For more info about this session: http://www.keithflynn.com/recording-sessions/560414.html
Elvis on the Precipice of Fame
Eliza Berman, Jan. 8, 2016
Source: http://time.com/4148472/elvis-presley-1956/In 1954, Elvis Aaron Presley was working as a truck driver for $35 a week. Two years later, he was raking in $12,500 for a week’s work in Las Vegas. Before long, a surname was no longer required to invoke the megastar LIFE dubbed a “howling hillbilly success.”
Though he began recording music in 1953, it was in 1956 that Presley—born on Jan. 8, 1935—became a phenomenon. That was also the year he first appeared in the pages of LIFE, in a one-page story about the runaway success of “Heartbreak Hotel.” The magazine explained:
A lover’s lament called Heartbreak Hotel sung by Elvis Presley is the best-selling record in the country this week, and the 21-year-old hillbilly who howls, mumbles, coos and cries his way through it has overnight become the biggest singing attraction for teen-agers in the U.S.
A string of television appearances introduced the young singer to households across America, and within a short time he was inspiring frantic behavior among overwhelmed fans. “Shortly girls were quivering and fainting wherever he turned up to sing Long Tall Sally, I Got a Woman, and Blue Suede Shoes,” the magazine explained. “On a tour of Texas last week they kicked through a plateglass door in Amarillo to get him to autograph their arms and underclothes.”
Here, on what would have been Presley’s 81st birthday, is an intimate look at a Nashville recording session for a new star who would, in due time, become a legend.
Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.
Caption from LIFE. Looking like it hurts, Elvis records new song in Nashville studio.
Don Cravens—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
Presley sings expressively while recording a new song in a Nashville recording studio, backed by the Jordanaires, made up of Gordon Stoker, Neal Matthews Jr., Hoyt Hawkins and Hugh Jarrett.
Don Cravens—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
Presley, looking tired and somewhat dejected, leans over a railing in a recording studio during a break from cutting a new record in Nashville, 1956.
Don Cravens—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
Presley (second from right) during a break from recording,1956.
Don Cravens—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
Presley shows a framed gold record of "Heartbreak Hotel" to (L-R) drummer D.J. Fontana, singer Gordon Stoker and guitarist Scotty Moore, 1956.
Don Cravens—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
Presley performs emotionally, even in the privacy of a studio.
Don Cravens—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
Presley sings during a recording session.
Don Cravens—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
Presley sits in a chair during a break from recording a new record n Nashville, while head of Country and Western Artist and Repertoire, Steve Sholes, talks to producer Chet Atkins in the background, 1956.
Don Cravens—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
Presley uses the roof of a taxi to sign autographs for teenage girls outside of the Nashville studio where he had just finished recording a new record, 1956.
Don Cravens—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
More from the same session:
http://selvedgeyard.com/2010/10/30/before-elvis-there-was-nothing/
.
