January 22, 2023 Lisa Marie Presley’s memorial service at Graceland | CNN

Lisa Marie Presley’s memorial service at Graceland

lisa marie memorial
Duchess of York, Billy Corgan pay tribute to Lisa Marie Presley at memorial
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What we covered here

  • A public memorial service honored Lisa Marie Presley, the only daughter of Elvis Presley, at the Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, Sunday.
  • Family, friends and fans walked in a procession to Presley’s final resting place, a garden on the property where her son and father are buried.
  • The singer was rushed to the hospital on Jan. 12 after suffering a cardiac arrest. She died at age 54, just a few days after attending the Golden Globes to support a film about her late father.
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We’ve wrapped up our live coverage. You can read more about Lisa Marie Presley’s life and legacy here.

Here's who attended and performed at Lisa Marie Presley's memorial service

Alanis Morissette performs onstage at the public memorial for Lisa Marie Presley on Sunday in Memphis, Tennessee.

A large crowd of family, friends and fans gathered Sunday morning in front of the famed Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee, for the funeral of Lisa Marie Presley, the sole daughter of late singer Elvis Presley.  

Longtime friends of Lisa Marie and the Presley family spoke at the funeral, including former Memphis Mayor A C Wharton; Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York; manager Jerry Schilling; and Elvis Presley Enterprises managing partner Joel Weinshanker. 

Musical performances included Axl Rose, Alanis Morissette and Jason Clark and The Tennessee Mass Choir.

Schilling, who was an aide and producer to Elvis and manager to Lisa Marie, told stories of him and “a girl named Memphis,” which Shilling said is what he always called her. 

In 1967, Schilling said he spent Christmas and New Year’s Day at Graceland and was asked by Elvis himself to stay until Lisa Marie’s birth in February of 1968. 

Jerry Schilling speaks at the public memorial for Lisa Marie Presley on Sunday in Memphis.

Schilling said Lisa Marie Presley had asked him to accompany her on the red carpet at the Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 10.

“Last thing she said to me was, ‘Jerry Schilling, I love you,’” Schilling said. 

Priscilla Presley then spoke, briefly and quietly, reading a poem and remarks from granddaughter Riley Keough. 

Keough is Lisa Marie Presley’s oldest daughter. 

“Our heart is broken,” Priscilla said. “Lisa, we all love you.”

Keough also shared a letter through her husband Ben Smith-Petersen. 

In the letter, Riley said she was certain she chose the best mother in the world.

“I remember how it felt to be loved by the most loving mother I’ve ever known. I remember how it safe it felt to be in your arms,” the letter said. “I remember that feeling as a child, and I remember that feeling two weeks ago on your couch. Thank you for showing me that love is the only thing that matters in this life. I hope I can love my daughter the way that you loved me.” 

A coroner deferred Lisa Marie Presley’s cause of death

Lisa Marie Presley’s cause of death has not yet been determined after an initial autopsy examination, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner.

“Presley was examined on Jan. 14 and the cause of death was deferred. Deferred means that after an autopsy, a cause of death has not been determined and the medical examiner is requesting more investigation into the death, including additional studies. Once the tests/studies come back, the doctor evaluates the case again and makes the cause of death determination,” Sarah Ardalani, a spokesperson with the coroner’s office, told CNN.

The singer and songwriter died last week after being hospitalized following an apparent cardiac arrest. She was 54.

On Wednesday, CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta explained that there could be a multitude of reasons for the deferral.

Lisa Marie Presley attended the Golden Globes just 2 days before her death

Lisa Marie Presley attends the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton on January 10 in Beverly Hills, California.

Lisa Marie Presley was seen at this month’s Golden Globe Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, just two days before she died.

She was there with her mother, Priscilla, as actor Austin Butler won an award for best actor in the biopic “Elvis.” The film portrayed Presley from adolescence to his untimely death at age 42. 

Butler thanked the Presley family in his speech.

“Thank you guys for opening your hearts, your memories, your home to me. Lisa Marie, Priscilla, I love you forever,” he said.

Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage were among Lisa Marie Presley's high-profile nuptials

Parallel to her musical pursuits, Lisa Marie Presley was married four times, including to music superstar Michael Jackson and actor Nicolas Cage.

She wed musician Danny Keough in 1988, with whom she had a daughter, Riley Keough, and son Benjamin Storm Keough.

The pair divorced in May 1994, and roughly three weeks later, Lisa Marie married Jackson in a ceremony that made headlines worldwide.

She noted of Jackson in a 2003 interview with ABC News and Diane Sawyer: “When he wants to lock into you, when he wants to intrigue you or capture you, or you know, whatever he wants to do with you, he can do it.” She added that she “fell into this whole, ‘You poor, sweet, misunderstood man, I’m going to save you.’ … I fell in love with him.”

Their marriage ended in January 1996.

Two years later, she wed Cage after meeting him at a party, but only stayed married to him for three months, from August to November of 2002. The divorce was finalized in 2004.

Her fourth marriage came in 2006, to her guitarist, music producer and director Michael Lockwood. The pair welcomed twins Finley Aaron Love Lockwood and Harper Vivienne Ann Lockwood in 2007. They divorced in 2016.

