Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935, to parents Vernon Elvis Presley and Gladys Love Presley. He was the second of twins. The first twin, named Jessie Garon, was stillborn. Elvis arrived 35 minutes later.
The Presleys could be described as dirt-poor, meaning the shotgun shack they lived in had bare floors. The description “shotgun shack” refers to the possibility of shooting a bullet from a shotgun through the front door, and it being able to travel through the shack and out of the back door.
The shack was in what was East Tupelo, Mississippi. East Tupelo is now simply known as Tupelo.
Vernon Presley had various manual jobs on farms, and at one stage, he became a truck driver for a local grocery delivery service.
Gladys was born on April 25, 1912. Vernon April 10, 1916. When they married on June 17, 1933, the pair had to lie about their respective ages, twenty-one and seventeen.
The family’s life did not improve much, especially when Vernon spent eight months at Parchman Farm Penitentiary in 1938 for altering the value of a cheque out of desperation for money. Vernon had been sentenced to three years, but he was released for good behaviour.
The family decided to move to Memphis and leave Tupelo on November 6, 1948. They lived in various low-rent accommodations in North Memphis, including Lauderdale Courts. Both Gladys and Vernon worked various jobs in this period, as did Elvis. When he decided to enter the Sun Studio for the first time in 1953, he was working at Parker’s Machinists shop. By the time he returned to record “That’s All Right” on July 5, 1954, he was a truck driver for the Crown Electric Company, making deliveries to job sites.
In a little over two years, Elvis would be a millionaire after having earned his stripes at Sun Records and on tours of the Deep South. Elvis moved on to RCA Victor, creating number-one records, performing on television, and making his first movie, “Love Me Tender”.
For the family, it was truly a rags-to-riches story, part of the folklore of the American Dream.
Gladys, Elvis and Vernon, 1938.
