Lisa Marie Presley, the Daughter of Elvis Presley, Dies at 54
New York Times – By Eduardo Medina and April Rubin – Jan 12, 2023
Lisa Marie Presley, the singer-songwriter and only child of Elvis Presley, died on Thursday after a medical emergency and a brief hospitalization. She was 54.
“It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us,” her mother, Priscilla Presley, said in a statement, according to The Associated Press. “She was the most passionate, strong and loving woman I have ever known.”
Earlier in the day, Priscilla Presley said that her daughter had been receiving medical attention but did not share more information.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement on Thursday that it had responded to a call about a woman in Calabasas, Calif., who was “not breathing” but did not further specify the person’s condition. Her representative, Roger Widynowski, could not be immediately reached for comment on Thursday night.
“Upon the deputies’ arrival, paramedics were performing CPR and assessing the patient’s status,” the authorities said. “They determined the patient had signs of life and immediately transported her to a local hospital for further medical care.”
The daughter of one of the most celebrated artists in history, Ms. Presley followed the career path of her father, Elvis Presley. She released three albums in which she set out to distinguish her rock sound while also paying homage to the man who forever changed the American soundscape by blending blues, gospel, pop and country.
The enormous legacy of her father was a constant presence throughout her life. On Tuesday, she was again celebrating him at the Golden Globes, telling Extra TV that Austin Butler, who won the lead acting award for drama for his performance in Baz Luhrmann’s biopic “Elvis” on Tuesday, had perfectly captured the essence of her father.
“I was mind-blown, truly,” said Ms. Presley, who was 9 years old when her father died in 1977. “I actually had to take, like, five days to process it because it was so spot on and authentic.”
The father and daughter were extremely close, with Elvis once flying her out to Idaho after she said she had never seen snow. Her father named his 1958 Convair 880 private jet “the Lisa Marie.”
Ms. Presley owned Graceland, Elvis’ estate in Memphis, and her father’s artifacts. She also owned 15 percent of Elvis Presley Enterprises.
Her music career, however, never exploded as it had for her father. Still, his influence was evident in her songs and some lyrics. In her debut album from 2003, “To Whom It May Concern,” she sings in the bluesy, melancholic song “Lights Out” that “someone turned the lights out there in Memphis. That’s where my family’s buried and gone.”
Still, her last name had always enshrined her as a celebrity. And her star-studded relationships only deepened that perception.
From 1994 to 1996, she was married to Michael Jackson. Together, the pair — one the daughter of the king of rock n’ roll, the other regarded as the king of pop — attracted the glare of cameras and bountiful attention. In 2002, she married the actor Nicolas Cage, but the couple separated within a four-month period that same year.
Before Mr. Jackson, she married the musician Danny Keough in 1988. They separated after six years and had two children together, including the actress Riley Keough and Benjamin Keough, who died by suicide at age 27 in 2020. In recent years, she was married to Michael Lockwood, with whom she had twin daughters, Finley Lockwood and Harper Lockwood. They divorced in 2021.
In a foreword of a book “The United States of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain,” Ms. Presley wrote about her own struggle with addiction.
Posted by Teri Perticone
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