Amazing Bob Seger 1958 7Th Grade Yearbook Ann Arbor Michigan Scarce

£435.13 Buy It Now, Click to see shipping cost, 30-Day Returns, eBay Money Back Guarantee
Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (807) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 176278959806 AMAZING BOB SEGER 1958 7TH GRADE YEARBOOK ANN ARBOR MICHIGAN SCARCE. 2019 – Martin Bandier. 15 Wayne County 2,566. 1970 1,514,063 −9.3%. for her song Both Sides Now. 1990 1,027,974 −14.6%. White alone, percent 14.7% Increase 49.2% Decrease. family's backyard. After the 18 month marriage ended, Joni Mitchell went.

1958 TAPPAN JR HIGH SCHOOL 

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN 

TREFOIL

Robert Clark Seger is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and The Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s, breaking through with his first album, Ramblin' Gamblin' Man in 1968. By the early 1970s, he had dropped the 'System' from his recordings and continued to strive for broader success with various other bands. In 1973, he put together the Silver Bullet Band, with a group of Detroit-area musicians, with whom he became most successful on the national level with the album Live Bullet, recorded live with the Silver Bullet Band in 1975 at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan. In 1976, he achieved a national breakout with the studio album Night Moves. On his studio albums, he also worked extensively with the Alabama-based Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, which appeared on several of Seger's best-selling singles and album

A very comprehensive record of school life.

 This yearbook is in very good condition with the exception of one page with missing part (see pic). 

It contains the usual notations, comments & signatures. 

has two photos of Bob Seger on BB team for THE ROYALS AND solo shot

(images are watermarked)



Bob Seger, who went from his Ann Arbor roots in the 1960s to international fame as a rock star in the '70s and beyond, returns to his home area Wednesday for a concert at the Eastern Michigan University Convocation Center. It's been decades since Seger last performed in Washtenaw County, so anticipation is running high for the EMU show. The singer, songwriter, musician and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee recently spoke on the phone to AnnArbor.com — covering everything from his teen hangouts to the appeal of life in Michigan to the digital release of his back catalog. Q. If you don’t mind, I’d like to start off by asking about your time in Ann Arbor. I’ve seen different birth places listed for you … A. I was born in Detroit, at Henry Ford Hospital … I’m kind of proud of this fact, that my son was born in Detroit too … We’re both Detroit kids. Q. And you moved to Ann Arbor around age 5? A. Yeah, around age 4 or 5, and we lived on Packard … a couple blocks down from the Blue Front. We used to go there all the time, my brother and I … At one time there was a grocery store there where my mom and I would go, and my dad … Ralph’s, I think it was called, but it’s not the Ralph’s chain. … We moved to California for six months, and then we came back. My dad wanted to try to get a job in California. … He didn’t find the job he wanted, so we moved back, and we moved to Wellington Court, which is off Cambridge, lived there for a while. Then my dad left, when I was 10, and we moved to ... Sheehan Street, and that’s where I went to high school. And then I lived on White, and then I lived on Packard again for a very short time, then I lived on the East Side two different places. … I remember the low point when my dad was gone: We lived on Third Street in a front room, and I take people there sometimes. I took Ken Elder, my old buddy from Ann Arbor, there and said, “This is where I lived, dude.” We didn’t even have a bathroom. We had one room and bunk beds, and we shared the downstairs bathroom with another lady. … Q. Do you remember where and when you got your first guitar? A. Yeah, my friend Bill Clark, from high school, gave me a guitar that his parents had given him, and he didn’t like playing guitar. He said, “Will you just take this thing?” (laughs) And he gave it to me. I learned on ukulele, on Wellington Court, when I was 10 years old. I learned from my dad, and I started playing on a ukulele. When I saw the George Harrison (documentary recently produced by Martin Scorsese), man, that’s how I learned too. But I learned on a bass ukulele, slightly bigger than a normal ukulele, and it had a little bit bigger sound. And I remember playing Elvis songs, Buddy Holly songs, stuff like that. Q. What kind of a kid were you in high school? A. I was all As in eighth grade, and then in high school, my dad was gone now, and I got into music, so my grades dropped. … I did graduate! … I was playing on weekends in fraternity parties. I was working at the Brown Jug delivering pizza during the week, and I was also working at Wild’s Men’s Store. I’d get out early from school and work a co-op job, because we all had to work, my mother, my brother and I. That’s when we were living on Pauline, which is right by the U of M stadium … . Seger stats Born: May 6, 1945, in Detroit. Education: Ann Arbor High School (now Pioneer), graduated 1963. First single under his own name: “East Side Story,” 1966. First album: “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man,” 1969. Key albums: “Live Bullet,” 1976; “Night Moves,” 1976; “Stranger in Town,” 1978; “Against The Wind,” 1980; “The Distance,” 1982. Collections: “Greatest Hits,” 1994; “Greatest Hits 2,” 2003. Digital availability: “Live Bullet” and “Nine Tonight” now available on iTunes. Upcoming: “Ultimate Hits,” 2-disc set including several rarities, set for release Nov. 21. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame : 2004. Last public appearance in town: Presentation of National Grammy Signature School Award to Pioneer High School, 2006. Q. Was there much of an Ann Arbor music scene at that time? A. Well, I wrote “Mainstreet” about Washboard Willie playing down on Ann Street. There was a club there — I can’t remember the name of the club, but it was just off of Main Street, and Washboard Willie used to play there all the time, and a lot of students would go down there. And of course I was young and I couldn’t go in, and I’d stand outside and listen. He played great R&B and blues. Q. Are there any other specific Ann Arbor ties to any of your songs that people might not be aware of? A. “Night Moves” is a huge one. “Night Moves” is about the “grassers” that we’d hold out near Zeeb Road. … My friend Richie Gregory from high school—he just passed away, unfortunately—He had a car with a record player in it—one of those upside-down record players. And we would play our records and turn on the lights and have what’s called a “grasser.” That’s what we called the parties back then, grassers. A bunch of teenagers—we’d go out there with cars and shine our lights and dance and listen to the records. Q. In addition to the places you’ve already mentioned, did you have any other favorite hangouts? A. Well, Everett’s Drive-In, when it was there. A & W. Those were our two hangouts. Everett’s Drive-In was on Stadium, and A & W was on Stadium, and the cars would go do the figure eight, constantly go back and forth. (laughs) ... Q. You live in Oakland County now, right? A. Yeah, I’ve been living in Oakland County since I was 21. Q. What is it about southeast Michigan that’s kept you here all these years when you could have gone anywhere? A. Well, I should say, at least once every two years I go to Ann Arbor. And I love going on a football day, and I go on my motorcycle or something, and see all the U of M regalia everywhere, and go by the Blue Front, and go by the Union, and go by all the places I hung out. Q. What’s kept you in Michigan? A. Friends, family. My brother lives in Traverse City; he’s the last of my immediate family, he and I. You know, I’ve always loved the Great Lakes. I love to boat. I’ve always loved what we call “Up North.” I’ve had a place up there for 35 years, north of Harbor Springs, and I’ve lived there longer than any house, ever, that I’ve owned. Q. Do you remember the last time you played a concert in Ann Arbor or Ypsilanti? A. Well, it would have been Crisler (Arena) … I think Bruce got up with me, Bruce Springsteen, and sang with me. I’ve got a cassette tape of it. We did pretty good! (laughs) And then I have another one of me getting up with him at Crisler as well (in 1980) … We did “Thunder Road.” Q. Any special surprises in store for the show at EMU? A. ... Yeah, we’ve got a couple surprises, but I don’t want to give them away! Q. Did you specifically try to get a show in Washtenaw County on this batch of dates, or was that just a happy accident? A. I did, I did. We needed to get two days ahead of time, whatever venue we were in, and EMU was the only place we could get that from. We had to have two days ahead of time because we have a brand new PA and a brand new sound mixer. We upgraded our PA to a thing called a line array, which is a better system than we had last time. If you saw the McCartney show in Detroit, it’s the same system. …. And the Kid Rock show outdoors in Detroit, he had line array. It’s just a great system, and I asked for it and we got it, but with that comes a new sound mixer to run it. Q. Without giving anything away, what kind of mix of songs are you looking at on this round of dates? A. We got some new stuff. We tried real hard to put “Like a Rock” in there, but it wouldn’t work. We have a new guitar player, Kenny Greenberg, from Nashville, and he’s really great, and we worked up “Like a Rock” and he played it great, but the last two choruses were just a little too high for me. My road drummer, Don Brewer—this is his fifth tour—said “maybe you ought not to do this one.” Certain songs just really tear up my voice, just wreck me for the whole set. I could hit the notes, but it was going to be such a strain I said, “OK, we won’t do that one.” … We definitely have some new stuff in there. Q. You’ve got the new hits collection coming out soon; when can we look forward to the new studio album? A. Probably next fall. When I’m done with the whole tour, on (Dec.) 30th—our last gig is Vegas, on the 30th—then I’m going to take January, February and March and dedicate it completely to writing. I’ve got half the thing done now. I’ve got six (songs) that I really like, and I just need another six. I think over that time period I should be able to come up with them, and then I’ll cut them in April and we’ll try to put it out in the fall. Q. People are obviously really glad to have your stuff coming to iTunes. Is that ultimately going to be your entire catalog? A. Ultimately, yes. Ultimately. ... They release it piecemeal, because to release it all at one time, which some artists have done, you get a real big rush right at the beginning and then it just falls away. I think my management likes the idea of releasing it a little at a time. Q. Why did it take until now for that to happen? A. It was negotiations. We had a certain price that we had priced in for years at Capitol, and iTunes balked at it, and finally we got our way. Q. Every now and then, people around town will still say, “You know what would be great? A Bob Seger concert at Michigan Stadium”— A. Oh, yeah, and when Bill Martin was AD (U-M athletic director) — We’re both sailors, so we’re good friends — Bill wanted me to do it, every year he’d call me, and I really wanted to do it. But it was summer, and Brewer always plays with Grand Funk in the summer, so I’ve gotta get a different drummer, and it’s just a movie. Because he’s got his own band. And I love playing with Don; I don’t think I could play with anybody else. He’s just such a rock, on the drums. That’s why we never did it. That would have been a killer show. That would have been fun. Q. Any chance it might yet happen someday in the future? A. I don’t know, because Brewer’s always playing with Grand Funk. (laughs) Even this tour, we’ve already done 48 hours of rehearsals—eight six-hour days. To get that out ahead just for one show — You see what I mean? It’s hard to get people to make the time for that. Robert Clark Seger (/ˈsiːɡər/ SEE-gər; born May 6, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and The Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s, breaking through with his first album, Ramblin' Gamblin' Man (which contained his first national hit of the same name) in 1968. By the early 1970s, he had dropped the 'System' from his recordings and continued to strive for broader success with various other bands. In 1973, he put together the Silver Bullet Band, with a group of Detroit-area musicians, with whom he became most successful on the national level with the album Live Bullet (1976), recorded live with the Silver Bullet Band in 1975 at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan. In 1976, he achieved a national breakout with the studio album Night Moves. On his studio albums, he also worked extensively with the Alabama-based Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, which appeared on several of Seger's best-selling singles and albums. A roots rocker with a classic raspy, powerful voice, Seger wrote and recorded songs that dealt with love, women, and blue-collar themes, and is one of the best-known examples of a heartland rock artist. He has recorded many hits, including "Night Moves", "Turn the Page", "Mainstreet", "Still the Same", "Hollywood Nights", "Against the Wind", "You'll Accomp'ny Me", "Shame on the Moon", "Roll Me Away", "Like a Rock", and "Shakedown", the last of which was written for the 1987 film Beverly Hills Cop II and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He also co-wrote the Eagles' number-one hit "Heartache Tonight", and his recording of "Old Time Rock and Roll" was named one of the Songs of the Century in 2001. With a career spanning six decades, Seger has sold more than 75 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling artists of all time.[1] Seger was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012.[2][3][4][5] Seger was named Billboard's 2015 Legend of Live honoree at the 12th annual Billboard Touring Conference & Awards, held November 18–19 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York. He announced his farewell tour in September 2018.[6] Early years Seger was born at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan,[7] the son of Charlotte and Stewart Seger. At age five, he moved with his family to Ann Arbor. He had an older brother, George.[8] Seger's father, a medical technician for the Ford Motor Company, played several instruments and Seger was exposed to music from an early age.[8][dead link] Seger was also exposed to frequent arguments between his parents that disturbed the neighborhood at night.[8] In 1956, when Seger was 10 years old, his father abandoned the family and moved to California.[8] The remaining family soon lost their comfortable middle-class status and struggled financially.[8] Seger attended Tappan Junior High School (now Tappan Middle School) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and graduated in 1963 from Pioneer High School, known at the time as Ann Arbor High School. He ran track and field in high school. Seger also went to Lincoln Park High School for a time.[9] Regarding his early musical inspirations, Seger has stated, "Little Richard – he was the first one that really got to me. Little Richard and, of course, Elvis Presley."[10] "Come Go with Me" by The Del-Vikings, a hit in 1957, was the first record he bought. Regional favorite and first national hit: 1961–1976 The Decibels and The Town Criers Bob Seger arrived on the Detroit music scene in 1961 fronting a three-piece band called the Decibels. The band included Seger on guitar, piano, keyboards, and vocals, Pete Stanger on guitar, and R.B. Hunter on drums. All of the members attended Ann Arbor High. The Decibels recorded an acetate demo of a song called "The Lonely One", at Del Shannon's studio in 1961. As well as being Seger's first original song, "The Lonely One" was Seger's first song to be played on the radio, airing only once on an Ann Arbor radio station.[8][11] In 2021, a recording of "The Lonely One" resurfaced, and was broadcast (with permission from Seger) twice on WCSX-FM in Detroit, on the mornings of March 15 and 16.[12] After the Decibels disbanded, Seger joined the Town Criers, a four-piece band with Seger on lead vocals, John Flis on bass, Pep Perrine on drums, and Larry Mason on lead guitar. The Town Criers, covering songs like "Louie Louie", began gaining a steady following. Meanwhile, Seger was listening to James Brown and said that, for him and his friends, Live at the Apollo was their favorite record following its release in 1963. Seger was also widely influenced by the music of The Beatles, once they hit American shores in 1964. In general, he and local musician friends such as Glenn Frey (later a member of the Eagles) bought into the premises of 1960s pop and rock radio, with its hook-driven hits; he later recalled himself and Frey thinking at the time, "You're nobody if you can't get on the radio."[13] Doug Brown & The Omens As the Town Criers began landing more gigs, Bob Seger met a man named Doug Brown, backed by a band called The Omens. Seger joined Doug Brown & The Omens, who presumably had a bigger following than the Town Criers. While Doug Brown was the primary lead vocalist for the group, Seger would take the lead on some songs—covering R&B numbers.[8] It was with this group that Seger first appeared on an officially released recording: the 1965 single "TGIF" backed with "First Girl", credited to Doug Brown and The Omens. Seger later appeared on Doug Brown and The Omens' parody of Barry Sadler's song "Ballad of the Green Berets" which was re-titled "Ballad of the Yellow Beret" and mocked draft evaders. Soon after its release, Sadler and his record label threatened Brown and his band with a lawsuit, and the recording was withdrawn from the market.[14] While Bob was a member of The Omens, he met his longtime manager Edward "Punch" Andrews, who at the time was partnered with Dave Leone running the Hideout franchise, which consisted of four club locations from Clawson to Rochester Hills, where local acts would play, and a small-scale record label. Seger began writing and producing for other acts that Punch was managing, such as the Mama Cats and the Mushrooms (with Frey). Seger and Doug Brown were then approached by Punch and Leone to write a song for the Underdogs, another local band who recently had a hit with a song called "Man in the Glass". Seger contributed a song called "East Side Story", which ultimately proved to be a failure for the Underdogs.[14] The Last Heard Seger decided to record "East Side Story" himself, and officially left the Omens (though he did retain Doug Brown as a producer). As Bob Seger and the Last Heard, Seger released his version of the song with Hideout Records in January 1966, and it became his first big Detroit hit. The single (backed with "East Side Sound", an instrumental version of "East Side Story") sold 50,000 copies, mostly in the Detroit area, and led to a contract with Cameo-Parkway Records. Though the name "The Last Heard" originally referred to the collection of Omens and Town Criers who recorded "East Side Story" with Seger, it soon became the name of Seger's permanent band, which consisted of former Town Crier Pep Perrine on drums, Carl Lagassa on guitar, and Dan Honaker on bass. Following "East Side Story", the group released four more singles: the James Brown-inspired holiday single "Sock It to Me Santa", the Dylan-esque "Persecution Smith", "Vagrant Winter", and perhaps the most notable, "Heavy Music", released in 1967. "Heavy Music", which sold even more copies than "East Side Story", had the potential to break out nationally when Cameo-Parkway suddenly went out of business. It was a top 100 hit in Canada, where it topped out on the national RPM charts at No. 82; in the US, it just missed the Hot 100, peaking on the "bubbling under" chart at No. 103. The song would stay in Seger's live act for many years to come. The Bob Seger System After Cameo-Parkway folded, Seger and Punch began searching for a new label. In the spring of 1968, Bob Seger & the Last Heard signed with major label Capitol Records, turning down Motown Records, who offered more money than Capitol. Seger felt that Capitol was more appropriate for his genre than Motown.[8] Capitol changed the name of the band to The Bob Seger System. In the transition between labels, guitarist Carl Lagassa left the band and keyboard player Bob Schultz joined. The System's first single with Capitol was the anti-war message song "2 + 2 = ?", which reflected a marked change in Seger's political attitudes from "The Ballad of the Yellow Beret". The single was again a hit in Detroit and hit number 1 on radio stations in Buffalo, New York and Orlando, Florida,[15] but went unnoticed almost everywhere else, and failed to chart nationally in the US. The single did, however, make the Canadian national charts, peaking at No. 79. The second single from The Bob Seger System was "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man". It was a major hit in Michigan, and it also became Seger's first national hit, peaking at No. 17. The song's success led to the release of an album of the same title in 1969. The Ramblin' Gamblin' Man album reached No. 62 on the Billboard pop albums chart. Glenn Frey had his first studio gig singing back-up and playing guitar on "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man".[16] Seger was unable to follow up on this success. For the next album, singer-songwriter Tom Neme joined The System, ultimately writing and singing the majority of the tunes featured, for which the group was heavily criticized. The album called Noah (1969), failed to chart at all, leading Seger to briefly quit the music industry and attend college. He returned the following year and put out the System's final album, 1970's Mongrel, this time without Neme. Bob Schultz left the band as well, being replaced by Dan Watson. Mongrel, with the powerful single "Lucifer", was considered to be a strong album by many critics and Detroit fans, but failed to do well commercially. The Bob Seger System was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2006.[17] Solo After Mongrel (1970) failed to live up to the success of Ramblin' Gamblin' Man (1969), The System dissipated. For a short period following the breakup, Seger had ambitions to be a one-man act.[18] In 1971, he released his first solo album, the all-acoustic Brand New Morning. The album was a commercial failure, and led to his departure from Capitol Records.[11][19] Seger, having regained an eye for bands,[18] began playing with the duo Teegarden & Van Winkle, who in 1970 had a hit single with "God, Love and Rock & Roll". Together they recorded Smokin' O.P.'s (1972), released on Punch Andrews' own Palladium Records. The album mainly consisted of covers, spawning a minor hit with a version of Tim Hardin's "If I Were a Carpenter" (No. 76 the US), though it did feature "Someday", a new Seger original, and a re-release of "Heavy Music". The album reached 180 on the Billboard 200. After spending most of 1972 touring with Teegarden & Van Winkle, Seger left the duo to put together a new backing band, referred to as both My Band and the Borneo Band, made up of musicians from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Jamie Oldaker, Dick Sims, and Marcy Levy were all members of My Band before joining Eric Clapton's backing band. In 1973, Seger put out Back in '72, recorded partly with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, a renowned group of session musicians who had recorded with the likes of J. J. Cale and Aretha Franklin.[20] According to Seger, there was a financial misunderstanding with the musicians: they offered to record him "for $1500 a side", which he took to mean $1500 per album side. When he found out that they meant $1500 per song, he left after recording three songs but resolved to work with them in the future.[20] Back in '72 featured the studio version of Seger's later live classic "Turn the Page"; "Rosalie", a song Seger wrote about CKLW music director Rosalie Trombley (and which was later recorded by Thin Lizzy); and "I've Been Working", a song originally by Van Morrison, a strong influence on Seger's musical development.[21] Despite the strength of Seger's backup musicians, the album only reached 188 on the US charts and has since faded into obscurity. Even so, Back in '72 and its supporting tour mark the beginnings of Seger's long-time relationships with future Silver Bullet Band saxophonist Alto Reed, powerhouse female vocalist Shaun Murphy, and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Over the tour, My Band would prove to be unreliable, which frustrated Seger. By the end of 1973, Seger had left My Band in search of a new backing band. Throughout 1974–75, Seger continued to perform in local venues around his hometown while known as the Bob Seger Group including one renowned concert in Davisburg, MI called the 'Battle of the Bands'. The Silver Bullet Band Seger (bottom right) and the Silver Bullet Band in 1977 In 1974, Seger formed the Silver Bullet Band. Its original members were guitarist Drew Abbott, drummer and backing vocalist Charlie Allen Martin, keyboardist and backing vocalist Rick Manasa, bass guitarist Chris Campbell, and saxophonist and backing vocalist Alto Reed. With this new band sitting in occasionally, Seger released the album Seven (1974), which contained the Detroit-area hard-rock hit "Get Out of Denver". This track was a modest success and charted at No. 80 nationally. In 1975, Seger returned to Capitol Records and released the album Beautiful Loser, with help from the Silver Bullet Band (with new keyboardist Robyn Robbins replacing Manasa) on his cover of the Tina Turner penned "Nutbush City Limits". The album's single "Katmandu" which was featured in the 1985 movie Mask starring Cher (in addition to being another substantial Detroit-area hit) was Seger's first real national break-out track since 1968's "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man". Although it just missed the US Pop Top 40 – peaking at No. 43 – the song received strong airplay in several markets nationwide including Detroit. In April 1976, Seger and the Silver Bullet Band released the album Live Bullet, recorded over two nights in Detroit's Cobo Arena in September 1975. It contained Seger's rendition of "Nutbush City Limits" as well as Seger's classic take on life on the road, "Turn the Page", from Back in '72. It also included his late 1960s successful releases – "Heavy Music" and "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man". Critic Dave Marsh later wrote that "Live Bullet is one of the best live albums ever made ... In spots, particularly during the medley of "Travelin' Man"/"Beautiful Loser" on side one, Seger sounds like a man with one last shot at the top."[22] An instant best-seller in Detroit, Live Bullet began to get attention in other parts of the country, selling better than Seger's previous albums, getting progressive rock radio and album-oriented rock airplay, and enabling Seger to headline more shows.[23] Yet still, Seger had a popularity imbalance. In June 1976, he was a featured performer at the Pontiac Silverdome outside Detroit in front of nearly 80,000 fans. The next night, Seger played before fewer than a thousand people in Chicago.