Axl Rose, Billy Corgan, and Alanis Morissette were among the artists to pay musical tributes to Lisa Marie Presley at the Graceland public memorial service Sunday for the late daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley. Lisa Marie died Jan. 12 at the age of 54.
“I never in a million years imagined being here, singing under these circumstances,” Rose said prior to his performance. “I do know Lisa loved her family very much, and was fiercely protective of her father and his legacy.”
Rose performed a solo rendition of Guns N’ Roses’ “November Rain” for his close friend Presley.
“I will miss my friend Lisa. Her passing, just as her son’s, or as a kid, her father’s, doesn’t seem real. Lisa loved her family, all her children. My heart goes out to them,” Rose previously said in a statement to People following Presley’s death. “Her son’s passing was shocking, tragic and devastating. It was something that, at a point, you obviously didn’t want to bring up but awkwardly would in an effort to let her know you cared and were thinking about her, about them, and to be of any comfort one could, which she appreciated.”
Presley will be laid to rest next to her son Benjamin, who died by suicide at the age of 27. Rose added that following Benjamin’s death, he and Presley would trade “jokes, news articles and lots of animal vids” to “let her know of the constant thinking about her, them, and wanting the best for her.”
Corgan was the first performer at the memorial, delivering an acoustic rendition of the Smashing Pumpkins ballad “To Sheila.” Corgan’s performance can be seen at the 17-minute mark of the video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2xsai_RQSc
“There is heartbreak and then there is sorrow. This would be sorrow and on more levels than I can count,” Corgan wrote on social media following news of Presley’s death. “Please send your prayers out for her family and children at this difficult time. I truly cannot find the words to express how sad this truly is.”
Like Rose, Presley leaned on Corgan following her son’s suicide; the two previously collaborated on Presley’s song “Savior” in 2003.
Following a speech by Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, Morissette, accompanied by a pianist, performed her song “Rest,” which the singer previously debuted at the memorial service for Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington. Morissette penned the song “for those of us who struggle with depression and anxiety, isolation, suicidal ideation and the profound despair that mental illness can plunge us into.”
Presley’s public memorial also included remembrances by Elvis associate Jerry Schilling, her mother Priscilla Presley and a note to Lisa Marie written by her daughter Riley Keough and read by Keough’s husband Ben Smith-Petersen.
From Rolling Stone US
