This was Elvis's first album, and also his first for RCA Records, as he had never released an LP with his previous label, Sun Records. However, five of the songs included on this debut album belong to the Memphis-based label.
Recorded during the first months of 1956 at Sun Records studios in Memphis and RCA studios in Nashville and New York.
For this recording, the lineup of musicians accompanying Elvis included guitarist Scotty Moore, drummer D.J. Fontana, bassist Bill Black, pianists Floyd Cramer, Marvin Hughes, and Shorty Long, backing vocalists Ben Speer, Brock Speer, and Gordon Stoker, guitarist Chet Atkins, and Sam Phillips was the producer.
This album is fundamental in establishing rock and roll as a future foundation of 20th-century music, and it also cemented Elvis's legendary status with his famous slogan; That white man who sang like a black man.
The album is a perfect balance of music between the two styles, the technique of white musicians and the spirit of black musicians, forging an eclectic mix of styles such as rock and roll, rockabilly, rhythm and blues, gospel, and country, resulting in a collection of now-legendary songs: “Blue Suede Shoes”, “Tutti Frutti”, “Blue Moon”, “Money Honey”, “Just Because”, “I Got a Woman”, and “Tryin’ to Get In You”.
From this point on, the already meteoric career of the young Elvis Presley would make him the undisputed king of rock for the next two decades.
