YEAR
2010
INDUCTED BY
Carole King
CATEGORY
Ahmet Ertegun Award
Otis Blackwell was there when rock and roll took its first steps.
Otis Blackwell’s enduring hits took the embryonic genre of rock to a full-blown movement. Heis the genius behind “Fever,” “All Shook Up,” “Great Balls of Fire” and other classics.
Otis Blackwell
Carole King Inducts Otis Blackwell
Family of Otis Blackwell Acceptance Speech
"Don't Be Cruel"
HALL OF FAME
ESSAY
By Tony Fletcher
Otis Blackwell wrote as many as a thousand songs over his lifetime, and they’re said to have sold more than 200 million copies.
Certainly, he was one of the most significant songwriters of the mid-twentieth century. He was also one of the first to come of age at the point that rock & roll was supplanting pop as America’s music of choice, and he found himself perfectly placed to facilitate the transition.
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