addiction.^[36] While suffering his (temporarily) unrequited and intense attraction to Pattie Boyd, he withdrew from recording and touring to isolation in his Surrey, England, residence. There he nursed his heroin addiction, which resulted in a career hiatus interrupted only by the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971 (where he passed out on stage, was revived, and continued his performance).^[17] In January 1973, The Who's Pete Townshend organised a comeback concert for Clapton at London's Rainbow Theatre, aptly titled the "Rainbow Concert", to help Clapton kick his addiction. Clapton would return the favour by playing 'The Preacher' in Ken Russell's film version of The Who's Tommy in 1975; his appearance in the film (performing "Eyesight to the Blind") is notable as he is clearly wearing a fake beard in some shots, the result of deciding to shave off his real beard after the initial takes in an attempt to force the director to remove his earlier scene from the movie and leave the set.^[31]

Yvonne Elliman with Clapton promoting 461 Ocean Boulevard in 1975

In 1974, now partnered with Pattie (they would not actually marry until 1979) and no longer using heroin (although starting to drink heavily), Clapton put together a more low-key touring band that included Radle, Miami guitarist George Terry, keyboardist Dick Sims (who died in 2011 ^[37]), drummer Jamie Oldaker, and vocalists Yvonne Elliman and Marcy Levy (also known as Marcella Detroit). With this band Clapton recorded 461 Ocean Boulevard (1974), an album with an emphasis on more compact songs and fewer guitar solos; the cover version of "I Shot The Sheriff" was Clapton's first #1 hit and was important in bringing reggae and the music of Bob Marley to a wider audience. The 1975 album There's One in Every Crowd continued this trend. The album's original title, The World's Greatest Guitar Player (There's One In Every Crowd), was changed before pressing, as it was felt its ironic intention would be misunderstood. The band toured the world and subsequently released the 1975 live LP, E.C. Was Here.^[38] Clapton continued to release albums and toured regularly. Highlights of the period include No Reason to Cry (a collaboration with Bob Dylan and The Band); Slowhand, which featured "Wonderful Tonight" (another song inspired by Boyd);^[39] and a second J.J. Cale cover, "Cocaine". In 1976 he performed, alongside a string of notable guests, to pay tribute to the farewell performance of The Band, filmed in a Martin Scorsese documentary called the Last Waltz.

1980s [link]

In 1981 Clapton was invited by producer Martin Lewis to appear at the Amnesty International benefit The Secret Policeman's Other Ball. Clapton accepted the invitation and teamed up with Jeff Beck to perform a series of duets—reportedly their first-ever billed stage collaboration. Three of the performances were released on the album of the show, and one of the songs was featured in the film. The performances heralded a return to form and prominence for Clapton in the new decade. Many factors had influenced Clapton's comeback, including his "deepening commitment to Christianity", to which he had converted prior to his heroin addiction.^[40]^[41]

After an embarrassing fishing incident, Clapton finally called his manager and admitted he was an alcoholic. In January 1982 Roger and Clapton flew to Minneapolis – St. Paul; Clapton would be checked in at Hazelden Treatment Center, located in Center City, Minnesota. On the flight over, Clapton indulged in a large number of drinks, for fear he would never be able to drink again. Clapton is quoted as saying from his autobiography, "In the lowest moments of my life, the only reason I didn't commit suicide was that I knew I wouldn't be able to drink any more if I was dead. It was the only thing I thought was worth living for, and the idea that people were about to try and remove me from alcohol was so terrible that I drank and drank and drank, and they had to practically carry me into the clinic."^[42]

After being discharged, it was recommended by doctors of Hazelden that Clapton not partake in any activities that would act as triggers for his alcoholism or stress, until he was fully situated back at Hurtwood. A few months after his discharge, Clapton began working on his next album, against the Hazelden doctors' orders. Working with Tom Dowd, Clapton produced what he thought as his "most forced" album to date, Money and Cigarettes.

In 1984 he performed on Pink Floyd member Roger Waters' solo album, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, and went on tour with Waters following the release of the album. Since then Waters and Clapton have had a close relationship. In 2005 they performed together for the Tsunami Relief Fund. In 2006 they performed at the Highclere Castle, in aid of the Countryside Alliance, playing two set pieces of "Wish You Were Here" and "Comfortably Numb". Clapton, now a seasoned charity performer, played at the Live Aid concert on 13 July 1985.^[43] When offered a slot close to peak viewing hours, he was apparently flattered. As Clapton recovered from his addictions, his album output continued in the 1980s, including two produced with Phil Collins, 1985's Behind the Sun, which produced the hits "Forever Man" and "She's Waiting", and 1986's August.

Tina Turner and Eric Clapton at Wembley Arena, 18 June 1987

August was suffused with Collins's trademark drum and horn sound, and became Clapton's biggest seller in the UK to date, matching his highest chart position, number 3. The album's first track, the hit "It's In The Way That You Use It", was featured in the Tom Cruise – Paul Newman movie The Color of Money. The horn-peppered "Run" echoed Collins' "Sussudio" and rest of the producer's Genesis/solo output, while "Tearing Us Apart" (with Tina Turner) and the unimpressed "Miss You" echoed Clapton's angry sound. This rebound kicked off Clapton's two-year period of touring with Collins and their August collaborates, bassist Nathan East and keyboard player/songwriter Greg Phillinganes. While on tour for August, two concert videos were recorded of the four-man band, Eric Clapton Live from Montreux and Eric Clapton and Friends. Clapton later remade "After Midnight" as a single and a promotional track for the Michelob beer brand, which had also marketed earlier songs by Collins and Steve Winwood. Clapton won a British Academy Television Award for his collaboration with Michael Kamen on the score for the 1985 BBC Television thriller serial Edge of Darkness. In 1989, Clapton released Journeyman, an album which covered a wide range of styles including blues, jazz, soul and pop. Collaborators included George Harrison, Phil Collins, Daryl Hall, Chaka Khan, Mick Jones, David Sanborn and Robert Cray.

George Harrison and Clapton at the Prince's Trust Concert, Wembley Arena, 1987

In 1984, while still married to Pattie Boyd, Clapton began a year-long relationship with Yvonne Kelly. The two had a daughter, Ruth, who was born in January 1985, but her existence was kept a secret by her parents. She was not publicly revealed as his child until 1991.^[44] Boyd criticised Clapton because he had not revealed the child's existence.^[45]

At the 1987 Brit Awards in London, Clapton picked up the prize for Outstanding Contribution to Music.^[46] Hurricane Hugo hit Montserrat in 1989, and this resulted in the closure of Sir George Martin and John Burgess's recording studio AIR Montserrat, where Kelly was Managing Director. Kelly and Ruth moved back to England, and stories about Eric's secret daughter began as a result of newspaper articles published at the time.^[44] Clapton and Boyd divorced in 1988 following his affair with Italian model Lory Del Santo, who gave birth to their son, Conor, on 21 August 1986.^[47] Boyd was never able to conceive children, despite attempts at in vitro fertilisation.^[45]^[47] Their divorce was granted on grounds of "infidelity and unreasonable behaviour."^[45]

Clapton was known to date a host of beautiful women, including Krissy Wood (ex-wife of Ron Wood), actress Charlotte Martin, socialite Alice Ormsby-Gore, Paula Boyd (the younger sister of his future wife Pattie), singer Janis Joplin, singer Marianne Faithfull, rock muses Catherine James, Cyrinda Fox, and Geraldine Edwards, the inspiration for Penny Lane in Almost Famous, singer Rosanne Cash, the First Lady of France and former model Carla Bruni, and actresses Patsy Kensit, Sharon Stone, and Alicia Witt.^[48]

1990s [link]

The 1990s brought a series of 32 concerts to the Royal Albert Hall, such as the 24 Nights series of concerts that took place around January through February 1990, and February through March 1991. On 27 August 1990, fellow blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, who was touring with Clapton, and three members of their road crew were killed in a helicopter crash between concerts. Then, on 20 March 1991, Clapton's four-year-old son, Conor, died after falling from the 53rd-floor window of his mother's friend's New York City apartment at 117 East 57th Street. He landed on the roof of an adjacent four-story building. Clapton's grief was expressed in the song "Tears in Heaven", which was co-written by Will Jennings. At the 35th Grammy Awards, Clapton received six Grammy Awards for the single "Tears in Heaven" and his Unplugged album.^[49] The album reached number one on the Billboard 200, and has since been certified Diamond by the RIAA for selling over 10 million copies in the United States.^[50] On 9 September 1992, Clapton performed "Tears in Heaven" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles, and won the award for Best Male Video.^[51]^[52]

In October 1992 Clapton was among the dozens of artists performing at Bob Dylan's 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration. Recorded at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the live two-disk CD/DVD captured a show full of celebrities performing classic Dylan songs, before ending with a few performances from Dylan himself. Despite the presence of 10 other guitarists on stage, including George Harrison, Neil Young, Roger McGuinn, Steve Cropper, Tom Petty, and Dylan, Clapton played the lead on a nearly 7-minute version of Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" as part of the finale.

While Unplugged featured Clapton playing acoustic guitar, his 1994 album From the Cradle contained new versions of old blues standards, highlighted by his electric guitar playing.^[53] Clapton's 1996 recording of the Wayne Kirkpatrick/Gordon Kennedy/Tommy Sims tune "Change the World" (featured in the soundtrack of the movie Phenomenon) won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1997, the same year he recorded Retail Therapy (an album of electronic music with Simon Climie under the pseudonym TDF). The following year, Clapton released the album Pilgrim, the first record featuring new material for almost a decade.^[41] Clapton finished the twentieth century with collaborations with Carlos Santana and B. B. King.

In 1996 Clapton had a relationship with singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow. They remain friends, and Clapton appeared as a guest on Crow's Central Park Concert. The duo performed a Cream hit single, "White Room". Later, Clapton and Crow performed an alternate version of "Tulsa Time" with other guitar legends at the Crossroads Guitar Festival in June 2007.

In 1998 Clapton, then 53, met 22-year-old administrative assistant Melia McEnery in Columbus, Ohio, at a party given for him after a performance. He quietly dated her for a year, and went public with the relationship in 1999. They married on 1 January 2002 at St Mary Magdalene church in Clapton's birthplace, Ripley. As of 2005 they have three daughters, Julie Rose (13 June 2001), Ella May (14 January 2003), and Sophie Belle (1 February 2005).

At the 41st Grammy Awards on 24 February 1999, Clapton received his third Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, for his song "My Father's Eyes".^[54] In October 1999, the compilation album, Clapton Chronicles: The Best of Eric Clapton, was released, which contained a new song, "Blue Eyes Blue", that also appears in soundtrack for the film, Runaway Bride.^[55]^[56]

2000s [link]

Clapton performing at the TUI Arena of Hannover (Germany) on 2 April 2004

Following the release of the 2001 record Reptile, in June 2002, Clapton performed "Layla" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at the Party at the Palace concert in the grounds of Buckingham Palace.^[57] On 29 November 2002, the Concert for George was held at the Royal Albert Hall, a tribute to George Harrison, who had died a year earlier of cancer.^[58] Clapton was a performer and the musical director. The concert featured Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Ravi Shankar, Gary Brooker, Billy Preston, Joe Brown and Dhani Harrison.^[58] In 2004, Clapton released two albums of covers of songs by bluesman Robert Johnson, Me and Mr. Johnson and Sessions for Robert J. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Clapton #53 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".^[59]

Performance for Tsunami Relief Cardiff

On 22 January 2005, Clapton performed in the Tsunami Relief Concert held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, in aid of the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. In May 2005 Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker reunited as Cream for a series of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Concert recordings were released on CD and DVD. Later, Cream performed in New York at Madison Square Garden. Back Home, Clapton's first album of new original material in nearly five years, was released on Reprise Records on 30 August. In 2006 he invited Derek Trucks and Doyle Bramhall II to join his band for his 2006–2007 world tour. Trucks is the third member of the Allman Brothers Band to tour supporting Clapton, the second being pianist/keyboardist Chuck Leavell, who appeared on the MTV Unplugged album and the 24 Nights performances at the Royal Albert Hall theatre of London in 1990 and 1991, as well as Clapton's 1992 U.S. tour.

On 20 May 2006, Clapton performed with Queen drummer Roger Taylor and former Pink Floyd bassist/songwriter Roger Waters at the Highclere Castle, Hampshire, in support of the Countryside Alliance.^[60] On 13 August 2006, Clapton made a guest appearance at the Bob Dylan concert in Columbus, Ohio, playing guitar on three songs in Jimmie Vaughan's opening act.^[61] A collaboration with guitarist J. J. Cale, titled The Road to Escondido, was released on 7 November 2006, featuring Derek Trucks and Billy Preston. The 14-track CD was produced and recorded by the duo in August 2005 in California. The chemistry between Trucks and Clapton convinced him to invite The Derek Trucks Band to open for Clapton's set at his 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival. Trucks remained on set afterward, performed with Clapton's band throughout his performances, and later embarked on a world tour with him.

The rights to Clapton's official memoirs, written by Christopher Simon Sykes and published in 2007, were sold at the 2005 Frankfurt Book Fair for US$4 million.^[62]

On 26 February 2008, it was reported that North Korean officials had invited Clapton to play a concert in the communist state.^[63] Clapton's management received the invitation and passed it on to the singer, who agreed in principle and suggested it take place sometime in 2009.^[64] Kristen Foster, a spokesperson, said, "Eric Clapton receives numerous offers to play in countries around the world," and "[t]here is no agreement whatsoever for him to play in North Korea."^[65]

Eric Clapton (fourth from left) and his band live in 2007

In 2007 Clapton learned more about his father, a Canadian soldier who left the UK after the war. Although Clapton's grandparents eventually told him the truth about his parentage, he only knew that his father's name was Edward Fryer. This was a source of disquiet for Clapton, as witnessed by his 1998 song "My Father's Eyes". A Montreal journalist named Michael Woloschuk researched Canadian Armed Forces service records and tracked down members of Fryer's family, and finally pieced together the story. He learned that Clapton's father was Edward Walter Fryer, born 21 March 1920, in Montreal and died 15 May 1985 in Newmarket, Ontario. Fryer was a musician (piano and saxophone) and a lifelong drifter who was married several times, had several children, and apparently never knew that he was the father of Eric Clapton.^[66] Clapton thanked Woloschuk in an encounter at Macdonald Cartier Airport, in Ottawa, Canada.^[67]

In February 2008 Clapton performed with his long-time friend Steve Winwood at Madison Square Garden and guested on his recorded single, "Dirty City", on Winwood's album Nine Lives. The two former Blind Faith bandmates met again for a series of 14 concerts throughout the United States in June 2009.

Clapton's 2008 Summer Tour began on 3 May at the Ford Amphitheatre, Tampa Bay, Florida, and then moved to Canada, Ireland, England, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Poland, Germany, and Monaco. On 28 June 2008, he headlined Saturday night for Hard Rock Calling 2008 in London's Hyde Park (previously Hyde Park Calling) with support from Sheryl Crow and John Mayer.^[68]^[69] In September 2008 Clapton performed at a private charity fundraiser for The Countryside Alliance at Floridita in Soho, London, that included such guests as the London Mayor Boris Johnson.

Clapton performing with The Allman Brothers Band at the Beacon Theater

In March 2009, the Allman Brothers Band (amongst many notable guests) celebrated their 40th year, dedicating their string of concerts to the late Duane Allman on their annual run at the Beacon Theatre. Eric Clapton was one of the performers, with drummer Butch Trucks remarking that the performance was not the typical Allman Brothers experience, given the number and musical styles of the guests who were invited to perform. Songs like "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" were punctuated with others, including "The Weight", with Levon Helm; Johnny Winter sitting in on Hendrix's "Red House"; and "Layla". On 4 May 2009 Clapton appeared as a featured guest at the Royal Albert Hall, playing "Further on Up the Road" with Joe Bonamassa.

Clapton was scheduled to be one of the performers at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th anniversary concert in Madison Square Garden on 30 October 2009, but cancelled due to gallstone surgery.^[70] Van Morrison (who also cancelled)^[71] said in an interview that he and Clapton were to do a "couple of songs", but that they would do something else together at "some other stage of the game".^[72]

2010s [link]

Clapton performed a two-night show with Jeff Beck at London's O2 Arena on 13–14 February 2010.^[73] The two former Yardbirds extended their 2010 tour with stops at Madison Square Garden,^[74] the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, and the Bell Centre in Montreal.^[75] Clapton performed a series of concerts in 11 cities throughout the United States from 25 February to 13 March 2010, including Roger Daltrey as opening act. His third European tour with Steve Winwood began on 18 May and ended 13 June, including Tom Norris as opening act. He then began a short North American tour lasting from 26 June to 3 July, starting with his third Crossroads Guitar Festival on 26 June at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois. Clapton released a new studio album, Clapton, on 27 September 2010 in the United Kingdom and 28 September 2010 in the United States. On 17 November 2010, Clapton performed as guest on the Prince's Trust rock gala held at the Royal Albert Hall, supported by the house band for the evening, which included Jools Holland, Midge Ure and Mark King.^[76]

On 24 June 2011 Clapton was in concert with Pino Daniele in Cava de' Tirreni stadium, Italy, with an audience of 15,000 people before performing a series of concerts in South America from 6 to 16 October 2011. He spent the November and December 2011 touring Japan with Steve Winwood, playing 13 shows in various cities throughout the country. On 24 February 2012 Clapton, Keith Richards, Gary Clark Jr., Derek Trucks, Doyle Bramhall II, Kim Wilson and other artists performed together in the Howlin' For Hubert Tribute concert held at the Apollo Theater of NYC honoring blues guitarist Hubert Sumlin who died at age 80 in 4 December.

Influences [link]

Clapton cites Freddie King, B.B. King, Albert King, Buddy Guy, and Hubert Sumlin as guitar playing influences. Clapton stated blues musician Robert Johnson to be his single most important influence. In 2004 Clapton released CDs and DVDs entitled Sessions for Robert Johnson, featuring Clapton covering Robert Johnson songs using electric and acoustic guitars.^[77]

Clapton co-authored with others the book Discovering Robert Johnson, in which Clapton said Johnson was^[78]

"...the most important blues musician who ever lived. He was true, absolutely, to his own vision, and as deep as I have gotten into the music over the last 30 years, I have never found anything more deeply soulful than Robert Johnson. His music remains the most powerful cry that I think you can find in the human voice, really. ... it seemed to echo something I had always felt."

Legacy [link]

Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time.^[2]^[79]^[80]^[81] Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream.^[82] He ranked second in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time"^[3] and fourth in Gibson's Top 50 Guitarists of All Time.^[4]

Guitarists influenced by Clapton include Richie Sambora, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gary Moore, Duane Allman, Derek Trucks,^[83] Eddie Van Halen, Brian May, Tony Iommi, Lenny Kravitz, Slash, Orianthi,Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, Jonny Buckland, Joe Don Rooney, Alex Lifeson, Jonny Lang, John Mayer, Joe Satriani, Joe Bonamassa, Davy Knowles, and George Harrison.

Guitars [link]

Clapton on the There's One In Every Crowd Tour, with "Blackie" on 15 August 1975

Clapton's choice of electric guitars has been as notable as the man himself; alongside Hank Marvin, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, Clapton exerted a crucial and widespread influence in popularising particular models of electric guitar.^[84] With the Yardbirds, Clapton played a Fender Telecaster, a Fender Jazzmaster, a double-cutaway Gretsch 6120, and a 1964 Cherry-Red Gibson ES-335. He became exclusively a Gibson player for a period beginning in mid-1965, when he purchased a used sunburst Gibson Les Paul guitar from a guitar store in London. Clapton commented on the slim profile of the neck, which would indicate it was a 1960 model.^[85]

Early during his stint in Cream, Clapton's first Les Paul Standard was stolen. He continued to play Les Pauls exclusively with Cream (one bought from Andy Summers was almost identical to the stolen guitar)^[86] until 1967, when he acquired his most famous guitar in this period, a 1964 Gibson SG.^[87] Just before Cream's first U.S. appearance in 1967, Clapton's SG, Bruce's Fender VI, and Baker's drum head were all repainted in psychedelic designs created by the visual art collective known as The Fool. In 1968 Clapton bought a Gibson Firebird and started using the 1964 Cherry-Red Gibson ES-335 again.^[87] The aforementioned 1964 ES-335 had a storied career. Clapton used it at the last Cream show in November 1968 as well as with Blind Faith, played it sparingly for slide pieces in the 1970s, used it on "Hard Times" from Journeyman, the Hyde Park live concert of 1996, and the From the Cradle sessions and tour of 1994–95. It was sold for US$847,500 at a 2004 auction.^[88] Gibson produced a limited run of 250 "Crossroads 335" replicas. The 335 was only the second electric guitar Clapton bought.^[89]

In July 1968 Clapton gave George Harrison a 1957 'goldtop' Gibson Les Paul that been refinished with a red colour. The following September, Clapton played the guitar on the Beatles' studio recording of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". His SG found its way into the hands of George Harrison's friend Jackie Lomax, who subsequently sold it to musician Todd Rundgren for US$500 in 1972. Rundgren restored the guitar and nicknamed it "Sunny", after "Sunshine of Your Love". He retained it until 2000, when he sold it at an auction for US$150,000.^[87] At the 1969 Blind Faith concert in Hyde Park, London Clapton played a Fender Custom Telecaster, which was fitted with "Brownie"'s neck.

