Sam Phillips Fame, and in 2012 he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Memphis Music Hall of Fame. Phillips died of respiratory failure at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, on July 30, 2003, only one day before the original Sun Studio was designated a National Historic Landmark, and just over a month before the death of former Sun Records recording star Johnny Cash, on September 12, 2003. Phillips is interred in the Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis. Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer who played an important role in
Sam Phillips But I said to myself, 'You can't do that, Sam.' If I had released a ballad I don't think you would have heard of Elvis Presley." Much has been written about Phillips's goals, but he stated that "everyone knew that I was just a struggling cat down here trying to develop new and different artists, and get some freedom in music, and tap some resources and people that weren't being tapped." He didn't care about mistakes; he cared about the feel. Phillips met Presley through the mediation of his longtime collaborator at the Memphis Recording Service, Marion Keisker, who was