Heartbreak Hotel

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Heartbreak Hotel

"Heartbreak Hotel" is a rock and roll

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a form of music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Its roots lay mainly in rhythm and blues, Country music, folk music, gospel music, and jazz....
song performed by Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley was an United Statesn singer, actor, and musician. A cultural icon, he is commonly known simply as "Elvis", and is also sometimes referred to as "List of honorific titles in popular music" or "The King"....
, with Bill Black

Bill Black

William Patton "Bill" Black, Jr. was an United States musician. He is noted for being Elvis Presley's bassist....
(bass

Bass guitar

The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
), Scotty Moore

Scotty Moore

Winfield Scott "Scotty" Moore III is an United States guitarist. He is best known for his backing of Elvis Presley in the first part of his career, between 1954 and the beginning of Elvis' Hollywood years....
(guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
), D.J. Fontana (drums

Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments, such as cowbell s, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single drummer....
), Floyd Cramer

Floyd Cramer

Floyd Cramer was an United States Hall of Fame pianist who was one of the architects of the "Nashville Sound." He popularized the 'slip note' piano style where one note slides effortlessly into the next....
(piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
) and Elvis on rhythm guitar as the main supporting musicians. Recorded in January 1956 in Nashville, the song introduced Presley to the American

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
national music

Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
consciousness. It was released as a single

Single (music)

In the record industry, a single is a song usually used from a current or upcoming album to promote the album. Singles are distributed through a number of ways; originally, they were packaged as "single" records with one or two other songs and sold before the release of the album....
with the b-side song "I Was the One" on January 27 1956. "Heartbreak Hotel" became the first No.1 pop record by Elvis and was the best selling single of 1956.

was the first song recorded by Elvis at RCA Victor.

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Encyclopedia

"Heartbreak Hotel" is a rock and roll

Rock and roll

Elvis Presley

Bill Black

William Patton "Bill" Black, Jr. was an United States musician. He is noted for being Elvis Presley's bassist....
(bass

Bass guitar

Scotty Moore

Guitar

Drum kit

Floyd Cramer

Piano

United States

Music

Single (music)

Song's history

This was the first song recorded by Elvis at RCA Victor. Elvis selected the song. He had earlier promised co-writer Mae Boren Axton

Mae Boren Axton

Mae Boren Axton was known in the music industry as the 'Queen Mother of Nashville'.She received a co-writer credit for the song "Heartbreak Hotel" made popular by Elvis Presley....
that he would want to record it. He arrived at the studio with the song ready to record it without input from RCA. Although producer Steve Sholes was worried, he recorded the song taking it on faith that Elvis knew what he was doing. Most others at RCA Victor believed that it was a mistake, especially after hearing that the finished recording sounded nothing like the prior Elvis recordings at Sun Records.

On February 11, 1956, Presley introduced the song live on the CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American radio network and television network. The name is derived from the initials of Columbia Broadcasting System, its former legal name....
television

Television

Television is a widely used telecommunication mass-media for transmitting and receiving moving , either monochrome or color, usually accompanied by sound....
variety program

Variety show

A variety show or variety entertainment is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and comedy skits, and normally introduced by a Master of Ceremonies or Presenter....
, Stage Show, starring Tommy

Tommy Dorsey

Tommy Dorsey was an United States jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big band era. He was the younger brother of Jimmy Dorsey....
and Jimmy Dorsey

Jimmy Dorsey

James "Jimmy" Dorsey was a prominent United States jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, trumpeter, composer, and big band leader....
, on March 11 and March 24, and on his third (and final) appearance at The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show

The Ed Sullivan Show is an United States television program variety show that ran from June 20, 1948 to June 6, 1971, and was hosted by entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
, also on CBS, on January 6, 1957. Cumulative viewers for these first television performances are estimated at over 65 million. In 1968, he also sang it on his celebrated Comeback TV Special, in a medley with "Hound Dog

Hound Dog (song)

All Shook Up

"All Shook Up" is one of the many hit songs of Elvis Presley. It reached the top of all three U.S. charts , staying there for eight weeks in 1957, from April 13 through May 27....
".

