The king and The King

When most people think of Elvis Presley they envision the 1957 teen who revolutionized music and sent girls swooning with his gyrating performances. Few of these people know how spiritual “The King of Rock-n-Roll” was and how he struggled daily to be closer to the “King of Kings”. Gospel was Elvis’ greatest musical love, which is fitting since despite his multitude of number #1 hits, he never won a Grammy Award until 1967 for “How Great Thou Art”.

Catholicexchange.com (http://www.catholicexchange.com/2008/09/27/113998/) has posted an interview with Dolores Hart, the actress who starred with Elvis in Loving You and King Creole before leaving Hollywood to become a cloistered Benedictine nun. Among the stories she tells is that of her and Elvis during the filming of King Creole:

When we were making King Creole, he had so many people after him — you couldn’t walk through the streets in New Orleans. It was like a circus. You would not believe the crowds. Policemen were everywhere. We had to go to hotel rooms to wait in between scenes. When we finally got to the site, we were ushered into the elevator, [and] in the hotel rooms. There would be boards built from one hotel to another. We crossed over to another hotel and would go down the elevator and enter another room. They’d bring us sandwiches. Elvis would open the Gideon Bible, as that was the version placed in the hotel rooms. Whatever passage he’d open it to, we would talk about it. He would ask me, “What do you think of this passage?”

In the estimation of many, including myself, Elvis was the greatest ballad singer in history. When he sang ballads (and gospel) his spiritual hunger for God shone through in his voice, his mannerisms, and his passion. It was as if a portion of his soul was spent with each note, each lyric.

Society idolizes celebrities. They are royalty. They are larger than life. Elvis’ life de-mythologizes that “Cult of Personality”. He was an incredibly gifted performer who brought joy to many. Yet he was also a sad, flawed individual desperate to be re-united with God and suffering the pains of that separation.
In other words, he was like you and I.