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| Sun Studios, Memphis |
We only had one day in Memphis, so we didn't have time to do all of the things available. We picked out our top two, which were Sun Studios and Graceland. There are other places that seem well worth a visit if you have the time though. We didn't, for example, make it to The Stax Museum of American Soul Music, to Beale Street, or to the Peabody Hotel to watch the ducks parading through the lobby. Neither did we have time to go to the National Civil Rights Museum, housed in the motel where James Earl Ray assassinated Dr Martin Luther King Jr on 4 April 1968.
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| Sun Studios, Memphis |
Sun Studios calls itself the birthplace of Rock'n'Roll, and it has good reason to. This is where a multitude of famous names started out on their careers with the help of studio owner Sam Phillips. The most famous is probably Elvis Presley, but add in the likes of Johnny Cash, Howlin' Wolf, Ike Turner, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty and Roy Orbison, and you have a real roll call of musical legends - even if you hadn't already heard of all of them.
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| Sun Studios, Memphis |
They started out in January 1950 as the Memphis Recording Service, sending the recordings to other labels for release. 'Rocket 88' by Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats, was recorded here on 5 March 1951 , with Ike Turner on keyboards; it is generally considered to be the first Rock'n'Roll single.
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| Sun Studios, Memphis |
And when some records weren't accepted by other labels, Sam started up the Sun Records label and released them himself. The first release was 'Driving' Slow' by Johnny London in April 1952.
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| Sun Studios, Memphis |
The studios are only small, but are packed with music history and offer a great little tour despite still being a working studio. Upstairs they have a good display of memorabilia, including Elvis Presley's contract.
The story goes that Elvis walked into Sun Studios to record a song for his mother's birthday, but as it was some time after her birthday, really he was just hoping to get noticed and signed up. He recorded two tracks 'My Happiness' and 'That's When Your Heartaches Begin'.
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| Sun Studios, Memphis |
Sam Phillips wasn't in that day in the summer of 1953 but his assistant Marion Keisker thought he had something, and persuaded him to see Elvis. Sam liked him enough to team him up with a band and try them out. They did an evening session on 5 July 1954 but Sam was unimpressed until the very end, when Elvis broke into what was to become his own style with 'That's All Right, Mama'.
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| Sun Studios, Memphis |
That song, with another called 'Blue Kentucky' on the B side, became his first single, released on 19 July 1954. A few years later, knowing his little label was too small to handle the success he expected Elvis to have, Sam Phillips sold Elvis' contract on to RCA Records for the then unheard of sum of $35,000, and the rest is history.
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| Sun Studios, Memphis |
But Elvis still popped into Sun Studios from time to time and on 4 December 1956 he arrived during a session where Carl Perkins was recording with Jerry Lee Lewis on the piano. Johnny Cash turned up too, and the four of them started chatting, playing and singing.
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| Sun Studios, Memphis |
The press got wind of it and took their photo, calling them the Million Dollar Quartet, because that was about what their total contracts were worth at the time. Sam Phillips recorded this impromptu session, and years later it was released.
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| Sun Studios, Memphis |
Sam Phillips moved to bigger premises in 1960, and sold the Sun Records label in 1969, so the premises here dropped out of use. But after Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison recorded a 'Class of 55' session in 1985, the premises were reopened as recording studios in 1987 by Gary Hardy. They have since been used by the likes of Ringo Star, Def Leppard and U2.
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| Sun Studios, Memphis |
The tour finishes in that same small studio that all those famous names have recorded in, and you can pose with the microphone that Elvis used to start his career.
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| Sun Studios, Memphis |
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