Later, we lived on the bottom floor of a duplex on Vinton in Midtown. At first, we lived in a garage apartment on North Waldron where, as a baby, I slept in a dresser drawer. When I was younger, I wanted to be a Bill or Jim! My brother, Jerry, is three years younger than me. My father always loved that name, so that's where mine came from. There was a judge named Knox in Lauderdale County, Alabama, where my parents are from.
But most of all, it was the life and vitality he saw on Beale Street! He vowed then and there he would return some day if he ever got the chance. It was the Mississippi River, the city’s rhythm and its feel. He had passed through Memphis a few years earlier and had fallen in love with the city after seeing Beale Street at 3 a.m. Sam got the opportunity to come to Memphis and work at WREC in 1945 when he was 22. She and her sister, who was a consummate pianist, had a radio program on the station Sam worked for, and that's how they met. Sam was an engineer and DJ Becky was a singer and ukulele player. ©DPI Jul 2009 | Photo by Trey Clark Knox Phillips Music Publisher, Producer, and Memphis Promoter