Enlarge AP In 1968: Presley with his wife, Priscilla, a few days after daughter Lisa Marie's birth at Baptist Hospital in Memphis. Priscilla says 1968 to 1972 "were the years I remember him being the happiest." BABIES NAMED AFTER ELVIS BABIES NAMED AFTER ELVIS What better way to trace the fame of a uniquely named celebrity than to tally the babies named for him? The moniker surged at the height of Elvis' popularity, but these days, it's given to just 0.01% of boys born in the USA. Peak periods: 1955: The king of rock 'n' roll reaches the height of his success, occupying the top spot on Billboard's pop charts for 26 weeks. Babies named Elvis that year: 595. 1978: The name Elvis spikes a year after Presley's death. Babies named Elvis that year: 364. 2002: The 25th version of Presley's death; the Junkie XL remix of Elvis' A Little Less Conversation tops the sales chart. Babies named Elvis that year: 314. 2006: The baby name Presley (935) (for girls) outnumbers Elvis (272) 3 to 1. TOP ELVIS TUNES TOP ELVIS TUNES The most popular Presley download isn't even an original recording; it's the Junkie XL remix of A Little Less Conversation. The top 5 in sales to date:



A Little Less Conversation: 284,000*



Suspicious Minds: 243,000



Jailhouse Rock: 222,000



Can't Help Falling in Love: 210,000



Hound Dog: 188,000



*Rounded, includes all available Elvis versions

Source: Nielsen SoundScan as of Aug. 8, 2007



--By Adrienne Lewis, USA TODAY



When Elvis Presley died Aug. 16, 1977, at his cherished Memphis home, a crowd gathered instantly at the whimsical gates of Graceland. Three decades later, dedicated pilgrims are still out there in the sultry Southern sun. AUDIO: Revisit Elvis' rise to stardom "I could never have predicted 30 years ago that today Elvis would be as popular as he is," says Priscilla Presley, 62, the King's onetime queen (they divorced in 1973 after six years of marriage) who oversees his legacy with daughter Lisa Marie. But is Elvis still relevant to a larger world that has long since left his jumpsuit era behind — one that has traded ballyhooed TV specials for amateur YouTube clips, vinyl albums for iTunes and evolutionary careers for the bright but brief spotlight of American Idol? There is some evidence Presley's kung-fu grip on the world's imagination may be easing. For one, Thursday's 30th anniversary has not produced the avalanche of album reissues and book tributes of past milestones. Elvis slipped last year to No. 2 on Forbes magazine's list of top-earning dead celebrities, behind Nirvana's Kurt Cobain. And the top Elvis download to date is Junkie XL's 2002 remix of A Little Less Conversation, which was never more than a modest hit for the man. But it would be far too easy to count Elvis out, as many did in the late '60s before he donned a skintight black leather suit and roared through his 1968 TV special. For many, Elvis' blend of looks, talent and bravado will never weather with age. "This is just the calm before the second coming," predicts Alanna Nash, author of Elvis and the Memphis Mafia, referring to plans for refurbishing Graceland, where 50,000 fans are gathering for Elvis Week, down from more than 70,000 a decade ago. "Elvis is such an ingrained part of America that I expect the flag to be redesigned any day to include his picture," she says. Cirque du Soleil is banking on such hyperbole. In 2009, the Canadian troupe will perform its offbeat circus spectacle to Elvis' music, as it recently did with The Beatles. Another true believer is Robert F.X. Sillerman, CEO of CKX, which bought an 85% stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises in 2004. "The next five years will see an orderly release of new music, some never heard before," he says. Sillerman also plans to transform Graceland, a $27-million-a-year attraction where 40% of visitors are 35 and under, into a kingdom that would make Walt Disney wink in approval. The $250 million overhaul of the Colonial-style house and its adjoining property will include the addition of a hotel and interactive museum. The estate's indoor racquetball court, which now holds the King's many luminescent jumpsuits, will be returned to its original state, Priscilla Presley says. A sprawling souvenir shopping center and airplane display across the street from Graceland will be redeveloped to include green space, which is "the way it looked when (Elvis) bought the property." Says Sillerman, whose diverse holdings include the rights to Muhammad Ali's estate and American Idol: "Our stewardship of the legend isn't commemorative, it's current. We're focusing on Elvis as a contemporary entertainer." Timeless appeal That would explain this spring's much-downloaded American Idol duet between Celine Dion and Elvis, in which the Canadian siren seems to be standing next to the arm-waving, white-suited prince as they power through a sentimental If I Can Dream. In the biased view of longtime professional Elvis tribute artist Rick Marino, that Idol appearance shows "Elvis is timeless, because as good as Celine is, he just dominated." Marino says he's proof that Elvis, who would be 72 now, lives on. His Jacksonville business has yet to slump, and far from catering to the graying set, he recently did gigs for a 21-year-old's birthday party and "drove kids crazy" when he appeared at his fifth-grader's talent show. "Everyone got him." Certainly, pop culture still gets the King's power to sell. A recent Viagra ad is set to the tune of Viva Las Vegas, Hershey's has an Elvis Reese's cup with banana-crème filling, and a limited-edition series of motorcycles from Harley-Davidson replicates his 1957 model. Boomers who grew up with Presley probably will snap up such fare. But what about those born after his death, generations for whom Elvis