In late 1969 Clapton made the switch to the Fender Stratocaster. "I had a lot of influences when I took up the Strat. First there was Buddy Holly, and Buddy Guy. Hank Marvin was the first well known person over here in England who was using one, but that wasn't really my kind of music. Steve Winwood had so much credibility, and when he started playing one, I thought, oh, if he can do it, I can do it."^[90] The first—used during the recording of Eric Clapton—was "Brownie", which in 1974 became the backup to the most famous of all Clapton's guitars, "Blackie". In November 1970 Eric bought six Fender Stratocasters from the Sho-bud guitar shop in Nashville, Tennessee while on tour with the Dominos. He gave one each to George Harrison, Steve Winwood, and Pete Townshend.

Clapton with "Blackie" on tour in the Netherlands, 1978

Clapton assembled the best components of the remaining three to create "Blackie", which was his favourite stage guitar until its retirement in 1985. It was first played live 13 January 1973 at the Rainbow Concert.^[91] Clapton called the 1956/57 Strat a "mongrel".^[92] On 24 June 2004, Clapton sold "Blackie" at Christie's Auction House, New York, for US$959,500 to raise funds for his Crossroads Centre for drug and alcohol addictions. "Brownie" is now on display at the Experience Music Project.^[93] The Fender Custom Shop has since produced a limited run of 275 'Blackie' replicas, correct in every detail right down to the 'Duck Brothers' flight case, and artificially aged using Fender's 'Relic' process to simulate years of hard wear. One was presented to Eric upon the model's release and was used for three numbers during a concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 17 May 2006.^[94]

In 1981 Clapton gave his signed Fender Lead II guitar to the Hard Rock Cafe to designate his favourite bar stool. Pete Townshend also donated his own Gibson Les Paul guitar, with a note attached: "Mine's as good as his! Love, Pete."^[95]

In 1988 Fender honoured Clapton with the introduction of his signature Eric Clapton Stratocaster.^[96] These were the first two artist models in the Stratocaster range. Since then, the artist series has grown to include models inspired by Clapton's contemporaries such as Rory Gallagher, Mark Knopfler, Jeff Beck, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and by those who have influenced him, such as Buddy Guy. Clapton uses Ernie Ball Slinky and Super Slinky strings, gauge .10 to.46.^[97] Clapton has been honoured with several signature-model 000-sized acoustic guitars made by the American firm of C.F. Martin & Company. The first, of these, introduced in 1995, was a limited edition 000-42EC Eric Clapton signature model with a production run of 461. As of December 2007, Martin had produced seven EC signature models.^[98] His 1939 000-42 Martin that he played on the Unplugged album sold for US$791,500 at auction.^[88] Clapton plays a custom 000-ECHF Martin these days.

In 1999, Clapton auctioned off some of his guitar collection to raise more than US$5 million for continuing support of the Crossroads Centre in Antigua, which he founded in 1997.^[99] The Crossroads Centre is a treatment base for addictive disorders such as drugs and alcohol. In 2004 Clapton organised and participated in the Crossroads Guitar Festival to benefit the Centre. A second guitar auction, including the "Cream" of Clapton's collection – as well as guitars donated by famous friends – was held on 24 June 2004. His Lowden acoustic guitar sold for US$41,825. The revenue garnered by this auction at Christie's was US$7,438,624.^[88]

In 2010 Eric Clapton announced that he would be auctioning off over 150 items at a New York auction in 2011. Proceeds will benefit his Crossroads Centre in Antigua. Items include Clapton's guitar from the Cream reunion tour in 2005, speaker cabinets used in the early 1970s from his days with Derek and the Dominoes, and some guitars from Jeff Beck, J.J. Cale, and Joe Bonamassa.^[100] In March 2011 Clapton raised more than US$2.15 million when he auctioned off key items, including a 1984 Gibson hollow body guitar, a Gianni Versace suit from his 1990 concert at the Royal Albert Hall, and a replica of the famous Fender Stratocaster known as "Blackie", which fetched more than $30,000. All proceeds from the auction were donated to Clapton's Crossroads drug and rehabilitation centre in Antigua.

The "woman tone" is the informal term used by Clapton to refer to his distinctive mid- to late-1960s electric guitar sound, created using his Gibson SG solid body guitar (with Humbucker pick-ups) and a Marshall tube amplifier.^[101] It is an overdriven sound that is articulate yet thick. It is characterised by being quite distorted (or even achieved with a fuzz) but muted, in contrast to the bright and twangy distortion that most guitarists were using at the time. Many players have tried to duplicate it, usually without success, in part because Clapton's playing technique had a lot to do with the tone.

Among the techniques used to replicate Clapton's sound is a technique by which the amplifier's volume is turned up to full, while the guitar's tone knob is turned down to zero or one.^[102]

Perhaps the best example of the "woman tone" is Clapton's famous riff and solo from Cream's 1967 hit "Sunshine of Your Love". Clapton has explained that he obtained the tone with his Gibson's tone control rolled all the way down, switching to the neck pick-up (closest to the fretboard) and the volume all the way up, with his distortion turned all the way up. The treble, mids and bass controls on the amplifier were also maxed out. Some versions of the "woman tone" may also have involved strategic positioning of Clapton's wah-wah pedal.

Other media appearances [link]

Clapton frequently appears as a guest on the albums of other musicians. For example, he is credited on Dire Straits's Brothers in Arms album, as he lent Mark Knopfler one of his guitars. He played lead guitar and synthesiser on The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, Roger Waters' debut solo album. Other media appearances include the Toots & the Maytals album True Love, where he played guitar on the track "Pressure Drop". He can also be heard at the beginning of Frank Zappa's album, We're Only in It for the Money, repeating the phrase, "Are you hung up?" over and over again. In 1985, Clapton appeared on the charity concert Live Aid in Philadelphia with Phil Collins, Tim Renwick, Chris Stainton, Jamie Oldaker, Marcy Levy, Shaun Murphy, and Donald 'Duck' Dunn. In 1988 he played with Dire Straits and Elton John at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute at Wembley Stadium and the Prince's Trust rock gala at the Royal Albert Hall. On 30 June 1990, Dire Straits, Clapton, and Elton John made a guest appearance in the Nordoff-Robbins charity show held at Knebworth.^[103] In 1991 Clapton was featured on Richie Sambora's album, Stranger In This Town, in a song dedicated to him, called "Mr. Bluesman". He contributed guitar and vocals to "Runaway Train", a duet with Elton John on the latter's The One album the following year.

On 12 September 1996 Clapton played a party for Armani at New York City's Lexington Armory with Greg Phillinganes, Nathan East, and Steve Gadd. Sheryl Crow appeared on one number, performing "Tearing Us Apart", a track from August, which was first performed by Tina Turner during the Prince's Trust All-Star Rock show in 1986. It was Clapton's sole US appearance that year, following the open-air concert held at Hyde Park.^[104] The concert was taped and the footage was released both on VHS video cassette and later, on DVD.^[104]

Clapton was featured in the movie version of Tommy, the first full length rock opera, written by The Who. The movie version gave Clapton a cameo appearance as The Preacher, performing Sonny Boy Williamson's song, "Eyesight to the Blind". He appeared in Blues Brothers 2000 as one of the Louisiana Gator Boys. In addition to being in the band, he had a small speaking role. Clapton has appeared in an advertisement for the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen. In March 2007 Clapton appeared in an advertisement^[105] for RealNetwork's Rhapsody online music service. In 2010 Clapton started appearing as a spokesman for T-Mobile, advertising their MyTouch Fender cell phone.

Eric Clapton was compared to God's image in the episode "Holy Crap!" of season two of That '70s Show when characters Eric Forman and Steven Hyde are asked by their minister to draw a picture of God.

Political views and advocacy [link]

Clapton is a supporter of the Countryside Alliance, he has played in concerts to raise funds for the organisation and he publicly opposed the Labour Party’s ban on fox hunting. A spokesperson for Clapton said, "Eric supports the Countryside Alliance. He doesn't hunt himself, but does enjoy rural pursuits such as fishing and shooting. He supports the Alliance's pursuit to scrap the ban on the basis that he doesn't agree with the state's interference with people's private pursuits."^[106]

In 2008, he donated a song to Aid Still Required's CD to assist with the restoration of the devastation done to Southeast Asia from the 2004 Tsunami.

Controversy over remarks on immigration [link]

On 5 August 1976 Clapton provoked an uproar and lingering controversy when he spoke out against increasing immigration during a concert in Birmingham. Visibly intoxicated, Clapton voiced his support of controversial political candidate Enoch Powell, and announced on stage that Britain was in danger of becoming a "black colony". Clapton was quoted as saying, "I think Enoch's right ... we should send them all back. Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white!"^[107] The latter phrase was at the time a British National Front slogan.^[108] Clapton continued:

"I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism. It’s much heavier, man. Fucking wogs, man. Fucking Saudis taking over London. Bastard wogs. Britain is becoming overcrowded and Enoch will stop it and send them all back. The black wogs and coons and Arabs and fucking Jamaicans and fucking [indecipherable] don’t belong here, we don’t want them here. This is England, this is a white country, we don’t want any black wogs and coons living here. We need to make clear to them they are not welcome. England is for white people, man. We are a white country. I don’t want fucking wogs living next to me with their standards. This is Great Britain, a white country, what is happening to us, for fuck's sake? We need to vote for Enoch Powell, he’s a great man, speaking truth. Vote for Enoch, he’s our man, he’s on our side, he’ll look after us. I want all of you here to vote for Enoch, support him, he’s on our side. Enoch for Prime Minister! Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white!"^[109]

This incident, along with some explicitly pro-fascism remarks made around the same time by David Bowie as well as uses of Nazi-related imagery by Sid Vicious and Siouxsie Sioux, were the main catalysts for the creation of Rock Against Racism, which occurred on 30 April 1978.^[110]

In response to the comments, rock photographer Red Saunders and others published an open letter in NME, Melody Maker, Sounds, and the Socialist Worker. It read "Come on Eric... Own up. Half your music is black. You're rock music's biggest colonist". It concluded, "P.S. Who shot the Sheriff, Eric? It sure as hell wasn't you!"^[110]

In an interview from October 1976 with Sounds magazine, Clapton remarked, "I thought it was quite funny actually. I don't know much about politics. I don't even know if it would be good or bad for him to get in. I don't even know who the Prime Minister is now. I just don't know what came over me that night. It must have been something that happened in the day but it came out in this garbled thing... I thought the whole thing was like Monty Python. There's this rock group playing on-stage and the singer starts talking about politics. It's so stupid. Those people who paid their money sittin' listening to this madman dribbling on and the band meanwhile getting fidgety thinking 'oh dear'."^[111]

In a 2004 interview with Uncut, Clapton referred to Powell as "outrageously brave", and stated that his "feeling about this has not changed", because the UK is still "... inviting people in as cheap labour and then putting them in ghettos." In 2004 Clapton told an interviewer for Scotland on Sunday, "There's no way I could be a racist. It would make no sense".^[112] In his 2007 autobiography, Clapton called himself "deliberately oblivious to it all" and wrote, "I had never really understood or been directly affected by racial conflict ... when I listened to music, I was disinterested in where the players came from or what colour their skin was. Interesting, then, that 10 years later, I would be labelled a racist ... Since then, I have learnt to keep my opinions to myself. Of course, it might also have had something to do with the fact that Pattie had just been leered at by a member of the Saudi royal family."^[113] In a December 2007 interview with Melvyn Bragg on The South Bank Show, Clapton reiterated his support for Enoch Powell and again denied that Powell's views were "racist".^[114]

Wealth and assets [link]

In 2009 Surrey Life Magazine ranked Eric Clapton as number 17 in their list of richest Surrey residents, estimating Clapton's fortune at £120 million in assets. This was a compilation of property and income which include a £9 million yacht, "Va Bene" (previously owned by Bernie Ecclestone), his back music catalogue, his touring income, and his Marshbrook holding company, which had earned him £110 million since 1989.^[115] In 2003, he purchased a 50 per cent share of gentleman's outfitters Cordings Piccadilly.^[116] At the time, owner Noll Uloth was trying to save the shop from closure and thought 'I will go and talk to my best client". He is reported to have contacted Eric and within five minutes he had a reply saying 'I can't let this happen."^[116]

Awards and honours [link]

Year	Award / Recognition
1983	Presented the Silver Clef Award from Princess Michael of Kent for outstanding contribution to British music.^[117]
1985	Presented with BAFTA for Best Original Television Music for Score of Edge of Darkness with Michael Kamen.^[118]
1993	"Tears In Heaven" won three Grammy awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Male Pop Vocal Performance. Clapton also won Album of the Year and Best Rock Vocal Performance for Unplugged and Best Rock Song for "Layla".^[119]
1994	Awarded the OBE for services to music.^[120]
2000	Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the third time, this time as a solo artist. He was earlier inducted as a member of the bands Cream and The Yardbirds.^[121]
2004	Promoted to CBE, receiving the award from the Princess Royal at Buckingham Palace as part of the New Year's Honours list.^[122]^[123]
2006	Awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (as a member of Cream)

Football [link]

In 1982 he performed a concert before West Bromwich Albion player John Wile's testimonial game at the Hawthorns, and it is often reported by various sources that Clapton is an Albion supporter. Credence for this notion can be taken from the cover pictures to the "Backless" solo album, where he is seen on the front cover to be wearing a football scarf; the rear cover photograph reveals the slogan "ALBION" on the scarf. It has been reported that the club rejected his offer to invest cash in the club around this time, and that he has since expressed more of an interest in Chelsea.^[124]

Clapton's music in film and TV [link]

Mean Streets (1973) – "I Looked Away"
Private Lessons (1981 film) (1981) – Next Time You See Her
Purple Haze (1983) – "I Feel Free"
The Hit (1984) – Score
Miami Vice (1984–1989) – Four songs over the course of the show's five seasons: "Wonderful Tonight", "Knock On Wood", "She's Waiting", and "Layla"
Back to the Future (1985) – "Heaven Is One Step Away"
Edge of Darkness (1985) – Soundtrack
The Color of Money (1986) – "It's In The Way That You Use It"
SpaceCamp (1986 film) – "Forever Man" plays when Tate Donovan's character arrives at the Space Camp
The German car manufacturer Opel and Vauxhall in the UK used the guitar riff of Clapton's "Layla" in its advertising campaign throughout in 1987–95.
Lethal Weapon (1987) – Soundtrack with Michael Kamen
Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) – "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"
Goodfellas (1990) – "Layla" and "Sunshine of Your Love"^[125]
Rush (1991) – Clapton wrote the score
Wayne's World (1992) – "Loving your Loving"
Peter's Friends (1992) – "Give Me Strength"
Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) – Clapton contributed to the score and co-wrote and co-performed the song "It's Probably Me" with Sting and "Runaway Train" with Elton John.
True Lies (1994) – "Sunshine of Your Love"
The Simpsons episode "Mother Simpson" (1995) – "Sunshine of Your Love"
Twister (1996) – "Motherless Child"
Phenomenon (1996) – "Change the World"
The Van (1996) – Soundtrack
Happy Gilmore (1996) – "Wonderful Tonight"
Patch Adams (1998) – "Let It Rain"
Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) – "Pilgrim"
City of Angels (1998) – "Further On Up The Road"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes "Band Candy" and "Forever" (1998) – "Tales of Brave Ulysses"
Runaway Bride (1999) – "Blue Eyes Blue"
The Story of Us (1999) – "(I) Get Lost" (featured multiple times)
Friends episode "The One with the Proposal, Part 2" (2000) – "Wonderful Tonight"
Dancing At The Blue Iguana (2000) – "River of Tears"
A Knight's Tale (2001) – "Further On Up The Road"
Blow (2001) – "Strange Brew"
Friends episode "The One Where Rachel Has a Baby, Part Two" (2002) – "River of Tears"
Futurama episode "The 30% Iron Chef" (2002) – "Sunshine of Your Love"
The Sopranos episode "Whitecaps" (2002) – Tony Soprano is seen listening to "Layla" in his Suburban.
School Of Rock (2003) – "Sunshine of Your Love"
Starsky & Hutch (2004) – "Cocaine"
Anger Management (2004) – "Strange Brew"
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) – "Cocaine"
Bad News Bears (2005) – "Cocaine"
Lords of Dogtown (2005) – "Strange Brew"
Lord of War (2005) – "Cocaine"
United States of Tara episode – "Cocaine"
Community episode – "Layla"
The Good Guys Episode Silvio's Way – "Layla"
Due Date (2010) – "White Room"
Shameless (U.S. TV series) (2011) – "White Room"

Discography [link]

Main article: Eric Clapton discography

References [link]

^ "Rock & Roll Library – Eric Clapton's Releases". List. Rock & Roll Library. http://www.rocklibrary.com/Library/qs/releases.aspx?id=de20a9f0-1c31-4632-a807-336d3a4c537b. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
^ ^a ^b "55 – Eric Clapton". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-artists-of-all-time-19691231/eric-clapton-19691231. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
^ ^a ^b "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time – 2. Eric Clapton". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-guitarists-20111123/eric-clapton-19691231. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
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^ Eric Clapton, All Music: Grammy Awards Retrieved 29 December 2010
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^ "Retrieved 4 January 2011". Rollingstone.com. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/eric-clapton/biography. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
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^ Ladies and gentlemen, Eric Clapton msnbc Retrieved 30 December 2010
^ Profiles in Popular Music pg. 71. Sura Books, 2005. Retrieved 29 December 2010
^ ^a ^b ^c Bob Gulla (2008) Guitar Gods: The 25 Players Who Made Rock History pgs. 40–41. Retrieved 29 December 2010
^ ^a ^b Clapton, Eric (2007) Eric Clapton: The Autobiography, pg. 22. Century, 2007
^ ^a ^b ^c Thompson, Dave (2006) Cream: How Eric Clapton Took the World by Storm pgs. 31–32. Virgin Books, 2006
^ Welch, Chris (1994) Extract
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^ Gene Santoro, "Dancing in Your Head: Jazz, Blues, Rock, and Beyond", Published by Oxford University Press US, 1995. Excerpt page 62: "At the time, he started to read The story of Layla and Majnun by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi
^ "The Layla Sessions" CD liner notes.
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^ Marc Roberty, Chris Charlesworth (1995) The complete guide to the music of Eric Clapton p.67. Omnibus Press, 1995
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^ Clapton, Eric (2007 and 2008). Clapton, The Autobiography. Broadway Books. p. 198.
^ Legends of Rock Guitar: The Essential Reference of Rock's Greatest Guitarists p.69. Hal Leonard Corporation, 1 Mar 1997
^ ^a ^b Daily Mail, The truth about Eric Clapton's 'Secret Daughter'. Consulted on 12 August 2007.
^ ^a ^b ^c The Daily Mail, 'I'd pray Eric would pass out and not touch me': Part 2 of Pattie Boyd's sensational autobiography. Consulted on 12 August 2007.
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^ "Eric Clapton pulls out of rock and roll gig". entertainment.oneindia.in. http://entertainment.oneindia.in/music/international/2009/eric-out-rocknroll-hall-gig-281009.html. Retrieved 30 October 2009.
^ "Leonard Cohen and Van Morrison at MSG this weekend but Van will not be back for Rock Hall of Fame". brooklynvegan.com. http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2009/10/leonard_cohen_a_2.html. Retrieved 30 October 2009.
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^ McCormick, Neil (14 February 2010). "Eric Clapton & Jeff Beck at the O2 Arena, review: A meeting of guitar geniuses Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck at the O2 Arena felt too formal and polite. Rating: * * *". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/live-music-reviews/7238056/Eric-Clapton-and-Jeff-Beck-at-the-O2-Arena-review.html. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
^ Ratliff, Ben (20 February 2010). "Yes, Two Guitar Idols Are Better Than One". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/arts/music/20clapton.html. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
^ "Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck announce London O2 Arena gig". New Musical Express. UK: IPC Media. 23 November 2009. http://www.nme.com/news/eric-clapton/47471. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
^ In pictures: The Prince's Trust Rock Gala 2010 The Telegraph Retrieved 1 Jan 2010
^ Eric Clapton: Me and Mr. Johnson All music. Retrieved 29 December 2011
^ Caviness, Crystal; Dan Kimpel, Eric Clapton David A. Mitchell Lisa Zhito, Kevin Zimmerman (Fall 2003). "Sesac Focus Fall 2003" (PDF). Magazine. Sesac. http://sesac.com/pdf/Focus_Fall_2003.pdf. Retrieved 23 August 2008.
^ Meisel, Perry (2010) The myth of popular culture from Dante to Dylan p.143. Retrieved 30 December 2010
^ Eric Clapton: Blues guitar legend BBC News Retrieved 30 December 2010
^ Kenn Chipkin (1998-03). Real Blues Guitar. Alfred Music Publishing, 1998. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-89898-579-5. http://books.google.com/?id=wPmuwEWoqyMC&pg=PA58&dq=Eric+Clapton+important+guitarist#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
^ "Eric Clapton: inducted in 2000". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Retrieved 31 May 2012
^ Tatangelo, Wade (4 January 2007). "Derek Trucks on playing with Allman, Clapton, Dylan". PopMatters.com. McClatchy Newspapers. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/article/derek-trucks-on-playing-with-allman-clapton-dylan. Retrieved 17 November 2009.
^ "Clapton – The early years". Legendarytones.com. 31 July 1966. http://www.legendarytones.com/claptonearly1.html. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
^ "Clapton's Bluesbreakers Guitar Was A 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard". Xs4all.nl. http://www.xs4all.nl/~slowhand/ecfaq/Le%20Paul.htm. Retrieved 22 August 2010. ^{[dead link]}
^ "Andy Summers". Guitarplayer.com. http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/andy-summers/apr-07/27240. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
^ ^a ^b ^c Bob Gulla (2008) Guitar Gods: The 25 Players Who Made Rock History p.45. Retrieved 30 December 2010
^ ^a ^b ^c Published 18 March 2004 9:09 PM. (18 March 2004). "Strat Collector News Desk: Eric Clapton Guitar Auction, 24 June 2004: More Information and Images". Stratcollector.com. http://www.stratcollector.com/newsdesk/archives/000180.html. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
^ Published 27 June 2004 6:03 PM. (27 June 2004). "Strat Collector News Desk: 2004 Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Auction: the Auction, the Burst Brothers, and Lee Dickson". Stratcollector.com. http://www.stratcollector.com/newsdesk/archives/000257.html. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
^ Tom Wheeler (2004) The Stratocaster chronicles: Fender : celebrating 50 years of the Fender Strat p.8. Hal Leonard Corporation, 2004
^ Published 28 June 2004 8:08 PM. (28 June 2004). "Strat Collector News Desk: An Interview with Eric Clapton Guitar Technician Lee Dickson". Stratcollector.com. http://www.stratcollector.com/newsdesk/archives/000259.html. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
^ "The Eric Clapton FAQ – Guitars". Xs4all.nl. 3 September 2001. http://www.xs4all.nl/~slowhand/ecfaq/guitars.html. Retrieved 22 August 2010. ^{[dead link]}
^ "Rock Memorabilia Market Booms: Eric Clapton". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/ericclapton/articles/story/8928554/rock_memorabilia_market_booms. Retrieved 22 August 2010. ^{[dead link]}
^ "Eric Clapton's Blackie – Guitar Center". Gc.guitarcenter.com. http://gc.guitarcenter.com/clapton/detail.cfm. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
^ Clapton's guitar: watching Wayne Henderson build the perfect instrument p.164. Simon and Schuster, 2005
^ Snogod. "Eric Clapton – ClaptonWeb.com – E.C. Mainline Florida". Claptonweb.com. http://www.claptonweb.com/guitares_ang.php. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
^ "Ernie Ball – Artists". Ernie Ball. Archived from the original on 5 August 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080805040814/http://www.ernieball.com/artists.php. Retrieved 21 August 2008.
^ Where's Eric! Magazine (2010). Martin Guitars: Eric Clapton Acoustic Models. Retrieved on: 18 August 2011.
^ Christie's – Eric Clapton Guitars^{[dead link]}
^ "Eric Clapton Will Auction Vintage Guitars & Amps For His Crossroads Centre". http://iknowjack.radio.com/2010/12/10/eric-clapton-will-auction-vintage-guitars-amps-for-his-crossroads-centre/.
^ Ted Drozdowski (9 January 2009). "How to Get Clapton's Classic 'Woman Tone'". Lifestyle. Gibson.com. http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/ProductSpotlight/Tone-Tips/how-to-get-claptons-classic/. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
^ "Eric Clapton Shows Some Guitar Skills". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq6r23-le5o. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
^ Tobler, John: Who's who in rock & roll p.1988. Crescent Books, 1991
^ ^a ^b Live in Hyde Park (Video/DVD) All music. Retrieved 29 December 2011
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^ "Clapton headlines pro-hunt concert". http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/story/clapton-headlines-pro-hunt-concert_30_04_2006.
^ Bainbridge, Luke (14 October 2007). "The ten right-wing rockers". The Guardian (London). http://observer.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,330925087-111639,00.html. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
^ Hall, John (19 August 2009). "Dabbling in right wing politics – David Bowie, Brian Ferry and Eric Clapton". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-ten-worst-rocknroll-career-moves-1774270.html?action=Popup&ino=3. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
^ Rebel Rock by J. Street. First Edition (1986).Oxford Press Basil Blackwell.pp.74–75.
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^ Charone, Barbara (October 1976, (again, 1996)). "Eric Clapton: Farther On Up The Road". Reprint for the web, article from Sounds Magazine. Sounds Magazine. http://theband.hiof.no/articles/clapton_interview_sounds_oct_1976.html. Retrieved 19 October 2009.
^ "dead link". Scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com. http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/review.cfm?id=408192004. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
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^ "Eric Clapton". The South Bank Show. 2 December 2007. ITV.
^ Beresford, Philip (June 2009). "Surrey's Richest 50; The Top Ten". Rank of the wealthiest residents of Surrey, England. Surrey Life Magazine. http://surrey.greatbritishlife.co.uk/article/surreys-richest-50-the-top-ten-2497/. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
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External links [link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Eric Clapton

