This sculpture is dedicated to the many individuals whose efforts made Muscle Shoals and the Muscle Shoals area the “Hit Recording Capital of the World,” and to those who continue that legacy.
Legend of the Singing River
The . . . — — Map (db m167279) HM
Known as the "Father of Rock and Roll,"
Sam Phillips established Sun Records in 1952, helping Elvis Presley and other well-known artists launch their careers. He received a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement in music. — — Map (db m219189) HM
Nat King Cole was a jazz pianist, composer, and singer celebrated as an American popular music artist in the 1940s and 1950s.
He was born March 17, 1919 in Montgomery, Alabama as one of five children to Edward James Coles, a minister at Beulah . . . — — Map (db m71228) HM
In 1943, Morris Berger opened his legendary Plantation Inn
nightclub on this site in a former West Memphis gambling hall.
Billed as having the largest dance floor in the South, it became an
electrifying live-music destination for the region until . . . — — Map (db m221350) HM
Woodrow Wilson (“Woody") Guthrie (1912-1967),
composer of "This Land is Your Land,” arrived in
Los Angeles in 1937 along with thousands of other
migrant workers and families from the “Dust Bowl”
region. Guthrie hosted a popular radio show on . . . — — Map (db m131321) HM
[Plaque on sculpture along 20th Street]
A Celebration of Chuck Brown
(1936-2012)
The fundamental force behind Go-Go music -- Using music, story-telling, and rhythm to help create a culture of inclusion and participation in . . . — — Map (db m130826) HM
[South side]Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1915-1973)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, known as the "Godmother of Rock and Roll", broke race and gender barriers with her genre-bending gospel music and guitar prowess. Initially . . . — — Map (db m152182) HM
Special thanks to The Berwyn Public Library, Berwyn Historical Society, and our FitzGerald's fam for helping pull this together!
1919 • Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
First KNOWN appearance of the clubs. Still searching for the original . . . — — Map (db m272029) HM
Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong
Jazz Musician
1898 - 1971
One of the most gifted musicians in the history of jazz,
Louis Armstrong spent his most inventive years—1925
to 1929—playing the clubs of Chicago’s Black Belt,
especially the . . . — — Map (db m180936) HM
Nat "King" Cole
Musician
1919 - 1965
Nat "King" Cole's warm, relaxed, velvety
voice made him a best-selling recording
star. His 1949 hit "Mona Lisa" sold more
than three million copies, and in 1956 he
became the first . . . — — Map (db m180615) HM
McKinley Morganfield "Muddy Waters"
Blues musician
1915 - 1983
Nicknamed for the puddles he played in while
growing up in Mississippi, Muddy Waters learned
harmonica and guitar while working as a
sharecropper. He came to . . . — — Map (db m188336) HM
Billy Strayhorn
Gay U.S. Composer, Arranger and Pianist
(1915 - 1967)
“If you want something hard enough, it just gets done.”
- Billy Strayhorn
Billy Strayhorn studied music at the Pittsburgh Music Institute. While . . . — — Map (db m185620) HM
COLE PORTER
Gay American Composer
(1893 – 1964)
Cole Porter remains one of America's all-time greatest composers and songwriters
one of the few who wrote both the lyrics and the music. His hits include the
musical comedies the . . . — — Map (db m180700) HM
Benny Goodman
1909–1986
Musician
Benny Goodman, premier jazz clarinetist, band
leader and composer, enjoyed a career that spanned
seven decades.
The Goodman family settled at 1125 South Francisco
Avenue when Benny was eight. . . . — — Map (db m187766) HM
Mahalia Jackson
Gospel singer
1911 - 1972
One of thousands of black Southerners to move north
during the Great Migration, Mahalia Jackson arrived in
Chicago in 1927, bringing with her the rich tradition of
New Orleans gospel . . . — — Map (db m188245) HM
The Nineteenth Century Club, established in 1891 by bold visionary women, built this space in 1928 to promote their mission as an educational, charitable and civic center. Today this Landmark building serves as a nonprofit community center and a . . . — — Map (db m235585) HM
Maud Powell's devotion to her violin, her art and humanity made her one of America's most revered and beloved musicians. The great-hearted artist believed strongly that “nothing was ever accomplished without faith and enthusiasm”. Her love for her . . . — — Map (db m185186) HM
Miles Dewey Davis III is noted as one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century. The son of a successful dental surgeon and music teacher, he was born in Alton, Illinois prior to the family relocating to East St. Louis, Illinois . . . — — Map (db m144775) HM
Innovative, self-taught jazz guitarist “Wes” Montgomery was born in Indianapolis. He began performing in clubs along Indiana Avenue, a Black cultural hub for the city, in the 1940s. He lived in a house near here on Cornell Avenue, later razed for . . . — — Map (db m250684) HM
John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (1923-1968) was one of Indianapolis' elite jazz musicians. Montgomery began playing in the bars along Indiana Avenue and was an active improviser. He played in a vast range of styles despite having no formal musical . . . — — Map (db m132742) HM
Born in Indianapolis on March 6, 1923, Wes Montgomery was part of a musical family and first performed in local clubs and regional jazz venues. He and his brothers, Buddy and Monk, were a popular musical trio. Wes Montgomery eventually became . . . — — Map (db m132825) HM
In 1923 jazz legend Louis Armstrong made his first recordings in Richmond for the Gennett label as a member of King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band.
