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| Inductees Of The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame |
Inductees of the Rock and Roll Hall of FameThis page is a partial list of inductees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, taken from the [http://www.rockhall.com/hof/allinductees.asp list on the Hall of Fame's website].
From 1986, there were four categories of induction: performers, non-performers, early influences, and lifetime achievement. In 2000, "sidemen" was introduced as a category.
Performers
Early Influences
The following were inducted as "Early Influences"
Lifetime Achievement
The following were inducted for "Lifetime Achievement":
- John H. Hammond
- Nesuhi Ertegun
- Mo Ostin
- Jann Wenner
Non-performers
The following were inducted as non-performers, mainly songwriters, producers and record company executives:
- Alan Freed
- Sam Phillips
- Leonard Chess
- Ahmet Ertegun
- Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
- Jerry Wexler
- Berry Gordy, Jr
- Phil Spector
- Gerry Goffin and Carole King
- Holland, Dozier and Holland
- Dave Bartholomew
- Ralph Bass
- Leo Fender
- Bill Graham
- Doc Pomus
- Dick Clark
- Milt Gabler
- Johnny Otis
- Paul Ackerman
- Tom Donahue
- Syd Nathan
- Allen Toussaint
- George Martin
- Clive Davis
- Chris Blackwell
- Jim Stewart
- Frank Barsalona (2005 inductee)
- Seymour Stein (2005 inductee)
- Herb Alpert
- Jerry Moss
Sidemen
The following were inducted as sidemen:
- Hal Blaine - drums
- King Curtis - saxophone
- James Jamerson - bass guitar
- Scotty Moore - guitar
- Earl Palmer - drums
- James Burton - guitar
- Johnnie Johnson - piano
- Chet Atkins - guitar
- Benny Benjamin - drums
- Floyd Cramer - piano
- Steve Douglas - saxophone
Multiple inductees
Some people have been inducted more than once. These include:
- Johnny Carter (The Flamingos, The Dells)
- Eric Clapton (The Yardbirds, Cream, solo career)
- Sam Cooke (The Soul Stirrers, solo career)
- David Crosby (The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash)
- George Harrison (The Beatles, solo career)
- Michael Jackson (The Jackson Five, solo career)
- John Lennon (The Beatles, solo career)
- Curtis Mayfield (The Impressions, solo career)
- Paul McCartney (The Beatles, solo career)
- Clyde McPhatter (The Drifters, solo career)
- Jimmy Page (The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin)
- Paul Simon (Simon & Garfunkel, solo career)
- Stephen Stills (Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills & Nash)
- Neil Young (Buffalo Springfield, solo career)
Category:Music-related lists
Category:Lists of musicians
Category:Music Halls of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum and institution in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, dedicated, as the name suggests, to recording the history of some of the best-known and most influential rock and roll performers, producers, and other people who have in some major way influenced the industry.
Hall of Fame
Beginning in 1986, a handful of artists are inducted into the Hall of Fame in an annual induction ceremony in New York City. The first group of inductees, inducted on January 23, 1986, included Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Elvis Presley.
Currently, groups or individuals are qualified for induction 25 years after the release of their first record. Nominees should have demonstrable influence and significance within the history of rock and roll. Four categories are recognized: Performers, Non-Perfomers, Early Influences, and since 2000, Sidemen.
Not everybody is happy with the selection process; in particular, advocates of progressive rock and heavy metal feel that worthy artists are being deliberately shut out. Others feel that the number of inductees every year is too large, including too many less-notable artists, thereby diluting the impact of a nomination. Other fans feel that an awards system (on the mold of horse racing's Triple Crown) should be established where the winner of all three major music awards (American Music Award, Billboard Music Award, and Grammy Award) would receive automatic induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Finally, some feel that the selection committee is effectively controlled by a few individuals, including founder Jann Wenner and writer Dave Marsh, and is not representative of the rock world as a whole.
Performers
Performers include singers and instrumentalists.
A nominating committee composed of music historians selects names for the Performers category, which are then voted on by roughly 1000 experts, including academics, journalists, producers, and others with music industry experience. Performers receiving the highest number of votes greater than 50% of the votes received are selected for induction; each year, about five to seven nominees make the cut.
Non-Performers
Non-Performers include songwriters, producers, disc jockeys, music industry executives, journalists, and other professionals.
A separate selection committee selects inductees directly in the Non-Performers and Early Influences category.
Early Influences
Early Influences includes artists from earlier eras, primarily country, folk, and blues, whose music inspired and influenced rock and roll artists.
Sidemen
The new Sidemen category includes veteran session and concert players who are selected by a committee composed primarily of producers.
Foundation and Museum
concert's Zoo TV Tour hanging in the lobby of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum]]
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was created in 1983. The museum itself opened on September 2, 1995 in a building designed by I. M. Pei. The building sits on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland just east of Cleveland Browns Stadium and the Great Lakes Science Center. The city lobbied to be chosen because then-Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed is widely credited with promoting the new genre (and the term) of "rock and roll". After a petition drive that was signed by 600,000 fans favoring Cleveland, and a USA Today poll which Cleveland won by 100,000 votes, the hall of fame board voted to site the museum in Cleveland.
The museum documents the entire history of rock and roll, regardless of induction status. Hall of Fame inductees are honored in a special exhibit inside the museum's spire.
See also
- Inductees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
- 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll
- San Francisco Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
External links
- [http://www.rockhall.com The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame] – official site
- [http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/ohio/cleveland/rockroll/pei.html Images and architectural information]
- [http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0776374.html Expanding Rock Hall Could Cause Problems] - criticisms of selection process, including too many less-notable performers, and entire genres overlooked
Category:Music Halls of Fame
Category:Museums in Cleveland
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Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (born October 18, 1926) is a highly influential guitarist, singer, and composer. Berry was born in St. Louis, Missouri and was part of the first group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986. He received Kennedy Center Honors in 2000.
Biography
As a young man, Berry served a three-year term in reform school for attempted burglary. He was later arrested for stealing a car. Chuck Berry had been playing a form of the "blues" since his teens and by early 1953 was performing with "Sir John's Trio," a band that played at a popular club in St. Louis. In May of 1955, he traveled to Chicago where he met Muddy Waters who suggested he contact Chess Records. Signed to a contract, that September he released a unique version of the Bob Wills song, "Ida Red," under the title, "Maybellene." The song eventually peaked at #5 on the Billboard charts. At the end of June 1956, his song "Roll Over Beethoven" reached #29 on the Billboard charts. In the autumn of 1957, Berry joined the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and other rising stars of the new rock and roll to tour the United States.
