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3. Johnny London: “Drivin’ Sluggish”
Two years after the studio opened, Phillips launched his personal label, Solar Data, out of the identical constructing. Although Solar would come to be greatest recognized for distributing rock and rockabilly singles, its first launch was this casually cool jazz quantity by the 16-year-old alto saxophone participant Johnny London.
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4. Elvis Presley: “That’s All Proper”
An 18-year-old Elvis Presley first confirmed up at Solar Studio on July 18, 1953, to document two demos; legend has it that he needed to provide his mom a document of him singing as a birthday current. Phillips quickly realized Presley’s potential, and introduced him in for subsequent classes. This sultry and soulful rendition of Arthur Crudup’s 1946 blues ditty “That’s All Proper, Mama” was Presley’s debut single — and an on the spot sensation.
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5. Johnny Money: “I Stroll the Line”
In 1954, impressed by Presley’s success, an equipment salesman and aspiring musician named Johnny Money auditioned for Phillips at Solar Studio. The next yr, Solar Data launched Money’s debut single, “Cry Cry Cry,” which grew to become a minor hit. In 1956, although, he had a bona fide smash with this tune, his first No. 1 on the nation charts. Maybe you’ve heard it earlier than?
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6. Carl Perkins: “Blue Suede Sneakers”
In late 1955, Presley departed Solar for a extra profitable contract with RCA Victor — which meant that Phillips’s label might actually use successful. Fortunately, the primary Solar single to promote 1,000,000 copies was launched in January 1956: Carl Perkins’s suave, self-penned rockabilly basic “Blue Suede Sneakers.” Presley’s personal model would turn out to be a good greater and extra indelible hit, however in deference to his former label and his pal Perkins, he delayed its launch till that August so it could not compete with Perkins’s model on the charts.
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7. Jerry Lee Lewis: “Entire Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”
After signing with the label in late 1956, Jerry Lee Lewis rapidly grew to become each a prolific session pianist on the studio — he performed on Perkins’s hit “Matchbox,” amongst many different singles — and a fledgling Solar solo artist. His breakout hit was this fiery 1957 rockabilly quantity, a rework of a music first recorded two years prior by Huge Maybelle. One other unforgettable Solar single by Lewis, “Nice Balls of Fireplace,” was launched later in 1957.
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8. Roy Orbison that includes the Teen Kings: “Ooby Dooby”
Roy Orbison is one more musical icon who made a few of his earliest recordings at Solar, even when his profession didn’t fairly take off till he signed to Monument Data in 1959. Recorded along with his backing band the Teen Kings in 1956, the sunshine, jumpy “Ooby Dooby” finds a younger Orbison emulating Presley, a couple of years earlier than perfecting his signature model of brooding, dreamy balladeering.
