Sam Phillips the first investors in Holiday Inn, a motel chain that was about to expand to a nationwide franchise; he became involved with the chain shortly after selling Elvis Presley's contract to RCA, for $35,000, which he multiplied many times over the years with Holiday Inn. He also created two subsidiary recording labels, Phillips International Records and Holiday Inn Records. He owned the Sun Studio Café in Memphis. One location was in the Mall of Memphis. 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
Harry Smith Recording Harry Smith Recording Harry Smith Recording was the first independent recording studio on the east coast of the United States, founded in the 1930s by Harry Smith, a former recording engineer for Brunswick Records. The studio was located at 2 West 46th Street in New York City, and was taken over in 1944 by Fred Hall and Chuck Phillips. Frank Sinatra made his first recording at Harry Smith Recording, an unreleased version of the song, "Our Love". The studio ran a recording service for radio personalities, radio stations, and radio performers who wanted to record their live radio performances. This