1. Hound Dog (1956) Controversial in its day, “Hound Dog” is now considered one of the biggest influences on the rock 'n' roll genre, and was Presley's biggest selling single, spending a recording-setting 11 weeks at number one in 1956 – a record which stood for 36 years.
Topping the list is Can't Help Falling In Love, which has notched up 13 million plays. Released in 1961 as a double A-side with Rock-A-Hula-Baby, the song reached Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart and became his signature ballad, closing many of his live performances in the '60s and '70s.
34 inspirational songs Presley recorded, complete with an introduction and photos. Songs include: Amazing Grace • Crying in the Chapel • He Is My Everything • How Great Thou Art • (There'll Be) Peace in the Valley (For Me) • You'll Never Walk Alone • and more.
“Don't criticize what you don't understand, son. You never walked in that man's shoes.” - Elvis often used this adaptation of a well-known quotation.
Today marks the day Elvis famously performed "Hound Dog" on "The Milton Berle Show" and stirred up quite a frenzy. On June 5, 1956, Elvis set his guitar to the side and performed what came to be known as one of the most controversial performances in television history.
However, The Beatles outrank Elvis in terms of “fame”: The Beatles scored 4.423 vs. Elvis at 3.592. In terms of achievement (referred to as “gravitas”), Presley ranks at 3.523 vs. The Beatles at 2.284.
Elvis Presley, recognised as the best-selling solo music artist of all time by Guinness World Records, sold over 400.
Elvis held Roy Orbison is very high regard, publicly stating that Roy had ' most perfect voice' and referring to him as the 'greatest singer in the world' during one of his Vegas concerts.
Michael Francis (Led Zeppelin security): "He was just larger than life. All he ever did during the two days we were there was give people presents, like watches, robes and jewellery. "With Elvis, he must have had 20 people around him all the time; everybody was saying yes.
The Memphis Mafia was the nickname given by the media to a group of Elvis Presley's friends, associates, employees and cousins whose main functions were to accompany, protect, and serve Presley from the beginning of his career in 1954 until his death in 1977.
And while Elvis wasn't a songwriter per se, he did co-write a few songs in his career including 'That's Someone You Never Forget' and the haunting 'You'll Be Gone'.
Dean Martin, “The King of Cool”
Of all the artists Presley was exposed to in his formative years, there is one performer rarely referenced who reached across a generation to inspire Presley's work—Dean Martin.
Otis Blackwell wrote 10 songs for Elvis, including All Shook Up, Don't Be Cruel, Return to Sender, and One Broken Heart For Sale.
Elvis has had no less than 149 songs to appear on Billboard's Hot 100 Pop Chart in America. Of these, 114 were in the top forty, 40 were in the top 10, and 18 went to number one. His number one singles spent a total of 80 weeks at number one.
In 1954, Presley recorded the more up-tempo “That's All Right” at Sun Records. That song became Presley's first hit. The story about the “My Happiness” recording is told to visitors who take the tour of Sun Records, now a museum.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, British rock band The Beatles are top of the list for best-selling artists worldwide, with 183 million units certified sales. Second is Garth Brooks with over 157 million units sales, followed by Elvis Presley with 139 million units.
As teenagers, The Beatles, especially John Lennon, were strongly influenced by Elvis Presley. They started wearing their hair slicked back like Elvis. They admired his rebelliousness and his appeal to women, not to mention his musical talent. “Nothing affected me until I heard Elvis,” John Lennon said.
However, Sinatra was adamant about rock and roll being a lesser genre than jazz and swing. Discussing Presley's talents, Sinatra said in 1957, “Only time will tell. They said I was a freak when I first hit, but I'm still around. Presley has no training at all.
The admiration of Elvis expanded greatly when Paul got to see Presley's sense of humor and good looks in the movies. “We all loved Elvis – he was so hot,” Paul McCartney gushed years later. “We were just so in love with him. He was just the greatest idol, always hamming it up, always doing a little funny thing.
"A few days later when I mentioned Marilyn to Elvis, he said, 'She's a nice gal, but a little tall for me'." "I knew that this was the sort of thing that could ruin their careers."
Elvis Presley's three-octave vocal range was exceptional, 'very narrowly all at once a tenor, baritone, and bass'. A 1987 article in the Village Voice included an assessment of his voice in classical terms, categorizing it as a 'lyric baritone ... [but with] unexpectedly rich low [notes] ... and astounding high notes'.
Elvis' perfect pitch was just one of the many factors that contributed to his success. The singing range of Elvis Presley was quite extensive, ranging from three octaves to a full seven. He was able to identify pitches accurately, which helped him to create his own unique style of music.
Elvis Presley – 146.5 million units. Eagles – 101 million units. Billy Joel – 82.5 million units. Michael Jackson – 81 million units.
The late singer is the best-selling of all time with claimed sales of over 500 million copies. In fact, only The Beatles are ahead of him in the most successful music acts ever. Now new research has discovered that Elvis has also beaten the likes of Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra in another music record.
Michael Jackson is the first musician to earn over $100 million in a year (1989), and has become the top-earning male soloist a record seven times.