💯

I am currently in a small town just about 15 minutes away from his birth place in Tupelo, Mississippi. He spent a lot of his childhood poor and just happened to be in the right place at the right time recording a song for his mother when he was discovered. Some say it was that upbringing that led to his style of fancy clothes and a chains and a ring on almost every finger. But he never forgot his roots. It’s amazing to me that his Grammys were for his gospel music. And I think that’s was his true love. The rock and roll was his job.

@@dcholmes1969 I'm in Memphis, and it is amazing to me how the ghetto was a step up from his early years.

he was not from the ghetto. it was a time of great civil unrest, he was trying to make a statement.

@@MrBonners I guess it all depends on your definition of what a ghetto is. I wouldn’t say any small town like Tupelo would come close to say a New York or Chicago. But he was in the poorer section of “town” during his childhood. Of course I get this third hand from not only my Mother who was raised here from 1930s to the ‘50s until she also moved to Memphis to have a better chance at “the American dream” as she would often say. I also spent many years working at WTVA (The local tv station here in town) where, almost annually on his birthday we’d do a mini documentary of his early years here in Tupelo.

Sad reality

He died with about 5 million dollars in the bank (worth about 20 million in today's money). Of course you're exactly right, if it wasn't for his extreme generosity he could easily have had hundreds of millions. He kept what he needed for himself and his family's security and gave away the rest.

Great history, thanks for sharing!

This song wouldn’t be the same without the wonderful gospel singers. Elvis led by example. He didn’t see colour indifference. He saw and heard talent. Great reaction.

@@pampennyworth Oh definitely Pammy. And Elvis would be the FIRST to admit it. The SWEET INSPIRATIONS would sing EVERY LIVE VERSION with Elvis. They were a BONDED PAIR. The Sweet Inspirations also sang on all the Aretha Franklin albums. But once they met Elvis, they just all CONNECTED into lifelong bonds. It went beyond the music. I think that's why they sounded SO WELL TOGETHER. They jammed ALL DAY AND NIGHT. No other act in Vegas or the entire world had a CHANCE to compete. They were THAT TIGHT.

not true AT ALL.

Did not know it was a Mac Davis song. Good info!!

Whitney Houston's mom was one of those backup singers :-). And she loved Elvis.

But what is the solution to this, abortion? People of all races are born poor and desperate?

@@glennfarris305 I don’t know the answer, but it’s not abortion. ♥️

@@glennfarris305 people being better to each other and less selfish and greedy. But humans suck so it will never happen

@@glennfarris305 People have the right to life.

@@jonluzzi3015 but what does that mean?

EXCELLENT recommendations!!!

Elvis was a die hard supporter of the black community, peep the game people

@@zohawn4398 really? what did he do for the black community?

@@bwana-ma-coo-bah425 Read my previous comment to you as well as other knowledgeable comments on this thread. Don't know where you're getting your hostile skepticism.

Zappa was the most overrated clown ever, elvis was the greatest singer entertainer

Always the same questions and answers, when do you want to provoke with your Statements?zappa fan, hahahaha

I was reading your comment, and they said your name. 😆 Hi Michelle!

@@kierstenridgway4634 Hi Kiersten, Hope all is well 🥰

I remember at age 5 my dad wanted us to see Elvis in Greensboro NC but they were sold out, so we were going to find someone scalping tickets. When we got to Greensboro we got off the exit and came up on a blocked road that resembled a license checkpoint, but they were checking to see if you had tickets. If you didn't have tickets they turned you around lol. Couldn't get within a mile of the venue without tickets.

@@westleyburgess3622 🥺

Your a good son.

Michael Jackson's death broke the internet, people were sobbing for weeks. John Lennon's murder, worldwide outpour of such pain, emotion and tears, unimaginable sorrow and still felt to this day. People have reacted very strongly to these untimely deaths, Whitney, George Michael...even recent death of young Taylor Hawkins (shocking, still has me shook). SO, your comment on unmatched is ridiculous.

Elvis is Elvis

Oh man, my Mother and Sister cried for three weeks straight. I get it though. I love Elvis. The talent that man had and how he was with people, all people, made him the King.

@@christopherone1 I'm definitely very upset about Taylor and I am going to say it whether I get chastised or not, but he had the vaccine. When he died, his heart was over 600 grams. The normal size of a heart for someone his age is about 300 grams, half the size of what his heart was. The drugs in his system, for the most part, would not have done that and most of them were prescribed. I looked up most of the ones listed and they were not known for making your heart swell, but guess what is? Yup, the vax. I hope they are truthful about how he died when it comes out. I really feel it was that.

Additional trivia about Mac Davis, he was a country performer/songwriter from Lubbock Texas

It was offered to Sammy Davis Jr first and he turned it down

You beat me with your comment. I was gonna say the same thing. 😁

Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me

He was a beautiful man with an even more beautiful heart. My daughter has lyrics to love me tender tattooed on her arm

@@andreadeamon6419 That's so cool! I love it !

@@patriciamiller7595 i wish i could post the picture on here

You know who's just like Elvis in that way? Justin Bieber, yup.. that kid is really good to ppl he sees less fortunate than he is.

