North Florida Music Hall of Fame

Westside Jacksonville band formerly known as Sweet Rooster, later as Alice Marr. Led by Donnie Van Zant, younger sibling of Skynyrd vocalist, Ronnie. Signed to A&M, .38 had no less than 10 hits in the 1980s, including “Hold On Loosely” and “Second Chance,” and remains one of the area’s all-time biggest-selling acts. Replacement bassist Larry [...]

Protégés of producers Johnny McGowan and Nathaniel Orange (Chill Deal Boys, 95 South, Quad City DJs), this Jacksonville bass-music trio signed to MCA in 1991, later switching to Ichyban’s Wrap subsidiary in 1992, where they had a huge club hit with “Daisy Dukes.”

Orlando bass-music group featuring Nathaniel Orange (a.k.a. C.C. Lemonhead) and Johnny (Jay) McGowan, formerly of Jacksonville’s Chill Deal Boys. As 95 South, the duo had an immense hit with “Whoot, There It Is” on Atlanta’s Ichyban Records. Later recorded for Orlando-based Rip-It Records. Also see Quad City DJs;.

Texas-born R&B-folk-rocker, lived and performed in Jacksonville for 15 years.

Short-lived Gainesville rock band signed to Island Records in late 1980s. Featured actor River Phoenix; the group disbanded after his untimely death in 1993. Two other members, Josh Greenbaum and Tim Hankins, went on to form Gainesville band Seraphim.

Legendary rock-blues-jazz-country sextet formed in Jacksonville in 1969, featured Daytona natives Duane and Gregg Allman, also included members of Jacksonville-based bands The Second Coming (Dickey Betts and Berry Oakley) and The 31st of February (Jacksonville native Butch Trucks). The ABB was the first act signed to Macon-based Capricorn Records; it broke up in late 1970s; [...]

Jacksonville-based rock band led by former Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle; issued two albums on MCA; has at various times included bassist Allen Woody (later with Allman Brothers Band, now deceased), former Lynyrd Skynyrd and Rossington Collins bassist Tim Lindsey (now with Molly Hatchet), and bluesmeister axe-man Greg Baril. Pyle independently released an album of [...]

Originally from Atlanta, Armstrong came to Jacksonville with his family as a toddler. At Bishop Kenny High School, he got his first taste of the music business hiring local bands for teen dances. After earning a law degree at Mercer University in Macon, he became partners in a booking and talent-management agency with Alan Walden, [...]

See 3AE; Also see Start Trouble

Born in Duncan, Oklahoma 1938, singer-songwriter son of Mae Axton; father a Navy officer stationed in Jacksonville; family settled there in 1949. Axton graduated from Jacksonville’s Lee High in 1956 and left town amidst a furor after burning down—as a prank — Knauer’s Hardware on graduation night. He briefly attended Oklahoma State before joining the [...]

Originally from Atlanta, winner of 1993 Great American Jazz Piano Competition in Jacksonville. For 12 years he was a professor of jazz studies at UNF. In 1999, he recorded and performed with fellow UNF alumnus Marcus Printup on Blue Note Records. Disappointed with the declining state of the jazz market in Jacksonville, Bales returned to [...]

Hotshot guitarist in the style of Stevie Ray Vaughan, originally from Connecticut; moved to Jacksonville in late 1980s. Baril’s band has included former Lynyrd Skynyrd and Rossington Collins members Tim Lindsay (bass, now with Molly Hatchet) and Derek Hess (drums), former Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle, and Allman Brothers Band guitarist Derek Trucks. Occasionally appears as [...]