Gator: Elvis' voice was not a gimmick. The dude could hit notes that most people could not. Look at some of the videos I posted of him singing. He could sing at a ridiculous range and he could sing ANY genre.
"Elvis Presley has been described variously as a baritone and a tenor. An extraordinary compass- the so-called register-, and a very wide range of vocal color have something to do with this divergence of opinion. The voice covers two octaves and a third, from the baritone low-G to the tenor high B, with an upward extension in falsetto to at least a D flat. Presley's best octave is in the middle, D-flat to D-flat, granting an extra full step up or down. Call him a high baritone. In "It's'now or never", (1960), he ends it in a full voice cadence (A, G, F), that has nothing to do with the vocal devices of Rhythm and Blues and Country. That A-note is hit right on the nose, and it is rendered less astonishing only by the number of tracks where he lands easy and accurate B-flats. Moreover, he has not been confined to one type of vocal production. In ballads and country songs he belts out full-voiced high G's and A's that an opera baritone might envy. He is a naturally assimilative stylist with a multiplicity of voices - in fact, Elvis' is an extraordinary voice, or many voices"
- Henry Pleasants, in his book "The Great American Popular Singers" (1974)
"I suppose you'd had to call him a lyric baritone, although with exceptional high notes and unexpectedly rich low ones. But what is more important about Elvis Presley is not his vocal range, nor how high, or low it extends, but where its center of gravity is. By that measure, Elvis was all at once a tenor, a baritone and a bass, the most unusual voice I've ever heard"
- Gregory Sandows, Music Professor at Columbia University
"He had an incredible, attractive instrument that worked in many registers; he could falsetto like Little Richard, his equipment was outstanding, his ear uncanny, and his sense of timing second to none; (in short) he could sing..."
- Jerry Leiber
That's just a few (of the many) quotes I pulled up on Elvis' voice. I mean all of these people cannot be wrong.
There's no way in hell Elvis would have stayed as popular as he did for all that time if he had no talent.
As I said before of course Elvis being white helped him out but you can't deny he opened the doors for EVERYONE. The new generation found rock n roll to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. And Elvis simply said hey theres nothing wrong with it. He opened the flood gates and every artist of any color now had the chance to show their stuff.
lol 
Everything was going so smoothly when you were away....
