Elvis Aaron Presley was born on 8 January 1935. He was the second of twins but his older twin was still born.

His Mother brought Elvis his first guitar for his 11th birthday, it cost $7.75.

Recorded over 650 songs and is the biggest selling artist of the 20th century.

Presley had his first number one hit in the US was Heartbreak Hotel in 1956.

In 1957 he brought Graceland a 23 Room Mansion in Memphis for $100,000.

He made 31 movies, mostly low budget musicals.

Married Priscilla Ann Beaulieu at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vagas on 1st May 1967, she was aged 22, he was 32 years old. They were divorced in 1973.

Daughter Lisa Marie Presley was born in Memphis on 1st February 1968, nine months after his wedding to Priscilla.'

Elvis died on August 16 1977 in his bathroom at Graceland aged 42. His official cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia. However, it is widely believed that the real cause of death was due to cocktail of ten prescribed drugs he had taken in the hours leading to his death.

Elvis's Estate has made considerable more since his death, with 20 million records sold within the first 24 hours after his death.

Bonus Elvis Presley Facts

Was a natural blonde but dyed his hair black.

Elvis held a black belt in Karate.

Presley held a jammy session with the Beatles in August 1965 in California. The session was not recorded.

He suffered from sleepwalking as a child.

He only managed a 'C' in his eighth grade music class.

I would have given anything to see Elvis & the Beatles in their jammies.

10 interesting facts:

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he is an English singer-songwriter, composer and pianist.

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2.In his four-decade career, John has sold more than 200 millionrecords making him one of the most successful artists of all time.

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3.He has more than 50 Top 40 hits, including seven consecutiveNo. 1 U.S. albums, 56 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits,and nine No. 1 hits.

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4.He has won five Grammy awards, an Academy Award, a GoldenGlobe Award and a Tony Award.

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5.in 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him #49 on its list of the 100greatest artists of all time

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6.He has been heavily involved in the fight against AIDS since thelate 1980s, and was knighted in 1998.

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7.He entered into a civil partnership with David Furnish on 21December 2005 and continues to be a champion for LGBT socialmovements.

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8.In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of the top 100 most-frequently-charting artists in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. John was listed at #3, behind only Madonna and The Beatles.

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9.He was educated at Pinner Wood Junior School, Reddiford Schooland Pinner County Grammar School until the age of 17, when heleft just prior to his GCE A Level examinations to pursue a careerin the music industry.

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10.When John began to seriously consider a career in music,his father, who served as a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal AirForce, tried to steer him toward a more conventional career,such as banking.

[Edited 1/12/14 9:32am]

1. Even his official passport read ‘Frederick Mercury’, despite the fact that his birth name was Farrokh Bulsara. Calling him anything but Freddie would not be well received, however - he started using the name ‘Freddie’ prior to ever arriving in England, and ‘Mercury’ when Queen first started.

2. Mercury didn’t consider himself a particularly great pianist. As a result, he always dreaded performing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ in concert because he worried he would mess up on the piano in the process. In future years, he started using the piano less on albums so he would be free to dance and run wildly during concerts.

3. In the final scene of Queen’s ‘It’s A Hard Life’ video, when Freddie sits down on the steps, he does so very gingerly, favouring one side over the other. At the time of filming, he had only just had a plaster cast removed, a souvenir after drunken horseplay went awry one night in the New York bar in Munich.

4. Mercury was always in his best form at concerts after emotional conflict. Before a show at the Milton Keynes Bowl, Mercury got into a massive argument with his current beau, Bill Reid, that culminated with Reid biting Mercury’s hand so hard that it left teeth marks and bled profusely. Another fight left their hotel room with a layer of broken glass and plaster on the carpet.

5. In another incident with Reid, the two of them yelled at each other for so many hours that Mercury woke up completely hoarse on the day that Queen was scheduled to perform live on Saturday Night Live, a hugely popular variety show in the USA. The entire day was spent trying remedies to get his voice back, which he was only barely able to do in time.

