Happy 77th Birthday, Elvis!

This past Sunday, January 8^th, fans the world over gathered to celebrate and remember the life of the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, on the anniversary of his 77^th birthday. Thousands of guests visited the Heartbreak Hotel and other Graceland attractions, as well as the Elvis Presley Birthplace in Tupelo, Mississippi to honor the King, who passed away in 1977. In Memphis, the historic city where Elvis’s prodigious talents first came to light, officials proclaimed the date a new city-wide holiday, Elvis Presley Day.

Elvis has the largest and most dedicated following in the history of show business, and this year’s birthday festivities jump-start what will undoubtedly be a moving year for Elvis fans worldwide, as it commemorates the 35^th anniversary of his untimely death at the age of 42. For Presley enthusiasts searching to learn more about the life and career of the biggest name in show business during this historic anniversary year, Overlook offers a wide range of books about the King, ranging from encyclopedic compendiums detailing his dual careers on the stage and on the screen, to original fiction inspired by the Presley legacy.

Elvis first performed in Vegas in 1958 and bombed. His rockabilly act was considered too uncouth for an older audience used to show tunes, and he didn’t return until 1963. By the late 1960s, however, the King had won over the city of sin, and would ultimately perform more than eight hundred sold-out shows throughout the city’s hotels and casinos before his death in 1977. Elvis in Vegas, the latest addition to the Overlook Elvis collection, spotlights the King’s life and career in Las Vegas. Published in late 2011, it features over 300 full-color and black-and-white photos, as well as concert and set lists, news clippings, and interviews. Written and compiled by Elvisologist and long time Presley friend Paul Lichter, Elvis in Vegas is the missing volume in any Elvis aficionado’s collection.

For a more comprehensive guide to all things Presley, The Elvis Encyclopedia by Adam Victor is “a valuable one-stop source of all things informational about the King. The A-Z reference covers seemingly every person, place, and thing that touched Elvis's eventful life” (Bookpage). A visual compendium of Elvis’s career, featuring more than four hundred photographs ranging from never-before seen candid moments to the extraordinary iconic images the world has come to love, Elvis in Vegas is the definitive one-stop resources for fans and scholars of the King.

Elvis’s Hollywood years are rigorously documented in The Elvis Film Encyclopedia, a guidebook to Elvis’s more than thirty iconic appearances on the silver screen, as well as the original music he wrote and recorded for his films ranging from fan favorites Love Me Tender, Jailhouse Rock, and King Creole to the golden-globe winning documentary Elvis on Tour. With an unbiased view, one-to-five star ratings for all his movies, as well as complete credits, synopses, and soundtrack details, The Elvis Film Encyclopedia offers a fresh look at the cultural phenomenon and the distinctive place Elvis’s movies hold in film history.

Part mystery, part love story, part commentary on America’s waning presence throughout the world, P.F. Kluge’s Biggest Elvis tells the story of a trio of Elvis impersonators working out of a club called Graceland set in the Philippines. Biggest Elvis revives and re-envisions the life of America’s leading twentieth-century folk hero in an edgy and compassionate novel that NPR calls, “highly entertaining.”

It's Viva Las Vegas for ELVIS WEEK 2011

It's Elvis Week in Memphis, the annual gathering of Elvis fans from around the word who come to Graceland to pay respects to the King, who died on August 16, 1977.

In 2008, Overlook published the most definitive and all-encompassing book on Elvis Presley, The Elvis Encyclopedia, by Adam Victor. This critically-acclaimed and truly monumental document is an essential part of every Elvis fan's library.

But there's more! Coming in November is a brand new volume, Elvis in Vegas, which concentrates on the many years Elvis spent in Las Vegas. The author, Paul Lichter, is one of the world's leading authorities on the subject of Elvis Presley. Featuring more than 300 full-color and black-and-white photographs – many of which have never been seen – Elvis in Vegas is the only book to focus exclusively on the Vegas years, which ran from the late 1960s (he married Priscilla in 1967 at the Aladdin) to his death in 1977. Over the years, Elvis performed over 800 sold-out shows in Vegas, mostly at the International, which later became the Hilton. This was the era of Elvis in jump suits, 25 piece bands, state of the art sound and stage design, and of course the mighty spectacle of the King performing on stage. Lavishly illustrated and beautifully produced, Elvis in Vegas also includes a comprehensive overview of Elvis’s life in Vegas – concerts, set lists, news clippings, interviews, and details about his legendary month-long hotel engagements.

Elvis in Vegas will be published on October 27, 2011, and available in fine bookstores and through online booksellers.