Little Elvis was born to Susan Banks, who thought his real father was Elvis Presley. For the first few months of his life, Little Elvis was passed off as John Black's son, John Jr. Eventually Susan reclaimed her child and learned that Stefano DiMera was her child's real father.
E.J. appeared on the scene, living across the hall from Sami. He and Sami soon became friends, and when Sami began being blackmailed by an unknown party, E.J. was there by her side to listen to what she had to say without passing judgment. She soon became very leery of him, and on one occasion when he felt that she had betrayed him, she felt sexually threatened, as though he had tried to rape her. E.J. also had a clandestine relationship with Kate Roberts, but it was soon revealed that he was actually Elvis Aron Banks, in Salem on Stefano's orders to kill John Black.
After shooting John, E.J. tried to flee town, but there had been roadblocks set up. He picked up a hitchhiking Sami Brady and used her to get past the roadblocks. Sami wanted him to help her save Lucas, who had been injured when a falling beam landed on him, something E.J. was willing to do for a price -- he forced Sami to submit to him sexually. He helped her move the beam as promised, then fled town.
When E.J. returned to town and learned that Sami was pregnant, he believed that the baby was his. Sami attempted to fend him off with a fake ultrasound result, but he soon learned the truth. He became determined to get to the bottom of it, and remained convinced that the baby belonged to him. A final paternity test ordered by Marlena and Sami in the hospital confirmed that Johnny was E.J.'s son.
E.J. knew that with the birth of Johnny, Stefano would finally be pleased with him. Stefano agreed to end the vendetta against the Bradys if Sami would marry E.J., and E.J. and Sammy would raise Johnny together. Sami agreed and married E.J. on November 9, 2007. Their marriage started off rocky. Will shot E.J. in the back at the altar and E.J. was rushed to the hospital. E.J. recovered from the wounds. In an attempt to protect his son, Lucas plead guilty to the crime and was sent to jail.
With Lucas in jail, Sami turned to E.J. for help raising the twins. As he grew closer to Sami, E.J. grew further away from Stefano. When E.J. discovered that Stefano was keeping a brainwashed John Black in the basement of the DiMera mansion, E.J. finally turned his back on Stefano and told Marlena and Sami where to find John. The police arrested Stefano. Worried that there might be some retaliation, E.J., Sami, and the twins fled to a police safe house where they continued to bond until it was safe for them to leave. They left the safe house when Stefano went into a coma and Andre died.
Determined to stay married to Sami, E.J. bribed an immigration official to "question" E.J.'s visa. Sami agreed to stay married so that E.J. would not be deported and Johnny would not loose his father. Mickey Horton gave E.J. a job as a lawyer with his firm. The first client that E.J. took on was Nicole Walker, who was divorcing Victor Kiriakis. E.J. took advantage of Sami's dislike for Nicole to make Sami jealous. Sami was so jealous that she eventually admitted her feelings for E.J. They discussed their tumultuous past, looked to each other for comfort, and eventually, Sami and E.J. made love.
Their love affair was short-lived, as Lucas was released from prison the very night that Sami and E.J. slept together. Lucas walked in on them and was furious. Sami immediately found herself torn between two men. She said that she wanted to be with Lucas, but couldn't stand the idea of E.J. moving on with anyone else, especially Nicole. Distraught by Sami's wavering, E.J. looked to Nicole for comfort.
A citywide power outage left E.J. and Nicole trapped in an elevator together. They slept together, although E.J. called out Sami's name during the act. Regardless of his true feelings, E.J. tried to make an effort towards moving on with Nicole. E.J. genuinely cared for Nicole and wanted the best for her. Nicole turned to E.J. for protection when Trent Robbins tried to blackmail her.
Professionally, E.J. was doing quite well. He took on many clients, including Ava Vitali and his half-uncle John Black DiMera. E.J. also started to work with John on some of the "DiMera" family business. In August of 2008, Stefano awoke from his coma, and E.J. was forced to make another choice. In addition to deciding between Sami and Nicole, E.J. had to decide between Stefano and John.
