Elvis Presley, born in Tupelo, Mississippi, in 1935, began recording at Sun Records in 1954 with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted Black American music heard by a wider white audience. Presley and his band fused country music with rhythm and blues into rockabilly, an upbeat, backbeat-driven sound. His RCA Victor single Heartbreak Hotel reached number one in the US in 1956. His performing style and his borrowing from Black music made many white authorities see him as a threat to young people's morals. He went on to make many films and a famous 1968 comeback television special, and he died in 1977 at 42. He is estimated to have sold around 500 million records.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.