Lisa Marie Presley
Lisa Marie Presley |
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Lisa Marie Presley (born February 1, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter. She is the only child of musician Elvis Presley and his ex-wife, actress Priscilla Presley.
Early life
Lisa Marie Presley was born in Memphis, Tennessee, exactly nine months after her parents' May 1, 1967, wedding. Until her parents' divorce, she lived at Graceland, Elvis' Memphis estate. She was very pampered and indulged by her father—he dressed her in fur coats, showered her with jewels, provided her with her own golf cart to ride around the estate, and once flew her to Colorado aboard his private jet named "Lisa Marie" so she could play in the snow. After her parents' 1973 divorce, she divided her time between living at Graceland with her father, and in Beverly Hills with her mother. This arrangement continued until her father died in 1977, after which she lived exclusively in Beverly Hills.
After her father's death, Presley was having serious problems with her mother Priscilla, particularly because of Priscilla's live-in boyfriend Michael Edwards, whom Presley claims made advances toward her. [1] Her mother was often away due to the schedule of her television series, Dallas, while Presley was left with Edwards. After Mike and Priscilla broke up, he wrote a book entitled Priscilla, Elvis, & Me, which included details of his lust for Lisa Marie. [2] By age fourteen, she had started taking drugs. Presley's mother sent her to several boarding schools. She attended the 10th grade at an alternative boarding school in Ojai, California, called Happy Valley School. The last one was Scientology-affiliated Apple School (later known as Los Feliz Hills School) in Los Angeles. However, she did not graduate, having been expelled for drug use. This led to her being thrown out of the house by her mother. She has admitted to experimenting with drugs as a teenager but said in her Biography Channel interview that she has not done any drugs since she was 17.[3]
Music career
In her early twenties, she was managed by her father's friend Jerry Schilling and recorded a demo in 1992. When Schilling told her he had negotiated a recording contract for her, she rejected it. In 1997, she recorded a duet of the song "Don't Cry Daddy" with her father. It was never released for marketing, but the music video was shown at the 20th Anniversary Elvis concert in Memphis. In 1998, she signed a deal with Capitol Records. Her debut album was originally scheduled for release in 2000, though it took longer than expected for Presley to write every song on the album.
To Whom It May Concern
On April 8, 2003, Presley released her debut album, To Whom It May Concern. It debuted #5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and was certified gold in June 2003. Presley wrote all the lyrics and co-wrote some of the melodies. To promote it, she presented a concert in the UK, something that her father never did. The album's first single, "Lights Out", reached #18 on the Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 chart[4] and #16 on the UK charts.[5] Eight months before the album's release, Presley performed "Nobody Noticed It" at the 25th Anniversary Elvis concert. The song, which was featured on the album, was written as a tribute to her father.
Now What
Presley released her sophomore album, Now What, on April 5, 2005. It debuted at #9 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was certified gold in November 2005. Presley co-wrote 10 songs and recorded a cover of Don Henley's "Dirty Laundry" (the album's first single, which hit #36 on the Billboard 100 AC singles chart).[6] and The Ramones' "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow". The song "Idiot" is a jab towards different men in her life. Unlike her first album, Now What included a Parental Advisory sticker. Both albums as of 2006 have been certified platinum.
In the Ghetto
In August 2007, the single In the Ghetto was released. Elvis Presley originally released the single in 1969. In the new version, Lisa Marie duets with her father. The video that was simultaneously released with the single reached #1 on the iTunes sales and #16 on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 singles chart.[7] All of the profits were donated to a Scientology related charity. Presley's MySpace reveals that she has begun writing her third album due 2009.
Personal life
At age twenty, Presley married her musician boyfriend Danny Keough on October 3, 1988. They had two children together, Danielle Riley, born May 29, 1989 and Benjamin Storm, born October 21, 1992. In April 1994, Presley announced that she and Keough were separating, but would remain on good terms for their children's sake. Later that month, she flew to the Dominican Republic to get a quick divorce, which was finalized on May 6, 1994. In the years since their divorce, Presley and Keough have remained friends and even written some songs together. Keough lives on the same property as (in the guest house) her home and homeschooled their children during her musical tours.
