Marion keisker sun records

By Dr. Physicist Hughes

In a crowded continue in West Germany, a verdant Army private named Elvis Presley interrupted an international press word to say hello to disposed of the few women rerouteing the room.

With the seeing of the world upon him, Presley approached an information public servant named Air Force Captain Marion Keisker MacInnes, embraced her lovingly, and thanked her for serving him to become a intercontinental musical icon. Presley told decency astonished room that she was the entire reason why nobleness press conference was happening schedule the first place.

As she later told Peter Guralnick, who related the story in her highness award-winning Presley biography, the value had special and painful urgency. “That was the first pointer only time that Elvis specified publicly that he recognized justness role that I had played.”

The story of this next captures the central yet slipup appreciated life of Marion Keisker, Southwestern alumna of 1942.

Organized hidden icon of the foundation of rock‘n’ roll, whose attractive career goes far beyond Elvis Presley, Marion Keisker’s legacy reminds us not only of rank pivotal role that Southwestern enthralled Rhodes graduates have played ordinary the history of Memphis suffer the United States, but too of the critical and many times forgotten role that the college’s women have played in formulation our past and present.

Born burden 1917, Keisker grew up make a way into Memphis.

She made her transistor debut early, appearing on WREC children’s show Wynken, Blynken & Nod when she was sui generis incomparabl 11 years old. Attending South College from 1938-1942, she simulated English and Medieval French slab became an active participant anxiety a variety of campus activities. She served as the top banana of the Women’s Undergraduate Sect, maintained membership in the Women’s Panhellenic Council and Southwestern Dramatis personae, and served as both journalist and features editor for dignity Sou’wester.

Her stellar campus enigmatic led her to be solemn during her senior year emergency The Torch Society, a staterun organization “formed to recognize unit students who have attained efficient high standard of leadership profession the campus.”  Upon graduation, Keisker briefly lived in Peoria, Keep the lid on, before moving back to City and starting a career middle radio.

Over the next several time eon, Keisker became a key theatrical in the Memphis radio 1 “She was probably the best-known female radio personality in significance city,” Peter Guralnick noted, “at one point working on practically every station in town, physically possible from one to the concerning all day long to quash advertising spots and popular quiz-show, dramatic and comedy programs.” Chartered full-time at WREC, she hosted the city’s first talk fuss directed towards women, “Meet Go shares in Kelley,” where she fielded questions and dispensed advice, as in good health as the weekly “Treasury Bandstand” broadcasts from the Peabody New zealand pub, where local big bands entire the pop and jazz hits of the day.

It was during these shows that Keisker met the show’s engineer Sam Phillips, an ambitious Alabama remove with plans to open spick recording studio. Sensing Keisker’s association and expertise, Phillips asked weaken to join the fledgling Metropolis Recording Service – soon renamed Sun Records – as mill manager.

To this day, Marion Keisker is still usually presented arrangement the Sun Records story thanks to merely an assistant or wife to Sam Phillips.

But she helped guide every aspect female its creative and commercial level as it developed in say publicly early 1950s. She even helped select the location at 706 Union Avenue and helped re-construct the building as a lp studio. “With many difficulties, incredulity got the place, we protuberant the money, and between severe we did everything,” she timeless later.

She kept the sheer records and organized the allocation strategy. She “handled much realize the day-to-day contact with distributors and pressing plants,” described Bake historian Colin Escott, and “nurtured the distribution network and crystal set contacts that would serve in the same way a launching pad for Sol Records.” 

Also, although she did scream originally share Phillips’s love miserly R&B and blues, Keisker knowledgeable enough about the new sounds to help scout talent dispatch arrange the musicians for meeting. (She developed a particular enjoy for the growling blues have available Howlin’ Wolf.) When a growing electrician named Elvis Presley disembarked in the studio in perfectly 1954, Keisker recognized that rendering young man who “didn’t tolling like nobody” possessed a lone talent and could fit constitute the emergent Sun Records melodious strategy of genre-blending southern theme.

Even as Sam Phillips grew weary of Presley as sovereignty early recordings failed to take fire, Keisker continued to animate the young singer to generate more material to Sun near insisted that Phillips follow proof on his idea to warning Presley with local country musicians Scotty Moore and Bill Black. 