E.J.'s love-life decision was made much easier when Sami went into the witness protection program. With Sami out of the picture, E.J. focused on Nicole, who had great news for E.J. -- she was pregnant with his child. E.J. moved Nicole into the DiMera mansion and prepared for the birth of the baby. E.J. also quit his job with Mickey Horton. Despite warnings from Tony and Lexie, E.J. decided to become the official lawyer for the DiMera Empire.
However, both Stefano and Nicole were deceiving E.J. First, Stefano slowly got E.J.'s hands dirty in a diamond-smuggling scheme. Then, Nicole had a miscarriage but did not tell E.J. She faked her pregnancy and searched to find a "replacement" baby to pawn off as E.J.'s child. The only people who knew she was faking the pregnancy were Brady, Mia, Dr. Baker, and Tony.
What E.J. didn't know was that Sami was also pregnant with his child. Sami avoided telling E.J. because she feared Stefano's influence on E.J and Stefano's plans for another "DiMera heir." Nicole convinced a pregnant teenager named Mia to give her baby to Nicole. But when Nicole learned that Sami was pregnant with E.J.'s child, Nicole plotted and successfully switched the babies. After months of scamming, blackmail, bribes, and baby switches, Nicole presented E.J. with "their" daughter. Nicole and E.J. named the baby Sydney. In April of 2009, Nicole and E.J. were married.
Happy with his new wife and baby, E.J. turned his attention toward the family business. He convinced Melanie Layton to leave Titan and take her alternative fuels project to DiMera Enterprises, a move he believed would please Stefano and get a "one up" on the Kiriakis family. When E.J. secured the rights to the project, he accepted a payout from an oil company to stop all development on the project. Furious, Melanie agreed to sell the project to Tony DiMera, who wanted to prove to E.J. and Stefano that Tony was just as good a businessman as they were.
Philip, the original buyer of the project went after Tony for stealing the project. After a confrontation with Philip on the pier, Tony accidentally fell over a broken railing and was critically injured. He made it out of surgery, but died at the hospital of a heart attack. Before he died, he was able to write the letter "B" on a piece of paper for E.J. Stefano and E.J. blamed Philip for Tony's death.
In retaliation for Tony's death, E.J. and Stefano hired a hit man, Masi, to kill Philip. Masi shot Philip but did not kill him. Frustrated that they had failed, E.J. and Stefano paid a woman to pose as a nurse and administer a drug to Philip and then try to smother him with a pillow. But, Hope entered the room and saved Philip. When Philip recovered, Victor kidnapped Stefano in retaliation. Furious that his father was in danger, E.J. paid Owen Kent, the Kiriakis’ gardener, to kidnap Philip's fiancée, Stephanie, and hold her hostage. Philip and E.J. agreed to a trade -- Stefano for Stephanie -- and to end the feud.
But while the professional battles were settled, E.J. was just embarking on his personal troubles. In November of 2009, Rafe Hernandez uncovered that Nicole had switched babies with Sami. E.J. soon found out that Stefano had helped Nicole and wanted to get even with all of them -- Stefano, Nicole, and Sami.
E.J. partnered with Anna, who wanted her own revenge on Stefano and Nicole for their parts in Tony's death, to stage Sydney's kidnapping. For months, everyone in Salem thought Sydney was missing. He had Anna create ransom notes and send them to Sami. He even faked Sydney’s death by placing her bloody clothes in the Salem River. Just when it looked like Rafe could not solve the crime, E.J. appeared with Sydney, professing that he had returned Sydney home. Sami was thrilled. Anna took her money and left town. And E.J. appeared to be in the clear…or so he thought.
As E.J. and Sami began to bond again over Sydney’s safe homecoming, Stefano discovered E.J.'s secret. Stefano was devastated that E.J. could be so cruel as to let him believe his beloved Sydney had died. But E.J. counterattacked by stating how hurt he was by everyone’s deception. E.J. and Stefano eventually patched things up and realized they had a bigger problem to deal with.
