JFK+50: Volume 7, No. 2149
SUN RECORDS HOSTS THE MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET
Memphis, Tennessee (JFK+50) Sixty years ago today, December 4, 1956, a gospel jam session was hosted at Sun Records recording studio here in Memphis. The studio, operated by Sam Phillips*, was located at 760 Union Avenue.
The jam session included four of the greatest music stars of all time... Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley. The session was recorded by Sun Records engineer, Jack Clement.*
A photo was made and published the following day in the Memphis Press-Scimitar. The caption with the picture read "Million Dollar Quartet". The original recording tape made by Clement was not discovered and released until 1981.
*Samuel Cornelius Phillips (1923-2003), a native of Florence, Alabama, graduated from Coffee High School & worked as a DJ in Muscle Shoals. He opened the Memphis Recording Service on Jan 3, 1950 & cut records on the Sun label. His company signed Elvis Presley & recorded the entertainer's first songs: 'That's all right Mama,' & 'Blue Moon of Kentucky'.
SOURCE
"Sam Phillips, Biography," Sun Record Company, Where Rock & Roll Was Born, www.sunrecords.com/
SUN RECORDS HOSTS THE MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET
Memphis, Tennessee (JFK+50) Sixty years ago today, December 4, 1956, a gospel jam session was hosted at Sun Records recording studio here in Memphis. The studio, operated by Sam Phillips*, was located at 760 Union Avenue.
The jam session included four of the greatest music stars of all time... Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley. The session was recorded by Sun Records engineer, Jack Clement.*
A photo was made and published the following day in the Memphis Press-Scimitar. The caption with the picture read "Million Dollar Quartet". The original recording tape made by Clement was not discovered and released until 1981.
*Samuel Cornelius Phillips (1923-2003), a native of Florence, Alabama, graduated from Coffee High School & worked as a DJ in Muscle Shoals. He opened the Memphis Recording Service on Jan 3, 1950 & cut records on the Sun label. His company signed Elvis Presley & recorded the entertainer's first songs: 'That's all right Mama,' & 'Blue Moon of Kentucky'.
SOURCE
"Sam Phillips, Biography," Sun Record Company, Where Rock & Roll Was Born, www.sunrecords.com/
Sun Recording Studio
Memphis, Tennessee
Photo by David Jones (2006)
