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Rock 'n' roll pioneer Sam Phillips dead
Memphis, Tennessee-AP -- Sam Phillips, who discovered Elvis Presley and helped usher in the rock-and-roll revolution, has died at a Memphis, Tennessee, hospital. He was 80.
No details were immediately available about the cause of death or how long he'd been hospitalized.
Phillips founded Sun Records in Memphis in 1952 and helped launch the career of Presley, then a young singer who had moved from Tupelo, Mississippi.
He produced Presley's first record, the 1954 single that featured "That's All Right, Mama" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky."
Phillips began in music as a radio station engineer and later as a disc jockey. He started Sun Records so he could record both rhythm-and-blues singers and country performers, then called country and western or hillbilly singers.
Phillips was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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