An Elvis Presley biographer, Sally Hoedel has recently addressed the late King of Rock’nRoll’s cause of death in her book, Elvis: Destined To Die Young.
Hoedel claims that it is too often that Presley’s death is written off as due to struggles with addiction, instead of looking at his family history with illness.
More than that, she believes that the world needs to shift its opinions on Presley, which have largely been formed based on literature on the star.
As reported by NME, in a recent interview Hoedel said, “Elvis is seen as less or more than human, like an image, and he’s been reduced to this rock’n’roll guy who died in his bathroom from taking too many pills.”
She continued, “That’s not enough for a man who culturally shifted our universe. It’s not accurate and it’s not enough. Elvis was a sick man who hid a lot of his weakness to fill concert venues and support his family. By examining his flaws and health issues, maybe we can start to see his humanity again.”
“Elvis shifted our universe culturally like no one has before and he deserves to be treated like an historical figure, like Henry Ford or Thomas Edison, but instead he gets weighed down by sensationalism, and that keep us from the truth.”
Hoedel believes that instead of characterising Presley as an addict and his family as ‘hillbillies’, negative connotations that have shrouded his death can ultimately be removed.
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She said, “If we can strip away the negative connotations, and then look at the consequences, there’s a lot of truth to be uncovered.”
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