Fans of Elvis Presley cheered as the singer’s daughter and ex-wife appeared publicly at Graceland on Wednesday to thank them for their loyalty, 35 years after the music legend’s death.
Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley spoke for little more than a minute at the gates of the mansion at the start of an all-night candlelight vigil in memory of the king of rock ‘n’ roll’s sudden death in 1977, at the age of 42.
“Lisa and myself want to thank you so very much for being here and supporting Elvis. You come every year and this is our appreciation to you for making this happen,” said Priscilla, 67.
Lisa Marie, 44, said: “I’ve always avoided this because I thought it would be too emotional but I really felt it was important to come down here tonight and be with you.
“We love you. I love you very, very much and I am honoured to see you here and we’re grateful that you are in our lives and we’re really happy to be part of this tonight with you.”
Priscilla, looking over a sea of candles across the six-lane Elvis Presley Boulevard, added: “I know this is something Elvis would have never ever believed would have taken place here.”
The gates of Graceland, the 23-room home where Elvis is buried alongside his parents in a meditation garden alongside a small swimming pool, remained open all night to a steady stream of well-wishers.
Elvis and Priscilla Presley divorced in 1973 after six years of marriage but they remained close until his death and she played a key role in turning Graceland into a major tourist attraction.
Their daughter Lisa Marie, whose four husbands notably included Michael Jackson from 1994 to 1996, is a singer-songwriter who released her first album in seven years, Storm and Grace, earlier this year.
Life and times of the king
• Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935.
• He grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi, before moving to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family at the age of 13.
• He began his recording career there in 1954 with Sun Records.
• Presley’s first RCA single Heartbreak Hotel, released in January 1956, became a number-one hit.
• In November that year, he made his film debut in the western Love Me Tender.
• Drafted into military service in 1958, Elvis relaunched his recording career two years later with some of his most successful numbers and a string of movies.
• In 1973 he staged the first concert ever broadcast globally via satellite, Aloha from Hawaii.
• Presley died on August 16, 1977.