Sam Phillips

Not to be confused with the Sun Records founder of the same name, singer/songwriter Sam Phillips was one of the few artists to successfully transition from the CCM (contemporary Christian music) world to secular pop. Born Leslie Phillips in Glendale, California she made her first recordings as backing vocalist for other Christian artists at the start of the '80s, and released her first album, Beyond Saturday Night, in 1983 on Christian pop label Myrrh, under her given name. Over the next two years, Phillips released two more albums for Myrrh. All three brought her several hit singles on the Christian charts, the third earning her a Grammy nomination. But it was her next album, appropriately titled The Turning, that really shifted her direction. A major agent of change was the 1987 album's producer, T-Bone Burnett, who influenced her move towards quirky, secular rock/pop. Phillips went all the way on her next album, rechristening herself Sam, abandoning Christian-oriented material entirely, and embracing a style influenced by '60s baroque pop for the Burnett-produced The Indescribable Wow, her first release on Virgin Records. This would establish the basic template for the rest of her career. The following year, Phillips and Burnett extended their partnership to a more personal area by getting married to each other. After two more albums on Virgin, Phillips was dropped from the label and shifted to Nonesuch Records. She would record three LPs for them, starting with 2001's Fan Dance. That same year she began providing music for TV's "Gilmore Girls" (WB/CW 2001-08), a role she'd fill for the show's entire seven-season run. Phillips and Burnett were divorced in 2004, and 2008's Don't Do Anything marked Phillips's first time producing herself, as she would continue to do on her next two albums, Push Any Button and World on Sticks. Phillips returned to scoring with "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" (Amazon 2017-), a reunion with "Gilmore Girls" creator Amy Sherman-Palladino.