Elvis Presley

USA, 1954–1977

American singer, known as the King of Rock and Roll. His Sun and RCA recordings brought rhythm and blues repertoire and performance style to a mass white audience in the 1950s.

MusicRoots documents 5 artists who influenced Elvis Presley and 24 artists Elvis Presley influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Elvis Presley?

• Arthur «Big Boy» Crudup — Elvis's debut single was a cover of Arthur Crudup's 'That's All Right'.
• Big Mama Thornton — Elvis's 'Hound Dog' is a version of the song first recorded by Big Mama Thornton.
• Sister Rosetta Tharpe — Tharpe's gospel phrasing can be heard in Elvis's early style.
• Fats Domino — At his 1969 comeback press conference Elvis pointed to Domino: 'that's the real king of rock and roll' — a documented lifelong debt to the New Orleans sound.
• Big Joe Turner — Big Joe Turner's shouting jump blues — 'Shake, Rattle and Roll' above all — was part of the R&B bedrock that fed Elvis and the birth of rock'n'roll.

Which artists did Elvis Presley influence?

• The 101ers — 'Heartbreak Hotel' was a fixture of the live set — the rockabilly end of a repertoire drawn almost entirely from 1950s rock'n'roll.
• George Harrison — Hearing 'Heartbreak Hotel' from a nearby house while cycling was Harrison's epiphany — it was the moment he committed to rock and roll.
• Creedence Clearwater Revival — Hearing 'My Baby Left Me' on a jukebox at about eleven set Fogerty on rock and roll; CCR later cut the song themselves on Cosmo's Factory.
• The Doors — Elvis was Morrison's first musical influence, opening rock as an art form for him.
• The Beatles — Elvis was the band members' formative teenage model.
• Danzig — The reason he does this at all. Danzig: 'I was watching TV once and Jailhouse Rock comes on... at the end I thought, this is what I want to do.' He made an album of Elvis songs in 2020.
• ZZ Top — Elvis Presley's rock'n'roll was among the pioneers Gibbons grew up on — the rockabilly swagger under ZZ Top's blues.
• AC/DC — Elvis Presley's 'Trouble' is a documented source the Youngs named behind 'Whole Lotta Rosie' — 1950s rock'n'roll swagger at AC/DC's root.
• Scorpions — Like many in post-war Germany, Schenker's first musical spark was American rock'n'roll imported by GIs — Elvis Presley foremost, alongside Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis.
• David Bowie — Presley was in the same batch of records and stayed with Bowie, who shared his 8 January birthday: the early rock and roll performing takes directly from him, and Bowie later covered 'One Night'.
• Buddy Holly — Holly saw Elvis play Lubbock in 1955 and switched from country to rock and roll on the spot — a documented conversion.
• Wanda Jackson — Jackson toured with Elvis in 1955–56; he personally persuaded her to sing rockabilly — her documented account.
• Tom Petty — The ten-year-old Petty met Elvis on a Florida film set in 1961 — the encounter he always cited as the moment music claimed him.
• Bruce Springsteen — Elvis on Ed Sullivan was Springsteen's founding event — the other half of his own famous formula.
• Lana Del Rey — Elvis and mid-century Americana glamour are central to Del Rey's iconography — she has named him among her inspirations and drawn on 'Love Me Tender'.
• Ricky Nelson — Elvis was one of Nelson's rockabilly idols, the model of the teen rock'n'roll star Nelson became on 'Ozzie and Harriet'.
• Gene Pitney — Elvis was among Pitney's rock'n'roll influences as he came up in the late '50s.
• John Lennon — Elvis was Lennon's idol — the spark that made him want to be a rock'n'roller.
• Paul McCartney — Elvis was among the American rock'n'rollers who set McCartney on his path.
• Percy Sledge — Elvis was among Sledge's early idols.
• Rod Stewart — Elvis was among the American rock'n'rollers who profoundly influenced Stewart.
• Marty Wilde — Wilde was among the first British singers to reproduce American rock and roll convincingly, with Elvis the standard being reproduced.
• Townes Van Zandt — Seeing Elvis on television as a boy is what set him on it at all.
• Ofra Haza — Elvis Presley was among the Western pop artists Haza absorbed growing up, feeding the modern pop side of her East-meets-West sound.