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In 1956, a 21-year old singer called Elvis Presley was at the beginning of his career. Alfred Wertheimer, a young New York freelance photojournalist, was asked by Elvis’s new label, RCA Victor, to photograph the rising star.
In the course of this initial assignment, Wertheimer was so struck by the charisma of this stunningly photogenic performer, that, in the days and weeks that followed, whenever time and budget permitted, he felt compelled to carrying on documenting Elvis during the everyday moments of his life.
In fact, Wertheimer had unimpeded access to Elvis during that crucial year that he signed to RCA, sold his first ten million records, made his first Hollywood film and returned to Tupelo a star. These images were the first and last unguarded photographs of Elvis Presley; some have entered our cultural iconography, but many are published for the first time in Elvis: A King in the Making.
Published to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Elvis’s death, Elvis: A King in the Making contains unobtrusive photographs of Elvis in performance, with his fans, and in the recording studio, as well as at home with his family. These present a uniquely intimate portrait of the charismatic young man who would one day become an enduring legend and one of the world’s most famous cultural icons.
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