Elvis’ singing career combined popular and country music with the gospel sounds he heard in church and the R&B music he absorbed as a Memphis teenager. In 1954 “The King” of rock ‘n’ roll began his recording career and by 1956, after releasing his hit “Heartbreak Hotel,” Elvis gained international fame. Not satisfied with merely pop-star notoriety, Elvis signed a three-movie deal with Paramount, making him not only a singing sensation but a movie star as well.

After releasing “Love Me Tender” and “Jailhouse Rock,” Elvis moved into Graceland in 1957, a Memphis mansion that now draws over one million visitors per year. Elvis enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1958 and spent two years in Germany. He returned to the United States in 1960 and in 1967 married longtime girlfriend Priscilla Beaulieu. They later had a daughter, Lisa-Marie. Elvis died on August 16, 1977 at Graceland.