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Elvis biography - 1969
With producer Chips Moman overseeing the sessions in January 1969, Presley recorded enough material to cover two highly praised albums, From Elvis In Memphis and From Memphis To Vegas/From Vegas To Memphis. The former was particularly strong with such distinctive tracks as the eerie 'Long Black Limousine' and the engagingly melodic 'Any Day Now'.
Elvis records in Memphis for the first time since 1955. He has all-night marathon sessions at American Sound Studio. His work here will become regarded as some of the finest music of his career, his best work since the innovative days at Sun and the exciting early days at RCA before he went into the army. Elvis has excellent material to choose from and pours his heart and soul into the sessions. He works with a lot of top-notch Memphis musicians. The sound is fresh and gutsy. On every track one can sense his creative excitement and energy. This is joyful work after years of movie boredom. Two albums will result from these sessions. The sessions will also yield four hit singles to be released over the coming year: "In the Ghetto", "Suspicious Minds", "Don't Cry, Daddy" and "Kentucky Rain". ("Suspicious Minds" becomes his first number one single since "Good Luck Charm" in 1962, and will be his last number one pop single, though he'll have many big hits.) The glorious 'Suspicious Minds', was a wonderful song of marital jealousy, with cascading tempo changes and an exceptional vocal arrangement.
On the singles front, Presley was back in top form and finally coming to terms with contemporary issues, most notably on the socially aware 'In The Ghetto', which hit number 3 in the USA. Subsequent hits such as the maudlin 'Don't Cry Daddy', which dealt with the death of a marriage, ably demonstrated Presley's ability to read a song. Even his final few films seemed less disastrous than expected.
March/April 1969
Elvis returns to Hollywood to film and record the soundtrack music for his thirty-first, and what will turn out to be his last, acting role in a motion picture. It is "Change of Habit", co-starring Mary Tyler Moore. Elvis plays a hip ghetto doctor in a Northern city, having come from Tennessee. Mary Tyler Moore and two others play nuns who go "undercover" into the ghetto to assist with health and societal troubles in the community. The theme, though serious and timely, is not particularly well carried out by the script in the opinion of many, and the title is frivolous. But, Elvis looks magnificent, and gives a natural, easy, understated performance that is a refreshing pleasure to see after the silliness he endured in his films through most of the sixties. The few songs in the movie are good and they're performed in natural, rather than the usual badly contrived, situations.
March, 1969
"Charro!" opens in theaters and doesn't do much at the box office.
July 31 - August 28, 1969
Elvis is booked for a four-week, fifty-seven show engagement at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, which has just been built and has the largest showroom in the city. Elvis puts together top-notch rock and roll musicians, an orchestra, a male gospel back-up group, and a black female soul/ gospel back-up group for his show. They rehearse for several weeks and open on July 31, 1969. (Barbra Streisand has just closed her show the night before, having been the first headliner in the new showroom.) The show is a delightful mix of fresh arrangements of classic Elvis hits, exciting new material he has recorded, a few covers of current and past hits of other artists, and charming on-stage antics and sharing of personal recollections of his career. A press conference follows the first of his two opening night shows. His fee for the four weeks was over $1 million.
This engagement breaks all existing Las Vegas attendance records and attracts rave reviews from the public and the critics. It is a triumph. Elvis's first live album is recorded during this engagement and is soon released.
For the shows a lean Elvis in top physical form, wears simple, unique, karate-inspired two-piece outfits in black or white. These are designed by Bill Belew, who had done the wardrobe for the '68 special. These are the predecessors to the famous one-piece jumpsuits which will be simple at first, then become flashier and more elaborate over the years.
September 1969
"The Trouble with Girls", Elvis's thirtieth movie, opens in theaters and doesn't do much at the box office.
November 1969
"Change of Habit" , Elvis's thirty-first movie, opens in theaters and doesn't do much at the box office.