As a result, Lisa Marie's death was a blow not just to the Presley family but to the extended "family of fans" worldwide, many of whom watched her grow up and who continue to mourn Elvis, who died at 42 on August 16, 1977, also of cardiac arrest. Her grandfather Vernon, died from the same cause, aged 79.
Family and friends remembered Lisa Marie Presley
Fans paid their respects at Graceland’s gates on Friday, writing messages on the stone wall, leaving flowers and sharing memories of Elvis Presley’s only child, who was one of the last remaining touchstones to the icon whose influence and significance still resonates more than 45 years after his own sudden death.
Elvis Presley's ex, Linda Thompson, shared an image of Elvis with Lisa Marie and wrote, "My heart is too heavy for words…"
Linda Thompson, who dated Lisa Marie's father Elvis Presley from 1972 to 1976, told People magazine that she is "absolutely devastated and shocked" at her death on Thursday aged 54.
"I was so happy to see her at Graceland to celebrate what would have been Elvis's 88th birthday, and then, of course, at the Golden Globes," Thompson, 72, adds about Lisa Marie, who she first met as a young girl.
"She seemed to be on a more positive trajectory emotionally after the unfathomable loss of her beloved son, Benjamin," continues Thompson in reference to the tragic July 2020 suicide of Lisa Marie's late son Benjamin Keough.
"Lisa and I kept in touch off & on for all these years — most recently by text. In fact, the very last text to me was a simple 'Love you Linda' with a heart emoji."
"Lisa Marie was so much like her daddy it was uncanny," adds Thompson, who first met Elvis in 1972 shortly after he separated from Priscilla Presley. "She had his deep, soulful eyes, his pouty lip, and his raucous, irreverent sense of humor. She was a beautiful contradiction like Elvis… complicated in her simplicity. She was brutally honest, straightforward, loving and loyal. I don't think there was a phony cell in her body. I believe she lived her life authentically."
"I will always be profoundly grateful to the little nine-year-old Lisa Marie, who had the presence of mind to call me from Graceland the fateful day her daddy died to give me the news," Thompson told People. "I was the first person she called. To me, that spoke volumes of how close we were, and how sure she was of my love for her daddy. In fact, if there is any solace to be found now, it's in my knowing that Lisa Marie was sure I loved her and her daddy, without reservation and without any agenda…"
Ginger Alden posted: Many healing prayers said for Lisa Marie Presley at this time. 🙏🙏.
It's not always easy knowing all/what to say in moments sometimes but here goes. As many of us share with extreme saddened hearts today the passing of Elvis's daughter, I wanted to reflect.
My time with Lisa Marie was unique for me and special. I grew to care deeply for her and felt the same from her. We didn't have years together but it was quality time spent for sure when she visited Elvis and me at Graceland as a young child in 77 and was able to join us on some tours and visit with me at my family home.
I will always remember riding in the golf cart with Lisa at her father's home, something she loved so very much and taking her to good "ole" Mcdonalds for a burger. We went to Libertyland, rode rides, something we all loved to do. I understood her feelings and appreciated notes she wrote to me.
I remember Lisa coming into Elvis's bedroom one evening, sitting on his bed and as she stared at the television, he tapped me silently behind her. "She has the same look in her eyes as me" he said. That look is not far away from her father's now. I truly wish we could have spoken later in life as I am sure she had many questions.
May you rest in peace Lisa. You were loved and will be deeply missed❤️❤️❤️
Jerry Schilling posted: My heartfelt condolences to Lisa Presley Marie's kids and family.
You have my deepest sympathy and unwavering support. Wishing you peace, comfort, courage, and lots of love at this time of sorrow. My heart goes out to you at this difficult time. Wishing you the best and know you have my full support at every moment.
James Burton Posted: Our hearts are broken, we have been crying so hard 😭
This can't be true! Please pray for the entire family 🙏🙏🙏 We know how hard it is to lose a Child and Mother 💔💔 Lisa is now with Elvis & Benjamin in Heaven ✝️😇. The James Burton Family
Jerry Scheff posted: I am sad about Lisa Marie’ passing
I never really met her, but I first saw her when my ex and I were invited to dinner with Elvis and Priscilla at their Holmby Hills house. Priscilla made chili. We were sitting having drinks before dinner when I looked down a hallway and saw Lisa Marie, walking in her robe and rubbing her eyes. I think she was about three. We had awakened her with our laughter. She was adorable and she obviously slept with her jewelry on: Earrings and a pendant necklace.