The song is an example of simple verse form based on the eight-bar blues progression. It was written by Thomas Durden, then a steel-guitarist in Smiling Jack Herring and his Swing Billies, and Mae Boren Axton, a teacher at Dupont Jr.-Sr. High School in Jacksonville

Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Duval County, Florida. Since 1968, as a result of the Consolidated city-county of the city and county government , Jacksonville has been the List of United States cities by area city in land area in the continental United States....
, Florida

Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
, and the mother of singer/songwriter/actor Hoyt Axton

Hoyt Axton

Hoyt Wayne Axton was an American country music singer-songwriter, and a film and television actor. He became prominent in the early 1960s, establishing himself as a well-known folk singer on the West Coast with an earthy style and powerful voice....
. She was a publicist for Hank Snow

Hank Snow

Clarence Eugene Snow was a Canadian country music artist. In his career, he charted more than seventy singles on the Billboard country charts from 1950 until 1980....
, who was managed by Colonel Tom Parker, who also managed Elvis Presley. Elvis Presley received co-songwriting credit for his contributions to the final recorded release. In an interview, Durden conceded that he did not recognize the song after Elvis had made the changes to the song in the studio, including changes to the tempo, phrasing, lyrics, and overall sound.

"Heartbreak Hotel"'s lyrical matter deals with the singer's sadness

Sadness

File:A child sad that his hot dog fell on the ground.jpgSadness is an emotion characterized by feelings of disadvantage, loss, and helplessness....
, implicitly that following the end of a romantic

Romantic love

Romance is a general term that refers to a celebration of life often through art, music and the attempt to express love with words or deeds. It also refers to a feeling of excitement associated with love....
relationship. It uses the metaphor

Metaphor

Metaphor is language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects. It is a figure of speech that compares two or more things without using the words "like" or "as." More generally, a metaphor describes a first subject as being or equal to a second object in some way....
of a hotel

Hotel

----A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including Bathroom#Types of bathroomss and air conditioning or clima...
to represent this emotional state. Durden read about a suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the intentional taking of one's own life. Many dictionaries also note the metaphorical sense of "willful destruction of one's self-interest"....
in the Miami Herald in 1955. A well-dressed man had removed all labels from his clothing, destroyed his identity papers and left a note saying: "I walk a lonely street."

Steve Sholes used a hallway at the studio to get a noticeably unusual echo for the single. Sholes was attempting to recapture the Sun Records sound however, Sam Phillips

Sam Phillips

Samuel Cornelius Phillips , better known as Sam Phillips, was an United States record producer who played an important role in the emergence of rock and roll as the major form of popular music in the 1950s....
had used two tape recorders and a slight time delay to create the echo on prior Elvis recordings, unbeknowst to the RCA personnel.

Because the vocals on the original record featured such a heavy use of reverb, the song was immediately lampooned in radio humorist Stan Freberg

Stan Freberg

Stanley Victor Freberg is an United States author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer, and advertising creative director....
's parody of the song, where the lead singer repeatedly asks for "more echo on [his] voice." When Elvis recorded "Hound Dog

Hound Dog (song)

"Hound Dog" is a twelve-bar blues written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and originally recorded by Big Mama Thornton in 1952. Other early versions illustrate the differences among blues, country music, and rock and roll in the mid 1950s....
" a few months later, he had completely taken over the role of producer, using what he learned at Sun Records (although Steve Sholes was still credited) and decided not to use echo.

Song's status on the charts

"Heartbreak Hotel" was no. 1 for 8 weeks on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart when released in 1956 on RCA Records. The record was no. 1 for 17 weeks on the Billboard Country Chart and reached no. 3 on the Billboard Rhythm & Blues Chart. In 2006, more than 50 years after its initial release, "Heartbreak Hotel" returned to no. 1 on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales Chart when re-released.

The song was later ranked #45 on Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J....
's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Song's legacy

There is now a real hotel

Hotel

----A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including Bathroom#Types of bathroomss and air conditioning or clima...
named after the song, and across from Graceland, in Memphis

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County, Tennessee. Memphis rises above the Mississippi River on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff just south of the mouth of the Wolf River ....
, Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States United States. In 1796, it became the sixteenth state to join the United States....
.

