An A to Z guide to Elvis' roller-coaster ride of a life

David Williams, USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

Elvis was many things. He was a singer, a movie star, a family man, a football fan, a religious seeker, a roller-coaster rider, an animal lover — and now, a man of letters.

A

Aug. 16, the cruelest of days for American cultural icons, claiming Elvis (1977), Mississippi Delta blues king Robert Johnson (1938) and baseball’s Sultan of Swat, Babe Ruth (1948).

Blues musician Robert Johnson's grave marker is in the Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery. Most Robert Johnson scholars agree this is his burial site. (Photo: Alan Spearman / The Commercial Appeal)

B

“Bear,” not as in “(Let Me Be Your) Teddy ... ,” but Bear, one of Elvis’ beloved horses. The King loved to ride — it’s one of the reasons he bought Graceland, with its stable and land, and later a 160-acre spread in DeSoto County, Mississippi, that he dubbed the Circle G Ranch. Elvis loved animals, just generally — he kept dogs, donkeys, chickens, ducks, peacocks and turkeys. And let’s not forget the King’s chimpanzee, Scatter, who was taught by the Memphis Mafia to sit on a barstool and drink bourbon.

Priscilla Presley introduced Max and Bandit, a pair of rescue horses adopted by Graceland, to fans at what would have been the King's 74th birthday in 2009. "Graceland is a living, breathing home," said Presley, and she wanted "to keep it the way Elvis left it," including the barn and horses that were a part of life for Elvis. (Photo: Jim Weber / The Commercial Appeal)

C

In concert. Close your eyes and it’s how you see him, right? Young Elvis in his “cat clothes,” shaking himself and the world. Blink — he’s the comeback king, wearing black leather and a sneer. Blink again — he’s in a spangled jumpsuit, striking a karate pose. “Gaudy, vulgar, magnificent,” The New York Times declared of an Elvis jumpsuit, one that included a cape with gold lining and a scarlet collar. As Elvis once said, “If the songs don’t go over, we can do a medley of costumes.”

Elvis Presley performs in 1973 in one if his signature jumpsuits. Elvis once said, "If the songs don't go over, we can do a medley of costumes." (Photo: AP)

D

“Death Week,” what Memphians call the annual weeklong commemoration of the King’s passing, culminating in the candlelight vigil. Officially, it’s called “Elvis Week.”

Mark Homdahl of North Dakota sings along with Elvis songs during the 2005 candlelight vigil outside the gates of Graceland. (Photo: Alan Spearman / The Commercial Appeal)

E

“Everything," what Elvis said he missed about Memphis during his two-year Army hitch that ended in 1960.

Elvis Presley aboard the train that brought him home to Memphis early March 7, 1960. Some 200 fans waited at Union Station to welcome him home from his stint in the U.S. Army. Elvis was wearing a (non-issue) dress blue Army uniform he'd had made in Germany. The tailor mistakenly gave him the stripes of a staff sergeant, rather than sergeant, which was the rank at which he was discharged. The formal white shirt was a gift from Frank Sinatra delivered by his daughter, Nancy, on Elvis' first day back in the U.S. on March 3. On March 26, Elvis would tape a special "Welcome Home, Elvis" version of Sinatra's ABC-TV variety show, which aired May 12. At left is Col. Tom Parker, who died Jan. 21, 1997. (Photo: Bob Williams / The Commercial Appeal)

F

Football, a favorite Elvis sport to play and watch. He attended games in the 1970s when Memphis had a team in the old World Football League, and the Elvis Presley estate joined the ownership group for a would-be Memphis NFL expansion franchise in the 1990s. When the NFL snubbed Memphis, it denied the world a team that would have been called — yes — the Hound Dogs.

Elvis Presley plays touch football at the Dave Wells Community Center on Dec. 27, 1956. Several hundred people watched the singer pass, kick and run for a touchdown. Elvis' first movie, "Love Me Tender," in which he performed several songs, had premiered Nov. 15 in New York City. The movie opened Thanksgiving Eve at Loew's State Theatre in Memphis. On Jan. 6, 1957, Elvis would make his third and final appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show." In between the football game and the Sullivan appearance, he reported for his pre-induction Army physical Jan. 4. (Photo: Barney Sellers / The Commercial Appeal)

G

Gladys (his mama) or Graceland (his home) or “Girls! Girls! Girls!” (his 1962 movie, the second of his Hawaiian Trilogy of films, in which he sings “Return to Sender”).

