When Sam Phillips died last Wednesday newspapers around the country filled up with stories about all the great talent he discovered. There's Johnny Cash, and Howlin' Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Charlie Rich. But the story all the papers tell is the one about how Sam Phillips discovered Elvis.
In the summer of 1953, Elvis walked into Sam Phillips' tiny Sun Records studios on Union Avenue in Memphis. At the time, Sun had a deal where anyone could make a record if they could come up with the princely sum of $3.98 plus tax.
Elvis said that he was there to make a record to give to his mother, Gladys, for her birthday. That was probably a fib, since Gladys' birthday wouldn't be for six more months, but Elvis, who was just about as shy as a boy could be, probably figured the record would work as a demo to get Sam Phillips to sign him.
Phillips didn't see Elvis that day. He didn't hear the record with its two ballads. But his assistant, Marion Keisker, was impressed with the polite young man who made the record for his mother. She finally talked Sam into listening to him.
When Phillips met Elvis he could tell immediately that this was a charismatic and charming young man. He also knew that there was something special about the way Elvis sang, but wasn't exactly sure what it was or what to do with it.
Phillips saw Elvis as a ballad singer. Elvis saw Elvis as a ballad singer. Phillips put him together with a band and, on July 5, 1954, he scheduled a recording session to try to get some of those ballads on record.
The session didn't go well. The studio was hot. Everybody was frustrated. During a break, maybe to let off steam, Elvis started in on an up-tempo blues tune called "That's All Right, Mama." The bassman, Bill Black, and guitar player Scotty Moore picked it up.
Phillips had been listening from the control room. He stuck his head out into the studio and asked, "What the devil are you doing?" "We don't know," Moore replied. "Well," said Phillips, "find out real quick and don't lose it."
They didn't lose it. By the time they were done, they'd recorded a single with "That's All Right, Mama" on one side and "Blue Moon of Kentucky" on the other. It was different and it would be a hit and the beginning of Elvis' career.
With Elvis' success things got a lot busier for Phillips and for Sun Records. Phillips' time was filled up the work of recording and promoting his new star. That didn't leave a lot of time for other things or other artists.
At the same time other artists saw Elvis' success and wondered if Sam could do for them what he'd done for Elvis. But they had to work real hard just to get Phillips' attention. Johnny Cash just kept calling until Phillips relented and let him in the studio. Carl Perkins and his brothers piled into the car and drove to Memphis where they parked right in front of Sun and waited for Phillips to show up.
Phillips wasn't just good at spotting talent. He found ways to push them and prod them and challenge them until he found that one thing that made them special. After listening to Carl Perkins and his brothers for a while, Phillips finally heard something in a song that Perkins had written. Phillips told Perkins, "Go on home and write me a few more like that one." Perkins wrote about fifteen songs by the time his car made it back to Jackson.
As good as Phillips was at spotting those special gifts, he wasn't that good at helping the artists who had them develop their careers. Phillips produced five singles for Elvis before selling his contract to RCA for a whopping $35,000. That was a pretty good sum by the standards of 1955, but nothing close to what the right to produce Elvis' records was worth.
That turned out to be the pattern. Phillips would sign an artist and, somehow, with patience and insight, bring out whatever it was that made the artist unique. They'd do a few records. Soon the artist would need more promotion and support than Phillips and Sun Records could provide. So Phillips would sell their contract to a big record company.
That wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The artist would end up with better support and career opportunities than they could ever have had at Sun. The big record company got an artist whose special style had already been defined. Phillips got money and satisfaction.
He did OK with the money, investing it in all kinds of ventures. One of them was Holiday Inn which was starting up in Memphis about that time. That investment alone was probably enough to secure Phillips' future.
The satisfaction came from doing new and different and important things. The artists that Phillips signed changed country music and the blues. Some, especially Elvis, became part of the engine that drove the new music of rock and roll.
By the 1960s, rock and roll was a powerful social force. It attracted all kinds of young artists and producers. They were inspired by the artists that Sam signed but like them and like Sam himself they wanted to strike out in new directions.
Up in Detroit a young man named Berry Gordy, Jr. had set up a storefront recording studio called Hitsville, USA. His record label was Motown and it showcased an incredible list of incredible artists including Marvin Gaye, The Jackson Five, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Martha and the Vandellas, The Temptations and Stevie Wonder.
In England four mop-haired fellows were capturing the attention of the world. In public appearances and 214 recordings in the period from 1962 to 1970, the Beatles not only changed rock music they also gave us a new word: Beatlemania.
By 1969, Sam Phillips figured it was time to move on. He sold Sun Records to Shelby Singleton. The studio is now a tourist attraction.
As for Sam Phillips, he stayed busy doing things he loved to do. He operated several radio stations. He kept doing new things because, as he said, "If you're not doing something different, you're not doing anything."
He wasn't in the limelight much, but that was OK. He'd had his moment, those few years when he discovered some of the finest talent the music world has ever seen and when he and they helped change the face of music forever. And if he never made a ton of money from that, well, that was OK, too. There was satisfaction.
Some of that satisfaction came from a rock-solid assurance that he had done something important and unique. Years later a student at a symposium entitled "Is Elvis History?" asked him if the Elvis phenomenon could have happened with any other producer.
Phillips spent a couple of minutes talking about the times and how Elvis really wanted to be a quartet singer. Phillips gave credit to God. Then he came out with a one word answer that was in his heart, "No." As far as he was concerned, if he hadn't been there, there would have been no Elvis.
Phillips didn't have to depend on his own ego. There was also the recognition and awards that others gave him. It is a great honor to be elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Blues Hall of Fame. But only one person was elected to all three. That was Sam Phillips.