A movie with the same title

Heartbreak Hotel (film)

Heartbreak Hotel is a 1988 in film comedy film written and directed by Chris Columbus and starring David Keith and Tuesday Weld. Set in 1972, the story deals with one of the many "legends" involving Elvis Presley about his fictional kidnapping, and his subsequent redemption from decadence....
, based on a mythical incident involving the kidnapping of Elvis Presley, was released theatrically in 1988. It starred David Keith

David Keith

David Lemuel Keith is an United States actor and Film director.CareerKeith had an early supporting role in the prison film Brubaker....
as Elvis Presley, and Tuesday Weld

Tuesday Weld

Tuesday Weld is an American actress.Weld began her acting career as a child, and progressed to more mature roles during the late 1950s. She won a Golden Globe Award in 1960....
and was directed by Chris Columbus

Chris Columbus (filmmaker)

Christopher 'Chris' Columbus is an United States filmmaker....
.

Cover versions of the song

During the late-1950s and early 1960s, Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash was a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter and one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Primarily a country music artist, his songs and sound spanned many other genres including rockabilly and rock and roll , as well as blues, folk music and Gospel music....
and his band (The Tennessee Three) performed a parody of Elvis' stage techniques as a comedy act during concerts. Johnny would have Marshall Grant (his bass player) hand him a comb, so he could re-style his hair in an exaggerated approximation of Elvis' hairstyle. He would then proceed to sing "Heartbreak Hotel" whilst shaking his hips and legs in the manner of Elvis. After his 'song', Johnny would take the comb back and put his hair back to normal, while saying "I walked past a barber shop earlier today, and the barber came out and said 'hey son, I'll give you an estimate'". He'd drop the comb (implying it had come alive from all the wax and such that was in his hair) and Marshall would shoot it with a blank pistol; Johnny and Luther Perkins

Luther Perkins

Luther Monroe Perkins was an American country music guitarist renowned for his work as a member of the Tennessee Three with Johnny Cash and their "boom-chicka" rhythmic style....
(his lead guitarist) would jump off the stage in fright, and his drummer (W.S. Holland) would fall off his stool.

There are numerous cover versions of the song, including one by avant garde musician John Cale

John Cale

John Davies Cale , better known as John Cale, is a Welsh people musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the rock & roll band The Velvet Underground....
, although the mood of the song was significantly more unsettling than Elvis's version. This version first appeared in his concert on 1 June 1974 with Kevin Ayers

Kevin Ayers

Kevin Ayers is an English songwriter and major influential force in the English psychedelic movement. John Peel wrote in his autobiography that "Kevin Ayers' talent is so acute you could perform major eye surgery with it."...
, Brian Eno

Brian Eno

Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno , is an England musician, composer, record producer, music theory and singer, who, as a solo artist, is best known as the People known as the father or mother of something of ambient music....
and Nico

Nico

Christa P?ffgen was a German musician, Model , actress, and Warhol Superstar who is best known by her stage name Nico. She is renowned for both her tenure in The Velvet Underground and for her work as a solo artist....
, and takes the depressing aspects of the song to its extremes.

Tommy Emmanuel

Tommy Emmanuel

Tommy Emmanuel is an Australian guitarist, best known for his complex fingerpicking style, energetic performances and the use of percussive effects on the guitar....
has recently included this song into his repertoire and only involves him on lead guitar and vocals.

Dread Zeppelin

Dread Zeppelin

Dread Zeppelin is an United States band best known for Cover version the songs of Led Zeppelin in a reggae style sung by an Elvis Presley Elvis impersonator named Tortelvis , though their act now encompasses many other songs and other styles of music....
, a reggae band fronted by an Elvis impersonator, does a medley of "Heartbreak Hotel" and Led Zeppelin's

Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin were an English rock music band formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page , Robert Plant , John Paul Jones and John Bonham . With their heavy, guitar-driven sound, Led Zeppelin are regarded as one of the first heavy metal music bands....
"Heartbreaker

Heartbreaker (Led Zeppelin song)

"Heartbreaker" is a song from England rock music band Led Zeppelin's 1969 album, Led Zeppelin II. It was credited to all four members of the band, having been recorded at A&R Studios, New York, during the band's Led Zeppelin North American Tour Spring 1969, and was engineered by Eddie Kramer....
" entitled "Heartbreaker (At the End of Lonely Street)". This tune appears on Un-Led-Ed
Un-Led-Ed

Un-Led-Ed is the debut album by Dread Zeppelin, released in 1990. The original cover featured Tortelvis. It was later modified at the request of the Elvis Presley estate - sometimes with a sticker over Tortelvis, other times by adding dreads to him....
and De-jah Voodoo.

