Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003)[1] was an American disc jockey, songwriter and record producer.

Phillips was the owner and operator of radio stations in Memphis; Florence, Alabama; and Lake Worth Beach, Florida.

[4] The experience of hearing black laborers singing in the fields left a big impression on the young Phillips.

[5] Traveling through Memphis with his family in 1939 on the way to see a preacher in Dallas, he slipped off to look at Beale Street, at the time the heart of the city's music scene.

However, his father was bankrupt by the Great Depression and died in 1941, forcing Phillips to leave high school to look after his mother and aunt.

[citation needed] In 1942, Sam, 19, met Rebecca "Becky" Burns, 17, his future wife, while they were both working at WLAY radio station in Sheffield, Alabama.

According to Phillips, the station's "open format" (of broadcasting music by white and black musicians alike) would later inspire his work in Memphis.

From 1950 to 1954 Phillips recorded music by James Cotton, Rufus Thomas, Rosco Gordon, Little Milton, Bobby Blue Bland, the Prisonaires and others.

[20] Presley, who recorded his version of Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's "That's All Right" at Phillips's studio, became highly successful, first in Memphis, then throughout the southern United States.

He brought the song to Dewey Phillips, a disc jockey at WHBQ 560, to play on his Red, Hot & Blue program.

For the first six months, the flip side, "Blue Moon of Kentucky", Presley's upbeat version of a Bill Monroe bluegrass song, was slightly more popular than "That's All Right (Mama)".

[21] Phillips's pivotal role in the early days of rock and roll was exemplified by a celebrated jam session on December 4, 1956, with what became known as the Million Dollar Quartet.

Jerry Lee Lewis was playing piano for a Carl Perkins recording session at Phillips's studio.

When Elvis Presley walked in unexpectedly, Johnny Cash was called into the studio by Phillips, leading to an impromptu session featuring the four musicians.

Phillips challenged the four to achieve gold record sales, offering a free Cadillac to the first, which Carl Perkins won.

[citation needed] Phillips and his family founded Big River Broadcasting Corporation, which owns and operates several radio stations in the Florence, Alabama area, including WQLT-FM, WSBM, and WXFL.

Phillips died of respiratory failure, aged 80, at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, on July 30, 2003,[1] only one day before the original Sun Studio was designated a National Historic Landmark.