I Can’t Stop Loving You by Ray Charles Is a popular song written and composed by country singer, songwriter and musician Don Gibson.

Ray Charles Single: The song was covered by Ray Charles in 1962, featured on Charles’ Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, and released as a single. Charles’ version reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962, for five weeks.

This version went to number one on the U.S. R&B and Adult Contemporary charts.[2][3] Billboard ranked it as the No. 2 song for 1962. Charles reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in July 1962, staying for two weeks.

Big Girls Don’t Cry by The Four Season is a song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio and originally recorded by The Four Seasons.

It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 17, 1962, and, like its predecessor “Sherry,” spent five weeks in the top position. The song also made it to number one, for three weeks, on Billboard’s Rhythm and Blues survey.

According to Gaudio, he was dozing off while watching the John Payne/Rhonda Fleming/Ronald Reagan movie Tennessee’s Partner (1955) when he heard Payne’s character slap Fleming in the face. After the slap, Fleming’s character replied, “Big girls don’t cry.” Gaudio wrote the line on a scrap of paper, fell asleep, and wrote the song the next morning

Hey Baby by Bruce Channel is a song written by Margaret Cobb and Bruce Channel, and recorded by Channel in 1961, first released on LeCam Records, a local Fort Worth, Texas label.

After it hit, it was released on Smash Records for national distribution. He co-produced the song with Major Bill Smith (owner of LeCam) and released it on Mercury Records’ Smash label. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, starting the week ending March 10, 1962.

The song features a prominent riff from well-known harmonica player Delbert McClinton, and drums played by Ray Torres. Other musicians on the record included Bob Jones and Billy Sanders on Guitar and Jim Rogers on bass. According to a CNN article from 2002, while touring the UK in 1962 with The Beatles, McClinton met John Lennon and gave him some harmonica tips. Lennon put the lessons to use right away on “Love Me Do” and later “Please Please Me”. Lennon included the song in his jukebox, and it is also featured on the related compilation album.

The song was used in the 1987 hit film Dirty Dancing in the scene where Johnny and Baby dance on top of a tree’s log

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do by Neil Sedaka is a song recorded by Neil Sedaka, and co-written by Sedaka and Howard Greenfield. Sedaka recorded this song twice, in 1962 and 1975, in two vastly different arrangements, and it is considered to be his signature song.

Loco-Motion by Little Eva is a 1962 pop song written by American songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King. “The Loco-Motion” was originally written for Dee Dee Sharp, but Sharp turned the song down.

The song is notable for appearing in the American Top 5 three times, each time in a different decade: in 1962 by the American pop singer Little Eva,(U.S. No. 1); in 1974 by the American band Grand Funk Railroad (U.S. No. 1); and finally in 1988 by the Australian singer Kylie Minogue (U.S. No. 3).

The song is a popular and enduring example of the dance-song genre: much of the lyrics are devoted to a description of the dance itself, usually performed as a type of line dance. However, the song came before the dance.

“The Loco-Motion” was also the second song to reach No. 1 by two different musical acts. The earlier song to do this was “Go Away Little Girl”, also written by Goffin and King. It is one of only nine songs to achieve this feat

He’s a Rebel by The Crystal is a pop/rock song credited to the girl group the Crystals (although actually recorded by the Blossoms), reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in November 1962. Written by Gene Pitney and produced by Phil Spector, it is an example of the Spector-produced girl group sound.

Green Onions by Booker T. and the MG’s is an instrumental composition recorded in 1962 by Booker T. & the M.G.’s. Described as “one of the most popular instrumental rock and soul songs ever”, the tune is twelve-bar blues with a rippling Hammond M3 organ line by Booker T. Jones that he wrote when he was just 17. The guitarist Steve Cropper used a Fender Telecaster on “Green Onions”, as he did on all of the M.G.’s instrumentals.

The track was originally issued in May 1962 on the Volt label (a subsidiary of Stax Records) as the B-side of “Behave Yourself” on Volt 102; it was quickly reissued as the A-side of Stax 127, and it also appeared on the album Green Onions.

According to Cropper, the title is not a marijuana reference; rather, the track is named after the Green Badger’s cat, Green Onions, whose way of walking inspired the riff.

Green Onions” entered the Billboard Hot 100 the week ending August 11, 1962, and peaked at No. 3 the week ending September 29, 1962. The single also made it to No. 1 on the R&B singles chart, for four non-consecutive weeks, an unusual occurrence in that it fell in and out of top spot three times.

