Misplaced Pages

#921078

78-638: Sun Studio is a recording studio opened by rock-and-roll pioneer Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee , on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service , sharing the same building with the Sun Records label business. The Sun label that was housed within the studio played a large role in Elvis Presley 's early career. Reputedly the first rock and roll single, Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats' " Rocket 88 "

156-430: A "fuzzy" sound. The Sun Studio tour lends credence to the latter, with the tour guide saying the amplifier was stuffed with wads of newspaper. In early 1952, Phillips once again launched his own record label, this time calling it Sun Records . During his first year he recorded several artists who would go on to have successful careers. Among them were B.B. King , Joe Hill Louis, Rufus Thomas , and Howlin' Wolf . Despite

234-671: A $ 5,000 down-payment by November 15, as an advance on a $ 35,000 buy out fee. At the time, $ 35,000 was an unheard of amount of money for a recording artist's contract, especially one who had yet to prove himself on the national stage. Although Presley didn't want to leave Sun, according to Sun engineer Jack Clement, Phillips sold his contract because he needed the money to settle debts and pay off costs still associated with Rufus Thomas's "Bearcat" copyright-infringement suit. Phillips, however, insisted that he only offered Presley's contract for $ 35,000 because he believed it would put off any other record label from purchasing it. Regardless, Presley signed

312-501: A 30-minute series of Sun Studio Sessions starting in January 2010. Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American disc jockey, songwriter and record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee , where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley , Roy Orbison , Jerry Lee Lewis , Carl Perkins , Johnny Cash , and Howlin' Wolf . Phillips played

390-545: A Hole in It "), Charlie Rich , Junior Parker , and Billy Lee Riley recorded for Sun with some success, and others, such as Jerry Lee Lewis , B. B. King , Johnny Cash , Roy Orbison , and Carl Perkins , became stars. Phillips's pivotal role in the early days of rock and roll was exemplified by a celebrated jam session on December 4, 1956, with what became known as the Million Dollar Quartet . Jerry Lee Lewis

468-426: A ballad I don't think you would have heard of Elvis Presley." Phillips stated of his goals, "everyone knew that I was just a struggling cat down here trying to develop new and different artists, and get some freedom in music, and tap some resources and people that weren't being tapped." He didn't care about mistakes; he cared about the feel. Phillips met Presley through the mediation of his longtime collaborator at

546-430: A demo record. In August 1953, fresh out of his high school graduation the previous June, the 18½ year old Presley walked into the offices of Sun. He aimed to pay for a few minutes of studio time to record a two-sided acetate disc : " My Happiness " and " That's When Your Heartaches Begin ". He would later claim he intended the record as a gift for his mother, or was merely interested in what he "sounded like", though there

624-479: A fortune. He was one of the first investors in Holiday Inn , a motel chain that was about to expand to a nationwide franchise; he became involved with the chain shortly after selling Elvis Presley's contract to RCA , for $ 35,000, which he multiplied many times over the years with Holiday Inn. He also created two subsidiary recording labels, Phillips International Records and Holiday Inn Records . He also owned

702-712: A friend, local DJ Dewey Phillips who was no relation, set up their own record label called Phillips Records. The purpose of the label was to record "negro artists of the South" who wanted to make a recording but had no place to do so. The label failed to make an impact and folded after just one release; "Boogie in the Park" by Joe Hill Louis , which sold less than 400 copies. After the failure of Phillips Records, Phillips began working closely with other record labels such as Chess Records and Modern Records , providing demo recordings for them and recording master tapes for their artists. It

780-421: A jury-rigged echo effect that Sam Phillips dubbed "slapback". A single was pressed with "That's All Right" on the A side and "Blue Moon of Kentucky" on the reverse. Within months Phillips saw his label expand significantly owing to the number of Presley records sold. Radio stations and record stores all over the South were eager to play them, and as Presley's profile grew over the next year, Phillips realized Sun

858-465: A major role in the development of rock and roll during the 1950s, launching the career of Presley. In 1969, he sold Sun to Shelby Singleton . Phillips was the owner and operator of radio stations in Memphis; Florence, Alabama; and Lake Worth Beach, Florida . He was also an early investor in the Holiday Inn chain of hotels and an advocate for racial equality, helping to break down racial barriers in

