Curtis Mayfield (1996)

“It isn’t every day a 54-year-old quadriplegic records a record….”   There are comeback stories. And then there’s Curtis Mayfield’s comeback story. In mid-August, 1990, he was about to perform at an outdoor concert at an athletic field in Brooklyn. The opening act, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, had finished their set. Mayfield, guitar […]

Ben E. King (1987)

“I’ve come to accept that ‘Stand By Me’ is my secret key to survival…” In early 1987 Ben E. King – who died April 30 at 76 – was enjoying an entirely unexpected return to the upper reaches of the pop charts. The original recording of his 1961 song “Stand By Me” had become a […]

Scotty Moore

“I didn’t get rich, but it was better than picking cotton…”     We can debate who invented rock and roll, but there is no question that it was Elvis Presley who turned it into an earth shaking phenomenon. He also did something equally revolutionary at the same time: He made the guitar the most […]