It first appeared on the UK Singles Chart on December 15, 1979, following its use in the film Quadrophenia; it peaked at No. 7 on January 26, 1980, and stayed on the chart for 12 weeks.

Johnny Angel by Shelley Fabares is a song written and composed by Lyn Duddy and Lee Pockriss. The song was originally recorded by both Laurie Loman and Georgia Lee, however these two versions were not successful. It first became a popular hit single in 1962 when covered by Shelley Fabares who took it to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. British singer Patti Lynn had a moderate hit with her cover of “Johnny Angel” the same year on the UK Singles Chart.

“Johnny Angel” is the debut pop single by Shelley Fabares. Her cover version of the song was released in 1962 on the Colpix label. The track was the first single taken from Fabares’ debut solo album Shelley!, which was produced and arranged by Stu Phillips.

The single premiered on an episode, “Donna’s Prima Donna” of Fabares’ sitcom, The Donna Reed Show, during the fourth season (episode 20). It also has a sequel song entitled “Johnny Loves Me”, which tells the story of how the girl won Johnny’s heart.

Johnny Angel” hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 7, 1962, during a 15-week run on the chart. It was a number one hit on the Top 100 Best Sellers chart in April 1962 as published by Cashbox. It charted at number one in both Canada and in New Zealand. “Johnny Angel” also peaked at number 41 on the UK Singles chart. It sold over one-million copies and was awarded a gold disc

Do You Love Me by The Contours is a 1962 hit single recorded by The Contours for Motown’s Gordy Records label. Written and produced by Motown CEO Berry Gordy, Jr., “Do You Love Me?” was the Contours’ only Top 40 single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. Notably, the record achieved this feat twice, once in 1962 and again in 1988. A main point of the song is to name the Mashed Potato, The Twist and a variation of the title “I like it like that”, as “You like it like this”, and many other fad dances of the 1960s.

Surfin’ Safari by The Beach Boys is a song by American rock band The Beach Boys, written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love. Released as a single with “409” in June 1962, it peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also appeared on the 1962 album of the same name.

The Beach Boys first recorded the song at World Pacific Studios on February 8, 1962 in what was the band’s second ever recording session. However, the recordings from that session, engineered by Hite Morgan, would ultimately remain unreleased until the late sixties. The only difference instrumentally on this early version as opposed to the officially released version was the presence of Al Jardine on guitar instead of David Marks.

The instrumental track as well as the vocals for the officially released version were recorded at Western Recorders on April 19, 1962. The session, produced by Brian, featured David Marks and Carl Wilson on guitar; Brian Wilson on bass guitar and Dennis Wilson on drums. The song features Mike Love on lead vocals with backing vocals by Brian, Carl & Dennis Wilson and Mike Love. Also recorded during that session were “409”, “Lonely Sea” and “Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring”. This session was recorded and given to Capitol Records as a demo tape. The label was impressed and immediately signed the band to their first major label. “Surfin’ Safari” and “409” would be the band’s first single to be issued under Capitol Records.

The “Surfin’ Safari” single backed with “409” was the band’s second single and the first single to be released on the band’s new label Capitol Records[1] in the United States in June 1962. Originally Capitol Records felt “409” should be the ‘A’ Side, and first promoted the car song (according to Beach Boys biographers Badman, Gaines and Carlin) instead of “Surfin’ Safari”. However, as noted in the booklet to the 1993 CD box set Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys, radio station airplay in Phoenix, Arizona jump-started the B-side into a major nationwide hit (to date no copy of the first Capitol single with “409” as the A side has been discovered). The Billboard issue of July 14, 1962 cited Detroit as the major market of its national “break out”.

The single peaked at the number 14 position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with “409” also charting at number 76, making it the band’s first double-sided hit single. It placed at number 10 on the Cash Box sales chart, and number 5 on UPI’s national weekly survey used by newspapers. According to English pop music statistician Joseph Murrells in The Book of Golden Discs, 1978 edition, it placed number 3 on one of the four major national charts then recognised, probably Variety. Certainly its regional sales backed up these higher placings (than Billboard). As well as its Capitol-record sales in New York, it was No. 1 in Los Angeles, San Diego, Dallas, Minneapolis, Buffalo and Hartford; and top five in Chicago, San Francisco, Phoenix, Tucson, Nashville, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Springfield MASS.

