When Sam Phillips and Elvis Presley paired their talents in the summer of 1954 in Phillips’ small studio in Memphis, Tennessee, the ultimate effect on popular music and society was a cosmic event equivalent to a comet and large asteroid colliding in outer space.

The Sun Records sound was a fusion of rock & roll and country music (or hillbilly, as it was called in the 50’s) that was labeled rockabilly.  The Sun sound was exemplified by early Sun recordings made by Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison.  Sun influenced many major rock and roll artists such as the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.  When Beatle John Lennon was introduced to a noted music business executive from Tennessee at an awards event, his first words were “Do you know Sam Phillips?”