From poverty to unprecedented glory

Dejan Cukic although he is best known to many as a musician, he has been successful as a publicist for decades. He translated the biographies of many famous performers and groups, including those about the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, to Pink Floyd.

He recently published another one about the king of rock and roll, Elvis Presley. The book "Being Elvis" by Ray Connolly brings rock and roll fans the story of Elvis' life - from poverty to unprecedented fame - based on detailed research. At the same time, audiences around the world are watching the film by the famous Australian director Baz Luhrmann with the simple title "Elvis", and on August 16, it will be exactly 45 years since the "King of Rock and Roll" left us.

Cukić points out that Presley did not create rock, but he was the generator of the rock and roll revolution.

"Rock music was created in the studios where it was created by some other pioneers of that music, like Ike Turner, Little Richard, Chuck Berry... combining traditional black rhythm and blues and white country. However, Elvis' charisma managed to overcome many barriers. First of all, the barrier between white and black audiences. Elvis managed to sell rock and roll to the whole world, the girls started screaming...", said Cukić in an interview for Tanjug.

He does not hide that for his generation, the most important were Elvis' followers, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones...

"Those bands crossed another border: between the new American culture that gave birth to rock and roll and European traditions. We recognize in the music of the Beatles the influences of French chanson and Italian canzone, Russian songs...", claims the musician.

For him, there is no doubt that Elvis' "big bang" was part of a specific puzzle.

"The Second World War was a conflict that the world had not seen before. We had the antichrist Hitler, in whom all the negativity in the world was concentrated, and after that, the trend of a happier life came from America, which is logical because there was no war there. From America, through rock and roll, came a new sound that symbolized energy and colorfulness. The development of the media also contributed to the popularization of rock and roll. Television has become the dominant medium over radio. Film was also a very significant element of Elvis' success story. We have a sexual revolution at the same time... A restrained civilization that meant that things from the bedroom should not be brought out in public, met with a male sex symbol. A young, beautiful guy with a guitar started to 'swirl his hips,'" recalled Cukić, who believes that Elvis' musical success was due to his experience in the gospel church milieu of the black part of America.

He also revealed that Elvis failed to realize his dream - to make a world tour. The manager "prevented" him from doing so.

"Parker entered the US illegally and did not want to risk problems with the police by possibly going abroad. Also, Parker's possessiveness towards Elvis was huge and he did not want to leave him to someone on a possible tour abroad," said Cukić.