Way before Whitney Houston and Beyonce Knowles did it, Elvis Presley did it. What we mean by that statement is singers crossing over to movies.
Jailhouse Rock is a movie that was directed by Richard Thorpe and released in November of 1957. It stars the King, Elvis Presley alongside actress Judy Tyler and actor Mickey Shaughnessy. This was Elvis' third movie.
When it was released, Elvis had a hard time watching it because co-actor Tyler was killed in a car accident a few weeks before. The King was quite upset that he couldn't get himself to sit through the entire film.
Presley is Vince Everett, an ex-convict who is trying to break into the music industry. Obviously, the film was trying to make it similar to Elvis public image. Sent to jail after a bar fight (which he was convicted of starting), Everett befriended Hunk Houghton. They formed a bond. Houghton taught Everett how to play the guitar. He also taught him how to sing.
After his release, Everett started working at night clubs where he met Peggy Van Alden. Peggy was a talent scout for a record company. She agreed to let Everett record a song. They brought it to the executive of a small record label. But the record was arranged and prepared for the labels established singers. Therefore, Everett and Peggy started their own label which brought him notoriety to the public, riches and a movie career.
Then here's the twist. Houghton showed up and wanted to get into the action. The entire film showed Everett as some kind of a spoiled star who treated those around him with disrespect and cruelty, especially the two people who helped him get where he was: Peggy and Houghton.
A brawl resulted in Everett damaging his vocal chords which caused an uncertainty of whether he could sing ever again. He learned his lesson about humility and expressed his feelings for both Peggy and Houghton.
Teenagers got to see a different Elvis. He displayed bad behavior and broke the rules of what should be accepted. It ignored the parameters set by what then was a conservative decade. Regardless, it still made a lot of money.
Elvis performance in this movie made him join the Bad Boy ranks with James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause and Marlon Brando in The Wild One.
Sunday 27 February 2011
A career launching song of the KING - Suspicious Minds!
If there's one song that has been conspicuously performed by the rock 'n' roll king himself, that would be the song Suspicious Minds. According to the accounts of his avid fans, this is the single which jumped-off the triumphant pursuit of Elvis Presley during his 1968 Comeback Special. For the record, this is the 18th single of Elvis Presley that hit the number one spot in the United States. On the Rolling Stone magazine's tally of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, Elvis Presley's Suspicious Minds ranked at the 91st spot.
The song
Mark James was the composer of the song, who also happens to be the composer of the song Always on my Mind which later was sung by the King himself. This song was simultaneously recorded with two other sellout singles which are Kentucky Rain and In the Ghetto at one of their so called Memphis Sessions one day in January 1969.
The song was first performed in the public by the King in July 1969 at the Las Vegas Hilton. The album where it was included was first exposed in the US the first week of November. Officially it was Elvis' last number one single just before he died, but some of his songs managed to top the charts after his death which included his 1970 song The wonder of You, the 1977 single Way Down and the most recent is the remixed version of A little Less Conversation in 2002. All of these singles topped the British hit charts, which was ensued by remakes of his prior number one hits.
What really made the song famous is the dramatic fade out during the 3:22 of the song, wherein an interval of 15 seconds occurred just before the song faded back in. The basic intent of this interval was to depict a meaning of relationship to the song itself.
Cover adaptations
The moment when the King's Suspicious Minds was storming its way to the top, Dee Dee Warwick, who happens to be the sister of the equally famous singer Dionne Warwick also released her version. This version has been launching on the charts since the 1970s.
In 1986, the song was again recreated but with a version including some back-up vocals led by Jimmy Sommerville, this particular song reached the 8th spot on the UK singles chart. The most recent adaptation of the song was made in 2002 by Gareth Gates in his coming out album What My Heart Wants to Say.
The song
Mark James was the composer of the song, who also happens to be the composer of the song Always on my Mind which later was sung by the King himself. This song was simultaneously recorded with two other sellout singles which are Kentucky Rain and In the Ghetto at one of their so called Memphis Sessions one day in January 1969.
The song was first performed in the public by the King in July 1969 at the Las Vegas Hilton. The album where it was included was first exposed in the US the first week of November. Officially it was Elvis' last number one single just before he died, but some of his songs managed to top the charts after his death which included his 1970 song The wonder of You, the 1977 single Way Down and the most recent is the remixed version of A little Less Conversation in 2002. All of these singles topped the British hit charts, which was ensued by remakes of his prior number one hits.
What really made the song famous is the dramatic fade out during the 3:22 of the song, wherein an interval of 15 seconds occurred just before the song faded back in. The basic intent of this interval was to depict a meaning of relationship to the song itself.
Cover adaptations
The moment when the King's Suspicious Minds was storming its way to the top, Dee Dee Warwick, who happens to be the sister of the equally famous singer Dionne Warwick also released her version. This version has been launching on the charts since the 1970s.
In 1986, the song was again recreated but with a version including some back-up vocals led by Jimmy Sommerville, this particular song reached the 8th spot on the UK singles chart. The most recent adaptation of the song was made in 2002 by Gareth Gates in his coming out album What My Heart Wants to Say.
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