Capitol A&R executive Nick (Nik) Venet, who signed the group and is listed as producer on their first two albums, is quoted in the Steven Gaines book as saying regarding the release that “The biggest order Capitol had from a single market all year [1962] was from New York City – where there was no surfing. It sold approximately nine hundred thousand records, but not enough for a gold.”

In October 1962, the “Surfin’ Safari” single was the first to be released by the band in the United Kingdom. However, given mediocre reviews at best, the single failed to make any impact on the charts. It did qualify as the Beach Boys’ first international chart-topper, however. By the end of September, it had peaked at number seven in Australia’s Music Maker chart — only reaching the Billboard top 20 the following week — then in November spent three weeks at number one in Sweden (both charts cited by contemporary issues of Billboard). In Germany, the World Pacific Studios recording of the song was used as the single release instead of the more well-known version. The single failed to chart.

In January 1970, the World Pacific Studios sessions recording of the song was issued on Trip Records as the B-side of a “Surfin'” single re-issue. The single however failed to make any impact on the charts

Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley is a pop ballad originally recorded by American singer Elvis Presley and published by Gladys Music, Elvis Presley’s publishing company. It was written by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore and George David Weiss. The melody is based on “Plaisir d’amour” (1784), a popular romance by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini (1741–1816). It was featured in Elvis Presley’s 1961 film, Blue Hawaii

Elvis Presley’s version of the song, which topped the British charts in 1962, has appeared in numerous other films, including the 2000 film Coyote Ugly, the 2002 Disney film Lilo & Stitch, the 2016 film The Conjuring 2 and the pilot episode of Sons of Anarchy. Other films that feature the song include Overboard, Honeymoon in Vegas, The Thing Called Love, Was It Something I Said?, Fools Rush In, Love Stinks, Happily Ever After and Blade Runner 2049 . The single is certified by the RIAA as a Platinum record, for US sales in excess of one million copies. In the United States, the Elvis Presley version of the song peaked at number two on the pop chart and went to number one on the Easy Listening chart for six weeks.

During Presley’s late 1960s and 1970s live performances, the song was performed as the show’s finale. Most notably, it was also sung in the live segment of his 1968 NBC television special, and as the closer for his 1973 Global telecast, Aloha from Hawaii. A version with a faster arrangement was used as the closing for Presley’s final TV special, Elvis in Concert.

Sheila by Tommy Roe a song written and recorded by Tommy Roe. The single reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on September 1, 1962, remaining in the top position for two weeks and peaking at number six on the R&B charts.

Roe originally conceived the song as “Frita”, based on a girl from Roe’s high school. The song was auditioned to a record producer from Judd Records, and while response was enthusiastic, it was suggested that the name be changed. By coincidence, Roe’s Aunt Sheila was visiting, which inspired the final title of “Sheila.”

The original version of the song was recorded by Roe for Judd in 1960 (misspelled as “Shelia”) and backed by another original song, “Pretty Girl”. The songs were recorded with his then backing group the Satins and the female vocal group, the Flamingos. The record failed to make an impact on the charts. The song was later featured on the compilation album Whirling with Tommy Roe in 1961, featuring tracks from Al Tornello. It was also included on the compilation, The Young Lovers in 1962.

The ABC recording of the song is done in the style of the Lubbock sound, made popular by Buddy Holly and the Crickets in the late 1950s; the strumming pattern, tempo, and chords (both songs are in the key of A) bear particularly strong resemblance to the Crickets’ “Peggy Sue”; Roe’s vocals are similar to Holly’s. The song became the title track of Tommy Roe’s debut studio album, Sheila in 1962.
The Beatles recorded on 1962 at the Star Club in Hamburg.

The song was also covered by the Greg Kihn Band on their 1981 album RocKihnRoll.

In 1969, Roe was presented by the Recording Industry Association of America with a gold record for accumulated sales of over one million copies

 

Telstar by The Tornados is a 1962 instrumental written and produced by Joe Meek for the English band the Tornados.[2] The track reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in December 1962 (the second British recording to reach No. 1 on that chart in the year, after “Stranger on the Shore” in May), and was also a number one hit in the UK Singles Chart. It was the second instrumental single to hit No. 1 in 1962 on both the US and UK weekly charts.

Background

The record was named after the Telstar communications satellite, which was launched into orbit on 10 July 1962. Written and produced by Joe Meek, it featured either a clavioline or the similar Jennings Clavioline, both keyboard instruments with distinctive electronic sounds. It was recorded in Meek’s studio in a small flat above a shop in Holloway Road, North London. “Telstar” won an Ivor Novello Award and is estimated to have sold at least five million copies worldwide.