H

Hollywood, where Elvis’ dreams of a serious acting career gave way to a demoralizing, if profitable, series of movies with names like “Clambake” and “Harum Scarum,” and pretty much anything with “Girl” in the title.

I

Impersonators. Or “tribute artists,” as Elvis Presley Enterprises prefers you call them. Death Week — er, Elvis Week — brings them out in droves.

Diogo Leichtweis, from left, from Brazil; Rob Ely, from Oakdale, Calif.; Gordon Elvis, from England; Adam Fitzpatrick, from British Columbia; Eli Williams, also from British Columbia; and Jay Zanier, from Ontario, joke with each other as they wait for their turn to perform as 25 Elvis tribute artists participate in a showcase Aug. 13, 2013, at Graceland for the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest. (Photo: Mike Brown / The Commercial Appeal)

J

Jungle Room. The “den,” as Elvis simply called it, at Graceland. Rolling Stone called it “his breathtakingly garish tiki-tinged lair.” It was also the site, in 1976, of Elvis’ final recording sessions in a studio setting, producing the hit “Moody Blue.”

The Jungle Room in Graceland is a testament to the whimsical nature of Elvis. He bought all of the furnishings for the room in less than 30 minutes. He was in the mood for a little Hawaii. In 1975 Graceland was extensively refurbished while Elvis was dating Linda Thompson. The Jungle Room came to be in 1975. The Jungle Room became a makeshift studio for Elvis on July 29-30, 1976. (Photo: Alan Spearman / The Commercial Appeal)

K

Keisker, Marion. When Elvis walked in Sun Studio in 1953 saying he wanted to make a record for his mother, he was greeted by Keisker, Sam Phillips’ associate. She asked him, “What kind of singer are you?” Said Elvis: “I sing all kinds.”

Elvis' "That's All Right" record label (Photo: Handout)

L

Lisa Marie. Born Feb. 1, 1968, in Memphis. The only child of Elvis and Priscilla. Married four times herself, including most famously to Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage.

Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley-Jackson are shown in this undated handout photo. (Photo: Jonathan Exley / AP)

M

Million Dollar Quartet, the impromptu singing summit of Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins at Sun Studio on Dec. 4, 1956. They sang all kinds, but mostly gospel.

The only thing predictable about Elvis is that he's unpredictable. On Dec. 4, 1956, Carl Perkins, second from left, was cutting some new records at Sam Phillips' Sun Records studio on Union at Marshall. Elvis Presley dropped in. So did Johnny Cash, right. Jerry Lee Lewis, left, was already there. Elvis headed for the piano, and an old-fashioned barrelhouse session with barbershop harmony resulted. Accompanying Elvis was his houseguest Marilyn Evans, not pictured, 19, a dancer at the New Frontier in Las Vegas. (Photo: File)

N

Nixon, who welcomed the King in the Oval Office on Dec. 21, 1970. The president gave him a federal narcotics officer badge, which thrilled Elvis to no end, and also prompted these lines from a 1990 song by Memphis band Human Radio: “Me and Elvis/ never worried about the cops/ He flashed that badge he got from Nixon/ every time that we got stopped.”

The meeting of former President Richard Nixon, left, and Elvis Presley occurred on Dec. 21, 1970, in Washington. The meeting was photographed by White House photographer Ollie Atkins. (Photo: Courtesy of National Archives)

O

Outstanding Young Men of America, a 1971 award Elvis received from the Jaycees. Of the 10 honorees in the ceremony at Memphis’ Holiday Inn Rivermont, the King was probably the only one wearing a diamond ring on every finger. In his brief speech, he said, "When I was a child, ladies and gentlemen, I was a dreamer. I read comic books, and I was the hero of the comic books. I saw movies, and I was the hero in the movie. So every dream that I've dreamed has come true a hundred times."

Elvis Presley and his wife, Priscilla, stand as he is introduced at a luncheon at the Holiday Inn Rivermont. Presley was honored by the Jaycees of America as one of the Outstanding Young Men in America on Jan. 16, 1971. (Photo: Dave Darnell / The Commercial Appeal)

P

Priscilla and Col. Tom Parker — the woman he married and the man who managed his career, respectively. But, in the end, Priscilla may have been as pivotal on the business end of things as Col. Parker, given her leading role in opening Graceland to the public and turning it into one of the country’s top tourist attractions.