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Eric Clapton

Official website
Eric Clapton discography at MusicBrainz
Eric Clapton at the Internet Movie Database
Works by or about Eric Clapton in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
Eric Clapton collected news and commentary at The Guardian
Eric Clapton collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood at Bucharest (review)
An Interview with Eric Clapton guitar technician Lee Dickson
Article on Bluesbreakers Les Paul^{[dead link]}
Gibson article on obtaining the "Woman Tone"
Review: Eric Clapton at Floridita
Eric Clapton FAQ^{[dead link]}

v t e Eric Clapton

Studio albums	Eric Clapton 461 Ocean Boulevard There's One in Every Crowd No Reason to Cry Slowhand Backless Another Ticket Money and Cigarettes Behind the Sun Edge of Darkness August Journeyman Rush From the Cradle Pilgrim Riding with the King Reptile Me and Mr. Johnson / Sessions for Robert J Back Home The Road to Escondido Clapton

Live albums	Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert E. C. Was Here Just One Night Time Pieces Vol.II Live in the Seventies 24 Nights Unplugged Crossroads 2: Live in the Seventies One More Car, One More Rider Live from Madison Square Garden Live in Hyde Park

Compilation albums	Guitar Boogie (w/ Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page) The History of Eric Clapton Eric Clapton at His Best Clapton Steppin' Out Timepieces: The Best of Eric Clapton Backtrackin' The Cream of Eric Clapton Crossroads Story The Cream of Clapton Blues Clapton Chronicles: The Best of Eric Clapton Complete Clapton

Associated acts	The Yardbirds Immediate All-Stars John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers Eric Clapton and the Powerhouse Cream Free Creek Dire Straits George Harrison The Dirty Mac The Band Blind Faith Derek and the Dominos Roger Waters Delaney, Bonnie & Friends Plastic Ono Band Paul McCartney

Related articles	Discography Blackie Brownie Crossroads Centre Pattie Boyd The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus

v t e Grammy Award for Song of the Year (1990s)

1990 Larry Henley & Jeff Silbar - "Wind Beneath My Wings" 1991 Julie Gold - "From a Distance" 1992 Irving Gordon - "Unforgettable" 1993 Eric Clapton - "Tears in Heaven" 1994 Alan Menken & Tim Rice - "A Whole New World" 1995 Bruce Springsteen - "Streets of Philadelphia" 1996 Seal - "Kiss from a Rose" 1997 Gordon Kennedy, Wayne Kirkpatrick & Tommy Sims - "Change the World" 1998 Shawn Colvin & John Leventhal - "Sunny Came Home" 1999 James Horner & Will Jennings - "My Heart Will Go On"

Complete list (1960s) (1970s) (1980s) (1990s) (2000s) (2010s)

Grammy Award for Record of the Year (1990s)

"Wind Beneath My Wings"* by Bette Midler produced by Arif Mardin (1990)	"Another Day in Paradise" by Phil Collins produced by Hugh Padgham & Phil Collins (1991)
"Unforgettable"* by Natalie Cole with Nat King Cole produced by David Foster (1992)	"Tears in Heaven"* by Eric Clapton produced by Russ Titelman (1993)
"I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston produced by David Foster (1994)	"All I Wanna Do" by Sheryl Crow produced by Bill Bottrell (1995)
"Kiss from a Rose"* by Seal produced by Trevor Horn (1996)	"Change the World"* by Eric Clapton produced by Babyface (1997)
"Sunny Came Home"* by Shawn Colvin produced by John Leventhal (1998)	"My Heart Will Go On"* by Celine Dion engineered/mixed by David Gleeson, Humberto Gatica & Simon Franglen; produced by James Horner, Simon Franglen & Walter Afanasieff (1999)

Grammy Award for Album of the Year (1970s)

Year

Album

Artist(s)

Producer(s)

1970

Blood, Sweat & Tears

Blood, Sweat & Tears (Dick Halligan, Jerry Hyman, Steve Katz, Fred Lipsius, Lou Soloff, David Clayton-Thomas, Chuck Winfield)

James William Guercio

1971

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Simon & Garfunkel (Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon)

Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon, Roy Halee

1972

Tapestry

Carole King

Lou Adler

1973

The Concert for Bangladesh

George Harrison, Ravi Shankar, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann

George Harrison, Phil Spector

1974

Innervisions

Stevie Wonder

1975

Fulfillingness' First Finale

Stevie Wonder

1976

Still Crazy After All These Years

Paul Simon

Paul Simon, Phil Ramone

1977

Songs in the Key of Life

Stevie Wonder

1978

Rumours

Fleetwood Mac (Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, Stevie Nicks)

Fleetwood Mac, Ken Caillat, Richard Dashut

1979

Saturday Night Fever:
The Original Movie Sound Track

· Bee Gees (Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Robin Gibb)
· KC and the Sunshine Band (Harry Wayne Casey, Richard Finch, Fermin Goypisolo, Robert Johnson, Jerome Smith)
· Kool & the Gang (Robert "Kool" Bell, Ronald Bell, George Brown, Larry Gittens, Robert Mickens, Otha Nash, Claydes Smith, Dennis Thomas, Rickey West)
· MFSB
· Ralph MacDonald
· Tavares (Butch Tavares, Chubby Tavares, Pooch Tavares, Ralph Tavares, Tiny Tavares)
· The Trammps (Jimmy Ellis, Robert Upchurch, Harold Wade, Stanley Wade, Earl Young)
· Walter Murphy
· Yvonne Elliman

Albhy Galuten, Arif Mardin, Bee Gees, Bill Oakes, Bobby Martin, Broadway Eddie, David Shire, Freddie Perren, Harry Wayne Casey, K.G. Productions, Karl Richardson, Ralph MacDonald, Richard Finch, Ron Kersey, Thomas J. Valentino, William Salter

Grammy Award for Album of the Year (1990s)

Year

Album

Artist(s)

Producer(s)*

1990

Nick of Time

Bonnie Raitt

Don Was

1991

Back on the Block

Quincy Jones and various artists

Quincy Jones

1992

Unforgettable… with Love

Natalie Cole

André Fischer, David Foster, Tommy LiPuma

1993

Unplugged

Eric Clapton

Russ Titelman

1994

The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album

Whitney Houston

Babyface, BeBe Winans, David Cole, David Foster, L.A. Reid, Narada Michael Walden, Robert Clivilles

1995

MTV Unplugged

Tony Bennett

David Kahne

1996

Jagged Little Pill

Alanis Morissette

Glen Ballard

1997

Falling into You

Celine Dion

Aldo Nova, Billy Steinberg, Dan Hill, David Foster, Humberto Gatica, Jean-Jacques Goldman, Jeff Bova, Jim Steinman, John Jones, Ric Wake, Rick Hahn, Rick Nowels, Roy Bittan, Steven Rinkoff

1998

Time Out of Mind

Bob Dylan

Daniel Lanois

1999

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill

*Engineers/Mixers hidden unless notable

Associated bands

v t e The Yardbirds

Original members (1963-68) Keith Relf Chris Dreja Paul Samwell-Smith Top Topham Jim McCarty Eric Clapton Jeff Beck Jimmy Page Rod Demick Laurie Garman Alan Glen John Idan Ben King Billy Boy Miskimmin Ray Majors Gypie Mayo

Albums	For Your Love (1965) Having a Rave Up (1965) Yardbirds/Over Under Sideways Down aka Roger the Engineer (1966) Little Games (1967) Birdland (2003)

Live albums	Five Live Yardbirds (1964) Sonny Boy Williamson and The Yardbirds (1966) Live Yardbirds! Featuring Jimmy Page (1971) BBC Sessions (1997) Blueswailing '64 (2003) Live at B.B. King Blues Club (2007)

Compilations	The Yardbirds Greatest Hits (1967) Little Games Sessions and More (1992) Cumular Limit (2000) Ultimate! (2001)

Singles	1964 "I Wish You Would" "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" 1965 "For Your Love" "Heart Full of Soul" "Evil Hearted You" "I'm a Man" 1966 "Shapes of Things" "Boom Boom" "Over Under Sideways Down" "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" 1967 "Ten Little Indians"

Other songs	1963 "Let It Rock" "Who Do You Love" "Talkin' 'Bout You" You Can't Judge a Book by Looking at the Cover 1964 "Too Much Monkey Business" "Smokestack Lightning" "Five Long Years" "The Sky Is Crying" 1965 "My Girl Sloopy" "Train Kept A-Rollin'" "Spoonful" "The Stumble" 1966 "Dust My Blues" 1967 "White Summer" "Most Likely You'll Go Your Way" "Dazed and Confused" 1968 "Knowing that I'm Losing You" "I'm Waiting for the Man"

Related articles	Discography Members Giorgio Gomelsky Simon Napier-Bell Mickie Most Peter Grant Cream The Jeff Beck Group Led Zeppelin Renaissance Box of Frogs Immediate All-Stars

v t e Cream

Ginger Baker Jack Bruce Eric Clapton

Studio albums	Fresh Cream Disraeli Gears Wheels of Fire Goodbye

Live albums	Live Cream Live Cream Volume II BBC Sessions Royal Albert Hall London May 2-3-5-6, 2005

Compilations	Best of Cream Heavy Cream Strange Brew: The Very Best of Cream The Very Best of Cream Those Were the Days Cream Gold I Feel Free - Ultimate Cream*

Singles	"Wrapping Paper" "I Feel Free" "Strange Brew"/"Tales of Brave Ulysses" "Spoonful" "Anyone for Tennis?" "Sunshine of Your Love"/"SWLABR" "White Room" "Crossroads" "Badge"

Other songs	"Toad" "Rollin' and Tumblin'" "I'm So Glad" "We're Going Wrong" "Sitting on Top of the World" "Born Under a Bad Sign" "Outside Woman Blues"

Collaborators	Pete Brown Felix Pappalardi Martin Sharp Gail Collins Janet Godfrey George Harrison Mike Taylor

Related articles	Discography John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers Eric Clapton and the Powerhouse Blind Faith Derek and the Dominos The Yardbirds BBM Ginger Baker's Air Force The Dirty Mac Graham Bond

Book:Cream Category:Cream Portal:Blues

v t e Derek and the Dominos

Duane Allman Eric Clapton Jim Gordon Carl Radle Bobby Whitlock

Studio album	Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs

Live albums	In Concert Live at the Fillmore

Reissues	The Layla Sessions: 20th Anniversary Edition

Songs	"Layla" "Bell Bottom Blues" "Tell the Truth"

Related articles	Blind Faith Delaney & Bonnie Dave Mason The Allman Brothers Band Pattie Boyd

v t e John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers

John Mayall Eric Clapton Jack Bruce Peter Green John McVie Mick Fleetwood Hughie Flint Mick Taylor Colin Allen Don "Sugarcane" Harris Harvey Mandel Larry Taylor Aynsley Dunbar Dick Heckstall-Smith Andy Fraser Roger Dean Alan Skidmore Keef Hartley Jon Hiseman Henry Lowther Tony Reeves Rocky Athas Jay Davenport Greg Rzab

Studio albums	Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (1966) A Hard Road (1967) Crusade (1967) Bare Wires (1968)

John Mayall solo	The Blues Alone (1967) Blues from Laurel Canyon (1968) Empty Rooms (1969) USA Union (1970) Back to the Roots (1971) Ten Years Are Gone (1973)

Live and compilation albums	John Mayall Plays John Mayall (1965) Looking Back (1969) The Turning Point (1969) Jazz Blues Fusion (1972) Moving On (1973) The 1982 Reunion Concert (1994) 70th Birthday Concert (2003) Road Dogs (2005) Live from Austin, TX (2007)

Production	Tony Clarke Jimmy Page Mike Vernon Gus Dudgeon Eddie Kramer Eddy Offord John Judnich Don Nix

Record labels	Decca Deram London Ace of Clubs Polydor Eagle

Related artists	Cream Fleetwood Mac Canned Heat Free Mark-Almond

Book Category

The Beatles

v t e The Beatles

John Lennon Paul McCartney George Harrison Ringo Starr Stuart Sutcliffe Pete Best

History	The Quarrymen In Hamburg At The Cavern Club Decca audition Beatlemania in the United Kingdom North American releases In the United States In 1966 More popular than Jesus The studio years In India Breakup Death of John Lennon Reunions Anthology Love (Cirque du Soleil) The Beatles: Rock Band Line-ups Religious beliefs Timeline

Filmography and videography	A Hard Day's Night Help! Magical Mystery Tour Yellow Submarine Let It Be The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit The Beatles at Shea Stadium The Compleat Beatles The Beatles Anthology All Together Now

Live performances	Winter 1963 Helen Shapiro UK Tour 1964 world tour 1965 European tour 1965 US tour 1966 US tour List of live performances

Associated places	34 Montagu Square, Marylebone Abbey Road Abbey Road Studios The Bag O'Nails Beatlemania Hamburg Beatles-Platz Blue Angel The Casbah Coffee Club Candlestick Park The Cavern Club Kaiserkeller Kinfauns Savile Row Scotch of St James Stanley Street The Star-Club Strawberry Field Tittenhurst Park The Top Ten Club Wigmore Street Yellow Submarine sculpture

Associated companies	Apple Corps Apple Records Harrisongs Lingasong Records MPL Communications Northern Songs Parlophone Phillips' Sound Recording Services Seltaeb Sony/ATV Music Publishing Startling Music

Influence	Artists who have covered The Beatles Beatlemania British Invasion Fifth Beatle Influence on popular culture Jeff Lynne and The Beatles Recording technology The Rutles Tributes

Lists	Awards and nominations Bootlegs Cover songs Discography Instruments Post-breakup collaborations Record sales Recording sessions Songs Sgt. Pepper cover

Related articles	Apple Corps v Apple Computer Apple scruffs Beatle boots The Beatles (TV series) The Beatles Anthology (book) Beatles Day The Beatles Tapes from the David Wigg Interviews The Beeb's Lost Beatles Tapes The Ed Sullivan Show How I Won the War In My Life Lennon–McCartney Paul is dead Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (film) Up Against It

Book Category Portal WikiProject

v t e People associated with The Beatles

Personnel	Neil Aspinall Dave Dexter, Jr. Geoff Emerick Mal Evans Glyn Johns Bert Kaempfert Jeff Lynne Magic Alex Ken Mansfield George Martin Giles Martin Phil McDonald Ken Scott Norman Smith Phil Spector Alistair Taylor Chris Thomas Ken Townsend

Businessmen	Peter Bennett Sid Bernstein Peter Brown Lee Eastman Brian Epstein Dick James Allen Klein Larry Parnes Allan Williams

Musicians	Eric Clapton The Dirty Mac Donovan Bob Dylan Johnny Gentle Nicky Hopkins Johnny Hutchinson Mick Jagger Brian Jones Jim Keltner David Mason Tommy Moore Chas Newby Jimmie Nicol Harry Nilsson Peter and Gordon Plastic Ono Band Billy Preston Ronnie Scott Ravi Shankar Tony Sheridan Rory Storm and the Hurricanes Andy White

Writers	Tony Barrow Ray Connolly Hunter Davies Mark Lewisohn Alan W. Pollack Bruce Spizer Derek Taylor

Girlfriends / wives	Jane Asher Pattie Boyd Astrid Kirchherr Cynthia Lennon Linda McCartney Yoko Ono Francie Schwartz Maureen Starkey

Parents / guardians	Mona Best Alfred Lennon Julia Lennon Jim and Mary McCartney George Smith Mimi Smith

Other	Bill Harry Ken Brown George Dunning Horst Fascher The Fool Robert Freeman Bruno Koschmider Richard Lester Murray the K Pete Shotton Ivan Vaughan Jürgen Vollmer Klaus Voormann Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

v t e The Beatles album discography

Albums in the core catalogue are marked in bold.