In December 1959, Berry had legal problems after he invited a 14-year-old Apache waitress he met in Mexico to work as a hat check girl at Berry's Club Bandstand, his nightclub in St. Louis. The girl was arrested on a prostitution charge and Berry was arrested under the Mann Act (transporting a minor across state lines for sexual purposes). Berry was convicted, fined $5,000, and sentenced to five years in prison. He was released in 1963, but his best years were behind him.
Berry toured for many years carrying only his Gibson guitar, confident that he could hire a band that already knew his music no matter where he went. Among the many bandleaders performing this backup role were Bruce Springsteen and Steve Miller. Springsteen backed Berry again when he appeared at the Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.
After traveling the "oldies" circuit in the 1970s, Berry was in trouble with the law again in 1979, when he pled guilty to income tax evasion and was sentenced to four months imprisonment and 1,000 hours of community service doing benefit concerts.
In the late 1980s, Berry owned a restaurant in Wentzville, Missouri, called The Southern Air. Berry also owns an estate in Wentzville called Berry Park. For many years, Berry hosted rock concerts throughout the summer at Berry Park. He eventually closed the estate to the public due to the riotous behavior of many guests.
Although in his late 70s, Berry continues to perform regularly, playing both throughout the United States and overseas. He performs one Wednesday each month at Blueberry Hill, a restaurant and bar located in the Delmar Loop neighborhood in St. Louis.
A documentary Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll was made about him and a concert he did in 1987.
Berry was also the subject of attention in the early 1990s for his alleged voyeurism of female guests in the bathrooms of his home and restaurant.
Influence
A pioneer of rock and roll, Chuck Berry was a significant influence on others. When Keith Richards inducted Berry into the Hall of Fame, he said, "It's hard for me to induct Chuck Berry, because I lifted every lick he ever played!" John Lennon, another devotee of Berry, borrowed a line from Berry's "You Can't Catch Me" for his song "Come Together," and was subsequently sued by Berry's management, namely Morris Levy. Angus Young of AC/DC, who has cited Berry as one of his biggest influences, is famous for using Berry's duckwalk as one of his gimmicks.
While there is debate about who recorded the first rock and roll record, Chuck Berry's early recordings, including "Maybellene" (1955) fully synthesized the rock and roll form, combining blues and country music with teenaged lyrics about girls and cars, with impeccable diction alongside distinctive electric guitar solos and an energetic stage persona. Chuck Berry also popularized use of the boogie in rock and roll.
Most of his famous recordings were on Chess Records with pianist Johnnie Johnson from Berry's own band and legendary record producer Willie Dixon on bass, Fred Below on drums, and Berry's guitar, arguably the epitome of an early rock and roll band.
Producer Leonard Chess recalled laconically:
:I told Chuck to give it a bigger beat. History the rest, you know? The kids wanted the big beat, cars, and young love. It was a trend and we jumped on it.
Clive Anderson wrote for the compilation Chuck Berry—Poet of Rock 'n' Roll:
:While Elvis was a country boy who sang "black" to some degree ... Chuck Berry provided the mirror image where country music was filtered through an R&B sensibility.
Berry's musical influences included Nat King Cole, Louis Jordan, and Muddy Waters — who was both the singer and guitarist vital in the transformation of Delta blues into Chicago blues and the man who introduced Berry to Leonard Chess at Chess Records.
Throughout his career Berry recorded both smooth ballads like "Havana Moon" and blues tunes like "Wee Wee Hours." but it was his own mastery of the new form that won him fame. He recorded more than 30 Top Ten records, and his songs have been covered by hundreds of blues, country, and rock and roll performers.
Chuck Berry songs
Many of his songs are among the leading rock and roll anthems:
- "Johnny B. Goode" - the autobiographical saga of a country boy who could "play a guitar just like ringing a bell". It was chosen as one of the greatest achievements of humanity for the Voyager I collection of artifacts. The song was also prominently featured in the feature film "Back to the Future."
- "Rock and Roll Music" - one of the first tunes recorded by The Beatles
- "Sweet Little Sixteen" - with new lyrics, it became a hit for The Beach Boys as "Surfin' USA"
- "Roll Over Beethoven" - ("tell Tchaikovsky the news"), a cheeky announcement if ever there was one
- "School Days" - its chorus, "Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll", was chosen as the title of the documentary concert film organized by Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones as his tribute to Chuck, who appears in the film with many others.
- "Let It Rock" - fantasia of gambling railroad workers that lives up to the title, written under the pseudonym E. Anderson.
His other hits, many of them novelty narratives, include:
- "Maybelline" - car, girl, rival, jealousy—based on the country tune "Ida Red" performed originally by Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys.
- "Too Much Monkey Business" - teenaged attitudes, predecessor to rap, "Same thing every day, gettin' up, goin' to school, no need of me complaining, my objection's overruled". Also inspired the Bob Dylan song, "Subterranean Homesick Blues", Johnny Thunders' "Too Much Junky Business" play on title
- "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" - adult attitudes, racism, "arrested on charges of unemployment"
- "Back in the U.S.A." - which inspired The Beatles' "Back in the USSR".
- "No Particular Place To Go" - car, girl, frustration
- "Memphis" - unique beat, sweet story. Lonnie Mack and Johnny Rivers both built entire careers starting with this song.
- "My Ding-a-Ling" - his only #1, a New Orleans novelty song that he had been singing for years and fortuitously included on a live recording in London in 1970.
- "Run Rudolph Run" - his top Christmas song
Among his blues tributes:
- "Confessing the Blues" - signature tune of the famed Kansas City, Missouri jazz band of Jay McShann
- "Merry Christmas, Baby" - originally by Charles Brown
- "Route 66" - written by Bobby Troup and originally performed by Nat King Cole, it is commonly associated with Berry
- "Things I Used to Do" by Louisiana's Guitar Slim
His songs are collected on albums like:
- The Great Twenty-Eight, Berry's definitive Greatest Hits album.
