It's October twenty-first, and on this day in 1965... Elvis Presley was shaken by the sudden passing of his former bassist and early bandmate, Bill Black, who died from a brain tumor. Though Elvis chose not to attend the funeral out of concern that his presence would cause a disruption, he shared his grief in a public statement, calling Bill “a great man and a person that everyone loved.” The loss marked the end of a significant chapter in Elvis’s musical journey, as Bill Black had been a foundational part of the sound that launched Elvis to stardom.