Donated in memory of Henry Gennett, second president of Starr Piano, Inc., by Brian Henry Martin, sixth . . . — — Map (db m221898) HM
The musical score resounds the spirit of “River City,” a tribute to the community of Mason City from the creator-composer. Meredith Willson May 18, 1902 – June 15, 1984 ”May the good Lord bless and keep you.” A . . . — — Map (db m162292) HM
Shenandoahans have a rich and unusual musical tradition.
The city boasted a fine opera house, built in 1881, and Western Normal College offered a degree in music in 1889. Shenandoah schools also offered fine vocal and instrumental music . . . — — Map (db m87653) HM
"The Mark Twain of American songwriting."
- Rolling Stone Magazine (2017)
Singer, songwriter, poet, icon. John Prine was an artist's artist with a list of admirers and collaborators that cut across musical . . . — — Map (db m290173) HM
The Hits
All I Have to Do Is Dream 💿 Born Yesterday 💿 Bye Bye Love 💿 Claudette 💿 Devoted to You 💿 Ebony Eyes 💿 Kentucky 💿 Love Is Strange 💿 Don't Blame Me 💿 Bird Dog . . . — — Map (db m290174) HM
Jerry Lee Lewis, aka The Killer, was born in 1935, in Ferriday, LA, where he began playing piano in his youth with his cousins, Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart. He grew up listening to broadcasts of the Louisiana Hayride and Grand Ole Opry on the . . . — — Map (db m104041) HM
Buddy Guy was born July 30, 1936. in Lettsworth, Louisiana.
He worked at LSU facilities services department before
leaving to pursue a music career. On September 25, 1957
he boarded a train in New Orleans, Louisiana and arrived
in Chicago to . . . — — Map (db m127815) HM
Buddy Guy was born July 30, 1936. in Lettsworth, Louisiana. He worked at LSU facilities services department before leaving to pursue a music career. On September 25, 1957 he boarded a train in New Orleans, Louisiana and arrived in Chicago to play . . . — — Map (db m174166) HM
George “Buddy” Guy, one of the most dazzling performers in blues history, was born here in Lettsworth on July 30, 1936. His primary influences included local Louisiana musicians and many more who were born across the river in Mississippi, including . . . — — Map (db m127700) HM
In the early 1960’s, he was “Little Stevie Wonder,” a Motown prodigy enrolled at the Michigan School for the Blind. As a young adult, the Saginaw native began writing songs and producing records independently. He said, “When creating music, you . . . — — Map (db m103931) HM
(side 1) World-renowned harmonica virtuoso Charlie Musselwhite was born in Kosciusko on January 31, 1944. His great uncle, Lamar Coalson, once owned the store that occupied this site. Musselwhite began playing in Memphis and rose to . . . — — Map (db m130064) HM
Front
Rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm & blues pioneer Ike Turner began his career playing blues and boogie woogie piano in Clarksdale. Turner was born less than a mile south-west of this site, at 304 Washington Avenue in the Riverton . . . — — Map (db m90041) HM
A native of Ferriday, Louisiana, Jerry Lee
Lewis started his musical career in nearby
Natchez, and in 1973 established the Lewis
Ranch here in Nesbit. Lewis' 1956 rock 'n' roll
classics "Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On and
“Great Balls of Fire" . . . — — Map (db m170372) HM
~Front~ Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson, a native of Jackson, is known for her broad explorations of various forms of music, including the blues. Her recordings include versions of songs by Delta blues artists Robert . . . — — Map (db m72134) HM
Front
Bobby Rush, a Louisiana native who lived for decades in Chicago, earned the title “king of the chitlin circuit” after relocating to Jackson in the early 1980s. Rush's distinctive “folk funk” style, featured . . . — — Map (db m109296) HM
Lafayette County’s blues history has encompassed a wide range of activity by scholars, promoters, record companies, and musicians. The nightlife of Oxford has welcomed both local performers and national touring acts. The most famous musician . . . — — Map (db m102876) HM
The long and remarkable life of B.B. King began near this site, where he was born Riley B. King on September 16, 1925. His parents, Albert and Nora Ella King, were sharecroppers who lived in a simple home southeast of here along Bear Creek. After . . . — — Map (db m173997) HM
Front
