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Elvis Aron Presley

Also Known As: "Big E", "Big El", "Elvis the Pelvis", "The Hillbilly Cat", "The King", "The King of Rock 'n' Roll", "Alan (code name at Graceland)", "The Chief", "Crazy Tiger Man", "Mr. Dynamite", "Memphis Flash", "E.P.", "Tiger (Karate name)", "The Atomic Powered Singer", "Elvis", "Elvis Aaron P..."
Birthdate:
Birthplace: Tupelo, Lee County, Mississippi, United States
Death: August 16, 1977 (42)
Graceland Mansion, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, United States (Congestion of the Upper Torso (death certificate))
Place of Burial: Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, United States
Immediate Family:

Son of Vernon Elvis Presley and Gladys Presley
Ex-husband of Priscilla Presley
Father of Lisa Marie Presley
Brother of Jessie Garon Presley

Occupation: American singer & Actor, The King of Rock and Roll, Singer, singer actor
Managed by: Private User
Last Updated:

About Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley, in the humblest of circumstances, was born to Vernon and Gladys Presley in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi on January 8, 1935. His twin brother, Jessie Garon, was stillborn, leaving Elvis to grow up as an only child. He and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1948, and Elvis graduated from Humes High School there in 1953.

Elvis’ musical influences were the pop and country music of the time, the gospel music he heard in church and at the all-night gospel sings he frequently attended, and the black R&B he absorbed on historic Beale Street as a Memphis teenager. In 1954, he began his singing career with the legendary Sun Records label in Memphis. In late 1955, his recording contract was sold to RCA Victor. By 1956, he was an international sensation. With a sound and style that uniquely combined his diverse musical influences and blurred and challenged the social and racial barriers of the time, he ushered in a whole new era of American music and popular culture.

He starred in 33 successful films, made history with his television appearances and specials, and knew great acclaim through his many, often record-breaking, live concert performances on tour and in Las Vegas. Globally, he has sold over one billion records, more than any other artist. His American sales have earned him gold, platinum or multi-platinum awards for 150 different albums and singles, far more than any other artist. Among his many awards and accolades were 14 Grammy nominations (3 wins) from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, which he received at age 36, and his being named One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation for 1970 by the United States Jaycees. Without any of the special privileges his celebrity status might have afforded him, he honorably served his country in the U.S. Army.

His talent, good looks, sensuality, charisma, and good humor endeared him to millions, as did the humility and human kindness he demonstrated throughout his life. Known the world over by his first name, he is regarded as one of the most important figures of twentieth century popular culture. Elvis died at his Memphis home, Graceland, on August 16, 1977.

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What is less known about Elvis is that his ancestors came from Germany, their original surname was Pressler. They were part of the Sinti people, known as the "Black Dutch." It is also likely that from his mother's side, Smith by surname, the family would have been of Romanichel origins.

His surname, Presley, is anglicized from the German name Pressler from Elvis' ancestor Johann Valentin Pressler who immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1710.

Johann Valentin Pressler, a winegrower emigrated to America in 1710. Pressler came from a village in southern Palatinate called Niederhochstadt. Niederhochstadt became Hochstadt sometime during the 250 years after Johann Pressler left it, but there are still many Presslers there, among them a winegrower like Johann Valentin.  Johann Valentin first settled in New York and later moved his family to the South.

The name was Anglicized during the Civil War by a Pressler serving in the Confederate Army, Presley and Dunn report in a forthcoming book on the Presley family.


Maternal Jewish Heritage

As unfathomable as it might seem, a little known fact is that Elvis Presley, by matrilineal descent, was halakhically Jewish. Historian and biographer Elaine Dundy writes about Elvis Aron Presley’s Jewish heritage in her book “Elvis and Gladys.

A look at the nomination of Elvis for the Jewish-American Hall of Fame yields the following information . . . Source

“…Nancy Burdine was married to Abner Tackett (Elvis’ great great maternal grandmother). Nancy was of particular interest to Gladys for her Jewish heritage, often remembering Nancy’s sons for their Jewish names Sidney and Jerome. Nancy and Abner had a daughter Martha who married White Mansell. The daughter which they named Octavia, nick-named Doll, who was Elvis’ maternal grandmother.”
“…Doll and Robert had nine children. Gladys Love was the fifth daughter born followed by 3 more brothers and one sister. After his mother died, Elvis personally sought to design his beloved mother’s gravesite which included a Star of David on Gladys Love Presley’s tombstone. The decision was made by him in honor of his Jewish heritage. Something his mother was proud of and acknowledged to Elvis at a very early age.
So Elvis’s great great maternal grandmother was Jewish and had a daughter who had a daughter who had a daughter that was Elvis’s mother. Source

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Elvis Presley's Timeline

1935
January 8, 1935
Tupelo, Lee County, Mississippi, United States
1940
1940
Age 4
Beat 3, Beat 3, Lee, Mississippi, USA
1944
1944
Age 8
1957
1957
Age 21
Memphis, Tennessee, USA
1968
February 1, 1968
Baptist Hospital, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, United States
1977
August 16, 1977
Age 42
Graceland Mansion, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, United States
August 18, 1977
Age 42
Graceland, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, United States
????
Humes High School