Priscilla Presley reads a poem written by her niece Harper Lockwood during the memorial service for her daughter Lisa Marie Presley at Graceland Sunday, January 22, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn.
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Priscilla Presley reads a poem written by her niece Harper Lockwood during the memorial service for her daughter Lisa Marie Presley at Graceland Sunday, January 22, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn.
John Amis/AP
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Lisa Marie Presley, a singer, songwriter and daughter of Elvis Presley, was remembered at Sunday’s funeral as a loving mother and “old soul” who suffered. tragic but persistent as a devoted defender of his father’s legacy as a pop icon and a pioneer of rock ‘n’ roll.
More than a thousand people gathered on the front lawn of Graceland on a cold, gray morning in Memphis to mourn the death and remember the life of Lisa Marie Presley, who died on January 12 after she was taken to a hospital in California.
Some mourners held flowers as they waited for the ceremony to begin under the tall trees on the lawn of Graceland, the home in Memphis where Lisa Marie lived as a child with her father. The mansion Lisa Marie Presley owned has been turned into a museum and tourist attraction that attracts hundreds of thousands of fans each year to celebrate the life and music of Elvis, who died in 1977 at the age of 42. .
The estate south of Memphis is a place of sadness and bleak Sunday memories. The ceremony began with the singing of “Amazing Grace” by Jason Clark & The Tennessee Mass Choir.
“We would like to express our sincere gratitude for the love, compassion and support you have given our family during this difficult time,” a message from the Presley family wrote on Facebook. service program. “We will always be grateful.”
Among the speakers at the ceremony was Lisa Marie’s mother, actress Priscilla Presley; Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York; Jerry Schilling, Elvis’s best friend; and former Memphis Mayor AC Wharton, who referred to Lisa Marie’s parents as the royal couple of Memphis and “leads to the throne, keepers of the flame.”
In a soft voice, Priscilla Presley read a poem by one of Lisa Marie’s three daughters, Harper Vivienne Ann Lockwood, titled “Old Soul,” in which she calls her mother “an icon, a figure. model, a superhero to many”. all around the world.”
“In 1968, she entered our world, born tired, fragile but strong. She was fragile but full of life,” read Priscilla Presley. “She always knew she wouldn’t be here for too long. Childhood passed in a glimpse of her. She later established a family of her own.”
After reading the poem, Priscilla Presley said: “Our hearts are broken. Lisa, we both love you.”
Axl Rose performs during the Lisa Marie Presley memorial service Sunday, January 22, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn.
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Axl Rose performs during the Lisa Marie Presley memorial service Sunday, January 22, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn.
John Amis/AP
Music service termination. Billy Corgan, lead singer of The Smashing Pumpkins, plays acoustic guitar and sings “To Sheila;” Alanis Morissette sings “Rest;” Axl Rose, of Guns N’ Roses, plays the piano and sings “November Rain;” and the Blackwood Brothers Quartet performed two songs.
After the ceremony, mourners passed through Graceland’s Zen Garden, where she was laid to rest in an aboveground grave next to her son Benjamin Keough, who passed away in 2020, along with his grandparents and her great-grandmother.
Wreaths and bouquets of red, white, yellow, and pink flowers line the walkway up to the graveyard and the tomb itself. Fans, some in tears, slowly walked past the tomb, pausing to pay their respects.
Jordan Clark, 25, from Mobile, Alabama, to attend the ceremony. She called the ceremony special and heartwarming. Clark said Lisa Marie has “been through a lot” in her life and considers serving like the time of Elvis’ death, when “people come from all over the place.”
“She was born into the public, born into the fame. That’s hard for some people,” Clark said. “She handled it like a champ. I think.”
Lisa Marie was 9 years old when her father passed away. She was in Graceland at the time and will recall that he kissed her good night a few hours before he died. The next day, when she saw him, he was lying face down in the bathroom.
After her father’s death, she became the sole heir to the Elvis Presley Trust, which – along with Elvis Presley Enterprises – managed Graceland and other assets until she sold most of her interest in 2012. 2005. She retains ownership of the mansion itself, the 13 acres surrounding it and its furnishings.
A representative for Elvis Presley Enterprises told The Associated Press the mansion is in a trust that would benefit her children. Along with Harper, she is survived by two other daughters – Riley Keough and Finley Aaron Love Lockwood.
Riley Keough, an actor, did not speak at the ceremony. Her husband, Ben Smith-Petersen, read a statement in which she remembered Lisa Marie taking her out for ice cream, bringing her a tea set from Cracker Barrel and leaving notes in the lunchbox hers.
“Thank you for giving me my strength, my heart, my empathy, my courage, my sense of humor, my manners, my temper, my wildness, and my resilience,” Riley Keough said in the statement. . “I am a product of your heart.”
