North Florida Music Hall of Fame

You are browsing the archives of 2008 August.

This Detroit singer and guitarist was spotted by Molly Hatchet keyboardist and fellow Detroit native John Galvin and recruited to replace Hatchet’s departing singer, Jimmy Farrar, in 1987. Ron Perry wrote one song for Hatchet, “Take Miss Lucy Home,” which appeared on the band’s Capitol album, Lightning Strikes Twice.” However, Perry was displaced by the [...]

Dru led Grinderswitch and Dr. Hector and the Groove Injectors.  He began his music career while still a student at Fletcher High School in Neptune Beach.  One of these early bands was The Soul Searchers (photo courtesy the linked site.)

Born in 1930, in Albany, Ga.; moved to Greenville, Fla. (near Tallahassee) with his family while still an infant. Attended the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine; lived and performed in Jacksonville in 1945, where he lived at 732 Church Street. After leaving Florida for Seattle, he was signed to Los [...]

Jacksonville-based folk-rock band with own area TV show in mid-1960s; released one single under the name Tiffany System on SSS Intl., a cover of Dino Valenti’s “Get Together.” Included drummer Butch Trucks (Allman Brothers Band), guitarist Scott Boyer (Cowboy, Gregg Allman Band), and bassist David Brown.
(poster courtesy Southern Garage Bands)

Outgrowth of Jacksonville folk-rock trio The Bitter Ind, briefly expanded to a quintet with the addition of Duane and Gregg Allman. Debut album on Vanguard, produced in Miami by Steve Alaimo. Second album, declined by Vanguard, was later issued on Henry Stone’s Bold label as “Duane & Gregg Allman.” Also see Allman Brothers Band; Brown, [...]

This teenage drummer from Jacksonville’s Northside helped form Jacksonville’s Classics. The group was spotted in Daytona Beach by booking agent Alan Diggs, who worked for Atlanta entrepreneur Bill Lowery. Diggs brought the band to Atlanta, and Lowery, who already managed Tommy Roe, scored a deal with Capitol. The band’s first two Capitol singles, including “Pollyanna,” [...]

Charles Eugene “Pat” Boone is descended from Daniel Boone. His father, Archie Boone, studied architecture at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he met Jacksonville native Margaret Pritchard. The couple settled in Jacksonville, where Pat Boone was born in 1934. The Boones had been hoping for a girl, whom they intended to name Patricia; [...]

A native of Dekalb County, Ala., Pierce Pettis started off as a staff songwriter at Muscle Shoals Sound in Sheffield, Ala, and later became a staff writer for Polygram in Nashville. His big break came in 1979 when Joan Baez recorded his “Song at the End of the Movie.” After releasing an album independently [...]

In 1997, these Douglas Anderson high-school students recorded their first album, Midget Tossing, at Michael Fitzgerald’s Music Factory in Jacksonville Beach. After replacing original singer Ben Dobson with Ryan Key from Modern Amusement, they relocated to California in 2000, where they signed a one-off deal with Santa Barbara-based Lobster Records. After a second signing, an [...]

Jacksonville “quiet-storm” R&B singer, real name Rosa Banks. Released one album on EMI-distributed Bellmark label (owned by former Stax CEO Al Bell), co-produced by Mama-do (Wiletta Smith). Now sings gospel exclusively.

Organist in late-1960s Sarasota band The Blues Messengers, which came to Jacksonville to become the Second Coming. Upon that group’s merger with the Allman Brothers, Wynans left to form Jacksonville trio Ugly Jellyroll with vocalist Gary Goddard. He later moved to Macon to rejoin former Second Coming guitarist Larry Reinhardt in Capricorn act Captain Beyond. [...]

Former lead singer of Jacksonville modern-rockers Crowsdell. Moved to NYC with that band after signing with Big Cat, a small British label distributed by Sony, in 1995. Upon Big Cat’s demise in 1998, the group foundered. Wright relocated to rural North Carolina, where she honed her songwriting skills, eventually landing a deal with Chicago indie [...]