Elvis Presley – Early Life

Elvis Presley received his very first guitar in 1946 for his eleventh birthday. Elvis had actually wanted a brand new bike or a rifle but unfortunately his parents could only afford a guitar at the time. It was his father’s brother, Vester, who initially gave him guitar lessons. It was in September of 1948 that Elvis and his family had moved to Memphis Tennessee as his father needed to find work to help support the family as well as skip jail for bootlegging liquor.

Elvis’s first job was working at the Loew’s State Theatre to help increase the family income as they were living poor. Eventually his mother made him quit work as she did not want his grades in school to drop as a result. During the following year he got his job back at Loews but was fired for assaulting a female employee. This is also when he started to grow his infamous sideburns.

What also made Presley unique was his ability to play music by ear. He confessed that he never read music but played it by ear. Because Elvis didn’t write music he rarely had music prepared for his recording sessions. The music he produced was influenced by the music he had heard on his radio and on the jukebox. Elvis became a legend in a very short time frame. Some musicians he admired included B.B. King who knew Elvis even before became a music legend and hung out with Elvis quite often on Beale Street in Memphis.