HOLLYWOOD—Can you believe it was 47 years ago that Elvis Presley died, on August 16, 1977? I’m almost 100 percent sure that if you are of a certain age, you remember exactly where you were on that tragic day when you heard the news. So many decades have passed yet he is just as popular today.
His music and legend will live on forever. Just last week on August 9, the new Elvis box set “Memphis,” includes 111 tracks spanning Presley’s recordings in the city, from Sun to the Jungle Room. You might ask who owns Elvis Presley music these days? Well, the RCA Records label does, Presley signed to the iconic label on November 20, 1955, after initially recording for Memphis-based Sun Records. Besides that, RCA also purchased all of Elvis’ Sun assets.
The record label RCA was bought by German conglomerate BMG in the 1980s. Then in 2004, BMG merged with Sony Music Entertainment to become Song BMG. So in other words, Sony BMG owns Elvis’ recordings and they continue to use the RCA Records label for issuing Elvis releases and projects. In addition, The Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc, is the corporate entity that was created by the Elvis Presley Trust to conduct business and manage its assets. EPE was actually owned by the Trust/Lisa Marie Presley until 2005. Currently, Graceland Holdings LLC, led by managing partner Joel Weinshanker, is the majority owner of EPE.
Last year, actress/filmmaker Riley Keough, Elvis Presley’s granddaughter and the oldest of the late Lisa Marie Presley’s three daughters, is heir to the Presley estate and owner of Graceland, the Memphis mansion bought by the King of Rock n’ Roll in 1957. Lisa Marie’s other surviving children, twins Harper and Finley Lockwood are teenagers, and so unable to serve as trustees of the estate.
Riley’s status was affirmed back in June 2023 in Los Angeles Superior Court, in a settlement between Keough and her grandmother, Priscilla Presley, Lisa’s mother and Michael Lockwood, Lisa’s ex-husband, the father and court-appointed guardian of the twins, who are Keough’s half-siblings.
Elvis Presley’s talent, good looks, charisma and humor endeared him to millions, as did the human kindness and talent he demonstrated throughout his life and career. He was known to the world as just Elvis, his first name was known around the world, he is regarded as one of the most prominent figures of the twentieth century popular culture.
Elvis sadly passed away at his Memphis home, Graceland, on August 16, 1977. He was 42 years old. The death was so sudden and unexpected that hundreds of thousands of his fans were shocked. His death was due to heart failure, and the medical examiner said his death was due to “cardiac arrhythmia, an erratic heartbeat and severe cardiovascular disease.”
Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of Elvis, died of a bowel obstruction, the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office said. The obstruction was a result of adhesions caused by weight-loss surgery she underwent years ago. Her passing was on January 23, 2023, at the age of 54 years old. Elvis Week will be celebrated at Graceland from August 9-17. Elvis Week is structure around the annual “Candlelight Vigil,” in which thousands of fans line up at the gates of Graceland and then proceed up the driveway to the Presley grave in the meditation garden on the south side of the Graceland mansion, where Elvis is interred along with his parents, his daughter Lisa and other family members. The vigil begins on the evening of August 15 and continues into the early hours of August 16, which marks the day that Elvis died in 1977.
Rose’s Scoop: The governor of Tennessee declared August 14-20 as “Elvis International Tribute Week”, and the city of Tupelo, Mississippi, where Elvis was born hosted “Elvis Awareness Week.”
