Thursday, August 17, 2017

Remembering Elvis

Those of us old enough to be around in 1977 will probably remember what we were doing when we heard the news that Elvis Presley had died (the 40th anniversary of his death was yesterday). It's our Kennedy moment (I missed the Kennedy assassination as I was born only a few hours after he died.) I remember sitting in the living room of our house at Lobley Hill,  Gateshead, and hearing the news on the radio that Elvis was no more. I had not been long out of hospital as I had been in the children's ward at the Queen Elizabeth for a couple of months after being hit by a car while crossing Consett Road.

As this was before the era of wall-to-wall 24 hour news coverage (even the 3 terrestrial channels then weren't 24 hour), I had to wait for the evening news at 5.45pm to see how it was reported. Sure enough, the news led on the death of Elvis. Interviews with upset fans outside Graceland were broadcast. Radio One (then only broadcasting on medium wave) played one Elvis hit after another.

It would be interesting to see how many of today's music stars will be able to rival Elvis's staying power forty years from now. I just hope I will be around to find out.

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