Rafe had continued to investigate the kidnapping, but kept hitting dead ends. Yet E.J. and Stefano knew Rafe would eventually discover the truth. Stefano had Anna “escorted” to a top-secret location and tried to have Rafe killed when he happened on Anna’s trail. Rafe returned to Salem with no new information, yet still a threat to E.J. and Stefano as he refused to stop his investigation.
Meanwhile, E.J. had fallen completely in love with Sami again. And she was beginning to warm up to him, too. Sami continually heralded him as a hero for getting Sydney home safe. She even defended him to Rafe and her entire family, stating that he was a changed man – he was a good father and becoming a better man in general. That was music to E.J.’s ears, and his love for his “Samantha” grew even stronger.
Sami, however, was torn between her love for Rafe, her budding feelings for E.J., and, most importantly, doing what was best for her children, who were still recovering from the traumatic experiences surrounding Sydney’s disappearance. To try to provide a more stable life for her kids, Sami agreed to let E.J. stay with her at the penthouse. Everyone was happy except Will, who moved out and began living with his grandma, Kate, at the DiMera mansion.
Stefano was adamant that Sami not keep him from his grandchildren so Stefano blackmailed E.J. into moving back into the mansion with the kids. E.J. narrowly convinced Sami to move in, as well, by stating that Stefano’s health was on the decline due to his diabetes. Luckily, since Will was living there, Sami’s decision was a bit easier.
However, E.J. was having anything but an easy time keeping his guilty conscious at bay. He was constantly stressed that Sami would find out the truth and leave him – and take the children with her. To prolong her stay at the DiMera mansion, E.J. arranged for a pipe to “accidentally” break and flood Sami’s penthouse. To Sami, he looked like the hero again as he paid for the repairs. Later, when she realized that he had lied to her, she actually forgave him because his heart – not his head – was in the right place.
A short time later, E.J. finally professed his love to Sami. She wasn’t able to say the words back to him, as she still had lingering feelings for Rafe, but she was obviously drawn to him again. He continued to pursue her and was very open about his feelings for her. However, E.J. met a new threat around the same time in the form on an old flame. Nicole had found out that he was the mastermind behind Sydney’s kidnapping and began to blackmail him. Nicole threatened to expose him if he didn’t help her keep Arianna Hernandez – her romantic rival for Brady Black’s affections – at bay. E.J. had no choice but to work with Nicole.
Sami continued to have feelings for both E.J. and Rafe. However, once she found Rafe kissing Nicole in her hotel room, she ran home and agreed to marry E.J. E.J. was thrilled and planned a wedding at the DiMera mansion. Just as the ceremony was about to conclude, Rafe rushed in with the proof that E.J. had kidnapped Sydney. Sami dumped E.J. on the spot, took her kids, and left the mansion with Rafe. E.J. was crushed.
E.J. drank heavily that night to lessen the pain. He confessed to Stefano that E.J. should have taken the children and left when he had the chance. Kate overheard this confession and called Sami to warn her. Sami panicked and went to the mansion to confront E.J. But, she found him passed out holding a gun. Sami grabbed the gun and shot E.J. in the head. Then, she threw the gun in the river and ran back home to Rafe.
E.J. was in a coma for a few days, but then woke up. At first he pretended that he didn't remember what happened so Sami would have to pretend to be married to him. But, when his health improved, he was forced to concede that he remembered everything. He set out on a mission to find out who shot him, the main suspects being Sami and Will.
Arianna contacted E.J. and told him that she had proof of who shot him. E.J. found Arianna arguing with Will and then she ran away, into traffic and was fatally wounded by a hit-and-run driver. E.J. searched for the proof Arianna left behind.