“This was one of the first sci-fi-influenced pop songs,” observed Tim Wheeler of Ash. “For its time it was so futuristic and it still sounds pretty weird today. It features Matt Bellamy’s dad George on guitar… You can hear traces of it in Muse. ‘Knights of Cydonia’ was definitely him tipping his hat to his dad.”

Plagiarism claim

A French composer, Jean Ledrut, accused Joe Meek of plagiarism, claiming that the tune of “Telstar” had been copied from “La Marche d’Austerlitz”, a piece from a score that Ledrut had written for the 1960 film Austerlitz. This led to a lawsuit that prevented Meek from receiving royalties from the record during his lifetime, and the issue was not resolved in Meek’s favour until three weeks after his suicide in 1967. Austerlitz was not released in the UK until 1965, and Meek was unaware of the film when the lawsuit was filed in March 1963

Patsy Cline was already a well-known country music singer when she recorded this hit. She picked it as a follow-up to her previous big hit “I Fall to Pieces”. “Crazy was released in late 1961 and immediately became another huge hit for Cline.

It also widened her audience base. It spent 21 weeks on the chart and eventually became one of her signature tunes. Cline’s version is No. 85 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song was written by Hugh Nelson, who met Cline’s husband, Charlie Dick, at Orchid Lounge on Nashville’s Music Row. Cline was not a fan of the song originally, but it eventually grew on her.

This song is by British group Climax which became a major North American hit in early 1972.

It spent three weeks at number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and hit number one on the Cash Box Top 100. It also reached number six on Canada’s RPM 100.

Lead vocals were provided by Sonny Geraci, who also sang lead on “Time Won’t Let Me” by his previous band, The Outsiders. “Precious and Few” had originally been released on Carousel Records earlier in 1971

This song written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield. It was first recorded by Sedaka himself in 1973 and was released as a single in France.

American pop duo Captain & Tennille covered the song in 1975, with instrumental backing by L.A. session musicians from the Wrecking Crew and had a worldwide hit with their version.

The song was covered by Ray Charles in 1962, featured on Charles’ Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, and released as a single. Charles’ version reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962, for five weeks.

This version went to number one on the U.S. R&B and Adult Contemporary charts. Billboard ranked it as the No. 2 song for 1962. Charles reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in July 1962, staying for two weeks.

The Ray Charles version is noted for his saying the words before the last five lines of the song on the final chorus: “Sing the Song, Children”.

Choral backing was provided by The Randy Van Horne Singers. It was ranked No. 164 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and No. 49 on CMT’s “100 Greatest Songs in Country Music”.

The American rock group Chicago released this song on their album Chicago X. It was written and sung by bass guitar player Peter Cetera and released as a single on July 31, 1976. It is also the title of a compilation album released by Columbia Records (Columbia 38590) in 1983.

The single topped the US charts on October 23, 1976, and stayed there for two weeks, making it the first number one hit for the group as well as hitting number one on the Easy Listening charts. It also reached number one in the UK on November 13, 1976, maintaining the position for three weeks.

“If You Leave Me Now” was also Chicago’s biggest hit worldwide, topping the charts in other countries such as Australia. It won Grammy Awards for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) (strings) for arranger Jimmie Haskell and producer James William Guercio and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus. It also received a nomination for Record of the Year. In addition, by August 1978 it had sold 1.4 million copies in the United States alone. It has been certified gold and platinum by the RIAA.

This single was recorded by the soul vocal group, The Chi-Lites and released on Brunswick Records in 1972. Included on the group’s 1972 album A Lonely Man, “Oh Girl” centers on a relationship on the verge of break-up.

The narrator, portrayed by the song’s author Eugene Record, expresses concern that the break-up may prove unbearable for him (“Oh girl/I’d be in trouble if you left me now/’Cause I don’t know where to look for love/I just don’t know how”), while knowing that staying will be no better (“I could save myself a lot of useless tears/Girl I’ve got to get away from here”; “Better be on my way, I can’t stay here”).

“Oh Girl” was the Chi-Lites’ first and only number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at that position in May 1972 for one week. The single also reached the top position of the Billboard R&B Singles chart the following month, remaining in that position for two weeks.[1]Billboard ranked it as the No. 13 song for 1972. In addition, it reached number fourteen on the UK Singles Chart in July 1972.

