Published: January 07, 2008 07:50 pm      

Elvis Presley: The King lives on for many on his birthday

PRINCETON — Seventy-three years ago today a man who forever changed the world’s music was born in Tupelo, Mississippi to Vernon and Gladys Presley. They named their new son Elvis, but to his fans, he is forever “the King of rock ’n’ roll.”

Born on Jan. 8, 1935, Elvis Presley rose from his humble beginnings to become a music pioneer and a lasting icon. New fans discover Elvis daily and seek out his music, said Wyatt Lilly, owner of Cheap Thrills Records in Princeton.

“Elvis had it all. He had the looks and he had the sound, and he did the kind of music that very few people had actually heard before,” Lilly said. “He took black music that was pretty underground in the 50s and brought it to the American mainstream, and the younger people just went wild for it. Not many people knew about rock ’n’ roll and the more upbeat blues sound, but that all changed with Elvis. He not only made the music more accessible, he made people aware of it.”

Music history might have been very different if Elvis had never pursued a music career. The late John Lennon, another music pioneer, summed up Elvis’s influence, Lilly said.

“People asked him how he got interested in music, and he said before Elvis, there was nothing. Elvis led to the Beatles, which led to so much more great music. He really got rock ’n’ roll jumpstarted,” Lilly said.

One Bland County woman who is celebrating her own birthday today remembers when she first heard Elvis and became his fan.

“He was born in 1935 and I was born in ‘40, so he’s 5-years-old than I am. I’ve been an Elvis fan ever since there’s been an Elvis, ” said 68-year-old Phyllis Vance of Bland, Va. “I first heard him on the radio back in 1956, and he’s had good music all through the years. You’d think somebody like that would go down after a while, but not Elvis. He’s still the King.”

When Christmas 2007 arrived, Vance’s family showered her with Elvis mementoes.

“I have an Elvis cover on my bed, I have Elvis calendars and an Elvis pocketbook. I got all of those for Christmas,” she said. “He bought Cadillacs and everything for his fans. I wish I would have gotten one of those. That would have been nice.”

One Princeton woman recalled the time when she could hear the King sing and see the sweat on his face.

“I was a teen-ager,” said Sherry Traylor, 51. “I was still in high school, maybe 1972, 1973. It was the early 70s, I know that. The concert was at the old Charleston Civic Center. My sister’s friend’s aunt worked at the center, and she got us third-row seats. I was right there. I was really excited, you know, because I could see the sweat on his face rolling off, and I almost got a scarf. I was an inch away from getting a scarf, but this little girl got on her daddy’s shoulders and grabbed it away from me.”

Elvis used his scarves to wipe his face. He didn’t throw the scarves into the audience, but he would let people come up and grab one, Traylor said.

“This was before they had all those body guards,” she said. “You could get right up to the stage then.”

Even people who never saw Elvis in concert will always remember him.

“Even my children who are in their 20s know who Elvis is,” Traylor said. “He’s just like a big icon.”

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com