Few, if any, figures in rock and roll history are as timeless -- or controversial -- as
Elvis Presley.
Both a rebel and a heartthrob, Elvis changed the way the world thought about music, pop
culture, and celebrity.
Here's what the last 12 months of Elvis' life were like.
As a young man embracing both a punishing work schedule and the stresses of newfound
celebrity, Elvis was under a tremendous amount of pressure.
Young Elvis became dependent on several different types of prescription drugs, specifically
amphetamines to keep him awake and barbiturates to help him sleep or relax.
Early on, these were heavily pushed by his manager, the infamous "Colonel" Tom Parker,
who many believe swindled the naive young Elvis while running him ragged.
By 1976, Elvis wasn't just getting his uppers and downers from his manager.
He had a private doctor who would prescribe him any pill he asked for, according to a
People Magazine story published shortly after his death.
Dr. George Nichopoulos, aka "Dr. Nick," traveled with Elvis, and carried three suitcases of
pills to make sure he could fulfill any of Elvis' needs.
It was reported that, over the last 20 months of Elvis' life, Dr. Nick prescribed him over
12,000 pills.
The doctor claimed they were for Presley's entourage as well.
His excuse for throwing all these high-octane drugs around?
If he didn't prescribe the pills to Elvis, someone else would, and at least this way
he wouldn't get them off the street.
The toxicology report from Elvis' death said he had the opiates Dilaudid, Demerol, and
Percodan in his blood, not to mention Quaaludes and codeine.
However, though Dr. Nick was charged with 11 felony accounts of overprescribing drugs,
he was acquitted — the medical examiner claimed that Elvis had died of heart disease,
adding,
"Had these drugs not been there, he still would've died."
By 1976, Elvis had become disenfranchised and unhinged – his drug use, unhealthy lifestyle,
and financial excess chipping away at his composure.
He spent most of his time holed up in the elaborate den of his Memphis home — Graceland’s
"Jungle Room", nicknamed for its exotic decor.
Most worrisome to his record label, RCA, was that the King had become entirely uninterested
in going into the studio and recording.
That was when producer Felton Jarvis had a game-changing idea: If Elvis wouldn't go to
the studio, they'd bring the studio to Elvis.
Presley had recorded tracks at home in Palm Springs in 1973 to great success, and said
that he enjoyed being in a room with his fellow musicians to feed off their emotions — so
why not set up a mobile studio in Graceland?
Elvis approved the idea, and the label sent a studio truck to his home.
In many ways, the Jungle Room was perfect for the task.
It was huge, and its shag carpeting naturally absorbed ambient sound, although the fake
waterfall did have to be turned off.
It was there, in October 1976, that Elvis recorded his final studio sessions, resulting
in some of his most memorable and emotionally crushing material to date.
In November 1976, Elvis split with his girlfriend of four years, Linda Thompson.
Linda had been a stabilizing force in the singer's world, but she eventually left him
because she wanted a more normal life.
Replacing Linda was actress Ginger Alden, a woman 20 years Elvis' junior.
In December 1976, after a brief courtship, the singer gave her a $70,000 engagement ring
— an expenditure that many thought was more for show than actual sentiment.
In turn, many in Elvis' entourage believed Ginger to be nothing more than a gold-digger.
Lamar Fike, a member of Elvis' "Memphis Mafia" entourage, famously said Ginger, quote, "didn't
give a rat's ass about him."
In Ginger's mind, these opinions were unfair aspersions cast by her fiance's cronies.
She explained her side of the story in a 2019 interview with Elvis' Australian fan club,
while promoting her book Elvis and Ginger: Elvis Presley's Fiance and Last Love Finally
Tells Her Story:
"Not getting to know them well, shortly after Elvis passed away, I was extremely disappointed
to see the character of some that Elvis had around him.
A few speculated and began telling untruths regarding Elvis and me which were completely
unwarranted, mean spirited and wrong."
When critics and fans describe Elvis in his later years, it's not always done in the nicest
of terms.
But it's undeniable that Elvis' overeating and weight issues colored his last year on
Earth.
According to The New York Daily News, by the end of his life Elvis was consuming enough
calories to feed several people every day.
Growing up in the South, Elvis took comfort in greasy homestyle foods.
As an adult, one of his favorite meals was a roll stuffed with bacon, peanut butter,
and jelly, alongside midnight snacks like hamburgers and deep-fried bread.
While he was also taking many dangerous pharmaceuticals throughout his life, it was the heart disease
caused by his bad diet that may have been the greatest factor in his demise.
The critics noted his weight gain when reviewing his public performances.
In Rees Quinn's biography Elvis, writer Tony Scherman is quoted as saying that, by early
'77,
"Presley had become a grotesque caricature of his sleek, energetic former self.
Hugely overweight, his mind dulled by the pharmacopeia he daily ingested, he was barely
able to pull himself through his abbreviated concerts."
Most challenging during Elvis' final years was the nonstop schedule of his live performances.
During many shows, the audience wouldn't be able to understand what he was saying, and
he would often leave the stage early, unable to continue.
This manifested most noticeably in March 1977 during two stops in Louisiana.
According to a 1977 review in Alexandria Town Talk, the first show in Alexandria lasted
less than an hour before Elvis had to leave the stage.
