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The sentence is as follows:
You see, when Elvis died, he _ (already, be) super famous for years.
You have to use the verb in the bracket and put it into the right tense. I've used the past simple, which would be:
You see, when Elvis died, he already was super famous for years.
But the key states otherwise:
You see, when Elvis died, he had already been super famous for years.
Was i completely wrong or is my answer also viable?
The phrase "for years" (combined with the meaning and context) makes past perfect necessary, since it's about a period of time. If we had:
When Elvis died, he was very famous
... then that could be okay; it's describing his fame at that moment. And if we had:
After Elvis rose to fame, he was famous for many years
... then it's okay too; we're talking about a period of time, but it comes after the moment that happens in the first half of the sentence.
But in our example, we have a moment ("when Elvis died"), and a period of time that came before that moment, and that's what past perfect is made for.