Studio albums	Please Please Me With The Beatles A Hard Day's Night Beatles for Sale Help! Rubber Soul Revolver Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band The Beatles Yellow Submarine Abbey Road Let It Be

US albums	Introducing... The Beatles Meet The Beatles! The Beatles' Second Album Something New The Beatles' Story Beatles '65 The Early Beatles Beatles VI Yesterday and Today Magical Mystery Tour Hey Jude

Canadian albums	Beatlemania! With The Beatles Twist and Shout The Beatles' Long Tall Sally

Extended plays	Twist and Shout The Beatles' Hits The Beatles (No. 1) All My Loving Souvenir of Their Visit to America Four by The Beatles Long Tall Sally Extracts from the Film A Hard Day's Night Extracts from the Album A Hard Day's Night 4-by The Beatles Beatles for Sale Beatles for Sale (No. 2) The Beatles' Million Sellers Yesterday Nowhere Man Magical Mystery Tour

Live albums	The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl Live at the BBC

Compilations	The Beatles' Christmas Album / From Then to You Past Masters Anthology vol. 1 2 3

Remixes	Yellow Submarine Songtrack Let It Be... Naked Love

Box sets	The Beatles Collection The Beatles: The Collection The Beatles Box The Beatles Box Set The Capitol Albums vol. 1 2 The Beatles in Mono The Beatles Stereo Box Set

v t e The Beatles compilation discography

Bert Kaempfert recordings (with Tony Sheridan)	My Bonnie (GER, 1962) The Beatles with Tony Sheridan & Guests (1964) Ain't She Sweet (1964) The Beatles' First (GER, 1964 / UK, 1967) Very Together (1969) In the Beginning (Circa 1960) (1970) The Early Tapes of The Beatles (1984) Beatles Bop – Hamburg Days (2001)

Hits	A Collection of Beatles Oldies (1966) 1962–1966 (1973) 1967–1970 (1973) 20 Greatest Hits (1982) The Number Ones (AUS, 1983) 1 (2000)

Themes	Rock 'n' Roll Music (1976) Love Songs (1977) The Beatles' Ballads (1980) Reel Music (1982)

Non-album tracks	Hey Jude (US, 1970 / UK, 1979) Rarities (UK, 1978) Rarities (US, 1980) Past Masters, Volume One (1988) Past Masters, Volume Two (1988)

Alternative versions	Yellow Submarine Songtrack (1999) Let It Be... Naked (2003)

Other	The Beatles in Italy (ITA, 1965) The Beatles' Christmas Album (US) / From Then to You (UK) (1970) Por Siempre Beatles (ARG, 1971) Love (2006)

Unreleased	Sessions (due date 1985)

Live albums	Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962 (1977) The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl (1977) First Live Recordings (1979) Live at the BBC (1994)

Anthology	Anthology 1 (1995) Anthology 2 (1996) Anthology 3 (1996)

Boxed sets	The Beatles Collection (UK, 1978 / US, 1979) The Beatles Box (1980) The Beatles: The Collection (1982) The Beatles Mono Collection (1982) The Beatles Box Set (1988) The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 (2004) The Capitol Albums, Volume 2 (2006) The Beatles Stereo Box Set (2009) The Beatles in Mono (2009)

The Beatles singles discography

UK and US
(all labels)

1963	"Please Please Me" / "Ask Me Why" "From Me to You" / "Thank You Girl" "She Loves You" / "I'll Get You" "I Want to Hold Your Hand" / "This Boy" (UK) - "I Saw Her Standing There" (US)

1964	"Can't Buy Me Love" / "You Can't Do That" "A Hard Day's Night" / "Things We Said Today" (UK) - "I Should Have Known Better" (US) "I Feel Fine" / "She's a Woman"

1965	"Ticket to Ride" / "Yes It Is" "Help!" / "I'm Down" "We Can Work It Out" / "Day Tripper"

1966	"Paperback Writer" / "Rain" "Yellow Submarine" / "Eleanor Rigby"

1967	"Penny Lane" / "Strawberry Fields Forever" "All You Need Is Love" / "Baby, You're a Rich Man" "Hello, Goodbye" / "I Am the Walrus"

1968	"Lady Madonna" / "The Inner Light" "Hey Jude" / "Revolution"

1969	"Get Back" / "Don't Let Me Down" "The Ballad of John and Yoko" / "Old Brown Shoe" "Something" / "Come Together"

1970	"Let It Be" / "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)"

1978	"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With a Little Help from My Friends" / "A Day in the Life"

1995	"Free as a Bird" / "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)"

1996	"Real Love" / "Baby's in Black"

UK only
(Parlophone,
Apple)

1962	"My Bonnie" / "The Saints" "Love Me Do" / "P.S. I Love You"

1964	"Ain't She Sweet" / "If You Love Me, Baby"

1976	"Yesterday" / "I Should Have Known Better" "Back in the U.S.S.R." / "Twist and Shout"

US only
(Vee-Jay, Swan,
Tollie, Capitol,
Apple)

1964	"Twist and Shout" / "There's a Place" "Do You Want to Know a Secret" / "Thank You Girl" "Love Me Do" / "P.S. I Love You "She Loves You" / "I'll Get You" "I'll Cry Instead" / "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" "And I Love Her" / "If I Fell" "Matchbox" / "Slow Down"

1965	"Eight Days a Week" / "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" "Yesterday" / "Act Naturally"

1966	"Nowhere Man" / "What Goes On"

1970	"The Long and Winding Road" / "For You Blue"

1976	"Got to Get You into My Life" / "Helter Skelter" "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" / "Julia"

1982	"The Beatles Movie Medley" / "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You"

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For other uses, see Elvis Presley (disambiguation).

"Elvis" redirects here. For other people with this name, see Elvis (given name).

Elvis Presley
Publicity photo for Jailhouse Rock (1957)
Background information
Birth name	Elvis Aaron Presley
Born	(1935-01-08)January 8, 1935 Tupelo, Mississippi, U.S.
Died	August 16, 1977(1977-08-16) (aged 42) Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
Genres	Rock and roll, pop, rockabilly, country, blues, gospel, R&B
Occupations	Musician, actor
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano
Years active	1953–77
Labels	Sun, RCA Victor
Associated acts	The Blue Moon Boys, The Jordanaires, The Imperials
Website	elvis.com

Elvis Aaron Presley^a (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King".

Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, Presley moved to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family at the age of 13. He began his career there in 1954, working with Sun Records owner Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African American music to a wider audience. Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, Presley was the most important popularizer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country and rhythm and blues. RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, who would manage the singer for over two decades. Presley's first RCA single, "Heartbreak Hotel", released in January 1956, was a number one hit. He became the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll with a series of network television appearances and chart-topping records. His energized interpretations of songs, many from African American sources, and his uninhibited performance style made him enormously popular—and controversial. In November 1956, he made his film debut in Love Me Tender.

Conscripted into military service in 1958, Presley relaunched his recording career two years later with some of his most commercially successful work. He staged few concerts however, and guided by Parker, proceeded to devote much of the 1960s to making Hollywood movies and soundtrack albums, most of them critically derided. In 1968, after seven years away from the stage, he returned to live performance in a celebrated comeback television special that led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and a string of profitable tours. In 1973 Presley staged the first concert broadcast globally via satellite, Aloha from Hawaii, seen by approximately 1.5 billion viewers. Prescription drug abuse severely compromised his health, and he died suddenly in 1977 at the age of 42.

Presley is regarded as one of the most important figures of 20th-century popular culture. He had a versatile voice and unusually wide success encompassing many genres, including country, pop ballads, gospel, and blues. He is the best-selling solo artist in the history of popular music.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] Nominated for 14 competitive Grammys, he won three, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36. He has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame.

1 Life and career
2 Musical style
3 Questions over cause of death
4 Racial issues
5 Influence of Colonel Parker and others
- 5.1 Parker and the Aberbachs
- 5.2 Memphis Mafia
6 Sex symbol
7 Legacy
8 Discography
- 8.1 Number one albums
- 8.2 Number one singles
9 Filmography
10 See also
11 Notes
12 Citations
13 References
14 Further reading
15 External links

Life and career [link]

Early years (1935–53)[link]

Childhood in Tupelo [link]

Present-day photograph of a whitewashed house, about 15 feet wide. Four bannistered steps in the foreground lead up to a roofed porch that holds a swing wide enough for two. The front of the house has a door and a single paned window. The visible side of the house, about 30 feet long, has two paned windows.

Presley's birthplace in Tupelo, Mississippi

Elvis Presley was born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, to 18-year-old Vernon Elvis and 22-year-old Gladys Love Presley.^[5] In the two-room shotgun house built by his father in readiness for the birth, Jesse Garon Presley, his identical twin brother, was delivered 35 minutes before him, stillborn. As an only child, Presley became close to both parents and formed an unusually tight bond with his mother. The family attended an Assembly of God church where he found his initial musical inspiration.^[6]

Presley's ancestry was primarily a Western European mix: On his mother's side, he was Scots-Irish, with some French Norman; one of Gladys's great-great-grandmothers was Cherokee.^[7]^b His father's forebears were of Scottish^[8] or German^[9] origin. Gladys was regarded by relatives and friends as the dominant member of the small family. Vernon moved from one odd job to the next, evidencing little ambition.^[10]^[11] The family often relied on help from neighbors and government food assistance. In 1938, they lost their home after Vernon was found guilty of altering a check written by the landowner. He was jailed for eight months, and Gladys and Elvis moved in with relatives.^[12]

In September 1941, Presley entered first grade at East Tupelo Consolidated, where his instructors regarded him as "average".^[13] He was encouraged to enter a singing contest after impressing his schoolteacher with a rendition of Red Foley's country song "Old Shep" during morning prayers. The contest, held at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show on October 3, 1945, saw his first public performance: dressed as a cowboy, the ten-year-old Presley stood on a chair to reach the microphone and sang "Old Shep". He recalled placing fifth.^[14] A few months later, Presley received his first guitar for his birthday; he had hoped for something else—by different accounts, either a bicycle or a rifle.^[15]^[16] Over the following year, he received basic guitar lessons from two of his uncles and the new pastor at the family's church. Presley recalled, "I took the guitar, and I watched people, and I learned to play a little bit. But I would never sing in public. I was very shy about it."^[17]

Entering a new school, Milam, for sixth grade in September 1946, Presley was regarded as a loner. The following year, he began bringing his guitar in on a daily basis. He played and sang during lunchtime, and was often teased as a "trashy" kid who played hillbilly music. The family was by then living in a largely African American neighborhood.^[18] A devotee of Mississippi Slim's show on the Tupelo radio station WELO, Presley was described as "crazy about music" by Slim's younger brother, a classmate of Presley's, who often took him in to the station. Slim supplemented Presley's guitar tuition by demonstrating chord techniques.^[19] When his protégé was 12 years old, Slim scheduled him for two on-air performances. Presley was overcome by stage fright the first time, but succeeded in performing the following week.^[20]

Teenage life in Memphis [link]

In November 1948, the family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. After residing for nearly a year in rooming houses, they were granted a two-bedroom apartment in the public housing complex known as the Courts.^[21] Enrolled at Humes High School, Presley received only a C in music in eighth grade. When his music teacher told him he had no aptitude for singing, he brought in his guitar the next day and sang a recent hit, "Keep Them Cold Icy Fingers Off Me", in an effort to prove otherwise. A classmate later recalled that the teacher "agreed that Elvis was right when he said that she didn't appreciate his kind of singing."^[22] He was generally too shy to perform openly, and was occasionally bullied by classmates who viewed him as a "mama's boy".^[23] In 1950, he began practicing guitar regularly under the tutelage of Jesse Lee Denson, a neighbor two-and-a-half years his senior. They and three other boys—including two future rockabilly pioneers, brothers Dorsey and Johnny Burnette—formed a loose musical collective that played frequently around the Courts.^[24] That September, he began ushering at Loew's State Theater.^[25] Other jobs followed during his school years: Precision Tool, Loew's again, and MARL Metal Products.^[26]

During his junior year, Presley began to stand out more among his classmates, largely because of his appearance: he grew out his sideburns and styled his hair with rose oil and Vaseline. On his own time, he would head down to Beale Street, the heart of Memphis's thriving blues scene, and gaze longingly at the wild, flashy clothes in the windows of Lansky Brothers. By his senior year, he was wearing them.^[27] Overcoming his reticence about performing outside the Courts, he competed in Humes's Annual "Minstrel" show in April 1953. Singing and playing guitar, he opened with "Till I Waltz Again with You", a recent hit for Teresa Brewer. Presley recalled that the performance did much for his reputation: "I wasn't popular in school ... I failed music—only thing I ever failed. And then they entered me in this talent show ... when I came onstage I heard people kind of rumbling and whispering and so forth, 'cause nobody knew I even sang. It was amazing how popular I became after that."^[28]

Presley, who never received formal music training or learned to read music, studied and played by ear. He frequented record stores with jukeboxes and listening booths. He knew all of Hank Snow's songs^[29] and he loved records by other country singers such as Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, Ted Daffan, Jimmie Rodgers, Jimmie Davis, and Bob Wills.^[30] The Southern Gospel singer Jake Hess, one of his favorite performers, was a significant influence on his ballad-singing style.^[31]^[32] He was a regular audience member at the monthly All-Night Singings downtown, where many of the white gospel groups that performed reflected the influence of African American spiritual music.^[33] He adored the music of black gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe.^[30] Like some of his peers, he may have attended blues venues—of necessity, in the segregated South, only on nights designated for exclusively white audiences.^[34] He certainly listened to the regional radio stations that played "race records": spirituals, blues, and the modern, backbeat-heavy sound of rhythm and blues.^[35] Many of his future recordings were inspired by local African American musicians such as Arthur Crudup and Rufus Thomas.^[36]^[37] B.B. King recalled that he knew Presley before he was popular when they both used to frequent Beale Street.^[38] By the time he graduated high school in June 1953, Presley had already singled out music as his future.^[39]^[40]

First recordings (1953–55)[link]

Presley in a Sun Records promotional photograph, 1954

Sam Phillips and Sun Records [link]

In August 1953, Presley walked into the offices of Sun Records. He aimed to pay for a few minutes of studio time to record a two-sided acetate disc: "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin". He would later claim he intended the record as a gift for his mother, or was merely interested in what he "sounded like", though there was a much cheaper, amateur record-making service at a nearby general store. Biographer Peter Guralnick argues that he chose Sun in the hope of being discovered. Asked by receptionist Marion Keisker what kind of singer he was, Presley responded, "I sing all kinds." When she pressed him on whom he sounded like, he repeatedly answered, "I don't sound like nobody." After he recorded, Sun boss Sam Phillips asked Keisker to note down the young man's name, which she did along with her own commentary: "Good ballad singer. Hold."^[41] Presley cut a second acetate in January 1954—"I'll Never Stand In Your Way" and "It Wouldn't Be the Same Without You"—but again nothing came of it.^[42]

Not long after, he failed an audition for a local vocal quartet, the Songfellows. He explained to his father, "They told me I couldn't sing."^[43] Songfellow Jim Hamill later claimed that he was turned down because he did not demonstrate an ear for harmony at the time.^[44] In April, Presley began working for the Crown Electric company as a truck driver.^[45] His friend Ronnie Smith, after playing a few local gigs with him, suggested he contact Eddie Bond, leader of Smith's professional band, which had an opening for a vocalist. Bond rejected him after a tryout, advising Presley to stick to truck driving "because you're never going to make it as a singer."^[46]

Phillips, meanwhile, was always on the lookout for someone who could bring the sound of the black musicians on whom Sun focused to a broader audience. As Keisker reported, "Over and over I remember Sam saying, 'If I could find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a billion dollars.'"^[47] In June, he acquired a demo recording of a ballad, "Without You", that he thought might suit the teenaged singer. Presley came by the studio, but was unable to do it justice. Despite this, Phillips asked Presley to sing as many numbers as he knew. He was sufficiently affected by what he heard to invite two local musicians, guitarist Winfield "Scotty" Moore and upright bass player Bill Black, to work something up with Presley for a recording session.^[48]

	"That's All Right" noicon Presley transformed not only the sound but the emotion of the song, turning what had been written as a "lament for a lost love into a satisfied declaration of independence."^[49]
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The session, held the evening of July 5, proved entirely unfruitful until late in the night. As they were about to give up and go home, Presley took his guitar and launched into a 1946 blues number, Arthur Crudup's "That's All Right". Moore recalled, "All of a sudden, Elvis just started singing this song, jumping around and acting the fool, and then Bill picked up his bass, and he started acting the fool, too, and I started playing with them. Sam, I think, had the door to the control booth open ... he stuck his head out and said, 'What are you doing?' And we said, 'We don't know.' 'Well, back up,' he said, 'try to find a place to start, and do it again.'" Phillips quickly began taping; this was the sound he had been looking for.^[50] Three days later, popular Memphis DJ Dewey Phillips played "That's All Right" on his Red, Hot, and Blue show.^[51] Listeners began phoning in, eager to find out who the singer was. The interest was such that Phillips played the record repeatedly during the last two hours of his show. Interviewing Presley on-air, Phillips asked him what high school he attended in order to clarify his color for the many callers who had assumed he was black.^[52] During the next few days the trio recorded a bluegrass number, Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky", again in a distinctive style and employing a jury-rigged echo effect that Sam Phillips dubbed "slapback". A single was pressed with "That's All Right" on the A side and "Blue Moon of Kentucky" on the reverse.^[53]

Early live performances and signing to RCA [link]

The trio played publicly for the first time on July 17 at the Bon Air club—Presley still sporting his child-size guitar.^[54] At the end of the month, they appeared at the Overton Park Shell, with Slim Whitman headlining. A combination of his strong response to rhythm and nervousness at playing before a large crowd led Presley to shake his legs as he performed: his wide-cut pants emphasized his movements, causing young women in the audience to start screaming.^[55] Moore recalled, "During the instrumental parts he would back off from the mike and be playing and shaking, and the crowd would just go wild".^[56] Black, a natural showman, whooped and rode his bass, hitting double licks that Presley would later remember as "really a wild sound, like a jungle drum or something".^[56] Soon after, Moore and Black quit their old band to play with Presley regularly, and DJ and promoter Bob Neal became the trio's manager. From August through October, they played frequently at the Eagle's Nest club and returned to Sun Studio for more recording sessions,^[57] and Presley quickly grew more confident on stage. According to Moore, "His movement was a natural thing, but he was also very conscious of what got a reaction. He'd do something one time and then he would expand on it real quick."^[58] Presley made what would be his only appearance on Nashville's Grand Ole Opry on October 2; after a polite audience response, Opry manager Jim Denny told Phillips that his singer was "not bad" but did not suit the program.^[59] Two weeks later, Presley was booked on Louisiana Hayride, the Opry's chief, and more adventurous, rival. The Shreveport-based show was broadcast to 198 radio stations in 28 states. Presley had another attack of nerves during the first set, which drew a muted reaction. A more composed and energetic second set inspired an enthusiastic response.^[60] House drummer D.J. Fontana brought a new element, complementing Presley's movements with accented beats that he had mastered playing in strip clubs.^[61] Soon after the show, the Hayride engaged Presley for a year's worth of Saturday-night appearances. Trading in his old guitar for $8 (and seeing it promptly dispatched to the garbage), he purchased a Martin instrument for $175, and his trio began playing in new locales including Houston, Texas, and Texarkana, Arkansas.^[62]

By early 1955, Presley's regular Hayride appearances, constant touring, and well-received record releases had made him a substantial regional star, from Tennessee to West Texas. In January, Neal signed a formal management contract with Presley and brought the singer to the attention of Colonel Tom Parker, whom he considered the best promoter in the music business. Parker—Dutch-born, though he claimed to be from West Virginia—had acquired an honorary colonel's commission from country singer turned Louisiana governor Jimmie Davis. Having successfully managed top country star Eddy Arnold, he was now working with the new number one country singer, Hank Snow. Parker booked Presley on Snow's February tour.^[63]^[64] When the tour reached Odessa, Texas, a 19-year-old Roy Orbison saw Presley for the first time: "His energy was incredible, his instinct was just amazing. ... I just didn't know what to make of it. There was just no reference point in the culture to compare it."^[29] Presley made his television debut on March 3 on the KSLA-TV broadcast of Louisiana Hayride. Soon after, he failed an audition for Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts on the CBS television network. By August, Sun had released ten sides credited to "Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill"; on the latest recordings, the trio were joined by a drummer. Some of the songs, like "That's All Right", were in what one Memphis journalist described as the "R&B idiom of negro field jazz"; others, like "Blue Moon of Kentucky", were "more in the country field", "but there was a curious blending of the two different musics in both".^[65] This blend of styles made it difficult for Presley's music to find radio airplay. According to Neal, many country music disc jockeys would not play it because he sounded too much like a black artist and none of the rhythm and blues stations would touch him because "he sounded too much like a hillbilly."^[66] The blend came to be known as rockabilly. At the time, Presley was variously billed as "The King of Western Bop", "The Hillbilly Cat", and "The Memphis Flash".^[67]

Presley renewed Neal's management contract in August 1955, simultaneously appointing Parker as his special adviser.^[68] The group maintained an extensive touring schedule throughout the second half of the year.^[69] Neal recalled, "It was almost frightening, the reaction that came to Elvis from the teenaged boys. So many of them, through some sort of jealousy, would practically hate him. There were occasions in some towns in Texas when we'd have to be sure to have a police guard because somebody'd always try to take a crack at him. They'd get a gang and try to waylay him or something."^[70] The trio became a quartet when Hayride drummer Fontana joined as a full member. In mid-October, they played a few shows in support of Bill Haley, whose "Rock Around the Clock" had been a number one hit the previous year. Haley observed that Presley had a natural feel for rhythm, and advised him to sing fewer ballads.^[71]

At the Country Disc Jockey Convention in early November, Presley was voted the year's most promising male artist.^[72] Several record companies had by now shown interest in signing him. After three major labels made offers of up to $25,000, Parker and Phillips struck a deal with RCA Victor on November 21 to acquire Presley's Sun contract for an unprecedented $40,000.^[73]^c Presley, at 20, was still a minor, so his father signed the contract.^[74] Parker arranged with the owners of Hill and Range Publishing, Jean and Julian Aberbach, to create two entities, Elvis Presley Music and Gladys Music, to handle all of the new material recorded by Presley. Songwriters were obliged to forego one third of their customary royalties in exchange for having him perform their compositions.^[75]^d By December, RCA had begun to heavily promote its new singer, and before month's end had reissued many of his Sun recordings.^[76]

Commercial breakout and controversy (1956–58)[link]

First national TV appearances and debut album [link]

File:Elvispresleydebutalbum.jpeg

The "iconic cover" of Presley's 1956 debut album^[77] featuring a photo taken July 31, 1955, in Tampa, Florida^[78]

