Sun Studio
Encyclopedia
Sun Studio is a recording studio opened by rock 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. Reputedly the first rock-and-roll
single, Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats' "Rocket 88
" 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 music
, 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 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 take the place of the older facility. Since Sam had invested in the Holiday Inn Hotel chain earlier, he also recorded artist 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 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 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 May 2009, Canadian blues artist JW-Jones
recorded with blues legend Hubert Sumlin
, Larry Taylor
and Richard Innes
for his 2010 release at the studio. In July 2009, John Mellencamp
recorded nine songs for his album No Better than This
at the studio. Wes Paul
and his group The Wes Paul Band are recording their album at Sun this forthcoming May.
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 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 make money in the beginning, Phillips would record conventions nipples, 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, Phillips and 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 it. 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 was during this time that Phillips recorded what many consider to be the first rock and roll song, Jackie Brenston's
"Rocket 88
". Some biographers have suggested that it was Phillips' inventive creativeness that led to the songs unique sound, but others put it down to the fact that the amplifier used on the record was broken, leading to a "fuzzy" sound.
, and Howlin' Wolf
. Despite the amount 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 3% royalties
instead of the usual 5% that was more common at the time. Phillips turned to alcohol
when it looked like his label would once again fail, and he was put into a mental hospital
at one point, reportedly getting electric shock treatment.
Rufus Thomas's "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 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 a demo record.
: "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 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 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 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 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 1949 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 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 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 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.
, a man as famous for his hustling skills as his managerial skills. 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 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 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
.
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 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.
, Def Leppard
, John Mellencamp, and Chris Isaak & Silvertone to name a few. In 2003 it was officially recognized as a National Historic Landmark
tourist attraction.
Season 2 features Jakob Dylan and 3 Legs, Truth & Salvage Co., the Walkmen, Grace Potter and Langhorne Slim. Season 3 is currently being filmed and will include Nicole Atkins, Ha Ha Tonka, Justin Townes Earle, Over the Rhine, Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses, Dylan LeBlanc and Railroad Earth.
, Great Balls of Fire
and Elvis.
Sam Phillips
Samuel Cornelius Phillips , better known as Sam Phillips, was an American businessman, record executive, record producer and DJ who played an important role in the emergence of rock and roll as the major form of popular music in the 1950s...
at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records
Sun Records
Sun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27, 1952.Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash...
label business. Reputedly the first rock-and-roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
single, Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats' "Rocket 88
Rocket 88
"Rocket 88" is a rhythm and blues song that was first recorded at Sam Phillips' recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on 3 March or 5 March 1951...
" was recorded there in 1951 with song composer Ike Turner
Ike Turner
Isaac Wister Turner was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, talent scout, and record producer. In a career that lasted more than half a century, his repertoire included blues, soul, rock, and funk...
on keyboards, leading the studio to claim status as the birthplace of rock & roll. Blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and R&B artists like Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
, Junior Parker
Junior Parker
Junior Parker was an American Memphis blues singer and musician. He is best remembered for his unique voice which has been described as "honeyed," and "velvet-smooth"...
, Little Milton
Little Milton
James Milton Campbell, Jr. , better known as Little Milton, was an American electric blues, rhythm and blues, and soul singer and guitarist, best known for his hit records "Grits Ain't Groceries" and "We're Gonna Make It."-Biography:Milton was born James Milton Campbell, Jr., in the Mississippi...
, B.B. King, James Cotton
James Cotton
James Cotton is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who has performed and recorded with many of the great blues artists of his time as well as with his own band.-Career:...
, Rufus Thomas
Rufus Thomas
Rufus Thomas, Jr. was an American rhythm and blues, funk and soul singer and comedian fromMemphis, Tennessee, who recorded on Sun Records in the...
, and Rosco Gordon
Rosco Gordon
Rosco Gordon was an American blues singer and songwriter. He is best known for his 1952 #1 R&B hit single, "Booted", and two #2 singles "No More Doggin'" and "Just a Little Bit" .-Biography:...
recorded there in the early 1950s.
Rock-and-roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, and rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
artists, including Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
, Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
, Charlie Feathers
Charlie Feathers
Charles Arthur "Charlie" Feathers was an influential American rockabilly and country music performer.-Biography:...
, Ray Harris
Ray Harris
Ray Harris was an American rockabilly musician and songwriter. He formed a band with Wayne Powers, and wrote the songs "Come On, Little Mama" and "Greenback Dollar, Watch and Chain". He eventually recorded these at Sun Records with Sam Phillips. He has also produced artists at Hi Records...
, Warren Smith
Warren Smith (singer)
Warren Smith was an American rockabilly and country music singer and guitarist.-Biography:Smith was born in Humphreys County, Mississippi to Iola and Willie Warren Smith, who divorced when he was young...
