Give us this day, December 24, our daily Elvis
1871 – In Cairo, Egypt, Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Aida” had its world premiere at the Khedivial Opera House.
December 24, 1818
Germany’s Franz Gruber composed a melody to go with words written in a poem by Austrian priest Josef Mohr, creating the carol we know as “Silent Night.” “Stille Nacht” was first performed early the next day during Midnight Mass at the Church of St. Nikolaus in Gruber’s hometown of Obendorf.
1906 – Reginald A. Fessenden became the first person to broadcast a music program over radio, from Brant Rock, MA.
December 24, 1920
Enrico Caruso gave his last public performance when he sang in Jacques Halevy’s “La Juive” at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Tupelo, Mississippi
1935-1940
306 Old Satillo Road, Elvis’ birthplace, is now 306 Elvis Presley Drive.
December 24, 1937
Vernon in prison
December 24, 1938
Vernon in prison
1940-41
Reese Street, where the Presleys stayed with Vester and Clettes Presley and their daughter Patsy,
1942
Kelly Street, a rented, small apartment.
December 24, 1945
Berry Street – “Doll” Smith lived here with the Presleys and then Minnie Mae Presley moved in.
1946
Commerce Street, a rental
510 1/2 Maple Street, South Tupelo -the Presleys lived with Glady’s cousin Frank Richards and his wife, Leona.
Mulbery Alley
1010 North Green Street, in the Shakerag section of Tupelo..
Memphis, Tennessee
Sept. 12, 1948-Sept. 20, 1949
572 Poplar Avenue
Sept 2o 1949 to January 7, 1950
185 Winchester Street, a two- bedroom apartment (number 328)
January 7, 1950 to April 1953
398 Cypress Street
1951
Gian Carlo Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” was first broadcast by NBC. It was the first opera written specifically for television.
December 24, 1952
Elvis sings “Old Shep” and “Cold, Cold Icy Fingers” at his school’s Christmas concert to rave reviews
September 21, 1953 to March 19, 1954
Elvis worked at Precision Tool company, operating a drill press for $1.55 a hour.
The Sun Records Rockabilly Era
December 24 1954
Singer Johnny Ace accidentally killed himself while playing Russian Roulette backstage at a Houston concert on Christmas Eve. Ace was well known for singing and playing piano with such Blues legends as Bobby Bland and B.B. King. He later signed with Duke Records and had a string of R&B hits, including “My Song”, “Saving My Love”, “Please Forgive Me”, “Cross My Heart” and “The Clock”, along with two more hits after his death, “Pledging My Love” and “Anymore”. Cashbox magazine had named Johnny Ace as its Most Promising New Artist earlier in the month.
The Clovers began a ten-day stint at Los Angeles’ 5-4 Ballroom.
The Presleys lived at 2414 Lamar Avenue, rented end of 1954 to mid-1955
The RCA Victor Atomic Powered Singer
Elvis stayed at home over Christmas and did not appear on the Louisiana Hayride this week.
The Presleys 1414 Getwell Street rented from mid-1955 to May, 11 1956.
Accompanied by Dottie Harmony, a showgirl Elvis dated in Las Vegas, he went Christmas shopping at Lamar Airways Center.
The Presleys lived at Audobon Drive May 11 1956 to March 1957.
Elvis wrote a letter to the Memphis Draft Board to request officially a deferment for the filming of his new motion picture: ” so these folks will not lose so much money, with all they have done so far.”
The Presleys lived at Graceland
The Military Service Disruption
Elvis helped decorating the company’s Christmas tree. He also entertained his fellow soldiers with a moving version of Silent Night.
Military Service in Germany
October 1958 to February 2, 1959: Hotel Grunwald in Bad Nauheim, Germany
Private Presley, earning less than that, was living off base.Military Service in Germany Feb 3 – March 1960: Goethestr.14 in Bad Nauheim, GermanyElvis had been undergoing a series of skin treatments for enlarged pores; however, they came to an abrupt end, when Elvis accused Griessel Landau of making sexual advances. Landau threaten blackmail about 16 year old girls which he knew Elvis was seeing. Shades of Jerry Lee Lewis, so Elvis called The Col, and Elvis went to the army’s Provost Marshal Division, which referred the case to the FBI. . Griessel Landau was not a real doctor, he was selling an herbal face scrub and massage service and after a small payment, he flew to London and that was the end of it.
