243 Fun Facts About Elvis Presley

Which network aired Presley's 1968 comeback special?

NBC aired the special on 3 December 1968; it put him in front of a live audience for the first time in more than seven years, and its success sent him back to the concert stage.

In which country did Elvis give the only concerts he ever played outside the United States?

Canada heard him in three cities in 1957, and he never sang abroad again; many suspect the reason was his manager, an illegal immigrant who had no passport to travel on.

What did TCB, the motto Elvis wore on a gold necklace, stand for?

Taking Care of Business, usually followed by 'in a flash', hence the lightning bolt in the logo: he gave gold TCB necklaces to his inner circle and had the emblem painted on the tail of his private plane.

How did The Ed Sullivan Show's cameras famously frame Elvis on his third and final appearance in 1957?

Only from the waist up, and only that once: on his first two appearances the cameras had shown him head to toe, so the legend that the show always hid his hips is wrong.

Which former president's yacht did Elvis buy in 1964 and give to a children's hospital?

Franklin D. Roosevelt's yacht, the Potomac, cost him $55,000; he meant it for the March of Dimes, which turned it down, so it went to St. Jude in Memphis, which sold it to raise funds.

Which future sitcom star joined Elvis in a comedy sketch on network television in July 1956?

Andy Griffith played alongside him and Imogene Coca in a cowboy skit; the host had planned the whole evening to make the rock and roller look tame, and Elvis went along with it without enjoying it.

What name was given to Elvis Presley's twin brother, who was stillborn?

Jesse Garon was delivered stillborn shortly before Elvis, so Elvis grew up as his parents' only child, the centre of a household that had very little else.

What did Elvis receive in front of the press at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, just after his 1958 Army induction?

A regulation haircut: his manager had invited the news crews, so the shearing of the most famous hair in America became a publicity event instead of a private loss.

Which organisation named Elvis one of its Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation in January 1971?

The Jaycees, the US Junior Chamber of Commerce, held him up as a model for the country fifteen years after preachers and pundits had blamed him for teenage delinquency.

Which song, cut at his first RCA Victor session in January 1956, became Elvis's first million-seller?

'Heartbreak Hotel' sounded so unlike his earlier records that his old producer called it a 'morbid mess' and RCA's own staff doubted it, yet it became his first number one on the pop chart.

Which Arthur Crudup blues number became Elvis's first single at Sun in July 1954?

'That's All Right' came about on 5 July 1954 when Elvis launched into the Crudup song during a break and Sam Phillips began taping; Sun released it on 19 July 1954.

Which two Memphis musicians backed Elvis on guitar and upright bass at his first Sun sessions?

Sam Phillips invited them in; the trio played publicly for the first time at Memphis's Bon Air club on 17 July 1954.

For what then-unprecedented sum did RCA Victor buy Elvis's Sun contract in November 1955?

$40,000 topped every rival bid, none of which had passed $25,000: $35,000 went to Sun, which was short of cash, and $5,000 to Elvis for the royalties the label still owed him.

On whose 1956 TV show did Elvis sing 'Hound Dog' to a basset hound in a top hat?

Steve Allen's show dressed him in white tie and tails as a joke at rock and roll's expense, but it beat Ed Sullivan in the ratings, and Sullivan, who had vowed never to book him, signed him within weeks.

Which group's 1992 hit broke Elvis's 1956 rock-era record of eleven weeks at number one?

Boyz II Men's 'End of the Road' spent 13 weeks at number one in 1992, ending a rock-era mark that 'Don't Be Cruel' and 'Hound Dog' had held for 36 years, and then lost the record itself within months.

Elvis's 1956 film debut, a Civil War tale of four siblings, was called what before it was renamed Love Me Tender?

The Reno Brothers was retitled once advance orders for the ballad 'Love Me Tender' passed a million, a first for a single; Elvis, new to films, was not even the top-billed star.

Which Sun star joined Elvis, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis in the 1956 'Million Dollar Quartet'?

Johnny Cash is in the famous photograph, though accounts differ on whether he stayed to sing; the jam got its name from a reporter's headline about four stars who 'could sell a million'.

Which vaccine was Elvis photographed receiving before a 1956 Ed Sullivan Show appearance?

Polio vaccination was lagging among teenagers even as young children were being immunised in their millions, so health officials asked the idol of that age group to take his shot for the cameras.

Priscilla Beaulieu's family was in West Germany in 1959 because her stepfather served in what?

The Air Force had just posted her stepfather, a captain, from Texas to a base in West Germany; within a month the 14-year-old was invited to a party at the house Elvis rented off base.

Elvis's first Grammy Award was for which 1967 gospel album?

How Great Thou Art won Best Sacred Performance at the 1968 Grammys; all three of his competitive Grammys were for gospel, plus a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1971 at 36.

What did Elvis ask President Nixon for at their Oval Office meeting in December 1970?

A federal narcotics agent's badge was the prize: he collected police badges, and in a six-page handwritten letter he offered to help fight drug abuse as a 'Federal Agent-at-Large'.

Elvis's 1973 Aloha from Hawaii show was a milestone of what kind?

First solo gig broadcast worldwide: it went out live by satellite to Asia and Oceania and reached Europe on delay, while American viewers had to wait until April to see it.

The 1969 single that became Elvis's first US pop number one in over seven years, and his last, was what?

'Suspicious Minds' was nearly lost in a row over publishing: Elvis's publishers demanded a share of the song's rights and the session almost stopped before the demand was dropped.

Elvis's landmark 1969 Las Vegas residency, 57 shows in four weeks, was at which brand-new hotel?

The International had opened only weeks earlier with the largest showroom in the city; opening night went so well that the hotel signed him the next day to return twice a year for five years.

Costume designer Bill Belew based Elvis's famous jumpsuit stage look on the singer's passion for what?

Karate had been his passion since his Army service in Germany: he earned a black belt in 1960 and went on to work its kicks and stances into his concerts.

Elvis's father Vernon was jailed for eight months in 1938 for what offence?

Altering a cheque written by the landowner he sometimes worked for put Vernon in prison; the family lost their house, and his wife and three-year-old son had to move in with relatives.

Lansky Brothers, the Memphis clothier whose flashy window displays the young Elvis admired, stood on which street?

Lansky Brothers stood at 126 Beale Street; Bernard Lansky sold the teenage Elvis his first flashy clothes, and the shop dressed him for the last time too, supplying the suit he was buried in.

What kind of Memphis home did the Presleys get in 1949?

Public housing, a two-bedroom apartment in the Lauderdale Courts, ended nearly a year in rooming houses; around the complex Elvis fell in with other teenagers who played music together.

The 1972 MGM concert film Elvis on Tour won which award?

A Golden Globe for Best Documentary went to the film of his spring 1972 tour; a young Martin Scorsese oversaw the montage sequences that cut the concerts into split screens.

In 2018 Elvis was posthumously awarded which US honour?

The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest US civilian honour, came 41 years after his death; in life his best-known meeting with a president was the visit he talked his way into in 1970.

Elvis's manager, "Colonel" Tom Parker, was secretly a native of which country?

The Netherlands was his birthplace, a fact he hid for decades: he had slipped into the United States illegally as a young man and passed himself off as American-born.

