Passage: Jeff Beck, Lisa Marie Presley and Bernard Kalb

It happened this past week: Closing chapters for three very different people who lived VERY different lives.

Lisa Marie Presley, the singer-songwriter and only child of Elvis Presley, died suddenly on Thursday after apparent cardiac arrest.

Following in her father’s footsteps, Lisa Marie released three rock albums.

“Don’t Cry Daddy” by Lisa Marie Presley:

Just a few days ago, she was at the Golden Globe Awards celebrating “Elvis,” director Baz Luhrmann’s film about her father, proclaiming that actor Austin Butler had captured the essence of her dad.

The sole owner of Elvis’ Graceland, last weekend Lisa Marie was at the famous Memphis mansion, welcoming fans on what would have been his 88th birthday.

Married four times, including marriages to Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage, Lisa Marie Presley is survived by her mother, Priscilla, and three children. Her son Benjamin took his own life in 2020.

Lisa Marie will be buried next to Benjamin, and near her father, on the grounds of Graceland. 

She was 54.

Bernard Kalb, a journalist and author whose career spanned six decades, died last Sunday after a fall at his Maryland home. He was 100 years old.

In his long career, Kalb worked at The New York Times, CBS News and NBC News. He was also the very first host of CNN’s “Reliable Sources.”

But Kalb’s tenure as press secretary at the State Department during the Reagan Administration may have been his most challenging undertaking. He resigned after 18 months, citing ethical qualms with the administration.

At a news conference he said, “You face a choice, as an American, as a spokesman, as a journalist, whether to allow oneself to be absorbed in the ranks of silence, whether to vanish into unopposed acquiescence, or to enter a modest dissent.”

Finally, we learned of the death of rock superstar Jeff Beck.

Born in London in 1944, Beck was drawn to the electric guitar after hearing the legendary Les Paul.

Beck built his own instrument at 13, and at 21 he was invited to join the Yardbirds by Jimmy Page.

“Heart Full of Soul” by The Yardbirds:

During the 1960’s and ’70s, with the Yardbirds and then the Jeff Beck Group, Beck developed the style that would make him one of the most skilled and influential guitarists in rock history.

“Beck’s Bolero” by The Jeff Beck Group:

Winner of eight Grammy Awards and inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Beck died Tuesday from bacterial meningitis. He was 78.

      
Story produced by Lucie Kirk. Editor: Joseph Frandino.