Forty years after his death, Elvis Presley’s legacy burns bright at his Graceland mansion.
The “King of Rock and Roll” was honored on Tuesday, August 15, a day before the 40th anniversary of his death, at his Memphis mansion by more than 50,000 fans, including his former wife Priscilla Presley, his only daughter Lisa Marie Presley as well as her twin daughters and son.
Presley, 47, carried a torch and lit candles with mourners, who walked in procession around the estate, where the late “Jailhouse Rock” singer, his parents and grandmother are all buried. Elvis, who won 10 Grammys, died on August 16, 1977, at age 42. His cause of death was officially ruled a heart attack.
His former wife, 72, recalled how authentic the “Love Me Tender” crooner was. “I just thought how he was the real deal,” she told the UK’s Daily Mirror in a 2014 interview. “Elvis wasn’t putting on any pretense, he never did. What you saw with him is what you got. Not everyone knows that. People know his music, but they don’t necessarily know the real Elvis. I want the world to know he was a lovely, loyal man.”
His only daughter reflected on her famous father’s legacy and death to Variety. “I think it gets locked in forever and nothing can change it,” she said in an interview on Wednesday, August 16. “And then, on the other side, I’m going through what I’ve dealt with, and I know what he’s gone through, and the older I get, the more I can relate to the obstacles that he had and the trepidations that he had. I can relate to them more, way more. I understand more as I get older. He was quite young [when he passed away]. So I can’t say I knew a whole lot at 42, or that I know a whole lot now. But what I know is that I don’t know everything.”
