From Elvis' foremost biographer, Peter Guralnick, author of the bestselling two-volume biography, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love, and Ernst Jorgensen, the premier archivist and reissue producer of Elvis' recorded work, comes a unique chronicle of Elvis Presley's life and music. Granted unprecedented access to hundreds of thousands of photos, documents, letters, artifacts, and memorabilia by Elvis Presley Enterprises, Guralnick and Jorgensen present the King as you've never seen him before. Elvis Day by Day is a complete account of public, private, rare, forgotten, and renowned moments, captured with such detail and immediacy they read like diary entries in a life—from first steps to the first time the young "hillbilly cat" stepped on stage; from the creation of a revolutionary new sound to the last days of a universally known, tragically misunderstood music legend. Lavishly illustrated with more than three hundred color and black-and-white photographs, this one-of-a-kind volume features such hitherto unknown details of Elvis' childhood in Tupelo as a father's touching postcards from prison and the family's backbreaking struggle to make ends meet. It includes Elvis' first work application at eighteen in which he describes his leisure-time activities as "sing[ing], playing ball, working on car, going to movies." At last, the complete story of how Elvis met his legendary manager, Colonel Tom Parker, is revealed in detail, and long-debated mysteries like Elvis' famous lost tryout for the Arthur Godfrey show are finally put to rest. In addition, the reader will find an invaluable and reliable reference guide to every recording session, record release, song hit, movie, and live performance (including a number of shows not previously documented)—clearing up in the process many misconceptions and misunderstandings about Elvis' life. All the facts are here—from Elvis' unlikely visit with President Nixon in 1970 to his spontaneous articulation of patriotism and pride in a 1957 telegram to a marine private (coincidentally named Nixon). Within these facts are a story: funny, sad, sometimes uplifting, occasionally disturbing—but always fascinating for the disarmingly unbuttoned, behind-the-scenes view of a celebrated life. From private moments to public milestones, this is the first complete and accurate chronology of Elvis' life, in a form that offers instant accessibility to Elvis expert and casual reader alike. Elvis Day by Day is an extraordinary piece of American musical history, bringing the life and times of Elvis Presley into dazzling focus for the record—and for the ages.
Author
Peter Guralnick is an American music critic, writer on music, and historian of US American popular music, who is also active as an author and screenwriter. He has been married for over 45 years to Alexandra. He has a son and daughter, Jacob and Nina. Guralnick's first two books, Almost Grown (1964) and Mister Downchild (1967), were short story collections published by Larry Stark, whose small press in Cambridge, Larry Stark Press, was devoted to stories and poems. Mona Dickson, writing in MIT's The Tech (May 13, 1964) gave Almost Grown a favorable review. After Guralnick graduated from Boston University in 1971 with a master's degree in creative writing, he began writing books chronicling the history of blues, country, rock and roll and soul. His two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, Last Train to Memphis in 1994, followed by Careless Love in 1999, placed the story of Presley's career into a rise and fall arc. Encompassing more than 1,300 pages (including 1,150 pages of text), the work countered earlier biographies such as Albert Goldman's Elvis from 1981 with an in-depth, scholarly examination of Presley's life and music. Guralnick had previously written on Presley in the The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll, starting with the first edition in 1976, said article having been reprinted for each subsequent edition. Larry Stark Press published Peter Guralnick's second book in 1967. A first edition is currently valued at $200. In contrast to contemporaries such as Lester Bangs, Ian Penman and Nick Tosches, whose music writings are marked by idiosyncratic, self-referential and highly personal styles, Guralnick's writing is characterized by a colloquial approach that is clean and understated by comparison. In his best passages, he has an ability to simultaneously empathize and remain objective. Writing as a music fan, his enthusiasm powers his writing but doesn't overpower it. Guralnick wrote the script for A&E's documentary, Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll, narrated by Billy Bob Thornton, and he also scripted Sam Cooke - Legend, narrated by Jeffrey Wright.
