Elvis Presley

Discover the incredible life and enduring legacy of Elvis Presley in this captivating Up Close biography series about twentieth-century America.

Meet the King of rock and roll.

Elvis Presley made a sound that was all his own, a sound so different that it ushered in a new kind of music—rock and roll. From the time he was a boy in East Tupelo, Mississippi, he absorbed the music around him: gospel, honky-tonk, country, and rhythm and blues. Elvis combined all of these sounds and created a music that crossed racial and cultural divides.

Kids all over America went wild for Elvis and his electrifying rock and roll. His rockabilly style and way of moving his legs and hips onstage scandalized some, but everyone from Hollywood to the army seemed to want a piece of this dynamic performer. At heart, Elvis was a shy and polite man and the demands of fame began to take a toll. While his dependences on prescription drugs cut short his life, Elvis’s influence on music and popular culture endures to this day.