Elvis Presley vs Jimi Hendrix
Two music prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Elvis Presley | Jimi Hendrix | |
| Field | Music | Music |
| Sub-field | Composer | Pop |
| Born | 1935 | 1942 |
| Died | 1977 | 1970 |
| Country of birth | United States | United States |
| Star sign | Capricorn | Sagittarius |
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 →
Jimi Hendrix
The first instrument Jimi Hendrix ever played was a ukulele with a single string. He found it while helping his father clean out a house in Seattle in 1957, and he spent weeks working out the melody to "Honky Tonk Women" on that single string before his father relented and bought him a five-dollar acoustic guitar. He was fifteen years old, completely self-taught, and he could already hear in his head sounds that no existing guitarist had yet produced. Within four years, by his own account, he had listened to every blues record he could…
Full biography of Jimi Hendrix →
What they share
- Both are held here under Music.
- Both born in United States.
- Near contemporaries - 7 years apart.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Elvis Presley or Jimi Hendrix?
- Elvis Presley. Elvis Presley was born in 1935, Jimi Hendrix in 1942.
- What field is each of them in?
- Elvis Presley is filed under Music (Composer). Jimi Hendrix is filed under Music (Pop).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.