In 1954, Elvis Aaron Presley was working as a truck driver for $35 a week. Two years later, he was raking in $12,500 for a week’s work in Las Vegas. Before long, a surname was no longer required to invoke the megastar
LIFE dubbed a “
howling hillbilly success.”
Though he began recording music in 1953, it was in 1956 that Presley became a phenomenon. That was also the year he first appeared in the pages of
LIFE, in a one-page story about the runaway success of “
Heartbreak Hotel.”
Here's a collection of rare intimate photographs of Elvis Presley at a Nashville recording session for a new star who would, in due time, become a legend.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFLDAzb1n6LY27l9QyK1G4FySRr4Bk7zrajtMNVopJGYueSZ9z_zlqEEKSkfHEsfyrDfbKkpuqsxrYAqOSO-nMHdCeGOa-3Ja0HCt6uj3D8Uh9CPm8FW54B116HCt7VzVzw3rJGFnghayz/s640-rw/elvis-presley-01.jpg) |
Looking like it hurts, Elvis records new song in Nashville studio. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBsRhqdWtFA72XXp_MuAJGvSdq9UylTmU6Q506iF5_OYhyJLjQnEl8OLtt9HsexAjANlQVdCtXdDBrFV1ukJreJjuD1fTEXkpzqgxf-wXrbUVsSMTY7WAkwlF__S-hG6Qsy42lfQRBft02/s640-rw/elvis-presley-02.jpg) |
Presley sings expressively while recording a new song in a Nashville recording studio, backed by the Jordanaires, made up of Gordon Stoker, Neal Matthews Jr., Hoyt Hawkins and Hugh Jarrett. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHb2N2aLWfuRIoFnpYAYlI0n1b8DfvVT0s71tw89p275lARp6ZbfoGHY98VVGiiQEaUGMvpMO3TnrVR5nmVcz035mJ8-IXpTUcdbsGD8uujP8SvZl45c2WS-xN8xighvakNXBVi9CT9I8t/s640-rw/elvis-presley-03.jpg) |
Presley, looking tired and somewhat dejected, leans over a railing in a recording studio during a break from cutting a new record in Nashville, 1956. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvum1RKoPATv5KqeN2GUberkUtmRULUypoVcfoaXWfknGKum5kaJ2H9ylHGIh6wiGzI7hydV2gTy3ESRXKdUBi1EEkoXjFyjJ1mDLTWK2aCUcJUVt3WD05xzJYs0zVapKsJb5t6V8_FEIT/s640-rw/elvis-presley-04.jpg) |
Presley (second from right) during a break from recording,1956. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwJu88kAj2GHfWqFoxwzDLDl5h5xeG3uFFXyHdxwd2MwNjRQjocqK0Dk7xIyO6H3l2zkDtYvVikdRAAInmobxHPOi5TGV9LgnAULM51xcEXNvKS98eEote0lBwLi-dPGtNv_TyLPt6pdf3/s640-rw/elvis-presley-05.jpg) |
Presley shows a framed gold record of "Heartbreak Hotel" to (L-R) drummer D.J. Fontana, singer Gordon Stoker and guitarist Scotty Moore, 1956. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiacUSOOE73BeWW5muHM5AuD1tSaOCVNquQmNBcZugz2_QuaAjgncjw5fLf6UtZzAR0bd_27Bl5Y73RpnfKpfvnyPANKRqXUjkTkGR6_1df6ognqJsygmkEv9-Qf-pVE-DiXRL1nMl_fE5t/s640-rw/elvis-presley-06.jpg) |
Presley performs emotionally, even in the privacy of a studio. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM-tmGIltwpvsm8_U6cRoIqmfCRw4JP-CNgqKvlPLmscpMRsWyYjUyViQfjPDHT1sxC6_ArMJtCfR8twLDs1wen0YhTAaQaxNGN3VrSOmAVFuT7j2hdHy8-4XtsSwgZtqetvmh-ZyRPKsB/s640-rw/elvis-presley-07.jpg) |
Presley sings during a recording session. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7HRsL6cod1i2vqC4P6C33h1rlZQelTw9p7c2iaADy8VJr8eQGMSljcsFDbwjpE3ixsDAEFLq9RZaQI6a_kdeVrn0YPw4LLlo_uuN2hxTDcxPg9LcbHk_ftyVGK5_tfdktQnCLLQt4MwXF/s640-rw/elvis-presley-08.jpg) |
Presley sits in a chair during a break from recording a new record n Nashville, while head of Country and Western Artist and Repertoire, Steve Sholes, talks to producer Chet Atkins in the background, 1956. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIcqniQbSZJM3O-npvFg93qFnXFKfqYpEVuv4-rrf72PID9AQKgIuzCHAI5vSSjpS2SvyEWSi3N8vXiV4Bv9g7rtadAX9oKKtXi5Of5103XEsbltlxsqYgr2dYQx4mgMNKxmVj67WCnHML/s640-rw/elvis-presley-09.jpg) |
Presley uses the roof of a taxi to sign autographs for teenage girls outside of the Nashville studio where he had just finished recording a new record, 1956. |
(Photos: Don Cravens—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)
I wonder why Elvis recorded while not wearing shoes, only socks. See the photos.
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