SECTION 10

#1732780994922

936-543: A musical director at Sun Records. In 1969, Sam Phillips sold the label to Shelby Singleton , and there was no recording-related or label-related activity again in the building until the September 1985 Class of '55 recording sessions with Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash, produced by Chips Moman . In 1987, the original building housing the Sun Records label and Memphis Recording Service

1014-500: A radio segment with her sister as 'The Kitchen Sisters' where they played music and sang. A January 18, 2013, article in the Alabama Chanin Journal honoring Becky quoted Sam as saying, "I fell in love with Becky's voice even before I met her." Becky described her first encounter with Sam to journalist Peter Guralnick: "He had just come in out of the rain. His hair was windblown and full of raindrops. He wore sandals and

1092-594: A record contract with RCA Victor in November 1955, and left Sun. Phillips used some of the money to further advance the careers of his other artists, by now featuring Johnny Cash , Carl Perkins , Jerry Lee Lewis , and Roy Orbison . On December 4, 1956 an impromptu jam session among Elvis Presley , Jerry Lee Lewis , Carl Perkins , and Johnny Cash took place at Sun Studio. The jam session seems to have happened by pure chance. Perkins, who by this time had already met success with " Blue Suede Shoes ", had come into

1170-425: A recording session. The session, held the evening of July 5, proved entirely unfruitful until late in the night. As they were about to give up and go home, Presley took his guitar and launched into a 1946 blues number, Arthur Crudup 's " That's All Right ". Moore recalled, "All of a sudden, Elvis just started singing this song, jumping around and acting the fool, and then Bill picked up his bass, and he started acting

1248-489: A smile unlike any I had ever seen. He sat down on the piano bench and began to talk to me. I told my family that night that I had met the man I wanted to marry." They wed in 1943 and went on to have two children in a marriage that ended in 1960. Becky Phillips died in 2012, aged 87. In the 1940s, Phillips worked as a DJ and radio engineer for station WLAY (AM) , in Muscle Shoals, Alabama . According to Phillips,

1326-580: A white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a billion dollars.'" In June, he acquired a demo recording of a ballad, "Without You", that he thought might suit the teenaged singer. Presley came by the studio, but was unable to do it justice. Despite this, Phillips asked Presley to sing as many numbers as he knew. He was sufficiently affected by what he heard to invite two local musicians, guitarist Winfield "Scotty" Moore and upright bass player Bill Black , to work something up with Presley for

1404-496: Is credited in some sources as the composer. Brenston later said that the song was not particularly original; "they had simply borrowed from another jump blues about an automobile, Jimmy Liggins’ 'Cadillac Boogie ' ". The song was a hymn of praise to the joys of the Oldsmobile Rocket 88 automobile which had recently been introduced, and was based on the 1947 song "Cadillac Boogie" by Jimmy Liggins . Drawing on

1482-464: Is how they relieved the burden of what existed day in and day out." In addition to musical performances, Phillips recorded events such as weddings and funerals, selling the recordings. Phillips and Elvis Presley opened a new form of music. Phillips said of Presley: "Elvis cut a ballad, which was just excellent. I could tell you, both Elvis and Roy Orbison could tear a ballad to pieces. But I said to myself, 'You can't do that, Sam.' If I had released

1560-462: Is like the first black record to be played on a white radio station – and, man, all the white kids broke out to the record shops to buy it. So that's when Sam Phillips got the idea, "Well, man, if I get me a white boy to sound like a black boy, then I got me a gold mine", which is the truth. So, that's when he got Elvis and he got Jerry Lee Lewis and a bunch of other guys and so they named it rock and roll rather than R&B and so this

1638-502: Is the reason I think rock and roll exists – not that "Rocket 88" was the first one, but that was what caused the first one. The song was covered by several artists over the years, the first being Bill Haley & His Comets in July 1951. No matter which version deserves the accolade, "Rocket 88" is seen as a prototype rock and roll song in musical style and lineup, as well as its lyrical theme, in which an automobile serves as

SECTION 20

#1732780994922

1716-669: The Country Music Hall of Fame , and in 2012 he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Memphis Music Hall of Fame . Phillips died of respiratory failure , aged 80, at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, on July 30, 2003, only one day before the original Sun Studio was designated a National Historic Landmark . Phillips is interred in the Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis. Rocket 88 Many music writers acknowledge its importance in

