Elvis
Aaron
"The King"
Presley
Born in Tupelo, Lee County, Mississippi, United States
Ancestors 
Son of Vernon Elvis Presley
and Gladys Love (Smith) Presley
Brother of
Jesse Garon Presley
Husband of
[private wife (1940s - unknown)]
Descendants 
Father of
Lisa Marie Presley
Died
at age 42
in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, United States
Profile last modified
| Created 12 Dec 2011
This page has been accessed 73,050 times.
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Contents |
Biography
Elvis Presley is known as "King of Rock and Roll", a prolific rock musician and actor.[1]
Family
Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi. [2] He was the son of Vernon Presley and Gladys Smith. [3] The Presleys survived the F5 tornado in the 1936 Tupelo-Gainesville tornado outbreak.[4] The family was poor, and by the time Elvis recorded for the first time at Sun Records, had been off welfare only a few weeks of Elvis' life.[1] Though he started out in Tupelo, the Presleys later moved to Memphis when Elvis was a teenager.[1] Elvis attended Humes High School.[4]
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Elvis married Priscilla Beaulieu. They divorced in August 1972 in Los Angeles, California.[5] They had one daughter, Lisa Marie Presley.
Career
Elvis recorded a few songs for Sam Phillips of Sun Records in 1953, backed by The Blue Moon Boys.[6] Those songs gave him entrance to the music scene in 1954, introducing the world to his new combination of blues, gospel he grew up with in church, the jazz of Beale Street, country and western, and bluegrass, to be named rock and roll.[6] His claim to the rock royalty throne was initiated with his single, "Heartbreak Hotel," which was his first number one in 1956 on his next label, RCA.[7][6] He became popular with teen girls for his good looks and unique dance moves, his entire persona influencing the likes of Buddy Holly and the Beatles to move into rock music.[6] He was known as a rebel for those dance moves that made him famous, as they were viewed as scandalous at the time, yet swoon-worthy.[6] His voice could emote a variety of feelings, drawing the listener into whatever story he was telling, and then send them over the edge with a curl of his lip.[6] He followed that first number one with several more of his most famous hits, "Don't Be Cruel," "Love Me Tender," and "Hound Dog."[6]
Elvis appeared in a number of movie musicals that only helped his popularity, starring in 33 of those films.[4] His first role was in 1956's "Love Me Tender".[6] All of his roles were in what were later called "Elvis Movies", romantic comedies featuring his music.[1] Some think his movie work took him too far from the music that made him a king, though, and it took a major comeback concert in 1968 to kick him back into the swing of things.[6]
Elvis took a two year break from his music and movie career when he was drafted to serve in the United States Army from 1958 to 1960, ending his service as a Sergeant, Company A, 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 32nd Armor Regiment, 3rd Armored Division.[4][6][1]
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Elvis devoted the seventies to constant touring.[6] Being on the road so much took a toll on his health.[6]
In addition to his colloquial name as the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis received numerous awards and accolades.[7] Over 100 of his songs reached the Top 40 charts.[6] Elvis had 14 Grammy nominations with 3 wins, from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.[4] He gained worldwide acclaim, resulting in over one billion in record sales around the globe.[4] In addition to his Grammys, he received posthumously the W.C. Handy Award from the Blues Foundation (1984), the Academy of Country Music's first Golden Hat Award (1984), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction (1986), the American Music Awards' Award of Merit (1987), induction in the Country Music Hall of Fame (1998), induction in the Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2001), induction in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame (2007), and induction in the Memphis Music Hall of Fame (2012).[4]
On 06 Mar 1974, Elvis Presley was appointed to the personal military staff of Gov. George C. Wallace as Aide-de-Camp with the rank of Hon. Lieutenant Colonel in the Alabama State Militia.[8][9]
Elvis was a devoted Pentecostal Christian, and recorded many gospel songs.[4] His first Grammy award came from his gospel album, "How Great Thou Art."[6]
Legacy
Elvis died at home in his Graceland Mansion from a heart attack on August 16,1977 in Memphis, Tennessee, at age 42.[2][6] The stress from constant touring and prescription drug abuse was too much for his body.[6] His memory lives on in popular music as his songs are still heard in movies, television, and remakes by current artists.[6] His Graceland mansion still sees numerous visitors each year as hoards of devoted fans still flock to see a little part of his life.[6]
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Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Elvis Presley", Britannica.com, accessed 25 Feb 2019
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JR51-ZZD : accessed 23 Nov 2013), Elvis Presley, August 1977; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
- ↑ "United States Census, 1940," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VBS4-F4R : accessed 23 Nov 2013), Elvis Pressley in household of Vernon Pressley, Beat 3, Lee, Mississippi, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 41-20, sheet 21B, family 384, NARA digital publication of T627, roll 2042.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Elvis's biography on Elvis.com
- ↑ "California, Divorce Index, 1966-1984," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VPB5-NDM : accessed 23 Nov 2013), Priscill A Beaulieu and Elvis A Presley, 1972.
