Baby Elvis

By: Kendall Jurgajtis


Elvis Aaron Presley was born in the small town of Tupelo, Mississippi on January 8, 1935 along with his twin brother, Jessie Garon. Unfortunately Elvis’s twin brother died at birth. Elvis grew up in a working-class family who were all members of the Assembly of God church. Since he was often around gospel music, it is easy to understand how gospel music has been an important inspiration for his music. For his tenth birthday, he wanted a bicycle like most children his age would have wanted, but when his parents could not afford the bicycle, they purchased him a guitar. Elvis and the guitar seemed inseparable. His dreams of a future in music grew tremendously the more he played. When Elvis was ten years old, he performed in a youth talent show and received fifth place singing “Old Shep”. Then his parents decided to pack up and head to Tennessee to try to gain a better economic life. He continued to play his guitar, coming up with many different songs and singing any chance he has. "Elvis sings to his mother when the storms force them from home; he stands up to sing in the classroom and at church, clear, unsteady, doubtful, with an impressive genuineness that brings tears to the eyes of the strongest in the room.” (Hughes, 2006) His first musical achievement came when he won his high school talent show. He worked many jobs throughout high school trying to provide for his family and performed gospel songs regularly for groups of black and white people. Elvis graduated high school in 1953, and then began to pursue jobs that would help him work toward achieving a musical career in order to fulfill his lifelong dream. “He cut his first demo record at what later became known as Sun Studio that year, and before long, Sam Phillips, the record label owner, decided to take the young performer under his wing.” (Elvis Presley biography, 2012)  Elvis began to travel and play wherever he could, trying to spark his music career into something big. 

Here are a few short videos: 

Here is the song "Old Shep" sung by Elvis Presley in his youth talent show. This song won him fifth place in the competition. (Presley, 2010)

This is a short video that shows many pictures of Elvis and videos of him growing up. Pretty neat!! (Robinson, 2012)

Here is a video that shows Elvis's childhood house. Although it is a replica in Graceland, it is still pretty cool! (MensHelpTV, 2012)

Where all this information came from: 
All about elvis: Biography. (2012). Retrieved from

Elvis presley biography- facts, birthday, love story. (2012). Retrieved from

Hughes, T. (2006, October 21). Elvis aaron presle'ys childhood. Retrieved from  
            65493.html

 MensHelpTV. (Producer) (2012). Elvis presle'ys childhood house..july 13th 2012
           tupelo, mississippi [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?
            v=Gvq6o-4IPI

Presley, E. (Performer) (2010). Elvis presley- old shep [Web]. Retrieved from  
 
Robinson, K. (2012). Elvis presley childhood [Web]. Retrieved from 

No comments:

Post a Comment