Elvis Aaron Presley [ a ] January 8, β August 16, , known mononymously as Elvis , was an American singer and actor. Known as the " King of Rock and Roll ", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Presley's energized performances and interpretations of songs, and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations , brought both great success and initial controversy.
Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi ; his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee , when he was His music career began there in , at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips , who wanted to bring the sound of African-American music to a wider audience. Presley, on guitar and accompanied by lead guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black , was a pioneer of rockabilly , an uptempo, backbeat -driven fusion of country music and rhythm and blues.
In , drummer D. Fontana joined to complete the lineup of Presley's classic quartet and RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker , who managed him for the rest of his career. With a series of successful television appearances and chart-topping records, Presley became the leading figure of the newly popular rock and roll ; though his performative style and promotion of the then-marginalized sound of African Americans [ 6 ] led to him being widely considered a threat to the moral well-being of white American youth.
Drafted into military service in , he relaunched his recording career two years later with some of his most commercially successful work. Presley held few concerts, and guided by Parker, proceeded to devote much of the s to making Hollywood films and soundtrack albums, most of them critically derided. In , he returned to the stage in the acclaimed NBC television comeback special Elvis , which led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and a string of highly profitable tours.
In , Presley gave the first concert by a solo artist to be broadcast around the world, Aloha from Hawaii. Years of prescription drug abuse and unhealthy eating severely compromised his health, and Presley died unexpectedly in August at his Graceland estate at the age of Presley is one of the best-selling music artists in history, with sale estimates ranging from million records to over a billion worldwide.