[24] Peak of success: 1976–1987 Seger in 1977 Seger finally achieved his commercial breakthrough with his October 1976 album Night Moves. The title track, "Night Moves" was critically[25] and commercially well-received, becoming a No. 4 hit on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and receiving airplay on AOR radio. The album also featured the songs "Mainstreet" (written about Ann Arbor's Ann Street),[13] a No. 24 hit ballad that emphasized Seger's rock credibility as well as guitarist Pete Carr's lead guitar line, and "Rock and Roll Never Forgets", which peaked at No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100. Night Moves was Seger's first top-ten album in the Billboard album chart, and as of 2006 was certified at 6 million copies in the United States, making it the biggest-selling studio album of his entire career. The success of Night Moves also bolstered sales of Seger's previous releases. Seger's 1975 release Beautiful Loser would eventually sell two million copies and the 1976 album Live Bullet would go on to sell six million copies in the United States. Live Bullet would eventually be cited as one of the greatest live albums of all time.[26] In February 1977, Silver Bullet Band drummer Charlie Allen Martin was hit by a car from behind while walking on a service road and was left unable to walk.[27] David Teegarden, previous drummer for Seger on his 1972 album Smokin' O.P.'s was his replacement. Despite the loss of Martin, Seger's 1978 album Stranger in Town was also a success. The first single, "Still the Same", reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Hollywood Nights" reached No. 12 on the same chart, while the ballad "We've Got Tonight" reached No. 13. "We've Got Tonight" was a major hit again when it was covered in 1983 by country music superstar Kenny Rogers and pop singer Sheena Easton. Notably, it topped Billboard's Hot Country Songs and peaked at No. 2 and No. 6 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary and Hot 100 charts respectively. "Old Time Rock and Roll", a song from George Jackson and Thomas E. Jones III that Seger substantially rewrote the lyrics for,[13][28] peaked at No. 28 on the Hot 100, but achieved greater popularity after being featured in the 1983 Tom Cruise film Risky Business, in which Tom Cruise's character dances in his underwear to the song. It has since been ranked the second-most played Jukebox Single of all time, behind Patsy Cline's "Crazy".[13] "Old Time Rock and Roll" was named one of the Songs of the Century in 2001. Seger has since remarked that not taking one-third writing credit on his recording was, financially, "the dumbest thing I ever did".[13] Seger also co-wrote the Eagles' No. 1 hit song "Heartache Tonight" from their 1979 album The Long Run;[13] their collaboration about Seger's and Glenn Frey's shared early lives in Detroit. In 1980, Seger released Against the Wind (with ex-Grand Funk Railroad member Craig Frost replacing Robyn Robbins on keyboards) and it became his first and only No. 1 album on the Billboard album chart. The first single "Fire Lake" featured Eagles Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmit, and Glenn Frey on backing vocals and Muscle Shoals guitarist, Pete Carr, on 12-string acoustic. Fire Lake reached No. 6 on the Hot 100, while the title song "Against the Wind" reached No. 5 as a single and even crossed over to the Top 10 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. "You'll Accomp'ny Me" became the third hit single from the record, reaching No. 14. Against the Wind would also win two Grammy Awards. As of 2006, both Stranger in Town and Against the Wind had sold over 5 million copies each in the United States. The live 1981 album Nine Tonight encapsulated this three-album peak of Seger's commercial career. Seger's take on Eugene Williams' "Tryin' to Live My Life Without You" became a Top Five hit from Nine Tonight and the album would go on to sell 4 million copies. Seger released the acclaimed The Distance in December 1982. During the recording of this album, Silver Bullet guitarist Drew Abbott left the band due to his frustration with Seger's frequent use of session musicians in the studio and was replaced by Dawayne Bailey. After the album's release, David Teegarden also left the band due to internal conflict and was replaced by ex-Grand Funk drummer Don Brewer. Critically praised for representing a more versatile sound than that of his recent material, The Distance spawned numerous hits beginning with Rodney Crowell's "Shame on the Moon". It was the biggest hit of the Silver Bullet Band's entire career, hitting No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart and holding at No. 2 for four consecutive weeks – behind Patti Austin and James Ingram's "Baby, Come to Me" and Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" – on the Hot 100. It also crossed over to No. 15 on Billboard's Country Singles chart. The follow-up single, "Even Now", just missed the Top 10, and "Roll Me Away" peaked at No. 27. The driving album track "Making Thunderbirds" was a popular music video filmed in Detroit and well-received on MTV. Seger's multi-platinum sales dropped off at this point, with The Distance peaking at No. 5 and selling only 1.9 million copies in the United States. The Distance was belatedly released on 8-track tape; Capitol reportedly had no plans to do so, but Seger, claiming that many of his fans still used 8-track players in their vehicles, requested that the label also release the album in the waning format. In 1984, Seger wrote and recorded the power rock ballad "Understanding" for the film soundtrack Teachers. The song was another Top 20 hit for Seger in late 1984.[citation needed] In 1986, he wrote and recorded "Living Inside My Heart" for the film soundtrack of About Last Night.... Seger was no longer as prolific, and several years elapsed before his next studio album, Like a Rock, emerged in the spring of 1986. The fast-paced "American Storm" was another Top-20 single aided by a popular music video featuring actress Lesley Ann Warren, and "Like a Rock" followed, reaching No. 12 on Billboard's Hot 100. Later, it would become familiar to many Americans through its association with a long-running Chevrolet ad campaign (something Seger explicitly chose to do to support struggling American automobile workers in Detroit).[29] Seger's 1986–1987 American Storm Tour was his self-stated last major tour, playing 105 shows over nine months and selling almost 1.5 million tickets. Like a Rock reached No. 3 and eventually sold over three million copies, although it has never been certified above platinum. On March 13, 1987, Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for their contributions to the music industry, located at 1750 Vine Street.[30][31][32] In 1987, Seger recorded the song "Shakedown" for the soundtrack to the film Beverly Hills Cop II. A synth-driven pop-rock song, it was Seger's first and only No. 1 hit on the pop singles chart. The song had originally been intended for fellow Detroiter Glenn Frey, but when Frey lost his voice just before the recording session, he asked Seger to take his place. Seger changed the verses of the song but kept the chorus the same. The song earned Seger an Academy Award nomination as co-writer in the Best Original Song category the following year. Later years: 1988–present Bob Seger's next record was 1991's The Fire Inside, at a time when glam metal, grunge and alternative rock were taking the forefront. His new music found little visibility on the radio or elsewhere. The same was true of 1995's It's a Mystery, although the album was certified gold (500,000 copies sold). However, in 1994, Seger released Greatest Hits; the compilation album was his biggest-ever record in terms of sales, selling nearly 10 million copies in the United States as of 2010. Seger did go back on the road again for a 1996 tour, which was successful and sold the fourth-largest number of tickets of any North American tour that year. (Seger was once known for his concerts in small venues, as witnessed with his appearance at the 18th Amendment in Omaha, Nebraska.) Seger took a sabbatical from the music business for about ten years to spend time with his wife and two young children. In 2001 and 2002, Seger won the prestigious Port Huron to Mackinac Boat Race aboard his 52-foot (16 m) sailboat Lightning. He subsequently sold the boat. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 15, 2004. Fellow Detroiter Kid Rock gave the induction speech and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm proclaimed that date Bob Seger Day in his honor. In 2005, Seger was featured singing with 3 Doors Down on the song "Landing in London" from their Seventeen Days album. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band were inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2005.[33] Seger's first new album in eleven years, titled Face the Promise, was released in 2006. In its first 45 days, it sold more than 400,000 copies.[34] The album sold over 1.2 million copies, returning Seger to platinum status and staying on the Billboard chart for several months. His supporting tour was also eagerly anticipated, with many shows selling out within minutes. Showing that Seger's legendary appeal in Michigan had not diminished, all 10,834 tickets available for his first show at Grand Rapids' Van Andel Arena sold out in under five minutes; three additional shows were subsequently added, each of which also sold out. In 2009, Seger released a compilation album titled Early Seger Vol. 1, which contained archival material from the 1970s and 1980s, including some fully or partially re-recorded tracks from his albums Smokin' O.P.'s (1972) and Seven (1974) and some never-before-released songs.[35] The album was initially only available for purchase at Meijer stores and then later for download at BobSeger.com.[36] Seger contributed piano and vocals on Kid Rock's 2010 album Born Free. Seger staged a successful arena tour during 2011, accompanied by the release of a two-CD compilation album, Ultimate Hits: Rock and Roll Never Forgets.[37] On May 28, 2011, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder proclaimed that date as Bob Seger Day for his more than 50 years of sharing his celebrated musical talents with fans all over the world.[38] On December 30, 2011, before a sell-out crowd at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Seger closed another successful tour.[citation needed] On October 30, 2011, he told AnnArbor.com director, Bob Needham, he was returning to the studio to complete another new album for release in the fall of 2012, followed by another supporting tour.[39] On June 14, 2012, Seger was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.[3][4] On January 10, 2013, Seger announced another tour in the US and Canada. Seger performed a duet of "Who'll Stop the Rain" with John Fogerty on Fogerty's album Wrote a Song for Everyone, released in 2013. Seger's 17th studio album, Ride Out was released on October 14, 2014. Ride Out was accompanied by a highly successful arena tour of the United States and Canada.[40][41] On December 22, 2016, Seger performed "Heartache Tonight" as the Kennedy Center honored the Eagles. A few weeks later, on January 18, 2017, Seger gave away the single "Glenn Song" on his website as a tribute marking the first anniversary of the death of Eagles founding member Glenn Frey, with whom Seger was close friends.[42] Starting on August 24, 2017, Seger embarked on a 32-city Runaway Train tour that was originally scheduled to conclude on November 17, 2017, in Chicago. This tour included a show on September 22, 2017, at The Palace of Auburn Hills (Michigan), which was the last event to be held at that venue.[43] The same day, Seger announced his new studio album, I Knew You When, and released "Busload of Faith", a cover of the Lou Reed song from the 1989 album New York, as the first single taken from the album.[44] I Knew You When was released on November 17, 2017, which would have marked the last day of Seger's Runaway Train tour.[44] However, due to "an urgent medical issue with his vertebrae", all concert dates starting September 30 had to be postponed. Of the 32 scheduled tour dates, Seger could complete 13 and had to postpone 19.[45] On September 18, 2018, Seger announced his final tour. Named the Travelin' Man tour, it includes postponed dates from the 2017 tour as well as additional shows, and was scheduled to kick off on November 21 at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, MI.[46] Legacy Lincoln Park declared November 17, 2017, "Bob Seger Day"[9] in the city. Mayor Thomas Karnes called Seger the voice of the city for their generation. Seger attended school there in his youth and performed at the city's bandshell in the 1960s.[47] In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Seger at number 181 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.[48] Musical style and influences Bob Seger's musical style encompasses blues rock,[49] folk,[49] garage rock,[50] hard rock,[51] heartland rock,[52] heavy rock,[53] psychedelic rock,[49][53] rock and roll[49][54] and soul.[53] Personal life Seger's first marriage to Renee Andrietti in 1968 lasted for "one day short of a year". He had a long-term relationship with Jan Dinsdale from 1972 until 1983. In 1987, he married actress Annette Sinclair and they divorced one year later. He married Juanita Dorricott in 1993, in a small private setting at The Village Club, in Bloomfield Hills; they have two children.[55] Politics Politically, Seger has characterized himself as a centrist: "[I'm] right down the middle", he remarked. He supported Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.[56] He tackled antiestablishment themes in early songs such as "2+2=?" (1968) and "U.M.C. (Upper Middle Class)" (1974), according to Brian McCollum of the Detroit Free Press. On his 2014 album Ride Out, he addressed topics such as gun violence, and wrote "It's Your World" about climate change. On the subject, he said, "There are a lot of culprits in climate change, and everybody's responsible, myself included. Nobody gets a free pass on this one. We've got to change our ways and change them fast."[57] He has considered President Barack Obama to be the favorite president of his lifetime; he met him at the 2016 Kennedy Center Honors and thanked Obama for his "wisdom and dignity".[58] Discography Main article: Bob Seger discography Studio albums Ramblin' Gamblin' Man (1969) Noah (1969) Mongrel (1970) Brand New Morning (1971) Smokin' O.P.'s (1972) Back in '72 (1973) Seven (1974) Beautiful Loser (1975) Night Moves (1976) Stranger in Town (1978) Against the Wind (1980) The Distance (1982) Like a Rock (1986) The Fire Inside (1991) It's a Mystery (1995) Face the Promise (2006) Ride Out (2014) I Knew You When (2017) Bob Seger, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who has sold 75 million records worldwide, will bring his farewell tour to Peoria early next year. The “Travelin’ Man” goodbye tour will play the Peoria Civic Center Arena on Jan. 22. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Sept. 28. Though the full range of ticket prices has not been made public yet, seats will start at $48. The tour starts Nov. 21 in Seger’s home state of Michigan, in Grand Rapids, and is set to wind up May 2 in Houston. Seger, 73, has played with The Silver Bullet Band since 1974. In the summer of 1977, they were set to play at Glen Oak Park on Peoria’s East Bluff, along with opener The Little River Band. But because of impending rain storms, the show was moved indoors, to Robertson Memorial Field House on the Bradley University campus. Rochester Hills is certainly not the center of the music industry, and yet, some  very influential musicians hail from our community. While Bob Seger uses his  songs to mention Ann Arbor (Mainstreet), Woodward (Horizontal Bop), and  Mackinac City (Roll Me Away), his life in Rochester Hills is seldom spoken  about. Seger lived on a 120 acre spread on Tienken Road between Livernois  and Brewster Roads – Brookwood Subdivision and golf course today. It was  once a working cattle farm complete with a house, a barn, and a lake. Seger  and his band were able to crank it up there from 1970-1974. It was not just a  place to rehearse, but was also a communal style hangout. He launched his  career out of there in the mid 1970s. On property directly to the south was the home of Madonna  Louise Veronica Ciccone, known simply as "Madonna," she is perhaps the most innovative,  influential, controversial, and enigmatic artist of our time. Madonna was born in Bay City, Michigan,  but lived in Rochester Hills until graduating from high school in 1976. Since bursting onto the dance club scene in 1982, Madonna's extraordinary  ability to grow and develop as an artist has brought forth an amazingly  diverse body of work. She came into the public's collective awareness as a  singer; she is also a composer, producer, actor, business executive,  humanitarian, and mother. As a singer, she has had more number one hits than any other female  performer making her one of the most commercially successful artists in  popular music. During the late 1980s, she racked up six straight Top 5 singles, neatly trouncing the  Beatles' old record for back-to-back chart-toppers. Her numerous Grammy, People's Choice,  American Music, and MTV Video Music Awards during the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s bear witness to  her enduring mass appeal. As an actress, Madonna made her Broadway debut in David Mamet's critically acclaimed Speed-the Plow. In 1996, she earned a Golden Globe Best Actress award for her portrayal of Eva Peron in the  Tim Rice/Andrew Lloyd Webber movie musical, Evita. Madonna attended Rochester Adams High School, where she was a cheerleader and straight-A  student. After graduation, she attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to study dance on a  scholarship but went to New York City after one year. At King's Cove, off Tienken at the Paint Creek Trail crossing was once the  home of the Dr. Max Mallon family- located on the site of the Rochester  Sand and Brick Company. The Mallons's rented one of the homes on the  property to the Mitchell family – whose home was where the tennis courts  are located now. In 1965, The Mitchell's son, Chuck, a well know  southeast Michigan folk singer, married his Canadian girlfriend in the  family's backyard. After the 18 month marriage ended, Joni Mitchell went  on to gain international fame as a folksinger and songwriter, most notably  for her song Both Sides Now. Turn the Page Bob Seger On a long and lonesome highway, east of Omaha You can listen to the engine moanin' out its one note song You can think about the woman, or the girl you knew the night b efore But your thoughts will soon be wandering, the way they always d o When you're riding sixteen hours and there's nothing there to d o And you don't feel much like riding, you just wish the trip was  through Here I am, on a road again There I am, on the stage Here I go, playing star again There I go, turn the page Well, you walk into a restaurant all strung out from the road And you feel the eyes upon you as you're shaking off the cold You pretend it doesn't bother you, but you just want to explode Most times you can't hear 'em talk, other times you can All the same old clichés, is it woman, is it man? And you always seem outnumbered, so you don't dare make a stand Here I am, on a road again There I am, on the stage Here I go, playing star again There I go, turn the page Out there in the spotlight you're a million miles away Every ounce of energy, you try to give away As the sweat pours out your body like the music that you play Later in the evening as you lie awake in bed With the echoes from the amplifiers ringin' in your head You smoke the day's last cigarette, remembering what she said Here I am, on a road again There I am, up on the stage Here I go, playing star again There I go, turn the page Here I am, on a road again There I am, on the stage, yeah Here I go, playing star again There I go, there I go  Bob was born in Dearborn, Michigan, in 1945. Seger got his start in music from his father who brought home Elvis Presley’s recording of “Hound Dog / Don’t Be Cruel” and taught Bob how to play the songs on the bass ukulele. Seger’s dad had been a big-band leader but had left music to work in the automotive factories.   When he was six, Seger moved with his family to Ann Arbor. Shortly thereafter, his father abandoned the family and moved to California to once again pursue a career in music. This resulted in great financial hardship for Bob, his mother, and older brother.   While his older brother worked to help support the family, Bob would often stay up and listen to the powerful AM stations on his transistor radio late at night in the family’s one room apartment. Seger became a big fan of soul music stars such as Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, and James Brown. They would heavily influence Bob’s vocal style and musical tastes when he started performing.   Seger’s first high school band was called The Decibels. They started during his sophomore year in 1961 as a doo-wop vocal group before evolving into a complete band with Bob as the front man singing R&B covers. It was in The Decibels that Bob wrote and recorded his first songs, “The Lonely One” and “Jackie The Thief”. The demo was recorded in the basement of Max Crook, the man who played the musitron solo on Del Shannon’s “Runaway”. Seger’s next band was The Town Criers. The band worked several nights a week on the Detroit bar circuit and also enjoyed a regular gig backing strippers at a club in Jackson, Michigan.   Bob Seger’s first big break came when he joined Doug Brown and The Omens as the organ player. Brown was a rock and roll veteran who had worked on demos with Del Shannon, had released a record, and was an established act in and around the Motor City. Detroit rock and roll impresarios Dave Leone and Ed “Punch” Andrews signed the band to record for their Hideout label. In 1965, Doug Brown and The Omens released “TGIF (Thank Goodness It’s Friday)” and it became a local hit.   In the meantime, Brown told Dave Leone that his organ player was also a songwriter who had some great material that should be recorded. Bob auditioned “East Side Story” in Leone’s office on acoustic guitar. He had originally written the song for another local band called The Underdogs. After Leone heard Seger’s solo performance of "East Side Story", he took him to United Sound in Detroit to record it. The song was produced by Doug Brown who also played guitar on the recording.   “East Side Story”, released on the Hideout label by Bob Seger, was a sensation in Detroit. When the demand for the single became too great for Hideout to handle, the song was picked up by the Cameo label. Seger then formed his own backing band, and subsequent 1966 pressings of the single were released under the name of Bob Seger & The Last Heard.   Bob and his band built a strong following in the Midwest with additional regional hits like “Persecution Smith” and, most notably, “Heavy Music”. “Heavy Music” looked like a break-out record for Bob Seger & The Last Heard, and it had begun climbing the national charts before dropping out of sight when the Cameo/Parkway record label went out of business in 1967.   In 1968, Bob signed with Capitol Records and the band, that also included drummer Pep Perrine and bassist Dan Honaker, was renamed The Bob Seger System. Seger’s first single on Capitol was one of the first anti-war protest songs of the Vietnam era, “2 + 2 = ?”. Although popular in Detroit, the powerful song may have been too controversial for many radio stations during that turbulent year.   The Bob Seger System then released its first national hit single, “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man”, which featured friend and future Eagle Glenn Frey on rhythm guitar and backing vocals. “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” peaked at # 17 on Billboard’s Hot 100 early in 1969. The band also produced a promotional film for the single that was played on teen dance programs across the country.   The band’s next single, “Ivory”, charted nationally for just one week in early 1969. All three of the Capitol singles were found the group’s first album, “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man”. Although the album did not reach Billboard’s Top 40 album charts, it would prove to be Bob’s biggest selling album hit for the next seven years.   Bob had started to grow tired of the music business by 1969 and it showed in the band’s next album, “Noah”. Seger had enrolled in college while the album was being cut and did not perform all of the lead vocals. The title song was a local hit, but both it and the album failed to chart nationally. Seger even quit the band briefly, but he soon returned to music full time.   By 1970, the Bob Seger System had added Dan Watson on keyboards and released its third album, “Mongrel”. It represented a return to form for Seger, and both the album and its first single “Lucifer” were minor hits on the Billboard charts.   Seger disbanded the Bob Seger System before recording his next album, “Brand New Morning”. Bob described the acoustic album as representing a very down period in his life. His marriage had broken up, he was without a band, and felt defeated at that point in his career. The album did not sell, and Bob was released from his Capitol recording contract in late 1971 after one last charting single.   The final single, “Lookin’ Back” only spent two weeks on the Billboard charts, but it was a # 2 hit in Detroit. “Lookin’ Back” was a classic Seger 45 that took on society’s negative attitudes towards long hair and liberal lifestyle choices. Although it looked a little bleak for Bob Seger at the start of 1972, things were going to get much better. (See Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band)   The Bob Seger System was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends in 2006.  In 2008, the Bob Seger System's classic anti-war song "2 + 2 = ?" was voted in as one of Michigan's Legendary Songs.   In 2009, the band's biggest hit, "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man", was also voted in.   Video:  With an introduction from Paul Revere, this might be the only television footage of the Bob Seger System performing "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man".  Watch it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2aBOTNGWMY   Dr. J. Recommends: The early Cameo singles, “East Side Story”, “Persecution Smith” and “Heavy Music” are an essential part of any Seger collection. The Capitol single version of “Lookin’ Back” is another must-have cut that has not been released on an album. “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” is the best of the Bob Seger System's Capitol albums. It contains Bob's first two charting singles, “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” and “Ivory”, as well as the incomparable “2 + 2 = ?”