See also
- Rolling Stone's List of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time
External links
- [http://www.chuckberry.com/ Official website]
- [http://us.imdb.com/Title?0092758 "Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll"] - All-star concert, documentary, tribute film
- [http://www.rocksite.info/r-berry-chuck.htm Website links for Chuck Berry]
- [http://www.gilbertogil.com.br/audio/501.mp3 Chuck Berry Fields for ever, ministry of Brazil] on Gilberto Gil's website
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Ray Charles:For Ray Charles of the Ray Charles Singers, and longtime vocal conductor for Perry Como, see Ray Charles (elder).
Ray Charles (elder)
Ray Charles was the stage name of Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930–June 10, 2004). He was a pioneering American pianist and soul musician who helped shape the sound of rhythm and blues and brought a soulful sound to everything from country music to pop standards to a now-iconic rendition of "America the Beautiful." Frank Sinatra called him "the only genius in the business."
Biography
Early years
Ray Charles Robinson was born in Albany, Georgia. He began going blind at around age five and was totally blind by age seven. He said that the causes were undiagnosed, but many believe it was as a result of glaucoma. Just before his eyes began to fail, he witnessed his younger brother George drown in a washtub. He attended school at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine, Florida, as a charity case; he learned how to read Braille, as well as to write music and play various musical instruments. While he was there, his mother, Aretha, who had raised him, died. His father, Bailey, died two years later.
After he left school, Charles began working as a musician in Florida in several bands that played in various styles including jazz and country music, eventually moving to Seattle in 1947 at the age of sixteen. He soon started recording, first for the label, Swingtime Records, achieving his first hit song with "Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand" (1951). When he entered show business, his name was shortened to Ray Charles to avoid confusion with boxer Sugar Ray Robinson.
Early influences on his work were Nat King Cole (both his vocals and piano playing) and Charles Brown. While his first recordings were only skillful imitations of his heroes, Charles' music soon became more innovative. He toured with Lowell Fulson and worked with Guitar Slim and Ruth Brown. After joining Atlantic Records in 1952, Charles' sound became more original. For example, Charles controversially adapted secular lyrics to many gospel songs and then played them with jazz backgrounds.
Middle years
His first hit in this mode was "Mess Around," which was based on the 1929 classic "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" by Pinetop Smith and written by Ahmet Ertegun, his producer at Atlantic Records. Charles had another hit with the rap-like urban jive of "It Should Have Been Me," but went into high gear with the gospel drive of "I Got a Woman" (1955) which borrowed from the hymn "My Jesus is All the World to Me." This was followed by "This Little Girl of Mine," "Drown in My Own Tears," "Hallelujah I Love Her So," and "Lonely Avenue," half of them were gospel songs converted with secular lyrics, and the others blues ballads. (Although Charles was criticized for singing gospel songs with secular lyrics, there is a long tradition of putting religious lyrics to popular songs and vice versa. See Thomas A. Dorsey, one of the founders of gospel music, who also had a significant career in secular music. Solomon Burke and Little Richard also moved between the two styles.)
Little Richard
After an appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival he achieved mainstream success with "The Night Time (Is The Right Time)" and his 1959 signature song, "What'd I Say" The essence of this phase of his career can be heard on his live album Ray Charles In Person, recorded before a mostly African American audience in Atlanta in 1959. This album also features the first public performance of "What'd I Say." It broke out as a hit in Atlanta from the tape, months before it was recorded in the studio in a two-part version with better fidelity.
Charles had already begun to go beyond the limits of his blues-gospel synthesis while still at Atlantic, which now called him The Genius. He recorded with large orchestras and with jazz artists like Milt Jackson and even made his first country music cover song with Hank Snow's "I'm Movin' On."
Then, he moved on to ABC Records. At ABC, Charles had a great deal of control over his music, and broadened his approach, not on experimental side projects, but with pop music, resulting in such hits as "Unchain My Heart" and the #1 hit on the Billboard pop charts, "Hit the Road, Jack." In 1962, Charles surprised his new, broad audience with his landmark album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, which included the numbers "I Can't Stop Loving You" and "You Don't Know Me." This was followed by a series of hits, including "You Are My Sunshine," "Crying Time," "Busted," and "Unchain My Heart."
In 1961, Charles cancelled a concert scheduled to take place in the Bell Auditorium in Augusta, Georgia to protest segregated seating. Contrary to what the biopic Ray mentions, he was never banned in Georgia, although he did have to pay the promoter compensation. [http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=2660672&nav=0RZFTvXr] That same year he did a duet album with accomplished jazz vocalist Betty Carter.
Later years
In 1964, Charles was arrested for possession of heroin, a drug to which he had been addicted for seventeen years. It was his third arrest for the offense, but he avoided prison time after kicking the habit in a clinic in Los Angeles. He spent a year on parole and defiantly released Ashford and Simpson's "Let's Go Get Stoned." (1966)
After the 1960s, Charles' releases were hit-or-miss, with some massive hits and critically acclaimed work, and some music that was dismissed as unoriginal and staid. He concentrated largely on live performances, although his version of "Georgia On My Mind," a Hoagy Carmichael song originally written for a girl named Georgia, was a hit and soon was proclaimed the state song of Georgia on April 24, 1979, with Charles performing it on the floor of the state legislature. He also had success with his unique version of "America the Beautiful." In 1980, Charles made a cameo appearance and performed in the feature film The Blues Brothers.
In the late 1980s, a number of events increased Ray's recognition among young audiences. In 1985, "Night Time is the Right Time" was featured in the episode "Happy Anniversary" of The Cosby Show. The cast members used the song to perform a wildly popular lip-synch that helped the show secure its wide viewership. In 1986, he collaborated with Billy Joel on "Baby Grand" for Joel's album The Bridge. In 1987, Charles guest-starred in the episode "Hit the Road, Chad," of Who's the Boss. Charles performed the song, "Always a Friend." He also appeared several times in guest appearances on the show The Nanny, playing Yetta's (Ann Guilbert) boyfriend. Charles' new connection with audiences helped secure a spokesmanship for Diet Pepsi. In this highly successful advertising campaign, Charles popularized the catchphrase "You've got the right one, baby!" At the height of his newfound fame in the early nineties, Charles did guest vocals for quite a few projects. These included the INXS song "Please (You've Got That...)," on the Full Moon, Dirty Hearts album, as well as the theme song for Designing Women in its sixth season. He also appeared (with Chaka Khan) on long time friend Quincy Jones' hit I'll Be Good To You in 1990.