After Elvis's only Grand Ole Opry appearance in 1954, Jim Denny said he was 'not bad' but what?

Did not suit the program was the Opry manager's polite verdict to Sam Phillips; a harsher telling has Elvis advised to go back to his day job, and he never played the show again.

What nickname for Elvis's hip movements, coined by the press in 1956, did he dismiss as 'childish'?

'Elvis the Pelvis' took hold after his grinding 'Hound Dog' on Milton Berle's show in June 1956 outraged the critics; he hated the tag and called it childish.

Sam Phillips gave what name to the jury-rigged echo effect used on Elvis's Sun recordings?

Slapback came from running a second tape machine a split second behind the first; RCA's producer, who did not know the trick, could not recreate the echo when Elvis first recorded for his new label.

Which school subject did Elvis later claim was the only one he ever failed?

Music, he said, was the only thing he ever failed; his eighth-grade report shows a C, and when the teacher said he had no aptitude for singing he brought in his guitar to prove her wrong.

To what rank had Elvis been promoted by February 1960, a month before his Army discharge?

Sergeant was a rank earned the ordinary way: he had passed up the Special Services, where he could have spent his two years entertaining troops instead of soldiering.

What was Elvis's only US top-ten hit between 1964 and 1968, a gospel number recorded in 1960?

'Crying in the Chapel' sat unreleased for more than four years; issued in spring 1965, it climbed to number three while the singles from his film soundtracks were stalling.

Which 1969 From Elvis in Memphis single reached number three, his first non-gospel top ten since 1963?

'In the Ghetto' nearly got away: Elvis hesitated to record a song with a social message, and committed only when his producer said he would give it to another singer.

What song did Elvis, aged ten, sing at a 1945 fair talent contest, standing on a chair to reach the microphone?

'Old Shep', a Red Foley tearjerker about a boy and his dog, had so impressed his teacher at morning prayers that she urged him to enter; he came fifth.

Which radio performer showed the 12-year-old Elvis chord techniques and booked him for on-air spots?

Mississippi Slim, a singer with his own local radio show, taught him chord techniques and booked him two on-air spots; stage fright beat Elvis the first time, and he only sang the following week.

Which two brothers, future rockabilly pioneers, played in Elvis's teenage musical circle in Memphis?

Dorsey and Johnny Burnette left Memphis for New York in 1956 and won a television talent contest three times in a row, which earned their Rock and Roll Trio a record deal.

What did Elvis say singing in a 1953 school talent show did for him?

Made him popular at school, he recalled: nobody there had known he could sing, and he drew more applause than anyone and was called back for an encore.

Which monthly all-night events in downtown Memphis did the teenage Elvis attend?

Gospel singings that ran all night were where he heard Jake Hess of the Statesmen, the singer on whom he based much of his own ballad style.

Which song did Elvis sing on the acetate he paid about $4 to cut at a Memphis studio in 1953?

'My Happiness' was, he said, a present for his mother, though his biographer suspects he hoped to be noticed; the studio's assistant did note 'Good ballad singer. Hold.'

Why, by Elvis's account, did a gospel quartet reject him in 1954?

He couldn't sing: that was how Elvis reported it, while a member of the Songfellows later put it more gently, saying he had not yet shown an ear for harmony.

Which Memphis DJ gave Elvis his first radio play on the Red, Hot, and Blue show in July 1954?

Dewey Phillips played the record over and over on WHBQ, then asked Elvis on air which high school he attended, a coded way of telling a segregated city's listeners that the singer was white.

Which Bill Monroe song did Elvis Presley record in his own style as the B-side of his first single?

'Blue Moon of Kentucky' was written as a slow waltz; Elvis and his two sidemen sped it up into a bluesy four-four romp, to the delight of their producer, who called it a pop song now.

At a Memphis concert in July 1954, what did Elvis do that set the crowd screaming?

Shook his legs: it was partly nerves, and his baggy trousers exaggerated every twitch; he came offstage asking why the audience had been yelling at him.

Which Memphis DJ and promoter signed on as manager of Elvis's trio in January 1955?

Bob Neal, a WMPS disc jockey, took over the bookings from guitarist Scotty Moore; before long the bigger promoter he had brought in as an adviser had replaced him.

On which radio show did Elvis sign a year's worth of Saturday appearances in November 1954?

The Louisiana Hayride, the Grand Ole Opry's chief rival, gave him a regular radio audience, but the weekly commitment kept him from travelling far beyond the South just as his fame was growing.

Which American maker built the D-18 acoustic guitar that Elvis strummed on stage and on record in 1955?

Martin built the D-18, which he picked up second-hand at a Memphis music store by trading in a smaller guitar; within months he had traded it in again for a newer D-28.

Which CBS amateur showcase turned Elvis down at an audition in 1955?

Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts turned him away in the spring of 1955; a year and a half later the rejected hopeful was drawing the largest audiences that network variety television had ever seen.

Under which billing did promoters advertise the young Elvis on tour in 1954 and 1955?

The Hillbilly Cat summed up his problem: country stations thought he sounded too much like a black artist and R&B stations thought he sounded too hillbilly, so promoters sold the mixture itself.

Which rock pioneer advised Elvis to sing fewer ballads after touring with him in 1955?

Bill Haley, then the bigger name, told the newcomer he had a natural feel for rhythm and was wasting it on slow songs; within a year the newcomer had eclipsed him.

Why did Vernon Presley sign his son's RCA contract in November 1955?

Elvis was still a minor at 20, because adulthood then began at 21, so the richest recording deal of its day needed a parent's signature; his birthday came seven weeks later.

Which two publishing companies were set up to handle Elvis's new material?

Hill & Range set up Elvis Presley Music and Gladys Music, the latter named for his mother; songwriters gave up a third of their royalties to have Elvis record their songs.

Which guitarist joined Elvis's first RCA session in Nashville in January 1956?

Chet Atkins played acoustic guitar and helped run the session, where RCA tried to copy the echo of the Sun records with a speaker and a microphone in a hallway; the result sounded nothing like them.

Which CBS program, hosted by two bandleader brothers, gave Elvis his first national TV exposure?

Stage Show, produced by Jackie Gleason, booked him for six Saturdays from January 1956, yet he caused little stir there; it took other hosts' shows that summer to make him a sensation.

Elvis's first national number one, in February 1956, came on which Billboard chart?

The country chart crowned him first: the last single from his original label got there while his first release for RCA was still climbing the pop listings.

For how many weeks did Elvis's self-titled debut album top the Billboard chart?

The album Elvis Presley, released in March 1956, spent ten weeks at number one on Billboard's pop album chart, the first rock and roll album to reach the top.

Where was Elvis's first Milton Berle Show appearance staged in April 1956?

An aircraft carrier: the USS Hancock in San Diego, where sailors and their dates cheered him; it was his second Berle spot, from the show's usual studio, that caused the scandal.

Why did Elvis's first Las Vegas booking, at the New Frontier in 1956, fall flat?

Middle-aged audiences of gamblers, not teenagers, gave him a lukewarm reception; thirteen years later he returned to the same city and broke its attendance records.

Which studio signed Elvis to his first film contract after a screen test in spring 1956?

