Curated playlist
African-American rock musicians
- Prince (musician)Prince once changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol to protest his record label.
- Little RichardLittle Richard walked away from rock and roll to study theology. A fireball over Sydney in 1957 shook him.
- Sam CookeSam Cooke walked into a recording session and began singing Gershwin. His label's head, Art Rupe, was furious.
- James BrownJames Brown pointed out band members' wrong notes with hand signals.
- George Clinton (funk musician)George Clinton says a flying metallic object once hit his car. The funk musician was riding with Bootsy Collins.
- Ray CharlesRay Charles Robinson, known to the world as Ray Charles, carried two nicknames that pulled in different directions. Contemporaries called him "The Genius." Among friends and fellow musicians, he preferred to be called "Brother Ray." Frank…
- Slash (musician)Slash, the guitarist born Saul Hudson in Hampstead, London, on the 23rd of July 1965, owes his famous name to a restless child. The actor Seymour Cassel gave him the nickname because the boy was "always in a hurry, zipping around from one…
- Tom MorelloTom Morello, the American guitarist behind Rage Against the Machine, once made an entire festival crowd listen to nothing but noise. At Lollapalooza in 1993, his band walked onstage naked. Their mouths were covered with duct tape, and…
- Lenny KravitzLenny Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance four years in a row, from 1999 to 2002. That run broke the record for wins in the category. It also set a record for consecutive wins in one category by a male…
- Bo DiddleyBo Diddley ignored his orders on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1955. Asked for "Sixteen Tons", he played his own hit.
- Billy PrestonBilly Preston got his name on a Beatles single. The 1969 "Get Back" was credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston."