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3. Johnny London: “Drivin’ Slow”
Two years after the studio opened, Phillips launched his personal label, Sun Records, out of the identical constructing. Though Sun would come to be finest recognized for distributing rock and rockabilly singles, its first launch was this casually cool jazz quantity by the 16-year-old alto saxophone participant Johnny London.
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4. Elvis Presley: “That’s All Right”
An 18-year-old Elvis Presley first confirmed up at Sun Studio on July 18, 1953, to file two demos; legend has it that he wished to provide his mom a file of him singing as a birthday current. Phillips quickly realized Presley’s potential, and introduced him in for subsequent classes. This sultry and soulful rendition of Arthur Crudup’s 1946 blues ditty “That’s All Right, Mama” was Presley’s debut single — and an prompt sensation.
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5. Johnny Cash: “I Walk the Line”
In 1954, impressed by Presley’s success, an equipment salesman and aspiring musician named Johnny Cash auditioned for Phillips at Sun Studio. The following yr, Sun Records launched Cash’s debut single, “Cry Cry Cry,” which turned a minor hit. In 1956, although, he had a bona fide smash with this tune, his first No. 1 on the nation charts. Perhaps you’ve heard it earlier than?
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6. Carl Perkins: “Blue Suede Shoes”
In late 1955, Presley departed Sun for a extra profitable contract with RCA Victor — which meant that Phillips’s label may actually use a success. Luckily, the primary Sun single to promote 1,000,000 copies was launched in January 1956: Carl Perkins’s suave, self-penned rockabilly basic “Blue Suede Shoes.” Presley’s personal model would change into a good greater and extra indelible hit, however in deference to his former label and his buddy Perkins, he delayed its launch till that August so it could not compete with Perkins’s model on the charts.
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7. Jerry Lee Lewis: “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”
After signing with the label in late 1956, Jerry Lee Lewis rapidly turned each a prolific session pianist on the studio — he performed on Perkins’s hit “Matchbox,” amongst many different singles — and a fledgling Sun solo artist. His breakout hit was this fiery 1957 rockabilly quantity, a rework of a tune first recorded two years prior by Big Maybelle. Another unforgettable Sun single by Lewis, “Great Balls of Fire,” was launched later in 1957.
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8. Roy Orbison that includes the Teen Kings: “Ooby Dooby”
Roy Orbison is yet one more musical icon who made a few of his earliest recordings at Sun, even when his profession didn’t fairly take off till he signed to Monument Records in 1959. Recorded together with his backing band the Teen Kings in 1956, the sunshine, jumpy “Ooby Dooby” finds a younger Orbison emulating Presley, a couple of years earlier than perfecting his signature model of brooding, dreamy balladeering.
