Elvis Presley (3)

Elvis Presley
1935-1977
Singer, King of Rock & Roll
Cause of Death: Heart attack
Get Dead and Start Earning: Culturally, the King’s real reign was a mere 18 months—from 1956 to ’57. Dead, he earns 10 to 20 times more than he did alive: With licensing, merchandising and CD sales (including three recent box sets and a No. 1 hits CD), the Elvis industry is worth $45 million a year.
Life After Death: Gruesome narcotic and dietary details of the King’s twilight years emerged around his demise, later followed by Albert Goldman’s muckraking biography. But more recent critical reassessments like Peter Guralnick’s scholarly two-volume study have redeemed Elvis’s artistic legacy. Graceland draws 600,000 pilgrims a year; there are 500 active fan clubs and 35,000 professional impersonators; and several organized religions have formed around Elvis, including the First Presleyterian Church of Elvis the Divine.
King, Inc.: Elvis’s estate was managed by his sole heir, Lisa Marie Presley, but in 2004 she sold 85% of his assets to sports- and music-promoting kingpin Robert F.X. Sillerman. He plans to probe Europe, Australia and Japan to find new markets for Elvis, the blue-chip stock of dead rockers.