Did Madonna Meet Elvis?

{A photograph} of Elvis Presley signing autographs for a bunch of younger followers is usually shared on-line together with the declare that one of many followers was a 12-year-old Madonna:

This isn’t {a photograph} of Madonna assembly Elvis. The Queen of Pop was doubtless too younger to be the individual on this {photograph}. Moreover, Madonna, who has repeatedly been in comparison with Elvis throughout her profession, has by no means talked about this {photograph}. The singer can be on document saying that the primary live performance she attended was a David Bowie efficiency.

Whereas Madonna shouldn’t be pictured right here, this {photograph} is actual and it was really taken close to Madonna’s hometown.

Elvis, Detroit, 1970

It is a real {photograph} of Elvis Presley and a bunch of followers that was taken in Detroit, Michigan, in 1970. This {photograph} was initially printed within the Detroit Occasions on Sept. 12, 1970, in an article about Elvis’ latest live performance at Olympia Stadium. 

Madonna, who was then generally known as Madonna Louise Ciccone, grew up within the close by suburbs and would have been about 12-year-old when this {photograph} was taken.

The Proof In opposition to

Whereas this {photograph} was really taken in Detroit close to the place Madonna grew up, that does not show she is the individual on this picture. Detroit is a big metropolis that had a inhabitants, together with the remainder of Wayne County, of greater than 2.5 million folks in 1970. The individual on this {photograph} may positively be one other younger lady who was in Detroit on the time.

It is also price noting that it does not seem that Madonna has ever talked about this {photograph}. We scanned just a few biographies in regards to the star and could not discover any anecdotes about Madonna assembly Elvis in 1970. In Matthew Rettenmund’s “Encyclopedia Madonnica,” for instance, there are a number of references to the King of Rock and Roll, but no tales in regards to the two icons assembly. 

Madonna has drawn comparisons to Elvis all through her profession. If this picture really confirmed Madonna, it will be a bit odd that she by no means talked about it.

Rettenmund informed us:

“That completely shouldn’t be Madonna. She was nowhere close to a live performance of any variety till she snuck out to see Bowie YEARS later. Precisely proper that there is no such thing as a method she would make it to age 63 with out mentioning she bought Elvis’s autograph. I have been swatting this rumor down wherever I can, and have it slated for the replace of my guide, popping out this 12 months.”

In 2016, after David Bowie’s demise, Madonna posted on Facebook that she was “devastated” and wrote that Bowie was first live performance.

Does Madonna Look Just like the Particular person In This Photograph?

This picture is actual, Madonna was 12 in 1970, and Madonna grew up close to Detroit. This declare, nevertheless, is basically based mostly on the concept that the individual on this {photograph} considerably resembles the grownup Madonna. We weren’t capable of finding a superb image of Madonna when she was 12, however here is a comparability of Madonna when she was 14 (left) taken from a yearbook picture that went up for auction in 2012, and the “Elvis and Madonna” picture (proper):

This {photograph} doesn’t present Madonna assembly Elvis. Madonna was too younger to be this individual, she solely bears a passing resemblance to this individual, and she or he has by no means talked about this {photograph} earlier than. For these causes, we’re marking this declare as false.