Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003)
was an American record producer. He was the founder of
Sun Records and
Sun Studio in
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...
, where he produced recordings by
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
,
Roy Orbison,
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as " rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis mad ...
,
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998) Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, beginning in 19 ...
,
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American Country music, country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later s ...
, and
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade car ...
. Phillips played a major role in the development of
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
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
Holiday Inn is an American chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia. and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson, who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee that year. The chain was a divisio ...
chain of hotels and an advocate for racial equality, helping to break down racial barriers in the
music industry
The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, trai ...
.
Early life
Phillips was the youngest of eight children, born on a 200-acre farm near
Florence, Alabama
Florence is a city in, and the county seat of, Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the state's northwestern corner. It is situated along the Tennessee River and is home to the University of North Alabama, the oldest college in the ...
to Madge Ella ( Lovelace) and Charles Tucker Phillips. Sam's parents owned their farm, though it was mortgaged. As a child, he picked
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor p ...
in the fields with his parents alongside black laborers. The experience of hearing black laborers singing in the fields left a big impression on 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
Attorney may refer to:
* Lawyer
** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions
* Attorney, one who has power of attorney
* ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film
See also
* Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gove ...
. However, his father 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
A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, ...
and then a
funeral parlor
A funeral home, funeral parlor or mortuary, is a business that provides burial and funeral services for the dead and their families. These services may include a prepared wake and funeral, and the provision of a chapel for the funeral.
Service ...
.
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 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 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.
The Memphis Recording Service and Sun Records
In the 1940s, Phillips worked as a
DJ and
radio engineer for station
WLAY (AM), in
Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located along the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 census, the population of Muscle Shoals was 13,146. The estimated popul ...
. 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
Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade car ...
, who made their first recordings there. Phillips then sold 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
Jackie Brenston (August 24, 1928 or 1930Most published sources and the U.S. Social Security Death Index give 1930 as his year of birth. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and reportedly his gravestone give 1928. – December 15, 1979) ...
, a band led by the 19-year-old
Ike Turner, who also wrote the song. The recording was released in 1951 by
Chess Records
Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and r ...
in Chicago. From 1950 to 1954 Phillips recorded music by
James Cotton,
Rufus Thomas
Rufus C. Thomas, Jr. (March 26, 1917 – December 15, 2001) was an American rhythm-and-blues, funk, soul and blues singer, songwriter, dancer, DJ and comic entertainer from Memphis, Tennessee. He recorded for several labels, including Chess ...
,
Rosco Gordon,
Little Milton,
Bobby Blue Bland
Robert Calvin Bland (born Robert Calvin Brooks; January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer.
Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. He was des ...
, 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 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.
Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison
Phillips and
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
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 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 the Memphis Recording Service,
Marion Keisker, who was already a well-known Memphis radio personality. On 18 July 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 the idea of recording Elvis.
Presley, who recorded his version of
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup
Arthur William "Big Boy" Crudup (August 24, 1905 – March 28, 1974) was an American Delta blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known, outside blues circles, for his songs "That's All Right" (1946), "My Baby Left Me" and "So Gla ...
'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
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...
at
WHBQ 560, to play on his ''Red, Hot & Blue'' program. For the first six months, the flip side, "
Blue Moon of Kentucky
"Blue Moon of Kentucky" is a waltz written in 1945 by bluegrass musician Bill Monroe and recorded by his band, the Blue Grass Boys. The song has since been recorded by many artists, including Elvis Presley and Paul McCartney. "Blue Moon of Kentu ...
", Presley's upbeat version of a
Bill Monroe
William Smith "Bill" Monroe (; September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the " Father of Bluegrass".
The genre take ...
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 a Hole in It
"My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" is a song widely attributed to Clarence Williams, who obtained a copyright in 1933, although the melody was recorded under various names years earlier. The song became popular performed by Hank Williams for MGM an ...
"),
Charlie Rich,
Junior Parker, and
Billy Lee Riley recorded for Sun with some success, and others, such as
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as " rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis mad ...
,
BB King
Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...
,
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American Country music, country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later s ...
,
Roy Orbison, and
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998) Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, beginning in 19 ...
, 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 was playing piano for a Carl Perkins recording session at Phillips's studio. When Elvis Presley walked in unexpectedly,
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American Country music, country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later s ...
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
Drive-By Truckers are an American rock band based in Athens, Georgia. Two of five current members ( Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley) are originally from The Shoals region of northern Alabama and met as roommates at the University of North Alab ...
.