1794-631: The Prisonaires and others. The Memphis Recording Service also served as the studio for Phillips's own label, Sun Record Company , which he launched in 1952. Sun Records produced more rock-and-roll records than any other record label of its time during its 16-year run, producing 226 singles. Phillips recorded different styles of music, but he was interested in the blues: "The blues, it got people—black and white—to think about life, how difficult, yet also how good it can be. They would sing about it; they would pray about it; they would preach about it. This

1872-700: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame , and his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame . He was the first non-performer inducted. In 1987, he was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame . He received a Grammy Trustees Award for lifetime achievement in 1991. In 1998, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame , in October 2001 he was inducted into

1950-415: The music industry . Phillips was the youngest of eight children, born on a 200-acre farm near Florence, Alabama to Madge Ella ( née Lovelace) and Charles Tucker Phillips. Sam's parents owned their farm, though it was mortgaged. As a child, he picked cotton in the fields with his parents alongside black laborers. The experience of hearing black laborers singing in the fields left a big impression on

2028-643: The twelve-bar blues song was credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, which reached number one on the R&;B charts . Brenston was Ike Turner 's saxophonist and the Delta Cats were actually Turner's Kings of Rhythm back-up band, who rehearsed at the Riverside Hotel in Clarksdale, Mississippi . Brenston sang the lead vocal and is officially listed as the songwriter. Turner led the band and

2106-469: The Beat Goes On : Both the distortion and the relative prominence of the guitar were novel features of this recording – these are the elements that have earned "Rocket 88" so many nominations as "the first" rock and roll record. From our perspective, "Rocket 88" wasn't the first rock and roll record, because the beat is a shuffle rhythm, not the distinctive rock rhythm heard first in

2184-506: The Memphis Recording Service, Marion Keisker , who was already a well-known Memphis radio personality. On July 18, 1953, the eighteen-year-old Presley dropped into the studio to record an acetate for his mother's birthday; Keisker thought she heard some talent in the young truck driver's voice, and so she turned on the tape recorder. Later, she played it for Phillips, who gradually, with Keisker's encouragement, warmed to

2262-479: The Perkins session. Sometime in the early afternoon, Presley dropped in to pay a casual visit accompanied by a girlfriend, Marilyn Evans. He was, at the time, the biggest name in show business, having hit the top of the singles charts five times, and topping the album charts twice in the preceding 12-month period. Less than four months earlier, he had appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show , pulling an unheard-of 83% of

2340-669: The Prisonaires , a black quartet who were given permission to leave prison in June 1953 to record their single, "Just Walkin' in the Rain", later a hit for Johnnie Ray in 1956. The song was a big enough hit that the local newspaper took an interest in the story of its recording. A few biographers have said that this article, printed in the Memphis Press-Scimitar on July 15, influenced Elvis Presley to seek out Sun to record

2418-557: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as confirming that "Rocket 88 may well have been the first rock 'n' roll record". In a later interview, however, Ike Turner offered this comment: "I don't think that 'Rocket 88' is rock 'n' roll. I think that 'Rocket 88' is R&B, but I think 'Rocket 88' is the cause of rock and roll existing". "Rocket 88" was the third-biggest rhythm and blues single in jukebox plays of 1951, according to Billboard magazine, and ninth in record sales. The single reached

Sun Studio - Misplaced Pages Continue

2496-630: The Sun Studio Café in Memphis. One location was in the Mall of Memphis . Phillips and his family founded Big River Broadcasting Corporation, which owns and operates several radio stations in the Florence, Alabama area, including WQLT-FM , WSBM , and WXFL . He also established radio station WLIZ in Lake Worth, Florida in 1959. In 1986, Phillips was part of the first group inducted into

2574-534: The country charts, popped in. (Cash wrote in his autobiography Cash that he had been first to arrive at the Sun Studio that day, wanting to listen in on the Perkins recording session.) "Cowboy" Jack Clement was engineering that day and remembers saying to himself "I think I'd be remiss not to record this" and so he did. After jamming through a number of songs using someone else's guitar for an hour, Elvis and girlfriend Evans slipped out as Jerry Lee pounded away on

2652-647: The development of rock and roll music, with several considering it to be the first rock and roll record . In 2017, the Mississippi Blues Trail dedicated its 200th marker to "Rocket 88" as an influential record. The song was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1991, the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018, and the National Recording Registry in 2024. The original version of

