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Elvis Presley Filmography
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Elvis Presley: Sun Records
In the summer of 1953 he paid $4 to record the first of two double-sided demo acetates at Sun Studios. The demo consisted of "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin," popular ballads of the time. While Presley claimed to have recorded the demo as a birthday present for his mother, this is probably untrue, since Gladys Presley's birthday was in April and he recorded the acetate in July.Sun Records founder Sam Phillips and assistant Marion Keisker heard the discs and, recognizing Presley's nascent talent, called him in June 1954 to fill in for a missing ballad singer. Although the session did not prove fruitful, Sam put
Elvis together with local musicians Scotty Moore and Bill Black to see what might develop. During a rehearsal break on July 5, 1954,
Elvis started fooling around with a song called "That's All Right" and Sam hit the record button, thinking
Elvis may have found his niche. The resulting single, backed with
Elvis' hopped-up version of the country song "Blue Moon Of Kentucky", was a huge local hit in Memphis after WHBQ aired it two days later, and regular touring started to expand his fame beyond Tennessee.
Elvis recorded five singles while at Sun, all credited to
Elvis Presley - The Hillbilly Cat:*"That's All Right" / "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" - released on July 19, 1954*"Good Rockin' Tonight" / "I Don't Care if the Sun Don't Shine" - released on September 25, 1954*"Milkcow Blues Boogie" / "You're A Heartbreaker" - released on December 28, 1954*"Baby Let's Play House" / "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" - released April 10, 1955*"Mystery Train" / "I Forgot To Remember To Forget" - Released on August 6, 1955Most of these were covers of rhythm and blues or country and western hits.
These singles garnered
Elvis increasing attention both for his music and for the rioting girls that were becoming a staple of his live performances. The last of the Sun singles, "I Forgot To Remember To Forget" b/w "Mystery Train", went to #1 on the Country music Singles chart. During this period
Elvis toured incessantly throughout the south and southwest, also appearing 50 times on the regional show Louisiana Hayride (his first appearance was on March 3, 1955).
Hayride founder and producer Horace Logan had shrewdly signed
Elvis to weekly appearances after noting the audience reaction to the then-unknown singer. It was during
Elvis' last appearance on the Hayride that Logan announced, "
Elvis has left the building", desperate to quell the screaming teenagers trying to reach
Elvis as he exited the stage. The phrase has been popularized and is commonly used in joking reference to many, often unimportant, events being over as if they were as popular as an
Elvis concert.
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