Happy Birthday Elvis Presley (PHOTOS)

The 'King of Rock & Roll' was born on January 8 in Tupelo, Miss., and would have turned 77 today if he had not died on August 16, 1977 of a heart attack and rumored drug overdose.

Anxious to remember the days of "Hound Dog" and "Love Me Tender"? Click here to see Marpop's lengthy list of places you can pay tribute to the 'Godfather of Graceland."

This is a big year for Elvis fans, MSNBC reports. Exhibits, tours, concerts, and celebrity cruises are "in the works" in honor of the 35th anniversary of the King's death. Additionally, potentially one of the most extensive Elvis collections opened last month at a museum in Dusseldorf, Germany.

"People love it," Andy Schroeer, one of the founding collectors, told MSNBC. "They all go out with a big smile on their faces."

Tennessee's Graceland can expect a spike in tourism for the landmark anniversary, the Memphis Daily News reports.

"When you get to that milestone date, it becomes bigger," Wayne Tabor, chairman of the Metropolitan Memphis Hotel and Lodging Association, told the paper. Special merchandise commemorating the 35th year anniversary will also be sold around the U.S. and beyond, the paper reports.

Check out Elvis' iconic "Hound Dog" performance:
WATCH:

Elvis Presley -Hound dog by LostPirate77

Remember this famous performance?

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CORRECTION: A previous version of this entry stated that 2012 is the 35th anniversary of Elvis Presley's birth. It is the 35th anniversary of his death. The post has been corrected and we sincerely regret the error.

Comments

[Imzadi]

03:13 PM on 01/10/2012

Quick! Someone tell Michele Bachman!

;-)

[UserNameJane]

03:22 PM on 01/10/2012

LOL

[akrazyrunner]

09:39 AM on 01/09/2012

I wish Michele Bachmann managed to stay in the race long enough to wish Elvis a 'Happy Birthday'

[Maximum number of charac]

12:47 AM on 01/09/2012

Elvis, Bowie, Hawking, Henry V, Johannes Kneppelhout. What's up with January 8th?

[pic002]

11:12 PM on 01/08/2012

Abbott.

[BillZBubb]

10:11 PM on 01/08/2012

Elvis, thanks for taking out Bubba Ho-Tep!

[osofar]

09:48 PM on 01/08/2012

Even drug abusers are honored if they are rich enough in the USA.

[BillZBubb]

10:10 PM on 01/08/2012

Yeah even Limbaugh still has admirers and devotees.

[Robin Generaux]

12:47 AM on 05/25/2012

It ain't the drugs, it's the talent...lots of people use drugs...

[boycottrightwingthings]

09:39 PM on 01/08/2012

Happy Birthday Elvis!

[Bostontru2u]

09:03 PM on 01/08/2012

Happy birthday Elvis.

[Exfl]

08:48 PM on 01/08/2012

Happy birthday Elvis, just in case you faked your demise and you are driving around southern Illinois in an old pink Cadillac. (If not you, it's your doppelganger.)

[Ecoli]

08:29 PM on 01/08/2012

Happy Birthday Elvis! Here’s his favorite song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWStRiZ-OCM
Ditto to David Bowie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4d7Wp9kKjA&ob=av2e

[BigLittle]

08:29 PM on 01/08/2012

Bless Me!!! --"would have been"?... ...Elvis...IS...77 today. Dick Nixon had The King's near-lifeless body plucked from his bathroom and revived en route to a medical facility in Grenada. He was healed, de-toxed and given a new identity that included plastic surgery. Then, under the code name E-man, working behind the Iron Curtain, he helped liberate Eastern Europe. He is living a happy, quiet retirement on an island in Puget Sound. I think it was Jack Kerouac who said (or should have) that listening to old Elvis records, like listening to Charlie Parker, always make you feel good.

[Count DeMonet]

07:01 PM on 01/08/2012

It's my birthday today as well!!!

[Mr Hoodoo]

07:22 PM on 01/08/2012

Happy B-Day, Count!

[baileywick]

07:39 PM on 01/08/2012

And Tampa Red, too.

[butchcliff]

06:44 PM on 01/08/2012

The King for sure. Listening to Elvis sing gospel evoked such emotion it was overwhelming. And he loved his mom so strongly. Lord you gave me a mountain. Sadly missed.

[brunettemba]

09:24 PM on 01/08/2012

my favorite is American Trilogy.

[Trapped in Arizona]

09:40 PM on 01/08/2012

That's one of my favorites too. In fact, whenever there is a brouhaha about the song "Dixie" -- I ask people to listen to American Trilogy to get a real sense of that song's beautiful blending of Dixie & The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Moreover, the middle part of the song so poignantly connects Dixie and the Battle Hymn with the message (in my view) that people on both sides of the conflict sacrificed dearly:

Hush little baby, don't you cry;
You know your daddy's bound to die;
But all my trials will soon be over...."

Indeed, my favorite rendition of that song is when Elvis, a Southerner, performs that song in Yankee territory -- Madison Square Garden -- in a way only the King could pull off!

[butchcliff]

05:06 AM on 01/09/2012

As soon as I hear..Oh I wish I was in Dixie...get chills, everytime

[franny68]

06:37 PM on 01/08/2012

Happy Birthday Elvis.

[doctorcastille]

06:23 PM on 01/08/2012

Happy Birthday David Bowie !

[Mr Hoodoo]

07:25 PM on 01/08/2012

I agree. And was glad to see music columnist David Wild do one of his list columns for him

Can be found in the Entertainment section at the very top of the columists baf on the left.

Meanwhile, happy birthday, Elvis, 'eh.