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Elvis died 45 years ago today…

(93 Posts)
Shinamae Tue 16-Aug-22 14:26:08

I remember it well, I was working at Butlins Minehead. It was such a shock…

Kate1949 Thu 18-Aug-22 11:40:04

Oh yes Elvis in black leather in the 1968 show. Unbelievably gorgeous. I have it on DVD somewhere.

Gwenisgreat1 Thu 18-Aug-22 11:46:22

While I preferred Cliff and believe it or not, Tommy Steele, I did love Elvis's voice and music. He was a far more talented man than we realised at the time.
RIP

Dee1012 Thu 18-Aug-22 11:54:30

I think he was a fantastic singer and performer but I always found the stories relating to his relationship with Priscilla uncomfortable, wouldn't we call it 'grooming' now?

jaybee66 Thu 18-Aug-22 11:57:00

He was my first love after seeing him on TV when I was 14. I cried when I heard that he had died.

Supernan Thu 18-Aug-22 12:01:33

I still have my 78s. Happy Days.

Strangwendy Thu 18-Aug-22 12:11:35

I will never forget it! It would have been my sons 2nd birthday, he had died just a couple of weeks previously. I had gone to my sisters for the day to save me being alone, we arrived home and put the tv on and it was broadcast almost immediately, I just collapsed.
I saw the Elvis film a couple of weeks ago with my Elvis mad son in law. Very moving and very, very sad! He could easily have still been with us!

Theoddbird Thu 18-Aug-22 12:12:32

It was a gorgeous sunny day and my eldest was 2 weeks old. I remember it well...

Nannina Thu 18-Aug-22 12:20:23

Elvis songs always remind me of my sister, 9 years my senior, and her friend aged about 15 bopping around to music coming from the Dansette in our tiny living room

InTheCove Thu 18-Aug-22 12:24:23

I had tickets to his upcoming concert at the Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, New York, USA. Very shocking and sad!

Daisydaisydaisy Thu 18-Aug-22 12:24:27

I agree smileless .

Coconut Thu 18-Aug-22 12:40:03

Truly beautiful face and you don’t often say that about a man. His demise was just so tragic. When I was fortunate enough to go to Graceland, it felt so surreal and I can’t explain this strange almost haunting feeling that came over me as I was walking around.

Musicgirl Thu 18-Aug-22 13:06:47

My friend always says he is never able to forget his 21st birthday as that was the day Elvis died.
As some of you know, I teach piano, violin and viola. At the moment, an arrangement of Hound Dog is set for grade 3. As you might imagine, it is extremely popular and everyone has a beaming smile on their face when they play it.

HousePlantQueen Thu 18-Aug-22 13:15:09

I was never a massive fan as his best years were over when I was too little to appreciate him; to me he was a bloated singer in a white rhinestone studded jumpsuit. I know now better and feel sad for what he could have been. I was in Corfu when he died, on holiday with a pal, and saw a billboard from a French newspaper which announced L'Elvis est mort!. Funny how little things that like stay with me, even after all these years.

Hazeld Thu 18-Aug-22 13:17:17

I've always been a BIG Elvis fan, been to Graceland,Memphis 7 times to date. You have to see the turnout for the Midnight Vigil to believe it, thousands and thousands of Elvis fans, even after 45 years. He was and always will be, The King, there will never be another like him. RIP.

knspol Thu 18-Aug-22 13:28:29

Always so sad when such a talent dies but especially sad when with true friends and good management he maybe could still be alive today.

Yellowmellow Thu 18-Aug-22 13:29:35

A bit before my time, but in his younger day, what a good looking man . Great voice roo.
I remember being in the hairdressers and the news if his death came over the radio. Women were crying when they heard the news.

SachaMac Thu 18-Aug-22 13:30:01

I loved him, my mother is a massive fan and still is, we grew up listening to his music & watching his films on TV. He was a gorgeous looking man with the most beautiful distinctive voice.

The film shows just how the Colonel manipulated them all for his own gain. The Presley family eventually proved it & got some justice. Austin Butler was brilliant in the film but no one could ever capture Elvis’s smile, it always seemed to reach his eyes and make them sparkle even when he was older and bloated he still had that smile. Very sad that he died so young and also tragic that his grandson died at such a young age too.

Graceland is on my to do list Coconut it must have been a brilliant trip.

libra10 Thu 18-Aug-22 13:52:18

As a teen, Elvis was my hero. He was so good looking and he had an incredible voice.

He still inspires magic all these years later.

grandtanteJE65 Thu 18-Aug-22 13:53:01

It is always sad when a young person dies.

Personally, I never understood why Elvis was so popular. I liked n either his music nor his looks, and even as a teenager I found the pop-idol cult annoying.

Shinamae Thu 18-Aug-22 13:53:22

I did enjoy the film but the final scene when you saw Elvis at the piano made me cry ..?

SachaMac Thu 18-Aug-22 14:34:56

Yes me too ?

lilydily9 Thu 18-Aug-22 14:37:54

I've loved Elvis since my teens when I first saw him in the movie 'Follow that Dream'. My friends and I must have watched it at least half a dozen times!

Nobody comes close to his talent and he was one of the most good-looking men ever.

Such a tragedy that he died so young.

Dickens Thu 18-Aug-22 14:49:24

Smileless2012

I thought his untimely death was due to substance abuse.

... and his - allegedly - appalling diet.

He suffered (again, allegedly) from serious constipation, which does correspond with such a diet.

But that kind of foodstuff is very addictive. I was never a great fan (each to her own), but he should have had a dietician among his staff. His weight gain would indicate that he was simply eating too much of the wrong food. You can get away with it when you are young, but not indefinitely.

A sad - and unnecessarily early - death.

Chestnut Thu 18-Aug-22 15:16:45

Dickens The jury is still out on the cause of Elvis's death (see earlier posts). Drugs and bad diet certainly contributed along with abuse from his manager, but there may also have been a defective gene passed down from his mother (who died at 46 years). A perfect storm of sickness.

HannahLoisLuke Thu 18-Aug-22 16:17:02

I adored Elvis from the age of twelve when he first burst upon the scene with Heartbreak Hotel. I loved everything he did until he came back from the army and that rogue Parker wanted to present him as the clean cut boy instead of the slightly dangerous image he had before. He made a stream of awful films, then was stuck on the Vegas treadmill until it killed him. Yes, his lifestyle was unhealthy and he was pumped full of prescription drugs to keep him performing. I think the theory if the faulty gene is also a factor.
I too cried when he died because although I no longer liked his music so much I still adored Elvis. He was, as others have said a beautiful looking man.