Sun Studios is a legendary recording studio opened by Sam Philips on January 3, 1950. Known initially as Memphis Recording Service, it was in the same building as Sun Records, and would later shorten its name to Sun Studio.

Philips recorded Ike Turner's "Rocket 88" here in 1951. The speaker cone of the amp had been damaged, so they stuffed newspaper in an attempt to repair it. This is probably the first instance of guitar distortion, and arguably the first rock and roll song.

On July 18, 1953, Presley walked into the offices of Sun to "record a song for his mother." The young singer was trying to get discovered for his talent.

On July 5, 1954, Elvis was finally in the studio trying to record some tunes. All the songs were coming out flat and uninteresting. They were nearly finished when Elvis started jumping around doing "That's All Right, Mama." Bill Black, the bass player, started joking around, then guitarist Scotty Moore. The song became a hit.

view full location details...