He also gave around 200 Caddilacs away to freinds, family and strangers. And lots of juwelry, sometimes to fans in the audience, also he paid Jackie Wilsons hospital bills when Jackie was in a coma. And he gave much more away.

what!!!! he helped start the civil rights movement and put an end to segregation! what drugs are you on? he fucken did nothing like that! he did nothing for civil rights!

@@bwana-ma-coo-bah425 Can't let that go, man--you must have bought into the fake hype from a jealous DJ back in the day that Elvis was racist. You are totally mistaken. Do a history search if you are interested in facts. Elvis did more to help black music and musicians become mainstream, which helped lead to cultural and social change, than any other celebrity, back when it was a risky thing. He would refuse to perform if segregationist promoters demanded he leave his black back-up singers behind; Elvis was the only one with clout they couldn't say no to.There is information from black reactors and informative videos all over KZfaq verifying what I'm telling you. Celebrities like James Brown, Sammy Davis, Jr., Muhammad Ali, etc. all loved Elvis. Listen to his tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. "If I Could Dream". Please investigate truth and don't spread falsehoods.

@@rickrhoden1 I think the truth lies somewhere between these two extremes. Elvis was not a racist, and fully supported blacks and the Civil Rights movement all his life, but to say he started or did more for the Civil Rights movement than any other artist is an exaggeration. In the early 60's Bob Dylan wrote Blowin' in the Wind, which became the defacto anthem of the movement, along with other angry and scathing songs about segregation and racism. He, Joan Baez and other folksingers of the time performed these type of songs at civil rights gatherings throughout the south in places like Greenwood, Mississippi at great risks to their own safety Those same musicians actually marched with Martin Luther King and performed at King's 1963 March on Washington where King's "I Have A Dream" speech was given. It wasn't until 1968, after King's death, that Elvis began to use his voice to address Civil Rights with "If I Can Dream". Supportive as he always was towards civil rights and the black community, he hadn't previously given support to the movement publicly.

@@ptournas I agree Elvis was not an overt activist. I also believe Dylan had a big influence on culture, especially in areas of war/peace/governance. Elvis' influence in terms of cultural discrimination was more subtle and systemic, and was from his music and actions in the face of much more hostility than others had. His defiant entertainment style more directly confronted the status quo beginning in the 1950's, setting the stage, probably not intentionally, for subsequent progressive activism by entertainers; his enormous popularity kept this effect alive and not squelched. I don't believe he had a passionate vision for such--he was just its vessel. Many obviously had an influence; in my opinion, his was seminal.

@@rickrhoden1 While I consider Elvis' contribution to be very important, I wouldn't consider it to be seminal, though it definitely sparked an acceleration in the process that had slowly been building for many years. A growing number of independent disc jockeys had already begun playing some black music on predominantly white radio station by 1950. Sh-boom by the chords was the first black doo-wop hit on the top ten pop charts in 1954, two years before Elvis' first hit on the charts (Heartbreak Hotel), and Billy Ward and his Dominoes "Sixty Minute Man" hit #17 on the pop charts back in 1951. Coincidentally 1954 was also the year the first black artist had a #1 hit in England's pop charts, Winifred Atwell with "Let's Have Another Party". Among those in the entertainment industry, I would consider Ed Sullivan to be more of a seminal force in the fight for racial equality, going all the way back to his production of the Harlem Cavalcade in 1942, and when it began losing money he paid out of his own pocket to keep it going. In 1948, after starting his TV show, he actually hired many black (and white) vaudeville stars to appear on his show. People thought it was odd that he continued to do this right into the sixties, long after vaudeville was dead, but he actually did it because he knew these people needed the money. His show started on June 20,1948 and his first black guests were Billy Kenny and the Ink Spots on June 27, 1948. As he put on more and more black guests he began to get increasing numbers of death threats and complaints from viewers and advertisers. When Ford was threatening to pull there sponsorship, they sent an executive to speak with him. When the executive told him he needed to stop hiring so many "colored performers", he actually had him thrown out of the theater. He also supported them quietly and privately, He was a pallbearer at Louis Armstrong's funeral and paid all the expenses for Bill "Bojangles" Robinson's funeral out of his own pocket. Harry Belafonte also credited the show with being a big part of the civil rights movement. The death threats and complaints of viewers and sponsors hit a peak when he kissed Pearl Bailey at the end of a performance on the show. There were actually gas stations in the south that were refusing to serve car owners of Ford, Mercury and Lincoln models because of that incident. Though I have no idea of his views on racism, Sam Phillips had a huge influence on the awareness of black performers, whether it was intentional or simply a byproduct of his determination to promote a white singer who could sing what was called "race music" back then. He was already grooming Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins for that purpose, and if Elvis hadn't done it, one of them would have. That doesn't mean they would done it as quickly as Elvis did, or have had the same impact on the speed of the integration of the black artists music in the white dominated business. Nor does it mean they would have shown civil rights to be as important and respected as Elvis. Personally I don't think it serves any purpose to pick whose influence was "seminal" to the civil rights movement. After all, it was simply an extension of the call for equality that has been made since the end of the civil war, and there have been many important and influential people who have participated in that quest. In my opinion to pick any one of them, or a few of them as being "seminal" is a disservice to the others. But it's really a subjective judgement and we can agree to disagree on that. We do seem to be in agreement in many other aspects of his relationships to the black community and commitment to equality.