Twenty days after her divorce from Keough, Presley married singer Michael Jackson on May 26, 1994, in the Dominican Republic.[8] They had first met when 7-year-old Presley attended several of his shows in Las Vegas. [9] According to Yahoo.com, when they met again as adults, "things moved very quickly", with Jackson proposing over the telephone after four months.[10] They stayed in contact every day over the telephone. As child molestation accusations became public, Jackson became dependent on Lisa Marie for emotional support; she was concerned about his faltering health and his addiction to drugs.[11] Lisa Marie explained, "I believed he didn't do anything wrong, and that he was wrongly accused and, yes, I started falling for him. I wanted to save him. I felt that I could do it."[12] Shortly afterwards, she tried to persuade Jackson to settle the allegations out of court and go into rehabilitation to recover—he subsequently did both.[11] In 1995, she appeared in nothing but a towel around her waist in the music video for his song "You Are Not Alone". In the video they kissed and hugged, it was one of the few instances where their affection for one another was seen in public view.[13] The marriage was, in her words, "a married couple's life ... that was sexually active".[14] Presley filed for divorce in January 1996, but the couple remain friendly.[15] In 2005, Presley was considered as a witness for Jackson's trial after he had been charged with child molestation. The media took Presley out of context reporting that she had said "I saw things I couldn't do anything about". Presley then released a statement saying that she never saw her then-husband engage in improper behavior with children".[16] Jackson was found not guilty of the charges.[17]
Presley was engaged in 2000 to rocker John Oszajca. She broke off the engagement after meeting Nicolas Cage at a party.
Presley's relationship with actor Nicolas Cage was on-again/off-again from the beginning.[18] They were married on August 10, 2002, in an outdoor wedding at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii. Cage proposed just ten days earlier. An avid Elvis fan, Cage is the only person outside the Presley family to have been allowed to see Elvis' bedroom at Graceland. He filed for divorce after 108 days of marriage, on November 25, 2002, just two days after the couple appeared looking happy together at the premiere of Adaptation. The divorce was finalized on May 26, 2004. The divorce proceeding was actually longer than the marriage.[19]
Presley married for a fourth time on January 22, 2006, to Michael Lockwood. Lockwood is her guitarist, music producer, and director. Keough served as best man at the couple's wedding, held in Japan. Priscilla Presley walked her down the aisle in front of 16 guests. In March 2008, Presley announced that she was pregnant, following speculation over her apparent weight gain [20]. Her husband is a first time father.[21] On October 7, 2008, Presley gave birth to fraternal twin girls via Caesarean section, weighing in at 5 pounds 2 ounces and 5 pounds 15 ounces respectively. The names of the girls are Harper and Finley Lockwood.[22]
Elvis Presley Estate
Elvis' will appointed his father Vernon Presley as executor and trustee. The beneficiaries were Lisa Marie, along with her grandfather Vernon and great-grandmother, Minnie Mae Presley. The will provided that Vernon could, at his discretion, provide funds to other family members as needed. Vernon died in 1979, and Minnie Mae in 1980. This left Lisa Marie Presley as the sole heir to the estate. Elvis' will stated that her inheritance was to be held in trust for her until her twenty-fifth birthday.
Vernon's will resulted in the appointment of three co-executors/co-trustees to succeed him. They were: the National Bank of Commerce in Memphis, which was the bank Elvis and Vernon had done business with; Joseph Hanks, a long-time accountant for Elvis and Vernon; and Priscilla Presley.
Upon Lisa's twenty-fifth birthday, the trust automatically dissolved and Lisa chose to form a new trust, The Elvis Presley Trust, and to continue the management of the estate, with her mother and the National Bank of Commerce continuing to serve as co-trustees.
