Lisa Marie Presley

Lisa Marie Presley
Lisa Marie Presley at a car race July 2, 2005
Background information
Born	February 1, 1968 (1968-02-01) (age 43) Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Genres	Rock, country rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2003–present
Labels	Capitol Records (2003–2007)
Website	Official website

Lisa Marie Presley (born February 1, 1968) is an American singer–songwriter, also known as the Princess of Rock 'n' Roll.^[1][2] She is the only child of singer Elvis Presley, and daughter of Priscilla Presley.^[3]

Contents 1 Early life 2 Music career 3 Personal life 4 Elvis Presley estate 5 Scientologist 6 Airplane "Lisa Marie" 7 Discography 7.1 Albums 7.2 Singles 8 Notes 9 References 10 External links

Early life

Lisa Marie Presley was born in Memphis, Tennessee, exactly nine months after her parents' wedding.^[3] She lived at Graceland, Elvis' Memphis estate, until her parents' separated in 1972.^[4] Following their separation, and subsequent 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 on August 16, 1977, after which she lived exclusively in Beverly Hills.

When her father died, Lisa became joint-heir to his estate with her grandfather, Vernon Presley, and her great grandmother, Minnie Mae Presley.^[5] Following the death of both Vernon and Minnie Mae, Lisa became the sole heir and inherited Graceland.^[5]

Music career

On April 8, 2003, Presley released her debut album, To Whom It May Concern. It reached #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^[6] and #16 on the UK charts.^[7]

Her second album, Now What debuted number 9 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was certified gold in November 2005. Presley co-wrote 10 songs and recorded covers of Don Henley's "Dirty Laundry" (the album's first single, which hit #36 on the Billboard 100 AC singles chart).^[7] 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. Presley covers Blue Öyster Cult's Burnin' for you as a b-side. In August 2007, the single In the Ghetto was released. Elvis Presley originally released the single in 1969. In the new version, Lisa "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.^[8]

In October 2009, she joined singer Richard Hawley on stage in London for an encore. She sang vocals on a song the pair had been working on called 'Weary'.^[9] Hawley wants to help Presley relaunch her music career, and the two have embarked on a songwriting partnership in which Lisa writes the lyrics and Hawley the music. In an interview Presley said that she is currently recording a new album in London.^[10]

Personal life

At the age of 20, Presley married her musician boyfriend Danny Keough on October 3, 1988. During their six-year relationship,[11] they had two children together, Danielle Riley, born May 19, 1989 and Benjamin Storm, born October 21, 1992. In April 1996, 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,^[11] 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 in the guest house on the same property as her home. He home-schooled their children during her musical tours.

Twenty days after her divorce from Keough, Presley dated singer Michael Jackson .^[12] They had first met when the seven-year-old Presley attended several of his concerts in Las Vegas.^[7] According to Yahoo.com, when they met again years later, "things moved very quickly", with Jackson proposing over the telephone after four months.^[7] They stayed in contact every day over the telephone. As child molestation accusations became public, Jackson became dependent on Lisa for emotional support; she was concerned about his faltering health and his addiction to drugs.^[13] Lisa 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."^[14] Shortly afterwards, she tried to persuade Jackson to settle the allegations out of court and go into rehabilitation to recover. He subsequently did both.^[13] Recently, Presley issued a statement on her MySpace blog regarding Jackson's death on June 25, 2009, stating that she was "gutted", and that she felt she had "failed" to help save him from "the inevitable".^[15] Lisa also said this about the marriage when she received news of his death:

Our relationship was not 'a sham' as is being reported in the press. It was an unusual relationship yes, where two unusual people who did not live or know a 'normal life' found a connection, perhaps with some suspect timing on his part. Nonetheless, I do believe he loved me as much as he could love anyone and I loved him very much. As I sit here overwhelmed with sadness, reflection and confusion at what was my biggest failure to date, watching on the news almost play by play The exact scenario I saw happen on August 16th, 1977 happening again right now with Michael (A sight I never wanted to see again) just as he predicted, I am truly, truly gutted. Any ill experience or words I have felt towards him in the past has just died inside of me along with him. He was an amazing person and I am lucky to have gotten as close to him as I did and to have had the many experiences and years that we had together. I desperately hope that he can be relieved from his pain, pressure and turmoil now. He deserves to be free from all of that and I hope he is in a better place or will be. I also hope that anyone else who feels they have failed to help him can be set free because he hopefully finally is. The world is in shock but somehow he knew exactly how his fate would be played out some day more than anyone else knew, and he was right.

