Elvis Presley Research Paper

Words: 1057
Pages: 5

Elvis Presley was an American singer who will forever be remembered as “The King of Rock and Roll”. Elvis “set in motion a style of music that dominated the world for the rest of the century. It was the beginning of youth culture, the breakdown of sexual inhibition, and the end of racial segregation” (Wallace).
The king began his long career of music and acting in his early 20’s and soon rose to fame. His career didn’t begin with rock and roll, however. He began producing records for a man named Sam Phillips. Phillips was not impressed at first, but was soon ecstatic when he found the sound that he was looking for: Elvis, a white man, was singing music that was influenced by the blacks (Elvis Presley).
Once Elvis hit it big, he changed his music style quite a bit. It began consisting of R&B, pop, gospel, rock and roll, and whatever else he felt like doing at the time. Elvis not only had a passion for music, but he had a passion for acting, too. He gave it a shot. Just like his music career, it didn’t just happen. He had to work towards it just like any other average human; but, Elvis was far from average.
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His career had its ups and downs. This was partly because of the way he danced and flaunted himself around stage. His dances were unusually sexual for that time period. Many people didn’t know how to deal with it. You either hid from it or welcomed it with open arms. My own mother was not allowed to watch or listen to his music due to the fact that his hip thrusts made my grandmother feel uncomfortable. Also, my aunt bought one of his tapes; she started playing it in the car while my grandmother was present. My grandmother chucked it out the window while they were driving down the road. His actions and dancing helped change people’s minds about being open about sexuality and ushered in a new age of rock and roll which was much more outgoing than in years