On August 16, 1977 millions of people were shocked and
devastated to find out that Elvis Presley had died due to a heart attack( Chan
1). The “King of Rock and Roll” left the entire world in shock that many
believe that he didn’t actually die and have many conspiracy theories that
surround Elvis Presley. The theories some of the people believe are if he
actually died or if he is actually still alive, if he had ties with the mafia,
or if he actually died of a heart attack or is there something more to his death.
Fans have gone as far as claim that they have sighted Presley years after his
supposed death, they have gone as far as even making an Elvis sighting club
dedicated on these Elvis sightings across the globe. Let’s explore these
theories to the mysteries of Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley was considered to be very successful in his lifetime
career creating many hit songs. He was so successful in doing this that he was
often referred to as the “King of Rock and Roll” by many of his fans. In the
early Years Elvis Presley popularized rock by adding his own mix of country and
rhythm and blues. Elvis fame at that point skyrocketed and became a culture
icon in America. His became even more popular in the 70’s with some of his
music reaching many European countries. He was already considered a legend in
the middle of his career. Elvis Presley went on to be nominated for 14 Grammys
but only able to win 3 of them. Elvis Presley would go on and achieve the
Grammy Lifetime Achievement award at the age of 36.
Elvis Presley popularized Rock in its Early days by
mixing in his style of Country and Rhythm and Blues. When Elvis Presley
first started out doing music he had a man named Sam Philips take a copy of
Elvis Singing a song called “That’s All Right”Marsh). Philips took the copy to
a radio station where the station received dozens of requests to play the disc
and played the songs over and over again . After receiving 14 telegrams and 50
phone calls of applause it was time for an interview that very night. Elvis was
actually too nervous to hear himself on the radio and went to see a movie. His
parents were the ones that picked him up and took him to the radio station to
be interview. After the interview Elvis released “That’s All Right” and it
became a fast-selling record in the Memphis Area. Elvis climbed up the
Country-western charts. Elvis second release “Good Rockin Tonight” had a Rhythm
and Blues tune to it and it shot up faster than his first single did and sold
4,000 copies in a week in only two and a half weeks. By 1955 Elvis would
widely become known to his weekly appearances on the Louisiana Hayride radio
show(Elvis Presley). His new found fame brought him better bookings he started
performing in larger cities. Also in 1955 Elvis released 3 more singles with the
same Rhythm and Blues tune but with a mix of Country and it soared with
success. Even though Elvis was still considered a western performer his
popularity was beginning to soar. Elvis’s fourth single even reached
Billboard’s country for ten weeks reaching No. 10 Elvis Presley began to explode with
popularity and his career had just started to take off.
Elvis Presley music became even more popular in the 70s
when his music made it to the European regions. Elvis took a short break from
music for a little while to pursue a career in movies but after a while he
decided it was time for him to return back to what he was known for and that
was making music. This time however his music had reached all the way in the
European regions. Instead of using his classic rhythm and blues with country
tune for his songs Elvis decided to mimic the styles of the Beatles in order to
make music to please the European side of his fans. He made “Separate Ways”. He
brilliantly revamped his side of music and was very successful with this as an
actual Rock and Roll song cementing himself as the “King of Rock”. From then
till his untimely death Elvis would reinvent his ways to make himself more
entertaining to the people. This made himself more exciting to see the new ways
on how he would perform for his audience. In 1972 he brilliantly revamped his
live action concert shows. He also revamped his shows in 1974 but however this
proved to flop(Elvis Presley). In the 70s Elvis had almost all of his releases
at the top spots for music and in 1977 Billboard rated him the year’s top
grossing live act despite the fact that he had toured only half that year. That
goes to show how successful Elvis was at what he did everyone around the globe
loved his music.
Elvis accomplished many awards over his life. Elvis Presley in his
lifetime had been nominated for 14 Grammys but won only 3 of them. He won
the Grammy Lifetime achievement at the
age of 36(Marsh). He has his name forever engraved at Hollywood's walk of fame
along with some of the greatest and most famous stars of all time. This here
proves on how successful Elvis Presley was and how great he was even in how
early his career.
Elvis Presley was no doubt one of the most successful
musicians and superstar the world has ever known. From being very successful
back in his early years of his career to his really successful last for years
of his life Elvis never ceased to amaze others with his great feats and on how
successful he truly was.
Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977, and left the world in
shock. His death left a hole in many fan’s heart and certainly left a big hole
in the music industry that would be hard to fill. Presley’s fans were in denial
about his death that they don’t think that Presley had actually died or he died
a different death then what people and authorities lead them to believe about
the late legend. People’s theories about the Rockstar vary from if he actually
died of a heart attack or if he died a different way, if he had ties with the
mafia and faked his death to ensure his safety from them, and if he actually
died or if he faked his death to go out on a high note instead of having his
career slowly die out he would go out on a high note and leave the spotlight to
live a more peaceful life.
