YEAR
2011
INDUCTED BY
Lloyd Price
CATEGORY
Ahmet Ertegun Award
Rock and roll as we know it would not exist without Art Rupe.
He brought R&B and soul into the mainstream and launched Little Richard’s career. Rupe’s fastidious work ethic and uncanny musical intuition shaped the evolution of rock.
Art Rupe
HALL OF FAME
ESSAY
By Parke Puterbaugh
As founder of Specialty Records, one of the premier independent labels of the rock & roll era, Art Rupe signed and recorded numerous vanguard artists in the areas of rhythm & blues, gospel, and rock & roll.
He was also an important figure in the postwar music industry, helming a label that helped bring a niche market (rhythm & blues) into the mainstream. Beyond that, Specialty played a role in igniting the rock & roll revolution by introducing the world to the incendiary music of Little Richard.
