Elvis Presley’s first recording fetches $300,000 at birthday auction

PanARMENIAN.Net - On what would have been the King’s 80th birthday, an acetate recording of the Elvis Presley ballad My Happiness has sold at auction for the sum of $300,000, The Guardian reports.

Made in 1953 at Sun Records, the Memphis studio operated by Sam Phillips, it was the first song that Presley, then 18, ever recorded.

Paying $4 for the session, it is said that Presley then left the studios and went to the home of friend Ed Leek to listen to it - as his own family did not have a record player - and left the record behind. My Happiness was offered to the auction house by Leek’s niece, who inherited the record.

The track is a pop standard which was initially made famous in the mid-twentieth century and has been interpreted by a number of artists throughout the decades, including Ella Fitzgerald and Fats Domino.

Bidding began at $50,000 on January 8 and it was purchased by an undisclosed buyer at Presley’s former home Graceland, now also a museum and tourist attraction.

Other items on sale at the auction include an autographed copy of That’s All Right, a custom designed watch featuring a Star of David design, his first driver’s license and the jacket he wore in the Viva Las Vegas film.

To mark the great musician’s birthday, hundreds of fans joined Presley’s family in Memphis, Tennessee, with Presley’s former wife Priscilla and their child Lisa Marie, along with Elvis’ grandchildren, slicing an eight-tier cake to celebrate.

Last week, a number of considerably more pricey items of Elvis memorabilia went on sale: Presley’s pair of personal jets – one of which has a gilded wash basin and plush sleeping quarters – are expected to fetch between $10m and $15m.