This song was included on The Flamingos’ debut album Flamingo Serenade. The version by the Flamingos features a prominent reverb effect, creating a dreamy ambience.

This version peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #3 on the R&B charts. Rolling Stone magazine ranked the Flamingos’ version #157 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

This pop ballad was originally recorded by American singer Elvis Presley and published by Gladys Music, Elvis Presley’s publishing company.

It was written by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore and George David Weiss. It was featured in Elvis Presley’s 1961 film, Blue Hawaii.

This song had two versions. A Dunhill label and then a subsequent cover version. The Dunhill label went to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967. This version also reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart. The lead singer on the Mamas & the Papas version was Michelle Phillips. It was the first time that Phillips was given the lead over Cass Elliot.

The song was also included on the group’s 1967 album The Mamas & The Papas Deliver.
The song feature overdubbed instruments that don’t appear on the album versions of the songs, Dedicated to the One I Love used the same mix for both single and album. However, there are differing versions of the song available.

The original single and album releases had a running time of 2:54, and featured a double-tracked lead vocal, as well as a prominent piano track. A shorter version of the song, which the band can be seen lip-synching to on various television shows in the sixties, has a running time of only 2:12, because it omits the only occurrence of the song’s verse, as well as the subsequent chorus, and instead goes straight into the instrumental bridge. In this mix the piano is less prominent and only one of Michelle Phillips’ vocal tracks is audible.

The song became Etta James’ signature song and was the third in a string of successful songs from her Argo Records debut album (Argo LP 4003, mono; LPS 4003, stereo) At Last!.

In April 1961, it became her second number 2 R&B hit single (Argo 5380) and crossed over to pop radio, reaching number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite its modest pop chart standing, the song is well-known and is still played regularly on oldies radio stations. The James version reached the top 40 in Cashbox and Music Vendor.

The B-side, “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” written by Willie Dixon, became a hit for Foghat in 1972, peaking at #83 on the Billboard Hot 100.

This love song written by Paul McCartney to his first wife Linda. The ballad was a number one single and the most successful track from the Paul McCartney and Wings 1973 album Red Rose Speedway.

Aretha Franklin is an American singer–songwriter and musician. Franklin’s church as a child. In 1960, at the age of 18, Franklin embarked on a secular career, recording for Columbia Records but only achieving modest success. Following her signing to Atlantic Records in 1967, Franklin achieved commercial acclaim and success with songs such as “Respect”, “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” and “Think”. These hits and more helped her to gain the title The Queen of Soul by the end of the 1960s decade.

Franklin eventually recorded a total of 112 charted singles on Billboard, including 77 Hot 100 entries, 17 top ten pop singles, 100 R&B entries and twenty number-one R&B singles, becoming the most charted female artist in the chart’s history. Franklin also recorded acclaimed albums such as I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, Lady Soul, Young, Gifted & Black and Amazing Grace before experiencing problems with her record company by the mid-1970s. After her father was shot in 1979, Franklin left Atlantic and signed with Arista Records, finding success with her part in the film The Blues Brothers and with the albums Jump to It and Who’s Zoomin’ Who?

In 1998, Franklin won international acclaim for singing the opera aria “Nessun dorma”, at the Grammys of that year replacing Luciano Pavarotti. Later that same year, she scored her final Top 40 recording with “A Rose Is Still a Rose”. Franklin’s other popular and well known hits include “Rock Steady”, “Something He Can Feel” (from the soundtrack to the 1976 film Sparkle), “Jump to It”, “Freeway of Love”, “Who’s Zoomin’ Who”, “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves”, “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” (with George Michael), “It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be” (with Whitney Houston) and a remake of The Rolling Stones song “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”.
Franklin has won a total of 18 Grammy Awards and is one of the best-selling artists of all time, having sold over 75 million records worldwide.

Franklin has been honored throughout her career including a 1987 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in which she became the first female performer to be inducted. She was inducted to the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. In August 2012, Franklin was inducted into the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Franklin is listed in at least two all-time lists on Rolling Stone magazine, including the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, in which she placed number 9, and the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time in which she placed number 1.

Bob Dylan is an American songwriter, singer, artist, and writer. He has been influential in popular music and culture for more than five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when his songs chronicled social unrest. Early songs such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are a-Changin'” became anthems for the American civil rights and anti-war movements. Leaving behind his initial base in the American folk music revival, his six-minute single “Like a Rolling Stone”, recorded in 1965, enlarged the range of popular music.