Paramount Pictures signed him after a two-day screen test in which he mimed to a record and played a dramatic scene; even so, his first film was made on loan to another studio.

Where did Elvis first hear the comic version of 'Hound Dog' that he copied for his own record?

A Las Vegas lounge was where Freddie Bell and the Bellboys played it for laughs with rewritten words; Elvis watched them several times during his own 1956 booking and made it his closing number.

Who hosted Elvis's first Ed Sullivan Show appearance while Sullivan recovered from a car crash?

Charles Laughton hosted from New York while Sullivan recovered from a car accident, then sent some 60 million viewers 'away to Hollywood', where Elvis was performing from a studio in Los Angeles.

How much did Ed Sullivan pay Elvis for three appearances in 1956?

$50,000 for three appearances was the most a variety show had ever paid a performer, and it came from a host who had said he would never have Elvis on his programme.

What judicial ruling did Elvis mock on stage in Jacksonville in 1956?

An order to tame his act came with a threat: the juvenile-court judge said he would have Elvis arrested if he gyrated on stage, so the singer stood still and let one finger do the dancing.

Which spiritual did Elvis close his final Ed Sullivan appearance with in January 1957?

On January 6, 1957, shot only from the waist up, Elvis closed his third and last Ed Sullivan Show appearance with the gospel song 'Peace in the Valley'; Sullivan called him 'a real decent, fine boy'.

Which pair of Elvis singles both topped the US chart in 1957?

All Shook Up and Teddy Bear both topped the charts in 1957, a year he began by hearing from his draft board that he would probably be called up before it was over.

On what were Elvis records bootlegged in Leningrad, according to The New York Times?

Discarded X-ray plates were the bootleggers' raw material because his records could not be bought legally in the Soviet Union; the ghostly discs, known as bone music, sold for high prices.

What did Elvis call the songwriting duo Leiber and Stoller?

His good-luck charm was how he came to see the pair once they had written most of the songs for his third film and all but produced the sessions themselves.

Which crooner branded rock and roll a 'rancid-smelling aphrodisiac' in 1957?

Frank Sinatra deplored the music in print, and Elvis replied that he admired the man but he shouldn't have said it; three years later Sinatra was paying him to appear on his own TV special.

Which innuendo-laden blues did Leiber and Stoller write on the spot for Elvis' Christmas Album?

'Santa Claus Is Back in Town' was dashed off when Elvis asked the pair for one more seasonal song near the end of the session; the album it appeared on became America's best-selling Christmas record.

Which film's completion earned Elvis a draft deferment in late 1957?

King Creole was already in preparation when his draft notice arrived, so the board gave him 60 days to finish it; he reported for induction two weeks after shooting ended.

At which Texas base did Elvis do basic and advanced training in 1958?

Fort Hood was his home for six months, and his parents moved into a house near the base to be with him; it was from there that his mother, taken ill, went home to Memphis that August.

What illness put Elvis's mother in hospital days before her death in 1958?

Hepatitis put her in a Memphis hospital in early August; Elvis got emergency leave from Army training and reached her two days before she died, aged 46.

What was Elvis's Army job in West Germany?

Armor intelligence specialist was the post he held as an ordinary soldier: he had turned down the Special Services, where he would have spent his service entertaining the troops.

Which paper's front page said in December 1956 that Elvis merchandise had grossed $22 million?

The Wall Street Journal ran the figure on its front page: in a few months, licensed goods from lipstick to stuffed hound dogs had turned a singer into a new kind of business.

In which German spa town, where he rented a house off base, did Elvis meet Priscilla Beaulieu?

Bad Nauheim was where he lived off base with his father, his grandmother and friends from home; Priscilla was brought to a party at the house weeks after her family arrived in the country.

What did RCA release to keep Elvis on the charts during his Army years?

Songs taped before he sailed gave RCA a steady stream of singles: he had ten top-40 hits while in uniform, including a number one cut on a two-week leave from training.

What was Elvis's first post-Army single, a rushed number one in 1960?

'Stuck on You' was in the shops three days after he sang it: RCA pressed the record without waiting for orders and shipped it in a generic sleeve, and it was number one within weeks.

Which Nashville session saxophonist plays on Elvis Is Back!, the album Elvis made on leaving the Army in 1960?

Boots Randolph joined the band for the second round of sessions that April; three years later his own 'Yakety Sax' made the Nashville sideman famous in his own right.

How much did Parker secure for Elvis's eight minutes on the 1960 Welcome Home Elvis TV special?

$125,000 for about eight minutes of singing was a record fee for a guest spot; the taping, in a Miami Beach hotel, was the only time all year that he performed in front of an audience.

What was Elvis's first gospel LP, released in late 1960?

His Hand in Mine was taped in a single overnight session that October; a record of hymns from the man who had scandalised the country, it still climbed to number 13 on the pop album chart.

What was Elvis's last public performance before a seven-year break from the stage, in March 1961?

A Pearl Harbor benefit gave the stalled fund drive for the USS Arizona Memorial the money and publicity it needed; the memorial was completed the following year.

Which two more dramatic Elvis films underperformed, sending him back to formula musicals?

Flaming Star and Wild in the Country gave him little to sing and plenty to act; the first even earned him the thanks of a tribal council for his portrayal of a mixed-race son, but neither matched his musicals at the box office.

Which producer said 'A Presley picture is the only sure thing in Hollywood'?

Hal Wallis produced nine of Elvis's films and had reason to say so: virtually every Presley picture made a profit, and together they made their star a rich man.

Where did Elvis and Priscilla marry on May 1, 1967?

The Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas hosted a ceremony so small that many friends and relatives missed it; four weeks later the couple put their wedding clothes back on for a second reception at Graceland.

Which 1968 motor-racing film's soundtrack stalled at number 82, months before Elvis's comeback special?

Speedway's soundtrack stalled at number 82 as buyers tired of the film formula; by then his manager had already turned to television and struck the deal for the special.

Who directed the '68 Comeback Special, defying Parker's plan for an hour of Christmas songs?

Steve Binder pushed for a show built around live performance instead of carols, and won; the result was the network's highest-rated programme of the season.

What was Elvis wearing during the live segments of the '68 Comeback Special?

Tight black leather, designed by Bill Belew, was meant to recall the biker films of the 1950s, the decade in which Elvis first shocked the country; it gave him one of the most famous images of his career.

Which single written for the '68 special reached number 12 in early 1969?

'If I Can Dream' was written overnight after Elvis spoke of his grief at the killings of Dr King and Robert Kennedy; it closed the show in place of the Christmas song his manager expected.

Where in Memphis did Elvis record From Elvis in Memphis in 1969?

From Elvis in Memphis was cut at Chips Moman's American Sound Studio in January and February 1969, Elvis's first Memphis sessions since his Sun days; the same dates produced 'Suspicious Minds'.

Which guitarist led Elvis's new band for the 1969 Las Vegas residency?

James Burton got the job because Elvis's old sidemen would not give up their lucrative studio work in Nashville; he went on to lead the band until Elvis died in 1977.

Whom did Elvis point to as 'the real king of rock and roll' when a reporter called him the King?

Fats Domino was standing in the room; Elvis waved the title away and said the New Orleans pianist had been a huge influence on him when he was starting out.