The Hollywood Decade/The Elvis Establishment
December 24, 1960
Wild in the Country production break – Elvis at Graceland
December 24, 1961
December 24, 1962
Priscilla visit
December 24, 1963
The Beatles had the number one album in the US “With The Beatles” in 1963
In London, the Beatles held their first annual “Beatles Christmas Show” at the Astoria Cinema. The show featured the Fab Four and other musical acts playing their hits and doing comedy skits in between songs. The series of 30 concerts, which ran through January 11, featured the Beatles, Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas, Rolf Harris, Cilla Black, and the Fourmost, among others.
Elvis signed another one-year lease on the Perugia Way house to run through the following year.
Elvis bought some gifts from Harry Levitch, including gold wristwatches, one with the initials “GK” (George Klein) and one with “EP”, some diamond rings, bracelets and charms and a butterfly pin.
In Memphis, pressure had been mounting on Presley for years from the Beaulieu family and from the Colonel, rumors had been swirling for months even amongst Elvis fans, and he’d had an engagement ring made six months previously, Elvis Presley finally got down on one knee during Christmas celebrations at Graceland and presented Priscilla Beaulieu with a three-carat diamond ring he’d had made for her six months earlier, saying, “We’re going to be married.”
A lot of party supplies were rented from Dixie Rents for the Graceland Christmas party. The ground were decorated with the usual life-size Nativity scene and 8 lighted garland trees were rented too.
December 24, 1968
The Beatles had the number one album in the US “The Beatles” (The White Album)
December 24, 1969
The Beatles had the number one album in the US “Abbey Road”.
The Vegas Artist in Residence and Tour Decade
Again Elvis gave away some Mercedeses. This time to Sonny West, who was about to get married, Dr. Nick and Bill Morris.
In the early morning he visited the Memphis Police headquarters “to say hello, to the men and women who had to work on Christmas.”
Elvis purchased a watch of $1,100, a ring of $500 and a chain of $1,200 form Lowell Hays. This transaction took place in the Memphian’s men’s room.
December 24, 1972
Police provoked a riot in Miami, Florida, after pulling the plug during a
Manfred Mann‘s Earth Band concert because of a noise complaint. The band was touring to promote their latest album, “Glorified Magnified”. As the battle raged, the band hid in a dressing room.
Almost every evening was spent at the movies, except for tonight: Elvis had surgery to remove an ingrown toenail at a podiatrist’s office in Memphis.
December 24, 1974
Elvis loses interest suddenly in The New Gladiators, and production is immediately shut down, even though investors responded favorably to a recent presentation. The official explanation, however, centers around the King’s recent health problems.
Marion Cocke, the night nurse at Graceland, was with Elvis when he woke up from a nightmare. According to Cocke the dream was so real that Elvis awoke in a rage. He dreamt the had gone broke and was deserted by all his friends.
December 24, 1976
“Hotel California”,
The Eagles‘ sixth album, goes Platinum and begins the first of eight non-consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard chart. The effort was the band’s first LP with Joe Walsh and last with bassist Randy Meisner and has now sold over 21 million copies on the strength of two Grammy winning singles, the title track and “New Kid In Town”.
The Wake and Aftermath
December 24, 1977
The first single from the soundtrack of the film
Saturday Night Fever,
The Bee Gees‘ “How Deep Is Your Love”, rises to the top of the Billboard singles chart. The song would stay in the Top 10 for an amazing 17 weeks. In the UK it reached #3.
The Sex Pistols played their last ever UK gig, (until 1996), before splitting, at Ivanhoes in Huddersfield. It was a charity performance before an audience of mainly children.