, Charlie Rich
Charlie Rich
Charles Rich was an American country music singer and musician. A Grammy Award winner, his eclectic-style of music was often hard to classify in a single genre, playing in the rockabilly, jazz, blues, country, and gospel genres.In the latter part of his life, Rich acquired the nickname The Silver...
, and Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
, recorded there throughout 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
Phillips Recording
Phillips Recording is the short name widely used to refer to the Sam C. Phillips Recording Studio opened at 639 Madison Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee by Sam Phillips in 1960...
, in 1959 to take the place of the older facility. Since Sam had invested in the Holiday Inn Hotel chain earlier, he also recorded artist starting in 1963 on the label Holiday Inn Records
Holiday Inn Records
Holiday Inn Records was a record label founded by D. Wayne Foster in 1961. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for Foster and Kemmons Wilson, as an independent business venture...
for Kemmons Wilson
Kemmons Wilson
Charles Kemmons Wilson was the founder of the Holiday Inn chain of hotels.-Personal life:He was born in Osceola, Arkansas, the only child of Kemmons and Ruby "Doll" Wilson. His father was an insurance salesman who died when Kemmons was nine months old...
. In 1957, Bill Justis
Bill Justis
William E. "Bill" Justis Jr. was an American pioneer rock and roll musician, composer, and musical arranger, best known for his 1957 Grammy Hall of Fame song, "Raunchy."-Biography:...
recorded his Grammy Hall of Fame song "Raunchy
Raunchy (song)
"Raunchy" is the name of an American rock and roll instrumental hit from 1957. It was recorded by Bill Justis and his band in Memphis, Tennessee, and co-written by Justis and Sid Manker....
" for Sam Phillips and worked as 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
Class of '55
Class of '55 is a 1986 album by Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins.While the album was in part a tribute to Elvis Presley, it was mainly a commemoration of those young performing hopefuls, the four album participants included, who came to Sun Records in 1955 to make music in...
recording sessions with Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash, produced by Chips Moman
Chips Moman
Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman is an American record producer, guitarist, and songwriter. As a record producer, Moman is known for recording Elvis Presley, Bobby Womack, Carla Thomas, and Merrilee Rush, as well as guiding the career of the Box Tops in Memphis, Tennessee during the 1960s...
.
In 1987, the original building housing the Sun Records label and Memphis Recording Service was reopened by Gary Hardy as "Sun Studio," a recording label and tourist attraction that has attracted many notable artists, such as U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
, Def Leppard
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott , Rick Savage , Rick Allen , Phil Collen , and Vivian Campbell...
, Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
, and Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
.
In May 2009, Canadian blues artist JW-Jones
JW-Jones
JW-Jones is a Canadian blues guitarist, singer and band leader. Jones is signed to the NorthernBlues Music label in Toronto, Canada, CrossCut Records in Europe, and Ruf Records in USA. In the last decade, he has released six albums and played in 17 countries, 4 continents, over 260 cities and...
recorded with blues legend Hubert Sumlin
Hubert Sumlin
Hubert Sumlin is an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist and singer, best known for his celebrated work, from 1955, as guitarist in Howlin' Wolf's band. His singular playing is characterized by "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic...
, Larry Taylor
Larry Taylor
Larry Taylor is an American bass guitarist, best known for his work as a member of Canned Heat from 1967. Before joining Canned Heat he had been a session bassist for The Monkees and Jerry Lee Lewis...
and Richard Innes
Richard Innes
Richard Innes was a Scottish cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler who played for Norfolk...
for his 2010 release at the studio. In July 2009, John Mellencamp
John Mellencamp
John Mellencamp, previously known by the stage names Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American rock singer-songwriter, musician, painter and occasional actor known for his catchy, populist brand of heartland rock that eschews synthesizers and other artificial sounds...
recorded nine songs for his album No Better than This
No Better Than This
No Better Than This is an album by American singer-songwriter and musician John Mellencamp, produced by T Bone Burnett, that was released on August 17, 2010. The album was recorded at several historic locations throughout the United States...
at the studio. Wes Paul
Wes Paul
Wester Paul Gerrard is an English guitarist and singer.Wes Paul grew up in Lodge Lane, Liverpool. Between 13 November 2005 and 2 September 2007 he was the stage manager and compère of Sounds of the Sixties Cavern Showcase which ran every Sunday at The Cavern Club, Liverpool...
and his group The Wes Paul Band are recording their album at Sun this forthcoming May.