6. After boarding a flight to New York from Tokyo one day, Mercury discovered the plane was a DC10, a model that had had some problems in the past. “DC death more like!” Mercury remarked, before immediately gathering his things, exiting the plane, and taking the only available seat on the next flight fourteen hours later - economy class, as opposed to his First Class seat on the DC10.

7. When Mercury was on tour in the United States, he found out the man he was seeing, Tony Bastin, had been seen out with someone else. For revenge, Mercury paid for Bastin to fly out to see him in the US under the pretense of visiting. Mercury met him immediately after his arrival, told him it was over and then put him on the next plane back to London that day. Mercury also kept Bastin’s cat, Oscar.

8. Mercury loved his cats, so much so that while on tour, Mercury would periodically call home to talk to them. His one-time girlfriend and long-time close friend Mary Austin would hold the cats up to the phone so they could listen to him speak. He also had portraits painted of them.

9. Mercury’s assistants were required to have a pen and paper on them at all times in case inspiration hit unexpectedly. Lyrics for ‘Life Is Real’ were started suddenly while flying over the Atlantic from New York, with what is now the classic line “guilt stains on my pillow” originally taken down as “cunt stains on my pillow”.

10. A recreation of the statue created to honour Mercury, found on Lake Geneva in Montreaux, Switzerland, stands on top of the Dominion Theatre, just down Oxford Street from Clash HQ

9 Songs Where Stuff Is On Fire

Sometimes it's a pleasant little campfire and other times it's a raging inferno, but songwriters just love those flaming lyrics - we have a whole category of songs where stuff is on fire.

It's usually a metaphor, but you'll see from this first example that sometimes the fire is quite real. Here are 9 sizzling songs. Click the titles to land on the Songfacts entries.

1. "Smoke On The Water" by Deep Purple (1972)

What's on Fire? The Montreux Casino

"They burned down the gambling house
It died with an awful sound"

When showing appreciation for a band, lighters are OK, flare guns are not. During a Frank Zappa concert at the Montreux Casino in Switzerland, someone stupid with a flare gun made rock history when he ignited a fire that consumed the building. The casino burned, smoke rose off the water of Lake Geneva, and Deep Purple, who were supposed to record their Machine Head album after the concert, used the Rolling Stones mobile studio instead.

2. "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" by The Beatles (1965)

What's on Fire? The Girl's Apartment

"And when I awoke, I was alone, this bird has flown
So I lit a fire, isn't it good Norwegian wood"

John Lennon later admitted to having various affairs while he was married to his first wife, Cynthia. "Norwegian Wood" is his therapy session, where he puts himself in the apartment of one of these girls, sleeps in the bathtub, then starts a fire. The smoke represents the smokescreen he put up to cover the affairs.

3. "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon (2008)

What's on Fire? Sex

"Your sex is on fire
Consumed, with what's to transpire"

If AC/DC wrote this song, we'd know it was about a social disease, but Caleb Followill says it really is about the burning fire of love in the throes of passion.

4. "Burn One Down" by Ben Harper (1995)

What's on Fire? A Marijuana Cigarette

"Before you knock it, try it first
You'll see it's a blessing and it's not a curse"

Afroman was a silly stoner in "Because I Got High," and Rick James seemed a little too fixated on his "Mary Jane," but Ben Harper seems to have a healthy relationship with his herb. He points out the unifying power of a joint and makes the case that unlike traditional chemically-enhanced cigarettes, marijuana comes directly from the earth, and the earth is good.

5. "The Unforgettable Fire" by U2 (1984)

What's on Fire? Hiroshima

"And if the mountain should crumble or disappear into the sea
Not a tear, no not I"

The Unforgettable Fire is an exhibit at the Chicago Peace Museum featuring drawings from survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan during World War II. U2 lifted the title of the exhibit for the name of their album, and wrote this song to go with it. It's typical Bono, with lyrics that could describe a relationship with God or a girlfriend.

