![Elvis Presley Elvis Presley in Nashville 1956](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/151214-elvis-presley-03.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
In 1954, Elvis Aaron Presley was working as a truck driver for $35 a week. Two years later, he was raking in $12,500 for a week’s work in Las Vegas. Before long, a surname was no longer required to invoke the megastar LIFE dubbed a “howling hillbilly success.”
Though he began recording music in 1953, it was in 1956 that Presley—born on Jan. 8, 1935—became a phenomenon. That was also the year he first appeared in the pages of LIFE, in a one-page story about the runaway success of “Heartbreak Hotel.” The magazine explained:
A lover’s lament called Heartbreak Hotel sung by Elvis Presley is the best-selling record in the country this week, and the 21-year-old hillbilly who howls, mumbles, coos and cries his way through it has overnight become the biggest singing attraction for teen-agers in the U.S.
A string of television appearances introduced the young singer to households across America, and within a short time he was inspiring frantic behavior among overwhelmed fans. “Shortly girls were quivering and fainting wherever he turned up to sing Long Tall Sally, I Got a Woman, and Blue Suede Shoes,” the magazine explained. “On a tour of Texas last week they kicked through a plateglass door in Amarillo to get him to autograph their arms and underclothes.”
Here, on what would have been Presley’s 81st birthday, is an intimate look at a Nashville recording session for a new star who would, in due time, become a legend.
Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.
![Elvis Presley Elvis Presley in Nashville 1956](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/151214-elvis-presley-01.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Neal Jr. Matthews;Elvis Presley;Hoyt Hawkins;Hugh Jarrett;Gordon Stoker Elvis Presley in Nashville 1956](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/151214-elvis-presley-02.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Elvis Presley Elvis Presley in Nashville 1956](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/151214-elvis-presley-03.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Elvis Presley Elvis Presley in Nashville 1956](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/151214-elvis-presley-04.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Elvis Presley;D. J. Fontana;Scotty Moore;Gordon Stoker Elvis Presley in Nashville 1956](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/151214-elvis-presley-05.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Neal Jr. Matthews;Elvis Presley;Hoyt Hawkins;Hugh Jarrett;Gordon Stoker Elvis Presley in Nashville 1956](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/151214-elvis-presley-06.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Neal Jr. Matthews;Elvis Presley;Bill Black;D. J. Fontana;Hugh Jarrett;Gordon Stoker;Hoyt Hawkins Elvis Presley in Nashville 1956](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/151214-elvis-presley-07.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Steve Sholes;Elvis Presley Elvis Presley in Nashville 1956](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/151214-elvis-presley-08.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Elvis Signs Autographs Elvis Presley in Nashville 1956](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/151214-elvis-presley-09.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
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Write to Eliza Berman at eliza.berman@time.com