A record producer, Phillips had a knack for discovering artists who would later become household names, such as Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Charlie Rich and Ike Turner. But there was one other guy he worked with that went even further, an unknown who he prodded until he finally agreed to record one of his songs: Elvis Presley.
Originally, Presley only wanted to record a couple of songs for his mother. It took Phillips a year to convince him to cut a record for the public, starting with “That’s All Right”. “It was like Camelot,” Johnny Cash once said. “For one shining moment in history there was a unique situation, never before and never after. And he was the man who brought it all about.” He was one of the first to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Phillips died in Memphis July 30 from respiratory problems at age 80.