For Elvis, death has proved disturbingly good business

Telegraph

3 days ago

Elvis lives. A 'new' Elvis Presley album is out this week, Sunset Boulevard, comprising fresh mixes of songs recorded in Los Angeles between 1970 and 1975, two years before the King died. This was a period when Elvis was arguably at the top of his game as an entertainer, relentlessly touring America with a big, super-tight ensemble of outstanding musicians, flying in on his jet and collecting a million dollars a show. Yet he was at a critically low ebb, derided for embracing Las Vegas's cheesy showbiz values and pouring out subpar albums overstuffed with middle-of-the-road material barely fit for his stellar talents.
Yet here we are, still sifting through his recordings for lost gems. An extended five-disc box set that includes 89 rarities, mainly rehearsals and out-takes, more than half of which have never come out officially before. Its chief selling point is that it features songs stripped of excess overdubs to give Elvis a more raw and contemporary sound. It makes you wonder where they find this stuff? What dusty vault still contains unreleased Elvis recordings more than half a century since he died?
Elvis put out 24 studio albums and 17 soundtracks within a 21-year period between his recording debut aged 19 in 1954 and death aged 42 in August 1977. Since then, there have been a mind-boggling 307 posthumous compilations, 21 remix albums, 80 box sets and 271 special collectors' releases in the Follow That Dream series. That is a lot of music, and a lot of it is the same music, repackaged over and over again.
The 'Elvis lives' slogan started appearing in the immediate aftermath of his televised funeral procession, as the world grappled with the sudden disappearance of this lightning-bolt figure who had symbolised such virility. Nearly half a century later, what started out as a kind of sentimental wish seems manifestly true in terms of the way Elvis has persisted as a fixture of popular culture. The curation of the Elvis legend and management of his estate have become object lessons in the commercial exploitation of posthumous music careers. Where Elvis treads, every ageing pop brand (and their heirs) can only aspire to follow.
Mercifully it is not all exploitative tat like the much derided 'interactive experience' Elvis Evolution that opened in London in July, charging up to £300 for a bit of pimped-up video footage and some over-familiar memorabilia. Elvis racks up huge streaming numbers, with more than 20 million monthly listeners on Spotify. A close look at the statistics is fascinating. His key modern audience (according to music industry site Chartmetric) are not old rock'n'roll diehards but women between the ages of 25 and 34. His most popular song is not even one of his classic rockers but dreamily romantic 1961 ballad Can't Help Falling in Love, which has garnered over a billion Spotify streams.
Connecting to new generations is crucial to posthumous longevity. You have to remain present in the streaming and social media mix, with constant new releases (archive or remixes), documentaries and films (Baz Luhrmann's 2022 Elvis biopic provided a huge boost to his income and image) and even live (or almost live) performances. The best example is probably Queen, who are Spotify's most streamed vintage musical artists at number 37, and have toured with substitute singers Paul Rodgers and Adam Lambert since the death of Freddie Mercury in 1991.
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If we include the Beatles (at 55), Nirvana (111), Bee Gees (335) and the Cranberries (482), there are just 14 deceased vintage 20th-century artists in Spotify's all-time top 500 streamers (Michael Jackson at 78, Bob Marley, 122, Tupac Shakur, 157, Elvis, 205, Frank Sinatra, 208, David Bowie, 224, the Notorious BIG, 249, Whitney Houston, 294, and film composer John Williams, 446). There are also a number of late contemporary 21st-century stars, including Amy Winehouse (343), Aviici (74) and rappers Juice Wrld (21), XXXTentacion (20), Mac Miller (70) and Pop Smoke (97).
Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath's streams skyrocketed this week following Osbourne's death, increasing between 1,000 and 2,000 per cent, hurling them into Spotify's current top 200 and establishing Ozzy as the number one heavy metal artist in the world. I wonder if Sabbath might be tempted to tour again with another singer, Queen style? The three surviving members were on incredible form at Ozzy's farewell concert, and it would almost be a shame if they let that music fade away. There would be no shortage of contenders, with great singers from pop star Yungblud to Rival Sons' Jay Buchanan and Lzzy Hale of Halestorm giving powerful renditions of Sabbath classics at that moving show.
Death can be disturbingly good for business, as anyone who has pored over Forbes's ghoulishly fascinating annual chart of highest-earning dead celebrities can attest. Yet there are notable absences, too, from once-supreme bands and stars who appear to be fading from the firmament, such as the Doors, Marvin Gaye and even Jimi Hendrix. To protect your legacy, you have to work it.
Elvis Presley's personal fortune at death was a modest $5m (around $20m/£15m adjusted for inflation). By 2022, it was estimated at more than $1bn, and he is still raking in around $100m a year, with his granddaughter, Riley Keough, his sole beneficiary following the death of her mother, Lisa-Marie, in 2023. Elvis is literally worth more dead than alive.
Sunset Boulevard is out now
On the Record
I've been listening to Lord Huron's fine new album, The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1, a slice of atmospheric Americana with thoughtful lyrics, pitched somewhere between such unmodern influences as the Band and Chris Isaak. Movie star Kristen Stewart lends her moodily dramatic delivery to one track. The surprising thing is how popular this old-fashioned, rootsy US quartet are. One of their songs, The Night We Met, has accrued more than three billion plays on Spotify since its release in 2015. It is the 22nd most popular song of the streaming age, putting it ahead of anything by Taylor Swift (whose Cruel Summer is number 28 in all-time streams).
Come critical lists and award season, I expect Jim Legxacy to be a contender for his intriguing second album, Black British Music. He is a singer, rapper and producer with an experimental bent married to sinuous pop craft, blending indie, rock and folk with quirky electronica and grime influences. It hints at the shapeshifting potential of such groundbreaking American producer-songwriters as Frank Ocean and Kanye West, and provides an interesting snapshot of a kind of uniquely British take on modern musical forms.