What annual salary did Elvis's five-year Las Vegas hotel contract of 1969 pay him?

$1 million a year bought two month-long engagements, one each February and August; the terms were settled the morning after his opening night, by one account on a coffee-shop tablecloth.

What was Elvis's final non-concert film, released in November 1969?

Change of Habit cast him as an inner-city doctor, with only a few songs and no beach or racetrack in sight; after it he gave up acting, and his only later films were concert documentaries.

Which venue hosted six record-breaking Elvis shows in early 1970?

The Houston Astrodome hosted them during the city's livestock show and rodeo; crowds topping 200,000 stirred talk of a full tour, and that September he began his first since the 1950s.

After a 1970 death threat in Las Vegas, what did Elvis hide in his boot on stage?

A Derringer pistol went in Elvis's right boot and a .45 in his waistband after someone demanded a ransom on threat of murder; the FBI took it seriously, security was stepped up, and the shows passed without incident.

What was the Grammy Lifetime Achievement honour called when Elvis received it in 1971?

The Bing Crosby Award was named for its first recipient, honoured in 1963; Elvis was only 36 when it reached him, and the prize was later renamed the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Which 1971 Elvis album, cut mostly in Nashville in June 1970, is subtitled 'I'm 10,000 Years Old'?

Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old) took shape when the sessions threw up so many country songs that Elvis and producer Felton Jarvis cut more to fill an album; the same marathon also fed Love Letters from Elvis.

Where did Elvis sell out four straight shows in June 1972?

Madison Square Garden hosted all four shows; RCA captured one of them and rushed it out as an album within days.

Which one-time Memphis beauty queen moved in with Elvis after his 1972 separation?

Linda Thompson, Miss Tennessee Universe of 1972, met Elvis at one of his private midnight film screenings and stayed four years; she left in late 1976, wanting a normal life his routine could not give her.

Which charity benefited from Elvis's Aloha from Hawaii concerts?

The Kui Lee Cancer Fund honoured a Hawaiian songwriter who died of cancer in 1966; tickets carried no price, the audience paid what it could, and the shows raised about $75,000, triple the target.

What image adorned the cape Elvis spread at the end of Aloha from Hawaii?

An American eagle answered Elvis's request that the suit 'say America'; designer Bill Belew's first cape weighed 12 pounds, so Elvis wore a shorter one for the show.

In late 1973 Elvis was hospitalised for addiction to which drug?

Demerol, the opiate painkiller pethidine, put him in a Memphis hospital at the end of 1973, a year of two barbiturate overdoses; his doctor said Elvis felt that drugs from a physician did not make him a junkie.

Which tell-all by three fired bodyguards exposed Elvis's drug use two weeks before his death?

Elvis: What Happened? came from Red West, Sonny West and David Hebler, whom Vernon Presley had fired in July 1976; Elvis was devastated and tried to stop publication by offering the publishers money.

Which 1974 album held the gospel performance that won Presley his third and final Grammy?

Elvis Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis, taped at a hometown concert in March 1974, held the hymn that won Best Inspirational Performance; all three of his Grammy wins were for gospel, none for rock and roll.

Where was Elvis's final concert held on June 26, 1977?

Elvis's last concert was at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis on June 26, 1977; CBS had taped his Omaha and Rapid City shows days earlier for the TV special Elvis in Concert.

What was Elvis's last single released in his lifetime?

'Way Down', issued in June 1977, was the last single released in Elvis's lifetime; within weeks of his death it topped both the US country chart and the UK singles chart.

What did Elvis rent for his last public appearance in the early hours of August 8, 1977?

The Libertyland amusement park held his favourite roller coaster, the Zippin Pippin; Elvis booked the park from about 1 a.m. to 7 a.m. for about ten guests and rode the coaster for hours, eight days before he died.

What was Elvis due to do on the evening of the day he died?

He was to fly out to open a tour in Portland, Maine, the next night; he went to bed around 7 a.m. to rest for the flight, and his fiancée found him on the bathroom floor that afternoon.

At which Memphis hospital was Elvis pronounced dead at 3:30 pm on the day he died?

Baptist Memorial Hospital, where Lisa Marie had been born nine years earlier, received Elvis by ambulance from Graceland; attempts to revive him failed and he was pronounced dead at 3:30 pm.

Which magazine ran a secretly taken photo of Elvis in his casket on its best-selling issue ever?

The National Enquirer paid one of Elvis's cousins to photograph him in secret in his open casket at Graceland; the cover gave the tabloid its best-selling issue, and it kept mining his death for stories.

Where was Elvis first buried before being moved to Graceland's Meditation Garden?

Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis held Elvis beside his mother for only weeks; after an attempt to steal his body in late August 1977, both were moved to Graceland's Meditation Garden that October.

Which organ did the medical examiner blame for Elvis's death while insisting 'drugs played no role'?

His heart, said Memphis medical examiner Jerry Francisco, who named cardiac arrest before the autopsy was even complete; lab reports later found fourteen drugs in Elvis's system, ten in significant quantity.

Roughly how many doses did Dr Nichopoulos prescribe in Elvis's name in the first eight months of 1977?

More than 10,000 doses of sedatives, amphetamines and narcotics went out in Elvis's name in under eight months; a 1981 jury cleared Dr George Nichopoulos, but Tennessee stripped his licence for good in 1995.

Whose sons inducted Elvis into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986?

John Lennon's sons Julian and Sean did the honours when Elvis entered with the Hall's first class; their father, who had died in 1980, once said that without Elvis there would be no Beatles.

Which Elvis song, remixed by Junkie XL for a 2002 Nike campaign, topped charts in over 20 countries?

'A Little Less Conversation' was a little-noticed 1968 film song until the remix for Nike's World Cup ad; it was added at the last minute to ELV1S: 30 No. 1 Hits, his first album to debut atop the Billboard 200.

In which country did weekly reissues of eighteen old Elvis chart-toppers send three back to number one in 2005?

Britain sent 'One Night' and 'It's Now or Never' back to the top, and every reissue that could chart made the top five; the first, 'All Shook Up', came in a collectors' box that made it ineligible.

Which boxer wore a jewelled robe from Elvis into the ring in 1973?

Muhammad Ali was given it in Las Vegas in February 1973, with 'People's Choice' spelled out across the back; after he lost to Ken Norton wearing it, he put it away as bad luck and never wore it again.

Which private jet of Elvis's drew a winning bid of $260,000 at auction in January 2023?

A Lockheed JetStar drew the bid with its engines gone after nearly four decades parked outdoors at Roswell, New Mexico; Elvis had paid $840,000 for it in 1976.

What is the title of Baz Luhrmann's 2025 Elvis documentary built from rediscovered 1970s footage?

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert grew from 68 boxes of film found in Warner Bros. vaults in a Kansas salt mine while Luhrmann researched his 2022 biopic; the footage had no sound and took two years to restore.

Where did Elvis's mother buy his first guitar?

A hardware store in Tupelo sold his mother the guitar for his eleventh birthday in 1946; Elvis is said to have wanted a bicycle or a rifle instead, and two uncles and the family's pastor then gave him lessons.

Which instrument did Elvis play himself on the 1957 recording of '(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care'?

