Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977)

Murder. He was becoming increasingly unwell by Oct. 1973. Twice he overdosed on barbiturates, spending three days in a coma in his hotel suite after the first incident. By end of 1973, he was hospitalized, semicomatose from the effects of Demerol addiction. According to his main physician, Dr. George C. Nichopoulos, Presley "felt that by getting [drugs] from a doctor, he wasn't the common everyday junkie getting something off the street." Elvis had staged more live shows each year, and 1973 saw 168 concerts. Despite his failing health, in 1974 he went back on tour.
Presley's condition declined precipitously in September. Keyboardist Tony Brown remembers the singer's arrival at a University of Maryland concert: "He fell out of the limousine, to his knees. People jumped to help, and he pushed them away like, 'Don't help me.' He walked on stage and held onto the mike for the first thirty minutes like it was a post. Guitarist John Wilkinson recalled, "He was all gut. He was slurring. It was obvious he was drugged. It was obvious there was something terribly wrong with his body. It was so bad the words to the songs were barely intelligible; later in his dressing room draped over a chair, unable to move. Presley continued to play to sellout crowds. On July 13, 1976, Vernon Presley fired 3 "Memphis Mafia" bodyguards Red West, Sonny West, and David Hebler.The book Elvis: What Happened?, cowritten by the three bodyguards fired the previous year, was published on August 1. It was the first exposé to detail Presley's years of drug misuse. He was devastated by the book and tried unsuccessfully to halt its release by offering money to the publishers. Polypharmacy was the primary cause of death; one reported "fourteen drugs in Elvis' system, ten in significant quantity."Dr. Nichopoulos, was exonerated of criminal liability for the singer's death, the facts were startling: "In the first eight months of 1977 alone, he had [prescribed] more than 10,000 doses of sedatives, amphetamines and narcotics: all in Elvis's name."