That’s All Right for Elvis fans

AS far as Elvis Presley songs go, That’s All Right, his first record, wasn’t among his biggest hits.

In fact, the 1954 song wasn't even a hit at all, but it's credited as the song that started rock 'n' roll.

Yet yesterday, 50 years to the day after it was recorded, media and fans converged on Memphis for a celebration to commemorate the song.

But while Elvis may be universally known as the king of Rock 'n' Roll, some consider it a stretch to anoint him the creator of a genre that mixed blues, R&B, country and even a bit of swing musical styles that were around long before Elvis.

There was a birth way before where did Elvis get it from?" asked rocker Lenny Kravitz.

"The thing we think of as rock 'n' roll is Elvis," said rock historian Marc Kirkeby. "But there were records that would be thought of as rock 'n' roll before that, and they were done by black artists," he said.

And not just black people, or even artists, are credited with starting rock 'n' roll. Just two years ago, there were commemorations of the 50th anniversary of rock 'n' roll pegged to disc jockey Alan Freed's Moondog Coronation Ball in Cleveland. Some rock historians have claimed the March 21, 1952 show as the first rock concert the main reason the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was located there.

To celebrate the recording, musicians gathered at Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, where Presley first combined blues with rockabilly on the song That's All Right Mama.

Radio stations around the globe played That's All Right Mama at 1700 BST yesterday.