Dylan’s lyrics incorporate a wide range of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences. They defied existing pop music conventions and appealed to the burgeoning counterculture. Initially inspired by the performances of Little Richard and the songwriting of Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, and Hank Williams, Dylan has amplified and personalized musical genres. His recording career, spanning more than 50 years, has explored the traditions in American song—from folk, blues, and country to gospel, rock and roll, and rockabilly to English, Scottish, and Irish folk music, embracing even jazz and the Great American Songbook. Dylan performs with guitar, keyboards, and harmonica.

Backed by a changing lineup of musicians, he has toured steadily since the late 1980s on what has been dubbed the Never Ending Tour. His accomplishments as a recording artist and performer have been central to his career, but songwriting is considered his greatest contribution.

Since 1994, Dylan has published six books of drawings and paintings, and his work has been exhibited in major art galleries. As a musician, Dylan has sold more than 100 million records, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time. He has also received numerous awards including eleven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award. Dylan has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Minnesota Music Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and Songwriters Hall of Fame.

The Pulitzer Prize jury in 2008 awarded him a special citation for “his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.” In May 2012, Dylan received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. In October 2016, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the second to receive this honor for songwriting.

Elvis Presley was an American singer and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as “the King of Rock and Roll”, or simply, “the King”.

Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, as a twinless twin—his brother was stillborn. When he was 13 years old, he and his family relocated to Memphis, Tennessee. His music career began there in 1954, when he recorded a song with producer Sam Phillips at Sun Records. Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, Presley was an early popularizer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country music and rhythm and blues. RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, who managed the singer for more than two decades.

Presley’s first RCA single, “Heartbreak Hotel”, was released in January 1956 and became a number-one hit in the United States. He was regarded as the leading figure of rock and roll after a series of successful network television appearances and chart-topping records. His energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines that coincided with the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement, made him enormously popular—and controversial.

In November 1956, he made his film debut in Love Me Tender. In 1958, he was drafted into military service. He resumed his recording career two years later, producing some of his most commercially successful work before devoting much of the 1960s to making Hollywood films and their accompanying soundtrack albums, most of which were critically derided.

In 1968, following a seven-year break from live performances, he returned to the stage in the acclaimed televised comeback special Elvis, which led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and a string of highly profitable tours. In 1973, Presley was featured in the first globally broadcast concert via satellite, Aloha from Hawaii. Several years of prescription drug abuse severely damaged his health, and he died in 1977 at the age of 42.

Presley is one of the most celebrated and influential musicians of the 20th century. Commercially successful in many genres, including pop, blues and gospel, he is the best-selling solo artist in the history of recorded music, with estimated record sales of around 600 million units worldwide.He won three Grammys, also receiving the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

John Lennon was an English singer and songwriter who co-founded the Beatles (1960-70), the most commercially successful band in the history of popular music.

With fellow member Paul McCartney, he formed a celebrated songwriting partnership.

Born and raised in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager; his first band, the Quarrymen, evolved into the Beatles in 1960. When the group disbanded in 1970, Lennon embarked on a solo career that produced the albums John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, and songs such as “Give Peace a Chance”, “Working Class Hero”, and “Imagine”. After his marriage to Yoko Ono in 1969, he changed his name to John Ono Lennon. Lennon disengaged himself from the music business in 1975 to raise his infant son Sean, but re-emerged with Ono in 1980 with the new album Double Fantasy. He was murdered three weeks after its release.

Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, writing, drawings, on film and in interviews. Controversial through his political and peace activism, he moved to Manhattan in 1971, where his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a lengthy attempt by Richard Nixon’s administration to deport him, while some of his songs were adopted as anthems by the anti-war movement and the larger counterculture.

Ray Charles was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and composer. Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called “Brother Ray”. He was often referred to as “The Genius”. Charles was blind from the age of seven.

He pioneered the genre of soul music during the 1950s by combining blues, rhythm and blues, and gospel styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic Records.

He also contributed to the integration of country and rhythm and blues and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, most notably with his two Modern Sounds albums.While he was with ABC, Charles became one of the first African-American musicians to be granted artistic control by a mainstream record company.

Sam Cooke was an American singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. Influential as both a singer and composer, he is commonly known as the King of Soul for his distinctive vocals and importance within popular music.

His pioneering contributions to soul music contributed to the rise of Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Billy Preston, and popularized the likes of Otis Redding and James Brown. AllMusic biographer Bruce Eder wrote that Cooke was “the inventor of soul music”, and possessed “an incredible natural singing voice and a smooth, effortless delivery that has never been surpassed”.

