Float through any social event with M's fast facts. This week Kevin McIndoe looks at the life and times of Elvis Presley, the King of Rock 'n' Roll, who was born on this day in 1935
THE BASICS "Elvis was the greatest cultural force in the 20th century. He introduced the beat to everything, music, language, clothes, it was a whole new social revolution," said Leonard Bernstein. Says it all.
THE MAN Born in Tupelo in the US state of Mississippi on January 8, 1935, the surviving twin son of Vernon and Gladys Presley. Married Priscilla Beaulieu in 1967, and the couple had a daughter, Lisa Marie, exactly nine months after their wedding, in 1968.
WHY IS HE SPECIAL? The King of Rock 'n' Roll. The best-selling solo artist in the history of popular music, with about one billion records sold. Elvis took sounds from gospel, country and blues and moulded it into what came to be rock 'n' roll.
A TALENT SHOW SENSATION? Yes and no. Despite singing Old Shep at a talent show when he was 12 (he came fifth), Elvis had proper jobs, working as a cinema usher (he got the sack for flirting with girl customers) and as a truck driver for the Crown Electric Company while he trained to be an electrician. After walking into Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1953, he paid US$4 to record two songs on acetate. Sun's boss, Sam Phillips (eventually) took a chance on him and signed him a year later. After RCA bought Elvis's contract for $40,000 in 1955, the world of popular music was never the same again.
A GOOD SINGER THEN? Absolutely. Much more than "a-huh-huh". Technically, a baritone with a vocal range spanning two-and-a-half octaves, Elvis had one of the greatest voices in popular music. As a supreme interpreter of a lyric, he could rock out on Hound Dog, bare his soul on Always on My Mind, and plead in It's Now or Never ("My l-o-o-o-o-v-e won't wait!"). He adjusted his pitch and volume to suit a number, and his phrasing was usually immaculate.
AND AN ACTOR TOO, RIGHT? That's debatable. Made a promising start with the release of Love Me Tender in 1956 and got good reviews for his performance in Jailhouse Rock (1957). Of the 31 feature films he made, none was ever nominated for an Oscar in any category, which won't surprise you if you've seen most of them. As the flower power movement took hold, his movies began to bomb and he made no more feature films after 1969.
THE END OF HIS CAREER? Far from it. Elvis got himself back on track with a TV special in 1968, where his musical talent simply sparkled as he performed his classic hits. His black leather outfit showed his taste for showmanship was still alive and kicking, too.
AH, THE CLOTHES! Yes, a sartorial style-setter as well. Elvis wore pink (his favourite colour) when most men wouldn't have dared. In the Fifties, he donned sharp suits, pegged trousers, high collars and (occasionally) jeans. Thirty years before men moulded their manes with mousse, he dyed his hair black and sculpted it. In the Seventies, his stage costumes - sequinned, caped jumpsuits - were the stuff of legend, adorned with more bling than Diddy later wore on a good day. However, the suits expanded along with the King's waistline.
SO A BIT OF A FOODIE? Not a lover of haute cuisine but he certainly liked those peanut butter-and-banana sandwiches fried in butter. Elvis hated fish and wouldn't let his family eat it. Towards the end of his life, he rarely got out of bed before noon and although he was a modest 5ft 11in tall, his weight soared to 17 stone.
Seven things you didn't know about the King
GIG GRIEF Elvis played only five concerts outside the US (all in Canada in 1957). His infamous manager, "Colonel" Tom Parker, believed there was little money to be made from foreign tours. But it has been claimed Parker was an illegal immigrant and might not have been re-admitted to the US had a world tour gone ahead.
MISSED IT Elvis never went to England, but did touch down in Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire, Scotland, while on his way back to the US from military service in Germany.
HOME TRUTHS He bought his Memphis home, Graceland, in 1960. It is the second most visited home in the US, after the White House.
A BIG DAY He shares his birthday with two other pop legends: David Bowie (1947) and Shirley Bassey (1937).
MAKEOVER Elvis had his teeth capped, his nose fixed and his acne treated in 1956.
TRUE BLUE He recorded 15 songs with the world "blue" in them.
UM, PROBABLY NOT The name Elvis in Norse means "all wise".
How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars
Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.
Medicus AI
Started: 2016
Founder(s): Dr Baher Al Hakim, Dr Nadine Nehme and Makram Saleh
Based: Vienna, Austria; started in Dubai
Sector: Health Tech
Staff: 119
Funding: €7.7 million (Dh31m)
'Lost in Space'
Creators: Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless, Irwin Allen
Stars: Molly Parker, Toby Stephens, Maxwell Jenkins
Rating: 4/5
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Best Foreign Language Film nominees
Capernaum (Lebanon)
Cold War (Poland)
Never Look Away (Germany)
Roma (Mexico)
Shoplifters (Japan)
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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Profile
Company name: Jaib
Started: January 2018
Co-founders: Fouad Jeryes and Sinan Taifour
Based: Jordan
Sector: FinTech
Total transactions: over $800,000 since January, 2018
Investors in Jaib's mother company Alpha Apps: Aramex and 500 Startups
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Specs
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THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
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UAE Rugby finals day
Games being played at The Sevens, Dubai
2pm, UAE Conference final
Dubai Tigers v Al Ain Amblers
4pm, UAE Premiership final
Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Jebel Ali Dragons
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
RACE CARD
6.30pm: Madjani Stakes Group 2 (PA) Dh97,500 (Dirt) 1,900m
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 1,400m
7.40pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 1,600m
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 2,200m
8.50pm: Dubai Creek Mile Listed (TB) Dh132,500 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm: Conditions (TB) Dh120,000 (D) 1,900m
10pm: Handicap (TB) Dh92,500 (D) 1,400m
The biogs
Name: Zinah Madi
Occupation: Co-founder of Dots and links
Nationality: Syrian
Family: Married, Mother of Tala, 18, Sharif, 14, Kareem, 2
Favourite Quote: “There is only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give it everything.”
Name: Razan Nabulsi
Occupation: Co-founder of Dots and Links
Nationality: Jordanian
Family: Married, Mother of Yahya, 3.5
Favourite Quote: A Chinese proverb that says: “Be not afraid of moving slowly, be afraid only of standing still.”
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