English version | Heartbreak Hotel

Over his 42 years of life, Elvis Aaron Presley has gone from heaven to hell countless times, as many as the hits he managed to get on Billboard's coveted chart, Most Top 40: one hundred and fourteen. The singer, whose influence on twentieth-century popular culture extends far beyond music, still holds the title of King of Rock. In a special appearance, exclusively for Vogue readers, here is Elvis, The Pelvis, in his own words.

"Dear Mr. President. First, I would like to introduce myself. I am Elvis Presley.” That's how, in 1970, the King of Rock addressed Richard Nixon, then commander-in-chief of the United States. And that's how we begin the introduction to this “interview”, because the life of the American who put the small town of Tupelo, Mississippi, on the map, is full of little undiscovered mysteries, it's awash in details that seem to escape us whenever we've heard It's Now Or Never (1960) or Always On My Mind (1973). So, let this be the first chord of this special performance. "Dear Mr. President. First, I would like to introduce myself. I am Elvis Presley.” The singer - who allegedly had written only three letters in his life, and all of them while serving in the military - showed, over five pages, an immense love for his country and believed that, not being "a member of the system" could reach more people than the Government. This, of course, if the President granted him a “special” position that would allow him to help in the fight against drug trafficking. "Sir, I can and will be of any service that I can to help the country out [...] I will be here for as long as long as it takes to get the credentials of a Federal Agent [...] I would love to meet you just to say hello if you're not too busy. Respectfully, Elvis Presley." The missive wasn't just a cordial attempt to get closer to Nixon. Instead of waiting for an answer, said letter was written on a plane aboard Washington, where Elvis was going, and where he intended to stay until his wishes were fulfilled. “No one says no to Elvis”, he must have thought, as did dozens of those who worked with him. As a footnote, he asked the President to call him at room 505 at the Washington Hotel, where he would be staying under the pseudonym Jon Burrows. The letter was delivered to the northwest gate of the White House hours after Elvis landed—not by him, but by one of his best friends, Jerry Schilling, who accompanied him on the adventure. It worked. After meeting with his advisers, Nixon — who had already tried to recruit celebrities to help bring down the very enemy Elvis now proposed to fight — agreed to receive The King. Five minutes into the President's intense schedule were scrutinized and the meeting was scheduled for 11:45 on December 21, 1970.

Rumours say that, "once in a lifetime, Elvis arrived on time." And maybe because of that, or maybe because what united them was, after all, much more intense than one might think at first - both had a similar trajectory, marked by humble origins, both had felt, on their skin, the good and the bad side of fame, both were (rather) controversial figures—the meeting was no longer timed. Elvis showed pictures from his family album to Nixon, who praised his cufflinks. Until the singer asked for what he was longing for — a gold badge that would make him an "extraordinary federal agent." And suddenly, the weight of the world that normally hangs over the White House disappeared, and there, in the place that brought together two of the most powerful men in the universe, Nixon relented: “Can we get him a badge?” he asked Egil Krogh, one of his advisors, who readily agreed. Elvis, ecstatic, hugged the President. The meeting remained secret for just over a year, when it ended up in the newspapers. All of this is deliciously curious in itself, but there's more: Nixon was eventually forced to resign as president three and a half years later; when he was admitted with thrombophlebitis, Elvis called him to wish him quick improvements. In 1977, after the sudden death of The King — as the official cause was named “heart failure”, but it is known that he had 14 different medications in his body — Nixon came to his defense and stressed that these were not illegal substances. The badge, the one that made Elvis feel like a child again, was purposely designed by the Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Department, named after the singer, and hangs on the Wall of Gold at his famous Graceland home in Memphis. For posterity, as always, is the image of their cordial handshake, taken by Nixon's official photographer Oliver “Ollie” F. Atkins, but few, very few, know its story.

