Lisa Marie Presley, singer and only child of Elvis, has died aged 54

The likes of John Travolta, Billy Corgan, Pink, and Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks have paid tribute

Lisa Marie Presley, the singer-songwriter and only child of Elvis, has died at the age of 54, following her sudden admission to hospital for a medical emergency.

News of Presley’s death was confirmed today by her mother, Priscilla, who said in a statement (via the Associated Press) that “my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us. She was the most passionate strong and loving woman I have ever known.” Priscilla thanked the public for their “love and prayers”.

Presley’s death comes hours after she had been rushed to hospital after suffering a possible cardiac arrest. According to reports, an ambulance was called to Presley’s Calabasas home on Thursday (January 12), where it’s said responders administered CPR. Priscilla later issued a statement confirming the hospitalisation, writing at the time that her daughter was “receiving the best care”.

NME has contacted a representative of Presley for comment.

Elvis and Priscilla Presley with Lisa Marie in 1968. CREDIT: Alamy

Lisa Marie Presley was the only child of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, and the sole heir to her father’s estate, which she assumed in 1980. Presley retained ownership of Elvis’ home in Memphis, Tennessee, including her father’s Graceland mansion and its surrounding 13 acres. In 2004, she sold 85 per cent of all trademark rights to Elvis’ name to music promoter Robert F. X. Sillerman.

She was also a musician in her own right, releasing three studio albums between 2003 and 2012. Her first two albums – ‘To Whom It May Concern’ (2003) and ‘Now What’ (2004) – both hit the top 10 of the Billboard 200 album charts.

Presley was married four times. She was married to Danny Keough between 1988 and 1994, and shared two children with the musician. In 2020, one of her two children to Keough, Benjamin, died at the age of 21. In a statement released at the time by her representative Roger Widynowski, Presley said: “She adored that boy. He was the love of her life.” The statement did not state a cause of death.

Presley was married to Michael Jackson for 18 months in 1994, and would go on to marry actor Nicolas Cage in 2002. Presley’s last public appearance took place just days ago (January 11) at the 2023 Golden Globe Awards, which she attended with her mother in celebration of the Baz Luhrmann-directed biopic, Elvis.

Lisa Marie Presley and Elvis
Lisa Marie and Elvis Presley. Credits: Frank Carroll/Sygma via Getty Images

Austin Butler won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama for his portrayal of the title character. “I really didn’t know what to do with myself after I saw it”, Presley said of Elvis on the red carpet. “I had to take, like, five days to process it because it was so incredible and so spot on and just so authentic.”

Presley spoke of bereavement in a 2022 essay for People, writing that “grief does not stop or go away in any sense, a year, or years after the loss. Grief is something you will have to carry with you for the rest of your life, in spite of what certain people or our culture wants us to believe.”

The likes of Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins, Pink, the Jackson family, Bette Midler, Corey Feldman, Octavia Spencer, John Travolta and Mia Farrow have paid tribute to Presley.

“There is heartbreak and then there is sorrow. This would be sorrow and on more levels than I can count,” Corgan wrote on Twitter. “Please send your prayers out for her family and children at this difficult time. I truly cannot find the words to express how sad this truly is. RIP.”

“Lisa Marie, you were one of a kind,” wrote Pink, who collaborated with Presley on the song ‘Shine’. “Funny as shit, smart as a whip, sensitive, talented, witty, mean, loving, generous, judgmental but always right, loyal, and you adored your children.

“My heart breaks for you and your beautiful family and your children. The world lost a rare gem today. May your soul rest in peace, friend.”

Lisa Marie Presley handprint ceremony 2022
Lisa Marie Presley (third from left) at a handprint ceremony honouring her, Priscilla Presley and Riley Keough in Hollywood in June 2022, with ‘Elvis’ director Baz Luhrmann and star Austin Butler. Credit: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images

Rita Wilson, wife of Tom Hanks, who played Colonel Tom Parker in Elvis, shared a statement paying tribute to Presley.

“Tom and I had spent some time with the family during the Elvis movie promotional tour. Lisa Marie was so honest and direct, vulnerable, in a state of anticipation about the movie,” Wilson wrote. “She spoke so eloquently about her father, what the movie meant to her, that it was a celebration of her dad.”

“If you haven’t heard her music please go listen. She had a sultry voice, a power and tenderness, that I have always loved.”

See these tributes and more below.

Lisa Marie Presley was such a kind beautiful soft spoken lady who knew that I had named my daughter Presley after ELVIS…

Posted by Tanya Tucker on Thursday, January 12, 2023

Elsewhere, Priscilla Presley is set to head out on an In Conversation UK tour this year. Speaking to NME, she vowed: “I’m not going to hold anything back. People are going to understand Elvis even better.”

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