6. "The Roof Is On Fire" by Rockmaster Scott & The Dynamic Three (1984)

What's on Fire? The Roof

"The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire
We don't need no water let the motherf--ker burn"

The roof represents confinement, so if you can somehow get rid of the roof, by maybe raising it or setting it on fire, then you're free. Parliament would just Tear the Roof off the Sucker to get to the funk, but these guys celebrated its burn. This was back in the day when the DJ was the star (think Grandmaster Flash), and his rappers were generally hype-men. So Rockmaster Scott would whip the crowd into a frenzy with his turntable magic, and the crowd would shout back the famous chant. In an attempt to make the song broadcast-friendly, they recorded a new version in 1985 without the cursing.

7. "Flight Of Icarus" by Iron Maiden (1983)

What's on Fire? Icarus' Wings

"On your way, like an eagle,
Fly and touch the sun."

According to the Greek myth, Deadallus and his son Icarus escape the prison of King Minos by flying away on wax wings. Icarus gets a little carried away though, and keeps flying higher until the sun melts his wings and he plummets to his death. Iron Maiden changes things a bit, with Deadallus encouraging his son to fly ever higher and meet his doom.

8. "I'm On Fire" by Bruce Springsteen (1984)

What's on Fire? A Guy Who Can't Sleep

"At night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet
and a freight train running through the middle of my head"

The guy Springsteen sings about in this one has it so bad for some girl that he wakes up with night sweats thinking about her. Bruce portrayed this guy in the video, where we learn that he's an auto mechanic with strong feelings for a classy married woman who keeps bringing her car in for him to work on.

9. "Disco Inferno" by The Trammps (1976)

What's on Fire? The Dance Floor

"The folks are flaming, out of control
It was so entertainin', when the boogie started to explode"

John Travolta burned up the dance floor to this song in Saturday Night Fever, but it was the 1974 movie The Towering Inferno that inspired the lyrics. Burn, baby, burn!

Album Cover Inspirations

What do Earth, Wind & Fire and Iron Maiden have in common? Surprisingly similar album covers. But they're not the only ones: artists from Coldplay to Motley Crue have released album art that looks strangely familiar. Let's compare covers.

Dub Sex vs. Blur


Impossible to talk about mere coincidence: for the album cover of Parklife, Blur copied or paid tribute to the image on Then and Now by the Manchester band Dub Sex, who had some success at the end of the 1980s. Released in 1994, Parklife, Blur's third album, made it possible for the band to confirm their reputation as a major group of the 1990s Britpop movement, with hits like "Girls And Boys" or "Parklife."

Simon & Garfunkel vs. Kruder & Dorfmeister


For their first album, the Austrian electro duet Kruder & Dorfmeister paid tribute to Simon & Garfunkel's album Bookends, which contained the hit "Mrs. Robinson." If you disregard Pete Kruder's moustache, the similarity is perfect!

Earth, Wind & Fire vs. Iron Maiden


If there is one similarity to be found between Earth Wind & Fire and Iron Maiden, it is in the covers of these two albums. On the one side, Earth, Wind & Fire's All 'N All funk soul album released in 1977; on the other side, Iron Maiden's Powerslave heavy metal album (featuring the track Two Minutes To Midnight), released seven years later. The similarity between the two album covers is striking. However, don't try and find musical influences between the two bands; there aren't.

The Mountain Goats vs. Coldplay


It doesn't look like Coldplay tried hard to find a cover for their first album Parachutes. The photo bears a similarity to the 1995 album Nine Black Poppies by the California Indie-Rock group The Mountain Goats. In 2000, Chris Martin's band was just starting to get introduced to the public with Yellow, their first single which propelled them at #1 in the UK charts.

Massive Attack vs. Flying Lotus


Even if the electo act Flying Lotus's music doesn't sound like Massive Attack's distinctive Bristol trip-hop sound, you can still find plenty of similarities between their album covers. That's Massive Attack's 1998 album Mezzanine on the left and the Flying Lotus 2008 offering Los Angeles on the right.

Kiss vs. Lordi


In 1982, Creatures of the Night celebrated Kiss's comeback. For their 2009 single Beast Loose in Paradise, the Scandinavian band Lordi, whose members also wear masks and make-up on stage, didn't hide their admiration for this mythic band.

