YEAR
1986
INDUCTED BY
Ahmet Ertegun
CATEGORY
Ahmet Ertegun Award
One of the most important figures in the history of rock.
Sam Phillips discovered Elvis Presley, pioneered rockabilly and founded Sun Records, where he quietly went about the business of building and recording the rock and roll canon.
Sam Phillips
HALL OF FAME
ESSAY
By Michael Hill
The sound of Sun Records was the epitome of rock and roll’s origins.
Owner Sam Phillips not only recorded the varied streams of ethnic music throughout the South, from blues to country, but was convinced he could bring them together in one irresistible pop package. It was at his Memphis Recording Service that he first succeeded in finding a white gospelized singer with “the Negro sound and the Negro feel” — Elvis Presley.
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