Final performances
1990
One of Charles' last public performances was in 2003 at a televised annual electronic media journalist banquet held in Washington, D.C. He performed "Georgia On My Mind" and "America the Beautiful," though the singer was a bit slower and had some more vocal difficulty than in his younger days. Ray Charles' final public appearance came on April 30, 2004, at the dedication of his music studio as an historic landmark in the city of Los Angeles.
He died at age 73 on June 10, 2004 (11:35 a.m.) of liver disease at his home in Beverly Hills, California, surrounded by family and friends.
He was interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.
His final album, Genius Loves Company, released in 2004 but after his death, consists of duets with various admirers and contemporaries: B.B. King, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, James Taylor, Gladys Knight, Michael McDonald, Natalie Cole, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Diana Krall, Norah Jones, and Johnny Mathis. Unlike a similar Frank Sinatra album, the duets were recorded face-to-face, with both performers in the studio at the same time. The album was nominated for a bundle of Grammy Awards for Best Pop Vocal Album, Album of the Year, and Record of the Year; he won Album of the Year and Record of the Year. His duet with Norah Jones, "Here We Go Again", was nominated for Best Song.
Charles was significantly involved in the critically-acclaimed biopic Ray , an October 2004 film which portrays his life and career between 1930 and 1966 and stars Jamie Foxx as Charles. Foxx won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor for the role.
Before shooting could begin, however, director Taylor Hackford brought Foxx to meet Charles, who heard that the younger man was an accomplished pianist and insisted that they sit down at two pianos and play together.
For two hours, Charles challenged Foxx, who revealed the depth of his talent, and finally, Charles stood up, hugged Foxx, and gave his blessing, proclaiming, "He's the one...he can do it."
Charles was able to attend a showing of the completed film, but he died before it opened in theaters.
The film's credits note that he is survived by 12 children, 21 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren.
Many of today's artists continue to honor the legacy of Charles. The 2005 Grammy Awards were dedicated to him, and Alicia Keys performed a duet with Charles (via concert footage) of "America the Beautiful" at Super Bowl XXXIX.
In August 2005, the United States Postal Service honored Charles by renaming the former West Adams Station post office in Los Angeles as the "Ray Charles Station." (In so doing, the USPS resolved a geographic misnomer, as the West Adams Station was not located in West Adams itself, but in the nearby Mid-City district.)
Charles's estate is worth an estimated $100 million.
Recognition in Halls of Fame
He was an original inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame, the Blues Hall of Fame, the Songwriters' Hall of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Jazz Hall of Fame, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, and the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.
Controversies
Despite his support of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960s and his support for the civil rights movement, Charles courted controversy when he toured South Africa in 1981 despite an international boycott of the country because of its apartheid policy. He faced pickets in South Africa and in 15 North American cities he toured subsequently, including Albany, New York; Los Angeles; New York City; and Toronto. The United Nations agency supporting the boycott asked him to apologize and promise not to visit South Africa until the abolition of apartheid, to which he responded that they could "kindly kiss my ass." Despite having described himself as a "Hubert Humphrey Democrat," Charles accepted $100,000 to perform "America the Beautiful" at former U.S. President Ronald Reagan's second inaugural ball. In response to criticism, his manager, Joe Adams, commented: "For that kind of money he would have sung 'America the Beautiful' at a Ku Klux Klan rally."
A notorious ladies' man, Charles was married twice and fathered twelve children by seven different women. His first marriage, to Eileen Williams on July 31, 1951, resulted in one child and ended in divorce in 1952. Three additional children are from his second marriage, on April 5, 1955, to Della Beatrice Howard Robinson. She was not one of his original Raelettes. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1977. In a 60 Minutes profile, he admitted to Ed Bradley that he "auditioned" his female back-up singers. The saying was, "To be a Raelette, you've got to let Ray."
From the time of his switch from straight rhythm and blues with a combo, Charles was often accused of selling out. He left behind his classic formulation of rhythm and blues to sing country music, pop songs, and soft-drink commercials. In the process, he went from a niche audience to worldwide fame.
Quotations
- "When I started to sing like myself—as opposed to imitating Nat Cole, which I had done for a while—when I started singing like Ray Charles, it had this spiritual and churchy, this religious or gospel sound. It had this holiness and preachy tone to it. It was very controversial. I got a lot of criticism for it." —(San Jose Mercury News, 1994)
- "Do it right or don't do it at all. That comes from my mom. If there's something I want to do, I'm one of those people that won't be satisfied until I get it done. If I'm trying to sing something and I can't get it, I'm going to keep at it until I get where I want it." —(Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, 1998)
- "The fact of the matter is, you don't give up what's natural. Anything I've fantasized about, I've done." —(Los Angeles Times, 1989)
Selected music
Major discography
- (1958) Live
- (1959) The Genius of Ray Charles
- (1962) Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
- (1991) The Birth of Soul: The Complete Atlantic Rhythm and Blues Recordings
- (2004) Genius Loves Company
[http://www.raycharles.com/discography.aspx Full discography]
Sample
- Download OGG sample of "What'd I Say"
Songs in movies
- In 1967, the title track of In the Heat of the Night was sung by Charles.
- In 1980, "Shake Your Tailfeather" was sung by Charles in The Blues Brothers.
- In 1987, "Mess Around" was featured in the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, "performed" by John Candy.
- In 1993, "You Don't Know Me" was featured in the movie Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell.
- In 2001, "I Can't Stop Loving You" was featured over the largely-silent ending climax of the animated film Metropolis.
Suggested reading
- Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story by Ray Charles & David Ritz (Da Capo, ISBN 0306813351). Doubleday; (October 1, 1978).
- "Ray Charles: Man and Music" by Michael Lydon (Routledge, ISBN0-415-97043-1). Riverhead; (January, 1999).
