The “Million Dollar Quartet” makes rock-and-roll history - This Day in History – Dec 4th

Back in 1956, the recording session of Sun Studios in Memphis, TN created a impromptu one-and-only rock and roll jam session by four legendary musicians who were called, “The Million Dollar Quartet: Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. 

According to history.com, “Among those stars was Carl Perkins, the rockabilly legend who was in the studio on December 4, 1956, to record a follow-up to his smash hit from earlier that year: "Blue Suede Shoes." Hanging out in the booth was Perkins' good friend Johnny Cash, already a star in his own right after his breakthrough hits, "Folsom Prison Blues" (1955) and "I Walk The Line" (1956). And playing piano for a $15 session fee was the brash, wild, but not-yet-famous Jerry Lee Lewis, whose career-making Sun single "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" was set for release just a few weeks later. Four songs into Perkins' session, all work came to an end with the arrival of an unexpected drop-in guest: Elvis Presley himself.”

Recording engineer Jack Clement created the tape of this session, however, it would be 20 years before it was discovered.  The promoter, Sam Phillips made sure that a photo was taken from a Memphis Press-Scimitar photographer that ran a caption, “Million Dollar Quartet.”  The performers gathered around a piano singing a type of music that they had learned while they’d grown up – gospel.

Special Note: A Broadway play has been created to showcase this historic rock-and-roll moment of "The Million Dollar Quartet".  Actor Levis Kreis won a Tony award for his portrayal of rocker Jerry Lee Lewis.

Here is a short bio on each performer:

According to biography.com, “Presley got his first guitar at the age of ten, and had his first taste of musical success by winning a talent show at Humes High School in Memphis. After graduating in 1953, he worked a number of jobs while pursuing his musical dream. He cut his first demo record at what later became known as Sun Studio that year, and before long, Sam Phillips, the record label owner, decided to take the young performer under his wing. "That's All Right" was Presley's first single in 1954. Presley began touring and recording, trying to get his first big break.”

According to biography.com, “In July 1954, another Memphis musician, Elvis Presley, cut his first record, sparking a wave of not only Elvis mania but an interest in the local producer, Sun Records owner Sam Phillips, who had issued the record. Later that same year Cash, Grant, and Perkins made an announced visit to Sun to ask Phillips for an audition. The Sun Records owner gave in and Cash and the boys returned to Sun in late 1954. At the audition Phillips liked their sound but not their gospel driven song choices, which he felt would have a limited market."

According to biography.com, “ Lewis emulated the playing styles of a local preacher and black musicians, whom he surreptitiously observed during their appearances at local clubs, and was soon performing at school assemblies, talent shows, and tent revivals, as well as on the radio. He tried to break into the music business in New Orleans and Shreveport, Louisiana (on radio's Louisiana Hayride), and in Nashville, Tennessee. Drawn by the success of Elvis Presley, he landed at the Sun label in Memphis, Tennessee.”

According to rockabillytennessee.com, "Carl signed a recording contract with Flip Records, a subsidiary of Sun in Memphis, in 1954. His first release was Movie Magg the following year, and it was followed by other songs such as Gone, Gone, Gone, Let The Juke Box Keep On Playing, and Blue Suede Shoes. He wrote "Blue Suede Shoes" after hearing a boy telling his prom date not to step on his blue suede shoes. Perkins went back to his home in a housing project and wrote the song on a brown potato sack.  He recorded the song at Sun in December, 1955, was released on the Sun label and took off nationally. It reached number two on the pop and country charts in 1956.”

All History facts provided from the link below:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/washington-bids-farewell-to-his-officers?catId=9