Content tagged 'Al Green'

Inductee: Al Green (vocals, guitar; born April 13, 1946)With his incomparable voice, full of falsetto swoops and nuanced turns of phrase, Al Green rose to prominence in the Seventies. One of the most gifted purveyors of soul music, Green has sold more than 20 million records. During 1972 and 1973, he placed six consecutive singles in the Top 10: "Let's Stay Together," "Look What You Done for Me," "I'm Still in Love With You," "You Ought to Be With Me," "Call Me" and "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)." "Let's Stay Together" topped the pop chart for one week and the R&B charts for nine; it was also

Inductees: Tom Constanten (keyboards; born March 19, 1944), Jerry Garcia (guitar, vocals; born August 1, 1942, died August 9, 1995), Donna Godchaux (vocals; born August 22, 1945), Keith Godchaux (keyboards; born July 14, 1948, died July 21, 1980), Mickey Hart (drums, percussion; born September 11, 1943), Robert Hunter (lyricist; born June 23, 1941), Bill Kreutzmann (drums; born April 7, 1946), Phil Lesh (bass, vocals; born March 15, 1940), Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (keyboards, harmonica, vocals; born September 8, 1945, died March 8, 1973), Brent Mydland (keyboards, vocals; born October 21, 1952, d

Sam Cooke (vocals; born January 22, 1931, died December 11, 1964)Considered by many to be the definitive soul singer, Sam Cooke blended sensuality and spirituality, sophistication and soul, movie-idol looks and gospel-singer poise. His warm, confessional voice won him a devoted gospel following as lead singer for the Soul Stirrers and sent "You Send Me," one of his earliest secular recordings, to the top of the pop and R&B charts in 1957. It was the first of 29 Top Forty hits for the Chicago-raised singer, who was one of eight sons born to a Baptist minister.Cooke's career was defined by his e

As Roger McGuinn once said of the Byrds, "It was Dylan meets the Beatles." The Byrds combined the upbeat, melodic pop of the Beatles with the message-oriented lyrics of Bob Dylan into a wholly original amalgam that would be branded folk-rock. If only for their harmony-rich versions of Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" and Pete Seeger's "Turn! Turn! Turn!," drenched in the 12-string jangle of McGuinn's Rickenbacker guitar, the Byrds would have earned their place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yet the group continually broke ground during the Sixties, creating revelatory syntheses of sound that w

Inductees: Barry Gibb (vocals, guitar; born September 1, 1946), Maurice Gibb (vocals, bass, keyboards, guitar, percussion; December 22, 1949 - January 12, 2003), Robin Gibb (vocals; December 22, 1949 - May 20, 2012)Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb – better known as the Bee Gees – are among the most successful vocal groups in rock and roll history, having sold more than 200 million albums to date. The trio's contributions to 1977's Saturday Night Fever pushed that soundtrack album past the 40 million mark. It reigned as the top-selling album in history until Michael Jackson's Thriller – an album t

The Drifters served to link Fifties rhythm & blues with Sixties soul music. They epitomized the vocal group sound of New York City. Theirs was the sweet but streetwise sound of R&B suffused with gospel influences. The material the Drifters recorded came from a variety of sources, including the songwriting teams of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, and Gerry Goffin and Carole King. All were New York-based songwriters who wrote evocatively of romance and everyday life in the big city, and the Drifters made an ideal vehicle for the convincing delivery of such scenarios. Th

Ahmet Ertegun (record executive, producer and songwriter; born July 31, 1923, died December 14, 2006)One of the most significant figures in the modern recording industry, Ahmet Ertegun co-founded Atlantic Records in 1947 with partner Herb Abramson. Atlantic was at the forefront of great independent labels that sprang up in the late Forties, challenging the primacy of the major labels of the time (RCA, Columbia and Decca) by discovering, developing and nurturing new talent. Under the guiding hand of Ertegun – the son of a career diplomat and a lifelong jazz and blues aficionado – Atlantic becam

At age 13, singer Frankie Lymon and the doo-wopping Teenagers had the Number One R&B hit in the U.S. and the Number One pop hit in England with "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" The song has attained the status of a vocal-group classic, owing to Lymon's agile, ingenuous and utterly charming performance. Recorded for Gee Records in November 1955, "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" ascended the charts early in 1956 and now stands as one of the key records by which the doo-wop style is defined and remembered. Moreover, its success in an era of slowly opening doors allowed Lymon to become the first black tee

Inductee: Jimmie Rodgers (vocals, guitar; born September 8, 1897, died May 26, 1933)Jimmie Rodgers was the first figure inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and is fondly referred to as the "Father of Country Music." Yet his combination of blues and hillbilly styles made him a true forebear of rock and roll, and he was also part of the first group of musicians inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Jimmie Rodgers was born in Meridian, Mississippi, in 1897. At the age of 14, Rodgers began working on the M&O Railroad as a water boy. He had already started playing banjo and guitar,

Walden Robert Cassotto aka Bobby Darin (vocals, guitar, piano, songwriter; born May 14, 1936, died December 20, 1973)Bobby Darin was one of the most ambitious and versatile performers of the last 60 years. He straddled generations, appealing to bobbysoxers as a teen idol who wrote and recorded "Splish Splash" in 1958 and then winning over their parents as the swaggering, Sinatra-voiced adult who cut the ultimate version of "Mack the Knife" (a song from Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's musical Threepenny Opera) only a year later. Both songs were enormous hits, with "Splish Splash" reaching Numbe