Three other songs, also entitled "Heartbreak Hotel" were released as singles, one by The Jacksons (later renamed "This Place Hotel

This Place Hotel

Originally named "Heartbreak Hotel", "This Place Hotel" was a hit recording by The Jackson 5 when it was released in 1980.Written by Michael Jackson, the song would precede Jackson's own hit, "Billie Jean", in its insecurity-plagued tale of confusion....
"), a second by Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston

Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an United States singer, songwriter,actress, record producer, film producer, and former model . Houston rose to international fame in the mid-1980s and her crossover success opened doors for many other African American women to find success in booty shaking & pop music and movies....
, whose mother, gospel singer Cissy Houston

Cissy Houston

Emily Cissy Drinkard Houston , better known as Cissy Houston, is an American soul music and gospel music singer. She led a successful career as a backup singer for such artists as Elvis Presley, Mahalia Jackson, and Aretha Franklin, and is now primarily a solo artist....
performed in several Elvis recordings, both in the studio and live, as a member of the Sweet Inspirations. A third song called "Heartbreak Hotel" was performed by C. C. Catch. None of these songs are connected to Elvis's song.

Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney Member of the Order of the British Empire is a multiple Grammy Award-winning England singer-songwriter, poet, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record producer, film producer, Painting, and Animal rights....
recorded "Heartbreak Hotel" using Bill Black

Bill Black

William Patton "Bill" Black, Jr. was an United States musician. He is noted for being Elvis Presley's bassist....
's bass at Abbey Road Studios

Abbey Road Studios

Abbey Road Studios, established in November 1931 by EMI in London, England, is a recording studio located at number 3 Abbey Road , in St John's Wood in the City of Westminster....
. McCartney said: "It was Elvis who really got me hooked on beat music. When I heard 'Heartbreak Hotel' I thought, this is it... Musically it's perfect."

Merle Haggard

Merle Haggard

Merle Ronald Haggard is an United States country music singer, guitarist, instrumentalist, and songwriter.Merle Haggard has become one of the true giants of country music, as a singer, guitarist, songwriter, and instrumentalist....
included "Heartbreak Hotel" on his 1977 album "My Farewell To Elvis".

The Cadets recorded the song in 1957.

Connie Francis recorded a version in 1959.

Ace Cannon recorded the song in 1962.

Chuck Jackson recorded "Heartbreak Hotel" in 1962.

Adam Faith recorded the song in 1965.

Van Halen

Van Halen

Van Halen is a hard rock band formed in in 1972. They enjoyed success from the release of their Van Halen in 1978. As of 2007 Van Halen has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide and have had the most number one hits on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart....
, featuring David Lee Roth

David Lee Roth

David Lee Roth is an United States Rock and roll vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and former radio personality, best known as the lead singer of Van Halen....
on lead vocals, performed the song on their 1983 Diver Down World Tour. Van Halen also performed the song live in the 1970s.

Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall Hendrix was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter whose guitar playing continues to be a considerable influence on rock music....
recorded the song as part of an Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley

Blue Suede Shoes

"Blue Suede Shoes" is a rock and roll Standard written and first recorded by Carl Perkins in 1955. The 12-bar blues is considered one of the first rock and roll records and incorporated elements of blues, country music and pop music of the time....
" and "Trouble

Trouble

Trouble may refer to:* A problem* Trouble , a board game similar to Pachisi* Trouble , a mini-series by Marvel Comics* Trouble , a entertainment channel aimed at British and Irish teenage audiences...
".

Guns N' Roses

Guns N' Roses

Guns N' Roses is an American Rock music band, formed in Los Angeles, California, California in 1985. The band, led by frontman and co-founder Axl Rose, has gone through numerous line-up changes and controversies since their formation....
's original line-up of Axl Rose

Axl Rose

W. Axl Rose is an United States musician, best known as the lead vocalist of hard rock rock band Guns N' Roses.Rose grew up in Indiana in a troubled family environment....
, Izzy Stradlin

Izzy Stradlin

Jeffery Dean Isbell , more widely known by his stage name Izzy Stradlin, is an United States musician, best known as one of the lead songwriters and rhythm guitarist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses from 1985 to 1991....
, Slash

