Elvis Presley Fans Honor 34th Anniversary

By Emma Koonse, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Across the nation, Elvis Presley fans are paying homage to the rock star Tuesday on the 34th anniversary of his death. Around 30,000 to 40,000 fans have gathered in Memphis, Tennessee for “Elvis Week” to commemorate the legendary singer’s sudden death on August 16, 1977.

At Presley’s Memphis mansion, Graceland, silent mourners held a candlelight vigil that started Monday night and lasted until Tuesday morning. Many Elvis followers come dressed in pompadours and don sideburns in tribute of the “King of Rock” as they graze the Presley family cemetery. Flowers and other keepsakes were left atop the singer’s grave as fans listened to Elvis’s music, some with tears in their eyes, People magazine has reported.

Fans young and old from all over the world joined the event, including people from Japan, England, and Australia, among many other countries.

The annual vigil became an organized event in 1982 after Elvis fans repeatedly traveled to Graceland on the date their idol died. Police as well as an Elvis Presley Enterprises spokesman estimate that next year, the 35th anniversary of Elvis’s death, will produce a crowd of 75,000 or more at Graceland.

Lisa Marie Presley sent thanks to fans for being there in a message Monday, and promised that both she and her mother, Priscilla, would join them in Memphis next year, on the 35th anniversary of Elvis’s death.

This year marks 55 years since The King’s first two albums were released in 1956. Elvis sold 10 million singles and 800,000 LPs that year alone.

One passionate fan told the Sun Times, “He’s got everything – stage presence, charisma; he was sexy, great voice. There’s never been anybody like him. I don’t think he’ll ever die.”

Elvis fan Patrick Lucas told AP, “He was a giving person,” about his idol. “I try to be like him, in the ways that he was nice to people and how he treated people.”