In 1998, Lisa became more closely involved with the management team of The Elvis Presley Trust and its business entity, Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc.(EPE). She was owner and Chairman of the Board until February 2005, when she sold 85 percent of the estate's business holdings to CKX, Inc., excluding Graceland itself and the property within it.[23]
Airplane "Lisa Marie"
Her father named one of his private aircraft, a converted CONVAIR 880 jet (original passenger capacity, 100), after her. The airplane "Lisa Marie" is currently on exhibit at the Graceland mansion museum of Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tennessee. The rock band Queen also used this for a flight, and Lisa gave Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury a scarf which belonged to her father.
Charities
Lisa Marie Presley supports several organizations, including: Presley Place, which combats homelessness in Memphis; CCHR, a Scientology-affiliated organization (labeled by critics as a front group) that opposes psychiatry and psychiatrists; LEAP (Literacy, Education and Abilities Program), a Scientology organization affiliated with Applied Scholastics that promotes the ideas of science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.
Discography
Albums
| Year | Title | Chart positions | RIAA | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. | UK | ||||
| 2003 | To Whom It May Concern | 5 [24] | 52 [25] | Gold | Capitol |
| 2005 | Now What | 9 [24] | — | — | |
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Top 40 | U.S. AC | UK | AUS | NZ | CAN Hot Digital Singles | |||
| 2003 | "Lights Out" | |||||||
| "Sinking In" | ||||||||
| 2005 | "Dirty Laundry" | |||||||
| "Idiot" | ||||||||
| 2007 | "In The Ghetto" (With Elvis Presley) 1 | |||||||
1"In The Ghetto" became available for purchase on iTunes (both song and video) on August 17, 2007. It premiered on August 16, at the 30th Anniversary Elvis Presley Tribute Concert in Memphis.
References
Inline
- ^ Lisamarie.at.infoseek.co.jp News
- ^ Amazon.com - Priscilla, Elvis & Me
- ^ Larry King Interview with Lisa Marie Presley
- ^ a b Billboard chartlist for 09.24.2003
- ^ http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1809033283/bio
- ^ http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1809033283/bio
- ^ Billboard Bubbling Hot 100
- ^ Leiby, Richard N. (1994-08-09). "One Theory On Michael-Lisa: It's All A Plot". Washington Post. Seattle Times. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1809033283/bio
- ^ http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1809033283/bio
- ^ a b Taraborrelli, p. 518–520
- ^ Taraborrelli, p. 510
- ^ Taraborrelli, p. 609
- ^ Taraborrelli, p. 562–564
- ^ Taraborrelli, p. 580–581
- ^ Silverman, Stephen M. (2004-03-17). "Lisa Marie says Jacko Never Acted Improperly". People.
- ^ The Jackson Verdict - - Michael Jackson Trial, Michael Jackson : People.com
- ^ http://lisamarie.at.infoseek.co.jp/lisa-LarryKingLive2003.htm
- ^ Cage-Presley Union Now a Memory
- ^ "Lisa Marie Presley News - Lisa Marie Presley names twins". idiomag. 2008-10-14. Retrieved 2008-10-14.
- ^ Lisa Marie Presley Announces Pregnancy
- ^ http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20232818,00.html
- ^ Elvis Presley Enterprises Corporate Information
- ^ a b Billboard Albums Chart History
- ^ chartstats.com - Lisa Marie Presley - To Whom It May Concern
- ^ Billboard chartlist for 09.24.2003
- ^ everyhit.com, UK Top 40 Chart Archive
- ^ a b charts.org.nz -Lisa Marie Presley - Lights Out
- ^ Billboard chartlist for 08.26.2003
- ^ Billboard Singles Chart History
General
- Taraborrelli, J. Randy (2004). The Magic and the Madness. Terra Alta, WV: Headline. ISBN 0-330-42005-4.