Booker T. vs. Caribou


Plagiarism or strange coincidence? On the one side Booker T.'s 2009 blues rock album Potato Hole, featuring the smash hit "Green Onions"; on the other side is Caribou's 2010 electro album, Swim, featuring the song Odessa. These albums feature two musical styles that are diametrically opposite, but with cover albums which show great similarities.

The Beatles vs. Frank Zappa


One year only after the release of The Beatles' Sergent Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band album, Frank Zappa released We're Only In It For The Money as a satire of the flower power of that time. The album cover includes all the details of the original, with the flowers replaced by vegetables.

The Rolling Stones vs. Motley Crue


Replacing glimmer with glam and jeans for leather, Motley Crue paid tribute to the Rolling Stones famous 1971 Sticky Fingers album cover on their 1981 release Too Fast For Love.

Norah Jones Facts

Soul-blues singer Benny Latimore (Let's Straighten It Out) played keyboards on What You Won't Do For Love by Bobby Caldwell and on some of Joss Stone's albums.

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The laugh Phil Collins does (Ha, Ha, Ha!) on Genesis' Mama came from The Message by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5

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Before releasing an album as TLC, Left Eye & T-Boz sang and also did some writing on Jermaine Jackson's You Said album.

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Weird Al was going to parody Black Or White by Michael Jackson, but Mike turned him down this time.

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Tejano singer Selena was a Jehovah's Witness and so are George Benson and Venus & Serena Williams

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Marilyn Monroe & Dorothy Dandridge were neighbors at one time and often visited each other

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Actor Telly Savalas (Kojak) had a number 1 hit in the UK with his remake of Bread's If.

At age 49 he was youngest-ever recipient in the 22-year history of Kennedy Center Honors given annually for lifetime contribution to arts and culture, presented by President Bill Clinton in Wash DC, Dec. 5, 1999.

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Awarded the Polar Music Prize, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music Award, in 1999.

Recorded an instrumental jazz album under the name "Eivets Rednow" ("Stevie Wonder" spelled backwards).

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At the age of 17 he performed with The Jimi Hendrix Experience playing drums at the BBC. (Jammin'/I was made to love her, BBC Sessions)

Elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.

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His first #1 hit was the half-improvised "Fingertips - Part 2", recorded live in concert (The first live pop single to ever reach #1). It topped the Pop Music and R&B charts in 1963 when Stevie Wonder was only 12. You can the hear the musicians struggling to keep up with the young vocalist and harmonica player as he improvises rhythm and blues riffs, and at one point in the recording a musician is heard shouting "What key? What key?"

Has won 21 Grammy awards (a record for most Grammy awards)

He was voted the 15th Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artist of all time by Rolling Stone.

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"Little Stevie" Wonder grew up to not very little at all, as he stands over 6' tall.

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In 1988, he announced his interest in running for mayor of Detroit in the 1992 election. However, he never followed through with a campaign.

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His ex-wife, Syreeta, died of breast cancer in Los Angeles on July 6, 2004.

In his acceptance speech for the Oscar for Best Song in 1984, Wonder dedicated his award to imprisoned civil rights leader Nelson Mandela. The South African government promptly banned Wonder's music from the country.

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He has 7 children. The last of these, Mandla Kadjaly Carl Stevland Morris, was born May 13, 2005. He was born on his 55th birthday and is his and Kai's first child. Mandla means "Powerful/Defiant" in Zulu. Kadjaly is Swahili for "Born from God"

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In addition to his being blind, he also has loss of smell due to a 1973 car crash in North Carolina from which he also has a scar.

Shortly after reaching his 21st birthday in the spring of 1971, he became the first Motown Recording artist to gain complete artistic control of his records.

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Collaborated on the 1985 smash hit "We Are the World" (USA for Africa)

His 1976 song "Isn't She Lovely" (from album "Songs in the Key of Life") was dedicated to then newborn daughter Aisha whose name and "baby sounds" can be heard on the track

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Joined friends Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight and Elton John on the 1986 chart-topper "That's What Friends Are For", the proceeds of which were donated to AIDS research. Also played harmonica on the recording.

