Axton co-wrote 'Heartbreak Hotel,' which Elvis Presley released and which reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts on April 21, 1956, launching his national stardom.
Mae Boren Axton co-wrote "Heartbreak Hotel" with Tommy Durden, reportedly inspired by a newspaper account of a man's suicide note reading "I walk a lonely street." Axton played a pivotal role in getting the song to a then up-and-coming singer named Elvis Presley, whom she also helped promote and represent in his early career as a publicist and booking contact in Florida.
Released by RCA Victor in January 1956, "Heartbreak Hotel" became Presley's first single for the major label and his breakthrough national hit. It reached number one on the Billboard Top 100 chart on April 21, 1956, staying at the top for weeks and eventually becoming one of the best-selling singles of the 1950s. The song's moody, blues-inflected sound and dramatic lyrical imagery marked a turning point in American popular music, helping to define the emerging rock and roll genre and catapulting Presley to international superstardom.
For Axton, a schoolteacher-turned-songwriter and publicist, this success was a historic achievement in a male-dominated music industry. Her contribution helped cement her reputation as one of the few women of her era to achieve major commercial and critical success as a country/rock songwriter, later earning her the nickname "Queen Mother of Nashville" and a place in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.