Elvis Aaron Presley

Elvis Presley

I don’t go gaa-gaa over any guy, unless he has done something that I consider incredible. He once said, “I don’t know much about music. In my line you don’t have to.” Elvis Presley might have seemed like just a drug addict or a great singer gone wrong. Yeah he might be those things, but he also did many things and on his own. Born on January 8th, 1935 and passed on August 16th, 1977 at the age of 42. To my eyes Elvis did a lot, for example, Elvis was a self-promoted musician, he made it and on his own practically. Achieved ridiculous amounts of record sales and was incredible on stage. For these reasons and more, Elvis Presley is my hero.

Elvis accomplished many things, some weren’t even noticed or even known. Elvis starred in 31 featured films, all of which enjoyed financial success. For a number of years he was one of Hollywood’s top box office draws and one of its highest-paid actors. His two most critically acclaimed films; JailHouse Rock (1975) and King Creole (1958) have become classics of their area. His movies and concerts enjoy a healthy life today in television syndication and home videos sales and rentals. Some of his top-selling music came from his movies. Eleven of his movie soundtrack albums went to the top ten and, of those, four went to number one. The soundtrack for G.I Blues (1960) was number one on the Billboard Top 100 album chart for 10 weeks and remained on the chart for 111 weeks. The album from Blue Hawaii was number one for 20 weeks and was on the chart for 79 weeks.

Elvis’ profession through his eyes was easy…play music and get paid. He never thought he would go so far and be so successful. Elvis was rather on the radio, on stage live, or on T.V. He had three-network television specials-Elvis (1968), Elvis: Aloha form Hawaii (1973), and Elvis on Concert (1977). Elvis loved being on stage and loved to show off what he could do. He would dance around the whole stage his own way. Have you ever noticed, when Elvis was on T.V doing a concert they would only record and show his upper-half of his body? Apparently Elvis’ dancing was “inappropriate” for viewers. This didn’t stop Elvis though from doing what he wanted.

From my point of view Elvis lived his life to the fullest but not carefully. When Elvis received his money from a T.V show or a concert he would waste it on drugs or alcohol. He was a big success, unfortunately that lead to his death. Elvis eventually fell in love but that didn’t last either. I have a poster of him on my wall…when I first got it the first thing my sister said was, “Bibi why does he look sad?” I didn’t really get what she was trying to say, then my mom told us that he might have had everything in the word, but it wasn’t what he wanted. The poster’s black and white…when Elvis was at his prime…you look at it once and nothing really comes to mind…when I’m bored I go to my poster and look at his eyes and think, “Yeah my sister is right…he is sad.” Elvis might have had loved being who he was, but hasn’t happy. I can’t think of anything he might have wanted…maybe he didn’t know either.

“…the image is one thing and the human being is another…it’s very hard to live up to an image.” One of the hardest and maybe the truest quote I’ll ever hear. Elvis did a lot and I look up to him for those reasons. He loved music and wanted to be with it all his life, I can’t stand being without it. His music came from his guitar mostly and also does mine. He followed music since he was young…today I’m in advanced band as captain of my drumline. I have big hopes of being a musician; it’s hard to get publicity. Elvis started in clubs and bars and eventually he got noticed. The only thing I want to avoid are the drugs and alcohol, I don’t want to become a great success and then bring myself to an early grave. Unfortunately that’s how it went for Elvis. The death of Elvis isn’t what’s important to me, what was and always will be is the legend that he made for himself. My hero is Elvis Aaron Presley.