Slash (musician)

Saul Hudson , more widely known by his stage name Slash, is a guitarist best known as the former lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses and as the current lead guitarist of Velvet Revolver....
, Duff McKagan

Duff McKagan

Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan is an United States musician and Rock music bassist, who is best known for his thirteen-year tenure in the hard rock band Guns N' Roses....
and Steven Adler

Steven Adler

Steven Adler is a well known United States rock drummer. He is most famous for his tenure as a member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he performed and recorded from 1985 to 1990....
have performed this song live on various shows in the Los Angeles area (mainly on Sunset Strip clubs) in 1986. Around the same time they have also recorded many studio versions of this song, including some demo takes that are available on many bootleg CDs. The band also recorded a final take of the song to be on the EP "Live! Like a Suicide" but this version was never released. Axl Rose

Axl Rose

W. Axl Rose is an United States musician, best known as the lead vocalist of hard rock rock band Guns N' Roses.Rose grew up in Indiana in a troubled family environment....
and Izzy Stradlin

Izzy Stradlin

Tom Petty

Thomas Earl Petty is an United Statesn singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and a member of Mudcrutch....
on the 1989 MTV's Video Music Awards. In July 2008, an unheard demo version of the song recorded by Guns n' Roses was released unnoficially by Cleopatra Records on an special LP edition of "Hollywood Rocks".

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss", is an American songwriter, singer and musician. He has recorded and toured with the E Street Band....
has performed the song in concert.

Legendary guitarist Chet Atkins

Chet Atkins

Chester Burton "Chet" Atkins was an influential American guitarist and record producer.His picking style, inspired by Merle Travis, Django Reinhardt, George Barnes and Les Paul, brought him admirers both within and outside the country scene, both in the United States and internationally....
covered the song in 1963.

George Harrison

George Harrison

George Harrison Order of the British Empire was an English Rock music guitarist, singer-songwriter and film producer. He achieved international fame as lead guitarist in The Beatles, and is listed number 21 in Rolling Stone Magazine's list of "The 100 Best Guitarists of All Time"....
of The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were a rock music and pop music band from Liverpool, England that formed in 1960. During their career, the group primarily consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr ....
remembered in an interview that "Heartbreak Hotel" was the first rock and roll record he ever heard.

"Heartbreak Hotel" was also a favorite of Jim Morrison

Jim Morrison

James Douglas Morrison was an United States singer, songwriter, poet, writer and film maker. He is best known as the lead singer and lyricist of The Doors and is widely considered to be one of the most charismatic Lead singers in rock music history....
of The Doors

The Doors

The Doors were an United States rock music band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California by Singer Jim Morrison, keyboard instrument Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger....
. The Doors performed "Heartbreak Hotel" as part of a medley in 1970 in Detroit in concert with Jim and Ray Manzarek

Ray Manzarek

Raymond Daniel Manzarek, Jr. or Manczarek is an United States musician, singer, record producer, film director, writer, co-founder, and keyboardist of The Doors from 1965 to 1973, and the Doors of the 21st century since 2001....
sharing the vocals.

Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin

Willie Nelson

Willie Hugh Nelson is an United States country music singer-songwriter author, poet and actor. He reached his greatest fame during the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, but remains Cultural icon, especially in American popular culture....
and Leon Russell

Leon Russell

Leon Russell is a singer, songwriter, pianist, and guitarist. Russell attended Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma.First known mostly as a session musician, Russell has played with artists as varied as Jerry Lee Lewis, Phil Spector, Joe Cocker, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Elton John, BB King, Freddie King, Eric Clapton, Bill Wyman...
had a no. 1 cover version in 1979 on the country charts.

Keith Richards

Keith Richards

Keith Richards is an England guitarist, songwriter, singer, record producer and a founding member of The Rolling Stones. As a guitarist, Richards is mostly known for his innovative rhythm guitar playing....
of The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock music band formed in 1962 in London when multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones and pianist Ian Stewart were joined by vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards....
said: "When I heard 'Heartbreak Hotel', I knew what I wanted to do in life."

Oldies group Sha Na Na

Sha Na Na

Sha Na Na is a rock and roll revival act. Announcing themselves as "from the streets of New York", and outfitted in gold lame, leather jackets and Pompadour hairdos, Sha Na Na performed a song and dance repertoire of classic fifties rock'n'roll, simultaneously reviving and sending up the music and 1950s New York street culture....
has recorded "Heartbreak Hotel".

