Sam Phillips was a white man who genuinely love black music and in 1950 he opened the Memphis Recording Studio. There blues legends B.B. King, Howling' Wolf and Elmore James made some of their first recordings. After first leasing  recordings to other labels Phillips  began his own label Sun Records in 1952. Phillips often said "If I could only find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a million dollars".

July 5, 1954 was a warm summer night in Memphis, Tennessee.  Scotty Moore and Bill Black were recording that night at the Sun Records. According to Scotty Moore "we were taking a break, I don't know, we were having Cokes and coffee, and all of a sudden Elvis was singing a song, jumping around and acting the fool, and then Bill picked up the bass and he began acting the fool, too, and you know, I started playing with them. Sam had the door to the control room open- I don't know, he was either editing some tape or doing something -  and 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'"

Rockabilly was invented that night in Memphis. It's rough southern edges were an exciting contrast to the group oriented rhythm and blues produced in the Northern cities.  Fading from the scene by the late nineteen fifties, Rockabilly for many remained the "purest" form of rock and roll. Though it only last a few brief years it provided a crucial sound, image  and rebellious spirit for rock's initial wave.