Another story that everyone knows, or thinks they know, is that of Elvis Aaron Presley, born, as mentioned above, in Tupelo, on January 8, 1935, the only survivor of a complicated delivery of twins — his brother, Jessie Garon, was born dead. The first years of The King were spent in the midst of countless financial difficulties, to which was added the chaos caused by a hurricane that hit the city in 1936, and the latent racism in that state of Mississippi. Despite this, it is reported (underline the “it is reported”) that Elvis had a “prejudice-free” education, and that he was taught to see all people the same, regardless of their ethnicity, sexual orientation or social strata. In 1945, when he was just ten years old, he participated in a talent contest at a fair, with the song Old Shep, and took second place — shortly afterwards his father offered him his first guitar. The family would eventually be forced to move to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1948, and even if music was already in his blood, the singer was forced to work in order to complete his studies, which happened in 1953, a year that marked a turning point in his life — that was when he recorded his first song, My Happiness, at the Memphis Recording Service studios, a subsidiary of Sun Records, in Memphis. The boom came with That's All Right, whhich he sang improvised, without following what was asked of him (he would later claim that “he didn't have a great voice”, and that the songs only worked because he sang them "of the soul, without major concerns with the timbre") which enthused producer Sam Philips. Rockabilly was born, a variant of rock and roll where anything was allowed. Then followed Blue Moon Of Kentucky, a kind of blues that went against everything that was done at the time. And more: it was played by a white man. It reached number one on the Billboard Top Country. In October 1954, the singer made his first performance outside of Tennessee, in Atlanta, and in the same month, he has the first great moment of his career, when he performs a show in Shreveport, Louisiana, which is broadcast live on local radio. Reactions to his performances are impossible to report: between hysteria and obsession, Elvis went from unknown to national star in less than a year. From there, it's a slew of hits that no solo artist has yet been able to beat: Mistery Train, Baby, Let's Play House, I Forgot To Remember, all released in a short space of time, helped cement the myth of King of Rock, but it was themes like Hound Dog or Blue Suede Shoes that made him Elvis, The Pelvis — the the fact that he moved on stage, in a supposedly sexual way, made a profond impact on viewers, and many TV channels decided to film him only from the waist up, so as not to provoke morals and good manners. Too late. Thousands of teenagers, all over the world, were already repeating Elvis' moves, as if he had given them the breath of fresh air and freedom they so longed for. The legend was created. Love Me Tender (1956) marks his film debut, a child's dream. He would eventually enter a total of 31 films, including Jailhouse Rock (1957), King Creole (1958), Blue Hawaii (1961) or Viva Las Vegas (1964). The rest, as they say, is history. Everyone knows it.

But let's make a brief summary of the roller coaster that was the singer's intimacy. In 1957 he acquired his famous mansion, Graceland, in 1958 he enlisted in the army — he spent 18 months on a military base in Germany — and in 1959 he met Priscilla Wagner Beaulieu, whom he would marry and who would have a daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, born in 1968. The death of his mother, Gladys, in 1958, was the event that marked him the most, and which ended up conditioning his future. There are several reports that it was after her death that Elvis started using all kinds of medication to relieve his suffering. He got them through his doctor, George C. Nichopoulos, better known as Dr. Nick, who in the 1980s would be tried for his death. It was Priscilla's separation in 1973 that derailed the already accelerated convoy in which The King was following — after which she suffered two overdoses. On August 16, 1977, he was found lifeless on the bathtub floor of his house by his then-girlfriend Ginger Alden. The world stopped. Elvis was just 42 years old. Between 1960 and 1969 he stopped doing stage appearances, by his own decision. He didn't put on a single show. Fame was abrupt and sudden. The effects were too heavy. The 70s would be his rebirth. They ended up meaning the end of an era. “No one, but no one, will be the same. Elvis was and will be superior. You shouldn't underestimate what you've achieved,” said Mick Jagger, lead singer of The Rolling Stones. There are those who say that Elvis did not invent anything, and that he only sought the matrix of his work from black music. He never denied it. If many point him to be the “inventor” of a genre, he was the first to remember that, before him, many already did what he was doing — he paid tribute, in his songs, to pioneers such as Chuck Berry and Little Richard. But The King is, and always will be, The King. Or, as Madonna responded when asked about its impact: “Elvis Presley? He's God.”

A little less conversation...

