Elvis Presley was a phenomenally successful American singer and musician, widely known by the single name ‘Elvis’ or as, quite simply, ‘The King’.

Born on 8^th January 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi, Presley received his first guitar at the age of ten. At 19, he recorded That’s All Right with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, which received a lot of airplay on local radio. The trio performed at several live venues before Elvis was signed up to RCA Records for an unprecedented $40,000.

Presley’s first recordings included Heartbreak Hotel, which became the biggest selling hit of 1956, and Blue Suede Shoes, and his debut self-titled album became the first rock and roll record to top the Billboard chart. His fame increased with more hit singles and a controversial appearance on the Milton Berle Show – where he was accused of sexually suggestive dancing during a performance of Hound Dog – to the point where by September his appearance on the Ed Sullivan show was watched by an unprecedented 82.6% of the television audience. By the end of 1956, Billboard declared Elvis had placed more songs in the Top 100 than any previous artist.

The hits kept coming for Elvis – including All Shook Up, (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear and Jailhouse Rock – until he was drafted into the US Army, leading to a two-year hiatus. While Presley returned from his service in 1960, he spent the next several years focusing on his movie career before staging his infamous Comeback Special in 1968.

A wave of new hits followed, including In the Ghetto, Suspicious Minds, The Wonder of You and Burning Love, and on January 14 1973 Presley’s live concert Aloha from Hawaii enjoyed a global audience of around 1.5 billion viewers.

However, shortly after this appearance he became addicted to prescription drugs and started gaining a significant amount of weight. Although he attempted to keep up with tour commitments, his health deteriorated rapidly and on August 16^th 1977 he passed away from a suspected drug overdose.

Although he died prematurely, Elvis’ legacy lives on. With a reported one billion records sold all around the world, he is now officially the best-selling solo artist in the history of popular music.