YEAR
1986
INDUCTED BY
Scott Muni & Norm Nite
CATEGORY
Ahmet Ertegun Award
The boundary-smashing, trend-setting evangelist of rock and roll.
From popularizing the R&B records that became the foundation of rock to planning the first rock and roll concert, Alan Freed was the tireless promoter of the genre.
Alan Freed
HALL OF FAME
ESSAY
By Michael Hill
Alan Freed was the most effective proselytizer rock and roll has ever known. Spreading the word from a radio pulpit that kicked off nightly to the strains of Freddie Mitchell’s “Moondog Boogie,” Freed kept time to the music by smashing his hand on a telephone book. He first conquered Cleveland over WJW, and then moved his show to New York’s flagship WINS.
Alan not only spun the music; he wrote it, promoted it, starred in its early movies and became one of its first scapegoats. He discovered the Moonglows and helped bring countless other performers to prominence.
