On December 24, 2015, William Franklin Guest died aged 74. He was singer, best known as member of Gladys Knight & the Pips. His vocal can be heard on all of the group’s major hits, including “Midnight Train To Georgia”, “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” and “Neither One Of Us”. In 1996, Guest was inducted to the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” with Gladys Knight & the Pips.
Tag Archives: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Malcolm Young
On November 18, 2017, Malcolm Mitchell Young died aged 64. He was musician (guitar), vocalist and songwriter, best known as co-founder and member of AC/DC. In 2003, Malcolm was inducted into the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” (together with the other members of AC/DC).
Fats Domino
On October 24, 2017, Antoine “Fats” Domino Jr. died aged 89. He was musician (piano), singer and song-writer, regarded as one of the Rock and Roll pioneers and most important artists in the popularization of the early rock and roll. He had 11 top 10 hits between 1955 and 1960, and 35 records in the U.S. Billboard Top 40. His best known songs are “Ain’t That a Shame” and “Blueberry Hill”, and he has sold more than 65 million records worldwide. Fats Domino was one the first musicians inducted in the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”.
Tom Petty
On October 2, 2017, Thomas Earl Petty aka Tom Petty, died aged 66. He was singer, songwriter, multi instrumentalist and record producer, best known as the leader and singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. He was also member and co-founder of the Traveling Wilburys and his early band Mudcrutch. Tom Petty has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling music artists of all time. In 2002, he was inducted into the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”.
Gregg Allman
On May 27, 2017, Gregory LeNoir “Gregg” Allman died aged 69. He was musician (guitar, keyboards), singer and songwriter, best known as member of The Allman Brothers Band. He released seven studio and two live albums, and was inducted into the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” and “Georgia Music Hall of Fame”. “Rolling Stone” magazine ranked him at number 70 on its list of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time”.
Donald Duck Dunn
On May 13, 2012, Donald “Duck” Dunn died aged 70. He was musician (bass guitar), session musician, record producer, and songwriter, best known for his 1960’s recordings with Booker T. & the M.G.’s and as a session bassist for “Stax Records”. He has performed and recorded with big number of famous musicians including Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, William Bell, Eddie Floyd, Johnnie Taylor, Albert King, Elvis Presley, Muddy Waters, Freddie King, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty and The Blues Brothers Band. In 1992, Dunn was inducted in the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” as a member of Booker T. & the M.G.’s. “Bass Player” magazine ranked him at number 40 on its list of “The 100 Greatest Bass Players of All Time”.
Chuck Berry
On March 18, 2017, Charles Edward Anderson “Chuck” Berry died aged 90. He was musician (guitar), singer and songwriter, one of the pioneers and most important figures of rock and roll music. His songs “Maybellene” (1955), “Roll Over Beethoven” (1956), “Rock and Roll Music” (1957) and “Johnny B. Goode” (1958), defined the contours of rock and roll music, and changed the face of popular music. His unique guitar solos and stage appearance made lasting influence on subsequent rock artists, including names like The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. In 1984, Berry was awarded “Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award”. He was among the first musicians to be inducted into the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” on its opening in 1986. In 2004, “Rolling Stone” magazine ranked him at number 5 on its list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”. The same magazine ranked his compilation album “The Great Twenty-Eight” at number 21 on its list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”. His songs “Johnny B. Goode,” “Maybellene,” and “Rock and Roll Music”, are included in the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll”. “Johnny B. Goode” is the only rock-and-roll song included on the “Voyager Golden Record”. In 2014, Berry was made a laureate of the “Polar Music Prize”.
James Brown
On December 25, 2006, James Joseph Brown died aged 73. He was singer, songwriter, producer and bandleader, regarded as the creator of funk music, and one of the most important artists in the history of the modern music. Named the “Godfather of Soul” and the “Hardest Working Man in the Show Business”, for all the achievements in his six decades long career, Brown received many honors including” inductions into the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”; “Songwriters Hall of Fame”; “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the 34th annual “Grammy Awards”; “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the 4th annual “Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer Awards”; a star on the “Hollywood Walk of Fame”; inductee to the “New York Songwriters Hall of Fame”; honored as the first “BMI Urban Icon” at the “BMI Urban Awards”, “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the “BET Awards”, and induction into the “UK Music Hall of Fame”.Magazine “Rolling Stone” ranked him at number seven on its list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”; in Joel Whitburn’s analysis of the “Billboard R&B” charts from 1942 to 2010, Brown was ranked as number one in “The Top 500 Artists”.list, magazine “Rolling Stone” cited him as the most sampled artist of all time, and In an article for the same magazine, critic Robert Christgau cited Brown as “The Greatest Musician of the Rock Era”. Brown is also one of the best sold artist of all times.
Eddie Hazel
On December 23, 1992, Edward Earl “Eddie” Hazel died aged 42. He was musician (guitar), recorded and performed with The Temptations, George Clinton, Axiom Funk and Bootsy Collins, but was best known as lead guitarist of Parliament and Funkadelic. In 1997, he was posthumous inducteed in the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”, together with fifteen other members of Parliament and Funkadelic.
Roy Orbison
On December 6, 1988, Roy Kelton Orbison died aged 52. He was musician (guitar, harmonica), singer and songwriter, thanks to his distinctive and impassioned voice, named “Caruso of Rock” and nicknamed the Big O. In the period between 1960 and 1964, 22 of his songs placed on the Billboard Top 40. In 1987, Roy Orbison was inducted in the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” and in “Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame”; in 1989 in the “Songwriters Hall of Fame”. “Rolling Stone” magazine ranked him at number 37 on its list of the “Greatest Artists of All Time” and number 13 on the list of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time’. In 2002, “Billboard” magazine ranked Orbison at number 74 in its list of the “Top 600 Recording Artists”. Orbison won six “Grammy Awards”, including “Lifetime Achievement Award” in 1998.
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