9 Best 「elvis」 Books of 2024| Books Explorer
- Elvis and Me: The True Story of the Love Between Priscilla Presley and the King of Rock N' Roll
- Elvis: The Legend; the Authorized Book from the Graceland Archives
- Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley
- Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley
- A Little Thing Called Life: On Loving Elvis Presley, Bruce Jenner, and Songs in Between
- ELVIS: WHAT HAPPENED?
- Me and a Guy Named Elvis: My Lifelong Friendship with Elvis Presley
- DEAD ELVIS: A CHRONICLE OF A CULTURAL OB
- Elvis and Ginger: Elvis Presley's Fiancée and Last Love Finally Tells Her Story
The New York Times bestseller that reveals the intimate story of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley, told by the woman who lived it.Decades after his death, millions of fans continue to worship Elvis the legend. But very few knew him as Elvis the man. Here in her own words, Priscilla Presley tells the story of their love, revealing the details of their first meeting, their marriage, their affairs, their divorce, and the unbreakable bond that has remained long after his tragic death.A tribute to both the man and the legend, Elvis and Me gives Elvis fans the world over an unprecedented look at the true life of the King of Rock N' Roll and the woman who loved him.
Authorized by the Graceland® Archives, this remarkable illustrated biography marks the 40th anniversary of Elvis’s death—and tells his story as never before. Take a journey through the Graceland archives and get an inside, close-up look at the King of Rock and Roll. Featuring insightful text from a respected music journalist who has written extensively on Presley, this authorized book recounts every aspect of his history: Elvis’s closest relationships, his hit albums, his successful movie career, and his lasting legacy. More than 150 color and black-and-white photographs capture Elvis with friends and family, and show personal items, including his jewelry, guitars, clothing, vehicles, letters, and publicity material.
Written with grace, humor, and affection, Last Train to Memphis has been hailed as the definitive biography of Elvis Presley. It is the first to set aside the myths and focus on Elvis' humanity in a way that has yet to be duplicated.A New York Times Notable BookWinner of the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award"Elvis steps from the pages. You can feel him breathe. This book cancels out all others." --Bob Dylan From the moment that he first shook up the world in the mid 1950s, Elvis Presley has been one of the most vivid and enduring myths of American culture.Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley is the first biography to go past that myth and present an Elvis beyond the legend. Based on hundreds of interviews and nearly a decade of research, it traces the evolution not just of the man but of the music and of the culture he left utterly transformed, creating a completely fresh portrait of Elvis and his world.This volume tracks the first twenty-four years of Elvis' life, covering his childhood, the stunning first recordings at Sun Records ("That's All Right," "Mystery Train"), and the early RCA hits ("Heartbreak Hotel," "Hound Dog," "Don't Be Cruel"). These were the years of his improbable self-invention and unprecedented triumphs, when it seemed that everything that Elvis tried succeeded wildly. There was scarcely a cloud in sight through this period until, in 1958, he was drafted into the army and his mother died shortly thereafter. The book closes on that somber and poignant note.Last Train to Memphis takes us deep inside Elvis' life, exploring his lifelong passion for music of every sort (from blues and gospel to Bing Crosby and Mario Lanza), his compelling affection for his family, and his intimate relationships with girlfriends, mentors, band members, professional associates, and friends. It shows us the loneliness, the trustfulness, the voracious appetite for experience, and above all the unshakable, almost mystical faith that Elvis had in himself and his music. Drawing frequently on Elvis' own words and on the recollections of those closest to him, the book offers an emotional, complex portrait of young Elvis Presley with a depth and dimension that for the first time allow his extraordinary accomplishments to ring true.Peter Guralnick has given us a previously unseen world, a rich panoply of people and events that illuminate an achievement, a place, and a time as never revealed before.
Hailed as "a masterwork" by the Wall Street Journal, Careless Love is the full, true, and mesmerizing story of Elvis Presley's last two decades, in the long-awaited second volume of Peter Guralnick's masterful two-part biography.Winner of the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book AwardLast Train to Memphis, the first part of Guralnick's two-volume life of Elvis Presley, was acclaimed by the New York Times as "a triumph of biographical art." This concluding volume recounts the second half of Elvis' life in rich and previously unimagined detail, and confirms Guralnick's status as one of the great biographers of our time.Beginning with Presley's army service in Germany in 1958 and ending with his death in Memphis in 1977, Careless Love chronicles the unravelling of the dream that once shone so brightly, homing in on the complex playing-out of Elvis' relationship with his Machiavellian manager, Colonel Tom Parker. It's a breathtaking revelatory drama that for the first time places the events of a too-often mistold tale in a fresh, believable, and understandable context.Elvis' changes during these years form a tragic mystery that Careless Love unlocks for the first time. This is the quintessential American story, encompassing elements of race, class, wealth, sex, music, religion, and personal transformation. Written with grace, sensitivity, and passion, Careless Love is a unique contribution to our understanding of American popular culture and the nature of success, giving us true insight at last into one of the most misunderstood public figures of our times.