But according to the book The Mysteries Surrounding the Death of Elvis Presley, even worse was
in Baton Rouge, where Elvis had to cancel a show because he couldn't make it out of
his hotel bed in order to get to the venue.
The rest of the tour was subsequently canceled, acting as a benchmark of just how far the
King had fallen from the pedestal of his youth.
“I don’t know all the chords, so if you hear me get my fingers caught in the keys
back here, you know, you know what it is.”
By 1977, Elvis had lost all interest in recording new music.
However, the home recording sessions of 1976 were fruitful, and seemed to inspire a burst
of creativity in the King.
After the final recording session in October of '76, RCA set to work cobbling the tracks
together into what would be Elvis' final records — a fact none of them knew, but which the
pained music seems to foreshadow in hindsight.
Moody Blue, released in February 1977, was a mix of live recordings and new studio tracks,
containing two of Presley's most widely regarded songs.
Title track "Moody Blue" became Elvis' final Number One single; the song is in keeping
with the pop music of the time, but still showcases the warbling, lonely figure that
the singer had become.
But it's "She Thinks I Still Care" that is regarded by many to be Elvis' finest latter-day
moment.
Elvis' passing is often used as the archetypal rock star death — a tragic accident caused
by poor health and drug use.
But was the King simply ignoring his well-being, or was he having suicidal thoughts?
In the recent HBO documentary Elvis Presley: The Searcher, the singer's longtime wife Priscilla
revealed that she wasn't sure whether Elvis' death was really an accident.
Priscilla pointed out that Elvis had written a note to friend and "Memphis Mafia" member
Joe Esposito, which stated,
"I'm sick and tired of my life."
Additionally, a report from the tabloid The Sun shows that Priscilla considered depictions
of Elvis as a bystander in his own life to be inaccurate, saying that he was simply dismissive
of attempts to help him get treatment.
She said,
"He knew what he was doing, and people go, 'Why didn't anyone do anything?’
Well, that's not true.
People there in the inner group did — but you did not tell Elvis what to do.
You'd have been out of there faster than a scratched cat.
They would try and — no way."
Elvis' last live gig was on June 26, 1977, at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis,
to a crowd of 18,000 fans.
The setlist included many of his classic hits like "Hound Dog," "Don't Be Cruel," and "Jailhouse
Rock," as well as newer numbers like "Hurt" and his cover of "Bridge Over Troubled Water."
As he had in recent gigs, Elvis appeared overweight, and at times winded, but was reported to have
given a solid performance overall.
What confused some people, though, was that Elvis took a portion of the show to introduce
everyone from his life and career from the stage.
The moment came toward the end of the night, just before his closing performance of "Can't
Help Falling In Love With You."
Many would later wonder if this was because Elvis knew somewhere deep down that he would
never play again and wanted to shout out all of those who made his career possible.
Equally cryptic for some were the parting words the King said as he left the stage:
"Till we meet you again.
God bless you ... adios."
Like many stars who became hugely famous before the concept of celebrity handlers had been
formalized, Elvis was surrounded by yes-men and sycophants.
This was especially true during the last year of his life, when he was deep in his chemical
dependency and had left behind many of the loyal friends of his youth.
The King's only true friend near the time of his death was arguably Letitia Henley,
his live-in nurse.
While the world at large saw Elvis as the man who had it all, Letitia — known to those
around Elvis as "Tish" — had a private window into his personal struggles.
Henley later wrote in her book Taking Care of Elvis, Memories with Elvis As His Private
Nurse and Friend:
"He was not only my patient, but a good friend.
He was miserable.
He was depressed about aging and not having a woman he loved.
He missed Priscilla.
His friends kept pimping him with pretty 17- and 18-year-old girls but he had ­nothing
in common with them."
Even Tish lives with pain surrounding Elvis' death, which she said came as "a complete
shock" to her.
When Elvis asked for sleeping pills during his final hours, it was she who told his private
doctor where to find them, and she regrets not being there as he died.
Given his pill dependency and excessive weight, some might assume that Elvis spent the day
before his death lying in bed eating or doing drugs.
But even more strange might be the sheer amount of activity undertaken by the King in the
hours before he passed away.
As detailed in the documentary Elvis Presley: The Last 24 Hours, Elvis' final day on earth
included a nighttime trip to the dentist in search of prescription drugs, a 4 a.m. game
of racquetball with his cousin Billy Smith, and an impromptu piano performance of classics
including "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain."
The night ended around 6 the next morning, when he went into the bathroom to read.
He was found there by Ginger Alden around 2 p.m. on August 17.
Memphis Mafia foreman, Joe Esposito, said:
"The phone rings — intercom.
One of the maids picked up the phone, and it's Ginger.
She says, 'Come upstairs, I need help.
Elvis just fainted.'
I ran upstairs, I go into the bathroom, and Elvis had fell over and was laying on the
floor.
I turned him over ... and I knew.
I knew he was dead."
Elvis Aaron Presley died August 16, 1977, at the age of 42.
For fans of rock and roll everywhere, the King's death was a monumental blow.
But with his life ended, those who loved him could now remember the man he'd once been,
revolutionizing rock music with his energy, charisma, and raw talent.
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please call the Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Administration's 24/7 National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
That's 1-800-662-4357.