Biography
Born to Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie Presley might have seemed fated for tabloid headlines through her short-lived unions with Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage, yet she built an independent recording path that yielded three albums, the first being To Whom It May Concern in 2003. Its throaty, distinctive vocals and roots-tinged pop arrangements, several of them co-written with Glen Ballard, propelled the set to number five on the Billboard 200. The tougher follow-up Now What arrived two years afterward and reached the Top Ten while featuring songwriting input from Linda Perry; Storm & Grace, issued in 2012 under T-Bone Burnett’s guidance, shifted toward blues and country textures. She returned in 2018 to reinterpret the title track of Where No One Stands Alone, a collection of her father’s gospel recordings, and died in 2023.
The sole offspring of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie entered the world in Memphis, Tennessee, on February 1, 1968. Her first four years unfolded inside Graceland before she relocated with her mother to suburban Los Angeles following the 1972 separation. Elvis Presley’s death on August 16, 1977, left his daughter nine years old. Early musical touchstones ranged from Elton John and David Cassidy to Elvis’s mellower material, and she attended her initial rock concert, a Queen performance, before the decade closed. In 1987 Priscilla and partner Marco Garibaldi welcomed son Navarone Garibaldi, Lisa Marie’s only sibling, who later fronted the Los Angeles rock band Them Guns.
On October 3, 1988, she married musician Danny Keough; the couple had daughter Riley in 1989 and son Benjamin in 1992 before divorcing in early May 1994. Before that month ended she wed Michael Jackson; she later appeared in his 1995 video for “You Are Not Alone,” and the marriage concluded in January 1996. In 1997 she and business partner Isaac Hayes established the Literacy, Education and Ability Program (LEAP) under the Church of Scientology-affiliated Applied Scholastics. A subsequent encounter with songwriter-producer Glen Ballard reignited her recording ambitions; impressed by her somber, fate-laden melodies, Ballard arranged a Capitol contract. Shortly before the debut album’s release she married Nicolas Cage in August 2002, though the union dissolved before year’s end.
Produced by Eric Rosse and Andrew Slater and containing five Ballard co-writes, To Whom It May Concern emerged in April 2003, two months after her thirty-fifth birthday. The candid, assured collection debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 and earned gold certification that June. Around the same time she joined Pat Benatar onstage at the VH1 Divas Duets concert to perform “Heartbreaker,” a song she continued to deliver alone on tour. Her second album, Now What, again helmed by Rosse, incorporated seven collaborations with 4 Non Blondes’ Linda Perry and peaked at number nine upon its April 2005 Capitol release. Keough, still on friendly terms, joined her band on bass that year; in January 2006 she married guitarist-producer Michael Lockwood, who had shared executive-production duties on the record. Marking the thirtieth anniversary of her father’s passing in 2007, she released a duet built around an archival Elvis Presley vocal for “In the Ghetto” and performed it, backed by footage of her father, alongside the Harlem Gospel Choir on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Late 2008 brought fraternal twins Harper and Finley Lockwood.
Her third studio album, the T-Bone Burnett-produced Storm & Grace, finally appeared on Republic Records in May 2012. Among its contributors were Burnett, Lockwood, guitarist Blake Mills, keyboardist Patrick Warren, drummer Jay Bellerose, and singer Ed Harcourt; the set reached number 45 on the Billboard 200 and remained her last solo release. She severed ties with the Church of Scientology in 2014 and filed for divorce from Lockwood in 2016, finalized in 2021. In 2018 she resurfaced on Where No One Stands Alone, once more pairing her voice with an archival recording of her father on the title track. July 2020 brought the suicide of son Benjamin Keough at age 27.
On January 10, 2023, she attended the Golden Globes with her mother in support of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, after which Austin Butler received the best-actor award for his portrayal of Elvis Presley. Two days later, on January 12, Lisa Marie Presley died at a hospital near her Calabasas, California, residence.
The sole offspring of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie entered the world in Memphis, Tennessee, on February 1, 1968. Her first four years unfolded inside Graceland before she relocated with her mother to suburban Los Angeles following the 1972 separation. Elvis Presley’s death on August 16, 1977, left his daughter nine years old. Early musical touchstones ranged from Elton John and David Cassidy to Elvis’s mellower material, and she attended her initial rock concert, a Queen performance, before the decade closed. In 1987 Priscilla and partner Marco Garibaldi welcomed son Navarone Garibaldi, Lisa Marie’s only sibling, who later fronted the Los Angeles rock band Them Guns.
On October 3, 1988, she married musician Danny Keough; the couple had daughter Riley in 1989 and son Benjamin in 1992 before divorcing in early May 1994. Before that month ended she wed Michael Jackson; she later appeared in his 1995 video for “You Are Not Alone,” and the marriage concluded in January 1996. In 1997 she and business partner Isaac Hayes established the Literacy, Education and Ability Program (LEAP) under the Church of Scientology-affiliated Applied Scholastics. A subsequent encounter with songwriter-producer Glen Ballard reignited her recording ambitions; impressed by her somber, fate-laden melodies, Ballard arranged a Capitol contract. Shortly before the debut album’s release she married Nicolas Cage in August 2002, though the union dissolved before year’s end.
Produced by Eric Rosse and Andrew Slater and containing five Ballard co-writes, To Whom It May Concern emerged in April 2003, two months after her thirty-fifth birthday. The candid, assured collection debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 and earned gold certification that June. Around the same time she joined Pat Benatar onstage at the VH1 Divas Duets concert to perform “Heartbreaker,” a song she continued to deliver alone on tour. Her second album, Now What, again helmed by Rosse, incorporated seven collaborations with 4 Non Blondes’ Linda Perry and peaked at number nine upon its April 2005 Capitol release. Keough, still on friendly terms, joined her band on bass that year; in January 2006 she married guitarist-producer Michael Lockwood, who had shared executive-production duties on the record. Marking the thirtieth anniversary of her father’s passing in 2007, she released a duet built around an archival Elvis Presley vocal for “In the Ghetto” and performed it, backed by footage of her father, alongside the Harlem Gospel Choir on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Late 2008 brought fraternal twins Harper and Finley Lockwood.
Her third studio album, the T-Bone Burnett-produced Storm & Grace, finally appeared on Republic Records in May 2012. Among its contributors were Burnett, Lockwood, guitarist Blake Mills, keyboardist Patrick Warren, drummer Jay Bellerose, and singer Ed Harcourt; the set reached number 45 on the Billboard 200 and remained her last solo release. She severed ties with the Church of Scientology in 2014 and filed for divorce from Lockwood in 2016, finalized in 2021. In 2018 she resurfaced on Where No One Stands Alone, once more pairing her voice with an archival recording of her father on the title track. July 2020 brought the suicide of son Benjamin Keough at age 27.
On January 10, 2023, she attended the Golden Globes with her mother in support of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, after which Austin Butler received the best-actor award for his portrayal of Elvis Presley. Two days later, on January 12, Lisa Marie Presley died at a hospital near her Calabasas, California, residence.
Albums
Singles
