By Zach Bowers

            ELVIS LIVES. No, it's Elvis Presley not your uncle's dog. The king of Rock n' Roll and the most known musician in the U.S.A. My points on him will be music as kid, Rock n' Roll, and the military part of his life. Read the following about Elvis Presley.

            As a kid Elvis enjoyed music. He would listen to black R & B and liked gospel.  He did not only like those but jazz and soul too. He enjoyed Gospel more probably since he sang gospel at church. He was poor so he didn't learn guitar at a young age like you thought. But he learned at age 11 when he got his first guitar He realized his singing ability at an elementary school talent show. When he moved to Memphis Tennessee he moved next to a blues bar.

            When Elvis got started he was a truck driver.  This quote from Clayton page 13 got him a record,” He saw Phillips and Keiser had opened a recording studio in Memphis, mainly to record the music played by black artists. Some time during the summer of 1953, Elvis by that time was working as a truck driver-turned up on their doorstep to record something and to let Sam here him sing." He began recording for sun records in the year 1954. He then had his first hit with "Heart break Hotel" in 1956. Elvis got rich on singing ballads and rhythm blues and got millions to love it. He inspired famous artists and bands like the Beetles. He had 18 number one records, and has 107 records on the billboard chart. A quote from Byres page 441 says” Elvis reached the top of the country charts with "Mystery train" 1955." He had other great hits like "Don't be Cruel" in 1956, "Love me Tender" in 1956, and "Jail House Rock" in 1957.

            Elvis was drafted December 10,1957. "Fans thought it was the government's way of pushing Elvis down and out of the music business"(summary of epgold. Elvis in the army. Top page.) The report day (January 20,1958) for his draft was the day paramount was to shoot one of Elvis's movies called King Creole. That got even worse when paramount had $350,000 invested in the movie already. When the media got a hold of this information it went crazy. His paycheck went from $400,000 down to $78 a month.

            "Elvis was sent to second Medium Tank Battalion, Second Armored Division. After four days of processing at fort Chaffee, Elvis got shipped to Fort Hood, Texas, to begin basic training. According to Elvis, he got kidded and chided quite a bit by his fellow soldiers at the beginning of camp; however, once they saw he didn't except to be treated any differently and that he was just another grunt, they soon grew to like him"(Epgold page 3 out of 4.) Elvis did one night at guard. Why you ask well since every time he would be guard, fans and paparazzi would crowd him at night. So unless they are invaders he was useless as a guard.

            Elvis has had an interesting life. He learned guitar at a late age. He was famous and had boat loads of money. He was even in the army. Know body is as big as Elvis in America's music culture other than him. I have one last thing to say "ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING.”