Elvis’s version of “My Way” hit #22 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart in late-1977/early-1978 (higher than Frank Sinatra’s peak position), number 6 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and went Gold for its successful sales of over half a million copies. The following year the single reached number 2 on the Billboard
Country singles chart but went all the way to number 1 on the rival Cash Box Country Singles chart. In the UK, it reached number 9 on the UK Singles Chart.
Paul Anka heard the original 1967 French pop song,
Comme d’habitude (
As Usual) performed by
Claude François, while on holiday in the south of France. He flew to Paris to negotiate the rights to the song. In a 2007 interview, he said, “I thought it was a shitty record, but there was something in it.” He acquired adaptation, recording, and publishing rights for the mere nominal or formal consideration of one dollar, subject to the provision that the melody’s composers would retain their original share of royalty rights with respect to whatever versions Anka or his designates created or produced.
Frank Sinatra recorded his version of the song on December 30, 1968, and it was released in early 1969 on the
album of the same name and as a single. It reached No. 27 on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 2 on the
Easy Listening chart in the US. In the UK, the single achieved a still unmatched record, becoming the recording with the most weeks inside the Top 40, spending 75 weeks from April 1969 to September 1971. It spent a further 49 weeks in the Top 75 but never bettered the No. 5 slot achieved upon its first chart run.
Elvis Presley began performing the song in concert during the mid-1970s, in spite of suggestions by Paul Anka that it was not a song that would suit him. Nevertheless, on January 12 and 14, 1973 Presley sang the song during his satellite show
Aloha from Hawaii, beamed live and on deferred basis (for European audiences, who also saw it in prime time), to 43 countries via
Intelsat. Elvis early 1970s version was more defiant, and the 1974 and later versions were defeated.
Interviewed in 2007, Paul Anka said he had been “somewhat destabilized by the Sex Pistols’ version. It was kind of curious, but I felt he (Sid Vicious) was sincere about it. Vicious did not know the lyrics to the song when it was recorded, so he improvised lyrics, using swear words
1978
ABBA members Bjorn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Faltskog are granted a divorce. The group’s other couple, Benny Anderson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, who had just married three months earlier, would split in 1981.
1982 Elvis Presley Enterprises/Graceland Tourism
1984
Stevie Wonder, a longtime native of Detroit, was given the keys to the city. Buoyed by this experience, he would later state his intention to run for mayor.
1988
American glam metal band Poison started a three-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn.’
Nirvana started recording their first album ‘Bleach’ using a $600 loan from an old school friend.
1990
Stevie Wonder performed at the Dome in Tokyo, Japan.
1993
Harry Connick Jr.’s Christmas concert, featured Aaron Neville singing “The Christmas Song.”
1994
Pearl Jam went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Vitalogy’. Their third studio album was first released on vinyl record, followed by a release in other formats two weeks later.
The Elvis song “If Everyday Was Like Christmas” hit #94 in the U.S. The song was written by
Red West.
The original single reached No. 2 on Billboard’s “Best Bets For Christmas” survey in 1966, and returned to the chart in 1967, spending a total of eight weeks in the chart. In the United Kingdom, the song reached Number 13 in the
UK Singles Chart in December 1966.
Elvis christmas albums continue to be repacked and sometimes, they chart.
1999
Zeke Carey, leader of the Flamingos (of “I Only Have Eyes For You” and “I’ll be Home” fame) died today. The Flamingos were considered by many fans and music historians as the greatest vocal group of all time. Carey, born January 24, 1933, was sixty-six.
2000
Four Seasons bassist Nick Massi died of cancer. They scored the 1976 UK & US No.1 single ‘December 1963, Oh What A Night’, as well as hits with ‘Sherry,’ and ‘Rag Doll.’
2003 Recording Artist: Daughter Lisa Marie Presley
2003
Jack White of The White Stripes turned himself in to Detroit police to face aggravated assault charges stemming from a bar room altercation in which he allegedly attacked Jason Stollsteimer of The Von Bondies. White was also fingerprinted and formally booked on the charges before he was released on bail.