2730-489: The early 1970s. Singleton moved the firm to Nashville , and sold the building to a plumbing company, who eventually sold it to an auto parts store, which used the original recording studio for inventory storage. Since, Sun Records Studio has been used as a setting for the film biopics Walk the Line , Great Balls of Fire , Mystery Train and Elvis . In 1987, ten years after Presley died, Sun Studio at 706 Union Avenue

2808-460: The first actual rock & roll record is a truly impossible task. But you can't go too far wrong citing Jackie Brenston's 1951 Chess waxing of "Rocket 88", is a seminal piece of rock's fascinating history with all the prerequisite elements firmly in place: practically indecipherable lyrics about cars, booze, and women; Raymond Hill's booting tenor sax, and a churning, beat-heavy rhythmic bottom. Rock art historian Paul Grushkin wrote: Working from

2886-525: The first rock'n'roll record. Others take a more nuanced view. Charlie Gillett , writing in 1970 in The Sound of the City , said that it was "one of several records that people in the music business cite as 'the first rock'n'roll record. ' " It has been suggested by Larry Birnbaum that the idea that "Rocket 88" could be called "the first rock'n'roll record" first arose in the late 1960s; he argued that: "One of

2964-410: The first six months, the flip side, " Blue Moon of Kentucky ", Presley's upbeat version of a Bill Monroe bluegrass song, was slightly more popular than "That's All Right (Mama)". While still not known outside the South, Presley's singles and regional success became a drawing card for Sun Records, as singing hopefuls soon arrived from all over the region. Singers such as Sonny Burgess (" My Bucket's Got

3042-503: The fool, too, and I started playing with them. Sam, I think, had the door to the control booth open ... he stuck his head out and said, 'What are you doing?' And we said, 'We don't know.' 'Well, back up,' he said, 'try to find a place to start, and do it again.'" Phillips quickly began taping; this was the sound he had been looking for. Three days later, popular Memphis DJ Dewey Phillips played "That's All Right" on his Red, Hot, and Blue show. Listeners began phoning in, eager to find out who

3120-469: The idea of recording Elvis. Presley, who recorded his version of Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup 's " That's All Right " at Phillips's studio, became highly successful, first in Memphis, then throughout the southern United States. He auditioned for Phillips in 1954, but it was not until he sang "That's All Right (Mama)" that Phillips was impressed. He brought the song to Dewey Phillips , a disc jockey at WHBQ 560, to play on his Red, Hot & Blue program. For

3198-722: The late 1950s, and Sun lost its reputation as an innovative recording studio. In 1968, Sun released its last record. In 1969, Mercury Records label producer Shelby Singleton – noted for producing the Ray Stevens ' hit " Ahab the Arab " in 1962, and later Jeannie C. Riley's 1968 hit single " Harper Valley PTA " on his Nashville-based Plantation Records label – purchased the Sun label from Phillips. Singleton merged his operations into Sun International Corporation, which re-released and re-packaged compilations of Sun's early artists in

Sun Studio - Misplaced Pages Continue

3276-539: The mid-1960s, Phillips rarely recorded. He built a satellite studio and opened radio stations, but the studio declined, and he sold Sun Records to Shelby Singleton in 1969. In 1977 Sam's sons, Knox and Jerry, were working with John Prine at the Phillips Recording Studio when Sam Phillips joined them to oversee recordings that were eventually included on the album Pink Cadillac . Phillips launched radio station WHER on October 29, 1955. Each of

3354-556: The mid-to-late 1950s until the studio outgrew its Union Avenue location. Sam Phillips opened the larger Sam C. Phillips Recording Studio, better known as Phillips Recording , in 1959 to replace the older facility. Since Phillips had invested in the Holiday Inn Hotel chain earlier, he also recorded artists starting in 1963 on the label Holiday Inn Records for Kemmons Wilson . In 1957, Bill Justis recorded his Grammy Hall of Fame song " Raunchy " for Sam Phillips and worked as

3432-574: The newspaper and some sack paper in it, and that's where we got that sound". Afterwards, Phillips had no complaints about the unusual effect the "fix" had created. "The more unconventional it sounded, the more interested I would become in it." The song was recorded in the Memphis studio of producer Sam Phillips in March 1951, and licensed to Chess Records for release. The record was supposed to be credited to Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm featuring Jackie Brenston, but Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats

3510-441: The number of singers who recorded there, Phillips found it increasingly difficult to keep profits up. He reportedly drove over 60,000 miles in one year to promote his artists with radio stations and distributors. To keep costs down, he would pay his artists three percent royalties instead of the usual five percent that was more common at the time. Phillips turned to alcohol when it looked like his label would once again fail, and he

3588-554: The piano. Cash claims in Cash that "no one wanted to follow Jerry Lee, not even Elvis." During the session Phillips spotted an opportunity for some publicity and called a local newspaper, the Memphis Press-Scimitar . Bob Johnson, the newspaper's entertainment editor, came over to the studio accompanied by a UPI representative named Leo Soroca and a photographer. The following day, an article, written by Johnson about

3666-559: The raw material of post-big band jump blues, Turner had cooked up a mellow, cruising boogie with a steady-as-she-goes back beat now married to Brenston's enthusiastic, sexually suggestive vocals that spoke of opportunity, discovery and conquest. This all combined to create (as one reviewer later put it) "THE mother of all R&B songs for an evolutionary white audience". Michael Campbell wrote, in Popular Music in America: And

3744-499: The reasons is surely that Kizart's broken amp anticipated the sound of the fuzzbox, which was in its heyday when 'Rocket 88' was rediscovered." Music historian Robert Palmer , writing in The Rolling Stone History of Rock & Roll in 1980, described it as an important and influential record. He noted that Hill's saxophone playing was "wilder and rougher" than on many jump blues records, and also emphasized

3822-508: The record's "fuzzed-out, overamplified electric guitar". Writing in his 1984 book Unsung Heroes of Rock ‘n’ Roll , Nick Tosches , though rejecting the idea that it could be described as the first rock'n'roll record "any more than there is any first modern novel – the fact remains that the record in question was possessed of a sound and a fury the sheer, utter newness of which set it apart from what had come before." Echoing this view, Bill Dahl at AllMusic wrote: Determining

3900-518: The recordings to larger labels. Phillips recorded what the music historian Peter Guralnick considered the first rock and roll record : " Rocket 88 ", by Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats , a band led by the 19-year-old Ike Turner , who also wrote the song. The recording was released in 1951 by Chess Records in Chicago. From 1950 to 1954 Phillips recorded music by James Cotton , Rufus Thomas , Rosco Gordon , Little Milton , Bobby Blue Bland ,

3978-409: The rock that Turner's crew created seemed to shout that the sky was now the limit. The legend of how the sound came about says that Kizart's amplifier was damaged on Highway 61 when the band was driving from Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee. An attempt was made to hold the cone in place by stuffing the amplifier with wadded newspapers, which unintentionally created a distorted sound; Phillips liked

SECTION 50

#1732780994922

4056-404: The session, was published in the Memphis Press-Scimitar under the title " Million Dollar Quartet ". The article contained the now-famous photograph of Presley seated at the piano surrounded by Lewis, Perkins and Cash (the uncropped version of the photo also includes Evans, shown seated atop the piano). This photo proves Cash was there, but the audio doesn't provide substantial proof he joined in on

4134-426: The session. For several years after Presley left Sun, Phillips had success with other acts. Sun Studio became known as a place that nurtured talent and then encouraged it to expand with bigger labels. In 1959, Phillips moved Sun Studio to larger premises at 639 Madison Avenue. By the mid 1960s, Phillips had lost interest in recording and had instead branched out into radio. He opened several radio stations, beginning in

4212-428: The singer was. The interest was such that Phillips played the record repeatedly during the last two hours of his show. Interviewing Presley on-air, Phillips asked him what high school he attended in order to clarify his color for the many callers who had assumed he was black. During the next few days the trio recorded a bluegrass number, Bill Monroe 's " Blue Moon of Kentucky ", again in a distinctive style and employing

4290-494: The songs of Chuck Berry and Little Richard. Still, the distortion and the central place of the guitar in the overall sound certainly anticipate key features of rock style. Ike Turner himself said, in an interview with Holger Petersen : I don't think that "Rocket 88" is rock'n'roll. I think that "Rocket 88" is R&B, but I think "Rocket 88" is the cause of rock and roll existing ... Sam Phillips got Dewey Phillips to play "Rocket 88" on his program – and this

4368-405: The sound and used it. Peter Guralnick , in his biography of Sam Phillips, has the amplifier being dropped from the car's trunk when the band got a flat tire and was digging out the spare. Phillips offered this reminiscence about the amp in an interview with Rolling Stone : "The bass amplifier fell off the car. And when we got in the studio, the woofer had burst; the cone had burst. So I stuck