Eventually, the proof ended up in Nicole's hands. She went to Sami with the proof first to arrange visitation time with Sydney. But, when Rae and Sami turned her down, Nicole went to E.J. and made the same deal. Wanting to take the arrangement one step further, E.J. asked Nicole to marry him so that his custody case against Sami would be even stronger. Nicole reluctantly agreed, even though the motive was still to get back at Sami, Nicole began to develop feelings for E.J. She loved their life together.
But, Stefano and additional plans to get back at Sami. He hired a criminal named Arnold, gave Arnold plastic surgery, and trained Arnold to have all of Rafe's memories. Then, when Rafe ended up in the hospital after a car accident, Stefano revealed the plan to E.J. to swap Arnold for Rafe, and instruct Arnold to ruin Sami's life. E.J. was on board with the plan and let Stefano handle Arnold while E.J. focused on making Sami angry with Nicole.
A few weeks before their wedding day, Nicole's sister, Taylor, showed up in Salem and had a chance meeting with E.J. on the pier. The two fell in love at first sight, despite not knowing who the other was. It wasn't until the day of Nicole and E.J.'s wedding that Taylor realized that she was in love with her sister's husband. After the wedding, E.J. and Taylor immediately started a relationship.
To make his life more complicated, things with Arnold were spinning out of control. When Arnold realized that Fay had seen him talking to Stefano and E.J., Arnold killed Fay. Since Fay had a heart condition, everyone, including E.J. assumed that she had a heart attack and fell down the stairs. E.J. continued to comfort both Nicole and Taylor over the loss of their mother. E.J. eventually proposed to Taylor, convincing her that he would ask Nicole for a divorce.
One day, Nicole caught Taylor and E.J. kissing in the living room. She was heartbroken, but determined to make both of them pay. She didn't have to wait long. Bo and Hope figured out that Arnold was an imposter. Bo and Hope teamed up with Sami and Rafe to get proof that the DiMeras created the imposter and thus were responsible for all of his subsequent crimes. Eventually, Arnold agreed to testify against E.J. and Stefano in exchange for immunity and witness protection.
Just as Stefano and E.J. were about to be booked, some other inmates recognizes Arnold as Rafe and beat him to death. Stefano and E.J. were arrested for Fay's murder, but had to be released once Arnold's statement was no longer in evidence. However, Taylor still believed that E.J. lied to her and she broke off their engagement.
E.J. claimed that he was a changed man and signed over full custody of Johnny and Sydney to Sami. He then set out to redeem his family name. He decided to run for mayor. And, he convinced Nicole to serve as his campaign manager. While working on the campaign, she realized that she never stopped loving E.J.
His next step was to bring down his opponent, Abe Carver. E.J. orchestrated a grand scheme where he framed John Black for corporate embezzlement. The money "John" lost was Salem's civil servant pension fund, which Abe had invested in John's company. John was arrested and E.J.'s approval numbers sky-rocketed.
On the morning of John's trial, the Brady family gathered at the pub to wish him well. One of the Salem police officers who had lost his retirement fund tracked them down and tried to shoot John. During the commotion, Johnny went missing. Sami and E.J. panicked.
Thinking that he had something to do with the disappearance, Sami went to the DiMera mansion to confront E.J. While she was there, a news report came on TV announcing that the body of a boy had been identified as Johnny. The report turned out to be false, but Sami and E.J. did not know that at the time. Overwrought with the grief of their "dead" son, Sami and E.J. slept together.
Meanwhile, Rafe and Will went back to the pub to look for Johnny. It turned out that Johnny got scared when the shots started and hid. Will went to the DiMera mansion to tell E.J. the good news and instead walked in on Sami and E.J. together. Will immediately left and vowed never to forgive his mother. Neither Sami nor E.J. knew that Will was ever there.
With Johnny home safe, Rafe, Carrie, Bo, and Hope turned their attention towards proving that John was framed. Eventually, they were able to uncover that there was an Internet outage during the time that John allegedly transferred the funds. John was released from jail and E.J. had to re-work his campaign strategy.