. “Mongrel” from 1970 is also worth having. It includes the charting single “Lucifer” and some great lesser-known Seger rockers: “Highway Child”, “Teachin’ Blues”, and “Leanin’ On My Dream”. Internet and Video Links: www.segerfile.com/  This is the best site for data on the early parts of Bob Seger's career. The site has been written and edited for over nine years by by superfan Scott Sparling, and it contains an amazing amount of information on all aspects of Bob Seger's musical legacy from his very first singles up through his recent "Face The Promise" album and tour. You can watch some great early video of the band by clicking on www.youtube.com/ and typing Bob Seger System in the Search box at the top of the page.  Back in '72 January 1973 Bob Seger, with "My Band," friends (including J.J. Cale), and the Muscle Shoals Band. Data Reached 188 on the Billboard album chart. Every legendary artist has a legendary album that's hard or impossible to find, and this is Seger's. Never released on CD, it's available only in used stores on vinyl (or possibly cassette). The album has even been bootlegged, under the title "15 Years Ago." (The bootleg appeared in 1987; hence 15 years ago would have been 'Back in '72.') Even Punch claims not to have a copy of "Back in '72," according to Detroit Free Press columnist Bob Talbert, who writes: "When Detroit rock legend Bob Seger and his manager-from-the-beginning Punch Andrews wish to hear an original cut off an early vinyl album like "Back in '72' or "Smokin' O.P.'s" Andrew says, "We have to call 'RIF or WLLZ and get them to play it for us. We gave all the original albums away. We sent 'em all out for charity auctions. We took a look 10 years ago and found we didn't have an original vinyl album left." Bob Talbert, August 2, 1992, Detroit Free Press, "Some famous folks have lost the things that created fame." My guess is it's a bluff. People probably call Punch all the time wanting to buy those albums -- this Talbert piece sounds like a bit of disinformation designed to get people to stop calling. It's hard to believe they're so disorganized as to give away every last copy of a classic album. Back in '72 album owes most of its ongoing fame to "Turn the Page," one of the two or three most popular Seger songs. But more than that, the whole album captures the energy of a young Seger just on the cusp of greatness. Seger has said he won't reissue the album in CD format because he feels many of the vocals are bad. Seger: "Back In '72 has a couple of decent songs on it, but the mix is so awful. One of these days I'm going to get some time, and I'd like to sing some of those songs again. I thought I sang some of those so terrible." Joanne Zangrilli, Goldmine, November 1990 To my mind, the raw energy and rough feel of the vocals are priceless. Standout cuts Turn the Page One of Seger's most enduring songs,"Turn the Page" remains in the live show to this day. Seger: "We recorded "Turn the Page" four times over a period of three years, until we finally got the cut...my manager hated that song...[he said] 'it's too down, it's too dark'...[but] that is my favorite song on the album." Early 1975 radio interview. "You do have a lot of dark days on the road...you have a lot of good days, too...but basically we're in a very dog-eat-dog business, and you can get pretty dark sometimes, and if you're able to translate that, which I think Turn the Page" does more effectively than anything else I've ever done before..." Early 1975 radio interview. "It's amazing, that song, which was never a 45 or anywhere near it because it's a five minute song and it is very laid back, very low key...but we've played markets where we've never been, and we've played that song, and it's like, you know, [laughs] Barbra Streisand doing "People" or something...people start applauding, a little bit of applause off in the corner..." Early 1975 radio interview. The lyric is dated, Seger acknowledges. "But people don't seem to care and fans get angry if you don't do it." Richard Harrington, August 17, 1986, Washington Post. "Bob Seger: Rocking On, With the Voice of Experience." In at least two (unscientific) polls that I'm aware of, "Turn the Page" has been named as Seger's most popular song. (It came out on top in a Detroit Free Press call-in poll in 1994, and in an elaborate NCAA-style tournament on AOL in 1998. During the tourney, 128 Seger songs were randomly paired up with each other. People visiting the board voted on their favorite in each pairing until there were 64 songs, then 32, then 16, 8, 4, and 2. Finally, only "Turn the Page" remained.) Of course, most fans who name it as their favorite are remembering the version from Live Bullet. Back in '72 has never been reissued on CD, so the vast majority of Seger fans have probably heard the studio version only rarely, unless they bought the cassette single released around the time of the Greatest Hits album. That's too bad. The studio vocals, if anything, are more heartfelt, especially in the final, repeated chorus. The instrumentation is different too: it's the keyboard, not the sax, that carries the song in the studio version. The up and down piano chops that lead us into the chorus are suggestive of Leon Russell's "Tightwire" -- the sax is saved for the very end, and even then, it's not that big a deal. Live, of course, the sax is practically the signature element . In fact, tor the first three years of playing the song, Seger didn't travel with Alto Reed (who was known as Tommy Cartmell at the time), so there was no live sax in the song: "We have a Mellotron that simulates the sax very well, though...I play piano, and the organ player plays a violin-kind-of Mellotron wall, and he covers the sax pretty good." Early 1975 radio interview. The cassette single contains both the live and the studio version back to back , which makes it worth owning. (It also includes a version of "Night Moves" with the last 30 seconds ludicrously edited away, as if "I remember, I remember, I remember" weren't a key element of the song....) What makes the song so popular? Why, after 25 years, is it still perceived by many as Seger's best song? After all, a lot of other excellent songs have faded into Seger's discography as obscure album cuts. The answer, partly, is that "Turn the Page" is much more than just "a road song," as it is often described. True, on the surface, the lyrics describe the quest of a regional rock star -- but the emotions they touch run much deeper. Ultimately, "Turn the Page" is a song about the desire for connection --particularly between a man and a women, though the lyrics deftly take it far beyond sexual connection alone. At the center of the song is the difficulty of truly coming together with another. The lyrics remind us of how far we will go to overcome these difficulties and of the loneliness and yearning we will face along the way. Only Seger with his Midwest roots could conjure up a highway "east of Omaha" and make it sound like the loneliest corner of the soul. The economy of the lyric is astonishing -- with one powerful phrase he gives us all the empty distance we face in seeking connection. (It's no accident that one of his later albums is titled "The Distance.") I'm tempted again to say that this is the distance a boy abandoned by his father might know in a very potent way -- but I also remind myself that I may be reading too much into that early event in Seger's life. The second verse -- the one Seger considers dated -- gives us the people we meet on this journey. You feel their eyes and you sometimes hear their unkind comments, but that's as close as you get to any human contact. The last verse has the song's greatest power. On stage -- even in some small-time bar -- you're "a million miles away"...presumably a million miles from the loneliness of the previous verses. But it's fleeting. Nine albums later, Seger sings "I try to make some moment last...I watch it slipping past." The moments of fulfillment in the spotlight don't last too long either. At the end of the day (to borrow that horrid business cliche) what you're left with is the ringing of the amplifiers. Your need for connection, despite the success on stage, is as strong and as unfulfilled as ever. That yearning is captured in one of Seger's most brilliant lines: "You smoke the day's last cigarette, remembering what she said." Not what she looked liked, or what she did, but what she said. The line testifies to the enduring power of words and reminds me of a Kesey line in Sometimes A Great Notion, to the effect that a man can beat you senseless in a barroom fight and you recover; but a woman melts half your brain for a lifetime with a sentence or two. "Remembering what she said..." -- It's a lyric as good as any you'll find by Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, or any of the songwriters generally considered great lyricists. One dissenter I know has described "Turn the Page" as self-pitying. But it's not. The genius of the song is the switch from 2nd person to 1st person. ("You think about the woman, or the girl you knew the night before"...but "here I am, on the road again.") The lyrics are so well-crafted, you barely notice the switch, but the switch is essential. If the verses were written in the 1st person, they would sound self-pitying; and if the chorus was written in 2nd person, it wouldn't have nearly the impact. I doubt if many listeners notice it, but the switch from 2nd person to 1st person and back makes all the difference in the world. The other stroke of genius is in the last line...or rather, the last missing line. In a million years, it wouldn't have occurred to me to leave off the final "Turn the page." But by leaving us hanging with the lingering "There I go..." Seger gives the song a haunting, yearning feeling that is absolute perfection. For all the appreciation it has gotten, I don't think the song is appreciated nearly enough Of course, the lyrics are only part of the song's success. The live performance, the plaintive sax, the vocals and the simplicity of the song all come together to create its power. It's not my favorite Seger song, but it's one of his classics by any measure. And as the first Seger ballad to achieve mass popularity, it's also an important, maybe even pivotal song in his career. (Alternatively, I suppose there's a different way to analyze the song. You could view "Turn the Page" as a song about how our careers get in the way of connection -- after all, Seger wouldn't be out there east of Omaha if he weren't aiming for career success in the form of rock and roll stardom. That's valid, but again, that's the surface story. The emotional connection is really underneath. Anyway, I doubt if there's many workaholic, connection-deprived CEO's walking around humming "Turn the Page.") Seger: "The story, of course, occurred when I was playing with Teegarden & VanWinkle, and Monk Bruce. We had these two hulking motorcycle guys who used to set up the equipment...We were on our way from Madison, Wis., or some place. The big guys were sleeping, and the skinny little rock guys went into this roadside place to get something to eat." Two salesmen gave Teegarden a bad time about his hair. "We had to drag him out. It's a good thing they didn't follow us; little did they know what was waiting for them in the truck. Those guys were big." Gary Graff, October 1994, Detroit Free Press. "Bob Seger Tells The Stories Behind The Hits." Rosalie A great rocker, written about CKLW program director Rosalie Trombley. My memory is that it got less airplay on CK than other stations, and I've always wondered if they avoided playing it a little just because of the reference. It's a killer song and was covered by another great band -- Thin Lizzy. In fact, it was one of the first Seger songs to be recorded by another popular band. According the The Classic CKLW Page, Rosalie Trombley "was recognized as one of the pre-eminent star makers in radio. When she programmed a record it was almost sure to be a smash. Canadian artists like The Bells "Stay Awhile", Motherlode "When I die", Blood Sweat and Tears (David Clayton Thomas is Canadian) "Spinning Wheel", The Guess Who "These Eyes" and Gordon Lightfoot "If You Could Read My Mind" and many others owe a bunch of royalty checks to Rosalie and CKLW." Back in '72, Neon Sky, I've Been Working The title track simmers and boils (and includes the lyric "You know my music died and hurt my pride, but somehow I pulled through, back in '72"). Seger claimed that the song never went over well live, so it never became part of the live act. Too bad -- it's a gem. Other standout cuts include "Neon Sky," (the vocal delivery on the line "The devil is red, but his money is green" is priceless and captures the essence of early '70s Seger.) "I've Been Working," the only Van Morrison song on any Seger album, also cooks, and then some. Midnight Rider "Midnight Rider" was the first single off the album. Seger does a stellar version of this Allman Brothers song -- in fact, Seger's uptempo version is much hotter, and has much more soul than the mournful original. Unfortunately, after Seger's version was recorded, but before it was released, Joe Cocker came out with his uptempo cover of the same song. Cocker was already an established star, and his recording of "Midnight Rider" totally pre-empted Seger's version. Seger: "[We] had our own feel on it...we really got burned on that one...because Joe Cocker came out with it [first]... "His was a hit single, and ours was in the can, and we said, 'well, ours is different from his, so it's no problem.'" Early 1975 radio interview. "There are some songs that really sound great on record that just will not happen on stage. A good example is Midnight Rider..." Early 1975 radio interview. Just after Back in '72 came out, Jesse and I made one of our trips to Detroit to drop in unannounced at Punch's office. Sometimes we'd actually see Punch. Other times we'd just check out Bob's schedule and pick up whatever promotional materials were on the shelves in the front hallway. On this trip, we both scored the Midnight Rider poster -- reproduced here in mercifully small format. "Did You Ever Take A Midnight Ride?" the poster asks. "Bob Seger Did Back In '72." Hey, it's no more provocative than "Are You Experienced?" The house itself, if memory serves, is the actual house where Punch and Palladium had their offices. The bicycle by the steps in front symbolizes...uh, nothing. And the people in the window are, I don't know, doing something. Remember, this is the John and Yoko Two Virgins Kick Out The Jams era, and given the times, the poster is actually pretty tame. The small type around the side says "Midnight Rider from the Album Back in '72. The Palladium Records/Reprise logo is down in the corner. As if that piece of art isn't enough to stun you silly, we also later acquired Back in '72 stickers. (Actually Punch sent them to me. I sent him a dollar, and he sent me a couple of stickers and my dollar back. By Punch, I mean Punch, not some Punch-assistant. In my limited experience, Punch is nothing if not hands on.) Basically the sticker was a type treatment of the album name, incorporating a lot of news headlines from the times. There was a more complex poster version which I took from a bar once, but did I have the sense to save it? Anyway, here's the sticker: Working with Muscle Shoals The album was recorded partly at Muscle Shoals, partly with his own band, because Seger couldn't afford to record it all at Muscle Shoals. "Warners...sent me down to record in Muscle Shoals with producers Brad Shapiro and Dave Crawford. They told Punch, 'We'll cut him for $1,500 a side.' We cut Van Morrison's 'I've Been Working' and two others the first day and I was sky-high, working with Roger Hawkins, Barry Becket and all these guys who cut with Aretha and everything. That night, though, Punch came into my hotel room and said, 'They want $1,500 a tune, not per album side,' and he had to tell 'em to forget it. I ended up doing the rest of the album pretty much alone with the Muscle Shoals guys, and I thought again, 'file these guys names away for future reference because they're something else.'" Chris Cioe, Musician. "Bob Seger: Hymns from the heartland."   Packaging The Reprise release shipped with a promotional flyer tucked around the album, reading as follows: "Bob Seger, who blended other folks' tunes into a best selling mixture called Smokin' O.P.'s, rolls his own on his second Reprise album. ['Best selling' in this context meaning nothing in particular: Smoki Nopes didn't chart. This is what you call hype.] "Back in '72 takes its title from a Van Morrison song which is of course included in the album." [The only sense I can make of this is that the album was originally to be titled I've Been Working. Maybe the new name was inserted in the flyer without anyone taking the time to notice that the sentence was no longer true.] "Another standout musician heard on the album is Bill Mueller, leader of a Michigan group called Julia with which Bob toured extensively in early 1972. More recently Bob has been touring and recording with a quintet of musicians he picked up in Tulsa in the fall of 1972." I.e., the Bornea Band, or "My Band."   Bill Mueller -- now known as Blue Miller -- has a fine web site of his own. He contacted me a while back and was nice enough to fill in some details. You can read his full letter on the email page by clicking here...but to summarize, Julia was managed by a woman named Ann Marston who introduced the band to Punch. When she passed away, Punch became Julia's manager. Shortly thereafter, Seger asked Mueller to sing background vocals on "Lookin' Back." For the tour supporting "Brand New Morning," Punch sent out Julia as an opening act. Seger then performed solo, and then Julia backed him for the final act. Later, Julia backed Bob on part of the "Smokin' O.P.'s" album tour. When Bob took Bill down to Muscle Shoals without the rest of Julia, there was some resentment, and Julia broke up. Before "Back In 72" came out, Seger formed a band with Mueller on guitar, Marci Levy on background vocals, Jamie Oldaker on drums, Dick Sims on keyboards, Alto Reed on sax, (who at the time was still known as Tommy Cartmell), and Sergio Pastora as percussionist. By the time the LP came out, Mueller had moved on. SEGER 101 There is a signature richness and power to the music that Bob Seger has been making for four decades, and as succeeding generations have discovered those qualities, his reputation as an artist and songwriter has only grown. His work represents the honest best of what rock & roll can be. It's passionate, unpretentious, uplifting and true to itself and its audience. Perhaps most of all it is distinctly American, a plainspoken testament to the dignity, hopes and aspirations of ordinary working people. In a time as obsessed with glamour, celebrity, fame and materialism as ours, his songs remain a bracing tonic, an emblem of the belief that everyone's life is a worthy subject of art. That's one of the reasons why Seger's songs have lasted so well and continue to be so well-loved. His Greatest Hits collection has sold more than seven million copies, and albums like Beautiful Loser (1975), Live Bullet (1976), Night Moves (1976), Stranger in Town (1978), Against the Wind (1980) and Nine Tonight (1981) have all enjoyed multiplatinum sales. In March of 2004 Seger was more than deservedly inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Seger's songs tell stories about characters with whom listeners can readily identify. They are often about people who are trying to find their way through a world that has proven more complex, challenging and perhaps even dangerous than they could have imagined. Innocence drains away, and what's left is a combination of knowledge, experience and an aching nostalgia for something that has been lost along the way and must be recovered. His characters cross a line, frequently without realizing it, like a car passing over an invisible borderline at night. By the time they figure out that they are no longer in the world they knew, that world is simply a receding image in the rear-view mirror. Getting back to it isn't always easy. Sometimes it's not possible. As Thomas Wolfe wrote, "You can't go home again." That road is one that Seger has traveled himself, though he has fortunately always proven able to find his way back home. One of Michigan's finest, he grew up outside the media's spotlight and soaked up the muscular rock & roll and seductive soul sounds for which Detroit remains famous. Drawing on those sources, he defined a musical voice for the American heartland years before John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen or any of the other artists who have mined similar territory. But, while rollicking statements of hell-raising intent like "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" and "Heavy Music" earned him a reputation among hardcore music fans, he struggled for many years to break out of his regional scene. Bad luck and bad timing conspired to keep him a secret from audiences outside Michigan, Florida and a few other hotbeds of support. When people heard and saw Seger, they fell under his spell. It just seemed for a time as if he would have to personally perform in front of every single person he wanted to win over. Finally, he more or less found a way to do that. The album that brought Seger significant national attention was Live Bullet, a double-vinyl-record set that was recorded live in Detroit in 1975 with the Silver Bullet Band, which he had formed the year before. Whatever recognition Seger had garnered to that point was based on two elements: the emotional power of his songs and the intensity of his live shows. Riveting performances of such soon-to-be classics as "Beautiful Loser" and "Turn the Page" combined those two virtues on Live Bullet. The mood was further heightened by the make-or-break ardency that Seger and the band palpably felt. Happily, the album broke and perfectly set the stage for the moment of Seger's true dramatic rise: Night Moves. That album's title track, needless to say, ranks with the likes of American Graffiti, the film that inspired it, in its evocative depiction of sexual discovery and the bittersweet passage from adolescence into adulthood. The album's virtue is that its other songs - like "Mainstreet," "The Fire Down Below" and "Rock and Roll Never Forgets," for example - each isolate an aspect of that journey (lust, yearning, the search for lost youth), which lends it a satisfying sense of unity. It is one of the seminal records of the Seventies, and the ongoing life that "Night Moves" has found on the radio attests to how strongly listeners of all ages have felt their lives represented in it. But Seger was only beginning to find his voice - or, more accurately, to have his voice heard. He was a superstar now, even if an unusually grounded one, and each of his albums routinely gathered the sort of attention (and often sales) that he had sought so futilely early in his career. The six studio albums he has recorded since that time have generated a catalogue of songs that have entered the pantheon of contemporary popular music: "Hollywood Nights," "Still the Same," "Old Time Rock and Roll" (which is not a Seger original), "Fire Lake," "You'll Accomp'ny Me," "Against the Wind," "Like a Rock," "American Storm," "The Fire Inside" and "Lock and Load," to compile a list that is by no means complete. Now Seger is back with Face the Promise, an album that extends his legacy into the 21st century. His raw, rough-edged voice still seethes with the conviction that charged it decades ago, but the years have lent him the stature of experience and authority. Not that such authenticity was ever a quality that either Seger or his songs lacked. He has expressed the frustrations, hopes and dreams not simply of people like himself, but that he himself has felt. When he sings, you believe it. The breadth, energy and cinematic beauty of Bob Seger's music speak eloquently for themselves. His struggle for recognition may have been fought and won long ago, but the battle to convey his vision precisely as he experiences it within himself goes on unabated. Not giving up until he's satisfied that he's gotten it right fulfills the promise he has made to his fans and to himself. He faces it every time he steps into the studio, and he delivers on it every time people hear one of his songs and respond, as they so often do, "Yes, that's exactly what it felt like." Seger thought he was old when Night Moves came out. "I was 31 or 32 when Night Moves came out. I remember a member of my band used to say he was going into country music someday because they don't care how old you are...and once you are beyond Teen magazine in rock, you are history." April 13, 1986. Robert Hillburn, L.A. Times. "Bob Seger returns in the eye of the storm." "Of course it feels funny being 41 and rocking. But I actually felt more embarrassed about it when I was 31 -- then I really felt old. But it was nothing compared to when I was 18. At 18, I wanted to get big enough so that I would make maybe 20 grand a year between the ages of 25 and 30. After that, I figured, I would be burned out and go travel through Europe. The revival shows in the '50s and '60s didn't make me feel very optimistic about the future of rock. Even when they featured people I really admired, like Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, it all had the air of a last hurrah. I'm happy it didn't turn out that way, that they're still viable." May 14, 1986, Stephen Holden, The New York Times. "Bob Seger's View of Life and Loving" 1986: "Now that I'm in my 40's, I worry about the physical toll of touring, so I'm trying to keep myself in top physical condition. I'm also at the age when I'd like to have a child. If and when that happens, I'd like to do what John Lennon did with his second child and be there for the kid the first five years. In the meantime, I'm going to keep performing as long as it feels relevant and I feel I can give it my best." Stephen Holden, May 14, 1986, The New York Times. "Bob Seger's View of Life and Loving" 1986: "Now I'm 41 and I've never had a family and I have to come to terms with that...I look around and see friends of mine with 15 year-old sons and daughters...I think I really missed that whole thing doing what I do." Richard Harrington, August 17, 1986, Washington Post. Bob Seger: Rocking On, With the Voice of Experience. On having It's A Mystery rejected by MTV: "It's simply age discrimination. I hate to say it, but it's the only thing that I can think of." Roger Catlin, Hartford Courant, Spring, 1996 Politics Seger told writer Roy Trakin that he voted for Reagan in 1984."