unds piled on, he and his wife of 6 years, who was 11 years younger than he, divorced in 1973. The touring and appearances proved too much for the couple. This plunged Elvis into a deep depression, and he started to doubt himself, and became more self-conscious. Elvis loved down-home country cooking, and he would gorge himself when not touring. When it came close to time to tour again, he would go on ridiculous diets, and compounded his health problems by becoming hooked on non-prescription and prescription drugs, including diet pills and sleep inducing medication. Many authors say that, in hindsight, toward the end Elvis was a complete mess onstage, mumbling his words, and trying his hardest to belt out his famous tunes. In the sympathetic biography Elvis: The King of Rock n Roll, Rupert Matthews writes about a video of his June 21, 1977 concert, His face is puffy, his movements slow and at one point he has to be helped upright. During breaks in the music, when he speaks to the audience, he can barely mutter and mumble. But despite this, he manages to perform with power and authority.Elviss public was so consumed with the myth of Elvis, they barely noticed or cared. They only cared that they were witnessing The King in person, and what an honor it was to be in his presence. Marcus stated, It is as if there is nothing Elvis could do to overshadow a performance of his myth. My interpretation of this is that Elviss career was now controlled and being steered by his fans and anything he did, good or bad, to try to change the direction or style of his career was worthless. Some Elvis-worshippers may think the reason I dont care for Elvis may be the times in which I grew up. I highly doubt that, as I have never put anyone on a pedestal and glorified him or her as so many have done with Elvis.When I began my research on this paper, I had no clue as to why anyone would waste a week of their life to attend Elvis Week and to pay homage to the gr...
