3.FIRST STEPS: A shirtless Elvis holds a stack of 45s with his first commercial single, "That's All Right, Mama." Sam Phillips, who owned the recording studio where Elvis first went, in 1954 asked the then-18-year-old truck driver to make a record to release commercially, LIFE noted in February 1995. At one session, during a break from recording with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, Elvis sang an up-tempo song, "That's All Right, Mama." An enthralled Phillips had the group record the tune, and it became Elvis's first single. Elvis appeared at the Grand Ole Opry later that year, which had been a childhood dream, and he was on his way. From the beginning, Elvis's influence was widespread. Across the Atlantic in Liverpool, England, a teen named John Lennon was among the many to discover the Southern singer's hit "Heartbreak Hotel" in 1956, and the world would never be the same. "From then on, I never got a minute's peace," Lennon's aunt Mimi said later, LIFE noted in October 1995. "It was Elvis Presley, Elvis Presley, Elvis Presley. In the end, I said, 'Elvis Presley's all very well, John, but I don't want him for breakfast, dinner and tea.' "