may just be a postage stamp or the butt of a joke? The singer's charisma breaks through so long as people look past the kitsch and clichés, says Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. "I teach Elvis in many classes, and often the kids taking notes look like they're being lectured on the French Revolution," Thompson quips. "But there are always one or two students who perk up when they see the seminal Elvis. They're bitten by the very same thing that got kids all those decades ago." It may be that Presley, who died at 42 from cardiac arrhythmia caused by a cocktail of prescription drugs, is finally moving from celebrity to historical figure, as music legends Duke Ellington and Frank Sinatra did before him. With a hint of melancholy in her voice, Lisa Marie Presley, 39, says this could well be the case. "Sometimes, I think most kids think Madonna or Jay-Z started music," she says. "I don't think (Elvis) has been lost, but our pop-culture world is such a blur that it's hard for people to focus on the past." Those who appreciate music history see his daughter's point. "It doesn't matter if Elvis is or isn't moving merchandise for his accomplishments to mean something," says veteran music industry watcher and author Dave Marsh. He singles out Presley's invaluable contribution to racial integration through music, which preceded the civil rights movement of the 1960s. "He's like Shakespeare. He'll always be relevant and iconic." Matt "The Cat" Baldassarri was only 1 year old when Elvis died, but Presley to him remains "the first stone-cold rocker" whose '50s music created the genre. "He was willing to be himself," says Baldassarri, 31, who directs the 1950s channel on XM Satellite Radio. "He wasn't selling you anything fake. You watch American Idol, and the show seems so safe. He'd never make it as a contestant." What captivates 30-year-old country singer Jason Aldean is the length of Elvis' shadow. Born a few months before Elvis died, Aldean learned about the singer from his parents and went on to research what the fuss was about. "My parents saw him in Macon (Ga.), and they said it was nuts," Aldean says. "I've watched a lot of things on him, all the movies. My generation hasn't seen an artist that big, not only someone who is a musical star, but also a public figure. The closest my generation has is Michael Jackson." When Nick Kidd took a non-fiction course at the University of Kentucky a few years back, the syllabus included Bobbie Ann Mason's Elvis Presley. "I knew who he was, of course, but I can't say his music was on my radar," says Kidd, 25, a drummer and part-time DJ in Louisville. "But when I realized that he really was a cultural phenomenon, I sort of got it. His music still isn't relevant to me, it doesn't have that punch. But I'm much more apt to defend him if someone takes a shot." 'He was sexual, a rebel' Helping Elvis win such new fans so many years after his death is his extraordinary ability to shift to suit the prevailing times. "He was sexual, a rebel, a gospel singer, a Vegas showman, a B-movie actor," says Erika Doss, author of Elvis Culture: Fans, Faith and Image. "Elvis' enduring presence is due to his many images. When people look at him, they all find exactly what they want to see." Including Priscilla Presley. "Elvis means something to people because he wasn't a contrived person, he was organic and true to himself," she says. "For me, it's the 1968 to 1972 Elvis. Those were the years I remember him being the happiest. It was after his movie career, just when he was getting back into music. He was riding high." But for many veteran musicians, the Elvis that rocked their world was the black-and-white image from the '50s, a buttoned-down time that received a seismic jolt from Presley's syncopated delivery and suggestive stage moves. "The songs and body language he brought to American music are now simply accepted parts of its vocabulary," says David Fricke, senior editor at Rolling Stone. "You don't have to say you got it from Elvis to know that you did." And most will indeed give credit. "I don't care if you're talking about Bruce, Prince or Dylan, they all say it goes back to Elvis," says Springsteen biographer Marsh. "Where there is resistance, there is Elvis." And rebellion. And innovation. Mason likens Presley's contributions to those of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Herman Melville, whose influence on lyrical poetry and novelistic structure have reverberated through centuries. "Elvis, frankly, had an even wider impact on popular culture than those two, simply due to the mass communication of our age," Mason says. "Elvis has his place. I don't see him ever becoming a footnote." Yet she offers one stern caveat: If Elvis is "merely overhyped and oversold as something for tourists to consume, then we lose sight of our own history — growing up poor, embracing the influences of our youth, breaking through to the masses and struggling with the perils of fame. Elvis' story is really a heroic one. If we turn him into a grotesque icon, we're just victimizing him all over again." But here in America, great accomplishments and pop-culture adulation walk hand in hand. Anyone hoping to be remembered for the former has to make peace with the latter. Elvis author Nash can attest to that. "I asked my (grocery store) to save the Elvis standup for me that Reese's sent out to promote the banana-crème cup," she says. "When I went to pick it up, the guy said, 'I don't know how you got this, about 15 million people wanted it.' " That's evidence, she says, of the truth in what longtime Elvis manager Tom Parker said in 1977: "Elvis didn't die, the body did." Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. 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