Simply Grand Music/Sounds of Memphis

About

In the early 1960’s, Eugene (Gene) Lucchesi, Sr. founded The Sounds of Memphis Studio and productions. Over the next few years his company started several publishing companies: Beckie Publishing, Il Gatto, Sounds of Memphis and By-Gene Music; all Tennessee Corporations. He also started his own recording labels: Crystal, X-L, Pen and SOM. In 1965, Gene cut a record on his X-L label on a group called… Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. Every label he took the record to turned him down. However, Gene believed in this song and ran off 1,000 copies and it soon became a regional hit. It also got the attention of MGM records. Thirty days after being released on the MGM label, this song had sold 1,000,000 copies. This song was a #1 hit in the United States and all over the world. And, it was #1 on the charts in Germany for 42 straight weeks! This song is now a pop classic and its title is “Wooly Bully”! Once the Sounds of Memphis Studio, production companies and Beckie Publishing had attracted national and international notice, MGM and Sounds of Memphis entered into a joint agreement. Over the next few years close to 100 songs were released on the MGM and MGM/SOM labels. In 1984, the SOM studio and publishing companies were each sold separately. Although the studio has changed hands (and names) over the last few years, the publishing company was sold and continues to be owned and operated by Linda Lucchesi, Gene’s daughter. Linda formed Simply Grand Music, Inc. whose catalog includes all of the songs from SOM Publishing, Beckie Publishing, Il Gatto and By-Gene which are affiliated with BMI. In addition, Linda formed Memphis Town Music, Inc. which is affiliated with ASCAP.