Elvis Presley – Ramblings of a Lifelong Fan – Part XIV – Did you know…

Thought I’d share some fun facts about Elvis. How many of these tidbits did you already know?

In 1974, Elvis bought the entire stock of Lincoln Mark IV’s from Schilling Motors in Memphis and gave them all away as gifts.

George Klein became friends with Elvis when they were in eighth grade at Humes High in Memphis. They remained friends throughout Elvis’ life and George currently has a radio show on SiriusXM Elvis Radio. Elvis valued friendship very highly and many members of the so-called ‘Memphis Mafia’ that surrounded him throughout his career were guys he’d known from the early days.

There has been a great deal of speculation about the spelling of Elvis’ middle name, whether it was Aron or Aaron. George Klein explained on his radio show that Elvis told them how that came to be. It was always intended to be spelled with one ‘a’ but in the excitement during his birth—when his twin, Jessie Garon was stillborn—they spelled it with only one ‘a’. Later, Elvis wanted it changed to the biblical spelling with two a’s and Vernon wanted to honor Elvis’ preference, and that is why it is with two a’s on his tombstone.

Elvis’ 1973 concert, Aloha from Hawaii was a benefit where all proceeds went to cancer research. Rather than charging for tickets, those who attended were only asked to pay whatever they could donate. 

When Elvis first started making movies, he tried not to smile much, because he was afraid to show his teeth, afraid the studio executives would want to ‘yank them out and replace them with movie star teeth.’ Which was insane, because his teeth were beautiful.

Lisa Marie was born 9 months to the day after Elvis and Priscilla married at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas on May 1, 1967. (There has been a lot of talk about Elvis bringing Priscilla to live with him at Graceland when she was just a ‘child’ but she was 18 when she moved to Graceland in 1963)

Elvis’ granddaughter, Riley Keough, is an actress, but she chose not to use the Presley name to help her career and chose instead to make it on her own. (She most definitely has the Presley ‘look’)

Many people said that in Elvis’ later years, his voice had begun to fail and that he couldn’t sing the way he used to. Some of his most beautiful songs, some of the most difficult to sing, were recorded in 1976, a year before his death, in the Jungle Room at Graceland, which had been turned into a studio. Here is Danny Boy from those sessions. When I was younger, this was never one of my favorite songs, but now, I love it. His voice is so beautiful, so haunting. I actually get emotional now when I hear it. Enjoy…