Fats Domino

Fats Domino

Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino is a classic Rhythm and blues and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter....
recorded his version of "Heartbreak Hotel".

An instrumental version of "Heartbreak Hotel" was recorded by early Texan rock group Tommy & The Tom Toms

Tommy & the Tom Toms

Tommy & The Tom Toms first started with two guitars and drums, Eddie Wayne Hill on lead guitar, Leonard Walters on rhythm guitar and Joel Colbert on drums....
in 1960. It was produced by Major Bill Smith (Hey Baby, Hey Paula, Last Kiss) and released on Chess Records

Chess Records

Chess Records was an United States record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....
(#1773) under the pseudonym of the Bill Smith Combo.

Legendary southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Lynyrd Skynyrd is an United States Southern rock band. The band became prominent in the Southern United States in 1973, and rose to worldwide recognition before several members, including lead vocalist and primary songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, died in a plane crash in 1977....
recorded the song.

At The VH1 Divas

VH1 Divas

In 1998, VH1 debuted the first Year VH1 Divas concert. The first concert, VH1 Divas Live was created to support the station's "VH1#Save The Music foundation", and subsequent concerts in the series have also benefitted that foundation....
Live 2002 concert pop icon Cher

Cher

Cher is an American pop music singer-songwriter, actor, film director and recording industry. She has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globe Awards and was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame....
sang "Heartbreak Hotel" as part of an Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley

Roger Miller

Roger Dean Miller was an United States singer, songwriter and musician, best known for his mid-1960s country/pop hits such as King of the Road , Dang Me and England Swings....
covered "Heartbreak Hotel" on his 1966 Words and Music album.

In 2007, Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake

Justin Randall Timberlake is an United Statesn pop music singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer and actor. He has won six Grammy Awards as well as an Emmy Award....
performed "Heartbreak Hotel" in concert.

Fonzie, Henry Winkler

Henry Winkler

Henry Franklin Winkler is an American actor, film director, Film producer, and author.Winkler is best known for his role as Fonzie on the 1970s American sitcom, Happy Days....
, sang the song on Happy Days

Happy Days

Happy Days is an Television in the United States television sitcom that originally aired from 1974 in television to 1984 in television on American Broadcasting Company....
in the 1970s.

Tanya Tucker

Tanya Tucker

Tanya Denise Tucker is an American country music artist who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13. Over the succeeding decades, Tucker became one of the few child performers to mature into adulthood without losing her audience, and during the course of her career, she notched a streak of Top Ten and Top 40 hits....
recorded the song in the 1970s.

US President Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the fifteenth Democrat elected to that office....
performed a cover of "Heartbreak Hotel" on sax on the Arsenio Hall Show

The Arsenio Hall Show

The Arsenio Hall Show was an Emmy Award winning talk show which aired on late night in Television syndication from 1989 to 1994. It starred comedian/actor Arsenio Hall....
in the 1990s during his campaign.

Tom Jones

Tom Jones (singer)

Sir Thomas John Woodward Officer of the British Empire , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer-songwriter, particularly noted for his powerful voice and wide vocal range....
covered "Heartbreak Hotel". Jones said Elvis inspired him to become a singer: "It was the first time I heard 'Heartbreak Hotel'. It gave me hope that I could become a famous performer, too. I knew I had the voice and the flair for it. Of course, Elvis and I became great friends."

Kanye West

Kanye West

Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, record producer and singer. He released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004, his second album Late Registration in 2005, his third album Graduation in 2007, and his fourth album 808s & Heartbreak in 2008....
refers to Heartbreak Hotel on his 808s and Heartbreak album on the song "Paranoid".

Roger McGuinn

Roger McGuinn

James Roger McGuinn is an United States singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' hit records....
of the Byrds recorded a version of "Heartbreak Hotel". He stated that "Heartbreak Hotel" was the first rock record he heard in 1956. Afterwards, he got his parents to buy him a guitar. McGuinn wrote: "Elvis Presley inspired me with his single 'Heartbreak Hotel' to the point that I wanted to get a guitar and do what he was doing."