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 "Elvis Presley," Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/elvis-presley : accessed 25 Feb 2019). Headline: "Elvis Presley is, quite simply, the King of Rock & Roll."
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Elvis Presley biography on Wikipedia
- ↑ Slaughter, Todd. Elvis Presley. Bungay, Suffolk: Mandabrook Ltd, 1977, p. 100.
- ↑ State of Alabama. Office of the Governor. Letters Patent appointing Elvis Presley to the rank of Honorary Lieutenant Colonel, Aide-de-Camp, dated March 6, 1974. Attest: George C. Wallace, Governor of Alabama, Commander in Chief; Charles A. Rollo, Major General, The Adjutant General.
- Elvis Presley Family History
- Vernon and Gladys Presley: Elvis Presley's Mother and Father
- Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 23 March 2023), memorial page for Elvis Presley (8 Jan 1935–16 Aug 1977), Find A Grave: Memorial #837, citing Graceland Mansion Estates, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, USA; Maintained by Find a Grave.
- Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 23 March 2023), memorial page for Elvis Presley (8 Jan 1935–16 Aug 1977), Find A Grave: Memorial #9904, citing Forest Hill Cemetery Midtown, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, USA (original burial site); Maintained by Find a Grave.
See Also:
- Wikidata: Item Q303, en:Wikipedia
- Child, Christopher Challender. "Notable Mayflower Descendants: Priscilla Presley and Lisa Marie Presley", The Mayflower Descendant (Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, Boston, 2014) Vol. 63, Page 212
Memories: 14
Enter a personal reminiscence or story.
Elvis is my 8th cousin through my mom’s side being …..Margaret Elizabeth (Mosby) Wade (abt. 1665 - 1729) -My 7th great grandmother.
Along with Elvis, my grandparents Earl Weaver and Wilma Snell were inducted into “ The Gospel Music Hall of Fame.” https://wikitree.com/wiki/category:Gospel_Music_Hall_of_Fame
What’s interesting is , 25% of the people that share our DNA have perfect Pitch Voices and are Artist in some form.
I remember exactly where I was when Elvis died. I was working as a Librarian’s Assistant at the Huntsville, Alabama Public Library. They actually announced Elvis’s death over the loud speaker, which I had never known them to announce anything before. Everyone in the library let out a Sigh. It was shocking!!!
posted 19 Oct 2023 by Terri (Solomon) McGhee
[thank Terri]
I have discovered that Elvis Aaron Presley (1935-1977) and I are 16th cousins, both being descendants of John Stanley (abt.1386-1437). That is interesting.
posted 11 May 2023 by MarLetta Hughes
[thank MarLetta]
My entire life I could open up my mother's jewelry box and see a picture of Elvis and my mom's cousin, Clarence "Pete" Ort from Germany when they both served in the Army. There was also a piece of paper with Elvis' signature. My mom's cousin knew how crazy she was for Elvis. Every tv program with or about Elvis, we had to watch. I remember the concert from Hawaii. (Where I learned to love his blues.) When he died in 1977, we all joked with my mom about taking his autograph and picture to Graceland and sell it. Flash forward to today where I learned we are 8th cousins twice removed through my father's side; she would have been a gushing teen all over again. (sigh) Then to find out another of her favs is also related to my dad, she would have been over the moon.
posted 14 Nov 2022 by Cindy Fogle
[thank Cindy]
Ehhh always thought my dad was just talking saying Elvis was a distant cousin. Turns out he is my 4th cousin once removed we share a set of grandparents on his paternal side. Will it change my life , nope
posted 12 Oct 2022 by Karla (Godsey) Pfeiffer
[thank Karla]
I am 23 cousins 2X removed and he’s also was related through marriage. My mother passed away but she just would love to know this. My dad will be shocked he loves Elvis… I wish I knew this before going to Graceland… I told my daughter and she loves Elvis and even had his song as her wedding song
posted 26 Sep 2022 by Jodie (Santandrea) Ruano
[thank Jodie]
I just recently discovered that I am double cousins to Elvis through the Tackett line. On one side of my family Phillip Moses Tackett is my 7th great grandpa. He is Elvis’s 6th great grandpa. Phillip Moses Tackett brother William Hiram Tackett is also my 8th great grandpa. Which makes us double cousins.
