ELVIS PRESLEY 1977
1977 begins for Elvis Presley and although most fans did not know it, neither did the journalists… he was already very ill, although Elvis wanted to live, he was happy and enjoyed himself, he really should never have gone on tour.
The medical opinion was very clear to him, if he stopped the performances or did not reduce the pace of them, his worsening was doomed.
A year before it should have stopped, but it didn’t and in this year 1977 it will suffer serious consequences. Their performances are unstable, ups and downs, good shows and bad shows.
In addition to the concern about the book that was going to be written soon, written by Red, Sonny West and Dave Hebler…. Elvis had a clear enemy who would be criticizing him, with cruelty and mockery. The press, which day by day added more weight with its words to the worsening of his health.
Elvis Presley felt happy with his new girlfriend Ginger Alden, but her understanding was lacking and Elvis did not feel good about so many things. He had little time left and without knowing it, he felt his end was getting closer and closer. The situation was more complicated than it seemed, because the public would never have really imagined the truth about Elvis’s state of health.
It is clear that Elvis Presley had many health problems, his physical deterioration was increasing and it did not help that he was taking drugs all day for everything. It took him more and more time to prepare and go on stage, although he wanted to do it, he felt bad about his reality. He told Jerry Schilling that he felt despondent about his health.
Larry Geller wondered why no one was doing anything to help him, he did not understand Colonel Parker nor the doctors who treated him, since it was clear that Elvis needed to stop. Elvis was so bad that every day he went to Larry’s room and cried, but he didn’t know how to help him. He proposed a change in his habits to improve his health and Elvis had promised to change, but he was locked in a daily dynamic that was impossible to modify. The Colonel only thought about making money without thinking about the artist, and even less about the man.
The truth is that Elvis’s worst enemy was always the same, because he did not pay attention to the recommendations that one of his friends or his girlfriend could make him, etc. Elvis only listened to Elvis and had an order of life based on his drugs, to sleep, to wake up, to act, to live…
At this time Elvis no longer wanted to meet with the boys and locked himself upstairs at Graceland, only trusting Larry Geller, Charlie Hodge and Billy Smith. Marty Lacker worked remotely, Lamar Fike was always scolding Elvis so he was increasingly distant from him, this also happened with the rest.
THE UNPREDICTABLE “AUGUST 1977”
In his way of being Elvis always showed that he did not hold a grudge against anyone, even if he had felt hurt by someone and felt anger at the moment, he really deflated quickly because his background was noble and good. He still loved Red and Sonny West, his friends of so many years, and he was very hurt because he felt betrayed by their reaction to writing a book telling his reality.
There was a month in between for the next tour to begin, but before this, at the beginning of August the book “Elvis, What Happened?” was published. It was not known what was going to happen and especially Elvis’s reaction to its publication and what consequences it would have.
What Elvis Presley feared most was the harm he could cause to his family, his daughter and what his fans would think of him. How they would react to seeing him at the following concerts and how he would be able to deal with the situation.
Elvis Presley was tired and under a lot of pressure in recent days, he was following a diet of liquid proteins that did not help at all with so much drug. On the 14th he tried on the new jumpsuit he was going to wear on tour. Elvis got so angry that he first blamed the tailors, but then he realized the truth because he told Billy: “Billy, I’m too fat.” It was very difficult for him to lose weight but he continued with his liquid diet.
ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING (AUGUST 16, 1977)
It was 2:30 p.m. and Ginger, Elvis’ girlfriend, woke up after having slept for several hours straight. When he realized that Elvis had not gone to bed, he looked towards the bathroom and saw the reading light under the door, so he got up immediately and knocked on the door. No one answered him, so he decided to open it to see if Elvis was there. When he entered he saw him collapsed on the floor, he was in a kneeling position and with his hands under his face, it was as if he were praying.
Initially, Ginger believed that Elvis was unconscious because he had suffered a seizure or something similar and that was why he had fallen. First he tried to revive him and when he didn’t react he slapped his face and saw that he seemed to be breathing when he turned his head. But nothing more, he tried to open one of his eyes but he couldn’t, so he was left in a state of shock because he really couldn’t believe that Elvis had died.
Elvis Presley was taken by ambulance to Baptist Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 03:30 pm although death most likely occurred 6 hours earlier.
The news spread around the world, Elvis Presley had died at the age of 42, and fans and media came to Memphis by the thousands, eventually estimated at around 80,000 people. Crowds from all over mourned him, great headlines and the always timely record sales when an artist passes away.
One of the most apt headlines published on August 17, 1977 was: “A Lonely Life Ends on Elvis Presley Boulevard.”
Information provided by De Tupelo a Memphis https://www.detupeloamemphis.com/
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