Al Kooper

Al Kooper

Al Kooper is an United States songwriter, record producer and musician, probably best known for organizing the group Blood, Sweat & Tears, though he did not stay with the group long enough to share its popularity....
: "When I first heard this in 1956, I thought it was a little black man with a pork-pie hat hunched over a piano with a cigarette dangling from his mouth as he sang and tickled the ivories. My jaw dropped when I saw the real thing."

Canadian singer Gisele MacKenzie performed "Heartbreak Hotel" on the Your Hit Parade TV show in 1956 in a campy horror movie setting.

The song was also covered by Ann-Margret

Ann-Margret

Ann-Margret is a Sweden-born American actress, singer and dancer. She has won the Golden Globe Award five times, and has been nominated for the Academy Award, Emmy Award and Grammy....
in 1965, Frijid Pink

Frijid Pink

Frijid Pink was a Detroit hard rock band formed in 1967, best known for their version of "House of the Rising Sun", released in 1970.The initial line-up of the band included drummer Richard Stevers, guitarist Gary Ray Thompson, bassist Tom Harris, lead singer Kelly Green, and later Larry Zelanka as off staff keyboardist....
in 1970, Homer and Jethro

Homer and Jethro

Homer and Jethro were an United States country music team with a long career from the 1940s through the 1960s, sometimes known as "the thinking man's hillbilly," specializing in comedy Gramophone record and satire versions of popular songs....
, Conway Twitty

Conway Twitty

Conway Twitty was one of the United States most successful country music artists during the 20th century. Most commonly thought of as a country music singer, he also enjoyed success in early rock and roll, R&B, and Pop music....
, Delaney and Bonnie, Katie Melua

Katie Melua

Ketevan "Katie" Melua is a Georgian people/United Kingdom singer, songwriter and musician. She was born in Georgia , but moved to Northern Ireland at the age of eight and then relocated to England at the age of 14....
, Pat Boone

Pat Boone

Charles Eugene "Pat" Boone is an United States singer, actor and writer who was a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s....
in 1963, Suzi Quatro in 1977, Bert Jansch in 1982, Link Wray, Hoyt Axton, Martin Carthy, Lynn Anderson, Buddy Love, James Gang, Nancy King, The Cramps, The Residents, Scooter Lee, Ronnie McDowell, Donna Fargo, The Jordanaires, Albert King, Doc Watson, The Soft Boys, Lawrence Welk, The Flamin' Groovies, The Underdogs, Stan Freberg, Jerry Lee Lewis, Kevin Ayers, Eno and Mike Oldfield, and Helmut Lotti.

In early 2004 Stephanie Butland covered this song, as a new version of the song.

The Vandals

The Vandals

The Vandals are an United States rock music rock band established in 1980 in Huntington Beach, California. Forming as part of the List of musicians in the second wave of punk music of American punk rock, the band has released ten full-length studio albums and two live albums and have toured the world extensively, including performances on the...
covered this song, changing it radically and incorporating comically over-explicit lyrics. It appears on their album Peace Thru Vandalism

Peace Thru Vandalism

Peace thru Vandalism is the debut Extended play by the southern California punk rock band The Vandals, released in 1982 by Epitaph Records. It was one of the first releases to be put out by the Epitaph label, founded in 1981 by Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion....
under the title "H.B. Hotel".

Another version of the song is featured on the game Karaoke Revolution Volume 2.

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson has sung this song in Memphis (The birthplace of Elvis) during his WWE match versus Mankind

Mankind

Mankind may refer to:* The human speciesMankind may also refer to the male members of the human species, whereas womankind commonly refers to the female members....
. His version was different: "Well, since Rock's baby left him / He found a new place to dwell / It's down at the end of Jabroni Drive / At Smackdown Hotel!" Dwayne has also admitted to being a huge Elvis fan.

