The King of Rock and Roll / The King of Pop

Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson are both called the “King” of their particular genre of music. They also share many other similarities as well as many differences. Presley as well as Jackson were involved in church as children and both were very close to their mothers. Humble beginnings led both singers to great fame, sales of their albums numbered into the millions. They both excelled in martial arts and had black belts in karate.
Presley lived at a theme ranch “Graceland” and Jackson also lived at a theme ranch “Neverland”. While the public knew about Michael Jackson’s chimp, Bubbles; the fact that Elvis owned a chimp, Scatter, was relatively unknown. In death, they were also similar, both died of heart malfunction due to prescription drug overdose and both died lonely. Elvis and Michael were great philanthropists giving millions to charity. Both men have been impersonated around the world. Due to the tendency to overspend, both men died in debt.
Despite the similarities, Michael and Elvis were also very different. While both men started singing as children, Michael was a prodigy and Elvis in school was told that he could not sing. Elvis made his first recording at age 18, with his first performance at age 19. Michael started performing with “The Jackson 5” when he was 6, and started his solo career at age 13. While Michael wrote most of his songs and created his dances, Elvis wrote only song and borrowed his dance moves from African-Americans.

Elvis taught himself to play both guitar and piano, Michael played piano, guitar, and drums but not on a high level. Elvis’ fame was based in Europe and the US, whereas Michael was famous worldwide. Both have a star on Hollywood Boulevard, but Michael has two, one for himself and one for The Jackson 5. Michael who was anorexic, died almost a skeleton while Elvis put on weight in his later years due to diabetes. Elvis and Michael made great contributions to the music world, by either building a genre from scratch or elevating an established genre. They shared many similarities but were also both unique.
Works Cited
Gkane, Marina. Quora. 28 June 2018. 14 October 2018. .