Lisa Marie Presley, Singer/Songwriter & Elvis’ Only Child, Dies at 54
Lisa Marie Presley — the only child of Elvis Presley — died Thursday (Jan. 12) after being hospitalized earlier that day, her mother said in a statement. The singer was 54.
“It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us,” Priscilla Presley said in a statement. “She was the most passionate, strong and loving woman I have ever known.”
The announcement came just hours after Priscilla Presley had confirmed that Lisa Marie Presley was rushed to the hospital earlier Thursday.
Los Angeles County paramedics were dispatched to a Calabasas home at 10:37 a.m. following a report of a woman in full cardiac arrest, according to Craig Little, a spokesperson for the county’s fire department. Property records indicate Presley was a resident at that address.
Paramedics arrived about six minutes later, Little said. A subsequent statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said paramedics performed CPR and “determined the patient had signs of life” before taking her to the hospital immediately.
The city of Calabasas is nestled between the foothills of the Santa Monica and the Santa Susanna Mountains, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
Presley, 54, attended the Golden Globes on Tuesday, on hand to celebrate Austin Butler’s award for playing her father in Elvis. She called his performance “mind-blowing” during a red carpet interview with Entertainment Tonight.
“I really didn’t know what to do with myself after I saw it,” she told ET of Baz Luhrmann’s movie. “I had to take, like, five days to process it because it was so incredible and so spot on and just so authentic that, yeah, I can’t even describe what it meant.”
Just days before that, she was in Memphis, Tennessee, at Graceland — the mansion where Elvis lived — to celebrate the 88th anniversary of her father’s birth on Jan. 8.
A representative for Lisa Marie Presley had no comment when reached by The Associated Press.
Presley had two top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 — To Whom It May Concern (No. 5 in 2003) and Now What (No. 9 in 2005). “Lights Out,” a single from To Whom It May Concern, was critically acclaimed and hit Billboard‘s Adult Pop Airplay (No. 18 peak) and Pop Airplay charts (No. 34) in 2003.
“Lights Out,” a single from To Whom It May Concern, was critically acclaimed and bubbled under the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 114.
Presley was married four times, to musician Danny Keough (1988-94), pop icon Michael Jackson (1994-96), actor Nicolas Cage (2002-04) and music producer Michael Lockwood (2006-21). Jackson also died young. He was just 50 when he succumbed in 2009.
Presley recently penned an essay published in People about “the horrific reality” of her grief following her son Benjamin Keough’s death by suicide in 2020.
“I’ve dealt with death, grief and loss since the age of 9 years old. I’ve had more than anyone’s fair share of it in my lifetime and somehow, I’ve made it this far,” she wrote in August.
Presley is also the mother of actor Riley Keough and twin daughters. Keogh’s representatives didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Katie Atkinson
Billboard