On this day, March 3, in 1956, Elvis Presley’s first single reached the top 100, peaking at number 68. Before the month was out, it was at number nine and finally, on May 5, 1956, it reached number one. on the Billboard 100. But that single, Heartbreak Hotel, was written after a tragedy about a man’s death made headlines.
Heartbreak Hotel was first written in October 1955 by Mae Boren Axton, a high school teacher, along with Tommy Durden, a Jacksonville singer-songwriter. Both writers were huge Elvis fans and aimed to have this song in front of him to perform.
They attempted to hold a meeting with Elvis’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, several times, but were rebuffed each time. But finally, he submitted and agreed to meet with them. Parker loved the track and agreed to hook up Axton and Durden with Elvis to see what he thought of it. Naturally, he adored the song and agreed to record it as soon as possible.
However, Elvis did not know at first how tragic the story of the real Heartbreak Hotel was.
When Elvis first met Axton and heard the demo, he reportedly yelled, “Hot dog, Mae, play that again!”
He then went on to listen to Heartbreak Hotel ten times. In doing so, she memorized the lyrics and jumped right into the recording booth to lay the foundation for her own version of the song. It was her first single with RCA Records.
The single was released on January 27, 1956, but did not begin airplay until March. Once she got into the top ten, things really took off for the star.
Heartbreak Hotel sold 300,000 copies in a matter of weeks. By the end of its run, it had sold over a million copies. In the process, it became Elvis’s first certified gold record.
In 1995, Heartbreak Hotel was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine named it one of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
His next number one single came later that year in the form of Don’t Be Cruel.
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