Lisa Marie Presley Makes Respectable Album Debut
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Nearly 25 years after the death of her legendary father, Lisa Marie Presley claimed her own place in the pop charts on Wednesday with a respectable No. 5 opening for her debut album, “To Whom It May Concern.”
The album, a collection of songs whose lyrics were written mostly by the 35-year-old performer, sold 142,000 copies its first week in release from EMI Group Plc’s Capitol Records, according to retail sales tracker Nielsen SoundScan.
That was enough to edge out R&B love man Ginuwine’s latest release, “The Senior,” from the top five for the week ended Sunday. But Presley was crowded out of the chart’s highest rungs by the No. 1 opening of hard rock group Godsmack’s third album, “Faceless,” followed by metal band Linkin Park’s “Meteora,” rap artist 50 Cent’s “Get Rich or Die Tryin”‘ and the latest “Now” compilation of various artists.
Still, the debut of Elvis Presley’s only child, coming a quarter century after the “king of rock ‘n’ roll” passed into history, marked a solid start for the latest in a long line of pop music progeny following in their parents’ footsteps.
Whether Lisa Marie Presley achieves the success of Jakob Dylan, Julian Lennon or Hank Williams Jr. remains to be seen. Her recording debut poses the twin challenges of overcoming inevitable comparisons to her legendary father and years of tabloid headlines borne of her high-profile former marriages to Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage.
But Presley already has drawn generally warm reviews and considerable airplay for the album’s bluesy first single, “Lights Out,” which contains an eerie lyrical reference to her heritage.
“Someone turned the lights out there in Memphis/That’s where my family’s buried and gone/Last time I was there I noticed a space left/Next to them there in Memphis in the damn back lawn,” she sings.
Presley, 9 years old when her father died in August 1977, was raised by her mother, actress Priscilla Presley.
Although she penned the album’s lyrics almost entirely herself, Presley received songwriting help from Glen Ballard, the producer who signed her five years ago to this then-Capitol-distributed label and is best known for his work on Alanis Morissette’s blockbuster release “Jagged Little Pill.”
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