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Uh huh, Elvis was a nice Jewish boy

Francine White’s all shook up over the surprisingly Jewish heritage of Elvis Presley

June 23, 2022 13:56
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3 min read

I’ll put my hands up, I’m a big Elvis fan. I have been since my mum took me to see him in Girl Happy in 1965 when I was six years old, the first of many. Admittedly, I became a bit more circumspect about the films Elvis had been compelled to make as I got older. But he was always on my mind. I’ve been to Elvis’s home, Graceland in Memphis. A friend and I go to every concert of Elvis music by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, hosted by Elvis’s wife Priscilla. It goes without saying that I am beyond excited about the new Baz Luhrmann film, Elvis, released on 24 June.

I’m not alone in my adoration. It is estimated that Elvis has sold more than one billion records worldwide. Stage events fill arenas today as much as any living rock star. His image, like that of Marilyn Monroe, has become iconic and adorns everything from tea towels to watches.

What is it though that makes a nice Jewish girl like me adore the king of rock and roll so much?

Let’s begin with the fact that Elvis was halachically Jewish. I can hear you with your suspicious minds doubting that fact. But genealogists have now confirmed Elvis’s maternal great-great-grandmother was a Jewish woman named Nancy Burdine. It’s believed her family immigrated to America from what is now Lithuania around the time of the American Revolution. Burdine was born in Mississippi in 1826 and died in 1887.

Topics:

Music

Film