When she was about seven, I was right behind her while climbing aboard the Lisa Marie jet. Just inside door was a large drawer filled with candy. Lisa Marie was filling her pockets when the flight attendant suggested that she not fill up on candy because lunch would be served right after takeoff. Lisa Marie looked up with a big, cute, knowing, smile, shoved a piece of candy in her mouth, and said, "I'll tell my daddy.”
I know that Lisa Marie had many ups and downs in her life, but as my stories above indicate, imagine growing up bathed in love as the only child of Elvis Presley.
My heart goes out to Priscilla, Lisa Marie's children, and loved ones.
Jerry
Message from Bill Stanley: I'm going to step away from Facebook for a while. Lisa's death hit me harder than you will ever know. It's almost like I'm hearing about Elvis dying again.💔😢
So many memories keep coming back to me. Like giving her swimming lessons or riding a golf cart with her, or teaching her about soccer.
I remember she made Elvis and all the guys laugh when I said it. Show us how to do a back drop for a Lisa pass. I hit the ball to her, she turned and ran 5 paces, then turned and threw the ball to me. Elvis said, she looks like an NFL quarterback. And so is she.
I love you and miss her, Lisa. Tell your dad we all love him and miss him too."💔✨😢✨💔😢✨💔😢
Baz Luhrmann posted: Over the last year, the entire Elvis movie family and I have felt the privilege of Lisa Marie’s kind embrace. Her sudden, shocking loss has devastated people all around the world. I know her fans everywhere join me in sharing prayers of love and support with her mother, Priscilla, and her wonderful daughters Riley, Finley and Harper.
Lisa Marie, we will miss your warmth, your smile, your love.
Austin Butler stated: "I am eternally grateful for the time I was lucky enough to be near her bright light and will forever cherish the quiet moments we have shared".
Olivia DeJonge posted: "Shattered," the actress, who portrayed Priscilla Presley in Elvis, wrote via Instagram Story. "Privileged to have felt her magnificent presence. And forever indebted to her, for the kindness and support she showed me, and the entire Elvis family. All of my love to Priscilla, Riley, Harper and Finley."
On their YouTube channel, 'Elvis Fans Matter', Billy and Jo Smith recently revealed why they didn’t attend the funeral for Lisa Marie Presley, and commented on the issue of why Billy was fired from Graceland.
On the matter of Billy’s firing from Graceland, they reveal that when Billy was fired and asked why, Jack Soden (EPE CEO) said it was because of Billy’s love-hate relationship with Graceland – Billy loved Graceland but hated what was happening to it when it was opened to the public.
Jo also explained: “After Billy was fired from Graceland, which he was… he had tried to call and talk to Priscilla and she didn’t take his calls. Lisa, he did talk to Lisa and said, ‘Have your Mom call me’, but she never did.
When Billy was let go, he asked what he had done and claimed it was that while he loved Graceland there were some things he hated as the home was being turned into a museum. He said: “If I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t go along with it…" We never saw Lisa or talked to them again after that.”
While some fans feel Billy and Jo didn’t attend Lisa’s funeral because of their “tensions” with Priscilla, the couple commented that everybody grieves in a different way, and they are grieving for the Presley family, but that the real reason they didn’t attend the funeral was “out of respect” for the grieving Presley family.
SUN Records posted: We are saddened to hear about the passing of Lisa Marie Presley. 💔 Our thoughts are with Priscilla and Lisa Marie’s family.
Actor Tom Hanks played her father's manager Col Tom Parker in Baz Luhrmann's 2022 biopic Elvis. On behalf of the couple, Hanks' wife Rita Wilson posted on Instagram that their hearts were "broken". "Tom and I had spent some time with the family during the Elvis movie promotional tour. Lisa Marie was so honest and direct, vulnerable, in a state of anticipation about the movie," she wrote.
"She spoke so eloquently about her father, what the movie meant to her, that it was a celebration of her dad."
