Defining Moments and Legends of Early Rock and Roll History

Major Record Labels and Founders

• Decca: Major international label featuring both Buddy Holly and Bill Haley.
• RCA: Major international label that purchased Elvis Presley's contractual rights in 1955.
• Sun: Memphis-based independent label that originally signed Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins.
• Atlantic: New York-based independent label featuring Ray Charles, Ruth Brown, The Coasters, and The Drifters.
• Chess: Chicago-based independent label featuring Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Bo Diddley.

Record Label Founders

• Sam Phillips: Founder of Sun Records.
• Ahmet Ertegun: Co-founder of Atlantic Records.
• Berry Gordy, Jr.: Founder of Motown Records.

Key Figures, Producers, and Innovators

Managers, Promoters, and DJs

• Alan Freed: The disc jockey who first coined the term "Rock and Roll."
• "Colonel" Tom Parker: Elvis Presley's manager.
• Ed Sullivan: During a 1956 TV broadcast, he demanded that Elvis be filmed only from the waist up.
• Dick Clark: Rock's first superpromoter and host of American Bandstand.

Producers and Songwriters

• Phil Spector: Producer known for his "Wall of Sound" technique.
• Smokey Robinson: An influential singer/songwriter with Motown.
• Don Kirshner: Head of Aldon Music in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
• Brian Wilson: Creative genius of The Beach Boys.

Guitar Innovation Pioneers

• Leo Fender: Mass-produced the first electric guitars.
• Les Paul: Designed and used the prototype of the first electric guitar.
• Duane Eddy: Developed the twangy "surf" guitar sound in the late 1950s.

Pioneering Artists and Genre Styles

• Ma Rainey: Widely believed to be the first blues singer.
• Nat "King" Cole: This R&B/pop "crooner" was beaten on stage by white supremacists in 1956.
• Pat Boone: He was the most successful "cover" artist of early Rock and Roll.
• Fabian: An Italian-American teen idol of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Genre Classifications

• Big Joe Turner: Jump Blues/R&B
• Fats Domino: New Orleans R&B
• Robert Johnson: Delta Blues
• Bill Haley: Rockabilly
• Howlin' Wolf: Chicago "Electric" Blues

Defining Songs of Early Rock and Roll

• Buddy Holly and the Crickets: "Peggy Sue"
• Little Richard: "Tutti Frutti"
• Jerry Lee Lewis: "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On"
• Fats Domino: "Ain't That a Shame"
• Elvis Presley: "Heartbreak Hotel"
• Muddy Waters: "I Got My Mojo Workin'"
• Chuck Berry: "Maybelline"
• The Everly Brothers: "Bye, Bye Love"
• Bill Haley and The Comets: "Rock Around the Clock"
• Louis Jordan: "Caldonia"
• Hank Ballard: Wrote the original version of "The Twist."

Career-Altering Events and Scandals

• Little Richard: Renounced Rock and Roll to go into the ministry.
• Chuck Berry: Was jailed for taking a 14-year-old girl across state lines for immoral purposes.
• Carl Perkins: His career was severely impacted by a severe auto accident in 1956.
• Elvis Presley: Drafted into the US Army.
• Buddy Holly: Died in a small-plane crash in 1959.
• Jerry Lee Lewis: Scandalized for marrying his 13-year-old third cousin.

The Payola Scandal

The payola bribery scandal of the late 1950s destroyed the career of which Rock and Roll icon? Alan Freed.