page_title: Sam Phillips
section_title: The Memphis Recording Service and Sun Records
hierarchical_section_title: Sam Phillips / The Memphis Recording Service and Sun Records
caption_attribution_description: English: Studio at junction of Sam Phillips Avenue, Memphis
context_page_description: Samuel Cornelius Phillips was an American record producer who played an important role in the development of rock and roll during the 1950s. 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. He launched Presley's career in 1954. Phillips sold Sun in 1969 to Shelby Singleton.
  He was an early investor in the Holiday Inn chain of hotels. He owned and operated radio stations in Memphis; Florence, Alabama; and Lake Worth, Florida. He advocated for racial equality and helped break down racial barriers in the music industry.
context_section_description: In the 1940s, Phillips worked as a DJ and radio engineer for station WLAY (AM), in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. According to Phillips, 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 the recordings to larger labels. In addition to musical performances, Phillips recorded events such as weddings and funerals, selling the recordings. The Memphis Recording Service also served as the studio for Phillips's own label, Sun Record Company, which he launched in 1952.
  Phillips recorded different styles of music. He was interested in the blues and said, "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 is how they relieved the burden of what existed day in and day out."
  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, of Chicago. From 1950 to 1954 Phillips recorded music by James Cotton, Rufus Thomas, Rosco Gordon, Little Milton, Bobby Blue Bland, the Prisonaires and others.
  Sun Records produced more rock-and-roll records than any other record label of its time during its 16-year run, producing 226 singles.
caption: Sun Studio, 706 Union Avenue, Memphis
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