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Sam Phillips

SAM PHILLIPS

Sam Phillips opened his Memphis Recording Service in 1950, but when he started Sun Records in 1952, a new era in American music began. Elvis Presley may be the best known, but he recorded many of the legends of country, blues, and rockabilly including Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Charlie Rich, B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Rufus Thomas, Little Milton and James Cotton in his studio. The rich history of Sun Records is the subject of Colin Escott and Martin Hawkins' Good Rockin' Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock 'N' Roll (St. Martin's Press,1991). Sam Phillips was featured in a segment of A&E's Biography series in 2000 which is available on video.

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