Song mentioned in other songs

Patty Loveless
Patty Loveless

Patty Loveless is an United States country music singer.Since her emergence on the country music scene in 1987 with her first, self-titled album, Loveless has been one of the most popular female singers of the Neotraditional country movement, although she has also recorded albums in the Country pop and Bluegrass music genres....
's single "Blue Side of Town" from her Honky Tonk Angel
Honky Tonk Angel

Honky Tonk Angel is the third album recorded by country music artist Patty Loveless. With five tracks from the album charting in the Billboard Music Charts Top Ten Country Singles, including two at #1, it served as a breakthrough album for Loveless....
album in 1988 had a line in the song's chorus with "And it's Heartbrak Hotel. Yes I know it well. I hang around. The Blue Side of Town."
U2 wrote a song called "A Room At The Heartbreak Hotel." It is a b-side
A-side and B-side

A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of 7 inch vinyl records on which single s were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or flipside, is a secondary song that ofte...
to their "Angel of Harlem
Angel of Harlem

"Angel of Harlem" is the second single from U2's 1988 album, Rattle and Hum.It peaked at #9 on the UK singles chart, #8 on the Dutch Top 40, #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks....
" single, released in 1988.
"Heartbreak Hotel" is referenced in "Short Fat Fannie" by Larry Williams: "One day while I was visiting the Heartbreak Hotel."
Dire Straits' song "Calling Elvis" mentions it in the chorus.
Meryl Streep sings Shel Silverstein's "I'm Checking Out of This Heartbreak Hotel" in the final scene of "Postcards from the Edge."
Kanye West
Kanye West

Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, record producer and singer. He released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004, his second album Late Registration in 2005, his third album Graduation in 2007, and his fourth album 808s & Heartbreak in 2008....
uses the Heartbreak Hotel in his song, "Paranoid", in the line, "You wanna check into the Heartbreak Hotel, but sorry we're closed."

Cultural references

In 2005, Uncut Magazine ranked the first performance of "Heartbreak Hotel" in 1956 by Elvis Presley as the no.2 greatest and most important cultural event of the rock and roll era.
Serbia
Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country in Central Europe and Balkans Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central part of the Balkans....
n rock musician, journalist and writer Dejan Cukic
Dejan Cukic

Dejan Cukic is a Serbian rock musician, journalist and writer....
wrote about "Heartbreak Hotel" as one of the forty-six songs that changed history of popular music
Popular music

Popular music is music that is accessible to the mainstream and disseminated by one or more of the mass media. It belongs to any of a number of musical genres, and stands in contrast to classical music, which historically was the music of the elite and upper strata of society, and traditional music which was disseminated orally....
in his book 45 obrtaja: Price o pesmama
45 obrtaja: Price o pesmama

45 obrtaja: Price o pesmama is a book by Serbian rock musician, journalist and writer Dejan Cukic published in 2007, compiled mostly of his Article previously published in Politikin Zabavnik magazine....
.
Heartbreak Hotel is the name of the rebels' hideout in the musical 'We Will Rock You
We Will Rock You (musical)

We Will Rock You is a jukebox musical, based on the songs of Queen and named after their We Will Rock You. The musical was written by English comedian and author Ben Elton in collaboration with Queen members Brian May and Roger Meddows-Taylor....
'.
Several lines from the song are referenced in Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood

Margaret Eleanor Atwood, Order of Canada is a Canada author, poet, literary criticism, feminist and activism. She is among the most-honored authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C....
's novel The Handmaid's Tale
The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale is a utopian and dystopian fiction by Canadian literature Margaret Atwood, first published by McClelland and Stewart 1985 in literature....
.
In Professional Wrestling, Shawn Michaels
Shawn Michaels

Michael Shawn Hickenbottom , better known by his ring name Shawn Michaels, is an American professional wrestling. He performs for World Wrestling Entertainment , formerly the World Wrestling Federation, on its WWE Raw WWE Brand Extension....
used to have a interview segment called The Heartbreak Hotel
The song is performed by Hugh Jackman
Hugh Jackman

Hugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor who is involved in film, musical theatre, and television.A singer, dancer and actor in stage musicals, principally The Boy From Oz, Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, his forte being action/superhero, period and romance characters....
and Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman

Nicole Mary Kidman, Order of Australia is an Academy Award-winning Hawaiian-born Australian actress, fashion model, singer, United Nations Citizen of the World award-winning humanitarian, and a UNIFEM and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador....
in the 2006 animated film Happy Feet
Happy Feet

Happy Feet is an Cinema of Australia-produced 2006 computer animation comedy-drama musical film film, directed and co-written by George Miller ....
, as a mash-up with the song "Kiss
Kiss (song)

"Kiss" is a 1986 song by Prince and The Revolution , from the album Parade . "Kiss" started as a short acoustic instrument demo, about a minute in length, with one Verse and the refrain....
".