Elvis Aaron Presley was born on the 8th of January, 1935. In September 1949 Elvis and his parents moved to Memphis TN. Using money he earned working as a truck driver, in 1953 Elvis pays four dollars to record himself singing My Happiness and That's When Your Heartaches Begin. A year later Elvis returns to Memphis Recording Services company. This time he sings Casual Love Affair and I'll Never Stand In Your Way. Sam Phillips, who runs the company and Sun Records, likes the way Elvis sings and puts him in the studio with guitarist Scotty Moore and bass player Bill Black. In July '54 Elvis, Scotty and Bill take a break from recording the country ballad I Love You Because and decide to mess around with a song called That's All Right. The next day they record Blue Moon of Kentucky. Sam Phillips gets these two recordings played on the radio and then gets Elvis back in the studio to record more classics such as Blue Moon, Good Rockin' Tonight, I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine, You're A Heartbreaker, Mystery Train and Trying To Get To You. Colonel Tom Parker who got Elvis signed to RCA records. His first single for the label Heartbreak Hotel topped the US charts and sold over a million copies.
In August 1956 Elvis recorded Love Me Tender which is based on a folk ballad which dates back to 1861 entitled Aura Lee. A month later Hound Dog and it's B-side Don't Be Cruel are released and sell more than five million copies. At Christmas time Elvis went back to Memphis. When he wanders into Sun Studios he sees Carl Perkins who is in there recording some tracks with his band and Jerry Lee Lewis on piano. Johnny Cash, was also in the building at the time and was up for joining them and having a sing-song but sadly his wife insisted he took her shopping instead.
The huge hits continue including Love Me, Too Much, All Shook Up. Jailhouse Rock (with Treat Me Nice as the b-side) tops the US chart for 6 weeks. The composers of Jailhouse Rock are Leiber and Stoller.
In the U.K the single is so popular that the release is delayed as Decca's pressing plant is unable to cope with advance orders of 250,000. In March 1958 Elvis releases Don't which again tops the US charts. In the same month he is sworn in as US private 53310761 and given an Army haircut.
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