This was a hard-fought conversation. “Elvis refuses to answer” or “Elvis doesn't comment” are arguments we can't use because, well, Elvis left this world 43 years ago. However, the difficult thing here was to find some coherence in what The King said, on the record, in life. Example: in a long letter to fans, published in a purpose-built magazine, Elvis Answers Back! Elvis Confides In You, released in August 1956, the singer assumed he had a book where he kept clippings of "some" things that came out about him in the newspapers. What kind of things? The bad. According to him, anyone could make a full scrapbook It would be the least positive, or the ones he didn't particularly like, that interested him. Because he could study and improve. A month earlier, when interviewed by Hy Gardner, one of the leading television figures of the time, the singer he had said precisely the opposite: “Do you keep a scrapbook at all?”, the journalist asks him at one point. Elvis calmly shoots: “Only the good stuff.” Once the footnote has been made, let us know that all the answers given to these questions were given at some point, but not in 2021. But this, like so many things in Elvis' life, is a detail.

The public has the feeling that they know everything about themselves, but the truth is that, over the years, they have even had a very demure life. How do you do it?"It's not secluded, honey, I'm just sneaky."

You have remained at the top, which is not the case with other entertainers. What is your secret?"I take Vitamin E (laughs). I was only kidding... I don't know (laughs) I just... Ah, I don't know, dear, I just enjoy the business. I like what I'm doing."

You were widely criticized for your long hair, your extravagant clothes, and all those moves you made, and still make, on stage. Now, so long later, what do you have to say to these criticisms?"Man, I was tame compared to what they do know, are you kidding (laughs). I didn't do anything but just jiggle, you know."

In addition to music, your film career has also been widely applauded. What kind of scripts interest you?"Something with meaning. I'm going after more serious material. I couldn't dig always playing the guy who'd get into a fight, beat the guy up, and in the next shot sing to him."

Did you always want to be an actor, or was it a wish that came later?"All of my life, I've wanted to be an actor, though I never was in any school plays or recited a line other than the Gettysburg Address for my sixth-grade homeroom class."

Does it bother you that people constantly stop you to ask for autographs?"No, I got used to it. I would kind of miss it if it didn't happen, you know. If nobody saw me or if nobody recognized me or whatever, or asked for an autograph I... to me it's just part of the business, and I accept is. I think I would miss it."

Your sideburns have already deserved more analysis than some political speeches. Why did you let them grow?"I was 17 when I first started growing' em. And I sure didn't feel 'mature and important [as some media reported] when the sideburns started coming in. I grew the for one reason only... because  I'd always admire them. [...] A lot of people ask me why I don't cut them off now. You know what I tell them? I tell them that I got started off wearing sideburns and I'm like those folks who don't like to change horses in the middle of the stream."

Is it true that you have ten Cadillacs?"I never had that many, only four or five at the most."

Of all the songs you recorded, and there were many, which is your favorite?"It's O Sole Mio (It’s Now Or Never)."

You spent almost two years serving the US Army. What did this experience brought you? "I think I have a little better understanding of life, I met a lot of friends, like I said. I just think it's been a big help in many ways."

Does this mean that you now sleep better at night?"I just can't help it. I just feel restless sometimes. I don't know what it is. [...] But it's a funny feeling. A lonesome feeling. I guess everyones' felt it, sometime or another."

People accuse you of being a danger to the youth, because of your posture on stage and because you gave rise to rock and roll. Some say you are some sort of a kind of anti-Christ. Do you consider yourself religious?"I belive in God, I believe in Him with all my heart. I believe all good things come fro God. That includes all the good things that have come to me and to my folks. And the way I feel about it, being religious means that you love God and are real grateful for all He's given, and want to work for Him. I feel deep in my heart that I'm doing all this. And I pray that if I'm wrong in feeling the way I do, God will tell me. Because I owe everything that's happened to me to Him." 

Are you a man satisfied with the public image he created?"Well, the image is one thing, and a human being is another, you know. So, it's very hard to live up to an image. I'll put it that way."

If you could be born again, would you like to be someone else... or an animal?"Are you kidding?"

What do you imagine yourself doing from now on? Do you have plans to retire?"No, not really. No. I've got too much energy. I don't think so. Not as long as I can."