04-21-2006, 07:47 AM
This Day In History | Entertainment
April 21
1956 Elvis Presley's first No. 1 hit
"Heartbreak Hotel" hits the top of the Billboard charts on this day in 1956. The song was Elvis' first No. 1 hit.
Elvis had been recording since 1954, when a song he recorded for his mother's birthday caught the attention of studio executive Sam Phillips, who asked Presley to audition for him. Presley started the audition with country-western standards, but when he felt Phillips' interest wane, he belted out a rhythm-and-blues song called "That's All Right." Impressed, Phillips recorded the song, and a week later it became No. 4 on the country-western charts in Memphis.
That summer, Phillips brought Presley together with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, both country-western artists, and one of the songs the trio recorded was played on a Memphis radio station. The song was a hit with listeners, and led to Presley's first radio interview. He made his one and only appearance at the Grand Ole Opry on September 25 and soon began appearing regularly on the radio. He made his television debut on a Memphis show in March 1955, and that September scored his first No. 1 country record: a rendition of Junior Parker's "Mystery Train."
RCA purchased Presley's contract from Sun Records for an unprecedented $35,000, plus a $5,000 advance for Presley, which he used to buy a pink Cadillac for his mother. He made his first records in Nashville in 1956, including "I Got a Woman," "Heartbreak Hotel," and "I Was the One."
On January 28, 1956, television audiences met Presley on the Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show. He performed on several variety shows before he began filming his first movie, Love Me Tender, (1956) which took just three days to earn back the $1 million it cost to make. All his singles released that year went gold.
In 1967, Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu, who had moved into Presley's mansion, Graceland, as a teenager six years earlier. The couple divorced in 1973. The "King of Rock and Roll" gave his final live performance on June 25, 1977. Six weeks later, on August 16, 1977, his girlfriend found him dead in a bathroom at Graceland. Congestive heart failure was initially cited as the cause of death, but drug abuse was suspected as a contributing factor. He was buried at Graceland with his parents, and his estate was passed on to his daughter, Lisa Marie Presley. Nine years after his death, he was one of the first 10 people inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He had earned 94 gold singles and more than 40 gold LPs.
April 21
1956 Elvis Presley's first No. 1 hit
"Heartbreak Hotel" hits the top of the Billboard charts on this day in 1956. The song was Elvis' first No. 1 hit.
Elvis had been recording since 1954, when a song he recorded for his mother's birthday caught the attention of studio executive Sam Phillips, who asked Presley to audition for him. Presley started the audition with country-western standards, but when he felt Phillips' interest wane, he belted out a rhythm-and-blues song called "That's All Right." Impressed, Phillips recorded the song, and a week later it became No. 4 on the country-western charts in Memphis.
That summer, Phillips brought Presley together with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, both country-western artists, and one of the songs the trio recorded was played on a Memphis radio station. The song was a hit with listeners, and led to Presley's first radio interview. He made his one and only appearance at the Grand Ole Opry on September 25 and soon began appearing regularly on the radio. He made his television debut on a Memphis show in March 1955, and that September scored his first No. 1 country record: a rendition of Junior Parker's "Mystery Train."
RCA purchased Presley's contract from Sun Records for an unprecedented $35,000, plus a $5,000 advance for Presley, which he used to buy a pink Cadillac for his mother. He made his first records in Nashville in 1956, including "I Got a Woman," "Heartbreak Hotel," and "I Was the One."
On January 28, 1956, television audiences met Presley on the Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show. He performed on several variety shows before he began filming his first movie, Love Me Tender, (1956) which took just three days to earn back the $1 million it cost to make. All his singles released that year went gold.
In 1967, Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu, who had moved into Presley's mansion, Graceland, as a teenager six years earlier. The couple divorced in 1973. The "King of Rock and Roll" gave his final live performance on June 25, 1977. Six weeks later, on August 16, 1977, his girlfriend found him dead in a bathroom at Graceland. Congestive heart failure was initially cited as the cause of death, but drug abuse was suspected as a contributing factor. He was buried at Graceland with his parents, and his estate was passed on to his daughter, Lisa Marie Presley. Nine years after his death, he was one of the first 10 people inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He had earned 94 gold singles and more than 40 gold LPs.