By Adrian Sainz -
The Associated Press
MEMPHIS, Tenn.
— Singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of rock legend Elvis Presley, was remembered Sunday during a funeral service as a loving mother and "an old soul" who endured tragedy but worked hard to protect the legacy his father's.
More than 1,000 people gathered on the front lawn of Graceland, the mansion where Elvis lived in Memphis, Tennessee, on a cold, gray morning to mourn and remember the life of Lisa Marie, who passed away on January 12. at age 54 in a hospital near Los Angeles.
Axl Rose, of the band Guns N' Roses, performs during the funeral for Lisa Marie Presley, on January 22, 2023, in Memphis, Tennessee. John Amis / AP
Many of those who turned up held flowers in their hands as they waited for the start of the service under the tall trees on the Graceland lawn.
The house is owned by Lisa Marie Presley and has become a museum and tourist attraction that hundreds of thousands of fans visit every year to celebrate the life and music of Elvis, who died in 1977 at the age of 42.
The service began with the singing of
Amazing Grace
by Jason Clark & The Tennessee Mass Choir.
"We would like to express our sincerest gratitude for the love, compassion and support you have shown our family during this difficult time," the Presley family said in a message written on the service schedule.
"We will always be grateful to you."
Actress Priscilla Presley reads a poem during a memorial service for her daughter, Lisa Marie, on Jan. 22, 2023, in Memphis, Tennessee. John Amis / AP
During the event, Lisa Marie's mother, actress Priscilla Presley;
Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York;
Jerry Schilling, a close friend of Elvis and former manager of Lisa Presley;
and former Memphis mayor AC Wharton, who called Lisa Marie's parents the Memphis royal couple.
In a soft voice, Priscilla Presley read a poem by one of Lisa Marie's three daughters, Harper Vivienne Ann Lockwood, titled "The Old Soul," in which she called her mother "an icon, a role model, a superhero for everyone." lots of people all over the world."
“In 1968 she came to our world, she was born tired, fragile, but strong.
She was delicate, but she was full of life,” Priscilla Presley read.
“She always knew that she wouldn't be here too long.
She spent childhood, with a flash of green eyes from her.
She then she started her own family from her ”.
The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, addresses the public during Lisa Marie Presley's funeral on January 22, 2023 in Memphis, Tennessee. John Amis / AP
After reading the poem, he assured: “Our hearts are broken.
Lisa, we all love you."
Music was a fundamental part of the funeral.
Billy Corgan, lead singer of The Smashing Pumpkins, played acoustic guitar and sang "To Sheila";
Alanis Morissette sang "Rest";
Guns N' Roses' Axl Rose played piano and sang “November Rain”;
and The Blackwood Brothers Quartet, one of the pioneer groups of gospel music, performed two songs.
Following the service, Presley was buried alongside her son Benjamin Keough, who died in 2020 at age 27, her grandparents, and great-grandmother.
The path to the grave was decorated with wreaths and bouquets of red, white, yellow and pink flowers.
Many walked slowly past the casket with tears in their eyes, stopping to pay their respects.
Visitors file past the grave of Lisa Marie Presley inside Graceland, the mansion where her father Elvis Presley lived, on January 22, 2023 in Memphis, Tennessee. John Amis / AP
Jordan Clark, 25, traveled from Mobile, Alabama, to attend the service.
He called the ceremony special and moving.
In her opinion, Lisa Marie "been through a lot" in her life and likened the service to the time Elvis died, when "people came from everywhere."
“She was born into the public, she was born into fame.
That's hard for some people," Clark said.
“She handled it like a champ.
Believe".
Lisa Marie was 9 years old when her father died.
The family lived in Graceland and she always remembered that he gave her one last goodnight kiss the night she passed away.
Following her father's death, she became the sole heir to the Elvis Presley Trust, which—along with Elvis Presley Enterprises—managed Graceland and other assets until it sold its majority stake in 2005. She retained ownership of the mansion, the 13-acre that surround it and the objects inside the house.
Chelsa Brinkman, a follower of Lisa Marie Presley, holds a photograph with the image of the singer-songwriter in front of the doors of Graceland, the mansion where Elvis Presley lived, on January 22, 2023 in Memphis, Tennessee. John Amis / AP
A representative of Elvis Presley Enterprises explained to The Associated Press news agency that the mansion is in a trust that will benefit the children of Lisa Marie.
Along with Harper, she is survived by two other daughters: Riley Keough and Finley Aaron Love Lockwood.
Riley Keough, who is also in the world of acting, did not speak at the funeral.
But her husband, Ben Smith-Petersen, read a statement in which Keough recalled her mother taking her out for ice cream, bringing her Cracker Barrel tea sets and leaving notes in her lunch box.
"Thank you for giving me strength, my heart, my empathy, my courage, my sense of humor, my manners, my temper, my savagery, my tenacity," Riley Keough said in the statement.
"I am a product of your heart."
