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Not every Elvis fan knows these 10 facts about the King.

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What can be said about Elvis Presley that hasn’t been said already? Few lives have left a mark as indelible in modern world culture as his has. His musical talent and on-screen charisma will never be equaled, and still, hundreds of Elvis impersonators happily continue to try to imitate the King’s dulcet tones.

We have selected ten pivotal moments in Elvis’ life that both pay tribute to an iconic musician’s career and help us understand the human side of this Rock & Roll legend. Enjoy!

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Let’s start from the very beginning, in the city of Tupelo, Mississippi. On January 8, 1946, an eleven-year-old Elvis received his very first guitar as a birthday gift. While some accounts say that he was expecting a different gift like a bicycle or a rifle, Elvis quickly took a liking to it. He started taking his guitar daily to school, and classmates and family described him as "crazy about music."

Elvis was an avid fan of a radio show hosted by local country singer Mississippi Slim and frequently visited him at the radio station. Slim took him under his wing and, by the time Elvis was 12, he scheduled two performances on his show. While his shyness got the better of him on the first try, Elvis’ voice was broadcast on Slim’s show for the first time.

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We’ll skip forward a little bit, up to 1954. Fresh out of high school, Elvis recorded his very first demos at Sun Records. Although much didn’t come out of these recordings, they made Elvis appear on the radar of his first management agency, Hank Snow Attractions. In 1956, Elvis recorded his first album, titled Elvis Presley, which quickly reached number 1 on Billboard's pop album chart.

1956 would prove to be a pivotal year for Elvis since it would mark his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. This was a troublesome performance for many reasons: Sullivan was recovering from a car accident he suffered and Elvis had to be recorded in Los Angeles since he was working on filming Love Me Tender. Nevertheless, the show was a huge success, attracting the highest ratings for any television variety show.

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If you ever happen to stop by the city of Fort Smith, Arkansas, there’s a very peculiar attraction that you might want to visit if you are a true Elvis fan: On March 25, 1958, Elvis Presley received his first buzz cut in this city, the day after he enlisted on the U.S. Army. To this date, the good people of Fort Smith remember this moment on Elvis Haircut Day (yes, that’s the name of an actual holiday), held every year around March 25th at the Camp Chaffee Barbershop Museum.

Elvis served in the Army between 1958 and 1960, reaching the rank of sergeant. Though he was offered the chance to serve under the Special Services Unit (on which he would perform for the troops), Elvis decided to enlist as a regular soldier, where he was deployed to Germany. This move helped him earn the respect of hundreds of people who were previously horrified by his rock & roll music.

Image: Glen Bowman

Since we’ve been mostly focusing on the King’s music career, let’s take a second to reminisce on Elvis’ many acting credits. Inspired by legendary actors like James Dean and Marlon Brando, Elvis made his film debut in 1956, playing the youngest of the Reno brothers in the western Love Me Tender. While the movie was named after Elvis’ iconic song, this was the first and only time in his career in which he didn’t receive top billing.

What followed that first role was a fruitful career that included over 30 films and numerous appearances on television shows. Some of his most unforgettable roles include inmate Vince Everett in Jailhouse Rock, private Tulsa McLean in G.I. Blues, and gambler Lucky Jackson in Viva Las Vegas, considered by fans and critics alike to be his best film.

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It was during his time in Germany with the military that Elvis met his future wife, Priscilla Beaulieu, who would soon be known by the world as Priscilla Presley. The couple stayed together until their divorce in 1973, and they had one daughter, Lisa Marie Presley.

In 1957, Elvis unveiled one of the other biggest loves in his life: "Graceland", his mansion in Memphis. While nowadays Graceland is nothing short of a cultural icon, becoming the first rock-related site to be declared a National Historic Landmark, at the time it symbolized Elvis’ jump into an international superstar.

Image: David Vives

Elvis is mostly associated with Vegas due to the above-mentioned film Viva Las Vegas, remembered for the remarkable chemistry between the King and Swedish-American actress Ann-Margret. However, Elvis’ relationship with "Sin City" goes above and beyond that: Priscilla and Elvis got married in Las Vegas, he filmed two of his most successful films in this city, and, on two separate occasions thirteen years apart, the King was offered lucrative residencies to play on iconic hotels in the Las Vegas Strip.

Elvis' first residency was when he was 21 years old, in 1956. This series of shows is not remembered as a huge success: Elvis was particularly popular among younger audiences, and the more conservative guests of the New Frontier Hotel didn’t take too kindly to his energetic music. However, in 1969, the King returned to Las Vegas for a residency in the International Hotel. Although Elvis was initially nervous to perform again after his previous experience, these shows were a huge success, and the hotel signed him for an extremely lucrative five-year deal to perform every February and August.

Image: Adam Nemeroff

We’ll take a little break to delve into Elvis’ goofier side and showcase a few of his quirkier anecdotes. Let’s start with the King’s contribution to the culinary world. Any self-respecting diner will know what to serve you if you order an "Elvis" sandwich: a peanut butter, banana, and bacon sandwich. This odd delicacy is credited both as being invented by the King and as his favorite sandwich.

These hearty sandwiches must have been the perfect fuel for another of Elvis’ hobbies: karate. While stationed in Germany, he started training in this martial art, which he continued to do for decades. Elvis reached a seventh-degree black belt and even opened his very own training center, called the "Tennessee Karate Institute."

Let’s end this interlude with one of Elvis's most famous companions. He was known for his love of animals and cared for many animals during his life, including pet horses, birds, and dogs. Among these pets, one of these animals shines as the strangest of the King’s furry friends: Scatter, the pet chimpanzee, who could be usually found perched on Elvis’ shoulder, or dressed in various funny outfits.

