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Sam Phillips (foreground) with Elvis, Bill Black and Scotty Moore.

The 4th of July fell on a Sunday in 1954 and three young men got together on that day for a final rehearsal as they had a studio for Monday, July 5. One of young men, Elvis Presley, was just 19 at the time. The other two were guitarist, Scotty Moore, and bassist, Bill Black. The little studio where the boys laid down these first tracks on that Monday in 1954 has been preserved and today looks much the same as it did 55 years ago.

The studio was owned and staffed by Sam Phillips and was called Memphis Recording Service. The early Phillips' produced records were released under his own label Sun Records. The studio today is a tourist attraction and in simply known as Sun Studios.
 
After recording a few tracks including the unlikely Bing Crosby hit, "Harbour Lights", the boys had a break and during this interval Elvis started singing "That's All Right", an upbeat bluesy number recorded in the late 1940s by Arthur Crudup, a Negro singer-guitarist. Shortly after Elvis began, Scotty Moore and Bill Black joined in and they soon had a version of the number rocking the studio.
 
Phillips, who was a fan and supporter of Negro blues, was suitably impressed and asked the trio to rock out a number of takes of the song. Phillips chose the best of these and, backed with "Blue Moon of Kentucky", he released the song as Sun Record 209. The record did not chart but sold enough copies and received enough airplay to have the Elvis name heard.
 
In all, Sun Records released five singles in a relatively short period for Elvis before Sam Phillips sold his contract and the masters of those early recordings to RCA Records for the princely sum of $35,000.
 
RCA re-released the early songs after Elvis gained wide popularity and easily recouped their $35,000 outlay, while Sam Phillips went on to discover Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis.
 
Summing up his contribution to Rock'n'Roll, Sam Phillips said:
"I think Rock'n'Roll has had a very favourable impact on the understanding between races. The young are not as prejudiced as the old, and, if I've done something to stop the prejudice, then I think I've done something with my life."

Sam passed away in 2003.

FOOTNOTE: Our own Keith Blake is travelling to USA on a Rock’n’Roll tour this June and one of the highlights will be a tour of Sun Studios!

Boomer Music Archives

1958 - Ricky Nelson
1959 - The Drifters
1957 - The Beatles