Born on This Day in 1923, the Visionary Producer Who Shaped the Face of Modern Music and Introduced the World to Johnny

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Born on This Day in 1923, the Visionary Producer Who Shaped the Face of Modern Music and Introduced the World to Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and B.B. King

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By

Clayton Edwards

January 5, 2026 10:25 am
On this day (January 5) in 1923, Sam Phillips was born on a farm outside Florence, Alabama. He is best known for founding Sun Records and Sun Studios, where he recorded Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, B.B. King, and other legendary figures. Phillips worked to break down racial barriers in music and, in doing so, helped create rock and roll.

Phillips’ long and storied career began at a hometown radio station. After a while, he relocated to Nashville. Then, he landed in Memphis, where he took a job at WREC at the age of 22. After a few years of engineering the nightly big band broadcast, he got bored. So, in 1950, he opened Memphis Recording Service, a small studio aimed at recording Black artists who had trouble finding studio time.

Phillips knew he was taking major personal and professional risks by working with Black artists. However, the reward outweighed the risks for him. According to the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, he endured constant insults from his co-workers at the radio station. As a result, he walked away from his job at WREC to focus on his studio. “With the belief that I had in this music, in these people, I would have been the biggest damn coward on God’s green earth if I had not,” Phillips said of the decision.

Sam Phillips Starts Sun Records
Soon, Phillips tapped into the Memphis blues scene. According to the Country Music Hall of Fame, he recorded regional blues musicians and sold the masters to major R&B labels, including RPM and Chess Records. Artists he recorded in this period included Howlin’ Wolf, the Bobby “Blue” Band, Little Junior Parker, and Rufus Thomas.

After Howlin’ Wolf moved to Chicago, where he began recording for Chess Records, Phillips opened a new label, Sun Records. With his new label, he would capture and distribute the raw and authentic sounds of country and blues. He would also find a balance between those sounds and help foster the creation of rockabilly.

Legendary Artists Record for Sun Records
In the Summer of 1953, a young man who would later be one of the biggest stars in the world walked into Sun Records. Elvis Presley, an 18-year-old kid from Mississippi, wanted to make a record for his mother. Soon, Sam Phillips would help guide him to stardom.

Presley initially wanted to be a ballad singer. However, while taking a break during a recording session, he began jamming with Scotty Moore and Bill Black. They played a Presley-led version of the old blues tune “That’s All Right Mama,” and it caught Phillips’ ear. Soon, he started recording hits and rising to stardom. In the mid-1950s, Phillips sold Presley’s contract to RCA for $35,000. That money helped him sustain Sun Records and allowed him to record and foster artists he chose.

Presley was far from the only future star to get his start with Sun Records. Johnny Cash, Charlie Rich, and Jerry Lee Lewis released their debut albums through the label. Roy Orbison recorded his sophomore album, At the Rock House, for Sun.

The group of artists who recorded for Sun Records in the late 1950s and early 1960s shaped the face of modern music. They likely would not have had the impact that they did had Sam Phillips not taken risks to create music he believed in.