See also
- List of number-one hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (US)
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
External links
- [http://www.raycharles.com/ Official website]
- [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/14/60minutes/main649346.shtml "The Genius Of Ray Charles"], an article about an 1986 segment on Charles from 60 Minutes
- [http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2004-11-04/news_story6.php "No Ray of Hope"], a critical article regarding Charles' politics by a Toronto journalist
- [http://www.boheme-magazine.net/july04/charles.html Bohème Magazine] Obituary: Ray Charles (1930–2004)
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Sam Cooke
Sam Cooke (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964) was a popular and influential American gospel, R&B, soul, pop singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur.
Biography
Sam Cooke was born Samuel Cook in Clarksdale, Mississippi (he added an "e" onto the end of his name because he thought it added a touch of class). He was one of eight children of Rev. Charles and Mrs. Annie Mae Cook. The family moved to Chicago in 1933.
Cooke began his musical career as a member of a quartet with his siblings, the Singing Children, followed by a turn as a teenager as a member of the Highway QCs, a gospel group. In 1950, at the age of 19, he joined The Soul Stirrers and achieved significant success and fame within the gospel community.
His first pop single, "Lovable" (1956) was released under the alias of "Dale Cooke," in order to not alienate his fan base; there was a considerable taboo against gospel singers performing secular music. However, the alias failed to hide Cooke's unique and distinctive vocals. No one was fooled. Art Rupe, head of Specialty Records, the label of the Soul Stirrers, gave his blessing for Cooke to record secular music under his real name, but was unhappy about the type of music Cooke and Bumps Blackwell, Cooke's pop producer, were making. Rupe expected Cooke's secular music to be similar to that of another Specialty Records artist, Little Richard. When Rupe walked in on a recording session and heard Cooke covering Gershwin, he was quite upset. After an argument between Rupe and Blackwell, Cooke and Blackwell left the label, and Cooke signed with Keen Records in 1957. His first release was "You Send Me", which spent six weeks at #1 on the Billboard R&B chart but which also had massive mainstream success, spending three weeks at #1 on the Billboard pop chart.
As if a R&B performer writing his own songs and achieving mainstream fame was not innovative enough, Cooke continued to astonish the music business in the 1960s with the founding of his own label, SAR Records, which soon included The Simms Twins, The Valentinos, Bobby Womack, and Johnnie Taylor. Cooke then created a publishing imprint and management firm, then left Keen to sign with RCA. One of his first RCA singles was the hit "Chain Gang." It reached #2 on the Billboard pop chart. This was followed by more hits, including "Sad Mood", "Bring it on Home to Me" (with Lou Rawls on backing vocals), "Another Saturday Night" and "Twistin' the Night Away".
Like most R&B artists of his time, Cooke focused on singles; in all he had 29 top 40 hits on the pop charts, and more on the R&B charts. In spite of this, he released a critically acclaimed blues-inflected LP in 1963, Night Beat. He was known for having written many of the most popular songs of all time in the genre, and is often uncredited for many of them by the general public.
Cooke died at the age of 33 under mysterious circumstances on December 11, 1964 in Los Angeles, California. Though the details of the case are still in dispute, he was apparently shot to death by Bertha Franklin, the manager of the Hacienda Motel, where Cooke had checked in earlier that evening. Franklin claimed that Cooke had broken into the manager's office/apartment, in a rage, wearing nothing but his shoes and and overcoat (nothing underneath it) demanding to know the whereabouts of a woman who had accompanied him to the motel. Franklin said that the woman was not in the office and that she told Cooke this, but the enraged Cooke did not believe her and violently grabbed her demanding again to know the woman's whereabouts. According to Franklin, the two scuffled and fell to the floor, and she then got up and ran to retrieve her gun. She said that she then fired at Cooke in self-defense because she feared for her life. According to Franklin, Cooke exclaimed, "Lady, you shot me," before finally falling, mortally wounded.
According to Franklin and Evelyn Carr, the owner of the Hacienda Motel, they had been on the phone together at the time of the incident. Thus Carr claimed to have overheard Cooke's intrusion and the ensuing confrontation and gunshots. She corroborated Franklin's version of events, and ultimately, a coroner's jury accepted Franklin's explanation that it was a case of justifiable homicide. However, many believe that crucial details did not come out during the inquest, or were buried afterward.
The apparent explanation for Cooke's alleged behavior was that he had had an encounter at the motel with the young woman (identified as Elisa Boyer) he was supposedly seeking, which had ended with the woman running out of the motel room with all of Cooke's clothing, save his shoes and overcoat. Boyer claimed that though she had at first willingly accompanied Cooke when she first met him earlier that evening, Cooke had essentially kidnapped her away to the motel, having refused her repeated requests that he take her home. According to Boyer, he dragged her into the motel room and again refused to allow her to leave when she requested to do so. She claimed that he physically forced her down onto the bed, and that she was certain he was going to rape her. According to her version of events, when Cooke, having already undressed by this point, stepped in to the bathroom for a moment, she grabbed her clothes and fled out the door. She claimed that in her haste, she also scooped up Cooke's clothing by mistake. She said that she did knock on the manager's office door, but that the manager took too long to respond. Fearing Cooke would soon be after her, she fled the area before the manager answered the door.
Parts of Boyer's story are certainly suspect. Franklin testified that Cooke initially entered the office to check in by himself, leaving Boyer alone in the car. Thus, if she truly felt she was being kidnapped, she had passed up a clear opportunity at that point to escape. Rather than attempt to flee, though, Franklin testified that Boyer walked calmly into the office and stood silently beside Cooke as he signed the registry. Other witnesses claim to have seen Cooke and Boyer walking from the office to the room and dispute Boyer's claim that he 'dragged' her there. Boyer had no criminal record at the time, but she was arrested a year later for prostitution. The Hacienda Motel was, in fact, a very cheap motel frequented often by prostitutes with their johns.
In any event though, if the basic story is true that Cooke and Boyer were in the motel room together, and at some point she fled the room with most of his clothing, that might explain Cooke's alleged behavior afterward. Whether she had fled because she was an innocent woman fleeing an attempted rape, or because she was a prostitute who had just rolled her john, either way, it might explain why Cooke, who according to the coroner's report was also inebriated at the time, would have been in such angry pursuit of her.
Many of Cooke's supporters and fans, though, reject not only Boyer's version of events, but also Franklin's and Carr's. They believe that there was a conspiracy from the start to murder Cooke, that this murder did in fact take place in some manner entirely different from the official account of Cooke's intrusion into Franklin's office/apartment, and that Franklin, Boyer and Carr were all lying to provide a cover story for this murder. To date, no solid evidence supporting such a conspiracy theory has been presented.