Sam Philips Recording posted: We are so deeply saddened at the devastating news this evening. Our deepest sympathy to the Presley family on the passing of Lisa Marie, Elvis and Priscilla’s only daughter. She’s been through so much.
May she be in peace, resting with her son and father now. Our biggest love to those closest to her, our friend Jerry Schilling, Priscilla, and Lisa’s three daughters.
Nicolas Cage, who Presley was previously married to in the early aughts, said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, “This is devastating news. Lisa had the greatest laugh of anyone I ever met. She lit up every room, and I am heartbroken. I find some solace believing she is reunited with her son Benjamin.”
John Travolta expressed his sympathy in a post: “Lisa baby girl, I’m so sorry. I’ll miss you but I know I’ll see you again. My love and heart goes out to Riley, Priscilla, Harper and Finley.”
Fans paid their respects at Graceland's gates on Friday, writing messages on the stone wall, leaving flowers and sharing memories of Elvis Presley's only child, who was one of the last remaining touchstones to the icon whose influence and significance still resonates more than 45 years after his own sudden death.
Lisa Marie was born exactly nine months after the marriage of Elvis Presley to the former Priscilla Beaulieu, who met the King of Rock ‘n Roll at age 14 and later acted in several movies and TV shows after the celebrity couple divorced. With her father's smoldering eyes and signature pout, Lisa Marie was beloved by fans from the moment she was born.
After Elvis and Priscilla divorced in 1973, Lisa Marie spent most of her time in Marina de Rey, California, with her mother, while also frequently staying with her father in California or at Graceland. After Elvis' death when she was 9, she weathered further hardships in the public eye, including high-profile divorces and struggles with addiction.
But her biggest heartbreak came when Benjamin died.
Lisa Marie, who would have celebrated her 55th birthday February 1st, did not have an easy life, as some might think. She stepped out of her father's shadow with her music, but experienced "more than anyone's fair share" of tragedy and heartbreak in her life.
"I've dealt with death, grief and loss since the age of nine years old," she wrote last August. She was just nine when her father Elvis Presley, the King of Rock 'n' Roll, died. She was 52 when her son Benjamin Keough, killed himself in 2020. And she was married 4 times - to pop legend Michael Jackson, actor Nicolas Cage and musicians Keough and Michael Lockwood, but untimely, these marriages did not work out in the end. She was "living together" with her first husband, Danny Keough, at the property when she died.
No matter what storms came her way, including her four divorces, Lisa Marie always found joy in her role as a mother. She was shattered by Benjamin's death, but she remained a fierce protector of her 3 daughters Riley, Finley, and Harper.
In the last few years, it was Lisa Marie's candid vulnerability - and fighting spirit - that drew people to her time and time again. In 2019 she opened up in the foreword of Harry Nelson's book, The United States of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain, about overcoming a secret addiction to prescription painkillers after the birth of her twins. "You may read this and wonder how, after losing people close to me, I also fell prey to opioids," she wrote. "It only took a short-term prescription of opioids in the hospital for me to feel the need to keep taking them."
She inherited her father’s Graceland mansion, Graceland, after the death of her father, grandfather and great-grandmother, and then inherited Elvis Presley’s entire estate when she turned 25.
Where a music legend once called home. Elvis Presley laid down roots and made a lot of history at the famous Memphis, Tennessee mansion.
The late King of Rock ‘n’ Roll purchased the property dubbed Graceland in 1957, one year after his career started to take off. At the time of buying the home, Elvis was in the middle of filming his second movie, Loving You, with Jailhouse Rock next on his docket. While the “Blue Suede Shoes” performer was hard at work, his parents and grandmother resided in the home until he returned from filming. In 1958, Elvis’s mother died at the age of 46.
Months before his mother’s passing, the 'Hound Dog' singer was drafted into the army. During his service, he met his future wife, Priscilla Presley. The two tied the knot in Las Vegas in May 1967. Prior to their nuptials, Priscilla resided at Graceland with Elvis and his family.
The following year, the former couple expanded their family and welcomed daughter Lisa Marie Presley. Lisa Marie spent the first years of her life growing up at Graceland until her parents split in 1972. However, the Tennessee native would return to the Presley family home to visit her dad and celebrate Christmas as a family.
