A sparkling white bell-bottom jumpsuit, embroidered
with rhinestones, fashioning gold and
diamond ram’s head necklace with a gold and diamond guitar-shaped ring – yes,
this is none other than ‘The King of Rock and Roll’ Elvis Presley and we
certainly ‘can’t help falling in love with him’. The epitome of rock music,
Presley redefined the way people perceived music and swept them off their feet
with his charm. While Presley’s music reached everyone’s ears far, above and
beyond, some facts about him are yet to reach the public.

Getting the cat out of the bag, here are five facts you may
not have heard about ‘The King of Rock and Roll’:

1.      
Elvis Presley had a twin brother

If one is good, two is better. On January
8, 1935, Gladys Presley gave birth to two baby boys, Jesse Garon and 35 minutes
later, Elvis Aaron Presley in East Tupelo, Mississippi.

Unfortunately, Jesse
was a stillborn and was buried in the nearby Priceville Cemetery. Presley spoke
of his twin brother throughout his life.

2.      
Presley dyed his hair black with shoe polish

Presley took his nickname too seriously as
he always dressed and groomed himself like a king. His signature look was his
raven-black hair smoothened toward the back and side. To much surprise, his
hair was naturally blonde.

He supposedly used shoe polish to make his hair
black. Later on, he switched to hair dyes such as Miss Clairol 51D and Black
Velvet & Mink Brown by Paramount. 

3.      
Bye Bye Polio, courtesy Elvis

Presley not only cured aching hearts with
his voice, he also saved lives. In 1955, an American virologist Jonas Salk
finally developed one of the first successful polio vaccines. However, for an
entire year, doctors faced difficulty convincing the teenagers to take the
shot.  So, applying  a different tactic, the doctors played with
the teenagers’ minds. Before his performance of the ‘Ed Sullivan Show’, Presley
posed for the press and was administered the polio vaccine from doctors.

The
photograph was published in the ‘New York Times’ the next day. Following this,
polio cases went down by 90% between 1950 and 1960.

4.      
The Elvis sandwich

On the night on February 1, 1976, Presley
boarded his private jet from Graceland to Denver to suffonsify his craving for
Fool’s Gold – and 8,000 calorie sandwich made from a hollowed-out loaf filled
with an entire jar of peanut butter, one jar of jelly and a pound of bacon. He,
along with his friends from Denver police, landed in Denver at 1:40 am.

They
were greeted by the owners of Colorado Mine Company carrying 22 freshly made
Fool’s Gold loaves. Presley and his friends gorged on the loaves for three
straight hours. The company is now closed, but the teenage chef who prepared
Elvis’s snack opened his own joint called Nick’s Cafe, where he still sells the
popular sandwich.

Also Read | Elvis Presley’s only grandson dies aged 27

5.   
Presley never wrote any song

Presley was quite the singer, but never a
writer. He would tweak the songs singing
them with slower tempos. For instance, the popular song ‘Hound Dog’ was
originally performed by Big Mama Thornton.

Just like a pandora box, there was much more to Presley
than white jumpsuits, bedazzling jewellery and gyrating hips!