Award-winning songwriter Linda Thompson breaks her silence, sharing the extraordinary story of her life, career, and epic romances with two of the most celebrated, yet enigmatic, modern American superstars—Elvis Presley and Bruce Jenner\nFor the last forty years, award-winning songwriter Linda Thompson has quietly led one of the most remarkable lives in show business. The longtime live-in love of Elvis Presley, Linda emerged into the limelight during the 1970s when the former beauty queen caught the eye of the King. Their chance encounter was the stuff of legend, and marked the beginning of a whirlwind that stretched decades, leading to a marriage with Bruce Jenner, motherhood, and more drama than she could have imagined. \nNow, for the first time, Linda opens up about it all, telling the extraordinary story of her life, career, epic romances, and everything in between. Going inside the wild stories and tender moments with Elvis, Linda paints a romance as raucous as it is refreshing. But despite the joy they shared, Elvis also had darkness, which ended their relationship shortly before his untimely death. It was in the difficult aftermath of Elvis’s death that Linda found what she believed was her true home: the arms of Bruce Jenner. Linda reveals the “perfect” life they built before Bruce changed everything with a secret he’d carried his entire life, one that Linda kept for nearly thirty years. From living with the King to her marriage with legendary music producer and musician David Foster, Linda Thompson lovingly recounts her incredible journey, bringing unparalleled insight into a trio of remarkable people she loved.
Commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of Elvis’s death, an intimate memoir of a friendship with the greatest artist in rock and roll history, taking you from late-night parties at Graceland to the bright lights of Hollywood sets and glittering stages of Vegas. On a lazy Sunday in 1954, twelve-year-old Jerry Schilling wandered into a Memphis touch football game, only to discover that his team was quarterbacked by a nineteen-year-old Elvis Presley, the local teenager whose first record, "That’s All Right," had just received its first play on Memphis radio. The two became fast friends, even as Elvis turned into the world’s biggest star. In 1964, Elvis invited Jerry to work for him as part of his "Memphis Mafia," and Jerry soon found himself living with Elvis full-time in a Bel Air mansion and, later, in his own room at Graceland. Over the next thirteen years Jerry would work for Elvis in various capacities—from bodyguard to photo double to co-executive producer on a karate film. Me and a Guy Named Elvis looks at Presley from a friend’s perspective, offering readers the man rather than the icon. Spanning Elvis’s meteoric rise to those later troubled years, Jerry’s story offers never-before-told stories about life inside Elvis’s inner circle, and an insightful, emotional recounting of the great times, hard times, and unique times he and Elvis shared. Schilling’s vivid memories will be priceless to Elvis’s millions of fans, and his compelling life story will be fascinating to an even wider audience.
A look at the cultural obsession with Elvis Presley describes how many of his fans could not come to terms with his death and, thus, remade history
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERElvis Presley’s fiancée and last love tells her story and sets the record straight in this deeply personal memoir that reveals what really happened in the final years of the King of Rock n' Roll.Elvis Presley and Graceland were fixtures in Ginger Alden’s life; after all, she was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. But she had no idea that she would play a part in that enduring legacy. For more than three decades Ginger has held the truth of their relationship close to her heart. Now she shares her unique story…In her own words, Ginger details their whirlwind romance—from first kiss to his stunning proposal of marriage. And for the very first time, she talks about the devastating end of it all and the fifty thousand mourners and reporters who descended on Graceland in 1977, exposing Ginger to the reality of living in the spotlight of a short yet immortal life.Above it all, Ginger rescues Elvis from the hearsay, rumors, and tabloid speculations of his final year by shedding a frank yet personal light on a very public legend. From a unique and intimate perspective, she reveals the man—complicated, romantic, fallible, and human—behind the myth, a superstar worshipped by millions and loved by Ginger Alden.INCLUDES PHOTOS