ELVIS
FACTS 
It is estimated that Elvis
Presley has sold over one billion record units worldwide,
more than any individual or group in the history of
recorded voice. To give the figure some perspective,
that's enough for every person in America to have four
Elvis albums or singles in their collection, or enough
for one out of every five people on earth to have one.
Laid end to end, these one billion albums and singles
could encircle the earth at the equator twice - and then
some! Elvis Presley's trophy room at Graceland is filled
with gold and platinum records and awards of all kinds
from around the world.
Some of the countries
represented are: Norway, Yugoslavia, Japan, Australia,
South Africa, England, Sweden, Germany, France, Canada,
Belgium, and the Netherlands. It is interesting to note
that, except for a handful of movie soundtrack songs,
Elvis did not record in other languages, and, except for
five shows in three Canadian cities in 1957, he did not
perform in concert outside the United States. Still, his
recordings and films enjoyed, and continue to enjoy,
popularity all over the globe,and he is known throughout
the world by his first name.
Elvis has had no less than
149 songs to appear on Billboard's Hot 100 Pop Chart in
America. Of these, 114 were in the topforty, 40 were in
the top ten, and 18 went to number one. His number one
singles spent a total of 80 weeks at number one. He has
also had over 90 charted albums. These figures are only
for the pop charts, and only in America. He was also a
leading artist on the American country, R&B, and
gospel charts, having great success in these musical
fields as well. In America alone, Elvis has had 111
different albums and singles that have been certified
gold, platinum or multi-platinum by the Recording
Industry Association of America (RIAA). (Information on
foreign record chart achievements and foreign gold and
platinum achievements is incomplete.)
 In 1956, Elvis made his network television debut
by performing six shows in a row on Stage Show, a weekly
variety program
starring Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. He followed this with
two appearances on The Milton Berle Show , the second of
which included a performance of Hound Dog that was so
provocative that it caused a national scandal. Elvis next
appeared on The Steve Allen Show , with Allen mocking the
sensation of the Berle appearance by having Elvis dress
in a tuxedo, eliminate his usual physical gyrations, and
sing Hound Dog to a Basset Hound. Ed Sullivan had once
said he would never have the controversial singer on his
top-rated show, but that was before the week that Elvis'
appearance on Steve Allen had surpassed Sullivan's
ratings. Sullivan paid Elvis $50,000 to make three
appearances on his show , which was, at the time, more
money than any performer had ever been paid to appear on
a network variety program. When Elvis made his third
Sullivan appearance in January of 1957, Ed Sullivan
surprised Elvis by telling him on camera that his show
had never had a better experience with a name act, and
said "I'd like to say to Elvis and the country that
this is a real decent, fine boy." It was in this
very same Sullivan appearance that Elvis was shown on
camera from the waist up only, one of television
history's most
memorable moments. Elvis' next network television
appearance was in 1960, when Frank Sinatra gave his
variety show a "Welcome Home, Elvis" theme to
herald Elvis' return from the army. Elvis was paid
$125,000 to appear - again, making history.
Elvis starred in 31
feature films as an actor and two theatrically released
concert documentaries, all of which enjoyed financial
success. For a number of years he was one of Hollywood's
top box office draws and one of its highest-paid actors.
His two most critically acclaimed films, Jailhouse Rock
(1957) and King Creole (1958) have become classics of
their era. His moviesand concert films enjoy a healthy
life today in television syndication and home video sales
and rentals. Some of his top-selling music came from his
movies. Eleven of his movie soundtrack albums went to the
top ten, and of those, four went to number one. The
soundtrack for G.I. Blues (1960), was number one on the
Billboard Top 100 album chart for 10 weeks and remained
on the chart for 111 weeks. The album from Blue Hawaii
was number one for 20 weeks and was on the chart for 79
weeks. When Elvis returned to the live stage after the
success of his 1968 television special and the wrap-up of
his Hollywood movie contract obligations, he opened at
the International Hotel in Las Vegas in the summer of
1969 for a 4-week, 57-show engagement that broke all
existing Las Vegas attendance records. ( The gold belt he
received from the hotel as an award is
displayed in his trophy room at Graceland.) He returned
to the International a few months later in early 1970,
during the slow winter season in Vegas, and broke his own
attendance record. Right after that came a
record-breaking six-show engagement at the Astrodome in
Houston, where Elvis played to a total of 207,494 people.
