Bad News

Sam Phillips, legendary producer and founder of Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee, has left the building. He was 80.

Phillips produced Elvis Presley's first single, "That's All Right, Mama," in 1954. Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and countless others came out of Phillips' Sun Studio over the years.

When you want to talk about people who were absolutely instrumental in the birth and early days of recorded rock and roll, you can start with Sam Phillips.