Electric bass was Elvis's part on the track, one of the few recordings where he plays the instrument; he laid down the bass line first and added his vocal six days later.

Which Neapolitan song is 'It's Now or Never' based on?

'It's Now or Never' sets new English lyrics to the 1898 Neapolitan song 'O sole mio, which Elvis knew through Tony Martin's 1949 'There's No Tomorrow'; the single sold an estimated 20 million copies worldwide.

Which 1955 song does critic Dave Marsh credit with introducing Elvis's 'vocal stutter'?

'Baby Let's Play House' is where Dave Marsh hears the stutter begin; it was the first Elvis record to reach a national chart, and a Beatles song later borrowed one of its lines.

How did critic Henry Pleasants classify Elvis's voice type?

High baritone, said Henry Pleasants, who noted that Elvis was called both baritone and tenor because of his extraordinary compass: two octaves and a third, from a baritone's low G to a tenor's high B.

Which Black weekly magazine investigated a 1957 rumour that Elvis had made a racist remark?

Jet sent reporter Louie Robinson to a Hollywood film set, where Elvis denied ever saying it; the slur had first appeared in print as an anonymous quotation in the white-owned magazine Sepia.

Which soul singer said 'almost every black solo entertainer copied his stage mannerisms from Elvis'?

Jackie Wilson was answering the charge that Elvis stole Black music; Elvis, impressed by Wilson's stagecraft, had sought him out, and the two became firm friends.

What is Elvis's mansion Graceland named after?

A relative of an earlier owner: the farm was called Graceland for Grace Toof, whose family had held the land for generations, and her niece built the mansion in 1939, long before Elvis bought it.

Why did Priscilla Presley open Graceland to the public?

Upkeep was draining the estate: Graceland cost about $500,000 a year and taxes were due, so she opened the house rather than sell it, and it earned back the outlay within about a month.

Which part of Graceland is closed to visitors on the public tour?

The upstairs has stayed private since the house opened: Priscilla and Lisa Marie felt it would be disrespectful to send crowds through Elvis's own rooms, which include the bathroom where he died.

Who became sole owner of Graceland after Lisa Marie Presley's death in 2023?

Riley Keough, Lisa Marie's eldest daughter, was left as sole trustee after Priscilla challenged a late change to the will; in 2024 a woman was arrested over forged loan papers meant to force Graceland's sale.

At a December 1956 show, the announcer said 'Elvis has left the building' to make fans do what?

Stay in their seats was the plea: Elvis had played mid-bill, and Horace Logan needed the teenagers to settle so the other acts could go on. In the 1970s announcer Al Dvorin made the line his nightly sign-off.

How did Parker acquire the honorary rank of 'colonel'?

Helping Jimmie Davis's Louisiana governor campaign earned Parker an honorary colonel's commission in 1948; his real military record was less grand, since he had gone AWOL and been charged with desertion.

What job was Elvis doing for Crown Electric when he cut his first single in 1954?

Truck driver for Crown Electric was the job he took in April 1954, soon after a gospel quartet had turned him down; within months he was on the radio.

Which film series featured Priscilla Presley as Jane Spencer?

The Naked Gun cast Priscilla Presley as Jane Spencer opposite Leslie Nielsen; critic Roger Ebert praised her light comic touch, and she came back for a cameo in the 2025 reboot.

On which prime-time soap did Priscilla Presley play Jenna Wade from 1983 to 1988?

Dallas had already cast two other actresses as Bobby Ewing's old sweetheart, Morgan Fairchild and Francine Tacker, before Priscilla took the part and kept it for five years, longer than either.

Which of her four husbands was Lisa Marie Presley married to from 1994 to 1996?

Lisa Marie Presley married Michael Jackson in the Dominican Republic in May 1994, twenty days after her divorce from Danny Keough became final; they divorced in 1996.

Who played Priscilla in Sofia Coppola's 2023 film Priscilla?

Cailee Spaeny won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress when the film opened at Venice, where she watched it seated beside Priscilla Presley herself; Jacob Elordi played Elvis.

Which pair were among the reported finalists Austin Butler beat to the lead in Elvis (2022)?

Miles Teller and Harry Styles were reported frontrunners before Butler won the part in July 2019; when the long shoot finally wrapped, he was taken to hospital and spent a week in bed.

Which 1961 Elvis film features 'Can't Help Falling in Love'?

Blue Hawaii took its title song from a crooner's hit of the 1930s, but it was the new ballad that lasted; the soundtrack album spent 20 weeks at number one.

Who co-starred with Elvis in Viva Las Vegas, with famous on-screen chemistry?

Ann-Margret played swimming instructor Rusty Martin opposite Elvis's racing driver Lucky Jackson in Viva Las Vegas (1964); their off-screen romance fed the film's famous chemistry.

Who wrote the song 'Viva Las Vegas'?

Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman wrote it for the 1964 film, yet the single stalled at number 29 and Elvis never sang it live; in 2002 Las Vegas asked to make it the city's official song, but talks stalled over the price.

Why did Elvis reportedly never watch his 1957 prison film?

His co-star died after the shoot: Judy Tyler was killed in a Wyoming car crash on July 3, 1957, as she drove home with her husband, and Elvis was reportedly too devastated ever to watch the result.

Who wrote and first recorded 'Suspicious Minds' in 1968?

Mark James wrote 'Suspicious Minds' and released his own version on Scepter in 1968 before Elvis cut it in Memphis in January 1969; James also co-wrote 'Always on My Mind', which Elvis recorded in 1972.

Who first recorded 'Hound Dog' in 1952?

Big Mama Thornton cut 'Hound Dog' in 1952 and took it to number one on the R&B chart for seven weeks, yet she said all she ever received for it was a single cheque for $500.

Which 1992 comedy has Nicolas Cage skydive into Las Vegas with the Flying Elvises?

Honeymoon in Vegas sends Cage's character out of a plane with a skydiving team of Elvis impersonators; ten years later the actor married Elvis's daughter, Lisa Marie.

Which French song gave 'Can't Help Falling in Love' its melody?

The melody of 'Can't Help Falling in Love' comes from 'Plaisir d'amour', a 1784 romance by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini; the 1961 lyric was first drafted from a woman's viewpoint as 'with him'.

Which Nashville star recorded 'Can't Help Falling in Love' for the 2022 Elvis film?

Kacey Musgraves took on the ballad Elvis used to close most of his 1970s concerts, the last song he ever performed on stage; her version came out two days before the film opened in America.

Which comedian's Elvis impression was reportedly Elvis's own favourite?

Andy Kaufman would stumble through hopeless impressions as his timid Foreign Man, then slick back his hair and turn into a note-perfect Elvis; Presley is said to have called it his favourite.

What colour was the Cadillac that Elvis famously gave his mother, Gladys?

Pink, in a custom shade a neighbour mixed and named 'Elvis Rose'; Gladys never had a driving licence, so Elvis and his band drove the car to shows themselves.

Which Memphis-born hotel chain did Sam Phillips invest in soon after selling Elvis's contract?

Holiday Inn was about to go national when Phillips bought in, shortly after letting Elvis go to a bigger label; the stake multiplied his money many times over and helped make him rich.