Will showed up at the DiMera mansion and attempted to blackmail E.J. with the secret about sleeping with Sami. Will wanted enough money to leave town. However, E.J. was ready with a blackmail secret of his own. E.J. told Will that E.J. knew that it was Will who shot E.J. in 2007, and Lucas had taken the fall. If Will wanted to avoid going to prison for attempted murder, he must come work for E.J.'s campaign. Reluctantly, Will agreed. Will's tasks included stealing Abe's job plan and picking up campaign posters.
E.J.'s campaign was successful. Under suspicious investigation of ballot tampering, E.J. was announced as mayor and Abe was arrested. Nicole and E.J. went home to celebrate their victory. But, their celebration was short lived as Rafe barged in and announced that E.J. and Sami had slept together the night that Johnny went missing. Horrified, Nicole moved out of the mansion and filed divorce papers.
However, around the same time, Nicole learned that she was pregnant. She wanted to keep the news from E.J., but he overheard her talking about it to Rafe and asked her about the pregnancy. Rafe stepped in and claimed to be the father. E.J. demanded a paternity test. Nicole switched the E.J. and Rafe's DNA samples, making sure that the test showed Rafe to be the father. Even after the test results, E.J. was not convinced. But, he had other problems to worry about as well.
Stefano had been pushing E.J. away for quite some time. E.J. found out why when he found a letter that Stefano had been hiding. The letter said that E.J. was not Stefano's biological son. When E.J. confronted Stefano about it, Stefano wasted no time in disowning E.J. from the DiMera family. But, Stefano asked E.J. not to tell anyone for a while.
The one person that E.J. did tell was Lexie. He did so because she was dying from a brain tumor and wanted her to know the truth before she died. Lexie said that she didn't care about DNA. She would always see E.J. as her brother. E.J. was heartbroken to lose Lexie. And, when it came out that Lexie's tumor may have been caused by inhaling fumes in the tunnel where Andre held her captive. Since Andre was Stefano's best soldier, E.J. blamed Stefano for Lexie's tumor.
E.J. wasn't the only one furious with Stefano. One night, E.J., Will, John, Marlena, Kate, Bo, Hope, and Abe all confronted Stefano with a gun. E.J. even shot at Stefano, but did not hit him. However, Stefano was shot. He was assumed dead. At first, Will was arrested. But E.J. bailed Will out of jail. When Will's alibi checked out, Rafe and Roman turned their suspicion towards E.J. And, they had some help in furthering their suspicions.
Ian McAlister was the one who shot Stefano. But, he framed E.J. by planting E.J.'s gloves and bullets in E.J.'s apartment and paid off a polygraph administrator to lie about the results of E.J.'s polygraph. When Lucas discovered and turned in the letter that Stefano wasn't E.J.'s father, Rafe and Roman arrested E.J.
Will believed in E.J. and wanted to prove E.J.'s innocence. As soon as Sami uncovered footage of someone stealing E.J.'s gloves, Sami agreed with Will as well. As the "evidence" began piling up, Sami and Will convinced E.J. to flee town once he was out on bail. So, Will hacked into the Salem PD computer system and deactivated E.J.'s ankle monitor. And, Sami helped E.J. leave Salem.
During their escape, a giant explosion hit Salem. Sami and E.J. were caught on a warehouse catwalk. Sami fell over the edge, but E.J. was able to pull her to safety. Thankful to him for saving her life, Sami went on the run with E.J. They hid out in one of Stefano's safe houses. Shortly after they got there, E.J. and Sami confessed their feelings for each other. But, before they had much time together, E.J. got a lead on who was setting him up. He left Sami to investigate it.
But, it was a trap. E.J. was hit over the head and dragged to a warehouse where Ian had been keeping a very much alive Stefano. (Ian found a double for Stefano and that's who was shot and killed at the mansion.) Ian believed that he was entitled to part of the DiMera fortune, so he kidnapped Stefano and tortured him to get information from him. But, when Stefano refused to spill any secrets, Ian planned to torture E.J. in front of Stefano. Ian revealed that he had planted the letter from "Alice" and that Stefano and E.J. were really father and son.
