Graceland arrest
Country Class was released the same year that Lewis was arrested outside Elvis Presley's Graceland home for allegedly planning to shoot him. Lewis had already nearly killed his bass player Butch Owens on September 29 (his forty-first birthday) when a .357 accidentally went off in his hand. In Rick Bragg's 2014 authorized biography Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story, Lewis explains that the reclusive Presley had been trying to reach him and finally did on November 23, imploring that he "come out to the house." Lewis replied that he would if he had time but that he was busy trying to get his father Elmo out of jail in Tunica for a DUI. Later that night, Lewis was at a Memphis nightclub called Vapors drinking champagne when he was given a gun. "Charles Feron, he owned Vapors, he give it to me," Lewis clarifies to Bragg. "A .38 derringer. Me, pretty well drunk, with that derringer - it ain't somethin' strange." Lewis suddenly remembered that Elvis wanted to see him and, climbing aboard his new Lincoln Continental with the loaded pistol on the dash and a bottle of champagne under his arm, tore off for Graceland. Just before three o'clock in the morning, Lewis accidentally smashed into the famous Graceland gates because the "nose of that Lincoln was a mile long." Presley's astonished cousin Harold Lloyd was manning the gate and watched Lewis attempt to hurl the champagne bottle through the car window, not realizing it was rolled up, smashing both. Bragg reports that Lewis denies ever intending to do Presley harm, that the two were friends, but "Elvis, watching on the closed-circuit television, told guards to call the police. The Memphis police found the gun in the car and put Jerry Lee, protesting, hollering, threatening them, away in handcuffs." Lewis: "The cops asked Elvis, 'What do you want us to do? And Elvis told 'em, 'Lock him up.' That hurt my feelings. To be scared of me - knowin' me the way he did - was ridiculous." Lewis was charged with carrying a pistol and public drunkenness. Released on a $250 bond, his defiant mug shot was wired around the world. Presley would die at Graceland of a heart attack eight months later.
Elvis Aaron Presley, often referred to mononymously as Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Known as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Presley's energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, led him to both great success and initial controversy.
Samuel Cornelius Phillips was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Howlin' Wolf. Phillips played a major role in the development of rock and roll during the 1950s, launching the career of Presley. In 1969, he sold Sun to Shelby Singleton.
Jerry Lee Lewis was an American pianist, singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock 'n' roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock 'n' roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1952 at Cosimo Matassa's J&M Studio in New Orleans, Louisiana, and early recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. "Crazy Arms" sold 300,000 copies in the Southern United States, but it was his 1957 hit "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" that shot Lewis to worldwide fame. He followed this with the major hits "Great Balls of Fire", "Breathless", and "High School Confidential".
Priscilla Ann Presley is an American businesswoman and actress. She is the ex-wife of the late American singer Elvis Presley, as well as co-founder and former chairperson of Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE), the company that turned Graceland into one of the top tourist attractions in the United States. In her acting career, Presley co-starred with Leslie Nielsen in the Naked Gun film trilogy and played the role of Jenna Wade on the long-running television series Dallas.
Otis Blackwell was an American songwriter whose work influenced rock and roll. His compositions include "Fever", "Great Balls of Fire" and "Breathless", "Don't Be Cruel", "All Shook Up" and "Return to Sender", and "Handy Man".
Moody Blue is the twenty-fourth and final studio album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released in June 1977 by RCA Records, about two months before his death. The album was a mixture of live and studio work and included the four tracks from Presley's final studio recording sessions in October 1976 and two tracks left over from the previous Graceland session in February 1976. "Moody Blue" was a previously published hit song recorded at the earlier Graceland session and held over for this album. Also recorded at the February session was "She Thinks I Still Care". "Way Down" became a hit after Presley's death less than one month after this album's release. The album was certified Gold and Platinum on September 12, 1977, and 2× Platinum on March 27, 1992, by the RIAA.
Charles Franklin Hodge, better known as Charlie Hodge, was an American singer, vocal coach and musician who was a confidant and best friend of Elvis Presley, and lived at Graceland.
Elvis Presley had many close relationships throughout his career. The strongest of all his personal relationships, by far, was that he had with his mother Gladys, as described below.
Since the beginning of his career, American singer Elvis Presley has had an extensive cultural impact. According to Rolling Stone, "It was Elvis who made rock 'n' roll the international language of pop." The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll describes Presley as "an American music giant of the 20th century who single-handedly changed the course of music and culture in the mid-1950s". His recordings, dance moves, attitude and clothing came to be seen as embodiments of rock and roll. His music was heavily influenced by African-American blues, Christian gospel, and Southern country. In a list of the greatest English language singers, as compiled by Q magazine, Presley was ranked first, and second in the list of greatest singers of the 20th century by BBC Radio. Some people claim that Presley created a whole new style of music: "It wasn't black, wasn't white, wasn't pop or wasn't country—it was different." As most singers in his time created music geared for adults, he gave teens music to grow up with.
The King of Rock 'n' Roll: The Complete 50's Masters is a five-disc box set compilation of the complete known studio master recordings by American singer and musician Elvis Presley during the decade of the 1950s. Issued in 1992 by RCA Records, catalog number 66050-2, it was soon followed by similar box sets covering Presley's musical output in the 1960s and 1970s. This set's initial long-box release included a set of collectible stamps duplicating the record jackets from every Presley LP on RCA Victor, every single that had a picture sleeve, and most of his EP releases. The set includes a booklet with an extensive session list and discography, and a lengthy essay by Peter Guralnick. It peaked at #159 on the album chart and was certified a gold record on August 7, 1992, by the RIAA. Further certifications were for platinum on November 20, 1992, and for double platinum on July 30, 2002.
Jerry Lee's Greatest! is the second studio album by the American rock and roll and rockabilly pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis released in 1961 on Sun Records.
Another Place, Another Time is the eighth album by the musician Jerry Lee Lewis, released in 1968 by Smash Records. It was Lewis's "comeback album" and features a stripped down, "hardcore" country sound that yielded two top five country hits, his first major chart success in a decade.
She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye is the 13th album by pianist and singer Jerry Lee Lewis. It was released on Mercury Records in 1970.
The Killer Rocks On is an album by Jerry Lee Lewis that was released on Mercury Records in 1972.
Live at the International, Las Vegas is a live album by Jerry Lee Lewis that was released on Mercury Records in 1970.
Country Memories is the 33rd studio album by Jerry Lee Lewis, released on Mercury Records in 1977.
Jerry Lee Lewis is the 35th studio album by American rock and roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis, released by Elektra in 1979.
Killer Country is the 37th studio album by Jerry Lee Lewis, released on Elektra Records in 1980.
Stephen Ackles is a Norwegian vocalist, pianist, and songwriter who mainly plays rock 'n' roll inspired by Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Elvis Presley. His mother, Bergliot Kittilsen, is Norwegian, and his father, Allan Dale Ackles is American.