On January 10, 1956, Presley made his first recordings for RCA in Nashville.^[79] Extending the singer's by now customary backup of Moore, Black, and Fontana, RCA enlisted pianist Floyd Cramer, guitarist Chet Atkins, and three background singers, including Gordon Stoker of the popular Jordanaires quartet, to fill out the sound.^[80] The session produced the moody, unusual "Heartbreak Hotel", released as a single on January 27.^[79] Parker finally brought Presley to national television, booking him on CBS's Stage Show for six appearances over two months. The program, produced in New York, was hosted on alternate weeks by big band leaders and brothers Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. After his first appearance, on January 28, Presley stayed in town to record at RCA's New York studio. The sessions yielded eight songs, including a cover of Carl Perkins' rockabilly anthem "Blue Suede Shoes". In February, Presley's "I Forgot to Remember to Forget", a Sun recording initially released the previous August, reached the top of the Billboard country chart.^[81] Neal's contract was terminated and, on March 2, Parker became Presley's manager.^[82]

	"Blue Suede Shoes" noicon Presley exhorts guitarist Scotty Moore during his break. "Let's go, cat!" was in the Perkins original. "Aw, walk the dog!" is all Elvis.
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RCA Victor released Presley's self-titled debut album on March 23. Joined by five previously unreleased Sun recordings, its seven recently recorded tracks were of a broad variety. There were two country songs and a bouncy pop tune. The others would centrally define the evolving sound of rock and roll: "Blue Suede Shoes"—"an improvement over Perkins' in almost every way", according to critic Robert Hilburn—and three R&B numbers that had been part of Presley's stage repertoire for some time, covers of Little Richard, Ray Charles, and The Drifters. As described by Hilburn, these "were the most revealing of all. Unlike many white artists ... who watered down the gritty edges of the original R&B versions of songs in the '50s, Presley reshaped them. He not only injected the tunes with his own vocal character but also made guitar, not piano, the lead instrument in all three cases."^[83] It became the first rock and roll album to top the Billboard chart, a position it held for 10 weeks.^[79] While Presley was not an innovative instrumentalist like Moore or contemporary African American rockers Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry, cultural historian Gilbert B. Rodman argues that the album's cover image, "of Elvis having the time of his life on stage with a guitar in his hands played a crucial role in positioning the guitar...as the instrument that best captured the style and spirit of this new music."^[84]

[edit] Milton Berle Show and "Hound Dog"

Presley made the first of two appearances on NBC's Milton Berle Show on April 3. His performance, on the deck of the USS Hancock in San Diego, prompted cheers and screams from an audience of sailors and their dates.^[85] A few days later, a flight taking Presley and his band to Nashville for a recording session left all three badly shaken when an engine died and the plane almost went down over Arkansas.^[86] Twelve weeks after its original release, "Heartbreak Hotel" became Presley's first number one pop hit. In late April, Presley began a two-week residency at the New Frontier Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The shows were poorly received by the conservative, middle-aged hotel guests—"like a jug of corn liquor at a champagne party", wrote a critic for Newsweek.^[87] Amid his Vegas tenure, Presley, who had serious acting ambitions, signed a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures.^[88] He began a tour of the Midwest in mid-May, taking in 15 cities in as many days.^[89] He had attended several shows by Freddie Bell and the Bellboys in Vegas, and was struck by their cover of "Hound Dog", a hit in 1953 for blues singer Big Mama Thornton by songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It became the new closing number of his act.^[90] After a show in La Crosse, Wisconsin, an urgent message on the letterhead of the local Catholic diocese's newspaper was sent to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. It warned that "Presley is a definite danger to the security of the United States. ... [His] actions and motions were such as to rouse the sexual passions of teenaged youth. ... After the show, more than 1,000 teenagers tried to gang into Presley's room at the auditorium. ... Indications of the harm Presley did just in La Crosse were the two high school girls ... whose abdomen and thigh had Presley's autograph."^[91]

The second Milton Berle Show appearance came on June 5 at NBC's Hollywood studio, amid another hectic tour. Berle persuaded the singer to leave his guitar backstage, advising, "Let 'em see you, son."^[92] During the performance, Presley abruptly halted an uptempo rendition of "Hound Dog" with a wave of his arm and launched into a slow, grinding version accentuated with energetic, exaggerated body movements.^[92] Presley's gyrations created a storm of controversy.^[93] Television critics were outraged: Jack Gould of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Presley has no discernible singing ability. ... His phrasing, if it can be called that, consists of the stereotyped variations that go with a beginner's aria in a bathtub. ... His one specialty is an accented movement of the body ... primarily identified with the repertoire of the blond bombshells of the burlesque runway."^[94] Ben Gross of the New York Daily News opined that popular music "has reached its lowest depths in the 'grunt and groin' antics of one Elvis Presley. ... Elvis, who rotates his pelvis ... gave an exhibition that was suggestive and vulgar, tinged with the kind of animalism that should be confined to dives and bordellos".^[95] Ed Sullivan, whose own variety show was the nation's most popular, declared him "unfit for family viewing".^[96] To Presley's displeasure, he soon found himself being referred to as "Elvis the Pelvis", which he called "one of the most childish expressions I ever heard, comin' from an adult."^[97]

[edit] Steve Allen Show and first Sullivan appearance

The Berle shows drew such high ratings that Presley was booked for a July 1 appearance on NBC's Steve Allen Show in New York. Allen, no fan of rock and roll, introduced a "new Elvis" in a white bow tie and black tails. Presley sang "Hound Dog" for less than a minute to a basset hound wearing a top hat and bow tie. As described by television historian Jake Austen, "Allen thought Presley was talentless and absurd... [he] set things up so that Presley would show his contrition".^[98] Allen, for his part, later wrote that he found Presley's "strange, gangly, country-boy charisma, his hard-to-define cuteness, and his charming eccentricity intriguing" and simply worked the singer into the customary "comedy fabric" of his program.^[99] Presley would refer back to the Allen show as the most ridiculous performance of his career.^[100] Later that night, he appeared on Hy Gardner Calling, a popular local TV show. Pressed on whether he had learned anything from the criticism to which he was being subjected, Presley responded, "No, I haven't, I don't feel like I'm doing anything wrong. ... I don't see how any type of music would have any bad influence on people when it's only music. ... I mean, how would rock 'n' roll music make anyone rebel against their parents?"^[95]

A black-and-white promotional shot of Ed Sullivan

The rivalry between variety show hosts Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan (pictured) helped catapult Presley to unprecedented fame.

The next day, Presley recorded "Hound Dog", along with "Any Way You Want Me" and "Don't Be Cruel". The Jordanaires sang harmony, as they had on The Steve Allen Show; they would work with Presley through the 1960s. A few days later, the singer made an outdoor concert appearance in Memphis at which he announced, "You know, those people in New York are not gonna change me none. I'm gonna show you what the real Elvis is like tonight."^[101] In August, a judge in Jacksonville, Florida, ordered Presley to tame his act. Throughout the following performance, he largely kept still, except for wiggling his little finger suggestively in mockery of the order.^[102] The single pairing "Don't Be Cruel" with "Hound Dog" ruled the top of the charts for 11 weeks—a mark that would not be surpassed for 36 years.^[103] Recording sessions for Presley's second album took place in Hollywood during the first week of September. Leiber and Stoller, the writers of "Hound Dog", contributed "Love Me".^[104]

Allen's show with Presley had, for the first time, beaten CBS's Ed Sullivan Show in the ratings. Sullivan, despite his June pronouncement, booked the singer for three appearances for an unprecedented $50,000.^[105] The first, on September 9, 1956, was seen by approximately 60 million viewers—a record 82.6 percent of the television audience.^[106] Actor Charles Laughton hosted the show, filling in while Sullivan recuperated from a car accident.^[96] Presley appeared in two segments that night from CBS Television City in Los Angeles. According to Elvis legend, Presley was shot only from the waist up. Watching clips of the Allen and Berle shows with his producer, Sullivan had opined that Presley "got some kind of device hanging down below the crotch of his pants–so when he moves his legs back and forth you can see the outline of his cock. ... I think it's a Coke bottle. ... We just can't have this on a Sunday night. This is a family show!"^[107] Sullivan publicly told TV Guide, "As for his gyrations, the whole thing can be controlled with camera shots."^[105] In fact, Presley was shown head-to-toe in the first and second shows. Though the camerawork was relatively discreet during his debut, with leg-concealing closeups when he danced, the studio audience reacted in customary style: screaming.^[108]^[109] Presley's performance of his forthcoming single, the ballad "Love Me Tender", prompted a record-shattering million advance orders.^[110] More than any other single event, it was this first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show that made Presley a national celebrity of barely precedented proportions.^[96]

Accompanying Presley's rise to fame, a cultural shift was taking place that he both helped inspire and came to symbolize. Igniting the "biggest pop craze since Glenn Miller and Frank Sinatra ... Presley brought rock'n'roll into the mainstream of popular culture", writes historian Marty Jezer. "As Presley set the artistic pace, other artists followed. ... Presley, more than anyone else, gave the young a belief in themselves as a distinct and somehow unified generation—the first in America ever to feel the power of an integrated youth culture."^[111]

Crazed crowds and movie debut [link]

	"We're gonna do a sad song..." noicon Presley's definition of rock and roll included a sense of humor—here, during his second Sullivan appearance, he introduces one of his signature numbers.
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The audience response at Presley's live shows became increasingly fevered. Moore recalled, "He'd start out, 'You ain't nothin' but a Hound Dog,' and they'd just go to pieces. They'd always react the same way. There'd be a riot every time."^[112] At the two concerts he performed in September at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show, 50 National Guardsmen were added to the police security to prevent crowd trouble.^[113] Elvis, Presley's second album, was released in October and quickly rose to number one. Assessing the musical and cultural impact of Presley's recordings from "That's All Right" through Elvis, rock critic Dave Marsh wrote that "these records, more than any others, contain the seeds of what rock & roll was, has been and most likely what it may foreseeably become."^[114]

Presley returned to the Sullivan show at its main studio in New York, hosted this time by its namesake, on October 28. After the performance, crowds in Nashville and St. Louis burned him in effigy.^[96] His first motion picture, Love Me Tender, was released on November 21. Though he was not top billed, the film's original title—The Reno Brothers—was changed to capitalize on his latest number one record: "Love Me Tender" had hit the top of the charts earlier that month. To further take advantage of Presley's popularity, four musical numbers were added to what was originally a straight acting role. The movie was panned by the critics but did very well at the box office.^[88] Presley would receive top billing on every subsequent film he made.

On December 4, Presley dropped into Sun Records where Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis were recording and jammed with them. Though Phillips no longer had the right to release any Presley material, he made sure the session was captured on tape. The results became legendary as the "Million Dollar Quartet" recordings—Johnny Cash was long thought to have played as well, but he was present only briefly at Phillips' instigation for a photo opportunity.^[115] The year ended with a front-page story in The Wall Street Journal reporting that Presley merchandise had brought in $22 million on top of his record sales,^[116] and Billboard's declaration that he had placed more songs in the top 100 than any other artist since records were first charted.^[117] In his first full year on RCA, one of the music industry's largest companies, Presley had accounted for over 50 percent of the label's singles sales.^[110]

Leiber and Stoller collaboration and draft notice [link]

Presley made his third and final Ed Sullivan Show appearance on January 6, 1957—on this occasion indeed shot only down to the waist. Some commentators have claimed that Parker orchestrated an appearance of censorship to generate publicity.^[109]^[118] In any event, as critic Greil Marcus describes, Presley "did not tie himself down. Leaving behind the bland clothes he had worn on the first two shows, he stepped out in the outlandish costume of a pasha, if not a harem girl. From the make-up over his eyes, the hair falling in his face, the overwhelmingly sexual cast of his mouth, he was playing Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik, with all stops out."^[96] To close, displaying his range and defying Sullivan's wishes, Presley sang a gentle black spiritual, "Peace in the Valley". At the end of the show, Sullivan declared Presley "a real decent, fine boy".^[119] Two days later, the Memphis draft board announced that Presley would be classified 1A and would probably be drafted sometime that year.^[120]

Presley and costar Judy Tyler in the trailer for Jailhouse Rock, released October 17, 1957

Each of the three Presley singles released in the first half of 1957 went to number one: "Too Much", "All Shook Up", and "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear". Already an international star, he was attracting fans even where his music was not officially released. Under the headline "Presley Records a Craze in Soviet", The New York Times reported that pressings of his music on discarded X-ray plates were commanding high prices in Leningrad.^[121] Between film shoots and recording sessions, the singer also found time to purchase an 18-room mansion eight miles (13 km) south of downtown Memphis for himself and his parents: Graceland.^[122] Loving You—the soundtrack to his second film, released in July—was Presley's third straight number one album. The title track was written by Leiber and Stoller, who were then retained to write four of the six songs recorded at the sessions for Jailhouse Rock, Presley's next movie. The songwriting team effectively produced the Jailhouse sessions and developed a close working relationship with Presley, who came to regard them as his "good-luck charm".^[123] The title track was yet another number one hit, as was the Jailhouse Rock EP.

Presley undertook three brief tours during the year, continuing to generate a crazed audience response.^[124] A Detroit newspaper suggested that "the trouble with going to see Elvis Presley is that you're liable to get killed."^[125] Villanova students pelted him with eggs in Philadelphia,^[125] and in Vancouver, the crowd rioted after the end of the show, destroying the stage.^[126] Frank Sinatra, who had famously inspired the swooning of teenaged girls in the 1940s, condemned the new musical phenomenon. In a magazine article, he decried rock and roll as "brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious. ... It fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people. It smells phoney and false. It is sung, played and written, for the most part, by cretinous goons. ... This rancid-smelling aphrodisiac I deplore."^[127] Asked for a response, Presley said, "I admire the man. He has a right to say what he wants to say. He is a great success and a fine actor, but I think he shouldn't have said it. ... This is a trend, just the same as he faced when he started years ago."^[128]

Leiber and Stoller were again in the studio for the recording of Elvis' Christmas Album. Toward the end of the session, they wrote a song on the spot at Presley's request: "Santa Claus Is Back In Town", an innuendo-laden blues.^[129] The holiday release stretched Presley's string of number one albums to four and would eventually become the best selling Christmas album of all time.^[130]^[131] After the session, Moore and Black—drawing only modest weekly salaries, sharing in none of Presley's massive financial success—resigned. Though they were brought back on a per diem basis a few weeks later, it was clear that they had not been part of Presley's inner circle for some time.^[132] On December 20, Presley received his draft notice. He was granted a deferment to finish the forthcoming King Creole, in which $350,000 had already been invested by Paramount and producer Hal Wallis. A couple of weeks into the new year, "Don't", another Leiber and Stoller tune, became Presley's tenth number one seller. It had been only 21 months since "Heartbreak Hotel" had brought him to the top for the first time. Recording sessions for the King Creole soundtrack were held in Hollywood mid-January. Leiber and Stoller provided three songs and were again on hand, but it would be the last time they worked closely with Presley.^[133] A studio session on February 1 marked another ending: it was the final occasion on which Black was to perform with Presley. He died in 1965.

Military service and mother's death (1958–60)[link]

On March 24, Presley was inducted into the U.S. Army as a private at Fort Chaffee, near Fort Smith, Arkansas. His arrival was a major media event. Hundreds of people descended on Presley as he stepped from the bus; photographers then accompanied him into the base.^[134] Presley announced that he was looking forward to his military stint, saying he did not want to be treated any differently from anyone else: "The Army can do anything it wants with me."^[135]

Soon after Presley commenced basic training at Fort Hood, Texas, he received a visit from Eddie Fadal, a businessman he had met on tour. According to Fadal, Presley had become convinced his career was finished—"He firmly believed that."^[136] During a two-week leave in early June, Presley cut five sides in Nashville. In early August, his mother was diagnosed with hepatitis and her condition swiftly worsened. Presley, granted emergency leave to visit her, arrived in Memphis on August 12. Two days later, she died of heart failure, aged 46. Presley was devastated;^[137] their relationship had remained extremely close—even into his adulthood, they would use baby talk with each other and Presley would address her with pet names.^[138]

After training, Presley joined the 3rd Armored Division in Friedberg, Germany, on October 1.^[139] Introduced to amphetamines by a sergeant while on maneuvers, he became "practically evangelical about their benefits"—not only for energy, but for "strength" and weight loss, as well—and many of his friends in the outfit joined him in indulging.^[140] The Army also introduced Presley to karate, which he studied seriously, later including it in his live performances.^[141] Fellow soldiers have attested to Presley's wish to be seen as an able, ordinary soldier, despite his fame, and to his generosity. He donated his Army pay to charity, purchased TV sets for the base, and bought an extra set of fatigues for everyone in his outfit.^[142]

While in Friedberg, Presley met 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu. They would eventually marry after a seven-and-a-half-year courtship.^[143] In her autobiography, Priscilla says that despite his worries that it would ruin his career, Parker convinced Presley that to gain popular respect, he should serve his country as a regular soldier rather than in Special Services, where he would have been able to give some musical performances and remain in touch with the public.^[144] Media reports echoed Presley's concerns about his career, but RCA producer Steve Sholes and Freddy Bienstock of Hill and Range had carefully prepared for his two-year hiatus. Armed with a substantial amount of unreleased material, they kept up a regular stream of successful releases.^[145] Between his induction and discharge, Presley had ten top 40 hits, including "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck", the best-selling "Hard Headed Woman", and "One Night" in 1958, and "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I" and the number one "A Big Hunk o' Love" in 1959.^[146] RCA also generated four albums compiling old material during this period, most successfully Elvis' Golden Records (1958), which hit number three on the LP chart.^[147]

Focus on movies (1960–67)[link]

[edit] Elvis Is Back

	"It's Now or Never" noicon Presley broke new stylistic ground and displayed his vocal range with this number one hit. The quasi-operatic ballad ends with Presley "soaring up to an incredible top G sharp."^[148]
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Presley returned to the United States on March 2, 1960, and was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant on March 5.^[149] The train that carried him from New Jersey to Tennessee was mobbed all the way, and Presley was called upon to appear at scheduled stops to please his fans.^[150] On the night of March 20, he entered RCA's Nashville studio to cut tracks for a new album along with a single—"Stuck on You" was rushed into release and swiftly became a number one hit.^[151] Another Nashville session two weeks later yielded a pair of his best-selling singles, the ballads "It's Now or Never" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight?", along with the rest of Elvis Is Back! The album features several songs described by Greil Marcus as full of Chicago blues "menace, driven by Presley's own super-miked acoustic guitar, brilliant playing by Scotty Moore, and demonic sax work from Boots Randolph. Elvis's singing wasn't sexy, it was pornographic."^[152] As a whole, the record "conjured up the vision of a performer who could be all things", in the words of music historian John Robertson: "a flirtatious teenage idol with a heart of gold; a tempestuous, dangerous lover; a gutbucket blues singer; a sophisticated nightclub entertainer; [a] raucous rocker".^[153] Released only days after recording was complete, it reached number two on the album chart.

Presley returned to television on May 12 as a guest on The Frank Sinatra Timex Special—ironic for both stars, given Sinatra's not-so-distant excoriation of rock and roll. Also known as Welcome Home Elvis, the show had been taped in late March, the only time all year Presley performed in front of an audience. Parker secured an unheard-of $125,000 fee for eight minutes of singing. The broadcast drew an enormous viewership.^[154]

G.I. Blues, the soundtrack to Presley's first film since his return, was a number one album in October. His first LP of sacred material, His Hand in Mine, followed two months later. It reached number 13 on the U.S. pop chart and number 3 in Great Britain, remarkable figures for a gospel album. In February 1961, Presley performed two shows for a benefit event in Memphis, on behalf of 24 local charities. During a luncheon preceding the event, RCA presented him with a plaque certifying worldwide sales of over 75 million records.^[155] A 12-hour Nashville session in mid-March yielded nearly all of Presley's next studio album, Something for Everybody.^[156] As described by John Robertson, it exemplifies the Nashville sound, the restrained, cosmopolitan style that would define country music in the 1960s. Presaging much of what was to come from Presley himself over the next half-decade, the album is largely "a pleasant, unthreatening pastiche of the music that had once been Elvis's birthright."^[157] It would be his sixth number one LP. Another benefit concert, raising money for a Pearl Harbor memorial, was staged on March 25, in Hawaii. It was to be Presley's last public performance for seven years.^[158]

Lost in Hollywood [link]

Comeback (1968–73)[link]

[edit] Elvis: the '68 Comeback Special

Main article: Elvis (1968 TV program)

File:Elvis Presley 68 Comeback Special.jpg

The '68 Comeback Special produced "one of the most famous images" of Presley.^[171] Taken on June 29, 1968, it was adapted for the cover of Rolling Stone in July 1969.^[171]^[172]

Presley's only child, Lisa Marie, was born on February 1, 1968, during a period when he had grown deeply unhappy with his career.^[173] Of the eight Presley singles released between January 1967 and May 1968, only two charted in the top 40, and none higher than number 28.^[174] His forthcoming soundtrack album, Speedway, would die at number 82 on the Billboard chart. Parker had already shifted his plans to television, where Presley had not appeared since the Sinatra Timex show in 1960. He maneuvered a deal with NBC that committed the network to both finance a theatrical feature and broadcast a Christmas special.^[175]

Recorded in late June in Burbank, California, the special, called simply Elvis, aired on December 3, 1968. Later known as the '68 Comeback Special, the show featured lavishly staged studio productions as well as songs performed with a band in front of a small audience—Presley's first live performances since 1961. The live segments saw Presley clad in tight black leather, singing and playing guitar in an uninhibited style reminiscent of his early rock and roll days. Director and coproducer Steve Binder had worked hard to reassure the nervous singer and to produce a show that was far from the hour of Christmas songs Parker had originally planned.^[176] The show, NBC's highest rated that season, captured 42 percent of the total viewing audience.^[177] Jon Landau of Eye magazine remarked, "There is something magical about watching a man who has lost himself find his way back home. He sang with the kind of power people no longer expect of rock 'n' roll singers. He moved his body with a lack of pretension and effort that must have made Jim Morrison green with envy."^[178] Dave Marsh calls the performance one of "emotional grandeur and historical resonance."^[179]

By January 1969, the single "If I Can Dream", written for the special, reached number 12. The soundtrack album broke into the top ten. According to friend Jerry Schilling, the special reminded Presley of what "he had not been able to do for years, being able to choose the people; being able to choose what songs and not being told what had to be on the soundtrack. ... He was out of prison, man."^[177] Binder said of Presley's reaction, "I played Elvis the 60-minute show, and he told me in the screening room, 'Steve, it's the greatest thing I've ever done in my life. I give you my word I will never sing a song I don't believe in.'"^[177]

[edit] From Elvis In Memphis and the International

	"Power of My Love" noicon Beginning with his American Sound recordings, soul music became a central element in Presley's fusion of styles. Here, he revels in lyrics full of sexual innuendo.^[180]
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Buoyed by the experience of the Comeback Special, Presley engaged in a prolific series of recording sessions at American Sound Studio, which led to the acclaimed From Elvis in Memphis. Released in June 1969, it was his first secular, non-soundtrack album from a dedicated period in the studio in eight years. As described by Dave Marsh, it is "a masterpiece in which Presley immediately catches up with pop music trends that had seemed to pass him by during the movie years. He sings country songs, soul songs and rockers with real conviction, a stunning achievement."^[181] The album featured the hit single "In the Ghetto", issued in April, which reached number three on the pop chart—Presley's first non-gospel top ten hit since "Bossa Nova Baby" in 1963. Further hit singles were culled from the American Sound sessions: "Suspicious Minds", "Don't Cry Daddy", and "Kentucky Rain".

