Elvis Presley was born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, to Gladys Love Presley (born Smith) in the two-room house his father, Vernon Elvis Presley, built for the birth. Jesse Garon Presley, her identical twin brother, was delivered 35 minutes before him, stillborn. Presley became close to both his parents and formed a particularly close bond with his mother. The family attended an Assembly of God church, where he found his initial musical inspiration.

On his mother's side of the family, Presley's ancestry was Scottish and Irish, with some French Normans. Gladys and the rest of the family apparently believed that her great-great-great-grandmother, Morning Dove White, was Cherokee; Elaine Dundy's biography supports this idea, but at least one genealogical researcher has challenged it for several reasons. Vernon's ancestors were of German or Scottish descent. Gladys was considered by relatives and friends to be the dominant member of the little family. Vernon moved from job to job with little ambition. The family often depended on help from neighbours and government food aid. In 1938, they lost their home after Vernon was convicted of altering a cheque issued by his landlord and employer at one point. He was imprisoned for eight months, while Gladys and Elvis moved in with relatives.

In September 1941, Presley entered first grade at East Tupelo Consolidated, where his teachers considered him "average". He was encouraged to enter a singing contest after impressing his teacher with a rendition of the Red Foley country song "Old Shep" during morning prayers. The contest, held at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show on October 3, 1945, was his first public performance. Ten-year-old Presley was dressed as a cowboy; he stood on a chair to reach the microphone and sang "Old Shep". He remembered coming in fifth. A few months later, Presley received his first guitar for his birthday; he had hoped for something else—according to different stories, either a bicycle or a gun. Over the next year, he received basic guitar lessons from two of his uncles and the new pastor of the family church. Presley recalls, "I picked up the guitar, watched the people and learned to play a little. But I would never sing in public. I was very shy about that."