Sam Phillips and Sun Records stood in relation to this new music as did some other white businessmen/entrepreneurs operating small record labels, who were also instrumental in giving rock `n’ roll a creative and commercial berth. Justly mentioned among such classics is, of course, Elvis Presley’s 1954 “That’s Alright Mama,” a small Southern regional hit that was neither country, blues or R&B, but a definition of a new music then gestating, rock `n’ roll. Besides Presley, Phillips recorded Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and the first recordings of Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash.Ĭlassic recorded on Sun include Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and “Great Balls Of Fire ” Carl Perkins’ “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Honey, Don’t” and “Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby” (introduced to a new generation of rockers by Beatles covers) and the pioneer recordings respectively of Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison, “I Walk The Line” and “Ooby Dooby.” Sun’s roster of recording artists and records reads like a “Who’s Who” and “What’s What” of mid-’50s pop music. The label’s role is immortalized in the Lovin’ Spoonful’s song “Nashville Cats,” where the young Northern white boy is knocked out by country music songs, “and every one of them was a yellow Sun record from Nashville.” Sun 45s, with their distinctive yellow label and mocha-brown rising sun logo, were a mainstay of Southern-based rock `n’ roll, rockabilly and country in the 1950s. Phillips was the founder and head of Sun Records, whose recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee was also declared a National Historical Site on July 31. Philips is best known for discovering and first recording Elvis Presley, but his contributions to the founding and development of rock `n’ roll go far beyond just that. RECORDING PIONEER SAM Phillips died July 31, 2003, at age 80.