Presley was keen to resume regular live performing. Following the success of the Comeback Special, offers came in from around the world. The London Palladium offered Parker $28,000 for a one-week engagement. He responded, "That's fine for me, now how much can you get for Elvis?"^[182] In May, the brand new International Hotel in Las Vegas, boasting the largest showroom in the city, announced that it had booked Presley. He was scheduled to perform 57 shows over four weeks beginning July 31. Moore, Fontana, and the Jordanaires declined to participate, afraid of losing the lucrative session work they had in Nashville. Presley assembled new, top-notch accompaniment, led by guitarist James Burton and including two gospel groups, The Imperials and Sweet Inspirations.^[183] Nonetheless, he was nervous: his only previous Las Vegas engagement, in 1956, had been dismal. Parker, who intended to make Presley's return the show business event of the year, oversaw a major promotional push. For his part, hotel owner Kirk Kerkorian arranged to send his own plane to New York to fly in rock journalists for the debut performance.^[184]

Presley took to the stage without introduction. The audience of 2,200, including many celebrities, gave him a standing ovation before he sang a note and another after his performance. A third followed his encore, "Can't Help Falling in Love" (a song that would be his closing number for much of the 1970s).^[185] At a press conference after the show, when a journalist referred to him as "The King", Presley gestured toward Fats Domino, who was taking in the scene. "No," Presley said, "that's the real king of rock and roll."^[186] The next day, Parker's negotiations with the hotel resulted in a five-year contract for Presley to play each February and August, at an annual salary of $1 million.^[187] Newsweek commented, "There are several unbelievable things about Elvis, but the most incredible is his staying power in a world where meteoric careers fade like shooting stars."^[188] Rolling Stone called Presley "supernatural, his own resurrection."^[189] In November, Presley's final non-concert movie, Change of Habit, opened. The double album From Memphis To Vegas/From Vegas To Memphis came out the same month; the first LP consisted of live performances from the International, the second of more cuts from the American Sound sessions. "Suspicious Minds" reached the top of the charts—Presley's first U.S. pop number one in over seven years, and his last.

Cassandra Peterson, later television's Elvira, met Presley during this period in Las Vegas, where she was working as showgirl. She recalls of their encounter, "He was so anti-drug when I met him. I mentioned to him that I smoked marijuana, and he was just appalled. He said, 'Don't ever do that again.'"^[190] Presley was not only deeply opposed to recreational drugs, he also rarely drank. Several of his family members had been alcoholics, a fate he intended to avoid.^[191]

Back on tour and meeting Nixon [link]

Presley returned to the International early in 1970 for the first of the year's two month-long engagements, performing two shows a night. Recordings from these shows were issued on the album On Stage.^[192] In late February, Presley performed six attendance-record–breaking shows at the Houston Astrodome.^[193] In April, the single "The Wonder of You" was issued—a number one hit in Great Britain, it topped the U.S. adult contemporary chart, as well. MGM filmed rehearsal and concert footage at the International during August for the documentary Elvis: That's the Way It Is. Presley was by now performing in a jumpsuit, which would become a trademark of his live act. During this engagement, he was threatened with murder unless $50,000 was paid. Presley had been the target of many threats since the 1950s, often without his knowledge.^[194] The FBI took the threat seriously and security was stepped up for the next two shows. Presley went onstage with a Derringer in his right boot and a .45 pistol in his waistband, but the concerts went off without incident.^[195]^[196]

The album That's the Way It Is, produced to accompany the documentary and featuring both studio and live recordings, marked a stylistic shift. As music historian John Robertson notes, "The authority of Presley's singing helped disguise the fact that the album stepped decisively away from the American-roots inspiration of the Memphis sessions towards a more middle-of-the-road sound. With country put on the back burner, and soul and R&B left in Memphis, what was left was very classy, very clean white pop—perfect for the Las Vegas crowd, but a definite retrograde step for Elvis."^[197] After the end of his International engagement on September 7, Presley embarked on a week-long concert tour, largely of the South, his first since 1958. Another week-long tour, of the West Coast, followed in November.^[198]

A mutton-chopped Presley, wearing a long velour jacket and a giant buckle like that of a boxing championship belt, shakes hands with a balding man wearing a suit and tie. They are facing camera and smiling. Five flags hang from poles directly behind them.

Presley meets U.S. President Richard Nixon in the White House Oval Office, December 21, 1970

On December 21, 1970, Presley engineered a meeting with President Richard Nixon at the White House, where he expressed his patriotism and his contempt for the hippie drug culture. He asked Nixon for a Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs badge, to add to similar items he had begun collecting and to signify official sanction of his patriotic efforts. Nixon, who apparently found the encounter awkward, expressed a belief that Presley could send a positive message to young people and that it was therefore important he "retain his credibility". Presley told Nixon that The Beatles, whose songs he regularly performed in concert during the era,^[199] exemplified what he saw as a trend of anti-Americanism and drug abuse in popular culture.^[200] (Presley and his friends had had a four-hour get-together with The Beatles five years earlier.) On hearing reports of the meeting, Paul McCartney later said that he "felt a bit betrayed. ... The great joke was that we were taking [illegal] drugs, and look what happened to him", a reference to Presley's death, hastened by prescription drug abuse.^[201]

The U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce named Presley one of its annual Ten Most Outstanding Young Men of the Nation on January 16, 1971.^[202] Not long after, the City of Memphis named the stretch of Highway 51 South on which Graceland is located "Elvis Presley Boulevard". The same year, Presley became the first rock and roll singer to be awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award (then known as the Bing Crosby Award) by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Grammy Award organization.^[203] Three new, non-movie Presley studio albums were released in 1971, as many as had come out over the previous eight years. Best received by critics was Elvis Country, a concept record that focused on genre standards.^[204] The biggest seller was Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas, "the truest statement of all", according to Greil Marcus. "In the midst of ten painfully genteel Christmas songs, every one sung with appalling sincerity and humility, one could find Elvis tom-catting his way through six blazing minutes of 'Merry Christmas, Baby,' a raunchy old Charles Brown blues. ... If [Presley's] sin was his lifelessness, it was his sinfulness that brought him to life".^[205]

[edit] Marriage breakdown and Aloha from Hawaii

Health deterioration and death (1973–77)[link]

Medical crises and last studio sessions [link]

Presley's divorce took effect on October 9, 1973.^[220] He was now becoming increasingly unwell. Twice during the year he overdosed on barbiturates, spending three days in a coma in his hotel suite after the first incident. Toward the end of 1973, he was hospitalized, semicomatose from the effects of Demerol addiction. According to his main physician, Dr. George C. Nichopoulos, Presley "felt that by getting [drugs] from a doctor, he wasn't the common everyday junkie getting something off the street."^[221] Since his comeback, he had staged more live shows with each passing year, and 1973 saw 168 concerts, his busiest schedule ever.^[222] Despite his failing health, in 1974 he undertook another intensive touring schedule.^[223]

Presley's condition declined precipitously in September. Keyboardist Tony Brown remembers the singer's arrival at a University of Maryland concert: "He fell out of the limousine, to his knees. People jumped to help, and he pushed them away like, 'Don't help me.' He walked on stage and held onto the mike for the first thirty minutes like it was a post. Everybody's looking at each other like, Is the tour gonna happen?"^[224] Guitarist John Wilkinson recalled, "He was all gut. He was slurring. He was so fucked up. ... It was obvious he was drugged. It was obvious there was something terribly wrong with his body. It was so bad the words to the songs were barely intelligible. ... I remember crying. He could barely get through the introductions".^[225] Wilkinson recounted that a few nights later in Detroit, "I watched him in his dressing room, just draped over a chair, unable to move. So often I thought, 'Boss, why don't you just cancel this tour and take a year off...?' I mentioned something once in a guarded moment. He patted me on the back and said, 'It'll be all right. Don't you worry about it.'"^[225] Presley continued to play to sellout crowds. As cultural critic Marjorie Garber describes, he was now widely seen as a garish pop crooner: "in effect he had become Liberace. Even his fans were now middle-aged matrons and blue-haired grandmothers."^[226]

On July 13, 1976, Vernon Presley—who had become deeply involved in his son's financial affairs—fired "Memphis Mafia" bodyguards Red West (Presley's friend since the 1950s), Sonny West, and David Hebler, citing the need to "cut back on expenses".^[227]^[228]^[229] Presley was in Palm Springs at the time, and some suggest the singer was too cowardly to face the three himself. Another associate of Presley's, John O'Grady, argued that the bodyguards were dropped because their rough treatment of fans had prompted too many lawsuits.^[230] However, Presley's stepbrother David Stanley has claimed that the bodyguards were fired because they were becoming more outspoken about Presley's drug dependency.^[231] Presley and Linda Thompson split in November, and he took up with a new girlfriend, Ginger Alden.^[232] He proposed to Alden and gave her an engagement ring two months later, though several of his friends later claimed that he had no serious intention of marrying again.^[233]

RCA, which had enjoyed a steady stream of product from Presley for over a decade, grew anxious as his interest in spending time in the studio waned. After a December 1973 session that produced 18 songs, enough for almost two albums, he did not enter the studio in 1974.^[234] Parker sold RCA on another concert record, Elvis: As Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis.^[235] Recorded on March 20, it included a version of "How Great Thou Art" that would win Presley his third and final competitive Grammy Award.^[236] (All three of his competitive Grammy wins—out of 14 total nominations—were for gospel recordings.) Presley returned to the studio in Hollywood in March 1975, but Parker's attempts to arrange another session toward the end of the year were unsuccessful.^[237] In 1976, RCA sent a mobile studio to Graceland that made possible two full-scale recording sessions at Presley's home.^[238] Even in that comfortable context, the recording process was now a struggle for him.^[239]

	"Hurt" noicon An R&B hit for Roy Hamilton in 1955 and a pop hit for blue-eyed soul singer Timi Yuro in 1961, Presley's deep soul version was picked up by country radio in 1976.^[240]
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For all the concerns of his label and manager, in studio sessions between July 1973 and October 1976, Presley recorded virtually the entire contents of six albums. Though he was no longer a major presence on the pop charts, five of those albums entered the top five of the country chart, and three went to number one: Promised Land (1975), From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee (1976), and Moody Blue (1977).^[241] The story was similar with his singles—there were no major pop hits, but Presley was a significant force in not just the country market, but on adult contemporary radio as well. Eight studio singles from this period released during his lifetime were top ten hits on one or both charts, four in 1974 alone. "My Boy" was a number one AC hit in 1975, and "Moody Blue" topped the country chart and reached the second spot on the AC in 1976.^[242] Perhaps his most critically acclaimed recording of the era came that year, with what Greil Marcus described as his "apocalyptic attack" on the soul classic "Hurt".^[243] "If he felt the way he sounded", Dave Marsh wrote of Presley's performance, "the wonder isn't that he had only a year left to live but that he managed to survive that long."^[244]

Final year and death [link]

Journalist Tony Scherman writes that by early 1977, "Elvis Presley had become a grotesque caricature of his sleek, energetic former self. Hugely overweight, his mind dulled by the pharmacopoeia he daily ingested, he was barely able to pull himself through his abbreviated concerts."^[245] In Alexandria, Louisiana, the singer was on stage for less than an hour and "was impossible to understand".^[246] Presley failed to appear in Baton Rouge; he was unable to get out of his hotel bed, and the rest of the tour was cancelled.^[246] Despite the accelerating deterioration of his health, he stuck to most touring commitments. In Rapid City, South Dakota, "he was so nervous on stage that he could hardly talk", according to Presley historian Samuel Roy, and unable to "perform any significant movement."^[247] Guralnick relates that fans "were becoming increasingly voluble about their disappointment, but it all seemed to go right past Elvis, whose world was now confined almost entirely to his room and his spiritualism books."^[248] A cousin, Billy Smith, recalled how Presley would sit in his room and chat for hours, sometimes recounting favorite Monty Python sketches and his own past escapades, but more often gripped by paranoid obsessions that reminded Smith of Howard Hughes.^[249] "Way Down", Presley's last single issued during his lifetime, came out on June 6. His final concert was held in Indianapolis at the Market Square Arena, on June 26.

A long, ground-level gravestone reads "Elvis Aaron Presley", followed by the singer's dates, the names of his parents and daughter, and several paragraphs of smaller text. It is surrounded by flowers, a small American flag, and other offerings. Similar grave markers are visible on either side. In the background is a small round pool, with a low decorative metal fence and several fountains.

Presley's gravestone at Graceland

The book Elvis: What Happened?, cowritten by the three bodyguards fired the previous year, was published on August 1.^[250] It was the first exposé to detail Presley's years of drug misuse. He was devastated by the book and tried unsuccessfully to halt its release by offering money to the publishers.^[251] By this point, he suffered from multiple ailments: glaucoma, high blood pressure, liver damage, and an enlarged colon, each aggravated—and possibly caused—by drug abuse.^[221]

Presley was scheduled to fly out of Memphis on the evening of August 16, 1977, to begin another tour. That afternoon, Alden discovered him unresponsive on his bathroom floor. Attempts to revive him failed, and death was officially pronounced at 3:30 pm at Baptist Memorial Hospital.^[252]

President Jimmy Carter issued a statement that credited Presley with having "permanently changed the face of American popular culture".^[253] Thousands of people gathered outside Graceland to view the open casket. One of Presley's cousins, Billy Mann, accepted $18,000 to secretly photograph the corpse; the picture appeared on the cover of the National Enquirer's biggest-selling issue ever.^[254] Alden struck a $105,000 deal with the Enquirer for her story, but settled for less when she broke her exclusivity agreement.^[255] Presley left her nothing in his will.^[256]

Presley's funeral was held at Graceland, on Thursday, August 18. Outside the gates, a car plowed into a group of fans, killing two women and critically injuring a third.^[257] Approximately 80,000 people lined the processional route to Forest Hill Cemetery, where Presley was buried next to his mother.^[258] Within a few days, "Way Down" topped the country and UK pop charts.^[242]^[259] Following an attempt to steal the singer's body in late August, the remains of both Elvis Presley and his mother were reburied in Graceland's Meditation Garden on October 2.^[255]

Since 1977 [link]

Between 1977 and 1981, six posthumously released singles by Presley were top ten country hits.^[242] Graceland was opened to the public in 1982. Attracting over half a million visitors annually, it is the second most-visited home in the United States, after the White House.^[260] It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2006.^[261]

Presley has been inducted into four music halls of fame: the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1986), the Country Music Hall of Fame (1998), the Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2001), and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame (2007). In 1984, he received the W. C. Handy Award from the Blues Foundation and the Academy of Country Music's first Golden Hat Award. In 1987, he received the American Music Awards' Award of Merit.^[262]

A Junkie XL remix of Presley's "A Little Less Conversation" (credited as "Elvis Vs JXL") was used in a Nike advertising campaign during the 2002 FIFA World Cup. It topped the charts in over 20 countries, and was included in a compilation of Presley's number one hits, ELV1S, that was also an international success. In 2003, a remix of "Rubberneckin'", a 1969 recording of Presley's, topped the U.S. sales chart, as did a 50th-anniversary re-release of "That's All Right" the following year.^[263] The latter was an outright hit in Great Britain, reaching number three on the pop chart.

In 2005, another three reissued singles, "Jailhouse Rock", "One Night"/"I Got Stung", and "It's Now or Never", went to number one in Great Britain. A total of 17 Presley singles were reissued during the year; all made the British top five. For the fifth straight year, Forbes named Presley the top-earning deceased celebrity, with a gross income of $45 million.^[264] He placed second in 2006,^[265] returned to the top spot the next two years,^[266]^[267] and ranked fourth in 2009.^[268] The following year, he was ranked second, with his highest annual income ever—$60 million—spurred by the celebration of his 75th birthday and the launch of Cirque du Soleil's Viva Elvis show in Las Vegas.^[269] In November 2010, Viva Elvis: The Album was released, setting his voice to newly recorded instrumental tracks.^[270]^[271] As of mid-2011, there were an estimated 15,000 licensed Presley products.^[272] He was again the second-highest-earning deceased celebrity.^[273]

Presley holds the records for most songs charting in Billboard's top 40 and top 100: chart statistician Joel Whitburn calculates the respective totals as 104 and 151;^[274] Presley historian Adam Victor gives 114 and 138.^[275] Presley's rankings for top ten and number one hits vary depending on how the double-sided "Hound Dog/Don't Be Cruel" and "Don't/I Beg of You" singles, which precede the inception of Billboard's unified Hot 100 chart, are analyzed.^e According to Whitburn's analysis, Presley and Madonna share the record for most top ten hits with 38;^[276] per Billboard's current assessment, he ranks second with 36.^[277] Whitburn and Billboard concur that The Beatles hold the record for most number one hits with 20 and that Mariah Carey is second with 18. Whitburn has Presley also with 18 and thus tied for second;^[276] Billboard has him third with 17.^[278] Presley retains the record for cumulative weeks at number one: alone at 80, according to Whitburn and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame;^[279]^[280] tied with Carey at 79, according to Billboard.^[281]^[282] He holds the records for most British number one hits, with 21, and top ten hits, with 76.^[283]^[284]

Musical style [link]

Influences [link]

Presley's earliest musical influence came from gospel. His mother recalled that from the age of two, at the Assembly of God church in Tupelo attended by the family, "he would slide down off my lap, run into the aisle and scramble up to the platform. There he would stand looking at the choir and trying to sing with them."^[285] In Memphis, Presley frequently attended all-night gospel singings at the Ellis Auditorium, where groups such as the Statesmen Quartet led the music in a style that, Guralnick suggests, sowed the seeds of Presley's future stage act:

The Statesmen were an electric combination ... featuring some of the most thrillingly emotive singing and daringly unconventional showmanship in the entertainment world ... dressed in suits that might have come out of the window of Lansky's. ... Bass singer Jim Wetherington, known universally as the Big Chief, maintained a steady bottom, ceaselessly jiggling first his left leg, then his right, with the material of the pants leg ballooning out and shimmering. "He went about as far as you could go in gospel music," said Jake Hess. "The women would jump up, just like they do for the pop shows." Preachers frequently objected to the lewd movements ... but audiences reacted with screams and swoons.^[286]

As a teenager, Presley's musical interests were wide-ranging, and he was deeply informed about African American musical idioms as well as white ones (see "Teenage life in Memphis"). Though he never had any formal training, he was blessed with a remarkable memory, and his musical knowledge was already considerable by the time he made his first professional recordings in 1954 at the age of 19. When Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller met him two years later, they were astonished at his encyclopedic understanding of the blues.^[287] At a press conference the following year, he proudly declared, "I know practically every religious song that's ever been written."^[126]

Genres [link]

Presley was a central figure in the development of rockabilly, according to music historians. "Rockabilly crystallized into a recognizable style in 1954 with Elvis Presley's first release, on the Sun label", writes Craig Morrison.^[288] Paul Friedlander describes the defining elements of rockabilly, which he similarly characterizes as "essentially ... an Elvis Presley construction": "the raw, emotive, and slurred vocal style and emphasis on rhythmic feeling [of] the blues with the string band and strummed rhythm guitar [of] country".^[289] In "That's All Right", the Presley trio's first record, Scotty Moore's guitar solo, "a combination of Merle Travis–style country finger-picking, double-stop slides from acoustic boogie, and blues-based bent-note, single-string work, is a microcosm of this fusion."^[289]

At RCA, Presley's rock and roll sound grew distinct from rockabilly with group chorus vocals, more heavily amplified electric guitars^[290] and a tougher, more intense manner.^[291] While he was known for taking songs from various sources and giving them a rockabilly/rock and roll treatment, he also recorded songs in other genres from early in his career, from the pop standard "Blue Moon" at Sun to the country ballad "How's the World Treating You?" on his second LP to the blues of "Santa Claus Is Back In Town". In 1957, his first gospel record was released, the four-song EP Peace in the Valley. Certified as a million seller, it became the top-selling gospel EP in recording history.^[292] Presley would record gospel periodically for the rest of his life.