Cooke was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale, California.
Some posthumous releases followed, many of which became hits, including "A Change Is Gonna Come", an early protest song which is generally regarded as his greatest composition.
After Cooke's death, his widow, Barbara, married Bobby Womack. Cooke's daughter, Linda, later married Bobby's brother, Cecil.
Cooke was inducted as a charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
Cooke's influence has been immense: even people who have never heard one of his records, have still heard his voice and phrasing if they have listened to any Rod Stewart or Southside Johnny. Other rock artists with a notable Cooke heritage include The Animals, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Perry, and numerous others, while R&B and soul artists indebted to Cooke include Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Lou Rawls, Al Green, and again many more.
Discography
For a detailed listing of albums and singles, see: Sam Cooke discography.
Hit US and UK singles
Hit US and UK albums
External links
- Audio Interview with biographer Peter Guralnick on The Sound of Young America: [http://libsyn.com/media/tsoya/tsoya101505.mp3 MP3 Link]
- [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051010/christgau The Nation: In Search of Sam Cooke] (Review: October 10, 2005 issue)
- [http://members.tripod.com/clarkkauffman/index.htm The Ultimate Sam Cooke Web Site] → [http://members.tripod.com/clarkkauffman/id32.htm The Death of Sam Cooke]
- [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1900 Find-A-Grave profile for Sam Cooke]
See also
- Rolling Stone's list of the 50 Moments that Changed Rock and Roll
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Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino (born February 26 1928 in New Orleans, Louisiana), is a classic R&B and rock and roll singer, songwriter and pianist. He was the best-selling African-American singer of the 1950s and early 1960s. Domino is also a pianist with an individualistic bluesy style showing stride and boogie-woogie influences. His congenial personality and rich accent have added to his appeal.
Biography
His career began with "The Fat Man" (1949, Imperial Records), credited by some as being the first rock and roll record, featuring a rolling piano and Domino doing wah-wah vocalizing. The record, a reworking of "Junker's Blues" by Champion Jack Dupree, was a massive hit, selling over a million copies and peaking at #2 on the Billboard R&B Charts. To date Domino has sold in excess of 110 million records.
Domino then released a series of hit songs with producer and co-writer Dave Bartholomew, saxophonist Alvin "Red" Tyler and drummer Earl Palmer. Other notable and long-standing musicians in Domino's band were saxophonists Reggie Houston, Lee Allen, and Fred Kemp who was also Domino's trusted bandleader. Domino finally crossed into the pop mainstream with "Ain't That a Shame" (1955) which hit the Top Ten, though Pat Boone characteristically hit #1 with a cover of the song. Domino released an unprecedented series of 35 Top 40 singles, including "Whole Lotta Loving", "Blue Monday", and a funky version of the old ballad "Blueberry Hill".
After he moved to ABC-Paramount in 1963, the bottom fell out of Domino's recording career although he continued as a popular live act. Though he remained active for decades, he only had one more Top 40 hit in 1968, a cover of the Beatles song "Lady Madonna," originally written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney to emulate Domino's style.
Paul McCartney
In the 1980s, Domino decided he would no longer leave New Orleans, having a comfortable income from royalties and a dislike for touring, and claiming he could not get any food that he liked anyplace else. His induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and an invitation to perform at the White House failed to get Domino to make an exception to this policy. He lives in a mansion in a predominantly working-class 9th Ward neighborhood, where he is a familiar sight in his bright pink Cadillac. He makes yearly appearances at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and other local events, with performances demonstrating his undiminished talents.
When Hurricane Katrina was approaching New Orleans in August 2005, Domino chose to stay at home with his family, due to his wife's poor health. His house was located in New Orleans’ 9th Ward, an area that was heavily flooded. On September 1, Al Embry, his agent, announced that he had not heard from Domino since before the hurricane had struck. Later that day, CNN reported that he was rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter. His daughter, Gospel singer Karen Domino White, identified him from a photo shown on CNN. The Domino family was then taken to a Baton Rouge shelter, after which they were picked up by and stayed in the apartment of JaMarcus Russell, the starting quarterback of the Louisiana State University football team. The Washington Post has reported that on Friday, September 2, the Dominos left Russell's apartment.
[http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/01/katrina.fats.domino/index.html]
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR2005090202171.html] He returned to his home on Saturday, October 15. Apparently his house was looted in his absence: of his 21 Gold Records only three were still there. [http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N15108420.htm]
Business
His career has been produced and managed since the 1980s by multimedia entertainment purveyor and music producer Robert G. Vernon. During Vernon's tenure, Domino's earnings have increased 500%.
Since 1995, Vernon and Domino have been partners (with many other companies, such as Dick Clark Productions) in the Bobkat Music Trust. Bobkat Music is an entertainment group that manages the careers (some posthumous) of Fats Domino, Elvis Presley, Paul Shaffer (keyboardist), Jerry Lee Lewis, Randy Pringle (writer), and others. Bobkat Music is the official holder of rights (of record) to "Fats Domino and Friends" (most watched special in Cinemax history, winner of the ACE Award for "Cinemax Sessions"), not to mention the award-winning Fats Domino TV commercial for Popeye's Chicken, and is headquartered in the San Francisco East Bay area.
Trivia
The singer Chubby Checker's stage name was a play on Fats Domino.
In the popular 1970s sitcom "Happy Days", set in the 1950s, lead character Richie Cunningham, played by Ron Howard, would often sing "I found my thrill..." (the first line of Domino's "Blueberry Hill") in reference to pretty girls he dated or wanted to date.
External links
- [http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/01/katrina.fats.domino/ CNN: Fats Domino found OK in New Orleans]
- [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9159941/ MSNBC: Fats Domino missing]
- [http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/01/katrina.fatsdomino.ap/index.html CNN: Fats Domino missing]
- [http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050901/ap_en_mu/katrina_fats_domino_3 Fats Domino reported missing in New Orleans, after Hurricane Katrina]
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4210564.stm Fats Domino shaken by the storm]
- [http://www.rockhall.com/hof/inductee.asp?id=91 Fats Domino on Rock & Roll Hall of Fame site]
- [http://www.bobvernon.com Domino's manager Bob Vernon's official website]
- [http://business.fortunecity.com/washington/127 Vernon and Domino's Bobkat Music Trust]
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The Everly Brothers
Don (born Isaac Donald Everly February 1 1937 in Brownie, a small coal-mining town (now defunct) near Central City, Muhlenberg County, Kentucky) and Phil Everly (born Philip Everly January 18, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois) are country-influenced rock and roll performers who had their greatest success in the 1950s.