On which 1957 hit does Dave Marsh credit Elvis's guitarist with inventing power chords?

'Jailhouse Rock' is where Dave Marsh hears the power chord being invented; Keith Richards said that while everyone else wanted to be Elvis, he wanted to be the man playing guitar behind him.

What was the name of Elvis's original 1950s backing band?

The Blue Moon Boys began as just a guitarist and a bassist behind Elvis at his first sessions in 1954; the house drummer of a Shreveport radio show joined the following year and made the act a quartet.

Which gospel quartet sang backing vocals on Elvis's records and films from 1956 through the 1960s?

The Jordanaires sang with him regularly until 1968, then turned down his 1969 Las Vegas comeback rather than give up their session work in Nashville; the Imperials took their place.

Irving Berlin tried to get radio stations to ban Elvis's 1957 recording of which of his songs?

White Christmas, in Elvis's hands, struck Berlin as a profane parody, and he had his staff phone stations to demand it be dropped; most ignored him, and Elvis' Christmas Album became America's best-selling Christmas album.

Which 1972 rocker, first released by Arthur Alexander, was Elvis's last US top-ten pop hit?

Burning Love was written by Dennis Linde and stalled at number two behind Chuck Berry's novelty hit 'My Ding-a-Ling', the only number one of Berry's career.

Which outfit of session players backed Elvis on stage from his 1969 Las Vegas return until 1977?

The TCB Band was hand-picked for the 1969 comeback shows and stayed to the end; from 1997 its members toured again, playing live beneath his filmed image in Elvis: The Concert.

What delayed the UK release of 'It's Now or Never' in 1960?

A copyright problem was the cause: the Italian tune it borrows was still protected in the UK, and the wait built such demand that the single spent eight weeks on top of the chart.

In which Elvis film does 'Return to Sender' feature?

Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962) introduced the song, inspired by a demo that came back stamped 'no such person'; in 1993 fans posted Elvis stamps to made-up addresses to get that postmark for themselves.

Which Four Seasons hit kept 'Return to Sender' at number two on Billboard?

The Four Seasons' 'Big Girls Don't Cry' held the Hot 100's top spot for five weeks from mid-November 1962, keeping Elvis at number two; in the UK his single went all the way and was the Christmas number one.

What natural disaster struck Elvis's birthplace in 1936, sparing the Presley home?

A tornado killed more than 200 people in the town on April 5, 1936, and the same storm system wrecked Gainesville, Georgia, the next morning; one-year-old Elvis and his parents were among the survivors.

What kind of dwelling was Elvis born in?

A shotgun house of two rooms, built by his father for the occasion, was Elvis's birthplace; hardship forced the family out when he was small, and the house is now the centrepiece of a museum site.

Which fried sandwich is so tied to Elvis that it is often simply called 'the Elvis'?

Peanut butter and banana, sometimes with bacon, fried in a pan: his love of it came to stand for the rich Southern cooking he grew up on and never gave up.

At which Kalamazoo restaurant did Louise Welling famously claim to have seen Elvis?

A Kalamazoo Burger King was where Louise Welling said she saw him in 1987; the oddness of the place name made it an easy light news story, and 'Elvis is alive' moved from fringe zines into the mainstream.

Which sporting event shared the date of Elvis's 1973 Aloha from Hawaii concert, pushing its US airing to April?

Super Bowl VII fell on January 14, 1973, the day the show went out live to Asia and Oceania, so American viewers waited until April 4; their version added songs Elvis taped after the audience had gone home.

Who produced and directed Aloha from Hawaii?

Marty Pasetta, a veteran of awards-show telecasts, produced and directed Aloha from Hawaii, beamed live by satellite from Honolulu on January 14, 1973; a filmed rehearsal concert two days earlier served as backup.

What was the official title of the '68 Comeback Special?

The special, taped in June 1968 and aired that December 3, was officially titled Singer Presents ... Elvis after the sewing machine company that sponsored it; 'Comeback Special' is the nickname it earned later.

Which 1951 Sam Phillips production, credited to Jackie Brenston, was really played by Ike Turner's band?

'Rocket 88' went out under the name of Turner's saxophonist and topped the R&B chart; Little Richard later borrowed Turner's piano intro for 'Good Golly, Miss Molly', and many call it the first rock and roll record.

At what Memphis address did Sam Phillips open his recording studio in 1950?

Sam Phillips opened the Memphis Recording Service at 706 Union Avenue in January 1950; the small storefront studio became the home of Sun Records and is preserved today as Sun Studio.

By its writers' account, what inspired the lyrics of 'Heartbreak Hotel'?

A newspaper report of a man's death gave Tommy Durden and Mae Boren Axton the line about walking a lonely street; they recalled a hotel suicide, but a 2016 investigation traced it to a man shot during a robbery.

Which real Los Angeles musician is named in the lyrics of Elvis's 1957 prison-film title song?

Shifty Henry was a well-known Los Angeles bassist and songwriter, not a convict; Leiber and Stoller slipped him in beside Detroit's real Purple Gang and Sad Sack, a comic-strip loser.

Which Civil War ballad provided the melody for 'Love Me Tender'?

'Love Me Tender' sets new words to 'Aura Lea', an 1861 ballad by George R. Poulton popular with Civil War soldiers; Ken Darby wrote the lyric but credited his wife Vera Matson and Elvis.

Who wrote 'In the Ghetto', originally titled 'The Vicious Circle'?

Mac Davis wrote it as 'The Vicious Circle' and also gave Elvis 'Memories' and 'Don't Cry Daddy'; he then became a country-pop star himself, with hits such as 'Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me'.

Which girlfriend did Elvis propose to in January 1977 with a diamond taken from one of his own rings?

Ginger Alden, then 20, received an 11.5-carat stone lifted from a ring he wore himself after two months of dating; the wedding she said was fixed for Christmas Day 1977 never took place.

Which drummer joined Elvis in 1955 and played on more than 460 of his RCA recordings?

D. J. Fontana was the house drummer on a Shreveport radio show when country acts were doing without drums altogether; he stayed with Elvis for fourteen years, through the 1968 television special.

Which singer-songwriter named his Grammy-winning 1986 album Graceland after Elvis's home?

Paul Simon had the phrase 'going to Graceland' before he knew what it meant for the record; he came to see it as a spiritual destination, and the album won the Grammy for Album of the Year.

What are the titles of Peter Guralnick's two-volume Elvis biography?

Peter Guralnick's Last Train to Memphis (1994) covers Elvis up to 1958 and Careless Love (1999) the rest of his life; Bob Dylan said the first volume 'cancels out all others'.

Why did the Presleys leave Audubon Drive for Graceland?

Fans crowded the street day after day; police were often called and the neighbours came to see it as a nuisance, so after about a year Elvis moved his family out to Graceland.

Which country's prime minister toured Graceland with George W. Bush in 2006?

Japan's Junichiro Koizumi, a lifelong Elvis fan, sang a few lines of 'Love Me Tender' during the tour, which Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley led for him and Bush on June 30, 2006.

To which city did Elvis reportedly fly by private jet one night just for a sandwich called the Fool's Gold Loaf?

