The army brought some wonderfully good tidings to Elvis Presley’s life. First, he was able to show the general public that he was quite a likable fellow, a celebrity who was down to earth and who shared most people’s sentiments about national issues.
On a personal level, though, the army gave him the opportunity to travel to Germany, where he would meet his soon-to-be wife, Priscilla Beaulieu. She was only 14 years old then. Presley, meanwhile, was 24, handsome, and wildly popular. How would she handle the pressure of scrutiny, the spotlight, and the incessant demands expected in celebrity life?
Elvis Only Ever Performed in North America
With Presley’s enormous popularity, one would think that he’d been around the world to perform for his fans. You couldn’t be more mistaken. As odd as it may seem, Elvis Presley never toured outside of North America.
His music resonated all around the globe only through records, radio, television, and in his movies. There was "Heartbreak Hotel" and "That’s All Right" to enjoy, while people hoped and prayed for him to travel and perform in their distant countries. He toured in Canada in 1957 but never ventured elsewhere. There are speculations as to why he never held international concerts, and most fingers point to his manager.
He Was Your Typical Soldier
Because his music was as heady as his personality was wild and unruly, not everyone would give Elvis Presley’s songs a chance. Some considered him a bad influence on the youth, a representation of what was wrong with society, something bad that was slowly creeping in.
But Presley would even win his haters over when he decided to halt his career to join the military. He was offered to enlist in Special Services to entertain, but he roundly rejected it to become just a regular soldier, and this practically disarmed the once-guarded crowd, finally affording him his due respect.
Dating The King Was Sometimes Hard for Priscilla
A fact that echoes through most celebrity relationships. And to think that Priscilla Beaulieu was so young when she first fell into the arms of a grown man, a star who was the focus of admiration from millions of girls, idolized by men who wanted to be just like him. It definitely must have been hard.
“I was kind of lost really in who I was earlier in my life, I really didn’t have teenage years,” Priscilla said. “I learned so much about him and was with him so much that I thought the way he did.” And she wasn’t the only one.
Elvis Never Spent a Night Alone
Shortly before Elvis Presley left the US to be deployed by the army in Germany, his mother passed away. The distance between them at the time made it tougher for Presley to take, and, sure enough, this gradually took a toll on him. Some say this was how Elvis came to develop the need to always be with someone at night. It was his way of coping with the waves of emotion that would otherwise hit in his solitude.
Thankfully, Priscilla was around to fill in the void his mother left. Priscilla’s presence reassured him of the value of life and bolstered him against loneliness. But so did another person in Priscilla’s absence.