About Sam Phillips
Samuel Cornelius Phillips used to be an American record producer. In this article will you get to know about Sam Phillips bio, Sam Phillips music and Sam Phillips musician .He started Sun Albums and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, producing Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Howlin’ Wolf records. Phillips was a pivotal factor in the emergence of rock & roll in the 1950s, launching Presley’s career. In 1969, he sold Sun to Shelby Singleton.
Phillips owned and operated radio stations in Memphis, Alabama, and Lake Worth Beach, Florida. He was also an early investor in the Holiday Inn hotel chain and a proponent of racial equality in the music industry, helping to break down racial barriers.
Early life
Sam Phillips was born on a 200-acre farm near Florence, Alabama, to Madge Ella (Lovelace) and Charles Tucker Phillips. In 1942, Sam, 19, met Rebecca “Becky” Burns, 17, when both were working at the WLAY radio station in Sheffield, Alabama. They got married in 1943 and had two children throughout their 60-year marriage, which ended with Sam’s death in 2003. Becky Phillips, 87, died in 2012 at the age of 87.
The band, Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats was led by 19-year-old Ike Turner, recorded “Rocket 88,” the first rock & roll album Sam Phillips produced. Phillips’ Sun Record Company, which he launched in 1952, was also based in the Memphis Recording Service. Sun Records made more rock-and-roll records by Sam Phillips musician than any other record label during its 16-year run, with 226 successes.
Marion Keisker, a well-known Memphis radio personality, introduced Sam Phillips to Elvis Presley. In 1953, Presley recorded his version of Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup’s “That’s All Right” at Sam Phillips recording studio. Presley’s career took off, first in Memphis and then throughout the southern United States. In 1954, he auditioned for Phillips, but Phillips was not impressed until he played “Mama.” Elvis Presley’s performance of That’s All Right (Mama) for Sun Records became his first hit in 1955.
Dewey Phillips, the presenter of the Red, Hot & Blue show, assisted him in getting the song on the air. Sun had modest success with singers like Sonny Burgess, Charlie Rich, Junior Parker, and Billy Lee Riley, while others like Jerry Lee Lewis, BB King, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Carl Perkins became well-known. In 1956, Phillips challenged the Million Dollar Quartet to sell gold records, offering a free Cadillac to the first person to achieve it, which was Carl Perkins.
Sam Phillips musician was the first non-performer to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. He was also a founder of the Alabama Radio Company, which owns and operates several radio stations in Florence, Alabama. After terminating his contract with RCA, Elvis Presley sold his Holiday Inn stock for 35,000 dollars. Samual Phillips’s net worth is $100,000
Death and later life
On July 30, 2003, Sam Phillips died of respiratory failure at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, only a day prior to the original Sun Studio was designated a National Historic Landmark and a little more than a month before former Sun Records recording star Johnny Cash died on September 12, 2003. He was eighty years old. Phillips was laid to rest in Memphis’ Memorial Park Cemetery.
