Benjamin Keough, the 27-year-old son of Lisa Marie Presley and grandson of rock ‘n’ roll legend Elvis Presley, died Sunday in Calabasas, California, from an apparent suicide, according to several news reports.
Keough, a low-profile singer and musician who signed a $5 million record deal in 2009, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the entertainment news website TMZ, which cited law enforcement sources.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it was called about 6:30 a.m. Sunday and responded to the 24800 block of Alexandra Court in Calabasas.
“Upon their arrival, they located the victim suffering from one gunshot wound to the upper torso,” the department said. “The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Lisa Marie Presley “is completely heartbroken, inconsolable and beyond devastated,” according to her representative, Roger Widynowski, who released a statement Sunday to The Associated Press. “She adored that boy. He was the love of her life.”
In a 2012 interview with CMT, his mother said she thought Keough looked just like his grandfather.
“He was at the Opry and was the quiet storm behind the stage!” Lisa Marie Presley told the outlet at the time. “Everybody turned around and looked when he was over there. Everybody was grabbing him for a photo because it is just uncanny. Sometimes I am overwhelmed when I look at him.”
Widynowski added that Presley “was trying to stay strong for her 11-year-old twins and her oldest daughter Riley,” the other of Presley’s two children with singer-songwriter Danny Keough, her former husband. Riley Keough, 31, has appeared in films such as “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “The Lodge.”
The New York Daily News revealed that Benjamin Keough and his mother got matching tattoos on their feet in 2009, with Lisa Marie Presley writing on Twitter that the ink is of a “Celtic eternity knot.”
Last year, Lisa Marie Presley shared an endearing photo on social media showing her with each of her four children, the New York Daily News reported.
“Mama Lion with cubs,” she captioned the post, the newspaper reported.
Nancy Sinatra tweeted her condolences to Presley, writing, “I have known you since before your mama gave birth to you, never dreaming you would have pain like this in your life. I’m so very sorry.”
Elvis died on Aug. 16, 1977, at age 42 after being found unconscious at his Graceland home in Memphis, Tennessee.
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