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The King Of Rock'n'Roll

December 31, 2020 | Book

Frank D'Onofrio wrote a book on Elvis' rise to stardom that was issued December 26.

This is what Amazon has to say about it:
The story of what happened as Elvis Presley rocketed from oblivion and became one of the greatest influencers of the 20th Century. Without a doubt, in early 1954, Elvis Presley was the least likely to achieve stardom. A poor teenage truck driver for a local electric company, coming from a Memphis housing project. In 1954, Rock and Roll music was just in an embryo stage, not yet defined as a musical genre. Evolving from black music Rhythm and Blues (R&B) emanating from black-owned nightclubs in the Southern USA. But R&B had a very limited following. 1950s teenagers were yearning for a sound of their own, were obliged by a local Memphis DJ - Dewey Phillips. Playing R&B through his successful local WHBQ radio show called Red Hot and Blue, emanating from Memphis, Tennessee, Ground Zero for the future of Rock and Roll music. Dewey's radio show was heard for miles in many of the surrounding states. Dewey's significant influence on Rock and Roll is legendary, as he left his mark on Elvis, Buddy Holly, and many other contemporaries. To date, Dewey has been wrongly overlooked by rock and roll history.July 5th, 1954, Elvis Presley arrived at the Memphis Recording Services to record a demo for owner and record producer Sam Phillips (no relation to Dewey). At that point, Elvis had not sung a single note professionally. Auditioning for hours without any success or glimmer of hope, and on the brink of ending his first recording session without success, a nervous, scared teenager paced the floor during a late break. Nervously, he just started to play chords to an old blues song called "That's All Right Mama," with a slight alteration of tempo and style. That was when Lightning Struck!Elvis Presley was a bundle of nerves playing to pass the time. He thought no one was listening when he played the old R&R song. That song caught producer Sam Phillips by surprise. Another person in the control room that night than Sam Phillips, it is questionable if young Elvis Presley's career would have even started! Elvis Presley: The King of Rock and Roll explains the early rise of Elvis Presley. The lightning storm started on July 5th, 1954. and hit terminal velocity on September 9th, 1956. During the Ed Sullivan Show, over 60 million people watched the coronation of Elvis Presley as the definitive King of Rock and Roll. "The King of Rock was a term first coined by High school friend and local Memphis Disc Jockey George Klein (GK). An innocent but truthful description of what transpired the first two years of Elvis' career (1954-1956). But that road to the title had pitfalls. The book describes why Elvis Presley earned and deserved his title. He altered a trajectory in history on July 5th, 1954. Starting a firestorm that transformed popular music while forever changing the landscape of our entire culture. A firestorm, which would later engulf the world. Elvis Presley: The King of Rock and Roll puts the reader in the midst of it.Within three years, Elvis Presley went from the brink of a failed audition to the largest-selling recording artist in the world! The musical genre pioneered by Elvis and his contemporaries presented Rock & Roll to a new audience. Arguably helping bridge a cultural divide and would be a catalyst of change for generations. The reader will feel the emotions of the young teenager and understand what caused the transformation. Focusing primarily on the music, events, and people around him. all catalysts to his success. Elvis Presley's unassuming public persona and demeanor gave him the capacity to usher in Rock & Roll music and change the world forever! Achieving fame with raw talent alone, without any musical or financial pedigree. In 2018 George Klein - GK read my book excerpts in the Sirius XM Elvis Radio Studio and said: "Frank, no one has written this book the way you are writing it! It has to be written! A story that has yet to be shared!"

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Gorse wrote on January 01, 2021
I always felt that Sam Phillips should be more known by music followers everywhere for his tenacity, enterprise, foresight and influence on 'rock' music as a whole, mostly achieved on a shoestring budget..
Gorse wrote on January 01, 2021
I always felt that Sam Phillips should be more known by music followers everywhere for his tenacity, enterprise, foresight and influence on 'rock' music as a whole, mostly achieved on a shoestring budget..