By 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
John Edward Prine (; October 10, 1946 – April 7, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter of country-folk music. He was active as a composer, recording artist, live performer, and occasional actor from the early 1970s until his death. He ...
at the Phillips Recording Studio when Sam Phillips joined them to oversee recordings that were eventually included on the album ''
Pink Cadillac''.
WHER
Phillips launched radio station
WHER on October 29, 1955. Each of 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.
Other business interests
Through shrewd investments, Phillips amassed a fortune. He was one of the first investors in
Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn is an American chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia. and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson, who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee that year. The chain was a divisio ...
, 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
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westin ...
, for $35,000, which he multiplied many times over the years with Holiday Inn. He also created two subsidiary recording labels,
Phillips International Records
Phillips International Records is a sub-label of Sun Records started by Sam Phillips in October 1957.
The design had the whole label as a blue and white Earth-globe with "Phillips" prominent between the words "Sam C." and "International Corp" o ...
and
Holiday Inn Records. He also owned 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
Florence is a city in, and the county seat of, Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the state's northwestern corner. It is situated along the Tennessee River and is home to the University of North Alabama, the oldest college in the ...
area, including
WQLT-FM,
WSBM, and
WXFL. He also established radio station WLIZ in
Lake Worth, Florida in 1959.
Accolades
In 1986, Phillips was part of the first group inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music an ...
, 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
The Alabama Music Hall of Fame, first conceived by the Muscle Shoals Music Association in the early 1980s, was created by the Alabama Music Hall of Fame Board, which then saw to its Phase One construction of a facility after a statewide referend ...
. 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 the
Country Music Hall of Fame, and in 2012 he was inducted into the inaugural class of the
Memphis Music Hall of Fame.
Later years and death
Phillips died of
respiratory failure
Respiratory failure results from inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, meaning that the arterial oxygen, carbon dioxide, or both cannot be kept at normal levels. A drop in the oxygen carried in the blood is known as hypoxemia; a rise ...
, 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
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
, and just over a month before the death of former Sun Records recording star
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American Country music, country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later s ...
, on September 12, 2003. Phillips is interred in the
Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis.
Notable portrayals
*
Paul Eiding played the role of Phillips in the ''
Twilight Zone'' episode "
The Once and Future King".
*
Trey Wilson portrayed Phillips in ''
Great Balls of Fire!'', a biopic about
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as " rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis mad ...
released in June 1989.
*Phillips was portrayed by
Gregory Itzin
Gregory Martin Itzin (April 20, 1948 – July 8, 2022) was an American character actor of film and television best known for his role as U.S. President Charles Logan in the action thriller series '' 24''.
Early life
Itzin was born in Washin ...
in the penultimate ''
Quantum Leap'' episode, "Memphis Melody".
*Phillips was portrayed by
Dallas Roberts in the film ''
Walk the Line''.
*Phillips was portrayed by
Tim Guinee in the
CBS miniseries ''
Elvis''.
*On October 21, 2016, it was announced that
Leonardo DiCaprio will portray Sam Phillips in the forthcoming film based on
Peter Guralnick's book, ''Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll''.
*Phillips was portrayed by
Chad Michael Murray
Chad Michael Murray (born August 24, 1981) is an American actor and writer. He is best known for playing Lucas Scott in The WB/ CW drama series ''One Tree Hill'' (2003–09, 2012), a recurring role as Tristin DuGray on The WB/ CW series ''Gilm ...
in the
CMT drama series ''
Sun Records''.
*Philips was portrayed by
Josh McConville in the 2022 Elvis Presley biopic
Elvis
References
Notes
Foster, D. Wayne. retrieved from 2008 audio interview recording
*
*
*
Talevski, Nick. "Sam Phillips". ''The Unofficial Encyclopedia of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame'' Pop Culture Universe. ABC-CLIO. 22 October 2009.
External links
Interview with Sam Phillips for WGBH Public Television series "Rock and Roll: Renegades"Sun Studio official websiteInterview with Sam PhillipsRock Hall of FameCountry Music Hall of Fame and Museum*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Sam
1923 births
2003 deaths
Deaths from respiratory failure
Record producers from Alabama
American country singer-songwriters
American music industry executives
Country Music Hall of Fame inductees
Musicians from Florence, Alabama
Sun Records
Grammy Award winners
Holiday Inn people
20th-century American singers
Rock and roll musicians
Country musicians from Alabama
Early Recording Engineers (1930-1959)
Burials at Memorial Park Cemetery (Memphis, Tennessee)
Singer-songwriters from Alabama