Carl Lee Perkins was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist who recorded most notably at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, beginning in 1954. Amongst his best-known songs are "Blue Suede Shoes", "Matchbox" and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby".
Vincent Eugene Craddock, known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rock and roll and rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-a-Lula", is considered a significant early example of rockabilly. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He is sometimes referred to by his somewhat unusual nickname/moniker The Screaming End.
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blues, leading to what is considered "classic" rock and roll. Some have also described it as a blend of bluegrass with rock and roll. The term "rockabilly" itself is a portmanteau of "rock" and "hillbilly", the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style. Other important influences on rockabilly include western swing, boogie-woogie, jump blues, and electric blues.
Felice Bryant and Diadorius Boudleaux Bryant were an American husband-and-wife country music and pop songwriting team. They were best known for songs such as "Rocky Top," "We Could", "Love Hurts", and numerous hits by the Everly Brothers, including "All I Have to Do Is Dream", "Bye Bye Love", and "Wake Up Little Susie".
Ray Peterson was an American pop singer who is best remembered for singing "Tell Laura I Love Her."
Jack Henderson Clement was an American singer, songwriter, and record and film producer.
Marshall Edward Lytle was an American rock and roll bassist, best known for his work with the groups Bill Haley & His Comets and The Jodimars in the 1950s. He played upright slap bass on the iconic 1950s rock and roll records "Crazy Man, Crazy", "Shake, Rattle and Roll", and "Rock Around the Clock".
Boyd Byron Bennett was an American rockabilly songwriter and singer.
Clifton E. "Cliff" Gallup was an American rockabilly guitarist. Best known as the lead guitarist for American rockabilly group Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps through the 1950s.
William Owen Bradley was an American musician and record producer who, along with Chet Atkins, Bob Ferguson, Bill Porter, and Don Law, was one of the chief architects of the 1950s and 1960s Nashville sound in country music and rockabilly.
Robert G. Lee Sowell. known as Bobby Sowell, is an American musician, pianist and composer. He spent much of his early years playing rockabilly piano in the late 1950s, playing organ in rock-and-roll bands in the 1960s and playing piano in numerous country music bands from the 1970s to the 1990s. He was a Mid-South Fair winner in 1966 and was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2002. In 1994, he went out as a solo artist. As a pianist and composer, Sowell has recorded eight albums, crossing many genres of music, from jazz, pop, rock and roll, honky tonk and blues to country music, gospel and easy listening.
Roy Kent Head was an American singer, best known for his hit song "Treat Her Right".
John "Ace" Cannon was an American tenor and alto saxophonist. He played and toured with Hi Records stablemate Bill Black's Combo, and started a solo career with his record "Tuff" in 1961, using the Black combo as his backing group. "Tuff" hit #17 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1962, and the follow-up single "Blues " hit #36 that same year. In April 1965, he released Ace Cannon Live ; according to the liner notes by Nick Pesce the album was recorded in front of a live audience inside Hi's recording studio, and Pesce claims this was the first time such an album had ever been recorded.
Claiborne Joseph Cheramie, better known by his stage name Joe Clay, was an American rockabilly musician. He was from Gretna, Louisiana, United States.
Andrew Jackson 'Jack' Rhodes was an American country music producer and songwriter, with songwriting credits on over 625 released songs. Several of his songs became hit records, including "A Satisfied Mind", "Silver Threads and Golden Needles", "Conscience I'm Guilty", "The Waltz of the Angels", "Beautiful Lies", and "Till the Last Leaf Shall Fall". Inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972 (posthumously), he is most recently celebrated as one of the founding fathers of Rockabilly, having written specifically for Gene Vincent and Capitol Records. He was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2009. Jack Rhodes memorabilia is currently on exhibit at the Mineola Historical Museum in Mineola, Texas and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in Nashville.
Hayden Thompson is an American singer, songwriter, and rockabilly musician. He is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
Keith O'Conner Murphy is an American songwriter, singer and recording artist. His contributions to the rockabilly genre of rock and roll music were recognized in 2002 when he was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He is a voting member of the Recording Academy, the organization which awards the Grammys, and a voting member of the CMA Country Music Association.
Robert Neill Morris, known professionally as Colonel Robert Morris, was an American musician, drummer, singer and songwriter. He was also known as "The Man with the Golden Pen".
Eddy M. Melanson started his musical career in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1953. Recipient of the ECMA Stompin' Tom Award, inducted into the Order of the Porcupine Hall of Fame, the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in Nashville as an original Canadian Rockabilly,, and the Nova Scotia Country Music Hall of Fame.