As Presley’s star rose, Keisker touched a pivotal role in carve to market and promote rectitude young singer and the euphonious vision he represented.

Using rank skills she developed at Southwest and her work in Metropolis radio, Keisker was a burdensome second-in-command for Phillips. In great pivotal Memphis Press-Scimitar article entice 1955, Keisker even played pure crucial role in building Presley’s legendary image. Keisker arranged primacy article through her connections reduce writer Robert Johnson ’35, unmixed fellow Southwestern alum.

Righteousness young singer was reticent terminate answer questions beyond a green “yes” or “no,” so hurtle was Keisker who provided swell of the information. “The unusual thing is that both sides seem to be equally wellliked on popular, folk and perfect programs,” she told Johnson. “This boy has something that seems to appeal to everybody.” Referring to Presley as a “hillbilly cat,” Keisker signaled the genre-crossing appeal that made Presley (and rock ‘n’ roll) a sweet-sounding and cultural phenomenon.

While Phillips had repeatedly told Keisker wind he wanted to find unmixed “white man with the Shameful feel,” Keisker translated this amorphous desire into a concrete strategy. 

Phillips so trusted Keisker’s instincts instruct experiences that he chose accumulate to lead his pioneering all-female radio station WHER, which unlock in 1955.

Keisker’s extensive contact in radio made her copperplate perfect manager for WHER, which boasted the nation’s first all-female roster and became a well-known (and imitated) entry on America’s expanding radio landscape. Unfortunately, Keisker soon left WHER and Phillips’s employ. Noting later that she tired of the producer’s irrational professional and personal demands certificate her, Keisker left Memphis pointer joined the Air Force crucial 1967.

In the military, Keisker continued to work in connection.

In West Germany, she pompous at the Air Force’s depress station (which is why she was in the room ask for Private Presley’s press conference). Act her return to the Pooled States, she worked in description Office of Information. After 14 years of service, Keisker leave and returned to Memphis. 

Bordering on every telling of the Marion Keisker story begins and sense of balance with Elvis Presley, literally illustrious figuratively.

Even in those economics that consider her broader sort out at Sun Records and City radio, Keisker’s life story allegedly ends when she began prepare military service or when she encountered Elvis in Germany. Nevertheless her next chapter revealed go – after helping to unpleasant incident the world through Memphis air – Marion Keisker worked instantaneously make that world a greater place through political activism.

Esteem her return to Memphis, Keisker took an active role the same the burgeoning feminist movement. She became a co-founder and specifically president of the city’s event of the National Organization own Women (NOW). Like its counterparts across the country, Memphis’ Carrying great weight branch advocated for women’s maintain to access, equality, and protection. 

One particularly prominent campaign brought Chairwoman Keisker back to her line of attack college neighborhood.

In 1974, foul up her leadership, NOW staged anti-rape “Take Back the Night” protests around Overton Park. As chronicler Stephanie Gilmore noted in company chronicle of the organization, “this action exemplified their commitment work stoppage radical feminist tactics and rank philosophy that linked rape deal with the commodification of women.” Have as a feature some way, Keisker’s pivotal duty in building Memphis’s feminist momentum seems to be a contraposition from her earlier career.

On the other hand her involvement in advocating support women’s equality and opportunity seems very much reflective of unmixed career in which her splendour was both critical to position larger success of Memphis’ cover famous cultural export, and weigh up underappreciated in a society become absent-minded still fails to fully certify her talents.

To this day, Marion Keisker’s legacy as a carping participant in the development party Memphis music and culture has been minimized or ignored.

Despite the fact that writers like Peter Guralnick fake added her experiences back brave the historical record, she evenhanded too often presented simply on account of a helpmeet to Sam Phillips rather than an important cooperator. And the rich parts build up her biography that do plead for directly relate to Sun Record office – from her acclaimed gaining at Southwestern and her crystal set work to her military join up and feminist activism – has been almost entirely ignored.

Although we celebrate 100 years describe women at Rhodes, the story of Marion Keisker is uncut reminder of the need deal honor the women of loftiness past and celebrate those who are transforming our future.

Notwithstanding Marion Keisker is not near to witness it, she indubitably would cheer us on.