...only because I thought Mondale wasn't a good enough leader. I always vote and you've got to take the one you've voted for. I didn't think much of Carter, either, so I voted for John Anderson in 1980." Roy Trakin, Creem, 1987? Seger appeared onstage with Dukakis in Michigan campaign appearances in 1988. The Seger Work Ethic Seger believes in hard work "because tomorrow someone's going to come along and we're just going to be irrelevant." Richard Harrington, August 17, 1986, Washington Post." Bob Seger: Rocking On, With the Voice of Experience." Seger has often mentioned the advice he got from Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon: "He said, 'Do your best, 'cause it's only gonna last two or three years.'" Kira L. Billik (AP), January 1996, Traverse City Record-Eagle. "He's older now but he's still running against the wind." Graff: Growing up in the '50s, Seger witnessed "an era when pop stars, even Little Richard, were old hat after two, three years.'' Growing up poor, he adds, instilled a drive "to make sure I had that big stack of chips I could fall back on before I kicked back at all." Gary Graff, October 1994, Detroit Free Press. "His New Wife And Child Have Become Rocker Bob Seger's Focus" "We've never followed trends. We've always done what we've done, and I've seen em come and go for 20 years. In the late '60s, I was intimidated by Alice Cooper, but I never painted my face. It wouldn't work if I did change: I wouldn't feel comfortable." "Rock and roll has always seemed like work to me -- a good, honest solid way to make a living. I put together my first band in high school, the three-piece Decibels, in order to help earn money for my family and spending money for school clothes. Rock and roll was helping to meet my basic needs. And the music I listened to on the radio kept me feeling positive and hopeful in the same way." Capitol Press Release for The Fire Inside "Sometimes I do get nostalgic for the really good times I had in high school. Ever since then, I've been working for a living, supporting myself and I've always had the bills and everything over my shoulder. This last six months is the first time I didn't have to worry about money. After high school, it was work work work. For the next four and half years, I worked six nights a week, five sets a night, until I made my first record. And then when I made that record we started touring." John Morthland, July 1977, Creem. "Bob Seger Conquers the World (And About Time!)" Seger on all the Detroit bands of the 60s -- Stooges, MC5, Mitch Ryder, Bob Hodge and Catfish, the Rationals, SRC... "I think those bands came and went because they just didn't have the stamina to go all the way. Either that, or in some cases, it was drugs. There's only three acts I can think of that really kept at it, kept pounding away. that was Glenn Frey, Ted Nugent and myself. The others just burned themselves out." John Morthland, July 1977, Creem. "Bob Seger Conquers the World (And About Time!)" You Can't Miss That Driving Rain "California is just a place to go to work now. I tried living there a bit when I was married to Annette and I wouldn't want to do it anymore. I thought having a lot of entertainment around me would inspire me, but it didn't work that way. It was deadening." Susan Whitall, August 24, 1991, The Detroit News. "Long Way Home" "You feel like a workaholic because everybody talked about it, everybody was concerned about it, everybody was dealing with it all the time. Back here I can work, and then I can come home and put it away. " Susan Whitall, August 24, 1991, The Detroit News. "Long Way Home" "We have a little place in Florida, but my wife's already put her foot down on that one. Because at my age, Florida looks pretty good -- in about three years, I'll be 54 and I might be looking hard at those golf courses. But nope. We're gonna send our kids to elementary school down the street (in Michigan.)" Brian McCollum, March 8, 1996, Detroit Free Press. "Detroit Never Forgets." Friends and Family "My manager lives ten miles from me, and he's probably my best buddy." Roy Trakin, Creem, 1987? On his friendship with Frey: "Glenn and I used to [get] together in the Sixties and do stuff like go see Planet of the Apes totally ripped. He sort of idolized me 'cause he was just a kid -- maybe 18 -- and I was all of 23, with a string of local hits....I was always kinda the heavy guy, while Frey liked the Byrds and Beau Brummels, all that sweet stuff and harmonies that the Eagles do now. I was always telling him to 'heavy up,' but I guess he'd done okay." Patrick Goldstein, Rolling Stone, July 29, 1976 His Mother "It was the golden rule, really right on down the line. Never steal, never lie. And always pay those bills. Never miss a bill and always watch your money. Always be good to people and you'll get it back and always look for the good in people, and ignore the bad if you can. You know, that's just the way she brought me up." Dave Marsh, June 15, 1978, Rolling Stone. "Bob Seger: Not A Stranger Anymore." "I was conditioned throughout my first ten years in the business never to expect anything. And my mom hammered into me, "If you're a pessimist when the good things happen, you'll be that much happier and won't be disappointed when they don't." Timothy White, May 1, 1980, Rolling Stone. "The Fire This Time" Because his mother was "cynical about a lot of things," Seger "always expected the worst. And I battled that, because she was my chief parental inspiration. I've had to battle that for a long time. So I have those moments, but I try to overcome them, I try to beat them down. And I just don't write when I'm in that frame of mind." Susan Whitall, August 24, 1991, The Detroit News. "Long Way Home On his friendship with Glenn Frey "We were real good friends when I was like 20, and Glenn was 17. ..he was one of our biggest boosters. I remember when they weren't even the Eagles yet, they talked Linda Rondstat into doing 'Big River' and a couple of my songs from my Mongrel album...and he was always boosting me in California, saying we gotta rock like this, because Glenn was really the rocker in the band initially...and then Henley got really deep into rock and roll as well..." Radio Interview: In the Studio with Redbeard for Against the Wind. "I really try to leave everything on the stage. I really do. I think it's a lot healthier. I've seen a lot of people take themselves way too seriously in this business. I don't really even have that many friends in this business. Outside of the Eagles, I don't have anybody I know really closely, and I never have." Steve Morse, September 11, 1980, Boston Globe. "Bob Seger Runs Against the Wind." "[Ann Arbor] was really conservative when I was a kid, it was Eisenhower-ish when I was a kid. My father was a Republican and my mother was real strict as far as honesty and as far as paying the bills. That was hammered all the time: you must pay the bills at the end of each week, and don't spend too much, and all that. That's heavily ingrained, even today." May 1979 radio interview. Relationships past It's not my purpose to focus on the past or expose private matters. The music is what matters, and in that regard, there are some aspects of Seger's relationships with women that have been front and center in his songs. His long relationship with Jan, and the ending of that relationship, formed the basis of much of his work, just as his new family is central to his current work. Some background: Seger was married for one day short of a year in 1968. He has referred to it as a foolish, impulsive marriage. He was married a second time in 1987 to Annette Sinclair, an actress (Thief of Hearts and Weekend Pass) and model (Pontiac commercials). They divorced a year later. He married Nita Dorricott in 1993. On breaking up with Jan after 11 years: "The same thing happened to my brother, George. He was married the same amount of time, and it just dies. Those things happen. Maybe if I had a more normal life, it would have lasted longer. I don't know....When I first met Jan, she was 20 years old. When we broke up, she was 31. I think I was a little more set in my ways because I was seven years older and I knew exactly where I was going and what I wanted to do...we tried very hard to make it work." Roy Trakin, Creem, 1987? The breakup "sent me off into unknown territory. I was always used to having someone there, was really used to Jan. I didn't have that anchor anymore... "After 13 years of relationships, it's very strange. The best way I can describe it is the line in "The Aftermath" -- 'It's a cold hard scene, the singles thing, losers everywhere. And it hurts to the bone." Gary Graff, May 4, 1986, The Detroit Free Press. "The rock of rock." Fatherhood Gary Graff, writing in the Detroit Free Press in October 1994, asked Seger about work and family life: After his mother died in 1989, "I really started to think, 'Who am I doing it for now? Both my parents are gone; is it just for me?' And then when Nita came along, and then Cole, it was like 'OK, this is another new change, and I don't want to blow it. So I got serious about that.'" Gary Graff, October 1994, Detroit Free Press. "His New Wife And Child Have Become Rocker Bob Seger's Focus" Seger's son Cole is named after producer David Cole. "I want (Cole) to feel what I didn't feel when I was a kid, which is a great sense of affection and stability." "I've just changed my whole value system; I know what's important. I want to be a good dad. I want to be a good husband. That's my top priority. And if I can still do my work well, great..." Gary Graff, October 1994, Detroit Free Press. "His New Wife And Child Have Become Rocker Bob Seger's Focus" Originally, Seger thought a family might possibly be an intrusion on his work, "but it's a focuser. The things that don't mean so much become so clear, and if the song isn't quite good enough and you're beating yourself up over it, you say, 'Next.'" Kira L. Billik (AP), January 1996, Traverse City Record-Eagle. "He's older now but he's still running against the wind." "I love being a dad. It's the best thing that ever happened to me." Fred Shuster, February 2, 1996, Los Angeles Daily News, "Still the same enduring rocker Bob Seger finds a niche in the '90s" "I'm a very lucky guy. I've got a great wife and two great kids, and I can't complain. If it all ends today, I can't complain. I've done well." Kira L. Billik, January 7, 1996, Associated Press. "Seger hits the road - with diaper bag." "I've always had a social conscience, but suddenly when you have kids something that used to just get you upset now becomes an outrage. The future becomes an issue -- not yours, but theirs. Yours is inevitable, but you're a guardian of theirs. What kind of world are we going to leave them?" Capital "Leaning Tower" Internet Pages, 1996 "I read this thing by (columnist) Bob Greene, who is a good writer. He wrote about his little girl. He said, 'I was afraid this would change me, but all it's done is make life better.' He sold me on it." Steve Morse, Boston Globe, September 25, 1986. "Bob Seger Ready to Turn the Page." Another selling point has been the recent first baby born to Alto Reed, longtime saxophonist of Seger's Silver Bullet Band. "He's just thrilled to death. We actually had to hold him down and say, 'You can't fly home to Miami anymore.' He'd have one day off and would fly down to see his kid. He was wearing himself out." Steve Morse, Boston Globe, September 25, 1986. "Bob Seger Ready to Turn the Page." Katmandu In the early 1990s, Seger visited Katmandu in support of the Special Olympics. Here's what he wrote about his trip, as told to Gary Graff in the Detroit Free Press, in the article "Seger finally goes to Katmandu." "A few weeks ago, I was in Katmandu, the capital of Nepal, visiting King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev. I didn't expect to end up talking about my music with a monarch, but at one point, out of the blue, the king leaned back and asked, 'What made you write that song, anyway?' "I gave him the same answer I've given many interviewers. "When I was 5, my dad would show me National Geographic. When I was 8, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbed Mt. Everest for the first time. I always was fascinated by exotic places, and I wrote the song from the perspective of someone who yearned for a place as far from America as anybody could get, someplace exotic and distant... "I found visiting Katmandu a bittersweet experience, however. There is, of course, the great beauty of the Himalayas and of the Buddhist temples, as well as the spirituality of the people. But there is no disguising the fact that this is a third world country; it's the fourth poorest in the world...one in five children is dead before age 1; the average adult life span is 42 years.. "What made the trip most worthwhile was working with Special Olympics. We had such a great time with the kids...I worked with 14-year old Min Sejuwal, who is from a town in the Mu Gu province west of Katmandu. He was such a great kid. His father was a leper with no hands who died when Min was a year old... I'm Gonna Tell My Tale, C'mon Is Seger writing an autobiography? One e-mail message I got reported the rumor that he was. In a way it makes sense: Seger loves to read biographies, and from childhood to stardom he's forged the kind of life that makes good reading. Not only that, but -- judging from the number of hits to The Seger File -- there's a large base of people out there wanting to read about Seger. On the other hand, if he really were writing an autobiography -- or cooperating on a biography with a writer -- it seems like someone would have reported on it...and I've read and heard nothing about this, except one stray rumor. Besides...where would he find a thoughtful co-author with a respectful and encylopedic knowledge of his career and an abiding interest in his music? Hmmm? Of Caves and Barbed Wire In a couple of interviews, Seger cites Ted Nugent as having given him some seminal advice in a cave in Festus, Missouri, where they both had been booked to perform. Seger, still a struggling regional star, was upset about playing in a cave. The sound was terrible. But Nugent would stand for no self-pity. "No crybabies in rock 'n' roll," he reportedly advised. Seger later told Bob Costas that the peptalk helped him keep going through the early, tough years. Seger File reader Judi Hay was at the concert and adds this report: "It was really good, as I recall, except as you can imagine, the sound wasn't the best. I went with my boyfriend at the time who remembers that Bob Seger played the song "The Stealer" … Seger was a virtual unknown at the time and so there weren't even that many people there. Probably no more than 100! Maybe even less…We all sat around on blankets on the concrete floor … There was this local guy around town named Leland Ogle who fancied himself a bigtime concert promoter who put the whole thing together." Nugent and Seger have since gone down vastly different paths, Back in the late 1990s, Nugent commented on Seger to writer Gary Graff: "I'd love to write some music that would really show off Bob's voice," Nugent told writer Gary Graff a couple of years ago. No hint on what type of song Ted thinks Bob ought to be singing...but it strikes me that writing songs that showcase his voice is kind of what Seger had been doing for, oh, about 30 years. Nugent has tried to talk to Punch about the subject, but according to Nugent, Punch "has created a barbed-wire defense network against all things Nuge,which I think is cute. It makes me that much more intense." Gary Graff CDs vs. Vinyl On the issue of CDs versus LPs, Seger reportedly misses vinyl -- especially the fact that vinyl has a side two. "Yes, yes, yes! Because you've got a chance to start another side, like you've got two starting points. I miss albums in general. They had a warmer sound on the bottom end of some stuff. I think digital recording is a little harsh." The Mr. Showbiz Interview Archive: Bob Seger, by Gary Graff, November 17, 1995. "I'm getting more and more into computers with recording, and I work with drum computers now as I write. What I see in computers is a great way to organize and communicate. My engineer David Cole always has his out. If he's in England working with somebody, I can e-mail him. It's great." The Mr. Showbiz Interview Archive: Bob Seger, by Gary Graff, November 17, 1995. Circa 1986: Seger has a 1,100-acre grain farm in Michigan that loses money. "One of the reasons I didn't want to play at Farm Aid was I thought it might be hypocritical. I think we're probably getting some of that aid now." Jack Curry, Spring 1986, USA Today. "Bob Seger sings blues no more." In 1992, Seger was stalked by a 29 year-old woman who believed Seger looked at her in a 1987 concert and mesmerized her. She wanted Seger to be a character witness in a custody hearing involving her children. Seger obtained a restraining order, preventing her from coming within 100 feet of house. June 24, 1992, Detroit Free Press. "'Mesmerized woman is after Seger'" In 1987, Seger received a star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in front of the Capitol Records Tower building. His handprints and signature were added to the Rockwalk on Sunset Boulevard in 1994. Columnist Bob Greene on Seger and Springsteen: "...the things Springsteen has been celebrated for -- singing about the real America, reaching emotions buried deep, connecting with the true concerns in ordinary people's lives -- Seger has been doing longer and better than Springsteen has. But he has never been celebrated in the way Springsteen has been celebrated from the start." Bob Greene, 1986, Chicago Tribune. "Bob Seger: Still the unsung hero of American rock." The website for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame includes lesson plans to hyelp educators integrate history and music. The first lesson plan is entitled "Historical Revisionism" and requires students to analyze the lyrics of Seger's "Revisionism Street." An excerpt: "History is seldom perceived by students as an ongoing process....This lesson will introduce a dynamic quality to history, one which indicates that history is the product of...non-objective historians... "The student will be able to: 1) Analyze the song "Revisionism Street" by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band and identify its overall meaning... 2) Explain how revisionism operates in the real world, the way Seger explains it...." John Mellencamp, with some wrong-headed advice as to why Seger ought to play the same song endlessly in concert, even though a lot of fans like me would just go nuts if Seger would once and a while reach back and play something different: "People pay for a couple of tickets, a lot of money, and I know why they're there. They're not there to see me be self-indulgent and play nine out of 12 songs off of this record and go, 'Oh, I forgot to play 'Pink Houses.' They wouldn't like that. "I went to see Bob Seger once, and he didn't play 'Ramblin' Gamblin' Man.' I walked up to him after the show and said, 'You didn't play 'Ramblin' Gamblin' Man.' He said, 'I haven't played that in years,' and I said, 'I don't give a ... That's the song I wanted to hear. It was a good thing I didn't have to pay, or I would've been mad.' I don't want anyone to feel that way about me, y'know?" Gary Graff, Reuters, January 1999. "New label, album energize veteran rocker John Mellencamp." In Playgirl's first issue, Seger was listed as one of the ten sexiest men in America. Seen in panorama, Detroit's waterfront shows a variety of architectural styles. The post modern Neo-Gothic spires of the One Detroit Center (1993) were designed to refer to the city's Art Deco skyscrapers. Together with the Renaissance Center, these buildings form a distinctive and recognizable skyline. Examples of the Art Deco style include the Guardian Building and Penobscot Building downtown, as well as the Fisher Building and Cadillac Place in the New Center area near Wayne State University. Among the city's prominent structures are United States' largest Fox Theatre, the Detroit Opera House, and the Detroit Institute of Arts, all built in the early 20th century.[122][123] While the Downtown and New Center areas contain high-rise buildings, the majority of the surrounding city consists of low-rise structures and single-family homes. Outside of the city's core, residential high-rises are found in upper-class neighborhoods such as the East Riverfront, extending toward Grosse Pointe, and the Palmer Park neighborhood just west of Woodward. The University Commons-Palmer Park district in northwest Detroit, near the University of Detroit Mercy and Marygrove College, anchors historic neighborhoods including Palmer Woods, Sherwood Forest, and the University District.[citation needed] Forty-two significant structures or sites are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Neighborhoods constructed prior to World War II feature the architecture of the times, with wood-frame and brick houses in the working-class neighborhoods, larger brick homes in middle-class neighborhoods, and ornate mansions in upper-class neighborhoods such as Brush Park, Woodbridge, Indian Village, Palmer Woods, Boston-Edison, and others.[citation needed] Some of the oldest neighborhoods are along the major Woodward and East Jefferson corridors, which formed spines of the city. Some newer residential construction may also be found along the Woodward corridor and in the far west and northeast. The oldest extant neighborhoods include West Canfield and Brush Park. There have been multi-million dollar restorations of existing homes and construction of new homes and condominiums here.[74][124] The city has one of the United States' largest surviving collections of late 19th- and early 20th-century buildings.[123] Architecturally significant churches and cathedrals in the city include St. Joseph's, Old St. Mary's, the Sweetest Heart of Mary, and the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament.[122] The city has substantial activity in urban design, historic preservation, and architecture.[125] A number of downtown redevelopment projects—of which Campus Martius Park is one of the most notable—have revitalized parts of the city. Grand Circus Park and historic district is near the city's theater district; Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions, and Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers.[122] Little Caesars Arena, a new home for the Detroit Red Wings and the Detroit Pistons, with attached residential, hotel, and retail use, opened on September 5, 2017.[126] The plans for the project call for mixed-use residential on the blocks surrounding the arena and the renovation of the vacant 14-story Eddystone Hotel. It will be a part of The District Detroit, a group of places owned by Olympia Entertainment Inc., including Comerica Park and the Detroit Opera House, among others.[citation needed] The Detroit International Riverfront includes a partially completed three-and-one-half-mile riverfront promenade with a combination of parks, residential buildings, and commercial areas. It extends from Hart Plaza to the MacArthur Bridge, which connects to Belle Isle Park, the largest island park in a U.S. city. The riverfront includes Tri-Centennial State Park and Harbor, Michigan's first urban state park. The second phase is a two-mile (3.2-kilometer) extension from Hart Plaza to the Ambassador Bridge for a total of five miles (8.0 kilometres) of parkway from bridge to bridge. Civic planners envision the pedestrian parks will stimulate residential redevelopment of riverfront properties condemned under eminent domain.[127] Other major parks include River Rouge (in the southwest side), the largest park in Detroit; Palmer (north of Highland Park) and Chene Park (on the east river downtown).[128] Neighborhoods Further information: Neighborhoods in Detroit The Cass Park Historic District in Midtown The Midtown Woodward Historic District New Center Detroit has a variety of neighborhood types. The revitalized Downtown, Midtown, Corktown, New Center areas feature many historic buildings and are high density, while further out, particularly in the northeast and on the fringes,[129] high vacancy levels are problematic, for which a number of solutions have been proposed. In 2007, Downtown Detroit was recognized as the best city neighborhood in which to retire among the United States' largest metro areas by CNNMoney editors.[130] Lafayette Park is a revitalized neighborhood on the city's east side, part of the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe residential district.[131] The 78-acre (32 ha) development was originally called the Gratiot Park. Planned by Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig Hilberseimer and Alfred Caldwell it includes a landscaped, 19-acre (7.7 ha) park with no through traffic, in which these and other low-rise apartment buildings are situated.[131] Immigrants have contributed to the city's neighborhood revitalization, especially in southwest Detroit.[132] Southwest Detroit has experienced a thriving economy in recent years, as evidenced by new housing, increased business openings and the recently opened Mexicantown International Welcome Center.[133] The city has numerous neighborhoods consisting of vacant properties resulting in low inhabited density in those areas, stretching city services and infrastructure. These neighborhoods are concentrated in the northeast and on the city's fringes.[129] A 2009 parcel survey found about a quarter of residential lots in the city to be undeveloped or vacant, and about 10% of the city's housing to be unoccupied.[129][134][135] The survey also reported that most (86%) of the city's homes are in good condition with a minority (9%) in fair condition needing only minor repairs.[134][135][136][137] To deal with vacancy issues, the city has begun demolishing the derelict houses, razing 3,000 of the total 10,000 in 2010,[138] but the resulting low density creates a strain on the city's infrastructure. To remedy this, a number of solutions have been proposed including resident relocation from more sparsely populated neighborhoods and converting unused space to urban agricultural use, including Hantz Woodlands, though the city expects to be in the planning stages for up to another two years.[139][140] Public funding and private investment have also been made with promises to rehabilitate neighborhoods. In April 2008, the city announced a $300-million stimulus plan to create jobs and revitalize neighborhoods, financed by city bonds and paid for by earmarking about 15% of the wagering tax.[139] The city's working plans for neighborhood revitalizations include 7-Mile/Livernois, Brightmoor, East English Village, Grand River/Greenfield, North End, and Osborn.[139] Private organizations have pledged substantial funding to the efforts.[141][142] Additionally, the city has cleared a 1,200-acre (490 ha) section of land for large-scale neighborhood construction, which the city is calling the Far Eastside Plan.[143] In 2011, Mayor Dave Bing announced a plan to categorize neighborhoods by their needs and prioritize the most needed services for those neighborhoods.[144] Demographics Population pyramid of Detroit in 2021 Historical population Census Pop. Note %± 1820 1,422 — 1830 2,222 56.3% 1840 9,102 309.6% 1850 21,019 130.9% 1860 45,619 117.0% 1870 79,577 74.4% 1880 116,340 46.2% 1890 205,876 77.0% 1900 285,704 38.8% 1910 465,766 63.0% 1920 993,678 113.3% 1930 1,568,662 57.9% 1940 1,623,452 3.5% 1950 1,849,568 13.9% 1960 1,670,144 −9.7% 1970 1,514,063 −9.3% 1980 1,203,368 −20.5% 1990 1,027,974 −14.6% 2000 951,270 −7.5% 2010 713,777 −25.0% 2020 639,111 −10.5% 2021 (est.) 632,464 [3] −1.0% U.S. Decennial Census[145] 2010–2020[7] See also: Demographic history of Detroit and Demographics of Metro Detroit In the 2020 United States Census, the city had 639,111 residents, ranking it the 27th most populous city in the United States.[146][147] 2020 census Detroit city, Michigan - Demographic Profile (NH = Non-Hispanic) Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race. Race / Ethnicity Pop 2010[148] Pop 2020[149] % 2010 % 2020 White alone (NH) 55,604 60,770 7.79% 10.1% Black or African American alone (NH) 586,573 493,212 82.18% 77.17% Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) 1,927 1,399 0.27% 0.22% Asian alone (NH) 7,436 10,085 1.04% 1.58% Pacific Islander alone (NH) 82 111 0.01% 0.02% Some Other Race alone (NH) 994 3,066 0.14% 0.48% Mixed Race/Multi-Racial (NH) 12,482 19,199 1.75% 3.00% Hispanic or Latino (any race) 48,679 51,269 6.82% 8.02% Total 713,777 639,111 100.00% 100.00% Of the large shrinking cities in the United States, Detroit has had the most dramatic decline in the population of the past 70 years (down 1,210,457) and the second-largest percentage decline (down 65.4%). While the drop in Detroit's population has been ongoing since 1950, the most dramatic period was the significant 25% decline between the 2000 and 2010 Census.