Did Elvis Presley’s Partly Jewish Granddaughter Redeem His Legacy?
Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, died from cardiac arrest on January 12, with speculations that her opioid use and sudden weight loss contributed to her death. Just two months later, “Daisy Jones and the Six” starring Lisa Marie’s stunning daughter, Riley Keough, 33, premiered on Amazon Prime. Right after posting tribute pictures of her and her mother on Instagram, Keough blitzed her account with images of herself as the hippie-ish “Daisy.” The authentic 70s vibe made me wonder if “Daisy Jones and the Six” really existed. The casting of Elvis’ granddaughter was just one more reason for music lovers like me to watch the series—and get hooked.
The show, which now boasts a cult following, especially among GenZ’ers, is set up as a documentary meant to figure out why the (fictional) band disbanded after conquering stadiums nationwide in the 70s. The talented, beautiful Daisy and charismatic frontman Billy Dunne fall for and against each other as Billy struggles to stay loyal to sobriety and to his beautiful, dedicated wife. “Daisy” emerges as a multi-layered story about intergenerational healing, the temptation of adultery, the risk of “sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll” in derailing family life, and the redemptive power of parenthood—all themes that should speak to where Keough is at today.
“Daisy” came off the heels of the acclaimed biopic of Keough’s saba, Elvis, focusing on the treachery of Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker (played by Tom Hanks). Lisa Marie died two days after appearing on the Golden Globes red carpet with Austin Butler (who snagged the award for playing her dad), looking gaunt and disoriented. In contrast, at the premiere of “Daisy and the Six”, Keough looked radiant and healthy–a spitting image of her mother, with clear traces of her grandfather’s chiseled good looks.
Keough takes her last name from her non-famous father, musician Daniel Kough. She revealed in a series of Tweets in 2018 that her father was “mostly Jewish”, saying “one side is from Portugal and is Sephardic Jew, and other side from Eastern Europe, Ashkenazi Jews.” [sic] It’s unclear which side is Sephardic or Ashkenazi, although one source claims patrilineal descent. Maybe that’s why Daniel Keough’s Instagram post on Father’s Day features a man who looks like an Ashkenazi rabbi. Media reports say he met Lisa Marie at the Church of Scientology and that he is a committed Scientologist, so his possible ties to Judaism might be no more than ethnic—from a side that some say doesn’t count anyway.
I felt bad that Keough had to grapple with her mother’s death amid what should have been a huge moment of celebration. Lisa Marie was buried next to her father and son, Benjamin Keough, who tragically killed himself in 2020 after struggling with depression. At the funeral in Graceland, Memphis, Keough’s husband, actor Ben Smith-Peterson, read Keough’s eulogy, apparently because she was too overcome with emotion to read it. In it, he revealed the “secret” birth of their daughter–Lisa Marie’s granddaughter–just months before.
Riley Keough had no time to sit shiva. Yet it somehow seemed correct that she should celebrate this musical show so fiercely. In literal “band camp”, all the actors took instrument and voice lessons; fortunately, the pandemic gave them extra time to practice. The performances ring authentic. The show gave Keough the chance to realize her latent, inherited musical talent, and she surely has natural star power. Her saba must have been watching from heaven, proud. I couldn’t help but wonder if her family history gave her performance an extra emotional layer. Through her smile and grit, it’s as if she knew her portrayal of Daisy signified a cosmically redemptive experience. It was also a significant tikkun (correction) to her last starring role as an entrepreneurial call girl in “The Girlfriend Experience.”
Unfortunately, Elvis’ ex-wife Priscilla, 77, appears to be fighting over the Presley estate and her daughter’s will. This squabble over money goes against the family-comes-first lessons of the show. I hope that Keough leverages her television triumph, the hit-home themes of the series, and her new role as a mother to heal the tortured, tragic Presley legacy. I hope that she and her own daughter, unlike her mother and grandfather, live sober and ad me’ah v’esrim (until 120 years). May Elvis’ granddaughter also reach into a different, however small, inheritance she may know little about—her Jewish ancestry and its traditions— to put God’s grace back in Graceland.
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