That voice, those eyes, that hair, the cars, the girls…Elvis Presley revolutionized American pop culture when, at the age of twenty-one, he became the world’s first modern superstar. A Memphis Beau Brummel even before he found fame, Elvis had a personal style that, like his music, had such a direct impact on his audience that it continues to influence us to this day. Elvis Presley compellingly examines Elvis’ life and style to reveal the generous, complex, spiritual man behind the fourteen-carat-gold sunglasses and answers the question, Why does Elvis matter?
Elvis Presley is the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century, proclaimed Leonard Bernstein. By any measure, Presley’s life was remarkable. From his modest beginnings in a two-room house to his meteoric rise to international fame, everything about his life – his outsized talent to his car collection – clamored for attention. And he got it; even today, Elvis continues to fascinate. Written with the assistance of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Pamela Clarke Keogh’s biography draws on extensive research and interviews with Presley friends and family, among them Priscilla Presley, Joe Esposito, Jerry Schilling, Larry Geller, Bernard Lansky, famed Hollywood photographer Bob Willoughby, and designer Bill Belew. Offered access to the Graceland archives, the author considered thousands of images, selecting more than one hundred color and black-and-white photographs for this book, many of them rarely seen before. Both a significant biography of the greatest entertainer of our time and a provocative celebration of what Presley means to America today, Elvis Presley introduces the man behind the myth, a very human superstar beloved by millions.