Beginnings and Phillips Records
WREC
WREC is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format. Licensed to Memphis, Tennessee, USA, the station is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications. The station is also broadcast on HD radio....
radio engineer Sam Phillips opened the Memphis Recording Service at 706 Union Avenue with his assistant and long time friend, Marion Keisker
Marion Keisker
Marion Keisker MacInnes , born in Memphis, Tennessee, was a radio show host, station manager, U.S. Air Force officer, and assistant to Sam Phillips at Sun Records...
. Phillips had dreamed of opening his own recording studio since he 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 make money in the beginning, Phillips would record conventions nipples, 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, Phillips and a friend, local DJ Dewey Phillips
Dewey Phillips
"Daddy-O" Dewey Phillips was one of rock 'n' roll's pioneering disk jockeys, along the lines of Cleveland's Alan Freed, before Freed came along.-Early life:...
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 it. The label failed to make an impact and folded after just one release; "Boogie in the Park" by Joe Hill Louis
Joe Hill Louis
Joe Hill Louis , born Lester Hill, was an American singer, guitarist, harmonica player and one-man band...
, which sold less than 400 copies.
After the failure of Phillips Records, Phillips began working closely with other record labels such as Chess Records
Chess Records
Chess Records was an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, soul, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....
and Modern Records
Modern Records
Modern Records was an American record label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. In the 1960s, Modern Records went bankrupt and ceased operations, but the catalogue went with the management into what became Kent Records. This back catalogue was eventually licensed to the UK label...
, providing demo recordings for them and recording master tapes for their artists. It was during this time that Phillips recorded what many consider to be the first rock and roll song, Jackie Brenston's
Jackie Brenston
Jackie Brenston was an African American R&B singer and saxophonist, who recorded, with Ike Turner's band, the first version of the proto-rock and roll song "Rocket 88".-Biography:...
"Rocket 88
Rocket 88
"Rocket 88" is a rhythm and blues song that was first recorded at Sam Phillips' recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on 3 March or 5 March 1951...
". Some biographers have suggested that it was Phillips' inventive creativeness that led to the songs unique sound, but others put it down to the fact that the amplifier used on the record was broken, leading to a "fuzzy" sound.
Sun Records
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 ThomasRufus Thomas
Rufus Thomas, Jr. was an American rhythm and blues, funk and soul singer and comedian fromMemphis, Tennessee, who recorded on Sun Records in the...
, and Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
. Despite the amount 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 3% royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
instead of the usual 5% that was more common at the time. Phillips turned to alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
when it looked like his label would once again fail, and he was put into a mental hospital
Mental Hospital
Mental hospital may refer to:*Psychiatric hospital*hospital in Nepal named Mental Hospital...
at one point, reportedly getting electric shock treatment.
Rufus Thomas's "Bearcat", a recording that was similar to "Hound Dog
Hound Dog (song)
"Hound Dog" is a twelve-bar blues written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and originally recorded by Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton in 1952. Other early versions illustrate the differences among blues, country, and rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The 1956 remake by Elvis Presley is the best-known...
", 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 The Prisonaires
The Prisonaires
The Prisonaires were an African-American blues group whose hit, "Just Walkin' in the Rain", was released on Sun Records in 1953, while the group was incarcerated in the Tennessee State Penitentiary in Nashville. The group was led by Johnny Bragg, who had been a penitentiary inmate since 1943 when,...
; 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
Johnnie Ray
Johnnie Ray was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor of what would become rock and roll, for his jazz and blues-influenced music and his animated stage personality.-Early life:John Alvin Ray was born in...
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
Memphis Press-Scimitar
The Memphis Press-Scimitar was an afternoon newspaper based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. Created from a merger in 1926 between the Memphis Press and the Memphis News-Scimitar, the newspaper ceased in 1983. It was the main rival to The Commercial...
on July 15, influenced Elvis Presley to seek out Sun to record a demo record.
Elvis Presley
In August 1953, Presley walked into the offices of Sun. He aimed to pay for a few minutes of studio time to record a two-sided acetate discAcetate disc
An acetate disc, also known as a test acetate, dubplate , lacquer , transcription disc or instantaneous 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 was a much cheaper, amateur record-making service at a nearby general store. Biographer Peter Guralnick
Peter Guralnick
Peter Guralnick is an American music critic, writer on music, and historian of US American popular music, who is also active as an author and screenwriter. He has been married for over 45 years to Alexandra...
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 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 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
Scotty Moore
Winfield Scott "Scotty" Moore III is an American guitarist. He is best known for his backing of Elvis Presley in the first part of his career, between 1954 and the beginning of Elvis' Hollywood years...
and upright bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
player Bill Black
Bill Black
William Patton "Bill" Black, Jr. was an American musician who is noted as one of the pioneers of rockabilly music. Black was the bassist in Elvis Presley's early trio and the leader of Bill Black's Combo....
