Their partnership is legendary, but when exactly Presley and Phillips first met is the subject of some dispute. He was shy but passionate about singing.Īs the story goes, he summoned the courage to go to Sun Records and make his own recording - covering the ballads "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin" - as a birthday gift for his mother. In 1953, Presley was 18 years old and making $1.25 an hour as a truck driver. So he also recorded events like weddings and funerals, and let customers make their own records for a fee of $1.99.ĪFP via Getty Images A sign details Elvis Presley's history with Sun Studio outside the site in Memphis, Tenn.Ī brief partnership with a lasting legacy Phillips recorded what some music historians consider the first rock and roll song, and Sun Studio went on to make more rock and roll music than any other label at the time - 226 singles during its 16-year run, according to Graceland.īut in its early days the business also had to "do a number of different things in order to keep the wolf away from the door, so to speak," as Phillips later put it. King and Howlin' Wolf made their early recordings at Phillips' studio. "So, I just felt that knowing that these people, just based on hardships and things that I had been through as a child coming through the 1930s Depression, and I knew my life wasn't nearly as bad as theirs, and these people had something to say, something real, and I kind of liked that."īlues legends like B.B. "People at that time, and no disrespect for any human being on this Earth, but people didn't look upon this as real artistry," Phillips told Morning Edition. It began as a rhythm and blues label, giving Black musicians a place to record without having to travel north to Chicago. In 1950, Phillips opened the Memphis Recording Service, which would also serve as the studios for Sun Records when it was founded two years later. He had worked as a DJ and engineer for a local Alabama radio station that played music from both Black and white musicians.Īnd he saved enough money to move to Tennessee and get into the recording business - where he would go on to shape the future of rock and roll. Phillips grew up in Florence, Ala., and moved to Memphis by way of Nashville in 1945. Sun Records began as a blues label (mostly) AP Sun Records memorabilia sits on display at Sun Studio in Memphis, Tenn., in 2005.
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