Denver was home to the Fool's Gold Loaf, a hollowed-out loaf packed with a pound of bacon and two whole jars of spreads; Elvis and friends reportedly flew in from Memphis, ate 22 of them in two hours and flew home.

Which Graceland room doubled as a recording studio for Elvis's final sessions in 1976?

The Jungle Room, his den with an indoor waterfall and souvenirs of Hawaii, became a studio when RCA sent a mobile recording unit to Graceland in February and October 1976.

In which 1994 film does the young Elvis borrow his stage moves from his landlady's son?

Forrest Gump puts the young Elvis in the Gump boarding house, where the boy, strapped into metal braces, dances the jerky steps Elvis copies; Peter Dobson played him, with another actor supplying the voice.

Which song did Austin Butler sing on the audition tape that won him the lead in Elvis (2022)?

Butler sent Luhrmann a self-shot video of himself singing 'Unchained Melody', and Denzel Washington, who had just worked with him on Broadway, phoned Luhrmann to recommend him.

At which film festival did Baz Luhrmann's Elvis have its world premiere in 2022?

Cannes hosted the premiere on May 25, 2022, more than two years after a pandemic shutdown stopped the shoot; the film went on to gross about $288 million against an $85 million budget.

Which rapper contributed the original song 'Vegas', built on 'Hound Dog', to the 2022 Elvis soundtrack?

Doja Cat's 'Vegas' is built on a sample of Shonka Dukureh, who sings 'Hound Dog' in the film; she unveiled it at Coachella in April 2022 with Dukureh beside her, weeks before its release.

Sofia Coppola's 2023 film Priscilla is based on which 1985 memoir?

Priscilla Presley co-wrote the 1985 memoir Elvis and Me with Sandra Harmon and served as an executive producer on Coppola's adaptation; Jacob Elordi played Elvis.

Which protest singer performed Elvis medleys in a gold lamé suit at Carnegie Hall in 1970?

Phil Ochs, who said he wanted to be part Elvis Presley and part Che Guevara, had the suit made by Elvis's own tailor, Nudie Cohn; some of the crowd booed, and a bomb threat cut the first show short.

Which drag-king Elvis impersonator was banned from a 1996 academic conference on him at Ole Miss?

Elvis Herselvis, the drag king Leigh Crow, had been invited by the organiser to 'test the limits' of the conference; local Baptist ministers complained, and sponsor Elvis Presley Enterprises had her removed.

What kind of animal was Scatter, the pet of Elvis's that once wrecked a Hollywood producer's office?

A chimpanzee bought in 1961 from a Memphis television host, Scatter wore clothes and ran with Elvis's friends until he escaped into producer Samuel Goldwyn's office and tore it apart.

Which Missouri investment counsellor was hired in 1981 to open Graceland to the public?

Priscilla had been advised to sell Graceland to avoid bankruptcy but refused to part with her daughter's first home.

Which future soul star heard Elvis's 'It's Now or Never' on the radio in jail and credited it with changing his life?

Barry White was sixteen and serving four months for stealing Cadillac tyres when the song came on; after his release he left crime behind for music.

Which songwriter called Elvis Presley's cover of 'Tomorrow Is a Long Time' the one recording he treasured most?

Bob Dylan had not yet put the song on an album of his own when Elvis cut it in 1966. Elvis picked it up from an Odetta record a session player brought to the studio.

In 1993 fans mailed letters to fake addresses, hoping for a 'Return to Sender' mark, to celebrate which new Elvis item?

A postage stamp honouring Elvis came out on what would have been his 58th birthday, and fans wanted their own first-day envelopes sent back to them bearing the song's title.

Which Carl Perkins rockabilly anthem is the opening track of Elvis Presley's 1956 debut album?

Blue Suede Shoes was already a hit for Perkins, so RCA agreed not to issue Elvis's version as a single while his friend's record was still selling.

Which ballad did Elvis record weeks after separating from Priscilla, later a hit for Willie Nelson and Pet Shop Boys?

Always on My Mind was tucked onto the B-side of Separate Ways when Elvis's version came out in 1972. A decade later Willie Nelson's version won three Grammy Awards.

Which rock and roll pioneer wrote 'Promised Land', the road song Elvis Presley took to number 14 in 1974?

Chuck Berry wrote it while in prison, borrowing an atlas from the prison library to plot the singer's route across America.

Elvis Presley's 1970 hit 'You Don't Have to Say You Love Me' had earlier been a UK number one for which singer?

Dusty Springfield heard the Italian original at the 1965 Sanremo Festival and was moved to tears without understanding a word of it.

Which Elvis hit, adapted from a German folk song and partly sung in German, topped the UK chart in 1961?

Wooden Heart borrows the folk tune Muss i denn, and a cover by Joe Dowell took the song to number one in America later that year.

Which Elvis showpiece, arranged by Mickey Newbury, sets the Southern anthem 'Dixie' beside a Union marching hymn?

An American Trilogy also folds in the Bahamian lullaby All My Trials, and Elvis added a solo flute reprise before the big finish.

Which singer-songwriter wrote 'Steamroller Blues', the blues parody Elvis Presley turned into a 1973 hit single?

James Taylor wrote it to mock the pompous blues bands he kept hearing in Greenwich Village, yet Elvis took it into his 1973 Hawaii concert and the charts.

Which songwriter gave Elvis Presley 'Don't Be Cruel' and co-wrote 'Return to Sender' yet never met him in person?

Otis Blackwell said a superstition kept him from meeting Presley, even when he was offered a spot in the film that featured Return to Sender.

Leiber and Stoller, who composed 'Hound Dog', also wrote the title ballad of which 1957 Elvis film?

Loving You put Elvis's own mother and father on screen: visiting the set, they were seated in the audience for the final scene.

Elvis Presley's top-ten hit 'Bossa Nova Baby' comes from the soundtrack of which 1963 film co-starring Ursula Andress?

Fun in Acapulco was made without Elvis setting foot in Mexico: a double handled the location shots while he filmed his scenes in Los Angeles.

Which song, recorded live in Las Vegas eleven years after Ray Peterson's original, gave Elvis a six-week UK number one?

The Wonder of You was written by Baker Knight as a gospel song before Ray Peterson released it as a pop single in 1959.

Which country guitarist wrote 'Guitar Man' and was tracked down by RCA to play on Elvis Presley's own recording?

Jerry Reed was summoned to Nashville because Elvis's players could not copy his picking; a decade later he co-starred in Smokey and the Bandit.

Which Elvis album, released weeks before his death, was the first Presley LP pressed on translucent coloured vinyl?

Moody Blue was tinted to match its title track, and so many blue copies were pressed after Elvis died that the plain black ones became the rarity.

Which American rock band recorded Elvis Presley's 'Viva Las Vegas' as a new single for their 1992 Greatest Hits album?

ZZ Top's version, one of two previously unreleased tracks on the compilation, went all the way to number one in Finland.

Which soul group, formed by Whitney Houston's mother Cissy, sang behind Elvis Presley on stage from 1969?

The Sweet Inspirations doubled as his warm-up act, having already sung on records by Aretha Franklin and Jimi Hendrix.

Which superstar DJ remixed Elvis Presley's "Rubberneckin'" into a 2003 single, a year after Junkie XL's hit remix?