Elvis took his elaborate live show on the road in the
latter part of 1970 for his first concert tour since
1958. Throughout the 1970's Elvis toured America,
breaking box office records right and left, and continued
to play an engagement or two per year in Las Vegas and
Lake Tahoe. Among the outstanding highlights of this
period was in 1972, when Elvis performed four sold-out
shows at Madison Square Garden. (Also see details about
his 1973 concert special, Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite
.) During his "concert years" from 1969 to
1977, Elvis gave nearly 1,100 live concert performances.
 Elvis Presley's three network television specials
- Elvis (1968) , Elvis - Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite
(1973), and Elvis in
Concert (1977) - stand among the most highly rated
specials of their time. His 1968 special, Elvis , is one
of the most critically acclaimed music specials of all
time. His 1973 special, Elvis - Aloha from Hawaii, via
Satellite , was seen in 40 countries by one billion to
one-and-a-half billion people worldwide, and made
television history. It was seen on television in more
American homes than man's first walk on the moon.
Elvis received 14 Grammy nominations from the National
Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS). His three
wins were for gospel recordings. In 1971, NARAS also
recognized him with their Lifetime Achievement Award
(known then as the Bing Crosby Award in honor of its
first recipient) - Elvis was 36 years old at the time.
The United States Junior Chamber of Commerce (the
Jaycees) named Elvis One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men
of the Nation for 1970 in a ceremony on January 16, 1971,
one of Elvis' proudest moments. This award has been given
since 1938 and has honored men of greatness in all areas
of endeavor - sports, government, science, medicine,
entertainment, etc. It recognizes outstanding personal
achievement and the exemplification of the opportunities
available in the free enterprise system, along with
patriotism, humanitarianism, and community service. (In
the 1980's, eligibility was opened to women as well as
men, and the award has since been presented to the year's
"ten outstanding young Americans".) Elvis
Presley was famous for giving away Cadillacs and jewelry,
but the true depth and breadth of his generosity and
community involvement is not so widely known. In 1961,
Elvis gave a benefit concert at Bloch Arena in Hawaii
that raised over $65,000 toward the building of the
U.S.S. Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. The resulting
publicity gave new life to the fund-raising effort, which
had, by then, lost almost all of its momentum. The
memorial opened a year later. **** Audience tickets for
his 1973 Aloha from Hawaii television special and its
pre-broadcast rehearsal show carried no price, as each
audience member was asked to pay whatever he or she
could. The performances were a benefit raising $75,000
for the Kui Lee Cancer Fund in Hawaii. Each year, for
many years, Elvis gave $1,000 or more to fifty
Memphis-area charities, but also randomly made many other
charitable donations in Memphis and around the country
continually. Most of Elvis' philanthropic endeavors
received no publicity at all. Throughout his adult life,
for friends, for family, and for total strangers, he
quietly paid hospital bills, bought homes, supported
families, paid off debts, and so much more. Graceland,
Elvis Presley's home and refuge for twenty years, is,
today, one of the most visited homes in America, now
attracting over 700,000 visitors annually. It is also the
most famous home in America after the White House. In
1991, Graceland Mansion was placed on the National
Register of Historic Places.
In 1992, the U.S. Postal Service announced that Elvis'
image would be used for a commemorative postage stamp.
The Postal Service narrowed the artwork choices down to
two images - one of Elvis in the 1950's as a sizzling
young rocker, and one of him as a still-svelte concert
superstar in his 1973 Aloha from Hawaii special. In an
unprecedented move, the Postal Service put the decision
to the American people and distributed ballots coast to
coast. Over 1.2 million votes were cast, and the image of
the young rocker won. The stamp was released on January
8, 1993, with extravagant first day of issue ceremonies
at Graceland. The Elvis stamp is the most widely
publicized stamp issue in the history of the U.S. Postal
Service, and it is the top selling commemorative postage
stamp of all time. The USPS printed 500 million of them,
three times the usual print run for a commemorative
stamp. (Several countries outside the U.S.A. have issued
Elvis stamps over the years.)
Currently, there are over 480 active Elvis fan clubs
worldwide - more clubs than for any other celebrity. 
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