	"Run On" noicon From How Great Thou Art (1967), a traditional song popular in the black gospel tradition. The arrangement evokes "the percussive style of the 1930s Golden Gate Quartet."^[293]^[294]
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After his return from military service in 1960, Presley continued to perform rock and roll, but the characteristic style was substantially toned down. His first post-Army single, the number one hit "Stuck on You", is typical of this shift. RCA publicity materials referred to its "mild rock beat"; discographer Ernst Jorgensen calls it "upbeat pop".^[295] The modern blues/R&B sound captured so successfully on Elvis Is Back! was essentially abandoned for six years until such 1966–67 recordings as "Down in the Alley" and "Hi-Heel Sneakers".^[296] The singer's output during most of the 1960s emphasized pop music, often in the form of ballads such as "Are You Lonesome Tonight?", a number one in 1960. While that was a dramatic number, most of what Presley recorded for his movie soundtracks was in a much lighter vein.^[297]

While Presley performed several of his classic ballads for the '68 Comeback Special, the sound of the show was dominated by aggressive rock and roll. He would record few new straight-ahead rock and roll songs thereafter; as he explained, they were "hard to find".^[298] A significant exception was "Burning Love", his last major hit on the pop charts. Like his work of the 1950s, Presley's subsequent recordings reworked pop and country songs, but in markedly different permutations. His stylistic range now began to embrace a more contemporary rock sound as well as soul and funk. Much of Elvis In Memphis, as well as "Suspicious Minds", cut at the same sessions, reflected his new rock and soul fusion. In the mid-1970s, many of his singles found a home on country radio, the field where he first became a star.^[299]

Vocal style and range [link]

Music critic Henry Pleasants observes that "Elvis Presley has been described variously as a baritone and a tenor. An extraordinary compass ... and a very wide range of vocal color have something to do with this divergence of opinion."^[300] He identifies Presley as a high baritone, calculating his range as two octaves and a third, "from the baritone low G to the tenor high B, with an upward extension in falsetto to at least a D-flat. Presley's best octave is in the middle, D-flat to D-flat, granting an extra full step up or down."^[300] In Pleasants' view, his voice was "variable and unpredictable" at the bottom, "often brilliant" at the top, with the capacity for "full-voiced high Gs and As that an opera baritone might envy."^[300] Scholar Lindsay Waters, who figures Presley's range as two and a quarter octaves, emphasizes that "his voice had an emotional range from tender whispers to sighs down to shouts, grunts, grumbles and sheer gruffness that could move the listener from calmness and surrender, to fear. His voice can not be measured in octaves, but in decibels; even that misses the problem of how to measure delicate whispers that are hardly audible at all."^[301] Presley was always "able to duplicate the open, hoarse, ecstatic, screaming, shouting, wailing, reckless sound of the black rhythm-and-blues and gospel singers," writes Pleasants, and also demonstrated a remarkable ability to assimilate many other vocal styles.^[300]

Questions over cause of death [link]

"Drug use was heavily implicated" in Presley's death, writes Guralnick. "No one ruled out the possibility of anaphylactic shock brought on by the codeine pills ... to which he was known to have had a mild allergy." A pair of lab reports filed two months later each strongly suggested that polypharmacy was the primary cause of death; one reported "fourteen drugs in Elvis' system, ten in significant quantity."^[302] Forensic historian and pathologist Michael Baden views the situation as complicated: "Elvis had had an enlarged heart for a long time. That, together with his drug habit, caused his death. But he was difficult to diagnose; it was a judgment call."^[303]

The competence and ethics of two of the centrally involved medical professionals were seriously questioned. Before the autopsy was complete and toxicology results known, medical examiner Dr. Jerry Francisco declared the cause of death as cardiac arrhythmia, a condition that can be determined only in someone who is still alive.^[304] Allegations of a cover-up were widespread.^[303] While Presley's main physician, Dr. Nichopoulos, was exonerated of criminal liability for the singer's death, the facts were startling: "In the first eight months of 1977 alone, he had [prescribed] more than 10,000 doses of sedatives, amphetamines and narcotics: all in Elvis's name." His license was suspended for three months. It was permanently revoked in the 1990s after the Tennessee Medical Board brought new charges of over-prescription.^[221]

In 1994, the Presley autopsy was reopened. Coroner Dr. Joseph Davis declared, "There is nothing in any of the data that supports a death from drugs. In fact, everything points to a sudden, violent heart attack."^[221] Whether or not combined drug intoxication was in fact the cause, there is little doubt that polypharmacy contributed significantly to Presley's premature death.^[304]

Racial issues [link]

When Dewey Phillips first aired "That's All Right" on Memphis radio, many listeners who contacted the station by phone and telegram to ask for it again assumed that its singer was black.^[52] From the beginning of his national fame, Presley expressed respect for African American performers and their music, and disregard for the norms of segregation and racial prejudice then prevalent in the South. Interviewed in 1956, he recalled how in his childhood he would listen to blues musician Arthur Crudup—the originator of "That's All Right"—"bang his box the way I do now, and I said if I ever got to the place where I could feel all old Arthur felt, I'd be a music man like nobody ever saw."^[36] The Memphis World, an African American newspaper, reported that Presley, "the rock 'n' roll phenomenon", "cracked Memphis's segregation laws" by attending the local amusement park on what was designated as its "colored night".^[36] Such statements and actions led Presley to be generally hailed in the black community during the early days of his stardom.^[36] By contrast, many white adults, according to Billboard's Arnold Shaw, "did not like him, and condemned him as depraved. Anti-negro prejudice doubtless figured in adult antagonism. Regardless of whether parents were aware of the Negro sexual origins of the phrase 'rock 'n' roll', Presley impressed them as the visual and aural embodiment of sex."^[305]

Despite the largely positive view of Presley held by African Americans, a rumor spread in mid-1957 that he had at some point announced, "The only thing Negroes can do for me is buy my records and shine my shoes." A journalist with the national African American weekly Jet, Louie Robinson, pursued the story. On the set of Jailhouse Rock, Presley granted him an interview, though he was no longer dealing with the mainstream press. He denied making such a statement or holding in any way to its racist view. Robinson found no evidence that the remark had ever been made, and on the contrary elicited testimony from many individuals indicating that Presley was anything but racist.^[36]^[306] Blues singer Ivory Joe Hunter, who had heard the rumor before he visited Graceland one evening, reported of Presley, "He showed me every courtesy, and I think he's one of the greatest."^[307] Though the rumored remark was wholly discredited at the time, it was still being used against Presley decades later.^[308] The identification of Presley with racism—either personally or symbolically—was expressed most famously in the lyrics of the 1989 rap hit "Fight the Power", by Public Enemy: "Elvis was a hero to most / But he never meant shit to me / Straight-up racist that sucker was / Simple and plain".^[309]

The persistence of such attitudes was fueled by resentment over the fact that Presley, whose musical and visual performance idiom owed much to African American sources, achieved the cultural acknowledgment and commercial success largely denied his black peers.^[306] Into the 21st century, the notion that Presley had "stolen" black music still found adherents.^[308]^[309] Notable among African American entertainers expressly rejecting this view was Jackie Wilson, who argued, "A lot of people have accused Elvis of stealing the black man's music, when in fact, almost every black solo entertainer copied his stage mannerisms from Elvis."^[310] And throughout his career, Presley plainly acknowledged his debt. Addressing his '68 Comeback Special audience, he said, "Rock 'n' roll music is basically gospel or rhythm and blues, or it sprang from that. People have been adding to it, adding instruments to it, experimenting with it, but it all boils down to [that]." Nine years earlier, he had said, "Rock 'n' roll has been around for many years. It used to be called rhythm and blues."^[311]

Influence of Colonel Parker and others [link]

Parker and the Aberbachs [link]

Further information: Colonel Tom Parker

Once he became Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker insisted on exceptionally tight control over his client's career. Early on, he and his Hill and Range allies, the brothers Jean and Julian Aberbach, perceived the close relationship that developed between Presley and songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller as a serious threat to that control.^[312] Parker effectively ended the relationship, deliberately or not, with the new contract he sent Leiber in early 1958. Leiber thought there was a mistake—the sheet of paper was blank except for Parker's signature and a line on which to enter his. "There's no mistake, boy, just sign it and return it", Parker directed. "Don't worry, we'll fill it in later." Leiber declined, and Presley's fruitful collaboration with the writing team was over.^[313] Other respected songwriters lost interest in or simply avoided writing for Presley because of the requirement that they surrender a third of their usual royalties.^[314]

By 1967, Parker's contracts with Presley gave him 50 percent of most of the singer's earnings from recordings, films, and merchandise.^[315] Beginning in February 1972, he took a third of the profit from live appearances;^[316] a January 1976 agreement entitled him to half of that as well.^[317] Priscilla Presley noted that "Elvis detested the business side of his career. He would sign a contract without even reading it."^[318] Presley's friend Marty Lacker regarded Parker as a "hustler and a con artist. He was only interested in 'now money'—get the buck and get gone."^[319]

Lacker was instrumental in convincing Presley to record with Memphis producer Chips Moman and his handpicked musicians at American Sound Studio in early 1969. The American Sound sessions represented a significant departure from the control customarily exerted by Hill and Range. Moman still had to deal with the publisher's staff on site, whose song suggestions he regarded as unacceptable. He was on the verge of quitting, until Presley ordered the Hill and Range personnel out of the studio.^[320] Although RCA executive Joan Deary was later full of praise for the producer's song choices and the quality of the recordings,^[321] Moman, to his fury, received neither credit on the records nor royalties for his work.^[322]

Throughout his entire career, Presley performed in only three venues outside the United States—all of them in Canada, during brief tours there in 1957. Rumors that he would play overseas for the first time were fueled in 1974 by a million-dollar bid for an Australian tour. Parker was uncharacteristically reluctant, prompting those close to Presley to speculate about the manager's past and the reasons for his apparent unwillingness to apply for a passport. Parker ultimately squelched any notions Presley had of working abroad, claiming that foreign security was poor and the venues unsuitable for a star of his magnitude.^[323]

Parker arguably exercised tightest control over Presley's movie career. In 1957, Robert Mitchum asked Presley to costar with him in Thunder Road, on which Mitchum was writer and producer.^[324] According to George Klein, one of his oldest friends, Presley was offered starring roles in West Side Story and Midnight Cowboy.^[325] In 1974, Barbra Streisand approached Presley to star with her in the remake of A Star is Born.^[326] In each case, any ambitions the singer may have had to play such parts were thwarted by his manager's negotiating demands or flat refusals. In Lacker's description, "The only thing that kept Elvis going after the early years was a new challenge. But Parker kept running everything into the ground."^[319] The operative attitude may have been summed up best by the response Leiber and Stoller received when they brought a serious film project for Presley to Parker and the Hill and Range owners for their consideration. In Leiber's telling, Jean Aberbach warned them to never again "try to interfere with the business or artistic workings of the process known as Elvis Presley".^[162]

Memphis Mafia [link]

Main article: Memphis Mafia

In the early 1960s, the circle of friends with whom Presley constantly surrounded himself until his death came to be known as the "Memphis Mafia".^[327] "Surrounded by the[ir] parasitic presence", as journalist John Harris puts it, "it was no wonder that as he slid into addiction and torpor, no-one raised the alarm: to them, Elvis was the bank, and it had to remain open."^[328] Tony Brown, who played piano for Presley regularly in the last two years of the singer's life, observed his rapidly declining health and the urgent need to address it: "But we all knew it was hopeless because Elvis was surrounded by that little circle of people ... all those so-called friends".^[329] In the Memphis Mafia's defense, Marty Lacker has said, "[Presley] was his own man. ... If we hadn't been around, he would have been dead a lot earlier."^[330]

Larry Geller became Presley's hairdresser in 1964. Unlike others in the Memphis Mafia, he was interested in spiritual questions and recalls how, from their first conversation, Presley revealed his secret thoughts and anxieties: "I mean there has to be a purpose...there's got to be a reason...why I was chosen to be Elvis Presley. ... I swear to God, no one knows how lonely I get. And how empty I really feel."^[331] Thereafter, Geller supplied him with books on religion and mysticism, which the singer read voraciously.^[332] Presley would be preoccupied by such matters for much of his life, taking trunkloads of books with him on tour.^[221]

Sex symbol [link]

Movie poster with Presley on the left, holding a young woman around the waist, her arms draped over his shoulders. To the right, five young women wearing bathing suits and holding guitars stand in a row. The one in front taps Presley on the shoulder. Along with title and credits is the tagline "Climb aboard your dreamboat for the fastest-movin' fun 'n' music!"

The title and marketing of Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962) took advantage of Presley's sex symbol status.

Presley's physical attractiveness and sexual appeal were widely acknowledged. "He was once beautiful, astonishingly beautiful", in the words of critic Mark Feeney.^[333] Television director Steve Binder, no fan of Presley's music before he oversaw the '68 Comeback Special, reported, "I'm straight as an arrow and I got to tell you, you stop, whether you're male or female, to look at him. He was that good looking. And if you never knew he was a superstar, it wouldn't make any difference; if he'd walked in the room, you'd know somebody special was in your presence."^[334] His performance style, as much as his physical beauty, was responsible for Presley's eroticized image. Writing in 1970, critic George Melly described him as "the master of the sexual simile, treating his guitar as both phallus and girl."^[335] In his Presley obituary, Lester Bangs credited him as "the man who brought overt blatant vulgar sexual frenzy to the popular arts in America."^[336] Ed Sullivan's declaration that he perceived a soda bottle in Presley's trousers was echoed by rumors involving a similarly positioned toilet roll tube or lead bar.^[337]

While Presley was marketed as an icon of heterosexuality, some cultural critics have argued that his image was ambiguous. In 1959, Sight and Sound's Peter John Dyer described his onscreen persona as "aggressively bisexual in appeal".^[338] Brett Farmer places the "orgasmic gyrations" of the title dance sequence in Jailhouse Rock within a lineage of cinematic musical numbers that offer a "spectacular eroticization, if not homoeroticization, of the male image".^[339] In the analysis of Yvonne Tasker, "Elvis was an ambivalent figure who articulated a peculiar feminised, objectifying version of white working-class masculinity as aggressive sexual display."^[340]

Reinforcing Presley's image as a sex symbol were the reports of his dalliances with various Hollywood stars and starlets, from Natalie Wood in the 1950s to Connie Stevens and Ann-Margret in the 1960s to Candice Bergen and Cybill Shepherd in the 1970s. June Juanico of Memphis, one of Presley's early girlfriends, later blamed Parker for encouraging him to choose his dating partners with publicity in mind.^[190] Presley, however, never grew comfortable with the Hollywood scene, and most of these relationships were insubstantial.^[341]

Legacy [link]

Further information: Cultural impact of Elvis Presley; Cultural depictions of Elvis Presley

His music and his personality, fusing the styles of white country and black rhythm and blues, permanently changed the face of American popular culture. His following was immense, and he was a symbol to people the world over of the vitality, rebelliousness, and good humor of his country.

President Jimmy Carter
August 17, 1977^[253]

Presley's rise to national attention in 1956 transformed the field of popular music and had a huge effect on the broader scope of popular culture.^[4] As the catalyst for the cultural revolution that was rock and roll, he was central not only to defining it as a musical genre but in making it a touchstone of youth culture and rebellious attitude.^[342] With its racially mixed origins—repeatedly affirmed by Presley—rock and roll's occupation of a central position in mainstream American culture facilitated a new acceptance and appreciation of black culture.^[343] In this regard, Little Richard said of Presley, "He was an integrator. Elvis was a blessing. They wouldn't let black music through. He opened the door for black music."^[344] Al Green agreed: "He broke the ice for all of us."^[345] Presley also heralded the vastly expanded reach of celebrity in the era of mass communication: at the age of 21, within a year of his first appearance on American network television, he was one of the most famous people in the world.^[346]

A horizontally formatted stamp with a close-up illustration of a young, smiling Presley. A bank of spotlights shines behind him.

Stamp depicting Presley issued by the German post office in 1988

Presley's name, image, and voice are instantly recognizable around the globe.^[347] He has inspired a legion of impersonators.^[348] In polls and surveys, he is recognized as one of the most important popular music artists and influential Americans.^f "Elvis Presley is the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century", said composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein. "He introduced the beat to everything and he changed everything—music, language, clothes. It's a whole new social revolution—the sixties came from it."^[349] Bob Dylan described the sensation of first hearing Presley as "like busting out of jail".^[345]

A New York Times editorial on the 25th anniversary of Presley's death observed, "All the talentless impersonators and appalling black velvet paintings on display can make him seem little more than a perverse and distant memory. But before Elvis was camp, he was its opposite: a genuine cultural force. ... Elvis's breakthroughs are underappreciated because in this rock-and-roll age, his hard-rocking music and sultry style have triumphed so completely."^[350] Not only Presley's achievements, but his failings as well, are seen by some cultural observers as adding to the power of his legacy, as in this description by Greil Marcus:

Elvis Presley is a supreme figure in American life, one whose presence, no matter how banal or predictable, brooks no real comparisons. ... The cultural range of his music has expanded to the point where it includes not only the hits of the day, but also patriotic recitals, pure country gospel, and really dirty blues. ... Elvis has emerged as a great artist, a great rocker, a great purveyor of schlock, a great heart throb, a great bore, a great symbol of potency, a great ham, a great nice person, and, yes, a great American.^[351]

Discography [link]

Main articles: Elvis Presley albums discography and Elvis Presley singles discography

A vast number of recordings have been issued under Presley's name. The total number of his original master recordings has been variously calculated as 665^[275] and 711.^[333] His career began and he was most successful during an era when singles were the primary commercial medium for pop music. In the case of his albums, the distinction between "official" studio records and other forms is often blurred. For most of the 1960s, his recording career focused on soundtrack albums. In the 1970s, his most heavily promoted and best-selling LP releases tended to be concert albums. This summary discography lists only the albums and singles that reached the top of one or more of the following charts: the main U.S. Billboard pop chart; the Billboard country chart, the genre chart with which he was most identified (there was no country album chart before 1964); and the official British pop chart.^g In the United States, Presley also had five or six number one R&B singles and seven number one adult contemporary singles;^h in 1964, his "Blue Christmas" topped the Christmas singles chart during a period when Billboard did not rank holiday singles in its primary pop chart.^[241]^[352] He also had number one hits in many countries beside the United States and United Kingdom.

