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SUN RECORDS

Sam Phillips and the Record Business

In January 1950 a disc jockey named Sam Phillips opened the Memphis Recording Service, the first professional recording studio in the city. It had a clearly defined purpose—to scout talent and produce black R&B record masters that could be distributed under a partnership agreement with such specialist labels as Chess and Dot. At the time, 95 percent of the record business was controlled by the major companies. The rest was open to small independents, like Phillips, who appealed to special markets.

Yellow Sun Records

"My aim was to try and record the blues and other music I liked and to prove whether I was right or wrong about this music. I knew, or I felt I knew, that there was a bigger audience for blues than just the black man of the mid-South," Phillips remembered. He soon found that if he wanted his business to be profitable, he would have to form his own record label and handle his own distribution. In 1952, after a false start with a label called The Phillips,' he founded Sun Records, which served as a launching pad for the rock 'n' roll revolution that began in 1955.

Black Blues

By 1954 Phillips had recorded some of the finest blues musicians in the South: Riley "B. B." (for Black Boy) King, Chester Burnett (who called himself Howlin' Wolf), Ike Turner, James Cotton, "Little Junior" Parker, and "Little Walter" Jacobs. The Prisonaires were transported under guard from the Tennessee State Penitentiary in Nashville to record their classic performance of "Just Walkin' in the Rain," for which phrasing was suggested by a kid named Elvis Presley, who hung around the studio waiting for his chance to try for a hit record.

White Blues

The music was inspiring, but sales were not. Good music was not enough, Phillips concluded: "The base wasn't broad enough because of racial prejudice. When the jukebox operators would come by the distributor for their weekly supply of records, and … when the smaller retail outlets would come by, I'd be there. They'd tell me, 'These people [blacks] are ruining our children' … so I knew what I had to do to broaden the base of acceptance." He began promoting white performers who could perform R&B music.

Rockabilly

After 1954 Sun Records concentrated on what was called rockabilly, a combination of country music and R&B driven by a dominant rhythm section and sung with uninhibited expression. Rockabilly was white musicians' interpretations of the black music Phillips had recorded since he opened his studio. It attracted an audience of young people eager for songs more lively than those their parents enjoyed; it was sellable; and there was plenty of talent to draw upon. Between 1954 and 1956, Sun released debut records by Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley. It was a stunning performance by a small independent record producer.

Paydirt

Elvis Presley was, of course, the discovery that earned Phillips lasting distinction as a talent scout. Elvis had hung around the Sun studio for a year and had made two private recordings for his own use before Phillips asked him to make a record for sale in May or June 1954. "That's All Right, Mama" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky" were released on 19 July 1954. Billboard called Presley "a strong new talent," and he began to attract a following. The record sold sixty-three hundred copies in the first three weeks, some twenty-five thousand by the end of the year. Elvis recorded eight more songs that were released in the next thirteen months, and by that time he was well on his way to national recognition, out of Sun's league. As of 31 October 1955 Phillips had sold all recording rights to works by Elvis Presley for thirty-five thousand dollars, five thousand of which he owed Presley in back royalties.

After Elvis

Sun released 182 records in the next twelve years, but as Phillips soon recognized, with the rights to Elvis he sold his corner on a type of music that was too much in demand for a small company like his to compete. He was uninterested in releasing his music on long-playing albums instead of on 45-RPM records because he did not see the potential of the market, and he lacked the capital to promote his records as aggressively as the established companies did. As a result, his stars left for better contracts, and new talent in the field was harder to attract.

Sunset

Sun continued to record rockabilly music, and it continued to be among the most interesting of the independent recording companies, but by the late 1950s Phillips had lost interest in the record business. He could afford to rest on his laurels, and, partly as a result of his 1952 investment in the new Holiday Inn started by his Memphis friend Kemmons Wilson, Phillips did not need the money.