Elvis Presley vs Jacqueline du Pré
Two music prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Elvis Presley | Jacqueline du Pré | |
| Field | Music | Music |
| Sub-field | Composer | Classical |
| Born | 1935 | 1945 |
| Died | 1977 | 1987 |
| Country of birth | United States | United Kingdom |
| Star sign | Capricorn | Aquarius |
Who they are
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley entered the world on January 8, 1935, in a two-room shotgun house in Tupelo, Mississippi, born minutes after his identical twin brother, Jesse Garon, who was stillborn. That early brush with loss seemed to imbue the surviving twin with an extra measure of life — a presence so magnetic, so physical, so inexplicably charged that it would eventually stop a nation in its tracks. Elvis Presley did not simply become a pop star. He became the moment when American music changed forever.
Full biography of Elvis Presley →
Jacqueline du Pré
There is a recording made in 1965, when Jacqueline du Pré was nineteen years old, that classical musicians still use as a reference point for what the cello can express. She was performing Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor — a late, elegiac work that Elgar wrote in 1919, after the destruction of the First World War, and which had been considered a minor piece of his output until du Pré played it. Her performance — large-scaled, deeply personal, technically sovereign — transformed the concerto's reputation overnight. It is now considered one of the great…
Full biography of Jacqueline du Pré →
What they share
- Both are held here under Music.
- Near contemporaries - 10 years apart.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Where they part
- Born in different countries: United States and United Kingdom.
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Elvis Presley or Jacqueline du Pré?
- Elvis Presley. Elvis Presley was born in 1935, Jacqueline du Pré in 1945.
- What field is each of them in?
- Elvis Presley is filed under Music (Composer). Jacqueline du Pré is filed under Music (Classical).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.