Roebuck “Pops” Staples, one of the foremost figures in American gospel music as a singer, guitarist, and patriarch of the Staple Singers family group, was born on a farm near Winona on December 28, 1914. Staples began playing . . . — — Map (db m90019) HM
[Front]
A native of Philadelphia, Marty Gamblin began his long career in the music business through booking bands while still in high school. He later worked closely with Mississippi songwriter/performer Jim Weatherly, and ran Glen . . . — — Map (db m140736) HM
The blues form reached both artistic and emotional peaks in the works of Otis Rush, who was born south of Philadelphia in Neshoba County in 1935. His music, shaped by the hardships and troubles of his early life in Mississippi, came to fruition in . . . — — Map (db m140850) HM
Multiple Grammy nominee world renowned guitarist and vocalist, 2019 Polar Music Award (Playing
For Change), 2019 Arts Trail Marker, 2017 Arts Ambassador, 2016 Grammy nominee (The Soul of
Jimmie Rogers) 2015 Albert King Lifetime Guitar Award, 2014 . . . — — Map (db m272375) HM
The son of a Sledge sharecropper, Charley Frank Pride first won notice as a singer when music was just a sideline to his early baseball career. Taking a shot at what seemed an unlikely career in Nashville, he went on to record fifty-two Top Ten . . . — — Map (db m107544) HM
(side 1)
From the time of her childhood here in Star, Faith Hill demonstrated a zest for music and performing that took her to Nashville while still a teenager, and to stardom from the release of her first record in 1993. She became a . . . — — Map (db m91738) HM
McKinley Morganfield, better known as Muddy Waters, was one of the foremost artists in blues history. In the late 1940s and 1950s he led the way in transforming traditional Delta blues into the electric Chicago blues style that paved the road to . . . — — Map (db m80120) HM
James Cotton, one of the world’s most popular and dynamic blues harmonica players, was born just east of this site on the Bonnie Blue plantation on July 1, 1935. Cotton apprenticed with harmonica master Sonny Boy Williamson No. 2 (Rice Miller) in . . . — — Map (db m51770) HM
Born in Louisville in 1953, Carl Jackson played banjo here as a boy, and by age fourteen was backing Jim & Jesse on the Grand Ole Opry. By the age of twenty he had established a versatile career as a recording vocalist, instrumentalist, . . . — — Map (db m140735) HM
St. Louis-born singers Billy Davis, Jr., Lamonte McLemore and Ron Townson joined with Marilyn McCoo and Florence LaRue to create the lush "Champagne Soul" sound of the 5th Dimension. The group's first top ten hits "Up, Up and Away" (1967) and . . . — — Map (db m147810) HM
Soprano Christine Brewer began her career singing in the choruses of the St. Louis Symphony and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. After winning the Metropolitan Opera auditions and the Richard Tucker Award in 1989, Brewer performed with top symphonies and . . . — — Map (db m124781) HM
Magnetic vocal great Dennis Edwards joined the Motown Records quintet The Temptations in 1968 after opening for them with the Contours. His gritty, growly voice enhanced the group’s silky smoothness and he powered them into psychedelic soul with . . . — — Map (db m263884) HM
Soul singer Donny Hathaway grew up in St. Louis and graduated from Vashon High School in 1963. Already an accomplished producer, composer and musician, in 1970 he released the album "Everything Is Everything," which included the R&B hit "The . . . — — Map (db m147750) HM
Starting with their 1959 hit "Shout," the Isley Brothers appeared on the Billboard charts for an incredible seven consecutive decades. Their other hits include the 1962 classic "Twist & Shout," the 1969 Grammy-winner "It's Your Thing," and the 1957 . . . — — Map (db m133120) HM
T Bone Burnett was born in St. Louis and grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, where he began making records in 1965. He toured in Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue from 1975-76, and in 1980 he released "Truth Decay," the first of several critically . . . — — Map (db m133119) HM
Hailed as "The Father of Rock & Roll," Chuck Berry's signature guitar work, poetic songwriting, and inspired showmanship have influenced every Rock & Roll musician to follow him. Beginning with "Maybellene" in 1955, he recorded a series of hits that . . . — — Map (db m124673) HM