In 1995, she appeared in nothing but a towel around her waist in the music video for his song "You Are Not Alone".

Presley was engaged in 2000 to rocker John Oszajca. She broke off the engagement after meeting actor Nicolas Cage at a party.

Her relationship with Cage was on-again/off-again from the beginning.^[16] They were married on August 10, 2002, in an outdoor wedding at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii. Cage had proposed just ten days earlier. An avid Elvis fan, Cage is said to be the only person outside the immediate 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 lasted longer than the marriage.^[17]

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.^[18] Her husband is a first-time father.^[19] On October 7, 2008, Presley gave birth to fraternal twin girls, Harper Vivienne Ann and Finley Aaron Love^[20] via Caesarean section. The twins weighed 5 pounds 2 ounces (2.3 kg) and 5 lb 15oz (2.7 kg), respectively.^[21][22]

Presley stated that she and her family have moved to England: ‘We have found the quality of life so much more enriching and fulfilling. The civility, the culture, the people and its beauty have reawakened me and have smoothed out some of my bleak and jagged views about people and life.’^[23] In August 2010, Presley and her family were reported to have bought an £8 million stately home near Tunbridge Wells, Kent.^[24] The house is near the former home of Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard in East Grinstead, West Sussex.^[24] According to reports, Presley decided to leave Los Angeles because of gossip surrounding her ex-husband, Michael Jackson.^[24] She also said recently that LA had "gotten dramatically worse in the last five or six years, even more shallow if that’s even possible."^[24]

Elvis Presley estate

After Elvis' death on August 16, 1977 at Graceland, his will appointed his father, Vernon Presley, as executor and trustee.^[5] The beneficiaries of the trust were Vernon, Elvis' grandmother Minnie Mae Presley, and his nine year old daughter Lisa Marie Presley, whose inheritance was to be held in trust until her twenty-fifth birthday.^[5] After Vernon's death in 1979, Elvis' ex-wife Priscilla Presley was named as one of three trustees by his will; the others being the National Bank of Commerce in Memphis, and Joseph Hanks, who had been Elvis and Vernon's accountant.^[5] With Minnie Mae's passing in 1980, Lisa Marie became the only surviving beneficiary named in Elvis's will.^[5]

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.^[5]

Scientologist

Lisa Marie Presley is a devout Scientologist and thanks the Church of Scientology for keeping her from "going mad or killing herself!".

She says about her experience as a Scientologist^[25]:

L Ron Hubbard researched man and has carefully and precisely mapped a route out of the madness, misery and unwanted conditions one can encounter in life. When applied exactly, the technology produces incredible results. Those results are very definite and eternal. Were it not for Scientology, I would either be completely insane or dead by now. I am forever grateful for the technology of Scientology and to Mr. Hubbard who dedicated his life to helping man and this planet, as well as to the people who have dedicated their lives to helping others through Scientology.

Airplane "Lisa Marie"

In November 1975, her father named one of his private aircraft, a converted Convair 880 jet (original passenger capacity: 100), after her.^[26] Elvis spent upwards of $1,000,000 refurbishing it to use as his main transport while on tour.^[26] The "Lisa Marie" and one of Elvis' other planes, "Hound Dog II", are currently on exhibit at the Graceland mansion museum of Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tennessee.^[26]

Discography

Albums

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions
		US[27]	CAN	UK[28]
2003	To Whom It May Concern Released: April 8, 2003 Label: Capitol Records	5	12	52
2005	Now What Released: April 5, 2005 Label: Capitol Records	9	13	—

Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions						Album
		U.S. Top 40	U.S. AC	UK	AUS	NZ	CAN Hot Digital Singles
2003	"Lights Out"	34	18	16[29]	29[30]	28[30]	12[31]	To Whom It May Concern
	"Sinking In"	—	—	—	—	—	—
2005	"Dirty Laundry"	—	36[32]	—	—	—	—	Now What
	"Idiot"	—	—	—	—	—	—
2007	"In The Ghetto" (With Elvis Presley) 1	—	—	—	—	—	—	iTunes Single

¹"In The Ghetto" premiered on August 16, 2007, at the 30th Anniversary Elvis Presley Tribute Concert in Memphis. Both song and video became available for purchase on iTunes the day after.

Notes

References

• Taraborrelli, J. Randy (2004). The Magic and the Madness. Terra Alta, WV: Headline. ISBN 0-330-42005-4. 

External links

• Official Website
• Lisa Marie Presley at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with Oprah Winfrey, 2007
• The Lisa Marie - Convair 880 Jet