[147] Previously a major population center and site of worldwide automobile manufacturing, Detroit has suffered a long economic decline produced by numerous factors.[150][151][152] Like many industrial American cities, Detroit's peak population was in 1950, before postwar suburbanization took effect. The peak population was 1.85 million people.[147] Following suburbanization, industrial restructuring, and loss of jobs, by the 2010 census, the city had less than 40 percent of that number, with just over 700,000 residents. The city has declined in population in each census since 1950.[147][153] The population collapse has resulted in large numbers of abandoned homes and commercial buildings, and areas of the city hit hard by urban decay.[154][155][156][157][158] Detroit's 639,111 residents represent 269,445 households, and 162,924 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,144.3 people per square mile (1,986.2 people/km2). There were 349,170 housing units at an average density of 2,516.5 units per square mile (971.6 units/km2). Housing density has declined. The city has demolished thousands of Detroit's abandoned houses, planting some areas and in others allowing the growth of urban prairie. Of the 269,445 households, 34.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 21.5% were married couples living together, 31.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 39.5% were non-families, 34.0% were made up of individuals, and 3.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59, and the average family size was 3.36. There was a wide distribution of age in the city, with 31.1% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.5 males. Religion According to a 2014 study, 67% of the population of the city identified themselves as Christians, with 49% professing attendance at Protestant churches, and 16% professing Roman Catholic beliefs,[159][160] while 24% claim no religious affiliation. Other religions collectively make up about 8% of the population. Income and employment The loss of industrial and working-class jobs in the city has resulted in high rates of poverty and associated problems.[161] From 2000 to 2009, the city's estimated median household income fell from $29,526 to $26,098.[162] As of 2010, the mean income of Detroit is below the overall U.S. average by several thousand dollars. Of every three Detroit residents, one lives in poverty. Luke Bergmann, author of Getting Ghost: Two Young Lives and the Struggle for the Soul of an American City, said in 2010, "Detroit is now one of the poorest big cities in the country".[163] In the 2018 American Community Survey, median household income in the city was $31,283, compared with the median for Michigan of $56,697.[164] The median income for a family was $36,842, well below the state median of $72,036.[165] 33.4% of families had income at or below the federally defined poverty level. Out of the total population, 47.3% of those under the age of 18 and 21.0% of those 65 and older had income at or below the federally defined poverty line.[166] Oakland County in Metro Detroit, once rated amongst the wealthiest US counties per household, is no longer shown in the top 25 listing of Forbes magazine. But internal county statistical methods—based on measuring per capita income for counties with more than one million residents—show Oakland is still within the top 12[citation needed], slipping from the fourth-most affluent such county in the U.S. in 2004 to 11th-most affluent in 2009.[167][168][169] Detroit dominates Wayne County, which has an average household income of about $38,000, compared to Oakland County's $62,000.[170][171] Median income in Detroit (as of July 1, 2019)[172] Area Number of house- holds Median House- hold Income Per Capita Income Percent- age in poverty Detroit City 263,688 $30,894 (Increase) $18,621 (Increase) 35.0% (Positive decrease) Wayne County, MI 682,282 $47,301 $27,282 19.8% United States 120,756,048 $62,843 $34,103 11.4% Race and ethnicity See also: Ethnic groups in Metro Detroit Historical Racial Composition of the City of Detroit  Self-identified race 2020[173] 2010[174] 1990[175] 1970[175] 1950[175] 1940[175] 1930[175] 1920[175] 1910[175] White 14.7% 10.6% 21.6% 55.5% 83.6% 90.7% 92.2% 95.8% 98.7%  —Non-Hispanic 11% 7.8% 20.7% 54.0%[c] — 90.4% — — — Black or African American 77.7% 82.7% 75.7% 43.7% 16.2% 9.2% 7.7% 4.1% 1.2% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 8.0% 6.8% 2.8% 1.8%[c] — 0.3% — — — Asian 1.6% 1.1% 0.8% 0.3% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% — Map of racial distribution in Detroit, 2010 U.S. Census. Each dot is 25 people: ⬤ White ⬤ Black ⬤ Asian ⬤ Hispanic ⬤ Other Beginning with the rise of the automobile industry, Detroit's population increased more than sixfold during the first half of the 20th century as an influx of European, Middle Eastern (Lebanese, Assyrian/Chaldean), and Southern migrants brought their families to the city.[176] With this economic boom following World War I, the African American population grew from a mere 6,000 in 1910[177] to more than 120,000 by 1930.[178] This influx of thousands of African Americans in the 20th century became known as the Great Migration.[179] Perhaps one of the most overt examples of neighborhood discrimination occurred in 1925 when African American physician Ossian Sweet found his home surrounded by an angry mob of his hostile white neighbors violently protesting his new move into a traditionally white neighborhood. Sweet and ten of his family members and friends were put on trial for murder as one of the mob members throwing rocks at the newly purchased house was shot and killed by someone firing out of a second-floor window.[180] Many middle-class families experienced the same kind of hostility as they sought the security of homeownership and the potential for upward mobility.[citation needed] Detroit has a relatively large Mexican-American population. In the early 20th century, thousands of Mexicans came to Detroit to work in agricultural, automotive, and steel jobs. During the Mexican Repatriation of the 1930s many Mexicans in Detroit were willingly repatriated or forced to repatriate. By the 1940s much of the Mexican community began to settle what is now Mexicantown.[181] Greektown Historic District in Detroit After World War II, many people from Appalachia also settled in Detroit. Appalachians formed communities and their children acquired southern accents.[182] Many Lithuanians also settled in Detroit during the World War II era, especially on the city's Southwest side in the West Vernor area,[183] where the renovated Lithuanian Hall reopened in 2006.[184][185] By 1940, 80% of Detroit deeds contained restrictive covenants prohibiting African Americans from buying houses they could afford. These discriminatory tactics were successful as a majority of black people in Detroit resorted to living in all-black neighborhoods such as Black Bottom and Paradise Valley. At this time, white people still made up about 90.4% of the city's population.[175] From the 1940s to the 1970s a second wave of black people moved to Detroit in search of employment and with the desire to escape the Jim Crow laws enforcing segregation in the south.[186] However, they soon found themselves once again excluded from many opportunities in Detroit—through violence and policy perpetuating economic discrimination (e.g., redlining).[187] White residents attacked black homes: breaking windows, starting fires, and detonating bombs.[188][187] An especially grueling result of this increasing competition between black and white people was the Riot of 1943 that had violent ramifications.[189] This era of intolerance made it almost impossible for African Americans to be successful without access to proper housing or the economic stability to maintain their homes and the conditions of many neighborhoods began to decline. In 1948, the landmark Supreme Court case of Shelley v. Kraemer outlawed restrictive covenants and while racism in housing did not disappear, it allowed affluent black families to begin moving to traditionally white neighborhoods. Many white families with the financial ability moved to the suburbs of Detroit taking their jobs and tax dollars with them, as macrostructural processes such as "white flight" and "suburbanization" led to a complete population shift. The Detroit riot of 1967 is considered to be one of the greatest racial turning points in the history of the city. The ramifications of the uprising were widespread as there were many allegations of white police brutality towards Black Americans and over $36 million of insured property was lost. Discrimination and deindustrialization in tandem with racial tensions that had been intensifying in the previous years boiled over and led to an event considered to be the most damaging in Detroit's history.[190] The population of Latinos significantly increased in the 1990s due to immigration from Jalisco. By 2010 Detroit had 48,679 Hispanics, including 36,452 Mexicans: a 70% increase from 1990.[191] While African Americans previously[when?] comprised only 13% of Michigan's population, by 2010 they made up nearly 82% of Detroit's population. The next largest population groups were white people, at 10%, and Hispanics, at 6%.[192] In 2001, 103,000 Jews, or about 1.9% of the population, were living in the Detroit area, in both Detroit and Ann Arbor.[193] According to the 2010 census, segregation in Detroit has decreased in absolute and relative terms and in the first decade of the 21st century, about two-thirds of the total black population in the metropolitan area resided within the city limits of Detroit.[194][195] The number of integrated neighborhoods increased from 100 in 2000 to 204 in 2010. Detroit also moved down the ranking from number one most segregated city to number four.[196] A 2011 op-ed in The New York Times attributed the decreased segregation rating to the overall exodus from the city, cautioning that these areas may soon become more segregated. This pattern already happened in the 1970s, when apparent integration was a precursor to white flight and resegregation.[188] Over a 60-year period, white flight occurred in the city. According to an estimate of the Michigan Metropolitan Information Center, from 2008 to 2009 the percentage of non-Hispanic White residents increased from 8.4% to 13.3%. As the city has become more gentrified, some empty nesters and many young white people have moved into the city, increasing housing values and once again forcing African Americans to move.[197] Gentrification in Detroit has become a rather controversial issue as reinvestment will hopefully lead to economic growth and an increase in population; however, it has already forced many black families to relocate to the suburbs[citation needed]. Despite revitalization efforts, Detroit remains one of the most racially segregated cities in the United States.[188][198] One of the implications of racial segregation, which correlates with class segregation, may correlate to overall worse health for some populations.[198][199] Asians and Asian Americans Chaldean Town, a historically Chaldean neighborhood in Detroit. As of 2002, of all of the municipalities in the Wayne County-Oakland County-Macomb County area, Detroit had the second-largest Asian population. As of that year, Detroit's percentage of Asians was 1%, far lower than the 13.3% of Troy.[200] By 2000 Troy had the largest Asian American population in the tri-county area, surpassing Detroit.[201] There are four areas in Detroit with significant Asian and Asian American populations. Northeast Detroit has a population of Hmong with a smaller group of Lao people. A portion of Detroit next to eastern Hamtramck includes Bangladeshi Americans, Indian Americans, and Pakistani Americans; nearly all of the Bangladeshi population in Detroit lives in that area. Many of those residents own small businesses or work in blue-collar jobs, and the population is mostly Muslim. The area north of Downtown Detroit, including the region around the Henry Ford Hospital, the Detroit Medical Center, and Wayne State University, has transient Asian national origin residents who are university students or hospital workers. Few of them have permanent residency after schooling ends. They are mostly Chinese and Indian but the population also includes Filipinos, Koreans, and Pakistanis. In Southwest Detroit and western Detroit there are smaller, scattered Asian communities including an area in the westside adjacent to Dearborn and Redford Township that has a mostly Indian Asian population, and a community of Vietnamese and Laotians in Southwest Detroit.[200] As of 2006, the city has one of the U.S.'s largest concentrations of Hmong Americans.[202] In 2006, the city had about 4,000 Hmong and other Asian immigrant families. Most Hmong live east of Coleman Young Airport near Osborn High School. Hmong immigrant families generally have lower incomes than those of suburban Asian families.[203] Detroit demographics Self-identified race (2020)[173] Detroit City Wayne County, MI Total population 639,111 1,793,561 Population, percent change, 2010 to 2020 -10.5% -1.5% Population density 4,606.87/sq mi (1,778.72/km2) 2,665/sq mi (1,029/km2) White alone, percent 14.7% Increase 49.2% Decrease (White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent) 10% Increase 47.8% Decrease Black or African-American alone, percent 77.7% Decrease 37.6% Decrease Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 7.7% Increase 6.6% Increase American Indian and Alaska Native alone, percent 0.5% Increase 0.4% Increase Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian alone, percent 0.0% 0.0% Asian alone, percent 1.6% Increase 3.6% Increase Two or more races, percent 4.9% Increase 6.2% Increase Some Other Race, percent 4.6%Increase 3.0%Increase Economy See also: Economy of metropolitan Detroit and Planning and development in Detroit Top city employers Source: Crain's Detroit Business[204] Rank Company or organization # 1 Detroit Medical Center 11,497 2 City of Detroit 9,591 3 Quicken Loans 9,192 4 Henry Ford Health System 8,807 5 Detroit Public Schools 6,586 6 U.S. Government 6,308 7 Wayne State University 6,023 8 Chrysler 5,426 9 Blue Cross Blue Shield 5,415 10 General Motors 4,327 11 State of Michigan 3,911 12 DTE Energy 3,700 13 St. John Providence Health System 3,566 14 U.S. Postal Service 2,643 15 Wayne County 2,566 16 MGM Grand Detroit 2,551 17 MotorCity Casino 1,973 18 Compuware 1,912 19 Detroit Diesel 1,685 20 Greektown Casino 1,521 21 Comerica 1,194 22 Deloitte 942 23 Johnson Controls 760 24 PwC 756 25 Ally Financial 715 Several major corporations are based in the city, including three Fortune 500 companies. The most heavily represented sectors are manufacturing (particularly automotive), finance, technology, and health care. The most significant companies based in Detroit include General Motors, Quicken Loans, Ally Financial, Compuware, Shinola, American Axle, Little Caesars, DTE Energy, Lowe Campbell Ewald, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, and Rossetti Architects.[citation needed] About 80,500 people work in downtown Detroit, comprising one-fifth of the city's employment base.[205][206] Aside from the numerous Detroit-based companies listed above, downtown contains large offices for Comerica, Chrysler, Fifth Third Bank, HP Enterprise, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, and Ernst & Young. Ford Motor Company is in the adjacent city of Dearborn.[207] Thousands of more employees work in Midtown, north of the central business district. Midtown's anchors are the city's largest single employer Detroit Medical Center, Wayne State University, and the Henry Ford Health System in New Center. Midtown is also home to watchmaker Shinola and an array of small and startup companies. New Center bases TechTown, a research and business incubator hub that is part of the WSU system.[208] Like downtown, Corktown Is experiencing growth with the new Ford Corktown Campus under development.[209][210] Midtown also has a fast-growing retailing and restaurant scene.[citation needed] The First National Building, a class-A office center within the Detroit Financial District. The Detroit River is one of the busiest straits in the world. Lake freighter MV American Courage passing the strait. A number of the city's downtown employers are relatively new, as there has been a marked trend of companies moving from satellite suburbs around Metropolitan Detroit into the downtown core.[211] Compuware completed its world headquarters in downtown in 2003. OnStar, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and HP Enterprise Services are at the Renaissance Center. PricewaterhouseCoopers Plaza offices are adjacent to Ford Field, and Ernst & Young completed its office building at One Kennedy Square in 2006. Perhaps most prominently, in 2010, Quicken Loans, one of the largest mortgage lenders, relocated its world headquarters and 4,000 employees to downtown Detroit, consolidating its suburban offices.[212] In July 2012, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office opened its Elijah J. McCoy Satellite Office in the Rivertown/Warehouse District as its first location outside Washington, D.C.'s metropolitan area.[213] In April 2014, the United States Department of Labor reported the city's unemployment rate at 14.5%.[214] Labor force distribution in Detroit by category:   Construction   Manufacturing   Trade, transportation, utilities   Information   Finance   Professional and business services   Education and health services   Leisure and hospitality   Other services   Government The city of Detroit and other public–private partnerships have attempted to catalyze the region's growth by facilitating the building and historical rehabilitation of residential high-rises in the downtown, creating a zone that offers many business tax incentives, creating recreational spaces such as the Detroit RiverWalk, Campus Martius Park, Dequindre Cut Greenway, and Green Alleys in Midtown. The city itself has cleared sections of land while retaining a number of historically significant vacant buildings in order to spur redevelopment;[215] even though it has struggled with finances, the city issued bonds in 2008 to provide funding for ongoing work to demolish blighted properties.[139] Two years earlier, downtown reported $1.3 billion in restorations and new developments which increased the number of construction jobs in the city.[74] In the decade prior to 2006, downtown gained more than $15 billion in new investment from private and public sectors.[216] Despite the city's recent financial issues, many developers remain unfazed by Detroit's problems.[217] Midtown is one of the most successful areas within Detroit to have a residential occupancy rate of 96%.[218] Numerous developments have been recently completed or are in various stages of construction. These include the $82 million reconstruction of downtown's David Whitney Building (now an Aloft Hotel and luxury residences), the Woodward Garden Block Development in Midtown, the residential conversion of the David Broderick Tower in downtown, the rehabilitation of the Book Cadillac Hotel (now a Westin and luxury condos) and Fort Shelby Hotel (now Doubletree) also in downtown, and various smaller projects.[219][74] Downtown's population of young professionals is growing and retail is expanding.[220][221] A study in 2007 found out that Downtown's new residents are predominantly young professionals (57% are ages 25 to 34, 45% have bachelor's degrees, and 34% have a master's or professional degree),[205][220][222] a trend which has hastened over the last decade. Since 2006, $9 billion has been invested in downtown and surrounding neighborhoods; $5.2 billion of which has come in 2013 and 2014.[223] Construction activity, particularly rehabilitation of historic downtown buildings, has increased markedly. The number of vacant downtown buildings has dropped from nearly 50 to around 13.[when?][224] On July 25, 2013, Meijer, a midwestern retail chain, opened its first supercenter store in Detroit;[225] this was a $20 million, 190,000-square-foot store in the northern portion of the city and it also is the centerpiece of a new $72 million shopping center named Gateway Marketplace.[226] On June 11, 2015, Meijer opened its second supercenter store in the city.[227] On June 26, 2019, JPMorgan Chase announced plans to invest $50 million more in affordable housing, job training and entrepreneurship by the end of 2022, growing its investment to $200 million.[228] Arts and culture Main article: Culture of Detroit March for Science Motor City Pride North American International Auto Show In the central portions of Detroit, the population of young professionals, artists, and other transplants is growing and retail is expanding.[220] This dynamic is luring additional new residents, and former residents returning from other cities, to the city's Downtown along with the revitalized Midtown and New Center areas.[205][220][222] A desire to be closer to the urban scene has also attracted some young professionals to reside in inner ring suburbs such as Ferndale and Royal Oak, Michigan.[229] Detroit's proximity to Windsor, Ontario, provides for views and nightlife, along with Ontario's minimum drinking age of 19.[230] A 2011 study by Walk Score recognized Detroit for its above average walkability among large U.S. cities.[231] About two-thirds of suburban residents occasionally dine and attend cultural events or take in professional games in the city of Detroit.[232] Nicknames Known as the world's automotive center,[233] "Detroit" is a metonym for that industry.[234] Detroit's auto industry, some of which was converted to wartime defense production, was an important element of the American "Arsenal of Democracy" supporting the Allied powers during World War II.[235] It is an important source of popular music legacies celebrated by the city's two familiar nicknames, the Motor City and Motown.[236] Other nicknames arose in the 20th century, including City of Champions, beginning in the 1930s for its successes in individual and team sport;[237] The D; Hockeytown (a trademark owned by the city's NHL club, the Red Wings); Rock City (after the Kiss song "Detroit Rock City"); and The 313 (its telephone area code).[d][238] Music Main article: Music of Detroit "Motown Mansion" in Boston-Edison Historic District; former home of Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records Detroit Electronic Music Festival Detroit Institute of Music Education Live music has been a prominent feature of Detroit's nightlife since the late 1940s, bringing the city recognition under the nickname "Motown".[239] The metropolitan area has many nationally prominent live music venues. Concerts hosted by Live Nation perform throughout the Detroit area. Large concerts are held at DTE Energy Music Theatre. The city's theater venue circuit is the United States' second largest and hosts Broadway performances.[240][241] The city of Detroit has a rich musical heritage and has contributed to a number of different genres over the decades leading into the new millennium.[238] Important music events in the city include the Detroit International Jazz Festival, the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, the Motor City Music Conference (MC2), the Urban Organic Music Conference, the Concert of Colors, and the hip-hop Summer Jamz festival.[238] In the 1940s, Detroit blues artist John Lee Hooker became a long-term resident in the city's southwest Delray neighborhood. Hooker, among other important blues musicians, migrated from his home in Mississippi, bringing the Delta blues to northern cities like Detroit. Hooker recorded for Fortune Records, the biggest pre-Motown blues/soul label. During the 1950s, the city became a center for jazz, with stars performing in the Black Bottom neighborhood.[41] Prominent emerging jazz musicians included trumpeter Donald Byrd, who attended Cass Tech and performed with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers early in his career, and saxophonist Pepper Adams, who enjoyed a solo career and accompanied Byrd on several albums. The Graystone International Jazz Museum documents jazz in Detroit.[242] Other prominent Motor City R&B stars in the 1950s and early 1960s were Nolan Strong, Andre Williams and Nathaniel Mayer – who all scored local and national hits on the Fortune Records label. According to Smokey Robinson, Strong was a primary influence on his voice as a teenager. The Fortune label, a family-operated label on Third Avenue in Detroit, was owned by the husband-and-wife team of Jack Brown and Devora Brown. Fortune, which also released country, gospel and rockabilly LPs and 45s, laid the groundwork for Motown, which became Detroit's most legendary record label.[243] Berry Gordy, Jr. founded Motown Records, which rose to prominence during the 1960s and early 1970s with acts such as Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Diana Ross & The Supremes, the Jackson 5, Martha and the Vandellas, The Spinners, Gladys Knight & the Pips, The Marvelettes, The Elgins, The Monitors, The Velvelettes and Marvin Gaye. Artists were backed by in-house vocalists[244] The Andantes and The Funk Brothers, the Motown house band that was featured in Paul Justman's 2002 documentary film Standing in the Shadows of Motown, based on Allan Slutsky's book of the same name.[citation needed] The Motown Sound played an important role in the crossover appeal with popular music, since it was the first African American–owned record label to primarily feature African-American artists. Gordy moved Motown to Los Angeles in 1972 to pursue film production, but the company has since returned to Detroit. Aretha Franklin, another Detroit R&B star, carried the Motown Sound; however, she did not record with Berry's Motown label.[238] Local artists and bands rose to prominence in the 1960s and '70s, including the MC5, Glenn Frey, The Stooges, Bob Seger, Amboy Dukes featuring Ted Nugent, Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels, Rare Earth, Alice Cooper, and Suzi Quatro. The group Kiss emphasized the city's connection with rock in the song "Detroit Rock City" and the movie produced in 1999. In the 1980s, Detroit was an important center of the hardcore punk rock underground with many nationally known bands coming out of the city and its suburbs, such as The Necros, The Meatmen, and Negative Approach.[243] In the 1990s and the new millennium, the city has produced a number of influential hip hop artists, including Eminem, the hip-hop artist with the highest cumulative sales, his rap group D12, hip-hop rapper and producer Royce da 5'9", hip-hop producer Denaun Porter, hip-hop producer J Dilla, rapper and musician Kid Rock and rappers Big Sean and Danny Brown. The band Sponge toured and produced music.[238][243] The city also has an active garage rock scene that has generated national attention with acts such as The White Stripes, The Von Bondies, The Detroit Cobras, The Dirtbombs, Electric Six, and The Hard Lessons.[238] Detroit is cited as the birthplace of techno music in the early 1980s.