Elvis Presley Timeline: 1972

A historical Elvis Presley timeline of dates and important events

Rock and roll singer Elvis Presley
Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images

Here's a handy database of dates and events in Elvis Presley's life during 1972. 

January 8: Elvis invites Congressional aide Joyce Bova—a new flame he met while married to Priscilla — to Memphis for his 37th birthday.
January 13: Elvis begins rehearsals for his upcoming Vegas shows.
January 26: Elvis opens his latest Vegas series looking trimmer yet seeming more subdued than in earlier tours, introducing several new covers that speak to a theme of lost love. Priscilla is in the audience for this engagement.
February 4: Presley's new management contract takes effect officially, handing the Colonel a hefty third of his concert draw for the next two years.
February 14: Taping of Elvis' latest shows begins tonight for a planned concert album.
February 23: Backstage at Elvis' final Vegas show of the engagement, Priscilla informs him that she's been seeing karate master Mike Stone, whom Elvis introduced to her. The King is furious.
March 29: The Colonel warns the Hilton that the planned upcoming concert documentary may impact on Elvis' availability for the venue, resulting in a shrewd re-negotiation.
March 30: The documentary Standing Room Only (which will eventually make it to theaters as Elvis: On Tour) begins filming, with a camera crew present at a studio rehearsal.
April 8: After the recording equipment breaks down completely and forever during tonight's show, plans for the upcoming concert album are shelved... for now.
April 20: The Colonel hints around that he may take Elvis to the new MGM Grand as soon as it is built, forcing yet another contract renegotiation, one which also nets Parker a cushy new position as a consultant for the entire chain.
May 24: Elvis attends Glen Campbell's Hilton show in Vegas.
June 6: Rehearsals begin for the new stadium tour at the Hollywood RCA Studios, the first appearance by Elvis there since his movie days.
June 9: Elvis opens at Madison Square Garden for four nights, representing the first time the King has played a true New York City concert. Presley begins the day displaying his International Hotel "boxing belt" at an afternoon press conference at the Hilton.
July 6: George Klein brings Linda Thompson, current Miss Tennessee, to the Memphian during one of Elvis' many reserved movie nights there. Presley is immediately smitten, yet she soon leaves for a three-week family outing.
July 8: The Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii concert, as yet unnamed, is announced at a press conference given by the Colonel, touted as the first worldwide satellite broadcast. It isn't, quite, although a subsequent simultaneous global release of the soundtrack is a first for the industry.
July 20: Elvis gives a surprisingly candid interview for Elvis: On Tour, saying, among other things, that "I’ve never gotten over what they call stage fright. I go through it every show," and "My daddy had seen a lot of people who played guitars and stuff and didn't work. So he told me, 'You should make up your mind about either playing guitar or being an electrician. I never saw a guitar player that was worth a damn.'"
July 24: Elvis checks into Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis to take care of an ankle injury.
July 26: Elvis begins rehearsals for his new Vegas engagement on the same day that his separation from Priscilla is officially made legal.
August 4: An unspecified illness causes Presley to cut tonight's show short after 45 minutes.
August 14: The date for the Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii concert is pushed back to January 1973, due to the upcoming release of Elvis: On Tour.
August 17: Priscilla files for divorce from Elvis in a Santa Monica court, asking $100,000 plus $1,500 monthly for spousal and child support.
September 4: In Vegas, The Colonel holds yet another Aloha From Hawaii press conference, resetting a definite date. The show will be the first to be presented by the Colonel and RCA's new joint tour management venture.
November 1: Elvis returns to Vegas, now with Linda Thompson in tow, on the same day that Elvis: On Tour opens in theaters.
November 20: Elvis holds his own press conference in support of Aloha, now a charity concert for cancer, this time in Hawaii.
December 25: Elvis presents Linda Thompson with a new mink coat at Graceland's Christmas party.