In the beginning there was Sam Phillips. And he was Sun Records. Born in Alabama, Sam picked cotton alongside black labourers. He loved their music. In time, he became DJ working for a local radio station. It was in January,1950, that he launched the Memphis Recording Service and in 1952 began making a series of legendary records that would define the world of rock'n'roll. The Sun Records label immediately revealed Phillips' debt: "The blues - it got peopleblack and white - to think about life, how difficult, yet also how good it can be, they would sing about it. They would cry about it. They would preach about it. This is how they relieved the burden of what existed day in and day out." Sun blues releases were different, generally more jukebox-bound than down-on-the levee, they helped change the face of popular music.
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