2005
Rapper Foxy Brown was handcuffed and threatened with jail after she stuck her tongue out at a New York judge who asked her to stop chewing gum. Judge Melissa Jackson told the singer, she had showed disrespect to the court. Brown was in court on charges of assaulting two nail salon workers during a row over payment.
2009
Larry Knechtel, the keyboard player for
Bread, died following a heart attack at the age of 69. Knechtel earned a Grammy award for his arrangement of Simon And Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and also performed with Neil Diamond, Randy Newman, Ray Charles, The Beach Boys, The Doors, Elvis Presley, Hank Williams Jr., The Dixie Chicks and Elvis Costello.
2010 Actor: Granddaughter Riley Keough
2012
American musician Ray Collins died aged 76. Collins was the lead vocalist on early Mothers of Invention albums, including Freak Out!, Absolutely Free, and Cruising with Ruben & the Jets and continued to contribute to other Frank Zappa projects through the mid-1970s.
2013
Billboard magazine announced that America’s all-time biggest-selling Christmas album was Elvis Presley’s “Elvis’ Christmas Album,” first issued in 1957 and certified by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) as having sold 10 million copies. Kenny G’s “Miracles: The Holiday Album,” ranks second with 7.3 million units sold, followed by a three-way tie: Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song,” and Mannheim Steamroller’s two albums, “Christmas” and “A Fresh Aire Christmas,” each with sales of 6 million copies.
2015
William Guest of
Gladys Knight And The Pips died of heart failure at the age of 74. His background vocals can be heard on all of the group’s hits, including ‘Midnight Train To Georgia’, ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ and the Grammy winning ‘Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodby
e)’.
Music by The Beatles was finally made available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, Tidal and Amazon Prime Music. The deal with the group involved the rights to stream 224 songs from the original 13 studio albums.
Meanwhile Elvis Presley is first to whatever new format.
2016
Status Quo guitarist Rick Parfitt died in hospital in Marbella, Spain aged 68. He died from a severe infection after going to hospital, following complications to a shoulder injury. His partnership with Francis Rossi became the core of Status Quo, one of Britain’s most enduring bands. Status Quo had over 60 chart hits in the UK, more than any other rock band, including “Pictures of Matchstick Men” in 1967, “Whatever You Want” in 1979 and “In the Army Now” in 2010. Twenty-two of these reached the Top 10 in the UK Singles Chart. In July 1985 the band opened
Live Aid at Wembley Stadium with “Rockin’ All Over the World”.
Las Vegas, Nevada named a street after Elvis Presley.
At a Vegas hotel, the Elvis exhibit planned for 10 years closes in year one and in 2017, the Exhibition, Hotel and EPE are in litigation.
and in desperately seeking attention news:
2017
2019
Fox News–12 hours ago
Richard Zoglin, author of “Elvis in Vegas: How the King Reinvented the Las Vegas Show,” told Fox News Presley’s manager Col. Tom Parker arranged a …
Express.co.uk–3 hours ago
Elvis Presley had one daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, with his ex-wife Priscilla Presley. The couple maintained a good relationship after their spit …
Far Out Magazine–11 hours ago
Nothing quite says Christmas like a bit of Elvis Presley—even if by that we actually mean David Bowie. A few years back, 2013 to be exact, Mick …
Far Out Magazine–Dec. 23, 2019
Yet the real heartwarming moment arrives when Cash, Orbison, Lewis, and Perkins come together to pay tribute to Elvis Presley. After a short …
More Daily Elvis!
Our Daily Elvis – Christmas Eve
Give us This Day, Our Daily Elvis for
December
Previous Day’s Daily Elvis
Next Day’s Daily Elvis
Reference Sites:
http://www.elvisnews.com
http://www.scottymoore.net/tourdates50s.html
http://www.elvis-in-concert.com/
http://www.elvisconcerts.com
http:www.keithflynn.com/recording-sessions/
http://www.elvisrecordings.com/ Master and Sessions
The Elvis Presley Record Research Database
http://www.elvisinfonet.com/
http://www.elvis.com.au/
Elvis History Blog
Our Daily Elvis 
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