Singer Elvis Presley and his bride, the former Priscilla Beaulieu, appear at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas after their wedding May 1, 1967. Presley, 32, and Beaulieu, 21, met while he was stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army. (Photo: AP)

Q

Quotable Elvis. For a man who said more with his hips than his lips, the King could be a pretty good quote. See “C,” “E” and “K.” He could be profound, like when he said, “Ambition is a dream with a V-8 engine.” Or funny, as when he bought the DeSoto County ranch he called the Circle G: “Good God, I’ve moved back to Mississippi!”

R

Religion, a subject of endless fascination and intense study for Elvis. He was raised in the Pentecostal church but became consumed with exploring other faiths. When he wasn’t reading on the subject, he was looking for signs — and one day in 1965, outside Flagstaff, Arizona, he saw one: an image of Joseph Stalin in a cloud. Then the image turned into Jesus. It had a profound impact on the King, and it’s said he wanted to become a monk. Alas, he had go to Hollywood and film “Harum Scarum.”

A statue of a 13-year-old Elvis Presley stands before the church he attended as a child in Tupelo, Mississippi. (Photo: Rogelio V. Solis / AP)

S

Sun Studio, the little storefront operation at 706 Union Ave., Memphis, that somehow — through slapback, distortion, raw talent and some V-8-powered dreaming — changed American popular culture forever. See “U” for more.

Sun Studio, where it all began for Elvis Presley (Photo: Alan Spearman / The Commercial Appeal)

T

Tupelo, Mississippi, where the boy who would be king was born on Jan. 8, 1935, in a two-room shotgun house. Over the first 13 years of Elvis’ life in Tupelo, the Presleys rode out poverty, daddy Vernon’s prison stretch at Parchman Farm, and a tornado. But it was also in Tupelo that Elvis was exposed to gospel, blues and country music, and learned to play the guitar his mama bought at Tupelo Hardware.

Elvis Presley performs in Tupelo, Mississippi, in September 1956. That year, Presley had a No. 1 hit with "Heartbreak Hotel." (Photo: AP)

U

Uncle Sam. “America’s real Uncle Sam,” that is, as Sun Records impresario Sam Phillips has been called, for his role in producing early recordings of Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, Ike Turner, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Charlie Rich and — whew — Carl Perkins.

V

Vernon, Elvis’ daddy. Guess his middle name and win a pink Cadillac (not really). Yep. It was Elvis.

Vernon Presley, Elvis' father, places a rose on his son's grave Nov. 24, 1977, as the news media was permitted inside the grounds of Graceland for the first time since Elvis' funeral. (Photo: The Commercial Appeal)

W

The stone wall at Graceland, on which fans scrawl their heartfelt messages, and over which Bruce Springsteen climbed in a 1976 attempt to visit Elvis. The King, alas, was not at home to greet the Boss; security was.

Graffiti left by Elvis Presley fans adorn the wall outside Graceland on May 14, 2015. (Photo: Mike Brown / The Commercial Appeal)

X

Stax, site of 1973 sessions that produced some of the most underrated music of the King’s career. Check out his cover of Chuck Berry’s “Promised Land.”

Sgt. Nathaniel Jarvis in the Stax studio on Jan. 23, 1976. In 1973 Elvis made two trips to the storied studio, one in July and one in December. Many die-hard fans would say the Stax sessions featured some of his most underrated recordings. (Photo: Barney Sellers / The Commercial Appeal)

Y

“You’ll Never Walk Alone,” a show tune that became a soccer anthem, and recorded by everyone from Doris Day to the Dropkick Murphys. Also, one of Elvis’ favorite songs and the title track to his 1971 gospel compilation LP. The lyrics don’t mention God or heaven, but they must have been a balm to a man so beset by loneliness.

Z

Zippin Pippin, Elvis’ favorite roller coaster, at the Libertyland amusement park on Memphis’ Mid-South Fairgrounds. Elvis would rent out Libertyland for after-hours sessions with friends — the last such time coming just eight days before his roller-coaster ride of a life would end.