Lisa Marie Presley

Lisa Marie Presley (born February 1, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American singer, daughter of Elvis Presley and his wife Priscilla Beaulieu Presley.

Lisa Marie is a close friend of her father's ex-girlfriend Linda Thompson. In 2003, after advice from Thompson's record producer and then-husband David Foster, she launched a career as a singer. Her debut album, To Whom It May Concern, reached #5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and was certified gold. To promote it she presented a concert in the UK, something that her father never did. Presley released her second album, Now What, in 2005 and it reached #9 on the Billboard 200. It was certified gold in November 2005. Unlike her first album, Now What included a Parental Advisory sticker.

Lisa Marie attended a variety of schools, mostly boarding schools, a few in Los Angeles County, and also in Ojai, Ventura County, California. She was expelled from at least one boarding school due to illegal drug abuse, especially cocaine. She was briefly a student at a Church of Scientology school in Los Angeles.

Presley heritage

As Elvis' only child, Lisa Marie inherited his estate. In August 2005, she sold 85 percent of the estate's business holdings to CKX Inc., excluding Graceland itself and the property within it.

Marriages and divorces

Presley married her first husband, musician Danny Keough, on October 3, 1988. They had two children together, Danielle Riley, born May 29, 1989 and Benjamin Storm, born October 21, 1992. Lisa Marie divorced Keough on May 6, 1994 but they still remain friends.

Two weeks after her divorce became official, Lisa Marie married Michael Jackson on May 18, 1994 in the Dominican Republic. The marriage lasted 20 months. There was speculation that Jackson, who owned The Beatles catalog, wanted to buy Elvis Presley's catalog too-- although he already owned several Elvis Presley songs as part of his Sony/ATV Music Publishing company. There was also wide speculation that Jackson married Presley for various public relations purposes, and that she married him for his money, or to recruit him into the Church of Scientology. The two divorced on January 18, 1996.

On August 10, 2002, Presley married Academy Award-winner Nicolas Cage, someone well-known for his Elvis Presley obsession. They divorced after a three-month marriage in 2002.

On January 22, 2006, Presley married her guitarist, Michael Lockwood, in a Japanese-themed ceremony. She met Lockwood through her first husband Keough, and Keough served as best man at the couple's wedding.

The story of her parents' life together, and her birth and childhood until her father's passing away in 1977, was recounted in her mother's 1985 book, Elvis and Me.

Scientology

Presley and her mother were both introduced to the Church of Scientology by John Travolta. She had begun using drugs such as cocaine at age thirteen, but with active help from the Church was reportedly free of drugs by the age of seventeen, although she claims that she was never addicted to drugs. For two years prior to her marriage to Michael Jackson, Presley lived near the Scientology Celebrity Center in Clearwater, Florida while taking courses there with her children. She later sold her house in Clearwater to fellow Scientologist Kirstie Alley. Her first husband, Danny Keough, is an avid member of the Church of Scientology and they have raised and home-schooled their children in the religion.

In 2002, she and businessman Neil Bush (brother of President George W. Bush) testified together before a hearing of the United States Congress to speak out against medicating children for mental disorders, a practice which is forsworn by the Church of Scientology. ^*

In December 2005, Presley and her mother both appeared at the gala opening of Scientology's controversial An Industry of Death, which puts forth a conspiracy theory connecting Adolf Hitler to the psychiatric profession. ^*

Trivia

Her father, who called her Injun, Yisa, and Buttonhead, named one of his private aircraft, a converted CONVAIR 880 jet (original passenger capacity, 100), after her. The airplane "Lisa Marie" is currently on exhibit at the Graceland mansion museum of Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tennessee. The rock band Queen also used this for a flight, and Lisa gave Queen vocalist, Freddie Mercury, a scarf which belonged to her father.

She recently stated, on The Oprah Winfrey Show, that she is 5'2 tall. Lisa Marie Presley on Oprah

She has suffered from depression in the past.

She has a half brother, Navarone, from her mother's 22-year (ended in April 2006) relationship with Marco Garibaldi.

Comedian Dennis Miller cited Lisa Marie's wedding to Michael Jackson as conclusive evidence that Elvis was not alive, because were Elvis alive, he would have "put the kibosh on it".

She has a black belt in karate.

Charities

Lisa Marie Presley supports several charities, including:

Presley Place, which combats homelessness in Memphis.

CCHR, a Scientology-connected group that opposes psychiatry and psychiatrists.

LEAP, Literacy, Education and Abilities Program, a Scientology connected group affiliated with Applied Scholastics that promotes L. Ron Hubbard's studying techniques.

Discography

Albums:

2003 To Whom It May Concern #5 U.S., #51 UK
2005 Now What #9 U.S.

Singles:

2003 "Lights Out" #16 UK
2003 "Sinking In"
2005 "Dirty Laundry" #36 Adult Contemporary
2005 "Idiot"

External links