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You celebrated yesterday, but as far as Americans are concerned, Elvis turns 80 today.
Yes, eighty.
Older than many kings.
He was just 42 years old when he died on August 16, no longer pretty-boy beautiful, which is how most people prefer to remember him (the pictures here show what he might look like, had he lived.)
So much has happened since he left the building.
His once-young bride, Priscilla – just 14 when they met – is now 69, and turning 70 in May.
Although she had divorced Elvis by the time he died, they stayed close.
Elvis’s only child, Lisa-Marie, who was just nine when her father died, has been married four times (remember when she married Michael Jackson? Even that seems a lifetime ago; she was also married to the actor, Nicholas Cage, although only for a nanosecond.)
Lisa-Marie inherited her father’s estate when she turned 25. It was then thought to be worth $100 million. Now close to 50, she lives in the UK with her fourth husband and their young twins (Elvis was also a twin; his brother died at birth.)
There will be parties all over America to celebrate the big day, including one at his mansion, Graceland, where Priscilla will cut the cake.
There will be free admission to the North Lawn (the ‘North Lawn’ makes the property sound enormous but, compared with monster homes built for people like Beyonce and Jay Z, Gracelands is a bungalow.)
There will also be an auction of Elvis memorabilia, including Elvis’ First Driver’s License, issued on March 24, 1952, which ‘lists his date of birth as 1-8-35, occupation as student, hair color [sic] of brown, eyes as blue and height of 5’11.’
The website makes plain that all artefacts for sale through auction are from ‘third party sources’ –the mansion and ‘all artifacts in the Graceland Archives continue to be owned by Lisa Marie Presley and are not for sale.’
That said, Rolling Stone is reporting that Elvis’s private plane, the Lisa-Marie, will be sold on February 2. It’s no longer capable of flight, but still has the gold faucets.
Tonight, there will be a dance party, and not only for those who can swivel a titanium hip. Even to the very young, Elvis is still the King.
See some of these rare images of the King in his heyday.
American photographic website, PhotoJoe.Com released a computer-generated image of how it believed Elvis would have looked at 80.
The King, as Elvis was known, will forever be remembered as one of the most influential characters in pop culture. Here he is on stage at his comeback tour in 1968.
Some of the cars used in Elvis’ films were recently featured in a British exhibition, including this red MG from the 1961 film Blue Hawaii.
Priscilla Presley was the youthful bride to Elvis Presley in a 1967 ceremony.
Nancy Sinatra is kissed by Elvis Presley in a scene from the film ‘Speedway’, 1968.
Elvis gets mobbed by girls backstage of the Milton Berle Show in Burbank, California on June 4, 1956.
Rockstar Elvis singing and playing the piano during a recording session circa 1956.
Here is Elvis in moviestar mode standing over a salad bowl full of girls in Hawaiian outfits and banana leaves with a fork and a spoon in a promo picture for the film Paradise Hawaiian Style. Fun Fact: The blonde actress is Suzanna Leigh who plays Judy Hudson.
Elvis Presley and actress Tuesday Weld in a scene from the film Wild in the Country circa 1961.
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