History of Rock & Roll People

Adolph Rickenbacker (1886-1976) was a German-American guitar manufacturer who in 1931 founded the Electro String Instrument Corporation. His company was the first in the United States to produce so...

Jerry Lee Lewis (1935- ) is an American rock and roll singer and musician best known for his unpredictable on-stage antics and hits such as "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and "Great Balls of Fire."...

Fats Domino (1928- ) is an African-American singer songwriter who was one of the best-selling rhythm & blues and rock and roll music artists of the 1950s. He is best known not only for his rotund f...

J. D. Salinger (1919- ) is an American writer best known for his controversial 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, which was popular among teens who identified with the disillusioned protagonist Hol...

Les Paul (1915- ) is an American musician who is credited with radically improving the original Rickenbacker solid-body electric guitar by streamlining the "frying pan" design and sharpening the am...

Leo Fender (1909-1991) was an American musician and inventor who improved the design of early solid-body electric guitars and introduced the first "precision bass" guitar.In 1952, Leo Fender and bu...

Sam Phillips (1923-2003) was a record producer and owner of Sun Records. He is credited with scouting some of the first and most legendary rock and roll artists such as Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee...

Elvis Presley (1935-1977) was a working-class southerner who rose to fame in the 1950s as a rock and roll superstar. A memorial outside his childhood home proclaims, "Presley's career as a singer a...

Alan Freed (1921-1965) was a charismatic '50s disc jockey known as "Moondog" who organized large concerts featuring African-American rhythm & blues artists. He is thought by some to have coined the...

Bill Haley (1925-1981) was an early rock and roll musician who, with his group Bill Haley & the Comets, helped popularize the genre in the '50s with hits such as "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" and "Rock...

Little Richard (1932- ) is an African-American singer-songwriter and musician recognized as one of the first rock and roll stars, and a contender for the title of "Father" of rock known for hits su...

Chuck Berry (1926- ) is an African-American singer and musician who, like Little Richard and Elvis Presley, is recognized as one of the greatest influences on the evolution of rock and roll.Chuck B...

Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) was an African-American rock musician who blew apart the rock scene with his mind-blowing stage performances, haunting vocals, and innovative guitar compositions. In the su...

Jim Morrison (1943-1971) was the lead singer for the rock band The Doors. He is recognized today as one of the most unique, unpredictable, and mysterious front men in the history of rock.In May 196...

Bob Dylan (1941- ) is an American folk singer, songwriter, poet, and social activist who has been a vital influence on many of rock and roll's biggest stars, including Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, Bru...

Grace Slick (1939- ) is a singer-songwriter and classically trained musician who helped launch the band Jefferson Airplane to commercial success with such hits as "Somebody To Love" and "White Rabb...

Janis Joplin (1943-1970) had one of the most exciting––and most tragic––careers in rock. As the raspy-toned lead singer for Big Brother and The Holding Company, and later as...

Stevie Nicks (1948- ) is a vocalist and songwriter who gave the group Fleetwood Mac its signature sound, transforming it from an average band to one of the biggest selling rock groups in history.In...

Sid Vicious (1957-1979) was a drummer for Siouxsie & the Banshees and subsequently, a bassist for the British punk rock group the Sex Pistols, which formed in 1975. Vicious replaced the band's orig...

Prince Rogers Nelson (1958- ), better known by his stage name, Prince, is a rock virtuoso—a singer, songwriter, musician, and actor.Prince first blazed up the pop charts in the early 1980s wi...

Mark David Chapman (1955- ) is the mentally unstable man who assassinated singer-songwriter John Lennon.On the evening of 8 December 1980, Mark David Chapman shot and killed Beatles singer John Len...

Kurt Cobain (1967-1994) was a singer-songwriter and the front man for the band Nirvana. The group's debut album, Nevermind, was a smash hit that ushered in a new trend in rock—coined "grunge"...

Rick Rubin (1963- ) is a punk-rock musician and record producer best known for producing Licensed to Ill (1986), the Beastie Boys' groundbreaking debut album.Rick Rubin is responsible for giving ea...

Perry Ferrell (1959- ) is one of the founding members of the rock group Jane's Addiction, which was first created in the 1980s and has recently disbanded. Ferrell has also been a member of the grou...

Paul McCartney (b. 1942) was a founding member of The Beatles, the most successful rock and roll band in history. Along with John Lennon, the English singer/songwriter McCartney was one of the two...

John Lennon (1940-1980) was one of the founding members and driving artistic force behind The Beatles, the most successful rock and roll band in history. A teenage Lennon founded the band as The Qu...

Mick Jagger (b. 1943) is the lead singer and frontman of The Rolling Stones, one of the most successful and longest-lived acts in rock history. The Rolling Stones—comprised of Jagger, guitari...

Keith Richards (b. 1943) is a founding member and lead guitarist of the Rolling Stones, one of the most successful rock acts in history. Richards and his schoolboy friend Mick Jagger founded the ba...