July 19th in Elvis History

It's July nineteenth, and on this day in 1954, Elvis's debut single "That's All Right," backed with "Blue Moon of Kentucky," was officially released by Sun Records. The record quickly gained popularity, selling about 20,000 copies and marking the true beginning of Elvis's recording career. Looking back a day earlier to July eighteenth, 1953, a young Elvis dropped by the Memphis Recording Service, part of Sun Records, to record two ballads—"My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin." At the time, Elvis honestly told Marion Keisker, the studio’s secretary, that he didn’t sound like anybody else. He paid \$3.98 for the session and said he was recording the record for his mother’s birthday, though this may have been a cover story. Later, in 1962, Elvis was known to frequent the Fairgrounds in Memphis several nights a week. In 1975, Elvis performed two shows at the Nassau County Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, at 2:30 and 8:30 p.m.