[245] The city also lends its name to an early and pioneering genre of electronic dance music, "Detroit techno". Featuring science fiction imagery and robotic themes, its futuristic style was greatly influenced by the geography of Detroit's urban decline and its industrial past.[41] Prominent Detroit techno artists include Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, and Jeff Mills. The Detroit Electronic Music Festival, now known as Movement, occurs annually in late May on Memorial Day Weekend, and takes place in Hart Plaza. In the early years (2000–2002), this was a landmark event, boasting over a million estimated attendees annually, coming from all over the world to celebrate techno music in the city of its birth.[citation needed] Entertainment and performing arts Main article: Theatre in Detroit The Detroit Fox Theatre in Downtown Major theaters in Detroit include the Fox Theatre (5,174 seats), Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts (1,770 seats), the Gem Theatre (451 seats), Masonic Temple Theatre (4,404 seats), the Detroit Opera House (2,765 seats), the Fisher Theatre (2,089 seats), The Fillmore Detroit (2,200 seats), Saint Andrew's Hall, the Majestic Theater, and Orchestra Hall (2,286 seats), which hosts the renowned Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The Nederlander Organization, the largest controller of Broadway productions in New York City, originated with the purchase of the Detroit Opera House in 1922 by the Nederlander family.[238] Motown Motion Picture Studios with 535,000 square feet (49,700 m2) produces movies in Detroit and the surrounding area based at the Pontiac Centerpoint Business Campus for a film industry expected to employ over 4,000 people in the metro area.[246] Tourism Main article: Tourism in metropolitan Detroit Detroit Institute of Arts Because of its unique culture, distinctive architecture, and revitalization and urban renewal efforts in the 21st century, Detroit has enjoyed increased prominence as a tourist destination in recent years. The New York Times listed Detroit as the ninth-best destination in its list of 52 Places to Go in 2017,[247] while travel guide publisher Lonely Planet named Detroit the second-best city in the world to visit in 2018.[248] Many of the area's prominent museums are in the historic cultural center neighborhood around Wayne State University and the College for Creative Studies. These museums include the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Detroit Historical Museum, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the Detroit Science Center, as well as the main branch of the Detroit Public Library. Other cultural highlights include Motown Historical Museum, the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant museum, the Pewabic Pottery studio and school, the Tuskegee Airmen Museum, Fort Wayne, the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (CAID), and the Belle Isle Conservatory.[citation needed] In 2010, the G.R. N'Namdi Gallery opened in a 16,000-square-foot (1,500 m2) complex in Midtown. Important history of America and the Detroit area are exhibited at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, the United States' largest indoor-outdoor museum complex.[249] The Detroit Historical Society provides information about tours of area churches, skyscrapers, and mansions. Inside Detroit, meanwhile, hosts tours, educational programming, and a downtown welcome center. Other sites of interest are the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak, the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory on Belle Isle, and Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills.[122] The city's Greektown and three downtown casino resort hotels serve as part of an entertainment hub. The Eastern Market farmer's distribution center is the largest open-air flowerbed market in the United States and has more than 150 foods and specialty businesses.[250] On Saturdays, about 45,000 people shop the city's historic Eastern Market.[251] The Midtown and the New Center area are centered on Wayne State University and Henry Ford Hospital. Midtown has about 50,000 residents and attracts millions of visitors each year to its museums and cultural centers;[252] for example, the Detroit Festival of the Arts in Midtown draws about 350,000 people.[252] The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant, birthplace of the Ford Model T and the world's oldest car factory building open to the public. Annual summer events include the Electronic Music Festival, International Jazz Festival, the Woodward Dream Cruise, the African World Festival, the country music Hoedown, Noel Night, and Dally in the Alley. Within downtown, Campus Martius Park hosts large events, including the annual Motown Winter Blast. As the world's traditional automotive center, the city hosts the North American International Auto Show. Held since 1924, America's Thanksgiving Parade is one of the nation's largest.[253] River Days, a five-day summer festival on the International Riverfront lead up to the Windsor–Detroit International Freedom Festival fireworks, which draw super sized-crowds ranging from hundreds of thousands to over three million people.[232][238][254] An important civic sculpture in Detroit is The Spirit of Detroit by Marshall Fredericks at the Coleman Young Municipal Center. The image is often used as a symbol of Detroit and the statue itself is occasionally dressed in sports jerseys to celebrate when a Detroit team is doing well.[255] A memorial to Joe Louis at the intersection of Jefferson and Woodward Avenues was dedicated on October 1, 1986. The sculpture, commissioned by Sports Illustrated and executed by Robert Graham, is a 24-foot (7.3 m) long arm with a fisted hand suspended by a pyramidal framework. Artist Tyree Guyton created the controversial street art exhibit known as the Heidelberg Project in 1986, using found objects including cars, clothing and shoes found in the neighborhood near and on Heidelberg Street on the near East Side of Detroit.[238] Time named Detroit as one of the fifty World's Greatest Places of 2022 to explore.[10] Sports Further information: Sports in Detroit and U.S. cities with teams from four major sports Top: Comerica Park, home of the American League Detroit Tigers; middle: Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions; bottom: Little Caesars Arena, home of the Detroit Red Wings and the Detroit Pistons Detroit is one of 13 U.S. metropolitan areas that are home to professional teams representing the four major sports in North America. Since 2017, all of these teams play in the city limits of Detroit itself, a distinction shared with only three other U.S. cities. Detroit is the only U.S. city to have its four major sports teams play within its downtown district.[256] There are three active major sports venues in the city: Comerica Park (home of the Major League Baseball team Detroit Tigers), Ford Field (home of the NFL's Detroit Lions), and Little Caesars Arena (home of the NHL's Detroit Red Wings and the NBA's Detroit Pistons). A 1996 marketing campaign promoted the nickname "Hockeytown".[238] Cycling in Detroit on Woodward Avenue The Detroit Tigers have won four World Series titles (1935, 1945, 1968, and 1984). The Detroit Red Wings have won 11 Stanley Cups (1935–36, 1936–37, 1942–43, 1949–50, 1951–52, 1953–54, 1954–55, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2007–08) (the most by an American NHL franchise).[257] The Detroit Lions have won 4 NFL titles (1935, 1952, 1953, 1957) . The Detroit Pistons have won three NBA titles (1989, 1990, 2004).[238] With the Pistons' first of three NBA titles in 1989, the city of Detroit has won titles in all four of the major professional sports leagues. Two new downtown stadiums for the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Lions opened in 2000 and 2002, respectively, returning the Lions to the city proper.[258] In college sports, Detroit's central location within the Mid-American Conference has made it a frequent site for the league's championship events. While the MAC Basketball Tournament moved permanently to Cleveland starting in 2000, the MAC Football Championship Game has been played at Ford Field in Detroit since 2004, and annually attracts 25,000 to 30,000 fans. The University of Detroit Mercy has an NCAA Division I program, and Wayne State University has both NCAA Division I and II programs. The NCAA football Quick Lane Bowl is held at Ford Field each December.[citation needed] Detroit's professional soccer team is Detroit City FC. Founded in 2012 as a semi-professional soccer club, the team now plays professional soccer in the USL Championship (USLC). Nicknamed, Le Rouge, the club are two-time champions of NISA since joining in 2020. They play their home matches in Keyworth Stadium, which is located in the Detroit enclave of Hamtramck.[259] The city hosted the 2005 MLB All-Star Game, 2006 Super Bowl XL, both the 2006 and 2012 World Series, WrestleMania 23 in 2007, and the NCAA Final Four in April 2009. The city hosted the Detroit Indy Grand Prix on Belle Isle Park from 1989 to 2001, 2007 to 2008, and 2012 and beyond. In 2007, open-wheel racing returned to Belle Isle with both Indy Racing League and American Le Mans Series Racing.[260] From 1982 to 1988, Detroit held the Detroit Grand Prix, at the Detroit street circuit. Detroit is one of eight American cities to have won titles in all four major leagues (MLB, NFL, NHL and NBA), though of the eight it is the only one to have not won a Super Bowl title (all of the Lions' titles came prior to the start of the Super Bowl era). In the years following the mid-1930s, Detroit was referred to as the "City of Champions" after the Tigers, Lions, and Red Wings captured the three major professional sports championships in existence at the time in a seven-month period of time (the Tigers won the World Series in October 1935; the Lions won the NFL championship in December 1935; the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in April 1936).[237] In 1932, Eddie "The Midnight Express" Tolan from Detroit won the 100- and 200-meter races and two gold medals at the 1932 Summer Olympics. Joe Louis won the heavyweight championship of the world in 1937. Detroit has made the most bids to host the Summer Olympics without ever being awarded the games, with seven unsuccessful bids for the 1944, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, and 1972 summer games.[238] Government Further information: Government of Detroit and List of mayors of Detroit The Guardian Building serves as the headquarters of Wayne County The city is governed pursuant to the home rule Charter of the City of Detroit. The government of Detroit is run by a mayor, the nine-member Detroit City Council, the eleven-member Board of Police Commissioners, and a clerk. All of these officers are elected on a nonpartisan ballot, with the exception of four of the police commissioners, who are appointed by the mayor. Detroit has a "strong mayoral" system, with the mayor approving departmental appointments. The council approves budgets, but the mayor is not obligated to adhere to any earmarking. The city clerk supervises elections and is formally charged with the maintenance of municipal records. City ordinances and substantially large contracts must be approved by the council.[261][262] The Detroit City Code is the codification of Detroit's local ordinances. The city clerk supervises elections and is formally charged with the maintenance of municipal records. Municipal elections for mayor, city council and city clerk are held at four-year intervals, in the year after presidential elections.[262] Following a November 2009 referendum, seven council members will be elected from districts beginning in 2013 while two will continue to be elected at-large.[263] Detroit's courts are state-administered and elections are nonpartisan. The Probate Court for Wayne County is in the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in downtown Detroit. The Circuit Court is across Gratiot Avenue in the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice, in downtown Detroit. The city is home to the Thirty-Sixth District Court, as well as the First District of the Michigan Court of Appeals and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The city provides law enforcement through the Detroit Police Department and emergency services through the Detroit Fire Department.[264][265] Politics Beginning with its incorporation in 1802, Detroit has had a total of 74 mayors. Detroit's last mayor from the Republican Party was Louis Miriani, who served from 1957 to 1962. In 1973, the city elected its first black mayor, Coleman Young. Despite development efforts, his combative style during his five terms in office was not well received by many suburban residents.[266] Mayor Dennis Archer, a former Michigan Supreme Court Justice, refocused the city's attention on redevelopment with a plan to permit three casinos downtown. By 2008, three major casino resort hotels established operations in the city.[267] In 2000, the city requested an investigation by the United States Justice Department into the Detroit Police Department which was concluded in 2003 over allegations regarding its use of force and civil rights violations. The city proceeded with a major reorganization of the Detroit Police Department.[268] In 2013, felony bribery charges were brought against seven building inspectors.[269] In 2016, further corruption charges were brought against 12 principals, a former school superintendent and supply vendor[270] for a $12 million kickback scheme.[271][272] However, law professor Peter Henning argues Detroit's corruption is not unusual for a city its size, especially when compared with Chicago.[273] Detroit is sometimes referred to as a sanctuary city because it has "anti-profiling ordinances that generally prohibit local police from asking about the immigration status of people who are not suspected of any crime".[274] The city in recent years has been a stronghold for the Democratic Party, with around 94% of votes in the city going to Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate in the 2020 Presidential election. Public finances Detroit's protracted decline has resulted in severe urban decay, with thousands of empty buildings around the city, referred to as greyfield. Some parts of Detroit are so sparsely populated the city has difficulty providing municipal services. The city has demolished abandoned homes and buildings, planting grass and trees, and considered removing street lighting from large portions of the city, in order to encourage the small population in certain areas to move to more populated areas.[154][155][156][157][158] Roughly half of the owners of Detroit's 305,000 properties failed to pay their 2011 tax bills, resulting in about $246 million in taxes and fees going uncollected, nearly half of which was due to Detroit. The rest of the money would have been earmarked for Wayne County, Detroit Public Schools, and the library system.[275] In March 2013, Governor Rick Snyder declared a financial emergency in the city, stating the city had a $327 million budget deficit and faced more than $14 billion in long-term debt. It has been making ends meet on a month-to-month basis with the help of bond money held in a state escrow account and has instituted mandatory unpaid days off for many city workers. Those troubles, along with underfunded city services, such as police and fire departments, and ineffective turnaround plans from Mayor Bing and the City Council[276] led the state of Michigan to appoint an emergency manager for Detroit on March 14, 2013. On June 14, 2013, Detroit defaulted on $2.5 billion of debt by withholding $39.7 million in interest payments, while Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr met with bondholders and other creditors in an attempt to restructure the city's $18.5 billion debt and avoid bankruptcy.[277] On July 18, 2013, the City of Detroit filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection.[278][279] It was declared bankrupt by U.S. judge Stephen Rhodes on December 3, with its $18.5 billion debt; he said in accepting the city's contention it is broke and negotiations with its thousands of creditors were infeasible.[86] The city levies an income tax of 2.4 percent on residents and 1.2 percent on nonresidents.[280] Education Colleges and universities See also: Colleges and universities in Metro Detroit College of Business Administration, University of Detroit Mercy Detroit is home to several institutions of higher learning including Wayne State University, a national research university with medical and law schools in the Midtown area offering hundreds of academic degrees and programs. The University of Detroit Mercy, in Northwest Detroit in the University District, is a prominent Roman Catholic co-educational university affiliated with the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The University of Detroit Mercy offers more than a hundred academic degrees and programs of study including business, dentistry, law, engineering, architecture, nursing and allied health professions. The University of Detroit Mercy School of Law is Downtown across from the Renaissance Center.[281] Grand Valley State University's Detroit Center host workshops, seminars, professional development, and other large gatherings in the building. Located in the heart of downtown next to Comerica Park and the Detroit Athletic Club, the center has become a key component for educational activity in the city.[282] DeRoy Auditorium at Wayne State University, by Minoru Yamasaki Sacred Heart Major Seminary, founded in 1919, is affiliated with Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome and offers pontifical degrees as well as civil undergraduate and graduate degrees. Sacred Heart Major Seminary offers a variety of academic programs for both clerical and lay students. Other institutions in the city include the College for Creative Studies and Wayne County Community College. Marygrove College was a Catholic institution formerly based in Detroit before it closed in 2019. In June 2009, the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine which is based in East Lansing opened a satellite campus at the Detroit Medical Center. The University of Michigan was established in 1817 in Detroit and later moved to Ann Arbor in 1837. Primary and secondary schools Further information: Educational inequality in Southeast Michigan As of 2016 many K-12 students in Detroit frequently change schools, with some children having been enrolled in seven schools before finishing their K-12 careers. There is a concentration of senior high schools and charter schools in the Downtown Detroit area, which had wealthier residents and more gentrification relative to other parts of Detroit: Downtown, northwest Detroit, and northeast Detroit have 1,894, 3,742, and 6,018 students of high school age each, respectively, while they have 11, three, and two high schools each, respectively.[283] As of 2016 because of the lack of public transportation and the lack of school bus services, many Detroit families have to rely on themselves to transport children to school.[283] Public schools and charter schools Western International High School Cass Technical High School With about 66,000 public school students (2011–12), the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) district is the largest school district in Michigan. Detroit has an additional 56,000 charter school students for a combined enrollment of about 122,000 students.[284][285] As of 2009 there are about as many students in charter schools as there are in district schools.[286] As of 2016 DPS continues to have the majority of the special education pupils. In addition, some Detroit students, as of 2016, attend public schools in other municipalities.[283] In 1999, the Michigan Legislature removed the locally elected board of education amid allegations of mismanagement and replaced it with a reform board appointed by the mayor and governor. The elected board of education was re-established following a city referendum in 2005. The first election of the new 11-member board of education occurred on November 8, 2005.[287] Due to growing Detroit charter schools enrollment as well as a continued exodus of population, the city planned to close many public schools.[284] State officials report a 68% graduation rate for Detroit's public schools adjusted for those who change schools.[288][289] Traditional public and charter school students in the city have performed poorly on standardized tests. Circa 2009 and 2011, while Detroit traditional public schools scored a record low on national tests, the publicly funded charter schools did even worse than the traditional public schools.[290][291] As of 2016 there were 30,000 excess openings in Detroit traditional public and charter schools, bearing in mind the number of K-12-aged children in the city. In 2016, Kate Zernike of The New York Times stated school performance did not improve despite the proliferation of charters, describing the situation as "lots of choice, with no good choice".[283] Detroit public schools students scored the lowest on tests of reading and writing of all major cities in the United States in 2015. Among eighth-graders, only 27% showed basic proficiency in math and 44% in reading.[292] Nearly half of Detroit's adults are functionally illiterate.[293] Private schools Detroit is served by various private schools, as well as parochial Roman Catholic schools operated by the Archdiocese of Detroit. As of 2013 there are four Catholic grade schools and three Catholic high schools in the City of Detroit, with all of them in the city's west side.[294] The Archdiocese of Detroit lists a number of primary and secondary schools in the metro area as Catholic education has emigrated to the suburbs.[295][296] Of the three Catholic high schools in the city, two are operated by the Society of Jesus and the third is co-sponsored by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Congregation of St. Basil.[297][298] In the 1964–1965 school year there were about 110 Catholic grade schools in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park and 55 Catholic high schools in those three cities. The Catholic school population in Detroit has decreased due to the increase of charter schools, increasing tuition at Catholic schools, the small number of African-American Catholics, White Catholics moving to suburbs, and the decreased number of teaching nuns.[294] Media Main article: Media in Detroit Offices of the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News are the major daily newspapers, both broadsheet publications published together under a joint operating agreement called the Detroit Newspaper Partnership. Media philanthropy includes the Detroit Free Press high school journalism program and the Old Newsboys' Goodfellow Fund of Detroit.[299] In March 2009, the two newspapers reduced home delivery to three days a week, print reduced newsstand issues of the papers on non-delivery days and focus resources on Internet-based news delivery.[300] The Metro Times, founded in 1980, is a weekly publication, covering news, arts & entertainment.[301] Also founded in 1935 and based in Detroit, the Michigan Chronicle is one of the oldest and most respected African-American weekly newspapers in America, covering politics, entertainment, sports and community events.[302] The Detroit television market is the 11th largest in the United States;[303] according to estimates that do not include audiences in large areas of Ontario, Canada (Windsor and its surrounding area on broadcast and cable TV, as well as several other cable markets in Ontario, such as the city of Ottawa) which receive and watch Detroit television stations.[303] Detroit has the 11th largest radio market in the United States,[304] though this ranking does not take into account Canadian audiences.[304] Nearby Canadian stations such as Windsor's CKLW (whose jingles formerly proclaimed "CKLW-the Motor City") are popular in Detroit.[305] Crime Further information: Crime in Detroit and Detroit Police Department Detroit Crime rates* (2019) Violent crimes Homicide 41.4 Positive decrease Rape 143.4 Negative increase Robbery 353.3 Positive decrease Aggravated assault 1,425.8 Negative increase Total violent crime 1,965.3 Property crimes Burglary 1,027.1 Positive decrease Larceny-theft 2,235.5 Negative increase Motor vehicle theft 1,037.0 Negative increase Total property crime 4,299.7 Notes *Number of reported crimes per 100,000 population. Source: FBI 2019 UCR data Detroit has gained notoriety for its high amount of crime, having struggled with it for decades. The number of homicides in 1974 was 714.[306][307] Crime has since decreased and, in 2014, the murder rate was 43.4 per 100,000, lower than in St. Louis.[308] The city's downtown typically has lower crime than national and state averages.[309] According to a 2007 analysis, Detroit officials note about 65 to 70 percent of homicides in the city were drug related,[310] with the rate of unsolved murders roughly 70%.[161] Although the rate of violent crime dropped 11% in 2008,[311] violent crime in Detroit has not declined as much as the national average from 2007 to 2011.[312] The violent crime rate is one of the highest in the United States. Neighborhoodscout.com reported a crime rate of 62.18 per 1,000 residents for property crimes, and 16.73 per 1,000 for violent crimes (compared to national figures of 32 per 1,000 for property crimes and 5 per 1,000 for violent crime in 2008).[313] In 2012, crime in the city was among the reasons for more expensive car insurance.[314] About half of all murders in Michigan in 2015 occurred in Detroit.[315][316] Annual statistics released by the Detroit Police Department for 2016 indicate that while the city's overall crime rate declined that year, the murder rate rose from 2015.[317] In 2016 there were 302 homicides in Detroit, a 2.37% increase in the number of murder victims from the preceding year.[317] Areas of the city adjacent to the Detroit River are also patrolled by the United States Border Patrol.[318] Infrastructure The Detroit Public Library in 2018 Health systems Within the city of Detroit, there are over a dozen major hospitals, which include the Detroit Medical Center (DMC), Henry Ford Health System, St. John Health System, and the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center. The DMC, a regional Level I trauma center, consists of Detroit Receiving Hospital and University Health Center, Children's Hospital of Michigan, Harper University Hospital, Hutzel Women's Hospital, Kresge Eye Institute, Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, Sinai-Grace Hospital, and the Karmanos Cancer Institute. The DMC has more than 2,000 licensed beds and 3,000 affiliated physicians. It is the largest private employer in the City of Detroit.[319] The center is staffed by physicians from the Wayne State University School of Medicine, the largest single-campus medical school in the United States, and the United States' fourth largest medical school overall.[319] Harper Hospital and Hutzel Women's Hospital Detroit Medical Center formally became a part of Vanguard Health Systems on December 30, 2010, as a for-profit corporation. Vanguard has agreed to invest nearly $1.5 B in the Detroit Medical Center complex, which will include $417 M to retire debts, at least $350 M in capital expenditures and an additional $500 M for new capital investment.