Lisa Marie Presley has died, the Associated Press reports. She was rushed to a hospital nearby to her home in Calabasas, California, after collapsing from cardiac arrest earlier today (January 12). Presley’s mother, Priscilla, confirmed the news to the Associated Press, writing in a statement: “It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us. She was the most passionate, strong, and loving woman I have ever known.” The singer was 54 years old.
Lisa Marie Presley was born on February 1, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. Her father, Elvis Presley, married her mother, Priscilla Presley (née Wagner), on May 1, 1967—exactly nine months before Lisa Marie was born. The couple divorced in 1973, and their daughter lived in Los Angeles with Priscilla through Elvis’ death in 1977.
With his passing, Lisa Marie took control of the Presley estate alongside her grandfather, Vernon Presley, and great-grandmother, Minnie Mae Hood Presley, and became the estate’s sole proprietor after their deaths. She sold majority ownership of the estate to Robert Sillerman of SFX Entertainment in 2004.
Presley married her first husband, Danny Keough, in October 1988. After their divorce, in 1994, she married Michael Jackson, who she met as a teenager and reconnected with in the early 1990s. She made an appearance in the video for Jackson’s 1995 song “You Are Not Alone.” Her marriage to Jackson came as he faced allegations of child molestation and issues with substance use. Their marriage lasted until January 1996, when Presley filed for divorce. She went on to marry the actor Nicolas Cage and, later, the music producer Michael Lockwood, who she divorced in 2021.
The Michael Jackson Estate paid tribute to Presley on social media Friday (January 13), writing: “We are saddened by the sudden tragic loss of Michael’s former wife, Lisa Marie Presley. Michael cherished the special bond they enjoyed and was comforted by Lisa Marie’s generous love, concern, and care during their times together.”
Presley came to music later in life, releasing her debut single, “Lights Out,” in February 2003. The song appeared on her first album, To Whom It May Concern, that April. It peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and featured Billy Corgan as a co-writer on the B-side “Savior.”
Corgan also remembered Presley on social media, writing: “There is heartbreak and then there is sorrow. This would be sorrow and on more levels than I can count. Please send your prayers out for her family and children at this difficult time. I truly cannot fond the words to express how sad this truly is.”
Rob Arcand
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