Short Synopsis
On the fortieth anniversary of Elvis Presley's death comes this rocking biography of an iconic artist who fundamentally transformed American culture. Intimate and unsparing, Being Elvis explores the extravagance and irrationality inherent in the Elvis mythology, offering a thoughtful celebration of an immortal life.

Full Synopsis
Elvis Presley is a giant figure in American popular culture, a man whose talent and fame were matched only by his later excesses and tragic end. A godlike entity in the history of rock and roll, this twentieth-century icon with a dazzling voice blended gospel and rhythm and blues with country to create a completely new kind of music and new way of expressing male sexuality, which blew the doors off a staid and repressed 1950s America.

In Being Elvis, veteran rock journalist Ray Connolly takes a fresh look at the career of the world's most loved singer, placing him, forty years after his death, not exhaustively in the garish neon lights of Las Vegas but back in his mid-twentieth-century, distinctly southern world. For new and seasoned fans alike, Connolly, who interviewed Elvis in 1969, re-creates a man who sprang from poverty in Tupelo, Mississippi, to unprecedented overnight fame, eclipsing Frank Sinatra and then inspiring the Beatles along the way. The creator of an American sound that resonates today, Elvis remains frozen in time, an enduring American icon who could capture an inner emotion, perhaps of eternal yearning, to which all of us can still relate.

"Smoothly read by Jonathan Yen. . . . The extraordinary portrait of a cultural icon, Being Elvis is a 'must' for anyone fascinated by Elvis' music and legacy, and sure to prove a popular pick for public library audiobook collections." ---Midwest Book Review

"Connolly carefully and sympathetically paints the many faces of Presley, faces eventually shrouded in despair." ---Kirkus

"Being Elvis, partly based on the author’s interviews with some of the major players (including Elvis), is personal, intimate, and affectionate, though not uncritical." ---Booklist

“Ray Connolly’s Being Elvis contains the authentic spontaneity and electricity that we all cherish as the essence of Elvis. Sprinkled not with mere rhinestones but with true gems of revelation, his new biography has finally found the sweet spot between the poles of lurid flash and scholarly abundance.” ---Preston Lauterbach, author of The Chitlin’ Circuit

"Sympathetic and exceptionally well-written" ---USA Today

"Yen's delivery captures Elvis's feelings of surprise, turmoil, depression, and ultimate loneliness . . . Yen's smooth delivery enhances every moment--from Tupelo to Las Vegas." ---AudioFile

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