Cooke had 30 U.S. top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964, plus three more posthumously. Major hits like “You Send Me”, “A Change Is Gonna Come”, “Cupid”, “Chain Gang”, “Wonderful World”, “Another Saturday Night”, and “Twistin’ the Night Away” are some of his most popular songs.

Cooke was also among the first modern black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career. He founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. He also took an active part in the Civil Rights Movement.

On December 11, 1964, at the age of 33, Cooke was shot and killed by Bertha Franklin, the manager of the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles, California. After an inquest, the courts ruled Cooke’s death to be a justifiable homicide. Since that time, the circumstances of his death have been called into question by Cooke’s family.

Karen Carpenter was an American singer and drummer. She and her brother, Richard Carpenter, formed the 1970s duo The Carpenters. Although her skills as a drummer earned admiration from drumming luminaries and peers, she is best known for her vocal performances. She had a contralto vocal range.

Carpenter suffered from anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder about which little was known at the time. She died at age 32 from heart failure caused by complications related to her illness. Carpenter’s death led to increased visibility and awareness of eating disorders.

Marvin Gaye was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Gaye helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo artist with a string of hits, including “Ain’t That Peculiar”, “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, and duet recordings with Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Diana Ross and Tammi Terrell, later earning the titles “Prince of Motown” and “Prince of Soul”.

During the 1970s, he recorded the concept albums What’s Going On and Let’s Get It On and became one of the first artists in Motown to break away from the reins of their production company.

Gaye’s later recordings influenced several contemporary R&B subgenres, such as quiet storm and neo soul. Following a period in Europe as a tax exile in the early 1980s, Gaye released the 1982 Grammy Award-winning hit “Sexual Healing” and its parent album Midnight Love.

On April 1, 1984, Gaye’s father, Marvin Gay Sr., fatally shot him at their house in the West Adams district of Los Angeles. Since his death, many institutions have posthumously bestowed Gaye with awards and other honors—including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Paul McCartney is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. With John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, he gained worldwide fame with the rock band the Beatles, one of the most popular and influential groups in the history of pop music. His songwriting partnership with Lennon is one of the most celebrated of the 20th century. After the band’s break-up, he pursued a solo career and formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda, and Denny Laine.

McCartney has been recognised as one of the most successful composers and performers of all time. More than 2,200 artists have covered his Beatles song “Yesterday”, more than any other copyrighted song in history. Wings’ 1977 release “Mull of Kintyre” is one of the all-time best-selling singles in the UK.

A two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of the Beatles in 1988, and as a solo artist in 1999), and a 21-time Grammy Award winner, McCartney has written, or co-written, 32 songs that have reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and as of 2009 he has 25.5 million RIAA-certified units in the United States. McCartney, Lennon, Harrison and Starr all received The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1965, and in 1997, McCartney was knighted for services to music.
McCartney has released an extensive catalogue of songs as a solo artist and has composed classical and electronic music.

He has taken part in projects to promote international charities related to such subjects as animal rights, seal hunting, land mines, vegetarianism, poverty, and music education. He has married three times and is the father of five children.

Otis Redding was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, and talent scout. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. His singing style influenced many other soul artists of the 1960s. During his lifetime, his recordings were produced by Stax Records, based in Memphis, Tennessee, and exemplify the sound of Stax.

Born and raised in the US state of Georgia, Redding quit school at age 15 to support his family, working with Little Richard’s backing band, the Upsetters, and performing at talent shows for prize money. In 1958, he joined Johnny Jenkins’s band, the Pinetoppers, with whom he toured the Southern states as a singer and driver. An unscheduled appearance on a Stax recording session led to a contract and his first single, “These Arms of Mine,” in 1962. Stax released Redding’s debut album, Pain in My Heart, two years later.

Initially popular mainly with African-Americans, Redding later reached a wider American pop music audience. Along with his group, he first played small gigs in the American South. He later performed at the popular Los Angeles night club Whisky a Go Go and toured Europe, performing in London, Paris and other major cities. He also performed at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.
Shortly before his death in a plane crash, Redding wrote and recorded his iconic “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” with Steve Cropper. The song became the first posthumous number-one record on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts. The album The Dock of the Bay was the first posthumous album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart.

Redding’s premature death devastated Stax. Already on the verge of bankruptcy, the label soon discovered that Atlantic Records owned the rights to his entire song catalog.