Oddly enough, two other vocalists introduced his 1973 smash hit "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" (from album "Talking Book") before Wonder actually sang any lyrics. Respectively, these singers were James Gilstrap and Lani Groves.

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Played harmonica on Chaka Khan's 1984 hit "I Feel For You"

Wrote "Superstition" originally for friend Jeff Beck while completing his 1973 album "Talking Book." Though Beck had actually recorded the number in 1972, Motown rush-released Wonder's cut ahead of the album, and "Superstition" became his

second number one hit in January 1973

Has been blind since birth

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Father of Aisha Morris, and Keita Morris.

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Son of Lula Mae Hardaway.

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Became the very first blind recipient of an Academy Award when his composition "I Just Called to Say I Love You" won Best Original Song from "The Woman in Red" soundtrack.

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Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1983.

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Wrote the tribute for Mariah Carey's endorsement in Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World" (Artists & Entertainers section / Issue May 12, 2008).

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Voted the ninth greatest singer of the rock era in a Rolling Stone magazine poll in 2008.

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He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 7050 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

Received the Second Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song on February 25, 2009. Selection was announced September 2008.

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Friend Dizzy Gillespie played the trumpet solo on "Do I Do" from Wonder's "Musiquarium" compilation album (1982).

He was nominated for a 2010 New Jersey Hall of Fame for his services and contributions to Arts and Entertainment.

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Named U.N. Messenger of Peace [December 2, 2009].

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Dedicated his song "Sir Duke" (from "Songs in the Key of Life" (1976)) to lifelong hero Duke Ellington.

Dedicated the finale of his 2008 "Live At Last" London concert to the memory of his beloved mother who had died 31 May 2006. Wonder performed his song "As" (from album "Songs in the Key of Life") to commemorate the moment.

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The funky "guitar riff" that underscores most of his song "Superstition" was actually generated on a Hohner D6 Clavinet keyboard that is still, to this day, a mainstay among Wonder's array of keyboard instruments.

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Inducted into the Apollo Legends Hall of Fame in 2011.

He is a lifelong staunch liberal Democrat.

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A guest at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert.

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Born:

10th October 1917 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, USA.

Thelonious Monk’s grave in Hartsdale

Died:

17th February 1982 in Englewood, New Jersey, USA.

Buried:

Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum, Hartsdale, Westchester County, New York, USA.

Some famous pieces:

• ‘Round Midnight.

• Blue Monk.

• In Walked Bud.

• Epistrophy.

• Well You Needn’t.

• Evidence.

• Striaght No Chaser.

• Rhythm-A-Ning.

Some great albums:

• Genius of Modern Music, Volumes 1 and 2 (1947–1952).

• Thelonious Monk/Sonny Rollins (1953–1954).

• Solo 1954.

• Brilliant Corners (1956).

• Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane (1957).

• Thelonious in Action (1958).

• At Town Hall (1959).

• Monk’s Dream (1963).

• The London Collection (1971).

• Plus many more!

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Some interesting facts:

• He was one of the main jazz artists to create ‘Bebop’ jazz. In fact, many people think of him as the founder of ‘Bebop’. However he didn’t play this style for very long. [Bebop is a style of jazz from the early 1940s until the late 1950s. It is often very fast and has very talented playing.]

• He was a piano player and wrote a lot of his own music (including all the ‘famous pieces’ mentioned above).

• His playing was quite unusual. It often had few notes and strange chords.

• He often hit lots of notes on the piano with his elbow or forearm! At other times he would get up from the piano and start dancing round in circles!

• He had very few lessons in music and mostly taught himself.

• He played with some of the great jazz artists of his time, including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.

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• He was a good friend and teacher of Bud Powell.

• He didn’t really care what the public thought of his music. He played what he wanted, and that was that!

• He was known for wearing hats and sunglasses.

• He was very shy and often said very little.

• He played very little in the last ten years of his life. He spent most of this time hiding away in the house of the rich woman, Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter. (She looked after Charlie Parker for a short while at the end of his life too!)

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