Elvis Presley began his career in 1954 as one of the first performers of rockabilly, an uptempo mix of country and rhythm and blues with strong back beat. His novel versions of existing songs, mixing black and white sounds, made him very popular at at times controversial^, as did his uninhibited stage and television performances. He recorded songs in the rock and roll genre, with popular tracks like, Hound Dog and Jailhouse Rock and later embodying the style. Elvis Presley had a very versatile and had a wide range of other genres including gospel, blues, ballads, country and pop.

In the 1960s, Elvis Presley made the majority of his 31 movies which unfortunately had mainly poor reviewes, but were financially successful. In 1968, he returned to live music in a television special known as the "68 Come back special", and performed across the U.S, notably in Las Vegas. Throughout his career, he set records for concert attendance, television ratings and recordings sales. He is one of the best selling and most influential artists in the history of music. Health problems, drug dependency and other factors led to his death at age of just 42.