Sam Phillips

Birth Name:

Samuel Cornelius Phillips

Birth Date:

January 5, 1923

Birth Place:

Florence, Alabama

Death Date:

July 30, 2003

Place of Death:

St. Francis Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee

Age:

Cause of Death:

Respiratory failure

Cemetery Name:

Memorial Park Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Music

Associates:

Elvis Presley

Sam Phillips was one of the true musical pioneers of the 20th century. A man who redefined the cultural landscape by producing and engineering local talent in his modest studio and distributing the results on his own Sun Records label. And while he may have only had moderate results with such discoveries as Johnny Cash, Howlin' Wolf, BB King and Roy Orbison, he became a legend recording and producing Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and, of course, Elvis Presley. In the end, Sam was one of the main people responsible for breaking down the barriers between white and black music, melding country with blues, and creating the genre that we now refer to as rock & roll.