posted 12 Sep 2022 by Lynn Hamm
[thank Lynn]
Elvis Presley is my 8th cousin twice removed through Henry Hyde born 1785-1824 my 5x great grandfather, his mother Rebecca Warren born 1763-1829 through her 6th cousin Mary Louisa Warren born 1850-1945 that married William H Hood born 1852-1935 their daughter Minnie Mae Hood born 1890- 1980 married Elvis' grandfather Jesse Dunning Presley born 1896- 1973.
posted 29 Aug 2022 by Christina (Lewis) Rackel
[thank Christina]
The family story says we (my maternal family line) are related to Elvis through his Great Grandfather, William H. "Buck" Hood. So far I haven't found a connection between Buck Hood and my Great Grandfather Glen Hood. I'll have to keep searching.
posted 10 Jul 2021 by Dave Bybee
[thank Dave]
Here is a bit of information that very few people outside of Mobile,Alabama know. Elvis Presley performed for the students at Vigor High School in Mobile County, Alabama in 1956. This was before he became famous. I am sure that are plenty of articles in the Mobile Press Register at the time.
posted 17 Mar 2019 by Howard Rankin Jr
[thank Howard]
Sponsored Search by Ancestry.com
DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Elvis:
It may be possible to confirm family relationships. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Elvis:
-
~0.78%
Benjamin Sanders
:
Family Tree DNA Family Finder, FTDNA kit #B218376
-
~0.39%
Rocky Sanders :
AncestryDNA, Ancestry member hornedshaman
Images: 21
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- Appreciation for Kathie Forbes Dec 7, 2019.
- Elvis Presley -- Native American Ancestry? Dec 7, 2019.
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Comments: 46
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2024 3 26 Minnie Mae Hood, his grandmother and her son, Vernon, Elvis's father, thru Susannah Gore, and Nancy Jane Norris of Columbus County (around Tabor City esp.) and also in area of Mullins, SC, near Little Pee Dee River are part of the Presley related stomping grounds around about 1810-1840. The ties of NC especially lead to the discovery that Elvis is tied to George Washington, King James VI, Queen Elizabeth II, Tom Hanks, vortex in relation to this small Eastern North Carolina region. Piver-37 shares these same ties. per Piver-37
Why am I related here? Cousins?
From 1400’s?
Elvis and Karla are fifth cousins once removed
Elvis is my 8th cousin (without anyone being removed).
Elvis and Marcia are 20th cousins twice removed
The Bibliography includes Priscilla as his wife but this is missing from his profile. Source #5 above.
Elvis is my 8th cousin once removed through his Father.
The Art Gallery at Bendigo, Victoria, Australia had a feature titled "Elvis: Direct from Graceland" which ran for 3 months, ending on the weekend just gone (Sunday, 17 July 2022). Over the 3 months of its course, it attracted at least 219,000 visitors. Earlier, we had the statue of Marilyn Monroe to accompany a similar exhibition about her. They say that to capture these exhibitions and others, it is not a matter of what you know, but who you know.
Ballarat is closer to Melbourne, and has the Eureka Stockade, but although the Bendigo goldfields produced more gold than Ballarat, Bendigo has had to do its own advertising. The movement culminating in the Eureka Stockade began with the Red Ribbon Rebellion which centered around Bendigo [1] (Sorry, I got carried away. The mention of Elvis was the trigger.)
I had no idea as to the Wallace connection. I had my DNA tested with another site and I was informed Elvis Presley is in my father's haplogroup. Wallace is a name quite common in my ancestry so now I have a general area as to focusing my attention.
Christopher, was Elvis listed as a "match" or they just have the same haplogroup? A Haplogroup can go back hundreds and thousands of years back and includes a LOT of people. Honestly, I would not use this as a source of relationship.
Do the paper trail first and then look for DNA sources.
We are supposedly 11th cousins four times removed (my paternal side). According to Wikitree, we also have 42 ancestors in common.
Hello Profile Managers!
We are featuring this profile in the Connection Finder this week. Between now and Wednesday is a good time to take a look at the sources and biography to see if there are updates and improvements that need made, especially those that will bring it up to WikiTree Style Guide standards. We know it's short notice, so don't fret too much. Just do what you can.
Thanks!
