Elvis Presley spent his entire teenage life in Memphis. Initially, he and his family decided to move in winter 1948 to Memphis. In the first year, the family lived in rooming houses. Then, they moved over to “Courts”, a public housing complex.
Elvis attended the Humas High School in Memphis. Some of the buildings are listed on the “National Register of Historic Places” concerning of its connection to the King of Rock n Roll. During the first years of high school, Elvis only got a C in music. As a consequence, he wrote a song about his music teacher and began to rehearse the guitar. In his first years in Memphis, Elvis Presley was employed by a lot of different companies, such as “Marl metal products” or “Loews State Theater” for which he served as an usher.
When time went by, Elvis tried to distinguish from his classmates. For instance, he styled his hair with Vaseline and a special rose oil. He bought conspicuous dresses in “Lanksy Brothers” at the Beale Street and spent a lot of time at that street, which is famous for is blues scene (also see my blog entry “Elvis Presley and the Beale Street” http://elvispresleyandmemphis.blogspot.com/2011/10/elvis-presley-and-beale-street.html). He and the legendary BB King sauntered and hanged out many times at the Beale Street. In 1953, he participated at a talent show and became a bit more popular after it.
Time after time, Elvis Presley listened more and more to local gospel music groups in Memphis. He was a big fan of that genre and many of his future songs were inspired by gospel.
I’ve heard about the Human High School. Very interesting, that they named a building after him. Unfortunately, the school is closed today.
ReplyDeleteThat’s interesting that you’ve mentioned the point how Elvis styled his hair, because I’ve read on some pages, that he used that to differentiate from others. In a nutshell, Elvis really spent a lot of time in Memphis. I think your blog entries is a good summary for his significance for the city! Well done!
ReplyDeleteInteresting to read that he got a C in music! I used to get a C in math. Maybe I should've not given up that fast:) And I bet that Elvis as a local celebrity, especially in his later youth, did his bit to make Beale what it is today!
ReplyDeleteYeah that is really surprising, that he got a C in music. Maybe his teacher was jealous of Elvis' talent :D
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