MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Television and radio personality Wink Martindale remembers the day nearly 60 years ago when Elvis Presley’s first single, “That’s All Right,” played for the first time on the radio.

It was July 8, 1954, and Martindale was working as a disc jockey at WHBQ in Memphis. He was at the studio when legendary producer Sam Phillips brought by a copy of the song.

Dewey Phillips played the song on his “Red, Hot and Blue” radio show, and history was made.

“It was almost like an out-of-body experience,” Martindale told Presley fans who came to Graceland on Wednesday to celebrate the late icon’s 79th birthday. “That was the beginning of Presley-mania.”

Presley was 42 when he died on Aug. 16, 1977.