A Taste Of Honey January 8 2015
Elvis Aaron Presley would have been 80 years old on January 8th 2015. Handsome, superbly talented, and rightly considered one of the most significant CULTURAL ICONS of the 20th Century, his career commenced in 1954 when he signed a deal with Sam Phillips at Sun Records. (Sam Phillips would have been 92 on January 6th 2015 – what foresight he had). Elvis Presley’s life and career prematurely ended after a battle with prescription drugs on August 18 1977 – he was 42. The ” King Of Rock and Roll” or just simply “The King” is the best selling SOLO artist in the history of recorded music, with estimated album sales worldwide of 600 million units.He was nominated for 14 Grammys(achieved 3),at age 36 he acheived the Grammy Lifetime Achievement award and has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame.His first RCA single ‘Heartbreak Hotel‘ was released in January 1956 and became his first number # 1 hit.He made his film debut in 1956 in ‘Love Me Tender’ and went on to make 33 movies culminating in ‘Elvis On Tour’ in 1972.
His energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style,combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across colour lines that coincided with the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement,made him enormously popular – and controversial.Elvis was commercially successful in many genres including pop,blues and gospel.
I had the good fortune of working with his remarkable catalogue from 1985 – 2006,researching the music and the man – my work culminated in the release of ‘ELVIS:30 No 1 Hits’ which went onto sell 12 million copies- a huge achievement 25 years after his death.His success can be further reinforced as to his title of the ‘King’ when one considers that apart from a couple of small concerts in Canada in 1957, Elvis never performed outside of the United States – he did visit Hawaii to implement the ‘Aloha from Hawaii’ by satellite TV special but apart from his military service never visited any other country.
I would like to think that amongst his music there are songs for everyone – he sang ballads that brought tears to millions of fans, he rocked to the applause of many more millions and he performed with a style and energy that many have tried to imitate but have never achieved.
RIP Elvis Aaron Presley -thankyou for your legacy and long may it continue -truly ‘The King’
FOR THE FULL PLAYLIST OF TODAY’S SHOW PLEASE GO TO EASTSIDE’S HOMEPAGE AND CLICK ON PROGRAM GUIDE ICON AND FOLLOW THE EASY STEPS TO THIS PROGRAMME AND ANY OTHERS THAT TAKE YOUR FANCY.