The King will be in the UK next month with Elvis Presley’s precious memorabilia to be flown from his Graceland mansion to Britain for an exhibition.
Among the collection will be Elvis’ American Eagle jumpsuit and pink Cadillac which will make up some of the 300 items featuring in a nine-month show at London’s O2 Arena – Europe’s largest ever retrospective of the singer.
It will display “as much of Graceland as will fit into the O2”, said the event organisers who have also sent up a virtual tour of the Memphis mansion where Presley died in his bathroom in 1977.
“While each and every item contains a lifetime of memories, we are more than happy to allow these treasured memories to leave Graceland,” said Priscilla Presley, who was married to Elvis for six years between 1967 and 1973 and helped orchestrate the event.
“Elvis meant so much to me and our daughter Lisa [Marie Presley], but we both know that our family truly shares him with the world,” continued Priscilla.
Memorabilia leaving Memphis for the first time include the Hound Dog singer’s wallet, containing photos of his daughter Lisa Marie when she was a toddler, his keys to his Graceland mansion in Memphis and a TCB ring, which stands for ‘taking care of business’.
Elvis’ “gold lame” outfit which he donned on stage in 1957 will also be brought over for the exhibit for a short period of time.
Graceland’s Director of Archives, Angie Marchese, added: “This is not a collection ammassed from auctions, they are personal items from Graceland, where Elvis lived most of his life. The exhibition will tell the story of the music revolution that began when Elvis stepped into the recording studio in 1954.”
The Elvis At The O2: The Exhibition Of His Life co-ordinator, Nic Wastell said: “For people who can’t get to Graceland, Graceland is coming to them.”
The singer died in 1977 when he was just 42 following many years of prescription drug abuse.
See some of these rare images of the King in his heyday.
The King will be in the UK next month with Elvis Presley’s precious memorabilia to be flown from his Graceland mansion to Britain for an exhibition this December.
The cars in the British exhibition will include 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.
