Elvis left the building and nothing was quite the same
August 16, 1977. The King died and America lost something it never got back.
Celebs & Pop Culture
Elvis Aaron Presley died at Graceland on August 16, 1977. He was forty-two years old. The news came over the radio and the television and the telephone, and people who had never met the man cried like they’d lost family.
He had been the most famous person in America for twenty years. He made rock and roll safe enough for your parents to hate it and dangerous enough for you to love it. He swivelled his hips on Ed Sullivan and they only showed him from the waist up, which of course made everyone want to see what was happening below.
After Elvis
By 1977 he was heavier and slower and performing in Las Vegas to crowds who loved him regardless. The jumpsuits got bigger, the scarves got longer, and the voice — the voice was still there. When he died, over 75,000 people lined the streets of Memphis for the funeral procession. They came from every state in the union. He was the first rock star, and when he left, that particular kind of stardom left with him.
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