The sons of two Kentucky country musicians, The Everly Brothers recorded their first single, "Keep A' Lovin' Me, " in 1956, under the aegis of Chet Atkins, but it flopped. However their next single, "Bye Bye Love," (which had been rejected by 30 other acts, including Elvis Presley) became an across-the-board smash, reaching #2 on the pop charts, and #1 on both the Country, and the R & B charts. The song, written by the songwriting husband and wife team of Felice and Boudleaux Bryant , became their first million-seller. They soon became known as the stalwarts of Archie Bleyer's Cadence Records label.
They had a hit with the single "Claudette," written by Roy Orbison (Claudette was the name of Roy's wife. Later she died in a motorcycle accident.) Working with the Bryants, the harmonic duo had a number of hits in the USA and the UK, the biggest of which were "Wake Up Little Susie," "(All I Have to Do Is) Dream," and "Bird Dog." In 1960, when they signed with Warner Bros. Records, they continued to have hits, such as 1960's "Cathy's Clown" and "The Ferris Wheel" (from 1964), but the years after 1962 saw the Everly Brothers become less commercially viable than before even as they became artistically more accomplished. Following the British Invasion, Everly Brothers recordings like "I'll See Your Light" and "It Only Costs a Dime" (both 1965) began to reflect many of the changes in popular music they had, with their earlier work, put into motion; they recorded, with members of the Hollies contributing songs such as "So Lonely" and "Don't Run and Hide," a classic album entitled Two Yanks in England (1966), at the time somewhat under-appreciated (and currently unavailable on CD) but now considered one of their best efforts. In 1967 they had a hit single, "Bowling Green," and in 1968 they recorded another album now regarded as a classic, Roots, which featured their own compositions alongside songs by Randy Newman and others. In short, their mid- and late-'60s material is considered by many critics and listeners to compare favorably to that done by the Beatles and the Byrds.
With soft, mainly acoustic guitar backing, sweet close-harmony vocals, non-threatening lyrics, and clean-cut white faces, the Everly Brothers were, in their heyday, never perceived as a threat to society, as were performers such as Chuck Berry and Little Richard; they are one of rock and roll music's most important acts because their music, while arguably containing just as much subversion and sexual tension as that of many another artists, helped bridge the gap between rock and country music in a way that appealed to fans of both genres. In addition, their approach to harmony singing influenced nearly every rock and roll group of the 1960s.
The duo broke up in 1973, but reformed in 1983 with a new album produced by Paul McCartney and Dave Edmunds. "On The Wings Of A Nightingale" became a hit single in both the US and UK.
The Everly Brothers have had a total of 26 Billboard Top 40 singles. In 1986 they were among the first 10 artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and they were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001. Their pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. The Everly Brothers have a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Blvd. They still perform regularly as a duo around the world.
Discography
- The Real Everly Brothers (1958)
- The Everly Brothers (1958)
- Songs Our Daddy Taught Us (1959)
- It's Everly Time (1960)
- Rockin' With (Mini EP) (1960)
- The Fabulous Style of The Everly Brothers (1960)
- A Date with The Everly Brothers (1961)
- Both Sides of an Evening (1961)
- Souvenir Sampler (1961)
- Christmas with The Everly Brothers (1962)
- Instant Party (1962)
- Folk Songs of The Everly Brothers (1962)
- Rock 'n' Soul (1965)
- Gone, Gone, Gone (1965)
- Beat & Soul (1965)
- In Our Image (1966)
- Two Yanks in England (1966)
- The Hit Sound of The Everly Brothers (1967)
- The Everly Brothers Sing (1967)
- Roots (1968)
- Wake up Little Susie (Harmony) (1969)
- Chained to a Memory (1970)
- Everly Brothers Show (1970)
- Stories We Could Tell (1972)
- Don't Worry Baby (1973)
- Pass the Chicken and Listen (1973)
- Everlys (1975)
- New Album (1977)
- The Everly Brothers (Profile) (1981)
- EB 84 (1984)
- Home Again (1985)
- All They Had to Do Was Dream (1985)
- Born Yesterday (1986)
- The Everly Brothers (Bella Musica) (1988)
- Some Hearts (1989)
- Heartaches and Harmonies (1994)
- Too Good to Be True (2005)
- Give Me A Future (2005)
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Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley (September 7 1936–February 3 1959), better known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and a pioneer of Rock and Roll. The change of spelling of Holley to Holly came about because of an error in a contract he was asked to sign, listing him as Buddy Holly. That spelling was then adopted for his professional career.
Biography
Holly was born in Lubbock, Texas to parents Lawrence Odell Holley and Ella Pauline Drake. The Holleys were a musical family and as a young boy Holley learned to play the violin (his brothers oiled the strings so much that no one could hear him play), piano and guitar. In the fall of 1949 he met Bob Montgomery at Hutchison Jr. High School. They shared a common interest in music, and soon teamed up to perform as the duo "Buddy and Bob". Initially influenced by bluegrass music, they sang harmony duets at local clubs and high school talent shows. Holley's turn to rock music came after seeing Elvis Presley sing live, in his hometown of Lubbock in early 1955. A few months later, he appeared in the same bill with Presley, also in Lubbock. Holley's transition to rock was finalized when they opened for Bill Haley and his Comets at a local rock show organized by Eddie Crandall, who was also the manager for Marty Robbins. As a result of this performance, Holley was offered a contract with Decca Records to work alone. However, early success as a solo artist eluded him.
Back in Lubbock, Holley formed his own band, "The Crickets", and began making records at Norman Petty's studios in Clovis, New Mexico. Among the songs they recorded was "That'll Be the Day", which takes its title from a phrase which John Wayne's character says repeatedly in the movie, The Searchers. Norman had music industry contacts, and believing that "That'll Be the Day" would be a hit single, he contacted publishers and labels. Coral Records, a subsidiary of Decca, signed Buddy Holly and The Crickets. This put Buddy in the unusual position of having two record contracts at the same time. Before "That'll Be The Day" had its nationwide release and became a smash hit, Holley played lead guitar on the hit-single "Starlight", recorded in April 1957, featuring Jack Huddle.