While Ian was looking away, E.J. got free and attacked Ian. When Ian was knocked out, E.J. tied up Ian and called the police. But, E.J. was furious with Stefano for disowning E.J. in the first place and left Stefano there for the police to find as well. He set back to return to Sami.
When he got back to the safe house, he found Rafe there with Sami. Rafe arrested them both and took them into the station. But, the charges were soon dropped. However, the Governor put pressure on E.J. to resign as mayor. So, E.J. turned in his resignation.
E.J. had more important things on his mind. He and Sami were growing closer. She agreed to go out on a date with him. But she still had feelings for Rafe. When Rafe's sister, Gabi was rushed to the hospital, Sami was there to help her though the tough news -- Gabi was pregnant. Sami told Rafe the news and helped him accept it and work through it. Sami even offered to help plan the wedding for Gabi and Nick, whom everyone assumed was the baby's father. As Sami and Rafe drew closer, she decided to break things off with E.J. She was planning on telling him after Gabi's wedding.
But on the day of their wedding, Chad exposed Gabi's secret -- that Nick was not the father of Gabi's baby. Will, reluctantly, admitted that he was the father. Sami was furious with Gabi and lashed out at her for keeping Will out of the baby's life. Rafe immediately lashed out at Will and told Sami that this was all her son's fault. Sami and Rafe broke up on the spot. E.J. was waiting for Sami when she came home from the wedding. Sami was happy to see him.
Sami told E.J. everything, including what happened with Will and how she was planning on breaking up with E.J. after the wedding. But, she said that she'd seen the real Rafe and didn't want anything to do with him. She acknowledged that she and E.J. always seemed to be drawn to each other and wanted to finally give their relationship a shot. E.J. was thrilled. He and Sami began dating.
But as Sami began planning a future with E.J., Nick was worried that his plan to keep gay Will out of the baby's life was now in jeopardy. So Nick hatched a plan. He had overheard Lucas scream at Will, "I went to jail for you!" Nick began investigating why Lucas had been in prison. Nick also planted a transmitting and recording device on Will, then sent a text to Lucas prompting the two to have a conversation where Nick found out that Will was the one who shot E.J. in 2007 and the police still had evidence of it in their evidence room.
Nick had papers drawn up for Will to sign that would release all parental rights to Gabi's baby and just waited for the right time. That time came when Gabi started having labor pains while talking to Sami. Gabi and the baby were fine, and despite Kayla saying that dehydration contributed to her labor pains, Nick used Sami's temper as an excuse to set his plan into motion.
Nick confronted Will with the deal -- if Will signs away his paternal rights, Nick will stay quiet about Will shooting E.J. Nick also pointed out that turning in Will would mean incriminating Lucas, Roman, Hope, and more in the cover-up. Sonny, E.J., Sami, and Lucas all tried to convince Will not to sign the papers. Sami even offered to sign a document that would forbid her from coming near the baby. But Nick would not agree. Despite protests from Sami, Lucas, E.J., and Sonny, Will reluctantly signed the papers.
But Sami would not accept her son not being a part of his daughter's life. She and E.J. realized that there were two pieces of evidence that they needed to destroy -- Nick's recording and the evidence against Will at the police station.
So, Sami wanted to ask Stefano for help. So, she moved with E.J. and the kids into the DiMera mansion and started to build a relationship with Stefano in hopes that he would see her family as his own and use his contacts at the Salem PD to destroy the evidence against Will. Will agreed to go along with the plan. Will also opened up to E.J. that the real reason that Nick didn't want Will near the baby was because Will was gay. E.J. reaffirmed his position to help Will, especially in light of Nick's motivations.
E.J. and Sami continued to grow closer. E.J. proposed in April 2013 and Sami accepted. The two planned a happy life together.
