Sun King: The Life and Times of Sam Phillips, the Man Behind Sun Records

by Kevin Crouch, Tanja Crouch

Music producer Sam Phillips and his landmark studio, Sun Records, hold a unique place in the history of rock 'n' roll. By many accounts, before Phillips recorded "Rocket 88" by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats in 1951, rock 'n' roll as we know it didn't even exist. Phillips is simultaneously hailed as the man who discovered Elvis Presley and derided as the man who sold the same artist to RCA for a paltry $35,000. The list of musical legends that passed through the doors of Sun Records is simply astounding, including BB King, Ike Turner, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Stripping away the glossy veneer of legend around the Phillips story—which, like his signature sound, was much the result of his own careful crafting—this story reveals a man who, from a very young age, heard a musical sound that no one else heard.

Genres: Music

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 2008

About the author

"I grew up in a beautiful Northern California village that was entirely too small for my big imagination. Nearly every free hour was spent at the local library, reading about distant places I could only dream of visiting, and people whose lives were far more interesting than my own. At night, I would fall asleep imagining myself occupying the lives of the people that I came to know on paper.

Eventually, I escaped and was able to see some of the world that I had read about and have adventures of my own. As I continued to read, I became fascinated by the coincidences of history that cut across time: how people and places and dates intersect in unexpected ways, although sometimes separated by thousands of years. Along the way, I acquired a wife and best friend, a degree in fashion design, and a son, in that order.

More years passed. Careers came and went; some glamorous and some not. Over time, I found that the thing I most enjoyed doing was helping others to discover and develop their own talents. Thus, about ten years ago, I became a professor of fashion at a design college on the outer fringes of Nashville, Tennessee. I love the work, I love the creativity, and I love the freedom to dream."
(From Amazon.)

Reviews

[an infinite number of monkeys · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't really a biography of Sam Phillips. Ten pages cover his life before Sun Records, thirteen after. Between those snippets is the tale of Sun Records and the artists who were recorded there. That story is familiar and reported better elsewhere. This book contains little about the life and nothing of the times of Sam Phillips.

[Tanja Crouch · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have ever been curious about Sun Records, the label that first signed Elvis, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and others at the forefront of Rock 'n' Roll, you will enjoy this book. It is the first book to tell the story of Sun and the man behind the Memphis label, Sam Phillips. Well written and very insightful. The authors knew Roy Orbison, met Sam Phillips, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash, so there is credibility to their writing. The stories are funny and fascinating.