*(1953) Acetate ''My Happiness'' b/w ''That's When Your Heartaches Begin'' (Demo) Elvis Presley

DEMO RECORDING FOR ELVIS PRESLEY AT THE MEMPHIS RECORDING SERVICE 1953 SUN RECORDING STUDIO 706 UNION AVENUE, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE PRIVATE RECORDING - SATURDAY JULY 18, 1953 PRODUCER AND RECORDING ENGINEER - PROBABLY MARION KEISKER Elvis Presley walked into the Memphis Recording Service to record a four-dollar acetate. Elvis knew he had a good voice, and he was hoping to be discovered by Sam Phillips. Phillips was not in that day, but Marion Keisker was. The first song that Elvis Presley recorded at the Memphis Recording Service was "My Happiness". The second number was "That's When Your Heartaches Begin". "My Happiness"/"That's When Your Heartaches Begin" were lathe-recorded directly onto a ten-inch aluminum acetate disc. Soon after recording the demo, Elvis took it over to the East Jackson Avenue in Memphis, home of Ed Leek and his grandmother to play it for them. He left the demo with Leek and never asked for it back. The acetate of "My Happiness"/"That's When Your Heartaches Begin" surfaced in 1988. It was found in the possession of Edwin S. Leek Jr., a classmate of Elvis at Humes High School. Leek says that it was he who urged Elvis to walk into the Memphis Recording Service to make the demo in July 1953. ''MY HAPPINESS'' Composer: - Betty Peterson-Borney Bergantine Publisher: - A.S.C.A.P. - Chappell Music Incorporated Matrix number: - WPA5-2531 - 10 Inch Acetate- Not Originally Issued (2:32) Recorded: - July 18, 1953 Released: - August 1990 First appearance: - RCA BMG (CD) 500/200rpm PD 82227-1/1 mono THE GREAT PERFORMANCES Reissued: - 1999 RCA BMG Music (CD) 500/200rpm 0786367675-1/1 mono SUNRISE "My Happiness" had been a pop record, a country record, and a jazz record before Elvis got to it; his version was sung as a kind of half-confident plaint. ''THAT'S WHEN YOUR HEARTACHES BEGIN'' Composer: - William J. Raskin-Billy Hill-Fred Fisher Publisher: - A.S.C.A.P. - Fisher Music Corporation Matrix number: - WPA5-2532 - 10 Inch Acetate - Not Originally Issued (2:46) Recorded: - July 18, 1953 Released: - June 1992 First appearance: - RCA BMG (CD) 500/200rpm PD 90689(5)-5/1 mono THE COMPLETE 50'S MASTERS Reissued: 1999 RCA BMG Music (CD) 500/200rpm 0786367675-2/2 mono SUNRISE "That's When Your Heartaches Begin" ends (with the words "that's the end") just after what would normally have been a mid-song recitation, although its not clear whether this was intentional. This song was filled with aspiration. If he had hoped for instant recognition, of for Sam Phillips to come out of the control booth to talk to him, he was sadly disappointed. Marion Keisker duly noted his name and number, but weeks and months went by and Elvis heard nothing. After Elvis Presley cut the $3.98 ten-inch acetate of "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin", Elvis sat in the outer lobby while Marion Keisker typed out the label copy on the blank sides of a Prisonaires label "Softly And Tenderly", SUN 189 release. The Prisonaires record was a 1953 release and, as Stanley Kesler remembered, "it was common to take any label and put it on one of the "amateur records". The words "Elvis Presley" were written underneath the title on each side, and Elvis Presley took it with him when he left Sam Phillips' recording service. After the session, Elvis Presley went immediately over to Ed Leek's house on East Jackson Avenue. Eventually, after spinning it for his parents, Elvis Presley and Ed Leek take the record home. Ed Leek stored the disc and forgot about it over time. It was not until August 1988, when the story broke nationally, that Ed Leek sought authentication of the record. It came quickly. There were a number of people in Memphis who were aware of it. On October 10, 1988, Marion Keisker signed an affidavit of authenticity stating that she believed the acetate owned by Ed Leek was Elvis' very first recording. In April 1989, Leek signed for 500,000 dollars, a 50/50 partnership agreement with Sun Entertainment Corporation to release the recording to the public, but he retains sole ownership of the disc. Engineer Allen Stoker mastered the disc to tape at the Country Music Foundation on September 14 and 15, 1989 in Nashville. The sound was cleaned up, but nothing else was added. Ed Leek became a successful airline pilot Captain for TWA and American Airlines. After his death on June 4, 2010, the record was passed on to Leek's niece, Lorisa Hilburn, who consigned the acetate to the Graceland action on January 8, 2015. The disk sold for $240,000 and was won by an online bidder who ''wishes to remain anonymous'' according to the Elvis Presley Enterprises officials. With action house commissions and other fees, the purchase will cost the buyer close to $300,000 total. Name (Or. No. Of Instruments) Elvis Presley - Vocal and Acoustic Rhythm Guitar (Martin Dreadnought 18) Only one copy, i.e. no tape left at the Sun studio *- Digitally Remastered © - 706 UNION AVENUE SESSIONS - ©