The first theory is that if Elvis Presley had died of a
heart attack or if he had died a different death in the form of a overdose. At
this point in Presley’s he was overweight and it showed in his appearance. It
was said that Elvis died on the toilet in his home all while he was eating a
peanut butter and banana sandwich. But there are theories surrounding his death
including if he had actually overdosed on prescription drugs. Elvis was
previously struggling with addiction to prescription drugs and was last seen
coming back from a dentist appointment. He was resting before a late evening
flight. Elvis was found dead in his bathroom and was taken to the hospital.
“The doctor had declared Elvis had suffered from cardiac
arrythmia”(Yourdictionary). It is unknown what the cause of the heart
attack because Presley’s father had ordered that the autopsy to be sealed until
2027 so all we can do is speculate. Some may say that he overdose on a array of
drugs from Morphine all through codeine. But the family has covered it up
saying that it was Presley’s obesity and his unhealthy eating habits that
caused his heart attack. They said this in hopes of portraying Elvis as a
legend taken by natural causes instead of a Rockstar whose fame was fading out
and life was extinguished at the clutches of drugs.
The second theory surrounding Elvis Presley’s death is
that he direct ties with the Mafia and faked his death to insure his safety
from them. The theory states that Elvis was enlisted as a secret FBI agent and
was stated to be a mole against the mafia but was sent into witness protection
when he was suspected to be snitched to the mafia. Gail Brewer-Giorgio who had
direct ties to the mafia states that Elvis was enlisted in a secret
organization called “The Fraternity”(Chan, Melissa). “The Fraternity” was
a made up of about a dozen racketeer volunteers which included Elvis Presley
himself. The only reason the agency
approached Presley was because one of the members from the “The Fraternity” was
in talks of buying Presley’s plane. The Agency then thought that Elvis could
make a good agent for them and took him in. He would be working for them as a
mole against the mafia. Brewer-Giorgio said that Presley faked his death
because the Mafia was going to kill no doubt if they had found so he decided to
fake it. The FBI never answered to these claims for decades but there is no
data of Presley serving the FBI in anyone folder from between the dates of 1956
to 1980. But there is a file named after him because the FBI tried to extort
Presley on several different occasions. Brewer-Giorgio says that “Do I
know if Elvis is alive today? No, I don’t know,” Brewer-Giorgio told Time
magazine. “But I know he didn’t die on 16 August.”(EPDC). Also
during a tour with Presley he spoke very highly of the bureau and said that he
would “offer any available service to them” given the chance. There are also
negotiations about Presleys plane and the business arrangement behind the
plane.
The last theory about Elvis’s death is that he actually
faked his death to get out of the spotlight and live a peaceful life instead of
living the life of a rockstar. There’s no doubt that Elvis Presley started to
get out of his prime towards the late years of his career. He was getting older
and he started to get overweight. The life of a rockstar legend like himself
demanded a lot out of him causing Presley to get stressed out which led him to
start to abuse prescription drugs making him addicted. When this happened
Presley decided enough was enough and decided to fake his death so he could
move away from the spotlight before his constant pop star life eventually
killed him. People who believe this theory are called “alivers” and have said
that that there are sightings of Elvis Presley to this day. Some say that Elvis
missed his fame and attention after being away from it for so long and decided
to pop in here and there for him to still stay relevant. Different Alivers
across the world have had “sightings” where they claim that they had spotted
Elvis. Some say that Elvis is a Pastor at an Arkansas church, while others said
that they have seen him as groundskeeper. Alivers have made crazy theories
including saying that Elvis was a extra in the hit Christmas movie “Home Alone”
which was made 13 years after Presleys supposed death. It’s said that there’s a
man with a beard in the airport with the same mannerisms and hairstyle has the
late Elvis Presley. The last Aliver sighting was the one seeing a look alike of
Elvis in a Memphis airport buying a plane ticket to South America. The Aliver
basically said that Elvis escaped the US and went to South America to live out
his remaining years in a rural part of the country faking his death and leaving
the his fame and fortune behind.
Elvis Presley faking his death to save himself from the
mafia, dying other than a heart attack to faking his death to escape his fame
and stardom are just theories that are made for the fans to cope with the loss
of Elvis Presley. Obviously Elvis Presley had died in his home that day on
August 16, 1977 but many couldn’t cope with the loss of their idol someone who
they looked up to and idolize. They decided to make up theories to give them
and other fans false hope that their favorite artist is still alive somewhere
out there.
Works Cited
Chan, Melissa. “Elvis
Presley Death Theories: Why Do Some Think He's Alive?” Time, Time, 15
Aug. 2017, time.com/4897819/elvis-presley-alive-conspiracy-theories/.
“Elvis Presley.” Biography.com,
A&E Networks Television, 11 Oct. 2019, www.biography.com/musician/elvis-presley.
(EPDC)
“Elvis Presley Death Conspiracies: Long Live the King.” The Week UK,
www.theweek.co.uk/87812/elvis-presley-death-conspiracies-long-live-the-king.
Marsh, Dave. “Elvis Presley.” Encyclopædia Britannica,
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 12 Aug. 2019,
www.britannica.com/biography/Elvis-Presley.
YourDictionary.
“How Did Elvis Presley Die?” YourDictionary, 15 Aug. 2013,
biography.yourdictionary.com/articles/how-did-elvis-presley-die.html.
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