When I was young, I thought it would be cool to be famous. All the lights, applause, and glamour sounded great to me. But since then I have learned that there is a much darker side to fame.

My recent cruise ended in Memphis, TN where I finally visited Graceland, the home of the late celebrity Elvis Presley. He died when I was only 15. I wasn’t really a fan, but I remember the day he died since he was such a big star. I wasn’t as impressed with Graceland as I thought I would be. I thought his home would be fancier because after all, he is the “King of Rock and Roll”. Most of his world of fame was housed in buildings across the street. Gold and Platinum records covered the walls from floor to ceiling. His many cars were on display as well as posters of him and his beautiful co-stars  from his many movies. Every jumpsuit he wore during his concerts were on display.  I saw pictures of his childhood with his mother and father as well as pictures of his wedding to Priscilla and with Lisa Marie his daughter. One painting of him particularly stood out to me because a young, handsome Elvis had a glow around him like pictures I’ve seen of Jesus. His and Priscilla’s wedding outfits and Lisa Marie’s nursery furniture were on display. It looked like he had a charmed life, like being famous was so wonderful. But their marriage ended when Lisa Marie was very young, and he died when he was only forty-two. Nothing was mentioned about why or how he died or about his divorce. There were only pictures of a young, healthy, in shape Elvis on the walls. It seemed to me that his estate was still trying to cover up what really happened to him at the end. When one is so famous like Elvis, he develops an image that some people even worship and must be maintained.

When he died, I didn’t pay much attention to how it happened. But now I wanted to know. I looked at the books available for sale in the many gift shops at the Graceland complex and was surprised to see so few books to choose from. No book seemed to focus on the circumstances of his death. It was only when I got home that I found several books on-line that focused on Elvis’ decline and death. I chose, “The Death of Elvis-What Really Happened” by Charles C Thompson II and James P. Cole.

This book was an eye opener. I learned that even before the results of Elvis’ autopsy and toxicology tests were known, the Medical Examiner assigned to his case gave a news conference claiming that Elvis died of a heart attack. His heart was fine according to people interviewed for the book who did the autopsy and other tests. There were also rumors that Elvis had cancer. Even our tour guide in Memphis who knew Lisa Marie said that she told him her dad had cancer. Per these interviews there was no cancer found either. What those interviewed said and toxicology reports showed is that Elvis was a heavy pill popper. He was an addict. Ten different drugs, all downers, were in Elvis’ blood stream and were determined, in combination, to be the cause of death. Elvis would get the drugs from several doctors in Memphis as well as Las Vegas where he spent much time doing shows. To hide how many drugs he was being prescribed, he had the prescriptions written out to some of his family and entourage, called the Memphis Mafia, who worked and toured with him. Many lived with or near him at Graceland. They would pick up and deliver the drugs to him. Several told Thompson and Cole that they tried to guess when Elvis would turn up dead from an overdose. Apparently he came close a few times before he finally succumbed on August 16th, 1977.

Part 2 comes next week.