[320][321] Vanguard has agreed to assume all debts and pension obligations.[320] The metro area has many other hospitals including William Beaumont Hospital, St. Joseph's, and University of Michigan Medical Center. In 2011, Detroit Medical Center and Henry Ford Health System substantially increased investments in medical research facilities and hospitals in the city's Midtown and New Center.[320][322] In 2012, two major construction projects were begun in New Center. The Henry Ford Health System started the first phase of a $500 million, 300-acre revitalization project, with the construction of a new $30 million, 275,000-square-foot, Medical Distribution Center for Cardinal Health, Inc.[323][324] and Wayne State University started construction on a new $93 million, 207,000-square-foot, Integrative Biosciences Center (IBio).[325][326] As many as 500 researchers and staff will work out of the IBio Center.[327] Transportation Main article: Transportation in metropolitan Detroit With its proximity to Canada and its facilities, ports, major highways, rail connections and international airports, Detroit is an important transportation hub. The city has three international border crossings, the Ambassador Bridge, Detroit–Windsor Tunnel and Michigan Central Railway Tunnel, linking Detroit to Windsor, Ontario. The Ambassador Bridge is the single busiest border crossing in North America, carrying 27% of the total trade between the U.S. and Canada.[328] On February 18, 2015, Canadian Transport Minister Lisa Raitt announced Canada has agreed to pay the entire cost to build a $250 million U.S. Customs plaza adjacent to the planned new Detroit–Windsor bridge, now the Gordie Howe International Bridge. Canada had already planned to pay for 95% of the bridge, which will cost $2.1 billion, and is expected to open in 2024. "This allows Canada and Michigan to move the project forward immediately to its next steps which include further design work and property acquisition on the U.S. side of the border", Raitt said in a statement issued after she spoke in the House of Commons. [329] Transit systems The Detroit People Mover (DPM) elevated railway in Bricktown See caption A QLine streetcar at Campus Martius station Mass transit in the region is provided by bus services. The Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) provides service within city limits up to the outer edges of the city. From there, the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) provides service to the suburbs and the city regionally with local routes and SMART's FAST service. FAST is a new service provided by SMART which offers limited stops along major corridors throughout the Detroit metropolitan area connecting the suburbs to downtown. The new high-frequency service travels along three of Detroit's busiest corridors, Gratiot, Woodward, and Michigan, and only stops at designated FAST stops. Cross border service between the downtown areas of Windsor and Detroit is provided by Transit Windsor via the Tunnel Bus.[330] Amtrak Wolverine at Detroit station An elevated rail system known as the People Mover, completed in 1987, provides daily service around a 2.94-mile (4.73 km) loop downtown. The QLINE serves as a link between the Detroit People Mover and Detroit Amtrak station via Woodward Avenue.[331] The SEMCOG Commuter Rail line will extend from Detroit's New Center, connecting to Ann Arbor via Dearborn, Wayne, and Ypsilanti when it is opened.[332] The Regional Transit Authority (RTA) was established by an act of the Michigan legislature in December 2012 to oversee and coordinate all existing regional mass transit operations, and to develop new transit services in the region. The RTA's first project was the introduction of RelfeX, a limited-stop, cross-county bus service connecting downtown and midtown Detroit with Oakland county via Woodward avenue.[333] Amtrak provides service to Detroit, operating its Wolverine service between Chicago and Pontiac. The Amtrak station is in New Center north of downtown. The J. W. Westcott II, which delivers mail to lake freighters on the Detroit River, is a floating post office.[334] Car ownership The city of Detroit has a higher than average percentage of households without a car. In 2016, 24.7 percent of Detroit households lacked a car, much higher than the national average of 8.7. Detroit averaged 1.15 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8.[335] Freight railroads Freight railroad operations in the city of Detroit are provided by Canadian National Railway, Canadian Pacific Railway, Conrail Shared Assets, CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway, each of which have local yards within the city. Detroit is also served by the Delray Connecting Railroad and Detroit Connecting Railroad shortlines.[336] Airports Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), the principal airport serving Detroit, is located in nearby Romulus Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), the principal airport serving Detroit, is in nearby Romulus. DTW is a primary hub for Delta Air Lines (following its acquisition of Northwest Airlines), and a secondary hub for Spirit Airlines. The airport is connected to Downtown Detroit by the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) FAST Michigan route.[337] Coleman A. Young International Airport (DET), previously called Detroit City Airport, is on Detroit's northeast side; the airport now maintains only charter service and general aviation.[338] Willow Run Airport, in far-western Wayne County near Ypsilanti, is a general aviation and cargo airport. Freeways Ramblin' Gamblin' Man is the debut album by American rock band the Bob Seger System, released in 1969. Musical style The music of Ramblin' Gamblin' Man has been classified as blues rock,[1] folk,[1] garage rock,[2] heavy rock,[3] psychedelic rock,[1][3] rock and roll[1] and soul.[3] Release The original title was Tales of Lucy Blue, hence the cover art. In the liner notes, Bob Seger says (sarcastically) he later realized Lucy Blue was "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man", and so changed the title of the album. He then thanks "Doctor Fine" for this realization. (Doctor Fine being the person who made Seger change the album's name.) The original cover design for the album featured the nude figure from Botticelli's The Birth of Venus, but this too was changed for the final release.[4] The title track was also performed on Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band's live album Live Bullet. Track listing All tracks are written by Bob Seger, except where noted. All songs arranged by the Bob Seger System and Punch Andrews. No. Title Writer(s) Length 1. "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man"   2:21 2. "Tales of Lucy Blue"   2:28 3. "Ivory"   2:23 4. "Gone" Dan Honaker 3:28 5. "Down Home"   3:01 6. "Train Man"   4:06 7. "White Wall"   5:20 8. "Black Eyed Girl"   6:33 9. "2 + 2 = ?"   2:49 10. "Doctor Fine"   1:05 11. "The Last Song (Love Needs to Be Loved)"   3:04 Personnel The Bob Seger System Bob Seger – guitar, lead vocals, piano, organ Dan Honaker – bass, vocals Pep Perrine – drums, vocals Bob Schultz – organ on "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" Additional personnel Michael Erlewine – blues harp on "Down Home" Glenn Frey – backing vocals and acoustic guitar on "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man"[5] Penny Lawyer – backing vocals Huntington Place (formerly known as Cobo Hall, Cobo Center, and briefly as TCF Center) is a convention center in Downtown Detroit, owned by the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority (DRCFA) and operated by ASM Global. Located at 1 Washington Boulevard, the facility was originally named after former Mayor of Detroit Albert Cobo. The largest annual event held at Huntington Place is the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), which has been held at the center since 1965. Facilities Huntington Place is 2,400,000-square-foot (220,000 m2) in size and has 723,000 square feet (67,200 m2) of exhibition space, with 623,000 square feet (57,900 m2) contiguous.[4] It previously featured an arena, Cobo Arena, which hosted various concerts, sporting events, and other events.[3] In 2015, the facility completed a renovation that repurposed the Cobo Arena space, adding additional meeting halls, a glass atrium with a view of the Detroit riverfront, and the 40,000-square-foot (3,700 m2) Grand Riverview Ballroom.[5][6] It is served by the Detroit People Mover with its own station.[7] Huntington Place has several large, attached parking garages, as well as parking on the roof of the facility, and direct access to the Lodge Freeway.[8][9] The facility is located along the Detroit International Riverfront, and within walking distance of several downtown hotels.[10] History Huntington Place, then Cobo Hall, in 2007, with the southern end of M-10 passing under the center 300 yards (270 m) from ending at street level (and becoming/leaving Jefferson Avenue). The facility and its attached arena initially cost $56 million.[3] It was designed by the Detroit architectural firm Giffels & Rossetti and took four years to complete.[3][1] Louis Rossetti was the chief architect.[1] The facility is on the site where Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, a French colonist, first set foot and landed on the banks of the river in July 1701 and claimed the area for France in the name of King Louis XIV.[3] The first convention at the facility was held in 1960 by the Florists' Telegraph Delivery (FTD).[3] The first event was the 43rd Auto Industry Dinner on October 17, 1960, at which President Dwight D. Eisenhower was the keynote speaker.[3] In 1989, a renovation was completed to expand its size to 2,400,000 square feet (220,000 m2).[3][4] Joe Louis Arena, named after boxer and former heavyweight champion Joe Louis, was built adjacent to the facility.[11] It served as the home of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League from 1979 until its closure in 2017 when they moved to Little Caesars Arena. Demolition of the arena began in 2019.[12] In 2009, Mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr. vetoed the Detroit City Council's resolution against the expansion of the facility.[13][14] Shortly after, the facility came under ownership and operation, through a 30-year capital lease, of the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority (DRCFA). The five-member Authority Board consists of one representative from each of five government agencies – the City of Detroit, State of Michigan and the three Metro Detroit counties of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb. Consensus agreement from the authority is needed for all decisions, and it has become a model for regional cooperation in Southeast Michigan.[15] In October 2010, the DRCFA awarded a management contract to SMG,[16] which merged with AEG Facilities to form ASM Global in 2019.[17] It extended the contract for three years in September 2013 and again in June 2017.[16][18] In 2015, a five-year, $279 million renovation was completed, including a new atrium, ballroom, and meeting spaces, constructed mainly within the former Cobo Arena building.[5][6] Huntington Place, then Cobo Center, in 2015. In 2017, in the wake of the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Detroit riot, current mayor Mike Duggan proposed that Cobo Center be renamed due to modern reappraisals of Cobo's tenure as mayor. Cobo had upheld exclusionary covenants against African Americans, and was accused of responding poorly to allegations of harassment and police brutality against African American residents.[19][20][21][22] In 2018, the DRCFA stated that it had already been considering the sale of naming rights to the facility, for the first time in its history.[21] Huntington Place was converted into a temporary hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan In June 2018, the DRCFA approved a 22-year naming rights agreement with Chemical Bank, which took effect on July 1, 2018; the following month, Chemical announced that it would relocate its headquarters to downtown Detroit. The deal would not be publicly announced until February 20, 2019; the parties agreed to delay the official announcement until Chemical finalized and announced its agreement to merge with the Minnesota-based TCF Financial Corporation.[23] A new name for Cobo Center was not formally announced at this time, as the bank wanted to wait until after the completion of the merger. In the meantime, Chemical Bank logos would appear on advertising and signage at the facility, and a ceremonial bust of Albert Cobo was removed from public display.[23][24][25] The Chemical–TCF merger was completed on August 1, 2019, and the combined company took on the TCF name.[26] Cobo Center was officially renamed TCF Center on August 27, 2019.[21] On December 13, 2020, TCF announced another merger with Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington Bancshares. The merged company would operate under the Huntington name, and it was expected that TCF Center would be renamed by mid-2022.[27] The merger was completed in June 2021,[28] and on December 9, 2021, it was announced that TCF Center had been renamed Huntington Place.[29] Notable events Ford Motor Company exhibit at the 2019 North American International Auto Show. Since 1965, the largest event held at Huntington Place is the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). This event draws thousands of international press and suppliers during its initial five days and has a charity preview party for 11,000 guests before the public opening.[30] Since 1976, the Charity Preview has raised an average of $2.4 million yearly for southeastern Michigan children's charities.[31] After the Charity Preview party, the NAIAS is open to the public for ten days, drawing, on average, 735,000 attendees.[16][32] The show was originally held in January, but was to move to June beginning in 2020.[33] On March 29, 2020, it was announced that the 2020 NAIAS had been cancelled due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.[34] The 2021 NAIAS was also cancelled and replaced by a downsized outdoor event in Pontiac, Michigan.[35][36] In 1961, the show car event Detroit Autorama moved to the facility, and has been held there ever since.[37] Cobo Arena Cobo Arena CoboArena2.jpg MapWikimedia | © OpenStreetMap Capacity 12,000 Construction Built 1960 Closed 2010 Demolished 2010–2015 Tenants Detroit Pistons (NBA) (1961–1978) NCAA Division I Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships (NCAA) (1965–1981) Detroit Loves (WTT) (1974) Michigan Stags (WHA) (1974–1975) Detroit Mercy Titans (NCAA) (1989–1994; 1997–1999) Detroit Ambassadors (OHL) (1990–1992) Detroit Rockers (NPSL) (1990–2001) Motor City Mustangs (RHI) (1995) Detroit Dogs (ABA) (2000–2001) Cobo Arena was an arena built in 1960 with seating for 12,000 that served as the home court of the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association from 1961 to 1978 and the host of the NCAA Division I Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships from 1965 to 1981.[3][38] The short-lived Michigan Stags of the World Hockey Association and the Detroit Loves of World TeamTennis called Cobo Arena home in 1974, as did the Detroit Rockers of the National Professional Soccer League, the Detroit Mercy Titans basketball team of the NCAA, and the Motor City Mustangs of Roller Hockey International.[39][40][41][42] Cobo also hosted rock concerts, by such artists as Van Halen, The Doors, J. Geils Band, Queen, Black Sabbath, Journey, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Iron Maiden (twice in 1982), David Bowie, Ted Nugent, Prince, The Tragically Hip, The Who, Judy Garland, Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen, Parliament-Funkadelic, Duran Duran, the Cure, Phish, Madonna, Anthrax, Exodus and Helloween.[43][44][45] Bob Seger recorded all of Live Bullet and part of Nine Tonight at Cobo Arena.[46] Yes recorded two songs at Cobo Arena for their Yesshows album, released in 1980. Kiss recorded most of live album Alive! and video Animalize Live Uncensored at the arena and it is featured in their video for "Modern Day Delilah".[43] On August 4 and 5, 1980, Journey recorded most of their live album Captured at Cobo Arena.[47] As the venue for Big Time Wrestling on every other Saturday night in the 1960s and 1970s, it was considered to be "The House the Sheik built."[48] It also hosted Skate America in 1995.[49] WWE and WCW also hosted numerous house shows in the arena during the 1990s, but WWE would return in 2006 for the premiere of the 2006 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event. The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section is a group of American session musicians based in the northern Alabama town of Muscle Shoals. One of the most prominent American studio house bands from the 1960s to the 1980s, these musicians, individually or as a group, have been associated with more than 500 recordings, including 75 gold and platinum hits. They were masters at creating a southern combination of R&B, soul and country music known as the "Muscle Shoals sound" to back up black artists, who were often in disbelief to learn that the studio musicians were white. Over the years from 1962 to 1969, there have been two successive groups under the name "Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section" and the common factor in the two was an association with Rick Hall at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals.[1] The original group hired by Hall in the early 1960s was Norbert Putnam, David Briggs, and Jerry Carrigan, who created hit records that brought recognition and stature to this unknown and out-of-the-way studio. This group was courted by Nashville studios and left Muscle Shoals to pursue independent careers in Nashville. To replace these musicians, Hall hired a core group consisting of Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, David Hood and Jimmy Johnson, initially called "the Second FAME Gang", but widely known by the nickname "The Swampers" .[2] The Swampers subsequently recorded, produced, or engineered classic hits by Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Leon Russell, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rod Stewart, Bob Seger and The Staple Singers. The Swampers were the subject of the 2013 documentary film Muscle Shoals, winner of the 2013 Boulder International Film Festival Grand Prize. They were mentioned by name in the lyrics of "Sweet Home Alabama" (1974) by Lynyrd Skynyrd and appear on the cover of Cher's 1969 album 3614 Jackson Highway. Aretha Franklin recorded at FAME on only one occasion, with the Swampers providing the accompaniment; her hit song I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You) was recorded at the studio in 1967.[3] After Franklin's husband Ted White started an altercation, producer Jerry Wexler decided to continue recording the LP in New York, again using the Swampers.[4] The group also accompanied Franklin on other albums, such as "Lady Soul," "Aretha Arrives," "Aretha Now" and "This Girl's in Love with You."[5] In 1969, the Swampers parted ways with Rick Hall and FAME Studios and founded their own competing business, the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios. They also copyrighted the name "The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section". A third FAME rhythm section was formed consisting of Freeman Brown (drums), Jesse Boyce (bass), Junior Lowe (guitar), Clayton Ivey (keyboard) and a 4 man brass section. They were a blend of African American and white, and sometimes they were called FAME Gang. Both the original FAME group and the second group (Swampers) have been inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2008. History In 1958, Rick Hall, a local musician and songwriter in Florence, Alabama, befriended Tom Stafford, whose father owned a pharmacy in downtown Florence. Above the pharmacy, up some rickety stairs, Stafford had some recording gear.[6] He had partnered with Rick Hall and Billy Sherrill to create "SPAR" (an acronym for Stafford Publishing And Recording). He asked some 16-year-old members of a local band, Norbert Putnam, David Briggs and Jerry Carrigan, to make some song demos.[6] It was here that these young musicians were first exposed to creating original parts on new songs, and they became proficient at it. Also frequenting these rooms were future musical elites, such as Donnie Fritts, Spooner Oldham, Terry Thompson and Dan Penn.[6] Stafford and Sherrill later terminated Hall from the partnership, and Hall's humiliation fueled him to attempt to outdo them as their competitor.[7] Achieving recording industry stature In 1961, Hall took out a loan to buy an abandoned brick warehouse in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to make a recording studio.[7] Muscle Shoals is one of four towns in northwest Alabama clustered along the Tennessee River; the others are Florence, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. His rhythm section (piano, bass and drums) was Briggs, Putnam, and Carrigan. One of Hall's first protégés was an African American bellhop at the Sheffield Hotel named Arthur Alexander, who had written some songs. Hall was a demanding taskmaster, and his recording session required 30 or 40 takes to get the rhythm tracks he wanted.[6] The song, "You Better Move On" rose to number 24 on Billboard's Hot 100 in March 1962, and two years later, cover versions were recorded by both The Hollies and The Rolling Stones.[8] Arthur Alexander was flown to Philadelphia to appear on Dick Clark's American Bandstand.[6] The success stunned the big-city studios; the music industry quickly took notice of this unknown little studio called FAME (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises). Well-known producers began coming to Muscle Shoals to record with this house band to capture the perceived "Muscle Shoals sound". Atlanta producer Bill Lowery brought The Tams, who recorded "What Kind of Fool (Do You Think I Am)", and Nashville's Felton Jarvis brought Tommy Roe to record "Everybody". Percy Sledge's cousin, Jimmy Hughes recorded "Steal Away" with the same teenaged session players, and it rose to #17 on the Billboard Hot 100[9] It was followed by "Neighbor, Neighbor" and "Why Not Tonight"– both of which made the charts. Hall stated, "Those hits showed that FAME could be musically diverse, and they announced our open-door policy toward other labels".[7] Rick Hall's financial success from "You Better Move On" gave him the capital to secure land in Muscle Shoals City, where, in 1962, he built a first-rate studio at 603 Avalon Avenue patterned after Owen Bradley's in Nashville.[6] Some 50 years later, the building would be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[10] Before long, Nashville music moguls Ray Stevens, Bob Beckham and Felton Jarvis made overtures to lure away Hall's backing musicians, saying that in Nashville, they would make four times the money Rick Hall was paying them.[6] They resigned as a group to pursue independent careers in Nashville, and Hall was without his hit-making rhythm section. The replacement musicians were initially called "the Second FAME Gang" but were later nicknamed "The Swampers".[11] Swampers' early days The core group of Rick Hall's new rhythm section was: Barry Beckett— keyboards Roger Hawkins— drums David Hood— bass Jimmy Johnson— guitar Affectionately called The Swampers, but later officially adopting the name The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, this group achieved extraordinary success as one of the best-known group of session musicians of their era.[11] The nickname "The Swampers" was coined by producer Denny Cordell during recording sessions for Leon Russell because of their "funky, soulful Southern 'swamp' sound".[12] Guitarist Jimmy Johnson was the first FAME employee and did many jobs there, including playing rhythm guitar, engineering, and sweeping the floors.[13] In 1964, drummer Roger Hawkins was hired. When bass player David Hood first received the call that a job at FAME had opened up, he was working at his father's tire store.[14] Keyboard player Barry Beckett knew nothing about Muscle Shoals in 1967, but was hired on a session there, James and Bobby Purify's "I'm Your Puppet". He said, "Every night I would just sit there and listen to the tape [still without vocals] over and over again," and said, "that was amazing".[14] With no firm job offer, Beckett moved his family from Florida to Muscle Shoals and was eventually hired. On the many hit records out of Muscle Shoals, there were many incidences where other musicians would join or substitute, including Chips Moman (guitar), Junior Lowe (guitar) Dan Penn, Tommy Cogbill, Pete Carr (guitar), Spooner Oldham (organ and piano).[7] According to music writer Carla Jean Whitley, more than a few people were surprised to learn that the musicians backing many notable black artists were white. Whitley said, "There were many producers accused of lying [about it]...Rod Stewart was one of those who took his producer out and said, 'seriously?' "[15] In the early 1960s, it was not a routine practice to have the same musicians as a "house band" for recording different artists, the exceptions being Motown and Stax Records[citation needed]. Hall wanted to obtain a consistent sound rather than have unfamiliar musicians on each session.[14] The New York Times called the Muscle Shoals sound "indigenous American music, a distinctly Southern amalgamation of rhythm & blues, soul, and country music".[16] Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler became acquainted with Hall and brought artists such as Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin to record at FAME with the group of southern musicians based on their previous string of hit recordings.[17] 1967 Aretha Franklin session In January 1967, Jerry Wexler brought Aretha Franklin, then in her mid-20s, to Muscle Shoals for her first session for Atlantic.[18] During this first session with the Swampers, "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You", Franklin's husband at the time, Ted White, who had been cordial at first, became belligerent. White had secretly been sharing a bottle of vodka with the horn section during the session.[7][19] White then demanded that Ken Laxton, the trumpet player who was white, be fired for making passes at Aretha.[20] Hall and Wexler reluctantly agreed. About an hour later, White burst into the control room and demanded that the sax player be fired, saying, "He's flirting with my wife".[7] The producers then fired the sax player. By this time everyone was exhausted and the rapidly-deteriorating session was terminated. An hour later, Rick Hall, who had begun drinking after the session ended, went to Aretha and Ted's hotel room at the Downtowner Hotel in Florence "to try to smooth things over", but a fist fight erupted between Hall and White, with Aretha joining in to try to get Hall out.[7] Hall then screamed, cursed and pounded the door, arousing Wexler, whose room was nearby.[21] Wexler was horrified. Hall went to the lobby, called Aretha's room, and told Ted he'd better get out of town.[7] They left the following day. The only song that had been finished, "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)", went on to number one on Billboard's R&B Selling chart and number nine on the Billboard Hot 100, so Atlantic Records wanted the Swampers, but without Hall and without Muscle Shoals.