Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton passed away this day in 1984. She may be best known for her huge hit "Hound Dog" that had a massive influence on Elvis Presley...who recorded his own popular version 3 years later. Here's "Big Mama" (with Buddy Guy on guitar) doing that song as only she can....
Sam Phillips sold Sun Records this day in 1969 to Shelby Singleton. He originally opened "Memphis Recording Service" in 1950 as a studio producing mainly blues artists. After growing tired of producing projects for other labels (Howlin' Wolf, Jackie Brenston, B.B. King, etc.), he started his own label, Sun Records, in 1952. Artists on this label included Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Billy Lee Riley, Roy Orbison and many others. The building was mostly empty until the 1985 sessions of the "Class Of '55" which included Lewis, Cash, Perkins and Orbison. In 1987 the studio reopened and became a tourist attraction by day and studio by night. Artists like U2, Bob Dylan, Chris Issac, John Mellencamp and others have recorded here since the reopening. Watch this great tour of the studio brought to you by "Pop Pilgrims" here...