Presley died earlier this month after suffering an apparent cardiac arrest. She was 54.

Read more here.

Lisa Marie Presley grew up in the spotlight

Lisa Marie Presley sits on her mother's lap while enjoying a day with her parents.

As the only daughter of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley, singer Lisa Marie Presley spent her life in the spotlight from the start. 

And the public interest in her life — from her marriages to her private tragedies — never waned until, much like her father, she was taken too soon. 

Lisa Marie Presley died earlier this month after suffering an apparent cardiac arrest. She was 54.

Her childhood: Born at the height of Elvis’ fame in 1968, Lisa Marie Presley was seen as the princess to the man celebrated as “the King of rock ‘n’ roll.”

Elvis and Priscilla Presley separated in 1972 when their daughter was 4 years old, and she was only 9 when her father died in 1977. He was 42.

Soon, she began acting out and experimenting with drugs, resulting in her mother sending her to a series of private schools, including a boarding school in Ojai. Lisa Marie Presley noted to the Los Angeles Times in 2003 that as a child, she “was kind of a loner, a melancholy and strange child.”

How Lisa Marie Presley made her own mark in music

Lisa Marie Presley performs onstage at Gramercy Theatre on June 14, 2012 in New York City.

Lisa Marie Presley, who died earlier this month at age 54, was the eventual sole heir to her father Elvis’ estate, as well as his sprawling Memphis mansion Graceland.

Her father’s mighty and ever-looming legacy didn’t, however, steer her away from her desire to pursue a career in music in her own right.

Lisa Marie launched her career in 2003 with a debut studio album, “To Whom It May Concern,” which reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and was certified gold that summer. She wrote almost all the lyrics on the album and co-wrote every melody.

At the time, Lisa Marie told Larry King she had to “park” feelings of pressure and comparisons to her legendary singer dad.

Also around the same time, Lisa Marie reflected on whether her famous name was a hindrance or a help, telling Playboy she didn’t “ask tabloids to chase me around every week.”

But, she added, she “would never take back any part of who I am or where I came from.”

That first record was followed by two additional albums, 2005’s “Now What” and “Storm & Grace” in 2012.

Lisa Marie Presley's memorial service is underway

Fans gather to pay their respects at the memorial for Lisa Marie Presley on Sunday in Memphis, Tennessee.

Large crowds of well-wishers have gathered at the Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, to honor Lisa Marie Presley, the only daughter of Elvis Presley.

The memorial service has now begun, and you can watch a livestream at the top of this page.

Members of the public are invited to Graceland Sunday for Lisa Marie Presley's memorial service

A public memorial for Lisa Marie Presley will be held at the Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, on Sunday, according to a statement on Graceland’s website.

A celebration of life ceremony on the front lawn will be followed by a procession to the mansion’s meditation garden. Fans will start lining up as early as 5 a.m. local time (6 a.m. ET), and a limited number will be allowed inside starting at 8 a.m. ET. The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. ET.

Hundreds of attendees can fit on the property’s lawn, according to the venue’s website, but large crowds are expected and additional fans may gather outside the property’s gates.

“In lieu of flowers, the family encourages all who wish to send something to do so in the form of a donation to The Elvis Presley Charitable Foundation,” a notice on the site reads.

The foundation supports arts, education and efforts on behalf of children in the Memphis area.

Elvis Presley purchased the iconic estate in 1957 when he was just 22 years old.

He died in the mansion from cardiac arrest in 1977 and is buried on the grounds of Graceland, which is now a museum and a popular tourist attraction. It will serve as Lisa Marie Presley’s final resting place, too, alongside her son Benjamin Keough, who died by suicide in 2020 at the age of 27.

The Graceland estate was held in a trust for Lisa Marie, the only child of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, until her 25th birthday.

Elvis Presley bought Graceland in 1957. Today it's a museum and the site of his daughter's memorial service

Visitors wait to enter Graceland on August 12, 2017, in Memphis, Tennessee.

Lisa Marie Presley’s final resting place is Graceland, the legendary mansion that was home to her father, Elvis Presley, in Memphis, Tennessee.

Here’s what you need to know about the historic estate, which is the site of today’s public memorial service:

Elvis purchased Graceland in 1957 for $102,500 when he was 22 years old, according to Graceland’s website – and he lived there until his death on Aug. 16, 1977.

The music legend’s only daughter was only 9 years old at the time.

His father, Vernon Presley, was appointed executor and trustee of the estate per Elvis’ will, the website states. And Lisa Marie Presley became the sole heir upon turning 25 years old on Feb. 1, 1993.

More than 10 years earlier, due to the cost of maintaining the estate, Priscilla Presley and the estate’s executors had decided to open Graceland to the public.

Since June 7, 1982, more than 20 million visitors from across the world have visited Graceland, according to the website.

The estate is one of the most visited houses in the country and a pilgrimage of sorts for musicians and rock ‘n’ roll fans, including a number of celebrities and heads of state. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

Lisa Marie Presley burial site is next to her son, Ben, who died in 2020. Her father is also buried on the 13.8-acre estate.

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