Abby
One interesting side note on the Presley family genealogy: Elvis would not carry the Y-DNA haplotype of Presley (originally Bressler/Pressler) males, who originate from 1710 Palatine immigrant, Johannes Valentin Bressler (1669- aft. 1742). This is because Elvis' paternal great-grandmother Rosella Elizabeth Presley kept her family name and passed it on to her son. Elvis' Y-DNA would determined by John Henry Wallace, his great-grandfather.
Michael Meggison's comment below says Elvis is Confirmed Haplogroup I (Y-DNA), Haplogroup I2c1a2a1a1a (F2044) (Y-DNA) Likely *
His paternal side was discovered a few years ago. Rosella Presley had a long term affair with a man named John Wallace.
14729275_904947999635846_7591854658403151202_n.jpg
Haplogroup I2 (Y-DNA) * Confirmed Haplogroup I (Y-DNA), Haplogroup I2c1a2a1a1a (F2044) (Y-DNA) Likely *:
Elvis Aaron Presley (Wallace) (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor.
“It is well known that Presley was not Elvis’ true surname, his great-grandmother Martha Rosella Presley having had his grandfather Jessie Dunnan “Dee” McClowell Presley out of wedlock, and having given the child the surname she bore from her father, Dunnan Presley. So it was hardly a surprise that our Elvis Y chromosome type (haplogroup I) matched no Presley in the available database. What was surprising was that it exactly matched several males of the surname Wallace.”– Page 42, “Old World Roots of the Cherokee: How DNA, Ancient Alphabets and Religion Explains the Origins of America’s Largest Indian Nation, by Donald N. Yates
https://books.google.co.uk/books…
“Rosella Pressley and John Wallace shared some trials in their lives, however, fatesurely brought them together because out of their love for one another came the greatest entertainer in the world and of generations to come, Elvis Presley. Though neither would live to see this success, the long-kept mystery is now revealed: that John Wallace is the true great-grandfather of Elvis Presley.”
“The Children of Rosella Presley and John Wallace are: (1.) Jesse D. McDowell Pressley/Presley, the grandfather of Elvis Presley, b. April 9, 1896 in Itawamba Co. Jessie married Minnie Mae Hood and then Vera Leftwich. Jessie died 19 March 1973 in Louisville, KY”
Family Search has me kin to him as 8th cousin twice removed. Through my dad and it shows through his dad . My dad’s hapalogroup is I1 and we are also kin to surname Wallace . Actually Some well known Wallace’s
posted
by Lanna Dark
Is there any evidence that Elvis is a descendant of the French Huguenots.
Marie Warenbuer specifically. Warenbuer-1
It doesn't show up in the connection finder.
ok I searched and found this French Huguenot at Wikipedia and it says Elvis is descended from him but it doesn't show up either in the wiki connection finder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Martiau
Thank you
The Presley family got its name from Johannes Valentin Bressler/Pressler, who was a Palatine immigrant who landed in New York in 1710. So, not a Huguenot. Perhaps one of the other lines connected to Elvis?
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bresseler-2
One of Elvis' lines goes to Thomas Hampton (~1623- ~1690), a Jamestown Settler.
Mobile,Alabama was the third home of Elvis. Actually, he made an appearance at a local high school in Mobile in 1956/1957.
added a wikitree profile for Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk AKA Colonel Tom Parker
Featured Eurovision connections: Elvis is 33 degrees from Agnetha Fältskog, 26 degrees from Anni-Frid Synni Reuß, 27 degrees from Corry Brokken, 20 degrees from Céline Dion, 27 degrees from Françoise Dorin, 26 degrees from France Gall, 27 degrees from Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, 25 degrees from Lill-Babs Svensson, 21 degrees from Olivia Newton-John, 32 degrees from Henriette Nanette Paërl, 34 degrees from Annie Schmidt and 21 degrees from Moira Kennedy on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
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My mother for some reason could never say Elvis’ name properly. It always came out Evlis. And for many years after Elvis died, Elvis would enter my dreams, long after I had gotten over my girlhood crush. I think that crush was shattered when Ann Margaret came along. How could a 11, 12 year old compete with her? I admit that my crush turned to Paul McCartney way back then. His girlfriend Jane seemed to be someone I could rival in a few more years. But I always loved the music, and watched Elvis TV comeback specials with glee.
Meanwhile, while working on my mother’s Frady ancestors, I found some more degrees to Elvis. Through the help of the Frady DNA project I was able to link a blood relationship to Claudette Frady Orbison, my fourth cousin, the inspiration for “Pretty Woman”, and wife of singer Roy Orbison who was a favorite of Elvis. And l was able to establish both a blood and many times and lines marital relationship with Dolly Parton. I guess “I’ll Always Love You” is a fitting song for an Elvis fan.