International Legend with Local Roots
Charles Edward Anderson (Chuck) Berry was born October 18, 1926 to Henry and Martha Berry in St. Louis, Missouri. He first took to the stage in 1941 during a school program at Sumner High School where . . . — — Map (db m167287) HM
Saxophonist David Sanborn grew up in Kirkwood and began playing in St. Louis area clubs as a teen. He backed legends like Albert King, Little Milton and Gil Evans, then joined the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in 1967, later playing with them at . . . — — Map (db m124708) HM
Fontella Bass, daughter of Gospel great Martha Bass, was born and raised in St. Louis. She played piano and sang with R&B stars Little Milton and Oliver Sain, and launched her solo career in 1965 with the electrifying "Rescue Me," a #1 R&B and #4 . . . — — Map (db m125035) HM
Grace Ann Bumbry grew up at 1703 Goode Ave. in St. Louis. She joined the Union Memorial Methodist Church's choir at eleven, and sang at Sumner High School. She was a 1954 winner on the "Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts." After her concert debut in . . . — — Map (db m124757) HM
Ike Turner played a profound role in shaping American music. His band's 1951 single "Rocket 88" is often regarded as the first Rock & Roll records. As a talent scout and A&R man, he discovered or recorded many Blues legends, including Elmore James, . . . — — Map (db m124541) HM
Growing up in University City and attending John Burroughs School, John Hartford was drawn to river life and the music of the banjo and fiddle. He earned two Grammys in 1967 for "Gentle on My Mind," one of the most recorded broadcast songs ever. . . . — — Map (db m124624) HM
Leonard Slatkin studied violin, viola and piano as a child, and made his Carnegie Hall conducting debut at age 22. The leading American conductor of his generation, he was Music Director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in 1979. He has earned . . . — — Map (db m124704) HM
Born and raised in the Ferguson area of St. Louis, Michael McDonald attended McCluer High School and performed locally with the Majestics and Jerry Jay and the Sheratons before moving to Los Angeles in 1970. After two years with Steely Dan, . . . — — Map (db m124570) HM
Born Cornell Haynes, Jr., Nelly formed the St. Lunatics in 1993 with friends from University City High. His 2000 solo debut "Country Grammar" topped the billboard charts, sold over 9 million copies and put St. Louis Hip-Hop in the national . . . — — Map (db m124668) HM
An actor who defied racial stereotypes, Robert Guillaume grew up in Downtown St. Louis and studied music at Washington University. After building a successful stage and career, in 1977 he assumed his trademark role as Benson. Guillaume insisted that . . . — — Map (db m124623) HM
Her powerful voice and the raw intensity of her stage shows brought Tina Turner Rhythm & Blues fame in the 1960s. Born Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee, she moved to St. Louis at age 16. She was a student at Sumner High School when she joined . . . — — Map (db m124686) HM
"Take it to the top. The world's out there waiting, and it's yours for the taking."
- Kool & the Gang
Founded: 1964
Lived in: Jersey City, New Jersey
Inducted to New Jersey Hall of Fame: . . . — — Map (db m220954) HM
"I think the greatest thing about America is the American Dream."
- Wyclef Jean
Born: October 17, 1969
Lived in: Newark, New Jersey
Inducted to New Jersey Hall of Fame: 2016
What was here before?
This site was once part of the estate of Jonas Bronck (1600-1643), for whom the Bronx is named. Later, the land was held by the family of Gouverneur Morris (1752-1816), an author of the U.S. Constitution. After 1857, . . . — — Map (db m275848) HM
Known as the First Lady of Song, Ella Fitzgerald was among the most popular performers in the U.S. from the late 1930s in the 1990s. After her mother's death in 1932, Fitzgerald was placed in the Colored Orphan Asylum, where she first sang in the . . . — — Map (db m304281) HM
This park is named for Betty Carter (1929-1998), a legendary African American jazz artist who was a prominent resident of Fort Greene.
The property, located opposite the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), once was home to small-scale . . . — — Map (db m242877) HM
What was here before?
