ELVIS PRESLEY was the biggest musician on the planet before he sadly passed away in August 1977, aged 42.

Here's everything you need to know about the American star, regarded as the biggest music artist of the 20th Century, on what would have been his 87th birthday.

What was Elvis Presley's cause of death?

Elvis Presley died at the age of 42 following drug abuse, with his official cause of death ruled as a heart attack.

At the time, Elvis was suffering from the following ailments – high blood pressure, an enlarged colon, liver damage, and emphysema.

It’s also reported that he was bed-ridden and weighed 25 stones. But since his death, there have been many conspiracy theories that he is still alive.

In the 2018 documentary Elvis Presley: The Searcher, it is suggested that the singer suffered from a painkiller addiction and committed suicide.

When did the 'King of Rock and Roll' die?

On August 16, 1977, Elvis was found dead in the bathroom, face down in front of the toilet at his home in Graceland, Memphis.

When the paramedics arrived, he was cold, blue, and had no vital signs – it is thought he had been dead for an hour.

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But he was transported by ambulance to Baptist Memorial Hospital where a vain attempt at resuscitation occurred because “he was Elvis.”

What are Elvis Presley's most iconic songs?

Elvis has left a huge legacy and certainly put his print on the music industry, with a string of insanely successful tracks.

One is Return to Sender, which was a hit in 1962 and peaked at number one in the UK – it was the Christmas number, although it was released in September.

His remaster of B.J Thomas' track Always on My Mind was made weeks after he separated from his wife Priscilla and is widely considered as one of his most successful songs from the seventies.

Other major tracks on his roster include Blue Suede Shoes, All Shook Up, Hound Dog, and Jailhouse Rock.

Elvis' song Suspicious Minds, released in 1969, was his last number one single in the US and reached number two in the UK.

Despite it being over four decades since the King of Rock and Roll's death, in 2018 his daughter Lisa-Marie Presley released a new album featuring a duet with her father. 

Where is Graceland?

Graceland is a mansion and estate in Memphis, Tennessee, specifically Elvis Presley Boulevard, Whitehaven.

It attracts thousands of visitors every year because it was once the property of Elvis himself and Graceland now exists as a museum, which was opened to the public on June 7, 1982.

The site was declared a National Historic landmark in 2006, and it is the second most visited house in the US, with an estimated 650,000 visitors a year, only behind the White House.

The name Graceland comes from the original landowner Stephen Toof’s daughter Grace, and it was eventually purchased by the King in March 1957.

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