Heartbreak Hotel in an attempted robbery in El Paso, Texas. On August 25, 1955, the "El Paso Times" reported Krolik's death under the headline "Story Of Person Who Walked Lonely Street". Axton and Durden give different accounts of how the song was written. Durden's account is that he had already written the song and performed it with his band the Swing Billys before he presented it to Axton. Axton's account is that Durden had written only a few lines of the song and asked her to help him finish it. She says that the report of the suicide "stunned" her, and she
Heartbreak Hotel debut, the Dorsey brothers did not allow Presley to perform it on their show because it didn't work well in rehearsals. For his second appearance, on February 4, Presley was again aware that he could not perform "Heartbreak Hotel". However, at his third appearance on "Stage Show" a week later, Sholes pressured CBS to give consent. Subsequently, Presley and his band performed "Heartbreak Hotel" with borrowed instruments (their own were being driven to Florida in preparation for a tour) with the backing of the Dorsey Brothers' orchestra. On February 22, the song entered the "Billboard" pop chart at number 68,