, to work something up with Presley for 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 1949 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 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
Dewey Phillips
"Daddy-O" Dewey Phillips was one of rock 'n' roll's pioneering disk jockeys, along the lines of Cleveland's Alan Freed, before Freed came along.-Early life:...
played "That's All Right" on his Red, Hot, and Blue show. Listeners began phoning in, eager to find out who 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
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
number, Bill Monroe
Bill Monroe
William Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...
's "Blue Moon of Kentucky
Blue Moon of Kentucky
"Blue Moon of Kentucky" is a waltz written in 1946 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....
", again in a distinctive style and employing a jury-rigged echo effect
Delay (audio effect)
Delay is an audio effect which records an input signal to an audio storage medium, and then plays it back after a period of time. The delayed signal may either be played back multiple times, or played back into the recording again, to create the sound of a repeating, decaying echo.-Early delay...
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.
Selling Presley
Within months Phillips saw his label expand massively due to the success of Presley's records. Radio stations and record stores all over the South were eager to play his records, and as Presley's fame grew over the next year, Phillips realized Sun was not large enough to break him nationally. In February 1955, Phillips met with Colonel Tom ParkerColonel Tom Parker
"Colonel" Thomas Andrew "Tom" Parker born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk, was a Dutch-born entertainment impresario known best as the manager of Elvis Presley...
, a man as famous for his hustling skills as his managerial skills. 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 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 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
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
, Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
, Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
, and Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
.
Decline
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 Studios 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 the late 1950s, and Sun lost its reputation as an innovative recording studio. In 1968, Sun released its last record. In 1969, Mercury RecordsMercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
label producer Shelby Singleton
Shelby Singleton
Shelby Singleton was an American record producer and record label owner.-Early Life:...
– noted for producing the Ray Stevens
Ray Stevens
Ray Stevens is an American country music, pop singer-songwriter who has become known for his novelty songs.-Early career:...
' hit
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
"Ahab The Arab
Ahab The Arab
"Ahab the Arab" is a novelty song recorded by Ray Stevens in 1962. In the song, Arab is pronounced "Ay-rab" to rhyme with Ahab.- Lyrics :The song portrays a "sheik of the burning sands" named Ahab. He is highly decorated with jewelry, and every night he hops on Clyde, his camel, on his way to see...
" in 1962, and later Jeannie C. Riley's 1968 hit single "Harper Valley PTA
Harper Valley PTA
"Harper Valley PTA" is a country song written by Tom T. Hall that was a major international hit single for country singer Jeannie C. Riley in 1968. Riley's record sold over six million copies as a single. The song made Riley the first woman to top both Billboard's Hot 100 and the U.S...
" on his Nashville based Plantation Records
Plantation Records
Plantation Records was a country music record label started by Shelby Singleton. The label is best known for the Jeannie C. Riley 45rpm single, "Harper Valley P.T.A." which was a number one pop record in 1968....
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 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.
Re-opening
In 1987, ten years after Presley died, Sun Studio at 706 Union Avenue 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 U2U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
, Def Leppard
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott , Rick Savage , Rick Allen , Phil Collen , and Vivian Campbell...
, John Mellencamp, and Chris Isaak & Silvertone to name a few. In 2003 it was officially recognized as a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
tourist attraction.
Sun Studio Sessions
Sun Studio regularly releases studio session podcasts on YouTube and on Public Television. Sun Studio have announced that PBS affiliate stations will be showing a 30 minute version of this series starting in January 2010. Season 1 of the series includes Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers, Catherine Feeny, Amy LaVere and David Ford. Over 200 PBS affiliate stations have aired or scheduled Sun Studio Sessions Season 1 to air, including WNET NYC; KERA Dallas and WHYY Philadelphia. Several statewide networks also have aired or scheduled Season 1, including Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah, Maine, Alabama, Nebraska, New Hampshire and West Virginia.Season 2 features Jakob Dylan and 3 Legs, Truth & Salvage Co., the Walkmen, Grace Potter and Langhorne Slim. Season 3 is currently being filmed and will include Nicole Atkins, Ha Ha Tonka, Justin Townes Earle, Over the Rhine, Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses, Dylan LeBlanc and Railroad Earth.
In popular culture
Sun Records Studio was used as a setting for the movie biopics Walk the LineWalk the Line
Walk the Line is a 2005 American biographical drama film directed by James Mangold and based on the early life and career of country music artist Johnny Cash...
, Great Balls of Fire
Great Balls of Fire! (film)
Great Balls of Fire! is a 1989 American biographical film directed by Jim McBride and starring Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis. Based on a biography by Myra Lewis and Murray M. Silver Jr., the screenplay is written by McBride and Jack Baran...
and Elvis.