Little Richard was the bridge between R&B and what--with his help--would come to be known as rock & roll. With the energetic one-two punch of "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally" in 1955, Richard became a chart-topping hit-maker. His pounding piano, …

Many would agree that without Chuck Berry, there would not have been rock 'n' roll. Berry's 1955 debut single, "Maybellene," was an energetic smash hit, and led to a slew of successful late-'50s songs. Influencing such future big names as the Beatles…

"Before Elvis, there was nothing," John Lennon once said. An overstatement, of course, but Elvis Presley's ascendance to superstardom in the mid-1950s kicked off a musical and social revolution whose impact has yet to abate. After the charming young …

Part good ol' boy, part rockabilly rebel, Buddy Holly was one of the most innovative and influential of 1950s rockers, both on his own and as a member of the Crickets, rock's first truly self-contained combo. Originally rooted in country music, Holly…

The illustrious career of the Coasters, the pre-eminent vocal group of the early rock 'n' roll era, was built on a remarkable body of cleverly comic R&B songs for Atco Records fashioned by their producers, Leiber And Stoller. Under their direction, t…

Owing as much to 1950s wrestling bad guy Gorgeous George as he did to Elvis Presley, rock's original wildman didn't so much play rock & roll as he played Jerry Lee Lewis. A powerful honky-tonk pianist and singer, Lewis is that rare breed of star whos…

One of the leading R&B vocal groups of the 50s, they were the first black group to be accepted as a major chart act and, for a short time, were the most successful vocal group in the world. The Platters were formed in Los Angeles in 1953 by entrepren…

These two brothers from Kentucky are the bridge between the assorted familial harmonizers of the country radio show era and the rock & roll of the '60s. Their sterling singing adapted well to the changing styles of four different decades. They were i…

One of the best-known and best-loved R&B vocal groups of all-time, The Drifters were blessed with some great lead singers (Clyde McPhatter & Ben E. King), great songwriters (Leiber & Stoller, Pomus & Shuman) and great producers (Phil Spector, Bert Be…

New Orleans pianist Henry Byrd, known to the world at large as Professor Longhair, or just "'Fess," was a vital bridge between jazz, rock & roll, and rhythm & blues in the middle of the 20th century. An interpreter, stylist, and innovator, he's a pri…

There are few musicians in modern pop music who can truly be called "genius," but in the case of Ray Charles, the term applies. His innovative singing, drawing on both gospel and pop, has inspired legions of great singers. With a long, prolific recor…

Rockabilly pioneer Carl Perkins emerged in the 1950s around the same time as Elvis Presley, with a similar blend of country and R&B. He was denied Elvis-level fame due to poor timing, bad breaks, and a relative lack of the sex appeal that aided Presl…

A self-proclaimed man among men (and deservedly so), singer/guitarist Bo Diddley is still the only musician in history to have a beat named after him. Diddley's raunchy, distorted 1950s sound and African-derived rhythm have been an enormous influence…

Trumpeter/vocalist Louis Armstrong is perhaps the single most influential artist in the history of jazz. He started out in the "hot" bands of 1920s New Orleans, and was one of the first to introduce solo improvisation into the jazz idiom. Over the ne…

In his brief yet luminous career, Sam Cooke made perhaps a dozen recordings that were milestones of soul, and laid the groundwork for most of the R&B-related music that would dominate the charts for decades afterward. Cooke's signature sound fused th…

Cutting his teeth on New Orleans session work while still a teen in the 1950s, pianist and singer Dr. John (born Mac Rebennack) emerged in the late 1960s with GRIS-GRIS, a blend of snaky rhythms, Crescent City funk, and swampland voodoo flair. Since …

b. 9 March 1933, Kenner, Louisiana, USA. Price, who launched his career in the early 50s performing rocking R&B, New Orleans-style, was - like his Crescent City compatriot Fats Domino - made for the rock 'n' roll era. He did not have to modify his ap…

Rockabilly god Gene Vincent only had one major hit--the epochal "Be-Bop-A-Lula"--but he nevertheless helped to define the genre, with his hiccuping vocals, hard-edged tone, and the backing of his deservedly legendary band the Blue Caps. Many of Vince…

Bronx-born singer and songwriter Bobby Darin was always a man who bucked convention. Though he started out writing and singing rock & roll hits such as "Splish Splash" in the 1950s, he stood out from the crowd in the '60s as a post-Sinatra crooner. B…