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Holly's music was sophisticated for its day, including the use of instruments considered novel for rock and roll, such as the celesta (heard on "Everyday"). Holly was an influential lead and rhythm guitarist, notably on songs such as "Peggy Sue" and "Not Fade Away". While Holly could pump out boy-loves-girl songs with the best of his contemporaries, other songs featured more sophisticated lyrics and more complex harmonies and melodies than had been previously shown in the genre.
Many of his songs feature a unique vocal "hiccup" technique, a clipped "uh" sound used to emphasize certain words in any given song, especially the rockers. Example, the start of the raucous number "Rave On": "Weh-UH-eh-UH-ell, the little things you say and do, make me want to be with you-UH-ou...".
Holly also managed to bridge some of the racial divide that punctuated rock, notably winning over an all-black audience when accidentally booked for New York's Apollo Theater (though, unlike the fictional portrayal in his movie biography, it took several performances for audiences to be convinced of his talents).
After the release of several highly successful songs, in March 1958, he and the Crickets toured the United Kingdom. In the audience were teenagers named John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who later cited Holly as a primary influence (the band's name, The Beatles, was later chosen partly in homage to Holly's Crickets). The Beatles did a cover version of "Words of Love" that was an almost perfect reproduction of Holly's version. The Rolling Stones did a cover of "Not Fade Away." The group, The Hollies were named in homage.
Holly's personal style, more controlled and cerebral than Elvis's and more youthful and innovative than the country and western stars of his day, would have an influence on youth culture on both sides of the Atlantic for decades to come, reflected particularly in the New Wave movement in artists such as Elvis Costello and Marshall Crenshaw, and earlier in folk rock bands like The Byrds and The Turtles.
He married Maria Elena Santiago on August 15 1958.
In 1959, Holly split with the Crickets and began a solo tour with other notable performers including Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson, "The Big Bopper". One audience member at the tour stop in Duluth, Minnesota was a young Bobby Zimmerman who would later be known as Bob Dylan.
Following the February 2 performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, Buddy Holly chartered a Beechcraft Bonanza to take him and his new Crickets band (Tommy Allsup and Waylon Jennings) to Fargo, North Dakota. Richardson came down with the flu and didn't feel comfortable on the bus, so Jennings gave his plane seat to him. Valens had never flown on a small plane and requested Allsup's seat. They flipped a coin, and Valens called heads and won the toss. The four-passenger Beechcraft Bonanza took off into a blinding snow storm and crashed into Albert Juhl's corn field several miles after takeoff at 1:05. The crash killed Holly, Valens, Richardson, and pilot Roger Peterson, leaving Holly's pregnant bride, Maria Elena Holly, a widow (though she would miscarry soon after). Funeral services were held at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Lubbock, Texas, and Buddy Holly was interred in the City of Lubbock Cemetery.
Holly's headstone carries the correct spelling of his name, Buddy Holley. It also features a carving of his favorite guitar. Downtown Lubbock has a "walk of fame" with plaques to various area artists such as Mac Davis and Waylon Jennings, with a life-size statue of a guitar-playing Buddy as its centerpiece.
The tragic plane crash inspired singer Don McLean's popular 1971 ballad "American Pie", and immortalized February 3 as "The Day the Music Died". Contrary to popular myth, "American Pie" was not the name of the ill-fated airplane.
The Surf Ballroom, a popular and old-fashioned dance hall that dates to the height of Big Band Era, continues to put on shows, notably an annual Buddy Holly tribute on the anniversary of his last performances.
Tributes
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In 1988, Ken Paquette, a Wisconsin fan of the 1950s, erected a stainless steel monument depicting a steel guitar and a set of three records bearing the names of each of the three performers. It is located on private farmland, about one quarter mile west of the intersection of 315th Street and Gull Avenue, approximately five miles north of Clear Lake. He also created a similar stainless steel monument to the three musicians near the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay, Wisconsin. That memorial was unveiled on July 17 2003.
The dramatic arc of Holly's life story inspired a Hollywood biography The Buddy Holly Story, for which actor Gary Busey received a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Holly, as well as successful Broadway and West End musicals documenting his career. The West End musical, Buddy, ran for seven years.
Buddy Holly is considered one of the founding fathers of rock 'n roll and one of its most influential. Although his career was cut short, his body of work is considered some of the best in rock music history and his music would influence not only many of his recording contemporaries, but also the future direction music would take. As one of the capstones of rock 'n' roll, Buddy influenced groups for decades.
The science fiction novel Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede, by Bradley Denton (ISBN 0688108229 and ISBN 0380718766), begins when television sets throughout the world suddenly begin broadcasting a concert by an apparently living Buddy Holly, who says he is on Ganymede.
Terry Pratchett's novel Soul Music features a protagonist whose name translates to "Bud Y Holly".
"Oil", an episode of The Young Ones features Mike (Christopher Ryan) discovering Buddy Holly, alive and well and tangled in parachutes, in the attic of a house in London. Holly comments that he loves "your British beetles", as he has been eating them since the plane crash. Mike asks Holly if he has come up with any new material, and Holly plays a brief song about eating crickets...then his parachute strap suddenly breaks, slamming him into the floor and killing him. Mike later hands off a duffle bag containing Holly's corpse to two minor characters, asking them to "take care of my Buddy."
The 1998 film "Six-String Samurai," a surreal romp through an alternate-timeline post-apocalyptic America (Russia bombed and then invaded the United States in 1957), features a rock-and-rolling martial arts hero named "Buddy" who sports familiar black horn-rimmed glasses and a tuxedo. The film follows Buddy's journey to "Lost Vegas", the last outpost of freedom in the world, to claim the crown of the recently-deceased King Elvis.
Buddy Holly was part of the first group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its formation in 1986. His pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
Selected discography
- "That'll Be the Day" – 1957
- "Peggy Sue" – 1957
- "Everyday" – 1957
- "Oh Boy!" – 1957
- "Not Fade Away" – 1957
- "Maybe Baby" – 1958
- "Rave On" – | | |
