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In the Spring of 1952, Sam Phillips took the bold step of launching his own record label. He’d been in business as an independent producer for a couple of years, and he’d recorded the biggest R&B hit of 1951, Jackie Brenston’s Rocket 88, so he knew he had ears and he knew he was in the right place. But could he make Sun succeed when the casualty rate among independent labels was already very high? At first, the answer seemed to be “No.” There were one or two Sun releases, and then the label was folded for almost a year. But slowly the hits began coming… the recently-deceased Rufus Thomas, the Prisonaires, then Junior Parker, and then of course Elvis Presley. The floodgates opened, and in came Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Conway Twitty, Carl Mann, Billy Riley, Warren Smith, and many others. The music they made literally changed the world.

The Million Dollar Quartet is the name given to recordings made on Tuesday December 4, 1956 in the Sun Record Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. The recordings were of an impromptu jam session between Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash. The jam session seems to have happened by pure chance. Perkins, who by this time had already met success with “Blue Suede Shoes,” had come into the studios that day, accompanied by his brothers Clayton and Jay and by drummer W.S. Holland, their aim being to cut some new material, including a revamped version of an old blues song, “Matchbox.” Sam Phillips, the owner of Sun Records, who wished to try to fatten this sparse rockabilly instrumentation, had brought in his latest acquisition, singer and piano man extraordinaire, Jerry Lee Lewis, still unknown outside Memphis, to play the piano on the Perkins session.

JASON GELT recently listed his “Top Ten Old Time Memphis Records” in the LOS ANGELES EXAMINER:

* This is an old article that we just happened across and thought we’d share. It’s not 100% accurate, but it’s pretty  close…

Knox Phillips, the son of Sun Records founder Sam Phillips, will receive the 2008 Distinguished Achievement Award in the Creative and Performing Arts from the University of Memphis College of Communications and Fine Arts at a luncheon later this month.

Elvis Week 2008 Kicks Off With Fast Feet, Fast Balls & Fireworks
Another exciting Elvis Week has arrived and two action packed events helped jumpstart the excitement.

NEW YORK – Elvis Presley’s favorite performance costume, the peacock jumpsuit, has sold for $300,000, making it the most expensive piece of Elvis memorabilia sold at auction.

In less than 2 weeks, a five year anniversary will dawn upon us. On July 30, 2003 the man hailed as the Father of Rock n’ Roll passed away. Sam Phillips was 80 years old.

JOHNNY CASH REMIXED SET FOR OCTOBER 14 RELEASE
ON COMPADRE RECORDS

Last man standing? Anyone following the career of Jerry Lee Lewis, the great wild man of early rock-and-roll, the guy who out-partied, out-fought and out-gunned (literally) such contemporaries as Elvis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison, wouldn’t have put money on it.