Elvis Presley Fans?

I've been listening to a lot of old Sun Records recordings from the 50s lately, including Elvis and various other acts.

Elvis' vocalizations and arrangements are unique and recognizable, but no better or worse than the others for the most part.

Now, who would most of the more affluent, record-buying public back then rather look at, Elvis or most of those other guys?

Answer that question to understand why Elvis was leaps and bounds more successful over the next few years than anyone else and then became a visual icon later as well as a result of his formulaic movies that he himself apparently did not care for much, despite the money they made.

Johnny Cash is the other SUN Records act from that time who remained popular over time. The topical substance behind his music has actually aged well and even made him perhaps more popular than ever late in his career and after his death.

Both were most fond of gospel music actually as I understand it.

My wife is the big Elvis fan. Elvis is OK but I'm more of a Johnny Cash fan I suppose if I had to chose.

I think Elvis was an excellent singer and performer. However, I do agree that his popularity lives on in part due to other factors as you have mentioned Marty. I still love listening to his music though.

Fair singer??? Perhaps you are unfamilair with his voice or this is an opinion based on musical preference ?I feel I must come to his defense, I thought well perhaps because I enjoy his music/singing it is my opinion and what I hear is wrong, so I googled Elvis Presleys voice and wikpedia came up first so I read... at the bottom of the page are quotes from professors, muscians, voice coaches, sound engineers etc..I wont bore you with all of them but here are a few quotes......................................Elvis Presley has been described variously as a baritone and a tenor. An extraordinary compass- the so-called register-, and a very wide range of vocal color have something to do with this divergence of opinion. The voice covers two octaves and a third, from the baritone low-G to the tenor high B, with an upward extension in falsetto to at least a D flat. Presley's best octave is in the middle, D-flat to D-flat, granting an extra full step up or down. Call him a high baritone. In "It's'now or never", (1960), he ends it in a full voice cadence (A, G, F), that has nothing to do with the vocal devices of R&B and Country. That A-note is hit right on the nose, and it is rendered less astonishing only by the number of tracks where he lands easy and accurate B-flats. Moreover, he has not been confined to one type of vocal production. In ballads and country songs he belts out full-voiced high G's and A's that an opera baritone might envy. He is a naturally assimilative stylist with a multiplicity of voices - in fact, Elvis' is an extraordinary voice, or many voices"
Henry Pleasants, in his book "The Great American Popular Singers" (1974) "I suppose you'd had to call him a lyric baritone, although with exceptional high notes and unexpectedly rich low ones. But what is more important about Elvis Presley is not his vocal range, nor how high or low it extends, but where its center of gravity is. By that measure, Elvis was all at once a tenor, a baritone and a bass, the most unusual voice I've ever heard"
Gregory Sandows, Music Professor at Columbia University, published in "The Village Voice"........Surely these people must know what they are talking about .....or perhaps its the definition of a good singer/voice and what that would encompass' that I dont understand,though I can assure you the over 1 billion viewers in 1973 would disagree with the assessment that he is a fair singer/voice.Its not all hype etc., although it is a combination of it all, Perhaps thats why he has been labeled THE KING.

Yma Sumac covered 5-octaves. Was she the best singer ever?

5 yma sumac fans can't be wrong (a play on elvis)