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1977
May/June 26 Elvis Presley gave his final performance in Madison Square Arena at Indianapolis, Indiana.
“ ‘Til we meet you again, may God bless you. Adios.”
- Elvis said in 1977 at the end of a concert during his last tour.
August 6 Elvis sang with friends for the last time. The songs were mostly hymns such as “How Great Thou Art” at his girlfriend Ginger Alden’s house.
August 16th 1977
On this day “The King” Elvis Presley was found dead at his home “Graceland”.
The day before his next scheduled concert, Presley was discovered by his girlfriend Ginger Alden dead in his bathroom at Graceland.
An unconscious Elvis Presley is rushed to Baptist Memorial Hospital around 3 p.m. Despite efforts to revive him, Presley is subsequently pronounced dead.
His death was attributed to congestive heart failure. A later autopsy revealed advanced hardening of the arteries and an enlarged liver. Later it was determined that drug abuse may have been a contributing factor.
At a press conference that evening, medical examiner Dr. Jerry Francisco indicates that the cause of death appeared to be "cardiac arrhythmia," noting that, "There was severe cardiovascular disease present."
September 1979 Presley's private doctor Dr. George Nichopoulos was charged by the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners with indiscriminately prescribing 5,300 and vials in the seven months before his death. He was later acquitted.
Thousands gathered at Graceland where his body lay in state before he was buried in a mausoleum at Forest Hills Cemetery in Memphis.
After attempts to break into the mausoleum, Presley's body and that of his mother were moved to the Meditation Garden behind Graceland.
Nearly two years later, Vernon died and was also buried there. The estate now passed on to Lisa Marie.
Court battles over the estate ended in June 1983 after twenty one months of litigation with a settlement of four lawsuits.
Colonel Parker was forced to turn over most of his interests in Presley's audio and visual recordings to RCA and the Presley family in return for a large monetary settlement.
Priscillia Presley assumed control of the estate and through a number of business moves made Presley's estate more valuable than it had ever been.
The cornerstone of the Elvis Presley Enterprise, Inc. financial empire is the Tennessee state law Priscillia Presley pushed for that guarantees to heirs of commercial rights to the deceased celebrity's image and likeness.
Elvis is the greatest Blues singer in the world today.
Joe Cocker
Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn’t been an Elvis, there wouldn’t have been the Beatles.
John Lennon
Like every artist to emerge during the rock scene Elvis was my influence and my idol.
Marty Wilde(Rock’n Roll singer)
Elvis died at Graceland on August 16th 1977.
His fiancй Ginger Alden found Elvis dead in his bathroom. Officially, he died from "cardiac arrhythmia" — a euphemism for years of abuse of all sorts of prescription drugs. Some 80,000 people attended his funeral in Graceland on August 18.
[Due to the bizarre August 29, 1977 " break in" to steal Elvis's body — on the evening of October 2, 1977, Elvis and his mother's bodies were moved from their original places of burial at Forest Hill Cemetery and reburied side by side in the grounds of Graceland in an area Elvis had named the Meditation Garden. After Elvis' father, Vernon Elvis Presley died on June 26, 1979 he was laid to rest next to his son.]
"I've learned very early in life...without a song, the day would never end. Without a song, a man ain't got a friend. Without a song, the road would never bend, without a song. So I'll keep on singing the song."
- Elvis
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 much more.
Elvis' legacy of generosity continues through the work of the Elvis Presley Charitable Foundation, which is the philanthropic branch of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. and the creator of the Elvis Presley Endowed Scholarship Fund at the University of Memphis. The tradition of giving also continues through the work of the Elvis fan clubs worldwide, most of which are heavily involved in charitable endeavors in Elvis' memory.
Each year he gave $1,000 or more to each of 50 Memphis area charities and made many other charitable donations around the country like the Hawaii concert proceeds.
There are 625 Active Fan Clubs worldwide.
“Elvis — the concert” had over 30 past band members in it and toured the world.
On August 16, 1997, Elvis, via video, starred in an extravagant concert production entitled Elvis in Concert '97 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee, accompanied live on stage by over thirty of his former bandmates and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.
The show played before a capacity crowd of fans who had come to Memphis from around the world to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of Elvis' death. Elvis broke the Mid-South Coliseum's all-time record dollar figure for box office sales.
This concert was the prototype for the 1998/99 touring production Elvis — The Concert. By being the first performer ever to headline a live concert tour while no longer living, Elvis made history again.
“Everyone in rock ’n roll including myself was touched by Elvis ‘spirit, I was, and always will be a fan”.Bryan Ferry
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