The property was once home to small-scale residential and commercial buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries that fell into disrepair and abandonment by the late 1970s. In the early 1980s the City took . . . — — Map (db m242882) HM
In 1953, Carl and Estelle Reiner moved from the Bronx with their 6-year-old son Rob to 48 Bonnie Meadow Road in New Rochelle. Carl recalls that, at the time, this section of New Rochelle was still not developed and you could buy fresh corn from a . . . — — Map (db m270907) HM
February 10, 1937, in Black Mountain, NC
Roberta Flack is a Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and pianist renowned for her smooth, "velvety" voice. Born in Black Mountain in Buncombe County on February 10, 1937, she was one of four . . . — — Map (db m250913) HM
Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Guthrie, composer of “This Land is Your Land” and known around the world as “The Dustbowl Balladeer,” was born in Okemah, Oklahoma on July 14, 1912. His parents, Charley and Nora Belle Guthrie, raised their five children here . . . — — Map (db m165707) HM
A founder of the “hard-bop” school of jazz, drummer Blakey grew up here, and got his start with Billy Eckstine's band. Blakey’s group, “The Jazz Messengers,” featured Hank Mobley, Freddie Hubbard, Horace Silver, and Wynton . . . — — Map (db m48883) HM
West Aliquippa was boyhood home of composer Henry Mancini, who wrote scores for more than eighty movies, winning four Academy Awards and twenty Grammy awards. Born in Cleveland, Mancini lived at 401 Beaver Avenue and graduated from Aliquippa High . . . — — Map (db m48132) HM
African American blues, jazz and gospel singer overcame poverty to become one of the highest paid stars on Broadway. Several of her songs are Grammy Hall of Fame inductees. For acting, she received both Oscar and Emmy nominations. Waters was born in . . . — — Map (db m122309) HM
Renowned African American gospel vocal group originally formed in 1928; members received a National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship in 2000. They influenced popular musicians, including James Brown, Stevie Wonder, and the Temptations. . . . — — Map (db m135875) HM
Arthur Prysock
1929-1997
Arthur Prycock was a prolific jazz crooner born in Spartanburg. Getting his start with Buddy Johnson's jazz orchestra in 1944, Prysock's rich baritone voice found its way onto nearly 60 albums.
A highly adaptable . . . — — Map (db m266900) HM
Kimberly, Neil and Reid Perry are siblings living in Greeneville, Tennessee, who have made records as The Band Perry since 2005. They began their recording career in country music, switching to pop and country-influenced rock in 2016.
Kimberly . . . — — Map (db m158149) HM
Murray Franklin “Buddy” Cannon, born in Lexington, Tennessee, on April 20, 1947, is a Nashville-based songwriter, record producer, music publisher, and former record company A&R (artists and repertoire) executive. He ranks among the most . . . — — Map (db m156581) HM
Singer, evangelist and educator Dr. Bobby Jones popularized African-American gospel music on cable television. He became known as the "Ed Sullivan of Gospel Music." His Black Entertainment Television (BET) show, "Bobby Jones Gospel," ran from 1980 . . . — — Map (db m179617) HM
Born circa 1924 in Jackson, Tennessee, "Big Maybelle" became a powerful Rhythm & Blues Singer. With her emotive delivery, and as one of the premier R&B chanteuses of the 1950s, she served as an essential link between raucous 1950s R&B and the soul . . . — — Map (db m137020) HM
Banjoist Charlie Cushman is chiefly renowned for his mastery of the Earl Scruggs style three-finger banjo technique. During his career, he has performed with Andy Griffith, Merle Haggard, Ricky Skaggs and Vince Gill, among many others. He is a . . . — — Map (db m169085) HM
Distinguished as a singer, songwriter, actor, businesswoman and philanthropist, Dolly Parton is the most honored female country performer of all time, and among the best-selling country artists of the post World War II era. She opened one of the . . . — — Map (db m184490) HM
In July 1954 Sun Records released Elvis Presley's first recording. That record, and Elvis' four that followed on the Sun label, changed popular music. Elvis developed an innovative and different sound combining blues, gospel, and country. That . . . — — Map (db m37261) HM
In the 1970s Hayes was a multiple gold and platinum-selling recording star. His recording of "Shaft" won an Oscar, Golden Globe, and three Grammy awards. He wrote or co-wrote over 200 songs for Stax Records including "Hold On, I'm Coming" and "Soul . . . — — Map (db m87970) HM
Acoustic bass player Barry Bales is the longest-serving member of bluegrass star Alison Krauss’ band, Union Station. He has also worked as a session musician, record producer and songwriter. His co-written song “Nobody to Blame” won the Academy of . . . — — Map (db m176973) HM
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