Who's Missing from RRHoF

[rick]

From Cleveland.com


Cleveland (home of Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame) weighs in on who is missing now

[erik]

Certainly the list should start with the three they mentioned right off the top--to wit, Peter Asher, Glen Campbell (albeit a bit too late [IMHO]), and Carol Kaye.

[sliderocker]

Campbell and Kaye certainly should be in the hall. They played on so many hit records in the 50s and 60s - their guitars and basses were essential soundtracks of the 60s. Campbell said at one time he thought he had played on almost 800 songs that were hits in the rock genre alone. That's an astounding number. Kaye, likewise, the number of songs she played on probably totals in the thousands. As for Peter Asher, while I would favor him getting in as part of Peter and Gordon, his more impressive credits are as a producer and manager and as A&R rep for a brief time at Apple. It was at Apple that he found and signed James Taylor. Excepting for Mary Hopkin, Billy Preston and Badfinger, artists signed to Apple never made that much of an impact as recording artists, and even fame was a short term run for Mary, Billy and Badfinger. But, it would be nice to see all three get in.

Same for Mary and Ginger Holliday, who sang back up for a who's who of rock. The sisters provided backing vocals for Linda Ronstadt on record and on tour and they backed Elvis on his American Sound sessions and the 1975 "Today" sessions, for which they were given credit for their vocals on the back cover and label of the "Today" album. Up to that time, they were the only female backing performers to ever receive a credit on an Elvis studio album. I don't know if they have ever thought about writing a book of their memories, but one of the sisters compiled a log of every artist she and her sister backed and all the sessions they provided the backing vocals on. They might have some interesting stories to tell.

[erik]

Quote by sliderocker re. Glen Campbell:

Campbell said at one time he thought he had played on almost 800 songs that were hits in the rock genre alone. That's an astounding number.

And most likely true. If it were up to me, his own recording career should be considered in its total context, and be inducted in that fashion. I doubt they'll do that, though, because on his own, GC was considered by critics to be too middle-of-the-road and, at other times, "too country" (once more, the same mentality of country music being a bastard stepchild in the birth of rock and roll that I think was one of the reasons it took them so long to induct Linda). Still, an honor of any kind for Glen Campbell would be totally justified.

Now, here is another suggestion for RRHOF potentates to consider:

ROY HAMILTON.

During the dawn of the rock and roll era, in 1954 and '55, Roy became one of the first true R&B/rock ballad singers in his memorable recordings of songs such as "Hurt", "Ebb Tide", the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic "You'll Never Walk Alone". and....wait for it..."Unchained Melody". His influence spread across the decades to include people like Jackie Wilson, the Righteous Brothers, and, most importantly, Elvis himself. In fact, Elvis got to talk to Roy when the two of them were recording at Chips Moman's American Studios in Memphis in January 1969, and the two clearly had a long-standing friendship, to the point where Elvis even offered Roy a song that he himself had intended to record, "Angelica", written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Roy did indeed record that song. Sadly, however, it was one of the last things he'd ever record. Six months later, on July 20, 1969, Roy would be hit by a massive stroke in New Rochelle, New York that killed him almost instantly, and he was only 40 years old.

If we are to induct artists from rock's earliest days that haven't yet gotten in, Roy Hamilton would be my first choice, hands down.