Lisa Marie Presley: A look back at her music career

Lisa Marie Presley, aged 54, died Thursday after being briefly hospitalized in Los Angeles after going into cardiac arrest earlier that day.

The daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley led a life of unfathomable fame and frailty.

As Elvis' daughter, she held a rightful title as a princess of rock 'n' roll. Through her 1994-1996 marriage to Michael Jackson (one of four she had), she was also a queen of pop. She also suffered the sadness of burying her father (in 1977) and a son (Benjamin Keough — one of four children — in 2020).

Her life — as seen through the eyes of her father — was always one that was to be bittersweet.

Via a blog post on her website, Presley's longtime friend Nancy Sinatra recalled Elvis was both "moved by the experience" but also that he "felt it was not fair that she would have such great blessings and the same child born in a ghetto that very night would suffer poverty and want, and God knows what else, perhaps all her life."

"His heart was so full of love and pain that night," she continued.

Lisa Marie Presley's business acumen

When Presley was 7 years old, her father — because he was so enamored of his child — upon purchasing and refurbishing an out-of-service Delta Airlines Convair 880 Jet for an estimated $3 million (adjusted for inflation), rechristened it with her name.

Presley maintaining a close relationship with her father via his personal effects is a significant piece of her and his legacy.

By her 25th birthday in 1993, Presley inherited Graceland, her father's estate, where she was raised for periods of her childhood. Five years later, she became more involved with the trust and business entities managing her father's legacy. By February 2005, she sold the rights to her father’s name and image for approximately $100 million to businessman Robert F.X. Sillerman, founder of music and sports promoter SFX Entertainment.

Presley retained 100% sole personal ownership of Graceland Mansion itself, its 13 acres of original grounds and her father's personal effects, including costumes, wardrobe, awards, furniture, cars and more. Notably, she made the mansion property and her father's personal effects permanently available for tours of Graceland.

In a 2003 Playboy interview, Presley noted, "I would never take back any part of who I am or where I came from. I would never want to be part of anything else. I'm honored and proud of my family and my dad."

Following in her father's recording footsteps

Seven years after being married to Jackson and a half-decade since a video of Lisa Marie "collaborating" with her famous father on the track "Don't Cry Daddy" was shown at the tribute concert that marked the 20th anniversary of Elvis' death, Presley released an album of her own — "To Whom It May Concern" — in 2003.

“Ever since she started talking about a recording career when she was 16 or 17, I warned her the doors will open because of who she is, but they will close just as fast," stated her mother, Priscilla, to the Los Angeles Times in 2003.

Presley's 1988 marriage to singer-songwriter Danny Keough saw her begin the process of becoming a singer-songwriter by 1990. That led to her turning to artist manager Jerry Schilling for help in the mid-1990s — and almost a deal with industry icon Tommy Mottola at Sony Records.

A decade later, Entertainment Weekly described the gold-selling album that finally arrived as "country-flecked rock with wedges of pop" that "generally delivers the sort of sonic catharsis that Presley, who has described this album as being the real her, was trying for." The review continues, "if it proves her to be a viable rock singer, well, we can think of at least one person who would not have been at all surprised."

In the Playboy interview, Presley offered a note regarding the album track "Nobody Noticed It," which provides a strong reason why she recorded the album.

"[My father's hangers-on] were trying to take away his dignity, the one thing that was most important to him. And I needed to strike back at that. I happened to be going to the studio, and I got the melody in my head and started to cry.... [Like him], I'm like a lion — I roar. If someone betrays me, I won't be a victim. I don't sulk; I get angry. I go immediately into retaliation. But it always comes from insecurity or pain."

Her debut album also bore the fruits of five years of work with producer Glen Ballard, who helped Alanis Morissette flesh out her voice as a caustic, confessional storyteller on her 1995 debut "Jagged Little Pill." "To Whom It May Concern" was produced by Eric Rosse, known for his work with Tori Amos, including her 1994 breakout hit "Cornflake Girl."

Subsequent Presley albums included 2005's "Now What" and 2012's "Storm and Grace." Though not as well received commercially, T. Bone Burnett — who produced her 2012 release — noted the following about her work:

"When songs from Lisa Marie Presley showed up at my door, I was curious. I wondered what the daughter of an American revolutionary music artist had to say. What I heard was honest, raw, unaffected and soulful. I thought her father would be proud of her. The more I listened to the songs, the deeper an artist I found her to be. Listening beyond the media static, Lisa Marie Presley is a Southern American folk music artist of great value."

Presley's final years

In 2012, Presley also made her debut at the Grand Ole Opry. Her father debuted on the Opry at the Ryman Auditorium six decades prior in October 1954. Unfortunately, his take on Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky" was so poorly received that Opry talent manager Jim Denny sent Presley home tearfully. He suggested that he stick with his day job as a truck driver instead of continuing to pursue country and rock success.

Aware of her father's past, Presley told CMT after the performance that it was "an honor to be asked" and that she was "terrified" to perform. Nashville's WTVF-TV described the Tuesday night performance in August 2012 as done by a "genuinely honored" and "gracious" performer.

Lisa Marie's last decade saw her petition for divorce from her fourth — and final — husband, guitarist, music producer and director Michael Lockwood, in 2016. That separation was finalized in 2021.

Her three decades of work as a philanthropist were feted by the city of Memphis in 2011. Then Mayor A.C. Wharton, Jr. noted, "Lisa Marie Presley is a humanitarian and philanthropist who continues to focus her efforts on the hometown she knows and loves, Memphis. Through her efforts and time, she has improved homelessness, literacy and raised funds for local charities and organizations. She raises awareness for Memphis and continues to set an example of what one person can do when they put their mind to it."

Late Thursday evening, her mother, Priscilla, released the following statement.

“It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us. She was the most passionate, strong and loving woman I have ever known.”

OBITUARY:Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis Presley's only daughter, has died at 54

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Lisa Marie Presley: A look back at her music career