4446-513: The station's "open format" (of broadcasting music by white and black musicians alike) would later inspire his work in Memphis . Beginning in 1945, he worked for four years as an announcer and sound engineer for radio station WREC , in Memphis. On January 3, 1950, Phillips opened the Memphis Recording Service, at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis. He let amateurs record, which drew performers such as B. B. King , Junior Parker , and Howlin' Wolf , who made their first recordings there. Phillips then sold

4524-422: The studio that day, accompanied by his brothers Clayton and Jay and by drummer W.S. Holland , their aim being to cut some new material, including a revamped version of an old blues song, " Matchbox ". Phillips, who wished to try to fatten this sparse rockabilly instrumentation, had brought in his latest acquisition, singer and piano man extraordinaire Jerry Lee Lewis , still unknown outside Memphis, to play piano on

4602-453: The studio. In July 2009, John Mellencamp recorded nine songs for his album No Better Than This at the studio. In 2011, Chris Isaak released "Beyond the Sun," a collection of songs recorded at Sun Studio, most of which are cover versions of songs originally released on Sun Records. Sun Studio regularly releases studio session podcasts on YouTube and on Public Television. Sun Studio announced that PBS affiliate stations would be showing

4680-411: The television audience, which was estimated at 55 million, the largest in history up to that time. After chatting with Philips in the control room, Presley listened to the playback of Perkins’ session, which he pronounced to be good. Then he went out into the studio and some time later the jam session began. At some point during the session, Sun artist Johnny Cash , who had recently enjoyed a few hits on

4758-456: The template of jump blues and swing combo music, Turner made the style even rawer, superimposing Brenston's enthusiastic vocals, his own piano, distorted guitar played by Willie Kizart (the first use of such a sound on record), and tenor saxophone solos by 17-year-old Raymond Hill . Willie Sims played drums for the recording. A review of the record in Time magazine included: Rocket 88

SECTION 60

#1732780994922

4836-604: The top of the Best Selling R&;B Records chart on June 9, 1951, and stayed there for three weeks. It also spent two weeks at the top of the Most Played Juke Box R&;B Records chart; spending a total of five weeks at number-one on the R&;B charts. "When I was a little boy, that song fascinated me in a big way. I never heard a piano sound like that. I never played the piano then. Soon, I

4914-535: The young Phillips. Traveling through Memphis with his family in 1939 on the way to see a preacher in Dallas, he slipped off to look at Beale Street , at the time the heart of the city's music scene. "I just fell totally in love," he later recalled. Phillips attended the now defunct Coffee High School in Florence. He conducted the school band and had ambitions to be a criminal defense attorney . However, his father

4992-538: The young man's name, which she did along with her own commentary: "Good ballad singer. Hold." Presley cut a second acetate in January 1954—"I'll Never Stand In Your Way" and "It Wouldn't Be the Same Without You"—but again nothing came of it. Phillips, meanwhile, was always on the lookout for someone who could bring the sound of the black musicians on whom Sun focused to a broader audience. As Keisker reported, "Over and over I remember Sam saying, 'If I could find

5070-475: The young women who auditioned for the station assumed there would only be one female announcer position, as was the case with other stations at that time. Only a few days before the first broadcast did they learn of the all-female format. It was the first all-female radio station in the United States, as almost every position at the station was held by a woman. Through shrewd investments, Phillips amassed

5148-423: Was a much cheaper, amateur record-making service at a nearby general store. Biographer Peter Guralnick argues that he chose Sun in the hope of being discovered. Asked by receptionist Marion Keisker what kind of singer he was, Presley responded, "I sing all kinds." When she pressed him on whom he sounded like, he repeatedly answered, "I don't sound like nobody." After he recorded, Phillips asked Keisker to note down

5226-451: Was a young man, and now that it was a reality he was overjoyed. However, getting the company off the ground was not an easy task. To create revenue at the beginning, Phillips would record conventions, weddings, choirs, and even funerals. He also held an open door policy, allowing anybody to walk in and, for a small fee, record their own record. Phillips' slogan for his studio was "We Record Anything, Anywhere, Anytime." In June 1950, Phillips and

