SAM PHILLIPS: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll

This roller-coaster of a book is impossible to put down as the author tells the story of the charismatic entrepreneur Sam Phillips, who became his friend in 1979. Credited with inventing Rock 'n' Roll by launching Elvis's career, in 1952 Sam Phillips pioneered Sun Records in Memphis, a recording company specifically designed to bring forward Black talent. His commitment to all kinds of equality was later consolidated when he founded an all-female radio station. In 1950 Black artists had no place to go to record in the South, and Sam wanted to open up an area of freedom within the artistic community regardless of colour, so in 1952 Sam and Jimmy Connolly established Sun Records in his Memphis Recording Studios, with the help of Sam's wife Becky and her business acumen. For the first time the couple were able to own a house with their young sons Knox and Jerry. Sam recorded the best of Black and white talent, but unusually most of the behind-the-scenes workers were also Black. Jimmy Bragg, the world's champion smoke ring blower, was lead singer of the Prisonaires, inmates of the Tennessee state Penitentiary, and his song "Just walkin' in the rain" was a massive hit for the studio, putting them on the map locally and nationally. Howard Seratt's country gospel music was a new direction for Sam, who at the same time had not forgotten a kid who did a personal recording for his mother in the studio some years previously. He invited the nineteen year old Elvis to a session, which did not go well until Sam unearthed the old blues number "That's All right, Mama" and Elvis's voice really took off. Sales were phenomenal and a legend was born. By the late 50s Johnny Cash was another Memphis sensation. Jerry Lee Lewis was the most naturally talented person Sam had ever worked with, although he was an unstable performer and was ricocheting from marriage to marriage. Jerry went on the road with Chuck Berry, and although Jerry Lee was the undisputed headliner, they came to blows, sometimes literally, over who was going to close the show. A fascinating action-packed narrative. 763pp, discography, photos.