Tragedy struck the mansion in August 1977, when Elvis died at the home at the age of 42. Following the rockstar’s passing, 200 mourners attended the funeral of the “Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” crooner. Elvis is buried onsite alongside his grandmother, his twin brother, Jessie, and other members of the Presley family.
Graceland was left to Lisa Marie in a trust when she was a child. When the songwriter turned 25 in 1993, the trust dissolved and she received full ownership of her childhood home. She later created The Elvis Presley Trust so she and her mother could manage the estate together. Presley was chairman of the board for the Elvis Presley Trust and its business entity, Elvis Presley Enterprises until February 2005, when she sold 85% of the estate, which had an estimated value of US$100 million when she inherited it, but kept control of Graceland. However, she was the sole owner of Graceland Mansion, the 13.8-acre estate of Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tennessee.
After keeping a low profile following the loss of her son, Lisa Marie started to reemerge publicly in recent months for the promotion of the 'ELVIS' biopic. "She was very nervous at first of how the public would react to the film because it was so important to her to do right by her father," says her longtime friend, Guns N' Roses rocker Axl Rose.
Lisa Marie was also a dedicated philanthropist, as she long oversaw the Elvis Presley Charitable Foundation, which benefits homeless families and offers rent-free housing, daycare for children and other services to families in need. She also worked with Oprah Winfrey's Angel Network to provide relief to those affected by Hurricane Katrina, as well as the Dream Factory to benefit children with life-threatening illnesses or disabilities.
Tangentially, she also played an important role with the Grammy Foundation. Lisa Marie was involved with the Grammy Foundation's Gold Grammy Signature Schools program, which recognizes top U.S. public high schools that are making an outstanding commitment to music education during an academic school year. On October 22, 2005, Presley presented a special award to Isaac Hayes at the Memphis Recording Academy Honors. A host of hometown stars gathered to see Presley, Justin Timberlake, Isaac Hayes and David Porter honored by the Memphis chapter of the Recording Academy. Presley and music producer Jimmy Jam presented the award to Hayes.
Lisa Marie Presley - who made headlines with high-profile marriages to singer Michael Jackson and actor Nicolas Cage - was a singer too. But unlike her father, Lisa was an accomplished songwriter whose potent lyrics often reflected part of her life experience.
She released her first album as a singer-songwriter, 'To Whom It May Concern'. The album, by the singer with a blues-tinged voice, yielded the hit song 'Lights Out' and was certified gold marking sales of more than 500,000 units. The album contained her only single to enter the U.K. charts; 'Lights Out', which peaked at No. 16.
For her second album, 'Now What', she co-wrote 10 songs and included a cover of the Ramones’ 'Here Today and Gone Tomorrow'. Both albums, released by Capitol Records, debuted in the Top 10 of the Billboard Top 200 Album chart with her debut album reaching No. 5 in 2003.
Her music showed musical progression. Roots rocker T. Bone Burnett produced her third album 'Storm and Grace' which was released by Republic Records in 2012 and well-reviewed by music critics. To promote the album, Lisa Marie Presley performed the lead single, 'You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet', at Memphis’ legendary SUN Studios, where her father famously recorded.
In 2018, she sang a reimagined duet with her father on the title track of his posthumous compilation of gospel songs, 'Where No One Stands Alone'. “It was a very powerful and moving experience to sing with my father,” Lisa Marie wrote in her notes for the album. “The lyrics speak to me and touch my soul. I’m certain that the lyrics spoke to my father in much the same way.”
She also recorded duet posthumous versions of 'I Love You Because', 'Don't Cry Daddy' and 'In The Ghetto' with her father. Presley also appeared in Michael Jackson's 'You Are Not Alone' video in June 1995 and n 2006, Presley was asked to take part in a video of Johnny Cash's 'God's Gonna Cut You Down'.
From her single 'Lights Out':
“Someone turned the lights out there in Memphis
Ooh, that's where my family's buried and gone
Last time I was there I noticed a space left
Oh, next to them there in Memphis, yeah
In the damn back lawn…”
(Source: Variety / TMZ / Commercial Appeal / NY Times / Sidney Morning Herald / Rolling Stone / People / BBC / Associated Press / CNN / Elvis Information Network / and many others)