Paul Oakenfold's version appeared on the hits collection 2nd to None and climbed to number three in Australia.

Which future country star played piano on Elvis Presley's 1970 single 'Kentucky Rain', co-written by Eddie Rabbitt?

Ronnie Milsap, nearly blind from birth and then a session pianist, went on to score 35 number-one country hits of his own.

Which British band's 1993 cover of 'Can't Help Falling in Love' spent seven weeks at number one in America?

UB40's version featured in the Sharon Stone thriller Sliver, and it turned out to be the band's last American top-ten hit.

Swedish group A-Teens covered 'Can't Help Falling in Love' for the soundtrack of which 2002 Disney film?

Lilo & Stitch leans on Elvis throughout: its soundtrack carries five of his own recordings plus two of his songs remade by newer acts.

Kina Grannis sings 'Can't Help Falling in Love' during the wedding scene of which 2018 romantic comedy?

Crazy Rich Asians gave Grannis an on-screen cameo as the wedding singer at Colin and Araminta's ceremony.

George David Weiss, co-writer of 'Can't Help Falling in Love', also co-wrote which Louis Armstrong standard?

What a Wonderful World came six years after the Elvis ballad; Weiss and producer Bob Thiele said they wrote it specifically for Armstrong.

From the late 1960s on, Elvis Presley used 'Can't Help Falling in Love' in which fixed spot in his concerts?

As the closing number it became the last song he ever sang on stage, and a faster version ended his final TV special, Elvis in Concert.

Elvis's 'Can't Help Falling in Love' stalled at US number two behind which Joey Dee and the Starliters dance hit?

Peppermint Twist took its name from the Peppermint Lounge, the Manhattan nightclub where Joey Dee's group performed.

Which American duo covered 'Can't Help Falling in Love' in 2012 for their EP Holding On to You?

Twenty One Pilots were by then singer Tyler Joseph, whose instruments include the ukulele, and drummer Josh Dun.

Which uptempo number was paired with Elvis's 'Can't Help Falling in Love' on a double A-side that topped the UK chart?

Rock-A-Hula Baby came from the same 1961 film soundtrack, and the two-sided single spent four weeks at the UK summit.

The three writers of 'Can't Help Falling in Love' also reworked a Zulu song into which 1961 hit for the Tokens?

The Lion Sleeps Tonight grew out of Mbube, a 1939 song by the South African musician Solomon Linda, whose heirs won royalties in a 2006 settlement.

Which songwriter had his staff phone radio stations to demand a ban on Elvis Presley's version of his holiday standard?

Irving Berlin heard the 1957 recording of White Christmas as a profane parody. Most American stations ignored him, though at least one disc jockey was fired over the album.

Which holiday song, a 1949 country hit for Ernest Tubb, became Elvis Presley's signature seasonal number?

Blue Christmas sat on an LP for seven years before RCA issued Elvis's 1957 recording as an American single, which then topped Billboard's Christmas Singles chart.

Which American Idol winner duets with Elvis Presley's original vocal on 'I'll Be Home for Christmas' on a 2008 album?

Carrie Underwood's track sits beside pairings with Martina McBride, LeAnn Rimes and Wynonna Judd on the album Christmas Duets, and it reached the country chart.

Which London orchestra recorded new arrangements behind Elvis Presley's archive vocals for a 2017 Christmas album?

Royal Philharmonic players had already backed his voice on two earlier albums, and the Christmas set entered Billboard's classical chart at number one.

Elvis Presley's 1957 'White Christmas' mirrored the R&B arrangement of which vocal group led by Clyde McPhatter?

The Drifters had taken their version into the R&B top ten in 1954 and 1955 without a word of protest, partly because only black radio stations played it.

Which R&B standard, a 1947 hit for Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, became a single from Elvis's 1971 holiday album?

Merry Christmas Baby first featured Charles Brown on vocals and piano; Elvis's take was a loose blues workout that was later reissued in a longer cut.

Which 1966 Elvis holiday single was written in about an hour by his bodyguard?

If Every Day Was Like Christmas got its vocal in a hotel room, by its writer's account, after an excited Elvis heard a tape of the fresh backing track.

Which soprano, known as the fifth member of the Jordanaires, sang high harmony on Elvis's 1957 Christmas sessions?

Millie Kirkham was six months pregnant at the session, and Elvis, seeing her arrive, at once asked for someone to fetch her a chair.

Why did Elvis Presley's 1971 Christmas album miss Billboard's main chart despite topping the Christmas list?

Holiday albums were barred from the main Billboard LP chart between 1963 and 1973, so the record could only top the separate Christmas listing.

Which future star debuted as the boy who kicks Elvis in the shin in It Happened at the World's Fair?

Kurt Russell, uncredited in his first film, grew up to play the singer himself in the 1979 TV movie Elvis and earned an Emmy nomination for it.

Which Dick Van Dyke Show star played the nun Elvis Presley's inner-city doctor falls for in a 1969 film?

Mary Tyler Moore made it as the last picture on her Universal contract, then launched her own hit sitcom the following year.

What does Lucky Jackson, Elvis Presley's character in Viva Las Vegas, do for a living when he is not waiting tables?

Race car driver Lucky needs a new engine for the city's first Grand Prix, and waits tables with his mechanic to pay their hotel bill.

Elvis Presley grew a beard and sang no songs on screen for Charro!, a 1969 film in which genre?

Western fans got his only bearded screen role, shot on location in Arizona; the title theme over the opening credits is the film's one song.

Which star wanted Elvis Presley as her leading man in the 1976 remake of A Star Is Born?

Barbra Streisand met him about the part, but his manager demanded top billing and a hefty fee, and Kris Kristofferson played the fading rock star instead.

Which dancer played Lili opposite Elvis Presley in G.I. Blues, his first film after military service?

Juliet Prowse won the part after Dolores Hart, Joan Blackman and Ursula Andress had all been tested for it.

In which 1962 remake of a Humphrey Bogart picture does Elvis Presley play a mechanic turned boxer?

Kid Galahad cast Charles Bronson in support; the 1937 original had starred Edward G. Robinson and Bette Davis alongside Bogart.

Which screen veteran played Maggie, owner of the struggling carnival that hires Elvis Presley in Roustabout?

Barbara Stanwyck was back at her old studio for the first time in ten years, and one review said she gave the film its curiosity value.

Which director, an Oscar winner for Skippy, made nine Elvis Presley films, more than anyone else?

Norman Taurog won that Oscar at 32, a record for the youngest Best Director that stood for eight and a half decades.

Which punk band copied the pink and green lettering of Elvis Presley's debut LP for a 1979 album cover?

The Clash borrowed it for London Calling, setting the lettering around a photo of bassist Paul Simonon smashing his instrument on a New York stage.

Whose cover of 'Can't Help Falling in Love' became a viral hit in 2015 after featuring in a chewing-gum commercial?

Haley Reinhart had finished third on the tenth season of American Idol, and her gum-advert recording was eventually certified platinum.

In which 1964 comedy does Elvis Presley play both an Air Force officer and his blond hillbilly lookalike?

Kissin' Cousins even stages a fight between the two characters, with the dark-haired officer squaring up to his mountain relative Jodie.