1935
January 8th: Elvis Aron Presley is born in East Tupelo, Mississippi / USA as the son of the cotton picker and factory worker Vernon Presley and the seamstress Gladys Presley (birth name: Smith).
His twin brother Jesse Garon is born dead.
1937
Presley’s father Vernon is arrested for forging checks and sentenced to three years of forced labor in 1938. In 1939 he was released early from prison.
During these years the close bond between Presley and his mother developed.
Presley gained his first singing experience in the church choir.
1945
Presley wins second prize in the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Daily Show talent competition in Tupelo.
1946
Presley receives his first guitar and learns to play it without instruction.
1948
Presley moves to Memphis with his family.
1949
Presley moves into public housing with his family in Lauderdale Courts. He attends Humes High School in Memphis.
1950
Work as a cinema seat attendant.
1953
Presley graduated from Humes High School.
Worked as a truck driver for Crown Electric in Memphis.
Presley is making a record at his own expense – “My Happiness” and “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin” – at the Memphis Recording Service, home of Sam Phillips’ Sun label.
He wants to give the record to his mother as a present.
1954
January: Recording of a second demo record on Sun Records.
June: Presley meets with Scotty Moore and Bill Black for the first practice session. Together they record “That’s All Right (Mama)”.
July: The record is played on the radio for the first time. First concert appearances with Moore and Black follow.
October: First and only appearance on “Grand Ol ‘Opry”, the cult show for country music.
1955
Presley is giving over 160 concerts this year. He develops his own rock ‘n’ roll style and his inimitable rhythm and blues voice.
February: The trade magazine “Variety” criticizes the “dirty” lyrics of rock ‘n’ roll and calls on the industry to self-censure.
March: First TV appearance.
Presley begins business partnership with Colonel Thomas Andrew Parker.
November: The largest American record company, Radio Corporation of America (RCA), buys Presley’s contract from Sam Phillips for only $ 35,000.
1956
Presley is giving over 110 concerts this year.
January: First recordings for RCA in Nashville with the song “Heartbreak Hotel”; The song sold over 300,000 records in the first three weeks and Presley received his first gold record.
The song “Mystery Train” becomes # 1 on the country charts.
Colonel Parker also formally becomes Presley’s manager.
April: Presley signs a 7-year film deal with Paramount Pictures in Hollywood.
“Heartbreak Hotel” is No. 1 on the US hit parade in April and May.
First engagement in Las Vegas.
May: Presley moves his family into a house he has bought in Memphis.
August: Start of shooting “Love Me Tender”, Presley’s first of a total of 33 feature films.
September: Presley buys his mother a pink Cadillac.
His first appearance on the “Ed Sullivan Show” provoked a press campaign against his “obscenity”. Above all, his famous hip swing, which earned him the name “Elvis the Pelvis” (Elvis, the pelvis), and his feminine wardrobe arouse the minds.
September 26: “Elvis Presley Day” in Tupelo.
December: Presley visits the Sun studio in Memphis and does an impromptu session with Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash (1932-2003): “The Million Dollar Quartet”; the session is not recorded.
1957
This year Presley only gives 33 concerts.
January: He undergoes a medical examination for military service.
March: He buys the Graceland property in Whitehaven near Memphis.
July: Premiere of the film “Loving You”.
October: Premiere of the film “Jailhouse Rock”.
December: Presley receives a draft for military service.
1958
March: At the height of his popularity, Presley begins his military service.
July: Premiere of the film “King Creole”.
August 14th: Death of his mother Gladys Presley in Memphis.
October 1st: Arrival from Presley in Bremerhaven. He is stationed in Friedberg for a year and a half, but has an apartment outside the base in Bad Nauheim, which he shares with his father, grandmother and friends from Memphis.
1959
June: Presley performs spontaneously at the Paris Lido while on vacation.
September: First meeting with Priscilla Beaulieu (born 1945) in Wiesbaden.
