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Elvis biography - 1977
Even with his precarious physical condition, he began a new tour
March 23-30, 1977
Elvis tours in concert.
April 1-5, 1977
Elvis is hospitalized in Memphis and tour shows scheduled for March 31-April 3 are canceled.
April 21- May 31, 1977
Elvis tours in concert.
June 1-2, 1977
More concert dates.
June 17-26, 1977
Elvis tours in concert. Shows on June 19, 20, and 21 are recorded by RCA and videotaped by CBS-TV for an upcoming live album and television special. Footage from the show on the 20th is not used in the show. The TV Special will be called "Elvis in Concert". It will air in early October after Elvis's death in August. The camera gives a shocking picture of Elvis's poor health in his final days. Still, some of the song performances are great. He still had his voice.
June 26, 1977
A concert at Indianapolis, Indiana's Market Square Arena. This will turn out to be his very last concert performance.
June 27- August 15, 1977
Elvis relaxes in Memphis and prepares for the next leg of touring for 1977.
August 16, 1977
Shortly after midnight Elvis returns to Graceland from a late-night visit to the dentist. Through the early morning of the 16th he takes care of last minute tour details and relaxes with family and staff. He is to fly to Portland, Maine that night and do a show there on the 17th, then continue the scheduled tour.
He retires to his master suite at Graceland around 7:00 AM to rest for his evening flight. But at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon on August 16, he was taken to the emergency room of BAPTIST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, where, at 3:30 PM on August 16, 1977, the doctors declared him dead due to cardiac arrhythmia. It is announced by mid-afternoon. In a matter of hours the shock registers around the world.
October 3, 1977
"Elvis In Concert" airs on CBS-TV and is one of the biggest television hits of the year,
Conclusion
During his career, Presley earned 94 gold singles, three gold EPs and over forty gold LPs.
His movies grossed over $180 million, and millions were made by the merchandising of Elvis products that ranged from t-shirts to stuffed hound dogs and bracelets, the rights to which were controlled by Colonel Parker.
The importance of Presley in the history of rock 'n' roll and popular music remains incalculable.
In spite of his iconographic status, the Elvis image was never captured in a single moment of time like that of Bill
Haley, Buddy Holly or even Chuck Berry.
Presley, in spite of his apparent creative inertia, was not a one-dimensional artist clinging to history but a
multi-faceted performer whose career spanned several decades and phases.
For purists and rockabilly enthusiasts it is the early Presley that remains of greatest importance and there is no
doubting that his personal fusion of black and white musical influences, incorporating R&B and country,
produced some of the finest and most durable recordings of the century.
Beyond Elvis 'The Hillbilly Cat', however, there was the face that launched a thousand imitators, that black-haired,
smiling or smouldering presence who stared from the front covers of numerous EPs, albums and film posters of the
late 50s and early 60s. It was that well-groomed, immaculate pop star who inspired a generation of performers
and second-rate imitators in the 60s.
There was also Elvis the Las Vegas performer, vibrant and vulgar, yet still distant and increasingly appealing to
a later generation brought up on the excesses of 70s rock and glam ephemera. Finally, there was the bloated Presley
who bestrode the stage in the last months of his career. For many, he has come to symbolize the decadence and loss
of dignity that is all too often heir to pop idolatry. It is no wonder that Presley's remarkable career so sharply
divides those who testify to his ultimate greatness and those who bemoan the gifts that he seemingly squandered
along the way.
In a sense, the contrasting images of Elvis have come to represent everything positive and everything destructive
about the music industry. Twenty three years after his death, in August 1997, there was no waning of his power and appeal.
Television, radio, newspapers and magazines all over the world still found that, whatever was happening elsewhere,
little could compare to this anniversary.
THAT'S WHY HE WAS CALLED THE KING.
HE IS STILL THE KING
AND ALWAYS WILL BE THE KING
