Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley, in the humblest of circumstances, was born to Vernon and Gladys Presley in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi on January 8, 1935. His twin brother, Jessie Garon, was stillborn, leaving Elvis to grow up as an only child. He and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1948, and Elvis graduated from Humes High School there in 1953. Biography Elvis’ musical influences were the pop and country music of the time, the gospel music he heard in church and at the all-night gospel sings he frequently attended, and the black R&B he absorbed on historic Beale Street as a Memphis teenager. In 1954, he began his singing career with the legendary Sun Records label in Memphis. In late 1955, his recording contract was sold to RCA Victor. By 1956, he was an international sensation. With a sound and style that uniquely combined his diverse musical influences and blurred and challenged the social and racial barriers of the time, he ushered in a whole new era of American music and popular culture.

He starred in 33 successful films, made history with his television appearances and specials, and knew great acclaim through his many, often record-breaking, live concert performances on tour and in Las Vegas. Globally, he has sold over one billion records, more than any other artist. His American sales have earned him gold, platinum or multi-platinum awards for 150 different albums and singles, far more than any other artist. Among his many awards and accolades were 14 Grammy nominations (3 wins) from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, which he received at age 36, and his being named One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation for 1970 by the United States Jaycees. Without any of the special privileges his celebrity status might have afforded him, he honorably served his country in the U.S. Army.

His talent, good looks, sensuality, charisma, and good humor endeared him to millions, as did the humility and human kindness he demonstrated throughout his life. Known the world over by his first name, he is regarded as one of the most important figures of twentieth century popular culture. Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977 in the bathroom of his Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 42. He had been on the toilet, but fallen off onto the floor, where he lay in a pool of his own vomit. Panicked, his staff contacted an ambulance, which rushed him to nearby Baptist Memorial Hospital, where, after several attempts to revive him, he died at 3:30 pm CST. His autopsy was performed at 7:00 pm.

The official coroner's report lists "cardiac arrhythmia" as the cause of Presley's death, but this was later admitted to be a ruse entered into by the Presley family along with autopsy physicians Dr. Jerry T. Francisco, Dr. Eric Muirhead and Dr. Noel Florredo to cover up the real cause of death, a cocktail of ten prescribed drugs, taken in doses no doctor would prescribe:

The painkillers Morphine and Demerol.Chloropheniramine, an antihistamine.
The tranquilizers Placidyl and Valium. Finally, four drugs were found in "significant" quantities: Codeine, an opiate, Ethinamate, largely prescribed at the time as a "sleeping pill," Quaalude's, and a barbiturate, or depressant, that has never been identified. It has also been rumored that Diazepam, Amytal, Nembutal, Carbrital, Sinutab, Elavil, Avental, and Valmid were found in his system at death.

The phrase "cardiac arrhythmia," in the context of the coroner's report, means little more than a stopped heart; the report initially tried to attribute the arrhythmia to cardiovascular disease, but Elvis' own personal physician has stated that Presley had no such chronic problems at the time. Most of Elvis' many health problems can and have been traced back to rampant abuse of prescription drugs. Elvis had visited his dentist on August 15th to have a temporary crown put in; it has also been suggested that the codeine the dentist gave him that day resulted in an anaphylactic shock that assisted in his death. (He had suffered allergic reactions to the drug previously.)

Janice Dickinson

As the child of a violent, pedophiliac father and a pill-popping mother, Janice Dickinson grew up hearing her father's "You'll never amount to nothing!" Determined to become a raging success, Dickinson went to New York City and began calling modeling agencies. It was the 1970s, and the ideal models were blond girl-next-door types like Cheryl Tiegs, but Dickinson was a self described "Polish-mutt nigger lips". She was turned down by Eileen Ford but ended up going to Paris after Lorraine Bracco told her photographer boyfriend that she liked Dickinson's look.

She became a huge success in Europe, and returned to New York City in 1978. It was the era of Studio 54 and Dickinson partied with the likes of Truman Capote, Andy Warhol, and John Belushi. She seduced the most famous ladies' men, drank every drink and snorted or inhaled every drug. While foggy headed, she fell off a catwalk and onto Sophia Loren. Dickinson took revenge on Ford by signing with her agency and then jumping ship to Elite when she became established in the US.

After the end of her marriage to Ninja Turtle producer Simon Fields, Dickinson celebrated, and nine months later had a daughter named Savannah. She was quoted as saying "In the week I conceived, I had made love with five different men." Savannah was the subject of a fierce paternity battle with Sylvester Stallone. He accepted that he was the father until he saw Savannah's coloring, and DNA testing proved that he was not the father.

Eminem's Story

The singer said he became so hooked on prescription medicines that he also overdosed on the heroin substitute methadone. He inadvertently took a massive dose after being given a handful of tablets by a pal. Eminem, 36, said: “My doctor told me those mysterious new pills were methadone. “Had I known it was methadone, I probably wouldn’t have taken it. But, as bad as I was back then, I can’t even say 100 per cent for sure. “My doctor told me the amount of methadone I’d taken was equivalent to shooting up four bags of heroin. “Even when they told me I had almost died, it didn’t click.” The American star, whose eagerly-awaited new album is called Relapse, was also addicted to the sedative Valium. In August 2005 he canceled a European tour, citing exhaustion. Two days later his record company revealed he was being treated for dependency on sleep medication. Although he soon weaned himself off he suffered a relapse. He told yesterday how he searched his home in desperation for drugs or medications containing powerful narcotics, such as cough syrup NyQuil.

Eminem — real name Marshall Mathers III — said: “I’m ransacking my house, finally find something in the basement, in a little napkin, 7½ Vicodin (pain killers) — the big, extra-strength ones — and a few Valium.” The star added: “Rap was my drug. “It used to get me high, then it stopped getting me high. “Then I had to resort to other things to make me feel that. Now rap’s getting me high again.”

The Battle Begins

Over the past two years I have been dealing with my boyfriend's drug addiction to painkillers of all sorts. First it started out just getting a couple pills here and there to deal with his neck and back pain, and then he went to the doctor to be treated. The doctor just filled him prescriptions of Tramadol (240 pills) and he would take 10-20 a day without my knowing. I knew something was up when he would tell me he needed to call the doctor to get more because he "lost" some or they "fell in the toilet" when he went pee or he gave some to "friends" at work, which of none I believed.

Then he lost his insurance, and since he was addicted he started buying them off the street. He would buy any painkiller he could get his hands on. I would get so mad because he was paying huge amounts of money on these damn things and we would let bills slide just to treat his need. I didn't understand how someone couldn't take just one or two pills for the day. We would literally get into bad arguments because of the loss of money and bills being behind because of this. He would tell me over and over "I need them," "you don't understand" and "you can't feel my pain," which would then make me feel bad and I'd end up giving in and let him buy more. He is very good at twisting things and getting what he wants.

It got so bad one time that he actually thought we had money in our walls. He attempted to rip the walls open, until I talked him out of it. He has had seizures, fell through windows, overdrawn our bank account a million times (it's still in the negative) wrecked my car and started fights with me for no reason.

I love him with everything I got and I couldn't stand to watch him kill himself. It wasn't until last week that we got into a huge fight because his "dealer" called trying to get him to buy more pills. I blew up! We had our fight, I threatened to leave and he then told me that he had a problem and wants to quit.

We are now working on his addiction. The pills that he has left I am holding and I only give one or just a half of one a day. He is doing really well and I am very proud of him. We just take one day at a time and I hope he can finally be done with the addiction soon.

A Little Help Along the Way

A&E Intervention - Andrea and Ricky Part 1