Jul
12
12
This Day in Music: Elvis signs to Sun Records, 1954
After a seemingly constant struggle to have his voice taken seriously, Elvis finally struck gold on July 12th, 1954, when he was able to hand in his notice to The Crown Electric Company. At the age of 19 there had been someone who was willing to listen to the diversity of Elvis’ voice until they heard something that they knew would break down the barrier between white and black musical styles.
A few months prior to his discovery, Elvis had been heard by Sam Phillips, manager of Sun Records, after asking to use their studio for a personal recording. Paying for a short use of time, Elvis claimed that he was solely intrigued by what he sounded like on vinyl and wanted to record something for his mother, consisting of the songs “My Happiness” and “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin.” However, underlying tones throughout biographies suggest that it was obvious to Presley he had something and wanted others to know about it. By using local studios he was desperately seeking someone to take him on. Phillips requested that his receptionist take down Elvis’ information, although nothing came from his initial recording session.
After trying other routes into the music industry, including auditions for a vocal quartet and local bands, his determination was somewhat surprising due to multiple authoritative members of the groups telling him he had no chance. However, Phillips strongly disagreed and as soon as he heard a demo of “Without You, ” he was willing to give the teenager a shot.
Recording alongside guitarist Winfield Moore and bassist Bill Black, Elvis sang all throughout the unsuccessful evening of July 5th. As the final hour of the session approached, Elvis reached for a guitar and strummed the blues hit “That’s All Right.” As Moore stated, “All of a sudden, Elvis just started singing this song, jumping around and acting the fool, and then Bill picked up his bass, and he started acting the fool, too, and I started playing with them. Sam, I think, had the door to the control booth open … he stuck his head out and said, ‘What are you doing?’ And we said, ‘We don’t know.’ ‘Well, back up,’ he said, ‘try to find a place to start, and do it again.’”
The song was a hit, playing continuously on local radio stations and prompting their first live gig less than two weeks later.