Elvis Presley
There was once a young boy who got a guitar for his 11th birthday instead of a bicycle by his protective mother. That boy would later learn how to play the guitar through an African- American minister in Tupelo, Mississippi. That boy was Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll. Elvis got his start by singing songs that were recorded at Sun Records by African Americans so the songs could have a wider audience in a time where stations would refused to play songs made by people of colour. His first hit was a song called That's All Right in 1954 and after that he began performing in local clubs where he gained a following of fans. One of his most well- known hits Hound Dog was originally a hit song by an African-American known as Big Mama Thornton which was altered to the song we know now. Over the years, Elvis would sing many more songs that were written by other people for him and gained many thousands of more fans. Elvis' 2-year stint in the army not only saw the death of his beloved mother Gladys from heart problems and his first encounter with the girl who would become his wife Priscilla Beaulieu but his drafting inspired the musical Bye Bye Birdie which was about a young singer named Conrad Birdie being drafted into the army.
Elvis and Priscilla got married in 1967 and by that point, Elvis had made several movies and even more songs. He sang an English version of the German folk song Muss I Denn as Wooden Heart which appeared in his 1960 film G.I. Blues. Another one of his songs Blue Christmas appeared in the 1974 stop motion film The Year without A Santa Claus. Elvis became a father to Lisa Marie Presley in February 1968 who he shared custody with Priscilla when the marriage broke up. Elvis' iconic home Graceland came into his possession in the 1950s when he bought his for his family. Elvis continued to sing many more songs, one of which, Wonderful World was written by Guy Fletcher, the father of British television personality and actor Justin Fletcher of Something Special and Shawn the Sheep fame. Although Elvis collapsed and died suddenly of a heart attack on 16 August 1977, his songs are still listened to and licensed out to films, television shows and adverts (his song If I can Dream appeared in several Irish National Lottery ads in the late 2010s and early 2020s). A whole new generation was introduced to Elvis Presley through the 2002 Disney animated film Lilo & Stitch where a Hawaiian girl named Lilo adopts an alien named Stitch as a pet and introduces him to Elvis' discography and legacy in Hawaii on account of Elvis' film Blue Hawaii and concert performances on the islands.