Happy Birthday, Vernon.

On this day, 55 years ago, Elvis gives his father a stunning 14 carat yellow gold Omega watch as a gift for his birthday. The face of the watch is accented with 46 round diamonds and the back is engraved with the following words:

Happy Birthday, Dad. Love, Elvis. April 10, 1969.

Ed

American actor Ed Asner was most famous for his role as a newspaper editor in the TV series Lou Grant.  But to Elvis fans he is best-known for appearing in Elvis' only sport film Kid Galahad (as Assistant District Attorney Frank Gerson) and in Elvis' last feature film, the crime drama Change of Habit (as police Lieutenant Moretti).

Asner, in an interview, said the following about working with Elvis:

He was a good guy. I liked him a lot. The first film was 'Kid Galahad'. Elvis was going through his karate phase, so his fingers were all being broken and busy breaking bricks and boards. And the second film was 'Change of Habit' with Mary Tyler Moore. He had become a different person by then, he was becoming an actor. And once again, he didn't screw up, didn't make a mess, didn't foul any nest, and showed up and did his work as best he could. He was not a problem maker.

Memorial Bench

The Tupelo Elvis Fan Club donated a memorial honouring Elvis' only child, Lisa-Marie, to the Tupelo Elvis Presley Birthplace. Tom Brown, host of the Elvis Tupelo Festival, commented:

Tupelo, for all the Presley's, was a special place, because it was a place that grounded Elvis, that was his home before he became a superstar. Lisa was one of those what would come back, especially while family friend Janelle McComb (1921-2005) was alive. She would come stay with Janelle for days at a time and just be a normal person.

Greatest Singers

In 2008 Rolling Stone magazine published their list of 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time. A panel of 179 "experts" ranked Elvis at #3.

In 2023, 15 years later, the same magazine published their list of 200 Greatest Singers Of All Time, ranking Elvis at #17.

It did not take long for the first commotion to appear when Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman blasted Rolling Stone for placing Bob Dylan over Elvis on the list.

But the fun really started when fans of Michael Jackson saw their idol ranked at #86. The reaction of an MJ fan on twitter was gold: 

Eighty. Six. Delete your account. Destroy your servers. Take all existing magazines out of print. Throw them in a bon fire. File for chapter 11. Vacate your office. Demolish the building. Apologize to the world. Repent. Leave the planet for good.

I couldn't have said it better. 

Grammy Award Songs

Elvis, the King of Rock 'n' Roll, won only 3 Grammy Awards for his music. All for Gospel. How can that be? 

The Grammys were founded in 1958. Elvis' heyday was from 1956-1957. Easy to see how he missed out on some possible major Rock 'n Roll Grammys. In total Elvis received 16 Grammy Nominations of which 6 were for Singles. 

If we dive into his Single Nominations, we found that he received two nominations each in the 50s, 60s and 70s, covering the R&B, Pop, Gospel and C&W genres. Once again, no Rock 'n Roll nominations in sight.

GRAMMY NOMINATED SINGLES

Elvis received the following Grammy Nominations for his Singles:

50s 

• A Fool Such As I: Record Of The Year
• A Big Hunk O' Love: Best R&B Performance / Best Top 40 Artist Performance.

60s 

• Are You Lonesome Tonight: Best Pop Single Performance / Best Male Vocal  Performance / Record Of The Year 
• You'll Never Walk Alone: Best Sacred Performance.

70s

• How Great Thou Art (Live, 1974): Best Inspirational Performance - WIN. 
• Softly, As I Leave You (Live, Posthumous): Best Male C&W Performance.