Sun Records: Sam Phillips’s Memphis Recording Service

Former radio engineer Sam Phillips opened the Memphis Recording Service at 706 Union Avenue in 1950. Among his first customers were out-of-town rhythm-and-blues labels Modern (based in Los Angeles) and Chess (based in Chicago), who hired Phillips to find and record local artists on their behalf. Phillips was a genius at making musicians feel at home in the studio, and over the next three years he recorded some classic performances by B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf, and teenage bandleader Ike Turner. Having delivered a couple of rhythm-and-blues number ones—“Rocket 88” by Jackie Brenston (1951) and “Booted” by Rosco Gordon (1952)—Phillips set up his own label, Sun Records, whose first rhythm-and-blues hit was “Bear Cat” by Rufus Thomas (1953), an answer record to “Hound Dog,” the rhythm-and-blues hit from Houston, Texas, by Willie Mae Thornton.

The following year Phillips recorded his first white singer, Elvis Presley, whose five singles for Sun are among the most notable pop records of the 20th century. Country, gospel, and blues came together and emerged as something entirely different, full of emotion, pride, and an irresistible sense of freedom. Sun became a magnet for talented young artists throughout the South, including Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis, all of whom Phillips recorded with patience, humour, and considerable inventiveness. His simple but ingenious use of echo helped to define the new sound of rock and roll.