Number one albums [link]

Year	Album	Type	Chart positions
Year	Album	Type	US^[353]	US Country^[354]	UK^[259]^[355]
1956	Elvis Presley	studio/comp.	1	n.a.	1
1956	Elvis	studio	1	n.a.	3
1957	Loving You	sound./studio	1	n.a.	1
1957	Elvis' Christmas Album	studio	1	n.a.	2
1960	Elvis Is Back!	studio	2	n.a.	1
1960	G.I. Blues	soundtrack	1	n.a.	1
1961	Something for Everybody	studio	1	n.a.	2
1961	Blue Hawaii	soundtrack	1	n.a.	1
1962	Pot Luck	studio	4	n.a.	1
1964	Roustabout	soundtrack	1	—	12
1969	From Elvis in Memphis	studio	13	2	1
1973	Aloha from Hawaii: Via Satellite	live	1	1	11
1974	Elvis: A Legendary Performer Volume 1	compilation	43	1	20
1975	Promised Land	studio	47	1	21
1976	From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee	studio	41	1	29
1977	Elvis' 40 Greatest	compilation	—	—	1
	Moody Blue	studio/live	3	1	3
	Elvis in Concert	live	5	1	13
2002	ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits	compilation	1	1	1
2007	Elvis the King	compilation	—	—	1

Number one singles [link]

Year	Single	Chart positions
Year	Single	US^[276]	US Country^[356]	UK^[259]^[355]
1956	"I Forgot to Remember to Forget" (reissue)	—	1	—
	"Heartbreak Hotel"	1	1	2
	"I Want You, I Need You, I Love You"	1	1	14
	"Don't Be Cruel"	1	1	2
	"Hound Dog"	1	1	2
	"Love Me Tender"	1	3	11
1957	"Too Much"	1	3	6
	"All Shook Up"	1	1	1
	"(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear"	1	1	3
	"Jailhouse Rock"	1	1	1
1958	"Don't"	1	2	2
1958	"Hard Headed Woman"	1	2	2
1959	"One Night"/"I Got Stung"	4/8	24/—	1
	"A Fool Such as I"/"I Need Your Love Tonight"	2/4	—	1
	"A Big Hunk o' Love"	1	—	4
1960	"Stuck on You"	1	27	3
	"It's Now or Never"	1	—	1
	"Are You Lonesome Tonight?"	1	22	1
1961	"Wooden Heart"	—	—	1
	"Surrender"	1	—	1
	"(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame"/"Little Sister"	4/5	—	1
1962	"Can't Help Falling in Love"/"Rock-A-Hula Baby"	2/23	—	1
	"Good Luck Charm"	1	—	1
	"She's Not You"	5	—	1
	"Return to Sender"	2	—	1
1963	"(You're The) Devil in Disguise"	3	—	1
1965	"Crying in the Chapel"	3	—	1
1969	"Suspicious Minds"	1	—	2
1970	"The Wonder of You"	9	37	1
1977	"Moody Blue"	31	1	6
1977	"Way Down"	18	1	1
1981	"Guitar Man" (remix)	28	1	43
2002	"A Little Less Conversation" (JXL remix)	50	—	1
2005	"Jailhouse Rock" (reissue)	—	—	1
	"One Night"/"I Got Stung" (reissue)	—	—	1
	"It's Now or Never" (reissue)	—	—	1

Filmography [link]

Main article: Elvis Presley filmography

Notes [link]

^ Note a: Although some pronounce his surname "PREZ-lee", Presley himself used the pronunciation of the American South, "PRESS-lee", as did his family and those who worked with him.^[357] The correct spelling of his middle name has long been a matter of debate. The physician who delivered him wrote "Elvis Aaron Presley" in his ledger.^[358] The state-issued birth certificate reads "Elvis Aron Presley". The name was chosen after the Presleys' friend and fellow congregation member Aaron Kennedy, though a single-A spelling was probably intended by Presley's parents in order to parallel the middle name of Presley's stillborn brother, Jesse Garon.^[138] It reads Aron on most official documents produced during his lifetime, including his high school diploma, RCA record contract, and marriage license, and this was generally taken to be the proper spelling.^[359] In 1966, Presley expressed the desire to his father that the more traditional biblical rendering, Aaron, be used henceforth, "especially on legal documents."^[358] Five years later, the Jaycees citation honoring him as one of the country's Outstanding Young Men used Aaron. Late in his life, he sought to officially change the spelling to Aaron and discovered that state records already listed it that way. Knowing his wishes for his middle name, Aaron is the spelling his father chose for Presley's tombstone, and it is the spelling his estate has designated as official.^[359]
^ Note b: According to a third cousin of Presley's, one of Gladys's great-grandmothers was Jewish.^[360] There is no evidence that Presley or his mother shared this belief in a Jewish heritage. Syndicated columnist Nate Bloom has challenged the cousin's account, which he calls a "tall tale".^[361]
^ Note c: Of the $40,000, $5,000 covered back royalties owed by Sun.^[73]
^ Note d: In 1956–57, Presley was also credited as a cowriter on several songs where he had no hand in the writing process: "Heartbreak Hotel"; "Don't Be Cruel"; all four songs from his first film, including the title track, "Love Me Tender"; "Paralyzed"; and "All Shook Up".^[362] He received credit on two other songs to which he did contribute: he provided the title for "That's Someone You Never Forget" (1961), written by his friend Red West; Presley and West collaborated with another friend, guitarist Charlie Hodge, on "You'll Be Gone" (1962).^[363]
^ Note e: Whitburn follows actual Billboard history in considering the four songs on the "Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog" and "Don't/I Beg of You" singles as distinct. He tallies each side of the former single as a number one (Billboard's sales chart had "Don't Be Cruel" at number one for five weeks, then "Hound Dog" for six) and reckons "I Beg of You" as a top ten, as it reached number eight on the old Top 100 chart. Billboard now considers both singles as unified items, ignoring the historical sales split of the former and its old Top 100 chart entirely. Whitburn thus analyzes the four songs as yielding three number ones and a total of four top tens. Billboard now states that they yielded just two number ones and a total of two top tens, voiding the separate chart appearances of "Hound Dog" and "I Beg of You".
^ Note f: VH1 ranked Presley #8 among the "100 Greatest Artists of Rock & Roll" in 1998.^[364] The BBC ranked him as the #2 "Voice of the Century" in 2001.^[365] Rolling Stone placed him #3 in its list of "The Immortals: The Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time" in 2004.^[366] CMT ranked him #15 among the "40 Greatest Men in Country Music" in 2005.^[367] The Discovery Channel placed him #8 on its "Greatest American" list in 2005.^[368] Variety put him in the top ten of its "100 Icons of the Century" in 2005.^[369] The Atlantic Monthly ranked him #66 among the "100 Most Influential Figures in American History" in 2006.^[370]
^ Note g: (1) The year given is the year the record first reached number one, rather than its original year of release. For instance, in 1974, Elvis' 40 Greatest, a compilation on the budget Arcade label, was the fourth highest selling album of the year in the United Kingdom; at the time, the main British chart did not rank such compilations, relegating them to a chart for midpriced and TV-advertised albums, which Elvis' 40 Greatest topped for 15 weeks.^[371] The policy was altered in 1975, allowing the album to hit number one on the main chart in 1977, following Presley's death.^[372] (2) Before late 1958, rather than unified pop and country singles charts, Billboard had as many as four charts for each, separately ranking records according to sales, jukebox play, jockey spins (i.e., airplay), and, in the case of pop, a general Top 100. Billboard now regards the sales charts as definitive for the period. Widely cited chart statistician Joel Whitburn accords historical releases the highest ranking they achieved among the separate charts. Presley discographer Ernst Jorgensen refers only to the Top 100 chart for pop hits. All of the 1956–58 songs listed here as number one U.S. pop hits reached the top of both the sales and, with three exceptions, the Top 100 charts: "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" (three), "Hound Dog" (two, behind its flip side, "Don't Be Cruel"), and "Hard Headed Woman" (two). (3) Several Presley singles reached number one in the United Kingdom as double A-sides; in the United States, the respective sides of those singles were ranked separately by Billboard.
^ Note h: Whitburn calculates a total of six number one R&B singles, including "Don't Be Cruel", released as a double A-side with "Hound Dog";^[352] Billboard's Keith Caulfield excludes "Don't Be Cruel".^[241]

Citations [link]

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^ Guralnick & Jorgensen 1999, pp. 299–300.
^ Jorgensen 1998, p. 319.
^ Marcus 1982, pp. 284–85.
^ Guralnick & Jorgensen 1999, p. 308.
^ Marcus 1982, p. 283.
^ Guralnick 1999, p. 478.
^ Guralnick 1999, pp. 451, 446, 453.
^ Guralnick 1999, p. 456.
^ Hopkins 2007, p. 291.
^ Guralnick 1999, p. 474.
^ Moscheo 2007, p. 132.
^ Victor 2008, p. 10.
^ Brown & Broeske 1997, p. 364.
^ Guralnick 1999, p. 475.
^ Mason 2007, p. 141.
^ RIAA 2010.
^ Guralnick 1999, pp. 488–90.
^ Guralnick & Jorgensen 1999, p. 329.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Higginbotham 2002.
^ Keogh 2004, p. 238.
^ Guralnick 1999, pp. 481, 487, 499, 504, 519–20.
^ Guralnick 1999, p. 547.
^ ^a ^b Hopkins 1986, p. 136.
^ Garber 1997, p. 364.
^ Guralnick 1994, pp. 50, 148.
^ Guralnick 1999, pp. 601–4.
^ Stanley & Coffey 1998, p. 139.
^ Hopkins 2007, p. 354.
^ Stanley & Coffey 1998, p. 140.
^ Victor 2008, pp. 8, 526.
^ Victor 2008, pp. 8, 224, 325.
^ Guralnick 1999, p. 560.
^ Guralnick & Jorgensen 1999, p. 336.
^ Jorgensen 1998, p. 381.
^ Guralnick 1999, pp. 584–85.
^ Guralnick 1999, pp. 593–95.
^ Guralnick 1999, p. 595.
^ Jorgensen 1998, p. 397.
^ ^a ^b ^c Caulfield 2004, p. 24.
^ ^a ^b ^c Whitburn 2006, p. 273.
^ Marcus 1982, p. 284.
^ Marsh 1999, p. 430.
^ Scherman 2006.
^ ^a ^b Guralnick 1999, p. 628.
^ Roy 1985, p. 71.
^ Guralnick 1999, p. 634.
^ Guralnick 1999, pp. 212, 642.
^ Stanley & Coffey 1998, p. 148.
^ Humphries 2003, p. 79.
^ Guralnick 1999, pp. 645–48.
^ ^a ^b Woolley & Peters 1977.
^ Hopkins 2007, p. 386.
^ ^a ^b Guralnick 1999, p. 660.
^ Victor 2008, pp. 581–82.
^ Matthew-Walker 1979, p. 26.
^ Pendergast & Pendergast 2000, p. 108.
^ ^a ^b ^c Warwick et al. 2004, pp. 860–66.
^ Brown & Broeske 1997, p. 433.
^ National Park Service 2010.
^ Cook 2004, p. 33.
^ Bronson 2004, p. 1.
^ Goldman & Ewalt 2007.
^ Rose 2006.
^ Goldman & Paine 2007.
^ Hoy 2008.
^ Pomerantz et al. 2009.
^ Rose et al. 2010.
^ Baillie 2010.
^ Bouchard 2010.
^ Lynch 2011.
^ Pomerantz 2011.
^ Hilburn 2007.
^ ^a ^b Victor 2008, p. 438.
^ ^a ^b ^c Whitburn 2004, pp. 500–4.
^ Billboard 2008.
^ Moody 2008.
^ Whitburn 2004, p. 830.
^ RRHF 2010.
^ Bronson 1998.
^ Trust 2010.
^ everyHit.com 2010a.
^ everyHit.com 2010b.
^ Guralnick 1994, p. 14.
^ Guralnick 1994, pp. 47–48.
^ Bertrand 2000, p. 211.
^ Morrison 1996, p. x.
^ ^a ^b Friedlander 1996, p. 45.
^ Gillett 2000, p. 113.
^ Jorgensen 1998, p. 39.
^ Wolfe 1994, p. 14.
^ Wolfe 1994, p. 22.
^ Keogh 2004, p. 184.
^ Jorgensen 1998, p. 123.
^ Jorgensen 1998, pp. 213, 237.
^ Jorgensen 1998, pp. 142–43.
^ Jorgensen 1998, p. 343.
^ Ponce de Leon 2007, p. 199.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Pleasants 2004, p. 260.
^ Waters 2003, p. 205.
^ Guralnick 1999, p. 652.
^ ^a ^b Baden & Hennessee 1990, p. 35.
^ ^a ^b Ramsland 2010.
^ Denisoff 1975, p. 22.
^ ^a ^b Pilgrim 2006.
^ Guralnick 1994, p. 426.
^ ^a ^b Kolawole 2002.
^ ^a ^b Myrie 2009, pp. 123–24.
^ Masley 2002.
^ Bertrand 2000, p. 198.
^ Guralnick 1994, pp. 415–17, 448–49.
^ Guralnick 1994, pp. 452–53.
^ Jorgensen 1998, p. 198.
^ Guralnick 1999, p. 248.
^ Guralnick & Jorgensen 1999, pp. 304, 365.
^ Guralnick & Jorgensen 1999, pp. 358, 375.
^ Presley 1985, p. 188.
^ ^a ^b Nash 2005, p. 290.
^ Clayton & Heard 2003, pp. 262–65.
^ Clayton & Heard 2003, p. 267.
^ Jorgensen 1998, p. 281.
^ Stanley & Coffey 1998, p. 123.
^ Brown & Broeske 1997, p. 125.
^ Clayton & Heard 2003, p. 226.
^ Guralnick 1999, pp. 563–65.
^ Ponce de Leon 2007, pp. 139–40.
^ Harris 2006.
^ Clayton & Heard 2003, p. 339.
^ Connelly 2008, p. 148.
^ Guralnick 1999, p. 174.
^ Guralnick 1999, p. 175.
^ ^a ^b Feeney 2010.
^ Ashley 2009, p. 76.
^ Rodman 1996, p. 58.
^ Rodman 1996, pp. 58–59.
^ Garber 1997, p. 366.
^ Dyer 1959–60, p. 30.
^ Farmer 2000, p. 86.
^ Tasker 2007, p. 208.
^ Kirchberg & Hendrickx 1999, p. 109.
^ Sadie 1994, p. 638.
^ Bertrand 2000, p. 94.
^ Rodman 1996, p. 193.
^ ^a ^b Victor 2008, p. 356.
^ Arnett 2006, p. 400.
^ Doss 1999, p. 2.
^ Lott 1997, p. 192.
^ Keogh 2004, p. 2.
^ The New York Times 2002.
^ Marcus 1982, pp. 141–42.
^ ^a ^b Whitburn 2004, pp. 500–1.
^ Whitburn 2007.
^ Whitburn 2008.
^ ^a ^b everyHit.com 2009.
^ Whitburn 2006, pp. 271–73.
^ Elster 2006, p. 391.
^ ^a ^b Nash 2005, p. 11.
^ ^a ^b Adelman 2002, pp. 13–15.
^ Dundy 2004, p. 21.
^ Bloom 2010.
^ Jorgensen 1998, pp. 35, 51, 57, 61, 75.
^ Jorgensen 1998, pp. 157–58, 166, 168.
^ VH1 1998.
^ BBC News 2001.
^ Rolling Stone 2004.
^ CMT 2005.
^ Discovery Channel 2005.
^ Variety.com 2005.
^ The Atlantic Monthly 2006.
^ Mawer 2007a.
^ Mawer 2007b.

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External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Elvis Presley

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley at the Internet Movie Database
Elvis Presley at AllRovi
Elvis Presley discography at Discogs
Elvis Presley Enterprises official site of the Elvis Presley brand
Elvis The Music official record label site
Elvis Presley Interviews on officially sanctioned Elvis Australia site
Elvis Presley at the Open Directory Project
Elvis Presley Ancestry at Genealogy.com
Elvis Presley 1955 interview material on Pop Chronicles

v t e Elvis Presley

Studio albums	Elvis Presley Elvis Elvis' Christmas Album For LP Fans Only A Date with Elvis Elvis Is Back! His Hand in Mine Something for Everybody Pot Luck How Great Thou Art From Elvis in Memphis From Memphis to Vegas/From Vegas to Memphis Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old) Love Letters from Elvis Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas Elvis Now He Touched Me Elvis (1973) Raised on Rock/For Ol' Times Sake Good Times Promised Land Today From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee Moody Blue

Live albums	On Stage Elvis: As Recorded at Madison Square Garden Aloha from Hawaii: Via Satellite Elvis: As Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis Having Fun with Elvis on Stage Elvis in Concert

Soundtrack albums	Loving You King Creole G.I. Blues Blue Hawaii Girls! Girls! Girls! It Happened at the World's Fair Fun in Acapulco Kissin' Cousins Roustabout Girl Happy Harum Scarum Frankie and Johnny Paradise Hawaiian Style Spinout Double Trouble Clambake Speedway Elvis That's the Way It Is Viva Elvis

Compilation albums	Elvis' Golden Records 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong Elvis' Golden Records Volume 3 Elvis for Everyone Elvis' Gold Records Volume 4 Elvis Sings Flaming Star Let's Be Friends Almost in Love C'mon Everybody I Got Lucky Elvis: A Legendary Performer Volume 1 Elvis: A Legendary Performer Volume 2 The Sun Sessions Welcome to My World Mahalo from Elvis Elvis' Gold Records Volume 5 Amazing Grace: His Greatest Sacred Performances Command Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II ELV1S 2nd to None Hitstory Elvis Inspirational Elvis Rock The Essential Elvis Presley Elvis the King Elvis Christmas Elvis Presley Christmas Duets

Box sets	The King of Rock 'n' Roll: The Complete 50's Masters From Nashville to Memphis: The Essential 60's Masters Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential '70s Masters Live in Las Vegas Today, Tomorrow, and Forever Elvis: Close Up Elvis 75: Good Rockin' Tonight The Complete Elvis Presley Masters Young Man With the Big Beat - The Complete '56 Masters

Filmography	Love Me Tender Loving You Jailhouse Rock King Creole G.I. Blues Flaming Star Wild in the Country Blue Hawaii Follow That Dream Kid Galahad Girls! Girls! Girls! It Happened at the World's Fair Fun in Acapulco Kissin' Cousins Viva Las Vegas Roustabout Girl Happy Tickle Me Harum Scarum Frankie and Johnny Paradise, Hawaiian Style Spinout Easy Come, Easy Go Double Trouble Clambake Stay Away, Joe Speedway Live a Little, Love a Little Charro! The Trouble with Girls Change of Habit

Films inspired by Elvis' image	Elvis Meets Nixon Elvis (TV miniseries)

Documentaries	The Pied Piper of Cleveland Elvis: That's the Way It Is Elvis on Tour This Is Elvis The New Gladiators

TV specials	The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis Elvis Presley's '68 Comeback Special Aloha from Hawaii Elvis in Concert

Stage shows based on Elvis	Cooking with Elvis All Shook Up Jailhouse Rock Elvis. The Musical Are You Lonesome Tonight? Elvis: The Concert Viva Elvis

Top 10 singles	"Heartbreak Hotel" "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" "Don't Be Cruel" "Hound Dog" "Love Me Tender" "Love Me" "Too Much" "All Shook Up" "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear" "Jailhouse Rock" "Don't" "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck" "Hard Headed Woman" "One Night" "I Got Stung" "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I" "I Need Your Love Tonight" "A Big Hunk o' Love" "Stuck on You" "It's Now or Never" "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" "Surrender" "I Feel So Bad" "(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame" "Little Sister" "Can't Help Falling in Love" "Good Luck Charm" "She's Not You" "Return to Sender" "(You're The) Devil in Disguise" "Bossa Nova Baby" "Crying in the Chapel" "In the Ghetto" "Suspicious Minds" "Don't Cry Daddy" "The Wonder of You" "Burning Love"

Related people	Sam Phillips The Blue Moon Boys The Jordanaires The Imperials Stephen H. Sholes June Juanico Memphis Mafia Colonel Tom Parker Lisa Marie Presley Priscilla Presley Judy Spreckels Linda Thompson

Related articles	Discography Graceland Cultural depictions Cultural impact Personal relationships Impersonators Elvis and Gladys Elvis and Me Elvis-A-Rama Museum Hit singles Sun recordings Million Dollar Quartet List of Elvis Presley songs Songs about Elvis Elvis Presley Enterprises "Elvis has left the building" Elvis Radio FBI files on Elvis Presley Army career Acting career Eight Elvises

Book Category Portal WikiProject

v t e Billboard Year-End number one singles (1946–1959)

1946: "Prisoner of Love" – Perry Como 1947: "Near You" – Francis Craig 1948: "Twelfth Street Rag" – Pee Wee Hunt 1949: "Riders in the Sky" – Vaughn Monroe Orchestra 1950: "Goodnight, Irene" – Gordon Jenkins and The Weavers 1951: "Too Young" – Nat King Cole 1952: "Blue Tango" – Leroy Anderson 1953: "The Song from Moulin Rouge" – Percy Faith 1954: "Little Things Mean a Lot" – Kitty Kallen 1955: "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" – Perez Prado 1956: "Heartbreak Hotel" – Elvis Presley 1957: "All Shook Up" – Elvis Presley 1958: "Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu (Volare)" – Domenico Modugno 1959: "The Battle of New Orleans" – Johnny Horton

Complete list (1946–1959) (1960–1979) (1980–1999) (2000–2019)

v t e UK best-selling singles (by year) (1952–1969)

1952: "Here in My Heart" - Al Martino · 1953: "I Believe" - Frankie Laine · 1954: "Secret Love" - Doris Day · 1955: "Rose Marie" - Slim Whitman · 1956: "I'll Be Home" - Pat Boone · 1957: "Diana" - Paul Anka · 1958: "Jailhouse Rock" - Elvis Presley · 1959: "Living Doll" - Cliff Richard · 1960: "It's Now or Never" - Elvis Presley · 1961: "Are You Lonesome Tonight" - Elvis Presley · 1962: "I Remember You" - Frank Ifield · 1963: "She Loves You" - The Beatles · 1964: "Can't Buy Me Love" - The Beatles · 1965: "Tears" - Ken Dodd · 1966: "Green, Green Grass of Home" - Tom Jones · 1967: "Release Me" - Engelbert Humperdinck · 1968: "Hey Jude" - The Beatles · 1969: "Sugar, Sugar" - The Archies

Complete list (1952–1969) (1970–1989) (1990–2009) (2010–2029)

v t e UK best-selling albums (by year) (1956–1969)

1956: Carousel (Original Soundtrack) 1957: The King and I (Original Soundtrack) 1958: My Fair Lady (Broadway Cast recording) 1959: South Pacific (Original Soundtrack) 1960: South Pacific (Original Soundtrack) 1961: G.I. Blues (Elvis Presley) 1962: West Side Story (Original Soundtrack) 1963: With The Beatles (The Beatles) 1964: Beatles for Sale (The Beatles) 1965: The Sound of Music (Original Soundtrack) 1966: The Sound of Music (Original Soundtrack) 1967: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles) 1968: The Sound of Music (Original Soundtrack) 1969: Abbey Road (The Beatles)

Complete list (1956–1969) (1970–1989) (1990–2009) (2010–2029)

Authority control: PND: 118596357 | LCCN: n78079487 | VIAF: 23404836 | WorldCat

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Persondata
Name	Clapton, Eric
Alternative names	Clapton, Eric Patrick; Slowhand
Short description	guitarist, singer, and composer
Date of birth	30 March 1945
Place of birth	Ripley, Surrey, England
Date of death
Place of death

	Book: Elvis Presley
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

Persondata
Name	Presley, Elvis Aaron
Alternative names	Presley, Elvis Aaron
Short description	American singer, song producer and actor; "The King of Rock'n'Roll"
Date of birth	(1935-01-08)January 8, 1935
Place of birth	Tupelo, Mississippi, U.S.
Date of death	August 16, 1977(1977-08-16)
Place of death	Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Perkins, Carl Filmography

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[edit] Milton Berle Show and "Hound Dog"

[edit] Steve Allen Show and first Sullivan appearance

[edit] Elvis Is Back