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 [...]

Jacksonville modern rock band, formerly known as Audio Orange, developed by Orlando-based producers Pete Thornton and Tony Battaglia; signed to RCA Records in August, 2002.

Protégés of producers Johnny McGowan and Nathaniel Orange (Chill Deal Boys, 95 South, Quad City DJs), headed by Jacksonville native Van Bryant, who now operates HomeBass Records in Orlando. Bryant more recently a DJ on an Orlando-area R&B station. Also see McGowan, Johnny; Orange, Nathaniel; Chill Deal Boys.

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;.

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, [...]

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 [...]

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Beckett honed his craft as a keyboardist in Pensacola’s fertile club scene in the 1960s. Later recruited to replace keyboardist Spooner Oldham in the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Performed as a session musician on scores of hits for acts like Mel & Tim, The Staples Singers, Delbert McClinton, Traffic, Paul [...]

Forrest Richard “Dickey” Betts – Vocalist-guitarist and founding member of The Allman Brothers Band. Born in West Palm, raised in Bradenton, where he formed The Jokers with guitarist Joe Dan Petty (later of Grinderswitch); he later formed The Blues Messengers in Sarasota with bassist Berry Oakley (see Oakley, Berry), drummer John Meeks, guitarist Larry Reinhardt [...]

Born Gary Anderson in Jacksonville in 1939, son of a Florida State University professor. After his parents divorced, his mother married a Navy man; the family relocated to Norfolk, Va., while Anderson was a child. He was discovered in the early 1960s as a teenager, singing on a Norfolk street corner, by Frank Guida of [...]