Elvis Said Success ‘Just Scares Me’
Elvis Presley achieved a massive level of success early in his career and maintained his fame for two decades. While he eventually grew more accustomed to fame, his level of celebrity shocked him at first. He could hardly believe the effect he had on people and he found it a bit overwhelming. He said that he felt a bit scared of his success.
Elvis Presley said his level of success frightened him
Elvis began his music career in the early 1950s when he recorded songs as a gift for his mother. By 1956, he had cemented his celebrity status.
“[1956 was] when everything took off,” his bodyguard Red West said in the book Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy. “Everything he touched turned to gold, he couldn’t do a thing wrong.”
Fans wept their way through Elvis’ shows and he jumped into a film career. While many criticized him, his detractors did nothing to slow his atmospheric rise. This began to frighten him.
“[Success] just scares me,” he told reporters, per the book The Colonel by Alanna Nash. He added that his fans’ dedication “makes me want to cry. How does all this happen to me?”
Elvis Presley was grateful for his fans, even as success overwhelmed him
While Elvis felt overwhelmed by his fans’ love, he still appreciated it.
“I love ‘em,” he said, per the Chicago Tribune. “Without them, I’d be lost.”
He also learned to take pleasure in their fervent reactions to him. He felt a thrill after a crowd began brawling during one concert.
“As we sped away, Elvis was laughing like a madman,” West said. “He had never turned a crowd on like that before, and he loved it. He was laughing, and then I started to laugh, too. There was a civil war back there.”
Elvis continued to seek out reactions like this for the rest of his career. He felt that his fans’ rabid behavior meant that his career was in good shape.
He developed an ego as his career advanced
In the later years of his career, Elvis had learned to appreciate and even crave fame and attention. He developed an ego that, according to his bodyguards, impacted the way he treated others.
“He wasn’t interested in other performers. In fact, he didn’t like other performers,” bodyguard Sonny West said. “He would always have something catty to say about them. If they came to his dressing room to see him, he would keep them waiting for an hour on end before he would make his entrance.”
He grew to expect attention from people and grew frustrated when he didn’t have every eye in the room on him. His bodyguards said this was a shame to witness.
“Unless he is the center of attention, he just isn’t interested,” Sonny West said. “His ego is just out of control … and it’s a pity because he wasn’t like that way back … It hurts to see someone you love change so very much.”