Redding received many posthumous accolades, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In addition to “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay,” “Respect” and “Try a Little Tenderness” are among his best-known songs.

Grace Slick is an American singer-songwriter, musician, artist, and former model. She is widely known in rock and roll history for her role in San Francisco’s burgeoning psychedelic music scene in the mid-1960s.

Her career spanned all or parts of four decades, most notably with the bands Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship.

She started with The Great Society and also had stints as a solo performer. Slick provided the lead vocals on a number of signature songs of such bands including the “flower power era-psychedelic rock” Airplane themes “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit”.

Two decades later, Slick became (at 47) the oldest female vocalist to reach the number one position on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, this time with the Starship signature new wave/pop-influenced songs “We Built This City” and “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”.

Jim Morrison was an American singer, songwriter, and poet best remembered as the lead singer of the Doors.

Because of his songwriting, wild personality, performances, and the dramatic circumstances surrounding his life and death, he is regarded by critics and fans as one of the most iconic and influential frontmen in rock music history. In the later part of the 20th century, he was one of the popular culture’s most rebellious and oft-displayed icons, representing the generation gap and youth counterculture.

He was also well known for improvising spoken word poetry passages while the band played live. Morrison was ranked number 47 on Rolling Stone’s list of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time”, and number 22 on Classic Rock magazine’s “50 Greatest Singers In Rock”.

Ray Manzarek said Morrison “embodied hippie counterculture rebellion”. Morrison was sometimes referred to by other nicknames, such as “Lizard King” and “King of Orgasmic Rock”.

Morrison developed an alcohol dependency during the 1960s, which affected his performances on stage. He died at the age of 27 in Paris, apparently from an accidental heroin overdose. No autopsy was performed, and the exact cause of Morrison’s death is still disputed. Morrison is interred at Père Lachaise Cemetery in eastern Paris.

James Brown was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer and bandleader.The founding father of funk music and a major figure of 20th century popular music and dance, he is often referred to as the “Godfather of Soul”. In a career that spanned six decades, he influenced the development of several music genres.

Brown began his career as a gospel singer in Toccoa, Georgia. He joined an R&B vocal group, the Gospel Starlighters (which later evolved into the Flames), in which he was the lead singer.

First coming to national public attention in the late 1950s as a member of the singing group The Famous Flames with the hit ballads “Please, Please, Please” and “Try Me”, Brown built a reputation as a tireless live performer with the Famous Flames and his backing band, sometimes known as the James Brown Band or the James Brown Orchestra.

His success peaked in the 1960s with the live album Live at the Apollo and hit singles such as “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”, “I Got You (I Feel Good)” and “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World”.

During the late 1960s he moved from a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly “Africanized” approach to music-making that influenced the development of funk music. By the early 1970s, Brown had fully established the funk sound after the formation of the J.B.s with records such as “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine” and “The Payback”. He also became noted for songs of social commentary, including the 1968 hit “Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud”. Brown continued to perform and record until his death from congestive heart failure in 2006.

Brown recorded 16 singles that reached number one on the Billboard R&B charts. He also holds the record for the most singles listed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart which did not reach number one. Brown has received honors from many institutions, including inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame. In Joel Whitburn’s analysis of the Billboard R&B charts from 1942 to 2010, James Brown is ranked as number one in The Top 500 Artists.

He is ranked seventh on the music magazine Rolling Stone’s list of its 100 greatest artists of all time. Rolling Stone has also cited Brown as the most sampled artist of all time.

Little Richard is an American musician singer and songwriter. An influential figure in popular music and culture for more than six decades, Little Richard’s most celebrated work dates from the mid-1950s, when his dynamic music and charismatic showmanship laid the foundation for rock and roll.

His music also played a key role in the formation of other popular music genres, including soul and funk. Little Richard influenced numerous singers and musicians across musical genres from rock to hip hop; his music helped shape rhythm and blues for generations to come, and his performances and headline-making thrust his career right into the mix of American popular music.

Little Richard has been honored by many institutions. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of its first group of inductees in 1986. He was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

He is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti” (1955) was included in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2010, which stated that his “unique vocalizing over the irresistible beat announced a new era in music.” In 2015, the National Museum of African American Music [1] honored Little Richard with a Rhapsody & Rhythm Award for his pivotal role in the formation of popular music genres and in helping to shatter the color line on the music charts, changing American culture significantly