5304-539: Was bankrupt by the Great Depression and died in 1941, forcing Phillips to leave high school to look after his mother and aunt. To support the family he worked in a grocery store and then a funeral parlor . In 1942, Sam, 19, met Rebecca "Becky" Burns, 17, his future wife, while they were both working at WLAY radio station in Sheffield, Alabama . He was an announcer and she was still in high school and had

5382-425: Was brash and it was sexy; it took elements of the blues, hammered them with rhythm and attitude and electric guitar, and reimagined black music into something new. If the blues seemed to give voice to old wisdom, this new music seemed full of youthful notions. If the blues was about squeezing cathartic joy out of the bad times, this new music was about letting the good times roll. If the blues was about earthly troubles,

5460-581: Was converted back into a recording studio, and soon became a tourist attraction for Presley fans and music lovers in general. The studio was also used by several well known acts to record, including U2 , Def Leppard , John Mellencamp, the Bogus Bros. and Chris Isaak & Silvertone to name a few. In 2003 it was officially recognized as a National Historic Landmark tourist attraction. In May 2009, Canadian blues artist JW-Jones recorded with blues legend Hubert Sumlin , Larry Taylor and Richard Innes at

5538-421: Was during this time that Phillips recorded what many consider to be the first rock and roll song, " Rocket 88 " by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, who were actually Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm . Some biographers have suggested that it was Phillips' inventive creativeness that led to the song's unique sound, but others put it down to the fact that the amplifier used on the record was broken, leading to

5616-402: Was not large enough to break him throughout the United States. In February 1955, Phillips met with Colonel Tom Parker , a man known for his hustling skills as well as his managerial ones. Parker persuaded Phillips that Presley needed a national record label to help him further his career, and after several more months Phillips agreed to sell Presley's contract. He told Parker that he would require

5694-495: Was playing piano for a Carl Perkins recording session at Phillips's studio. When Elvis Presley walked in unexpectedly, Johnny Cash was called into the studio by Phillips, leading to an impromptu session featuring the four musicians. Phillips challenged the four to achieve gold record sales, offering a free Cadillac to the first, which Carl Perkins won. The contest is commemorated in a song by the Drive-By Truckers . By

5772-640: Was printed instead. Turner blamed Phillips for this error since he was the one who licensed it to Chess. Turner and the band were only paid $ 20 each (US$ 235 in 2023 dollars ) for the record, with the exception of Brenston who sold the rights to Phillips for $ 910. Whether this was the first record of the rock'n'roll genre is debated. A 2014 article in The Guardian stated that "Rocket 88's reputation may have more to do with Sam Phillips's vociferous later claims he had discovered rock'n'roll". Time quotes The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll and

5850-438: Was put into a mental hospital at one point, reportedly getting electric shock treatment . Rufus Thomas' "Bearcat", a recording that was similar to " Hound Dog ", was the first real hit for Sun in 1953. Although the song was the label's first hit, a copyright-infringement suit ensued and nearly bankrupted Phillips' record label. Despite this, Phillips was able to keep his business afloat by recording several other acts, including

5928-573: Was recorded there in 1951 with song composer Ike Turner on keyboards, leading the studio to claim status as the birthplace of rock & roll. Blues and R&B artists like Howlin' Wolf , Junior Parker , Little Milton , B.B. King , James Cotton , Rufus Thomas , and Rosco Gordon recorded there in the early 1950s. Rock and roll , country , and rockabilly artists, including Johnny Cash , Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins , Roy Orbison , Charlie Feathers , Ray Harris , Warren Smith , Charlie Rich , and Jerry Lee Lewis , recorded there throughout

6006-425: Was reopened by Gary Hardy as "Sun Studio," a recording label and tourist attraction that has attracted many notable artists, such as U2 , Def Leppard , Bonnie Raitt , and Ringo Starr . In January 1950, WREC radio engineer Sam Phillips opened the Memphis Recording Service at 706 Union Avenue with his assistant and long-time friend, Marion Keisker . Phillips had dreamed of opening his own recording studio since he

6084-476: Was trying. if you listen to 'Good Golly, Miss Molly,' you hear the same introduction as the one to 'Rocket 88,' the exact same, ain't nothing been changed." — Little Richard (1999) Ike Turner's piano intro on "Rocket 88" influenced Little Richard who later used it for his 1958 hit song " Good Golly, Miss Molly ." Sam Philips , the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio , and many writers have suggested that "Rocket 88" has strong claims to be called

#921078