Elvis Presley Timeline: 1976

Here's a handy database of dates and events in Elvis Presley's life during 1976. You can also find out what else Elvis was up to in 1976 and in all the years of his life.

Timeline

January 4: Elvis, girlfriend Linda Thompson, and 17 others fly to Denver after the King decides, on a whim, to vacation there for his 41st birthday. Members of the Denver police force help them find accommodations.
January 8: On his birthday, Elvis and company are skiing in Vail, Colorado. Presley, however, uses only a snowmobile, and only at night. President Ford's daughter, Susan, complains, leading the National Enquirer to sniff around and publish bizarre stories of Elvis snowmobiling at night.
January 14: Elvis buys three Cadillacs and two Lincolns (worth $70,000 total) for members of his entourage and members of the Denver PD.
January 20: When Presley attempts to move Memphis Mafioso Jerry Schilling and his companion out of their rooms in the middle of the night, Schilling, already upset about the King's bizarre mood swings, leaves Elvis' inner circle once and for all.
February 3: An increasingly erratic and paranoid Elvis calls Red and Sonny West to his room at Graceland to discuss his plan to murder all Memphis drug dealers. The singer thinks it should be done immediately, as he has the perfect alibi of a scheduled recording session.
February 10: The Memphis Police Department makes Elvis Presley an honorary captain.
February 13: Having completed work on Graceland's first racquetball court, Elvis draws up plans for a chain of such courts around the country, bearing his name.
February 18: Presley returns to Colorado to look for a permanent home but leaves, never to return, when the local police attempt to gently confront him about his mood swings and strange behavior.
March 26: Elvis displays his honorary badge at a Memphis multi-car pileup on the Interstate and attempts to help the victims before police and rescue teams arrive.
June 16: With the breakdown of Elvis' inner circle, communication with Colonel Tom Parker has become almost nonexistent, leading him to write a personal note to the King wondering what's happened.
June 27: Elton John visits Elvis backstage after tonight's show in Landover, MD. Later he would note that the King "already looked like a corpse."
July 3: Presley's father, Vernon, who has never trusted Red and Sonny West, abruptly cancels plane tickets for Sonny's family to join him at tonight's show.
July 13: By phone, Vernon fires Sonny, Red, and Elvis' last karate guru, Dave Hebler, terminating them with only a week's pay. Though the official reason is economic, Sonny and Red are certain that Vernon has planned this for some time.
July 14: Elvis visits Las Vegas with girlfriend Linda Thompson.
July 28: After hearing several reports from band members, and seeing tonight's sad results for himself, the Colonel tells Elvis, point blank, that his performances are not what they should be.
August 10: Elvis breaks suddenly from his racquetball chain agreement, claiming he only agreed to put up his name, not his money and firing Joe Esposito and Dr. Nick for making the deal in the first place. Baseball star Don Kessenger eventually takes over the business.
August 27: Larry Geller, Elvis' spiritual advisor of sorts, rejoins the Mafia for the first time in nine years, with a desperate Colonel -- once dead set against Geller -- hoping this will be a stabilizing influence for the rapidly declining singer.
August 28: After horrible reviews of tonight's show, the Colonel calls Dr. Nick back into service to help get Presley back into fighting trim.
September 11: Rumors, later proven true, begin surfacing that Red, Sonny, and Dave Hebler are collaborating on a tell-all book about their time with the King. Predictably, this does not help Elvis' mood or his paranoia.
October 5: Elvis flies to Los Angeles and authorizes his old private detective, John O'Grady, to approach Red, Sonny, and Dave with a virtual blank check and some seed money for other, new careers, in hopes that they'll kill the book deal. It doesn't work.
October 12: Elvis calls Red and attempts to reconcile without actually asking him back into the fold; Red secretly tapes the conversation.
October 26: The tabloid The Star, author of Red, Sonny, and Dave's book deal, publishes excerpts of the phone conversation in an attempt to prove that Elvis is addicted to drugs. Presley is shattered.
November 19: Memphis Mafioso George Klein visits Graceland with Miss Tennessee, Terry Alden, in a matchmaking attempt, but Elvis falls for Alden's little sister, Ginger, instead.
November 20: The nineteen-year-old Ginger and Elvis take their first (chaperoned) date to Vegas, with her parents' permission.
November 23: Jerry Lee Lewis visits Graceland very early in the morning and is told that Elvis is asleep. He drives off in a huff but returns after sunrise, invited there by The King himself. Unfortunately, one of Elvis' security guards hasn't been told, and when Jerry Lee is refused permission to enter, he allegedly brandishes a gun and claims he's come to kill Presley. Lewis, who later claimed he was making a sarcastic joke, is promptly arrested.
November 29: At Elvis' request, Ginger Alden appears in San Francisco to join Elvis on his current tour. Unfortunately, current girlfriend, Linda Thompson is still there, having ignored Elvis' advice to leave the tour and get some beauty rest. Linda soon leaves, for good.
December 5: Elvis falls before tonight's Vegas show and injures his ankle.
December 7: Vernon is hospitalized with what appears to be his second heart attack, but which turns out later to be a mere complication of his first.
December 10: Elvis flies Ginger's whole family out to the show tonight in an attempt to get her to stay on the tour; however, tonight's Vegas show is marred by tantrums from Elvis, who constantly disparages the sound and, shockingly, the city.
December 12: By request, televangelist Rex Humbard visits Elvis in his dressing room after tonight's show to pray with him. A shaken, tearful Elvis begs him to do just that. "Jesus is coming back really soon, isn't he, Rex?" says the King.