1960
March: Flight back to the USA and discharge from the army.
March 26th: Frank Sinatra (1915-1998), who had previously scathingly criticized the rock ‘n’ roll star, hosts the TV show “Welcome Home, Elvis”. Presley receives $ 125,000 for the television appearance, the highest salary to date that an artist has ever received for a television appearance.
April: Release of the LP “Elvis is Back!”.
December: Gospel LP “His Hand In
Mine”.
Presley spends Christmas with 15-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu at Graceland.
1961
March: Last live appearance up to the “NBC-TV Special” 1968. November: Premiere of “Blue Hawai”.
1964
January: Presley buys the former presidential yacht Franklin D. Roosevelts and donates it to a children’s hospital.
1965
August: The Beatles visit Presley at his Hollywood mansion.
1967
May 1: Presley marries Priscilla Beaulieu at the Aladin Hotel, Las Vegas. The marriage ended in divorce in 1973.
September 29: “Elvis Presley Day” in Tennessee.
1968
February 1: Daughter Lisa Marie is born.
June: Recordings for the NBC TV special in Burbank, which will air December 3rd. With this television show, Presley made a brilliant comeback, which at the same time marked the change from the musical rebel to the established, widely recognized “All American Boy”.
1969
January / February: Recordings in Memphis.
May: Release of the LP “From Elvis in Memphis”.
July / August: Comeback engagement in Las Vegas: a total of 57 appearances.
November: LP “From Memphis To Vegas” / From Vegas To Memphis “.
November: Premiere of “Change of Habit”, Presley’s last feature film.
1970
Presley is giving 138 concerts this year, 114 of them in Las Vegas.
January: Awarded as one of the “ten outstanding young men of America”, alongside scientists and human rights activists, by the Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycee) of the USA.
November: Premiere of the documentary “Elvis – That’s The Way It Is”.
December: Meeting with President Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994) at the White House, Washington. Presley is named by Nixon as an agent for the United States Drugs Department.
1971
Presley gives 155 concerts, 114 of them in Las Vegas.
January: LP “I’m 10,000 Years Old, Elvis Country”.
June: Presley’s birthplace in Tupelo becomes a memorial.
1972
Presley is giving 155 concerts this year, 120 of them in Las Vegas.
January: The southern section of Bellevue Boulevard in Memphis (Highway 51), which passes Graceland, is renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard.
February: Separation from Priscilla Presley.
In the period that followed, rumors about his obesity, substance abuse, depression and pill addiction continued to rise.
1973
Presley is giving 168 concerts this year, 113 of them in Las Vegas. January: The television show “Elvis – Aloha From Hawaii” is seen by approximately one billion people around the world.
1974
January 8: Governor Jimmy Carter (born 1924) proclaims “Elvis Presley Day” in Georgia.
Presley gives 156 concerts, 56 of them in Las Vegas.
Presley’s health problems are also making themselves felt publicly.
1975
May: LP “From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee”.
June: Facelift at Mid-South Hospital, Memphis.
Presley gives 58 concerts, including 51 in Las Vegas.
1976
December: Last Las Vegas engagement (15 appearances). Presley is giving 127 concerts this year.
1977
This year Presley gives 56 concerts.
March: Presley notarizes his will. His daughter Lisa Marie Presley becomes the principal heir.
April: hospital stay.
April 29th: Presley has to suspend his concert in Baltimore for health reasons.
June 26th: He gives his last concert on June 26th in Indianapolis.
July: The last LP, “Moody Blue” is released.
August 1st: In her book “Elvis – What Happened?” three former bodyguards portray Presley’s drug addiction.
August 16: Elvis Presley dies of heart failure in Memphis, Tennessee, at the age of 42.
August 18: Presley is buried in Forrest Hill Cemetery in Memphis.
October: Posthumous release of the LP “Elvis in Concert”.
Presley and his mother’s coffins are moved to Graceland.