Elvis on the Rise

When Elvis went back into the studio in Memphis, he recorded “Hound Dog” and “Don't Be Cruel.” Then he took three weeks of vacation. He was dating June Juanico, a beauty queen from Biloxi, Mississippi. She wasn't the only girl he was dating. Elvis's career was his priority and he did not want to settle down. He never let his romances get too intimate because he had an image to protect. His career would suffer from any scandal about girls.

At home in Memphis, Elvis signed autographs for hours every day, a practice that he would keep up for life. Elvis's fame meant that he was rarely alone. Fans on the street mobbed him. At his Fourth of July concert in Memphis in 1956—the day was renamed Elvis Presley Day by the mayor of the city—the crowd was so loud that it was said that extra sleeping pills were given to patients in the nearby hospitals.