Image: Ganapathy Kumar

Just like with Las Vegas, Elvis’ love for Hawaii is very well documented. His first concerts at the old Honolulu Stadium, held in November 1957, mark the start of the love story between Elvis and "the Aloha State." He frequently traveled to Hawaii to perform or to film: three of his movies (Blue Hawaiʻi, Girls! Girls! Girls! and Paradise, Hawaiian Style) were all filmed on the islands.

However, Elvis and his family also visited Hawaii to vacation and relax on its otherworldly beaches. According to biographers, he took inspiration from the island to redecorate the den at Graceland, now known as "The Jungle Room." If you ever happen to stop by the Neal S. Blaisdell Center, a place where Elvis performed the iconic "Aloha from Hawaii" concert in 1973, you will come across a real-life bronze statue of the King in his legendary singing pose.

Image: WikiImages

Let’s talk about a meeting that no one saw coming. In December 1970, while on a trip to Washington, D.C., Elvis visited the 37th President of the United States, Richard Nixon. The totally impromptu meeting took place in the Oval Office itself and ended in an iconic photo of Elvis and Nixon shaking hands.

The story of this meeting is as bizarre as the encounter itself. Elvis traveled to our nation’s capital with his collection of guns and police badges, on which he felt that a badge from the federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs would fit perfectly. Apparently, Elvis arranged the meeting through a Nixon aide (who was himself an avid Elvis fan), and he arrived at the White House wearing a purple velvet suit and gold belt buckle. He presented Nixon with an even flashier gift: a Colt .45 pistol, mounted in a display case.

Image: Dominik Scythe

We’ll end this article on a bittersweet note. June 26 is a noteworthy date for all Elvis fans: it was both the date on which he was first called back to Sun Records in 1954 and the first night he spent at Graceland, in 1957. And, perhaps more significantly, June 26 1977 was the night of the King’s final performance, held at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

Hopefully, we were able to showcase the many highlights of the life of this timeless American artist, so telling the story behind Elvis’ last concert seems a fitting conclusion to this list. While reception to the concert itself was mixed, most fans were deeply moved by what they thought was a comeback from a terrible year. The King said his last words of goodbye ("We'll meet you again, God bless, adios") and, just like that, the final pages of the story of an artist who changed the world forever were written. Elvis had left the building.

LESS IS MORE

10 Of The Best Six-Word Stories Out There

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They say that brevity is the soul of wit, and when the complex art of storytelling is distilled into only six words, you end up with some fascinating literary artifacts. An example of a curious genre called flash fiction, these minimalist tales offer brief glimpses into all kinds of worlds and situations.

Kindred to short-form poetry, popular jokes, and other types of oral literature, six-word stories can be truly enthralling. But crafting a narrative with such limited space requires a masterful touch. Here we gathered some of the best for your enjoyment. Maybe it will even inspire you to write your own!

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A mother's worst nightmare. Many times erroneously attributed to Ernest Hemingway (another master of succinctness in his own way), this brief masterclass in storytelling only needs six words to indirectly imply a heartbreaking story of loss and unrealized dreams.

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A story of betrayal. You know what they would say about jumping off a cliff with your friends. And it doesn’t need to be a real cliff even, because what actually hurts the most is trusting someone to stay by your side, only to find out in the worst possible moment that they weren’t truthful.

Image: Zach Lucero

Authored by award-winning sci-fi writer Orson Scott Card, better known for his 1985 novel Ender's Game. Blending humor with an ominous theme, this intriguing short story leaves us thinking in what kind of world such a phrase could be uttered and pondering about what makes us human.

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Kind of bragging, really, but goes to show that it is even possible to write a romantic comedy—sort of—in this very limited space. Or a crime thriller, perhaps, if you take the metaphor literally. This one also serves as an example of a telegram-style narrative, using very few words per sentence.

Image: Charles DeLoye

Another tearjerker, and even without knowing anything about the two main characters of the story, you can feel the pain of losing a brother or sister. On the other hand, you could certainly argue that this one is not entirely grammatically correct—and you would be right—but part of the fun in this type of short story is to let go of the usual rigidness of language and convention.

Image: Hasnain Sikora

A playful sci-fi parody of the classic "baby shoes" story, it gives us a different perspective from the usual science-fiction cliches. It leaves readers to wonder what could have happened to prevent someone from trying such an amazing scientific discovery. Maybe a time machine is not really worth it, after all. Or maybe it just doesn't work.

Image: John Schnobrich

Why is this genre so full of heart-wrenching stories? This one could be a lone entry in a personal diary or a whispered confession to a worried friend. It manages to condense the myriad of tragic details and everyday actions that can remind us of a person who, for whatever reason, is gone from our lives.

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Another story set in the realm of speculative fiction, this one introduces us to a classic trope of the genre: Teleportation. But have you ever thought about how the machine actually works? Maybe it is just destroying you and making an exact replica somewhere else, with all your memories and thoughts. But it just isn’t you anymore, because the original was vaporized instantly. And even if that existential problem is out of the way, what happens if it malfunctions? Well, I’m not buying a teleporter any time soon. Beware, early adopters!

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From strangers to lovers, then strangers again? Sadly, an almost universal experience! This six-word narrative traces the arc of a relationship with an economy of words that's as powerful as it is poignant. And while a bit depressing, it can be an honest timeline of how most human relationships go.

Image: Geetanjal Khanna

This one could work great as the ending of a noir fiction novel or as the departing words of an antihero protagonist who ultimately decides to sacrifice himself for the greater good. It’s no wonder this is the tone that this short story conveys because its author is none other than comic book wizard Frank Miller, known for his dark stories and brooding characters.