On August 16, 1977, the world lost Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll. But inside the gates of Graceland, a small circle of women lost the man they loved.
Over the years, Priscilla Presley, Linda Thompson, Ginger Alden, and the late Lisa Marie Presley each shared unforgettable accounts of that devastating day. In their own words, here’s how the women closest to Elvis experienced the darkest moment in rock history.
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Priscilla Presley
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Priscilla Presley’s relationship with Elvis spanned 14 years. Married for six years, they were rock and roll’s first true power couple.
Priscilla was not at Graceland on the day Elvis died, but the tragic news reached her in Los Angeles. She vividly remembered receiving the phone call that would forever change her life.
In her book, Softly As I Leave You: Life After Elvis, she recalled meeting her sister, Michelle, for lunch when she learned something was wrong with her ex-husband. Michelle informed her that Joe Esposito, one of Elvis’ closest friends, was desperately trying to reach her.
“It was something about Elvis being in the hospital. My heart stopped. I knew Joe wouldn’t be doing that if it was just another of Elvis’s hospital stays. Something was terribly wrong,” she wrote, in an excerpt published by CBS News.
Priscilla continued, “I did a U-turn and raced home, running traffic lights and going far too fast. Cars skidded to a halt to miss me. It’s a miracle I didn’t get hit. All the way home, I prayed over and over, ‘Dear God, please let it be all right.’ Lisa was at Graceland, due to come home later that day, so she was part of whatever was happening.”
She concluded, “When I reached home, I could hear the phone ringing as I got out of the car. I prayed it would keep ringing until I reached it. I let myself into the house with shaking hands and grabbed the receiver. It was Joe. I said, ‘What’s happened?’ He replied, ‘It’s Elvis. Cilla, he’s dead. We’ve lost him.'”
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Lisa Marie Presley
Lisa Marie Presley’s memoir, From Here to the Great Unknown, was published posthumously in October 2024. Within its pages, she shared her own recollections about the moment her father, Elvis Presley, died.
PEOPLE Magazine published an excerpt from the book. In it, Lisa wrote of learning of Elvis’s passing. She was nine years old.
“I ran to him, but somebody grabbed me, pulled me back. They were trying to work on him. I was screaming bloody murder. I knew it was not good.”
She added that she would “never get past” the sound of her grandfather, Vernon Presley, crying out loud.
“That noise. I’ll never get past that sound of him wailing. I could hear, ‘Oh, he’s gone. He’s gone.’ My life as I knew it was completely over.”
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Linda Thompson
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For four years, from 1972 to 1976, Linda Thompson lived at Graceland and shared a deeply intimate chapter of Elvis’s life. They were together almost every moment of every day, during a time when the King of Rock and Roll was heavily touring and made twice-a-year trips to Las Vegas for his residency.
Linda was not with Elvis when he passed; they had ended their relationship eight months earlier in December 1976.
Thompson recalled the moment she learned of the king’s death via a phone call from his daughter, Lisa Marie Presley. The New York Daily News shared her remarks via PEOPLE Magazine.
Thompson wrote that she was “frozen by a dread of acknowledging the truth.” Lisa Marie exclaimed, “Linda, my daddy’s dead!”
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Ginger Alden
Ginger Alden was engaged to Elvis Presley and with him at Graceland at the time of his death. They had become engaged in January 1977 after knowing one another for two months.
Alden said she woke and realized Elvis was not in bed, but thought nothing of it, as he often went into his bathroom to read. She called her friend, followed by her mother, before checking on him, she explained in her book, Elvis & Ginger.
“I glanced at the clock and saw it was close to 2:20. The bathroom door was cracked open a little,” she began.
“I knocked on the door and asked, ‘Elvis?’ There was no answer. Slowly opening the door, I peered in and saw Elvis on the floor off to the left. I stood paralyzed as I took in the scene,” Alden continued.
She called for help, and security guard Al Strada and Joe Esposito rushed up Graceland’s stairs. They later called Elvis’ personal physician, Dr. George Nichopoulos, and his friend, Charlie Hodge, who all tried to revive him until paramedics arrived. Elvis was declared dead at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee at 3:30 p.m.
Almost five decades have passed since that quiet late-summer afternoon at Graceland. But the loss still feels real for those who shared his life. Elvis belonged to the world, but to Priscilla, Linda, Ginger, and Lisa Marie, he was family.
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