Editing Elvis Presley (section)

==== Final months and death ====
{{See also|Elvis Presley death conspiracy theories}}
{{Listen|type=music|filename=Hurt (Presley).ogg|title="Hurt" |description=An R&B hit for [[Roy Hamilton]] in 1955 and a pop hit for [[blue-eyed soul]] singer [[Timi Yuro]] in 1961, Presley's [[Southern soul|deep soul]] version was picked up by country radio in 1976.{{sfn|Jorgensen|1998|p=397}}}}
After Presley's relationship with Linda Thompson ended,{{sfn|Gostin|2023}} he began dating [[Ginger Alden]] in November 1976; he proposed marriage to Alden two months later.{{sfn|Speakman|2023}}

Journalist Tony Scherman wrote that, by early 1977, "Presley had become a grotesque caricature of his sleek, energetic former self. Grossly overweight, his mind dulled by the pharmacopoeia he daily ingested, he was barely able to pull himself through his abbreviated concerts."{{sfn|Scherman|2006}} According to Andy Greene of ''Rolling Stone'', Presley's final performances were mostly "sad, sloppy affairs where a bloated, drugged Presley struggled to remember his lyrics and get through the night without collapsing ... Most everything from the final three years of his life is sad and hard to watch."{{sfn|Greene|2018}} In [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]], Louisiana, he was on stage for less than an hour and "was impossible to understand".{{sfn|Guralnick|1999|p=628}} On March 31, he canceled a performance in [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana|Baton Rouge]], unable to get out of his hotel bed; four shows had to be canceled and rescheduled.{{sfn|Guralnick|1999|pp=628–630}}

Despite the accelerating deterioration of his health, Presley fulfilled most of his touring commitments. According to Guralnick, fans "were becoming increasingly voluble about their disappointment, but it all seemed to go right past Presley, whose world was now confined almost entirely to his room and his [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]] books".{{sfn|Guralnick|1999|p=634}} Presley's cousin, Billy Smith, recalled how he would sit in his room and chat for hours, sometimes recounting favorite [[Monty Python]] sketches and his past escapades, but more often gripped by paranoid obsessions.{{sfn|Guralnick|1999|pp=212, 642}}

"[[Way Down]]", Presley's last single issued during his lifetime, was released on June 6, 1977. That month, CBS taped two concerts for a television special, ''[[Elvis in Concert]]'', to be broadcast in October. In the first, shot in [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]] on June 19, Presley's voice, Guralnick writes, "is almost unrecognizable, a small, childlike instrument in which he talks more than sings most of the songs, casts about uncertainly for the melody in others, and is virtually unable to articulate or project".{{sfn|Guralnick|1999|p=638}} Two days later, in [[Rapid City, South Dakota|Rapid City]], South Dakota, "he looked healthier, seemed to have lost a little weight, and sounded better, too", though, by the conclusion of the performance, his face was "framed in a helmet of blue-black hair from which sweat sheets down over pale, swollen cheeks".{{sfn|Guralnick|1999|p=638}} Presley's final concert was held in [[Indianapolis]] at [[Market Square Arena]], on June 26, 1977.{{sfn|Harrison|2016|p=23}}

The book ''[[Elvis: What Happened?]]'', co-written by the three bodyguards fired a year prior, was published on August 1.{{sfn|Stanley|Coffey|1998|p=148}} It was the first exposé to detail Presley's years of drug misuse. He was devastated by the book and tried unsuccessfully to halt its release by offering money to the publishers.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}} By this point, he suffered from multiple ailments: [[glaucoma]], [[high blood pressure]], [[liver damage]], and an [[megacolon|enlarged colon]], each aggravated—and possibly caused—by drug abuse.{{sfn|Higginbotham|2002}} His last appearance in public occurred during the early morning hours of August 8, 1977, when he rented the entire [[Libertyland]] amusement park in Memphis for himself and about ten others.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Srubas|first=Paul|date=June 20, 2016|title=Zippin Pippin Roller Coaster Closed After 3 Hurt|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/nation-now/2016/06/20/zippin-pippin-accident/86160364/|work=[[USA Today]]|access-date=March 23, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128004844/https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/nation-now/2016/06/20/zippin-pippin-accident/86160364/|archive-date=January 28, 2022}}</ref>

[[File:Elvis burial site.jpg|thumb|alt=A long, ground-level gravestone reads "Elvis Aaron Presley", followed by the singer's dates, the names of his parents and daughter, and several paragraphs of smaller text. In the background is a small round pool, with a low decorative metal fence and several fountains.|Presley's grave at [[Graceland]]|upright=0.8]]
On August 16, 1977, Presley was scheduled on an evening flight out of Memphis to [[Portland, Maine|Portland]], Maine, to begin another tour. That afternoon his fiancée Ginger Alden discovered him unresponsive on the bathroom floor of his Graceland mansion.{{sfn|Alden|2014}} Attempts to revive him failed, and he was pronounced dead at [[Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis|Baptist Memorial Hospital]] at 3:30&nbsp;pm;{{sfn|Guralnick|1999|pp=645–648}} he was 42.{{sfn|Harrison|2016|p=242}}

President [[Jimmy Carter]] issued a statement that credited Presley with having "permanently changed the face of American popular culture".{{sfn|Woolley|Peters|1977}} Thousands of people gathered outside Graceland to view the open casket. One of Presley's cousins, Billy Mann, accepted {{US$|18000|link=yes}} ({{Inflation|US|18000|1977|fmt=eq|r=-3}}) to secretly photograph the body; the picture appeared on the cover of the ''[[National Enquirer]]''{{'}}s biggest-selling issue ever.{{sfn|Hopkins|2007|p=386}} Alden struck a $105,000 ({{Inflation|US|105000|1977|fmt=eq|r=-3}}) deal with the ''Enquirer'' for her story, but settled for less when she broke her exclusivity agreement.{{sfn|Guralnick|1999|p=660}} Presley left her nothing in his [[will and testament|will]].{{sfn|Victor|2008|pp=581–582}}

Presley's funeral was held at Graceland on August 18. Outside the gates, a car crashed into a group of fans, killing two young women and critically injuring a third.{{sfn|Matthew-Walker|1979|p=26}} About 80,000 people lined the processional route to [[Forest Hill Cemetery (Memphis, Tennessee)|Forest Hill Cemetery]], where Presley was buried next to his mother.{{sfn|Pendergast|Pendergast|2000|p=108}} Within a few weeks, "Way Down" topped the country and UK singles chart.{{sfn|Whitburn|2006|p=273}}{{sfn|Warwick|Kutner|Brown|2004|pp=860–866}} Following an attempt to steal Presley's body in late August, the remains of both Presley and his mother were exhumed and reburied in Graceland's Meditation Garden on October 2.{{sfn|Guralnick|1999|p=660}}