[21] The solution was to fly the Swampers to New York to record at Atlantic Studios. Less than a month later, The Swampers were in New York recording "Respect", Aretha's first hit that held the number one R&B spot for eight weeks and was number one on the pop charts for two weeks.[22] Rolling Stone named it as the fifth-best song of all time.[21] Some other songs they did were Do Right Woman, Do Right Man, Think, Share Your Love With Me, and Call Me.[11] 1969: independence 3614 Jackson Highway September 2007 In 1969, after a financial dispute, the Swampers broke away from Rick Hall and FAME to purchase a tiny studio with burlap-covered walls at 3614 Jackson Highway.[14] They were aided in the process by Wexler, who arranged a loan from Atlantic Records to make much-needed equipment upgrades to 8-track recording machines that were compatible with Atlantic's equipment. The Swampers were to pay the loans back by providing studio time. At first, Hawkins and Johnson had more ownership, but subsequently they made Hood and Beckett equal partners at no cost.[14] The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section created more than 50 hits at this studio.[21] The studio's sole bathroom was often used as a sound booth. The musicians would listen out on the porch to make final judgement on finished songs. David Hood said, "The building was a crackerbox building. A loud truck driving down the street or a heavy rainstorm, you'd have to stop working, because it was not built as a studio. It was a just a commercial building that had been adapted for studio use."[20] They asked themselves, "What are we going to call this place?" David Hood suggested the name, "Muscle Shoals Sound" and they all laughed. The joke was that the new studio, technically was in Sheffield, not Muscle Shoals. Only locals would know that, because the towns melded together. Since they had had a dispute with Rick Hall, Hood said, "So I thought, let's call it ' Muscle Shoals Sound ' just to get at Rick."[20] They also trademarked the name "The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section". Things were lean the first year. Finally they had a hit single with "Take a Letter Maria" by R.B. Greaves. The song reached number two on the Hot 100 and was certified gold.[20] In 1971, Atlantic Records moved their Muscle Shoals business to Criteria Studios in Miami and asked the Swampers to move there. When the Swampers refused, Atlantic called their loan on the new equipment. About this time, Stax Records in Memphis was facing financial difficulties and began outsourcing work to Muscle Shoals. More and more business from established artists then came to the Swampers, replacing the lost Atlantic business. From this point, the studio began turning out hits such as Leon Russell's "Tight Rope", the Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There" and Paul Simon's "Kodachrome".[14] 1969 Rolling Stones session The Rolling Stones, newly signed to Atlantic Records, arrived in Sheffield, Alabama, in December, 1969, two nights after a performance in West Palm Beach, Florida.[21] They had been assured that the planned recording session could be kept secret. The little studio at 3614 Jackson Highway was still in its infancy, with only one hit thus far, plus a Cher album that was not a commercial success. Rick Hall sardonically said, "The Rolling Stones thought they were cutting at FAME".[19] The Stones were there three days, spending most of their time in the studio engineered by Swamper Jimmy Johnson.[21] The first night, they recorded "You Gotta Move"; the second night, "Brown Sugar", the third, "Wild Horses". Mick Jagger wrote three verses on a stenographer's pad on the spot for "Brown Sugar", which made number 490 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 top songs ever recorded. Swamper David Hood's son who was there said, "Their visit was kept a secret from most of the locals, and the world's biggest rock and roll band came, recorded and left (headed for infamy at Altamont, no less) without the conservative townsfolk even knowing they were there."[21] On the documentary film, Muscle Shoals, Keith Richards said of the sessions,"I don't think we'd been quite so prolific ever".[23] Swampers session approach When Atlantic Records recorded in New York, the typical procedure was to hire an arranger who would come up with the song style from a demo recording and write out the parts for all musicians.[7] In the session, musicians would come in and just play what was written for them. If it was not successful, the arranger was to blame.[7] In Muscle Shoals and other Southern studios, the process was quite different. The musicians rarely read music, and usually nothing was written in advance; it was called a "head session".[24] As an example, in the Muscle Shoals recording of Wilson Pickett's classic hit "Land of 1000 Dances", Jerry Wexler chose the song–it was to be a cover version of a song by Chris Kenner. In its original state, it was much too slow and had a honky-tonk piano sound. Wexler had faith that the Swampers could make something out of it.[7] When the session started, the Swampers began trying different rhythm patterns, dance beats and tempos for the song. After an hour of this, nothing was gelling.[7] Then Chips Moman hit on a guitar lick that set the basic groove and everyone fell in. The arrangement built communally. They decided to break it up by putting a solo drum interlude. During this, Pickett started screaming over the drummer, "nah, nah nah nah nah," then said, "I need somebody to help me now". It was captured on tape, and the players were summoned to the control room, where Rick Hall shouted, "Guys, we are now cutting a smash record".[7] Musicians Moman and Cogbill disagreed, saying that there was no intro and no turnaround— the song was far from finished. Pickett borrowed the line, "nah, nah nah nah nah" and its melody from Cannibal & The Headhunters' 1965 version of "Land of 1000 Dances".[25] What started as an ad lib by Frankie Garcia (Cannibal) from a live performance was then incorporated into their recording of the song, which reached number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in early 1965.[25] It was not part of Chris Kenner's own original 1962 recording. In Hall's autobiography, he said Pickett suggested singing the count off, "one, two, three".[7] Wexler told a different story and stated, "After dozens of abortive attempts, I came up with an idea. 'Sing the counts, Wilson', I suggested. 'Make the counts part of the intro' ".[24] Hall said that was crazy—who ever heard of singing a count off? Pickett said, "let me show you," and got the horn players (Wayne Jackson, Charlie Chalmers, Andrew Love and Floyd Newman) to hit a chord.[24] The now-famous bass lick that followed was actually a second count off and took trials by three bass players to find something extraordinary.[7] Moman suggested they allow Tommy Cogbill (guitar player) to switch to bass and give it a try. Cogbill put Vaseline on his fingertips and delivered the lick they had been hoping for.[7] Since they were recording in mono on one track, all had to now play it correctly from start to finish. If anyone missed his part, they all would have had to do the entire song from the beginning, and repetition often loses a song's excitement, due to fatigue. Hall said, "everybody looked at each other like, 'If you miss this, man, you're dead'."[7] When they succeeded, there were high fives all around the studio. Hall said, "When you hear that record today, you can tell that everybody was feeding off the enthusiasm of everybody else in that room".[7] Later years Muscle Shoals Sound - New Location The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section closed the original on Jackson Highway in April, 1979, and moved to a new studio at 1000 Alabama Avenue in nearby Sheffield. The town leaders sold Sheffield's abandoned 31,000 square feet (2,900 m2) Armory to the Swampers at an unbeatable price, to counter a nearby city's offer to lure them away.[14] That year, the new studio recorded the Bob Dylan album Slow Train Coming, co-produced by Barry Beckett, who also performed on it.[26] The new studio marked a new beginning for Beckett, Hawkins, Hood and Johnson, allowing them to move toward production and publishing rather than performing.[14] They continued to operate there until 1985, when they closed the business. They sold it to their longtime friend Tommy Couch, owner of Malaco Records, based in Jackson, Mississippi. At that time, three of the Swampers joined other session players, such as the keyboardist Carson Whitsett, backing Bobby "Blue" Bland and other artists recording for the Malaco label. They occasionally worked at other studios. Beckett left Alabama in 1982 to move to Nashville, where he became A&R man for Warner Music Group.[27] He later worked independently with Alabama, Asleep at the Wheel, Kenny Chesney and others. He performed on recording sessions until 2005, when health problems forced him to retire. He died in 2009 at age 66.[16] During the 1990s and later, the group continued working as a studio band, often with Clayton Ivey on keyboards, for artists including Gregg Allman (All Night All Stars), T. Graham Brown, Jimmy Buffett, Melissa Etheridge, John Hiatt, the Oak Ridge Boys, Johnny Paycheck, Etta James, and Joe Louis Walker.[11] Honors and awards Lynyrd Skynyrd referred to the musicians as "The Swampers" in the 1974 song "Sweet Home Alabama": "Now, Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers And they've been known to pick a song or two Lord, they get me off so much They pick me up when I'm feeling blue Now, how 'bout you?" The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the artists, producers, engineers, and other notable figures and personnel who have influenced its development. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was established on April 20, 1983, by Ahmet Ertegun, founder and chairman of Atlantic Records. After a long search for the right city, Cleveland was chosen in 1986 as the Hall of Fame's permanent home. Architect I. M. Pei designed the new museum, and it was dedicated on September 1, 1995. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation The RRHOF Foundation was established in 1983 by Ahmet Ertegun, who assembled a team that included publisher of Rolling Stone magazine Jann S. Wenner, record executives Seymour Stein, Bob Krasnow, and Noreen Woods, and attorneys Allen Grubman and Suzan Evans. The Foundation began inducting artists in 1986, but the Hall of Fame still had no home. The search committee considered several cities, including Philadelphia (home of rock pioneer Bill Haley and American Bandstand), Memphis (home of Sun Studios and Stax Records), Detroit (home of Motown Records), Cincinnati (home of King Records), New York City, and Cleveland.[2] Cleveland lobbied for the museum, with civic leaders in Cleveland pledging $65 million in public money to fund the construction, and citing that WJW disc jockey Alan Freed both coined the term "rock and roll" and heavily promoted the new genre—and that Cleveland was the location of Freed's Moondog Coronation Ball, often credited as the first major rock and roll concert. Freed was also a member of the hall of fame's inaugural class of inductees in 1986.[3] In addition, Cleveland cited radio station WMMS, which played a key role in breaking several major acts in the U.S. during the 1970s and 1980s, including David Bowie, who began his first U.S. tour in the city, Bruce Springsteen, Roxy Music, and Rush among many others.[4] Cleveland business leaders and media companies organized a petition demonstrating the city's support that was signed by 600,000 Northeast Ohio residents, and Cleveland ranked first in a 1986 USA Today poll asking where the Hall of Fame should be located. On May 5, 1986, the Hall of Fame Foundation chose Cleveland as the permanent home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Cleveland may also have been chosen as the organization's site because the city offered the best financial package. As The Plain Dealer music critic Michael Norman noted, "It was $65 million ... Cleveland wanted it here and put up the money." During early discussions on where to build the Hall of Fame and Museum, the Foundation's board considered a site along the Cuyahoga River in downtown Cleveland. Ultimately, the chosen location was along East Ninth Street in downtown by Lake Erie, east of Cleveland Stadium. At one point in the planning phase, when a financing gap existed, planners proposed locating the Rock Hall in the then-vacant May Company Building but finally decided to commission architect I. M. Pei to design a new building. Initial CEO Dr. Larry R. Thompson facilitated I. M. Pei in designs for the site. Pei came up with the idea of a tower with a glass pyramid protruding from it. Pei initially planned the tower to be 200 feet (61 m) high, but was forced to reduce it to 162 feet (49 m) due to the structure's proximity to Burke Lakefront Airport. The building's base is approximately 150,000 square feet (14,000 m2). Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum building The groundbreaking opening ceremony took place on June 7, 1993. Pete Townshend, Chuck Berry, Billy Joel, Sam Phillips, Ruth Brown, Sam Moore of Sam and Dave, Carl Gardner of the Coasters and Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum all appeared at the groundbreaking.[5] The museum was dedicated on September 1, 1995, with the ribbon being cut by an ensemble that included Yoko Ono and Little Richard, among others, before a crowd of more than 10,000 people. The following night an all-star concert was held at Cleveland Stadium.[6] It featured Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Al Green, Jerry Lee Lewis, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Iggy Pop, John Fogerty, John Mellencamp, and many others.[5] In addition to the Hall of Fame inductees, the museum documents the entire history of rock and roll, regardless of induction status. Hall of Fame inductees are honored in a special exhibit located in a wing that juts out over Lake Erie.[5] The exhibit space and inaugural exhibits were designed by Bruce Burdick's San Francisco design firm The Burdick Group.[7] Since 1986, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has selected new inductees. The formal induction ceremony has been held in New York City 27 times (1986–92, 1994–96, 1998–2008, 2010–11, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019); three times in Los Angeles (1993, 2013 and 2022); and six times in the hall of fame's home in Cleveland (1997, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2018, and 2021). As of 2018, the induction ceremonies alternate each year between New York and Cleveland.[8] The 2009 and 2012 induction weeks were made possible by a public–private partnership between the City of Cleveland, the State of Ohio, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and local foundations, corporations, civic organizations and individuals. Collectively these entities invested $5.8 million in 2009 and $7.9 million in 2012 to produce a week of events including free concerts, a gospel celebration, exhibition openings, free admission to the museum, and induction ceremonies at Public Hall.[9] Millions viewed the television broadcast of the Cleveland inductions; tens of thousands traveled to Ohio during induction week to participate in the events. The economic impact of the 2009 induction week activities was more than $13 million, and it provided an additional $20 million in media exposure for the region. The 2012 induction week yielded similar results.[10] Layout The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (left) sits on the Lake Erie shore next to the Great Lakes Science Center (right) in Cleveland's North Coast Harbor. The building contains seven levels. On the lower level is the Ahmet M. Ertegun Exhibition Hall, the museum's main gallery. It includes exhibits on the roots of rock and roll (gospel, blues, rhythm & blues and folk, country and bluegrass). It also features exhibits on cities that have had a major impact on rock and roll: Memphis, Detroit, London, Liverpool, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle. There are exhibits about soul music, the Fifties, Sun Records, hip hop music, Cleveland's rock and roll legacy, the music of the Midwest, rock and roll radio and dee-jays, and the many protests against rock and roll. This gallery also has exhibits that focus on individual artists, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and others. Finally, the Ahmet M. Ertegun Exhibition Hall includes a theatre that features films on various subjects such as American Bandstand.[11] The first floor of the museum is the entrance level. It includes a café, a stage that the museum uses for various special performances and events throughout the year, and a section called "Backstage Stories". The second floor includes several interactive kiosks that feature programs on one-hit wonders and the Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. This level also includes a gallery with artifact-filled exhibits about Les Paul, Alan Freed, Sam Phillips and the evolution of audio technology.[12] Visitors enter the Hall of Fame section of the museum on the third floor. This section includes "The Power of Rock Experience", which includes one of Jonathan Demme's final works, a film shown in the Connor Theater. The film includes musical highlights from some of the Hall's induction ceremonies.[13] Visitors exit the Hall of Fame section on the fourth floor. That level features the Foster Theater, a state-of-the-art 3-D theater that is used for special events and programs.[14][15] Finally, the top two levels of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame feature large, temporary exhibits. Over the years, numerous exhibits have been installed on these two levels, including exhibits about Elvis Presley, hip-hop, the Supremes, the Who, U2, John Lennon, the Clash, the Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen, Women Who Rock, and the Rolling Stones. Architecture The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, showing Lake Erie in the foreground Designed by I. M. Pei and structurally engineered by Leslie E. Robertson Associates, the building rises above the shores of Lake Erie. It is a combination of geometric forms and cantilevered spaces that are anchored by a 162-foot tower. The tower supports a dual-triangular-shaped glass "tent" that extends (at its base) onto a 65,000-square-foot plaza that provides a main entry facade.[16] The building houses more than 55,000 square feet of exhibition space, as well as administrative offices, a store, and a café.[17] "In designing this building," Pei said, "it was my intention to echo the energy of rock and roll. I have consciously used an architectural vocabulary that is bold and new, and I hope the building will become a dramatic landmark for the city of Cleveland and for fans of rock and roll around the world."[18] New York City Annex The museum's New York City Annex (2008–2010) on Mercer Street, Soho In 2006 the RRHOF partnered with three entertainment production companies to create a branch museum in New York City.[19] On November 18, 2008, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC opened in Manhattan's SoHo district.[19] Located at 76 Mercer Street just west of Broadway, the Annex occupied an underground space of 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2).[19] The branch museum operated in much the same way as its Cleveland parent, featuring archetypal display pieces like Prince's coat from Purple Rain, David Byrne's "big suit" from Stop Making Sense, and Elvis Presley's motorcycle jacket and his Bible.[19] But from its start the Annex also had a distinct New York area focus that made plenty of space for big items like the phone booth from CBGB, layered thick with band stickers over the decades; Bruce Springsteen's own 1957 Chevrolet; a special gallery reserved for the city's musicians; and an intricate 26-foot (7.9 m) scale model of Manhattan highlighting sites of rock history.[19] Jann Wenner served as chairman of the board of the Annex.[20] At its opening night gala, he inadvertently created a controversy after he told a reporter, "One of the small sad things is we didn't do it in New York in the first place."[20] He later expressed regret for his remark which he said had been misconstrued and clarified that "I am absolutely delighted that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is in Cleveland."[20] The Annex closed on January 3, 2010, its quick demise reportedly due to the global financial crisis of 2007–2008 and a subsequent downturn in the city's tourism.[21] The museum closed with a final major exhibition on John Lennon and his years in New York City.[21] Exhibits and features Since 1997, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has featured numerous temporary exhibits that range in size from major exhibits that fill the top two floors of the museum to smaller exhibits that are often installed in the main exhibition hall on the lower level. The museum's first major exhibit opened on May 10, 1997. It was called I Want to Take You Higher: The Psychedelic Era, 1965–1969. It included memorabilia from numerous artists including John Lennon, Eric Clapton, John Sebastian, Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin, as well as items related to the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival and 1969's Woodstock.[22] That exhibit was followed by Elvis is in the Building, which ran from August 8, 1998, to September 5, 1999. This year-long tribute was the first exhibit devoted to a single artist, Elvis Presley—the "King of Rock and Roll" and the first inductee into the RRHOF, in 1986. Graceland supplied a significant selection of representative artifacts for this special tribute spanning Elvis' life and legendary career.[23] Next, the museum curated Roots, Rhymes and Rage: The Hip-Hop Story.[24] That was the first major museum exhibit to focus on hip-hop. It ran from November 11, 1999, to August 6, 2000. It was followed by Rock Style, an exhibit that focused on rock and roll and fashion. It featured clothing from Buddy Holly to Alice Cooper, from Ray Charles to David Bowie and from Smokey Robinson to Sly Stone. After it closed in Cleveland, Rock Style traveled to other museums in the U.S. Other temporary exhibits have included Lennon: His Life and Work, which ran from October 20, 2000, to January 1, 2003. It was followed by In the Name of Love: Two Decades of U2 and then Reflections: The Mary Wilson Supreme Legacy Collection. A major exhibition titled Louder than Words: Rock, Power, Politics was on display during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.[25][26] Other large temporary exhibits have focused on the Clash (Revolution Rock: The Story of the Clash), the Doors (Break on Through: The Lasting Legacy of the Doors), the Who's Tommy (Tommy: The Amazing Journey), and Bruce Springsteen (From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen). Another thematic temporary exhibit focused on the role of women in rock and roll (Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power). Many of these exhibits travel to other museums after closing in Cleveland. A major temporary exhibit in 2017 told the story and impact of Rolling Stone magazine.[27] The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame also curates many smaller temporary exhibits. Over the years, these exhibits have focused on such topics as the Vans Warped Tour, the Concert for Bangladesh, Woodstock's 40th and 50th anniversaries, Austin City Limits, the Monterey International Pop Festival, Roy Orbison, Motown's 50th anniversary, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Marty Stuart, Paul Simon, Graham Nash, John Mellencamp, and Geddy Lee's basses. The museum also devotes exhibits to photography and artwork related to rock and roll. Among the photographers whose work has been featured at the Hall of Fame are George Kalinsky, Alfred Wertheimer, Tommy Edwards, Kevin Mazur, Janet Macoska, Lynn Goldsmith, Linda McCartney, Mike McCartney, Robert Alford,[28] and George Shuba. The museum also featured the artwork of Philip Burke in one of its temporary exhibits, and a later exhibit featured Herb Ritts.[29] The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum produces numerous public programs, including concerts, interviews, lectures, film screenings, and other events that help tell the story of rock and roll. Every February, the museum celebrates Black History Month by hosting concerts, film screenings and lectures that illustrate the important role African-Americans have played in the history of rock and roll.[30] Since the program began in 1996, such artists as Robert Lockwood, Jr., the Temptations, Charles Brown, Ruth Brown, the Ohio Players, Lloyd Price, Little Anthony and the Imperials, and Al Green have appeared at the museum during Black History Month. Another program is the Hall of Fame Series. This series began in April 1996 and features interviews with Hall of Fame inductees in rare and intimate settings, most often in the Museum's Foster Theater. The interviews are usually followed by a question-and-answer session with the audience and, often, a performance by the inductee. Among the inductees who have taken part in this series are Darryl "DMC" McDaniels of Run-D.M.C., Lloyd Price, Martha Reeves, Marky Ramone, Seymour Stein, Ray Manzarek of the Doors, Mary Wilson of the Supremes, Ronnie Spector, Bootsy Collins, Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart, Dennis Edwards of the Temptations, and Jorma Kaukonen of the Jefferson Airplane. A similar program is the Legends Series. The only real difference between this program and the Hall of Fame Series is that it features artists who have not yet been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Peter Hook of Joy Division, Spinderella of Salt n Pepa, Tommy James, and the Chi-Lites are among the artists who have participated in the Legends Series. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum's most acclaimed program is the annual American Music Masters series. Each year the museum celebrates one of the Hall's inductees with a week-long series of programs that include interviews, film screenings, and, often, a special exhibit. The celebration ends with an all-star concert held at a Cleveland theater. The concerts include a diverse mix of artists, from Hall of Fame inductees to contemporary musicians. The American Music Masters series began in 1996 with Hard Travelin': The Life and Legacy of Pete Seeger. Since then, the programs have honored the following inductees: Jimmie Rodgers (1997), Robert Johnson (1998), Louis Jordan (1999), Muddy Waters (2000), Bessie Smith (2001), Hank Williams (2002), Buddy Holly (2003), Lead Belly (2004), Sam Cooke (2005), Roy Orbison (2006), Jerry Lee Lewis (2007), Les Paul (2008),[31] Janis Joplin (2009),[32] Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew (2010), Aretha Franklin (2011),[33] Chuck Berry (2012),[34] The Everly Brothers (2014) and Johnny Cash (2017).[35] In 2019 the concert series' format was retooled and the event was renamed the Rock Hall Honors, in which the honored performer is joined in concert by guests of their choice.[35] The first Rock Hall Honors concert, featuring Mavis Staples, was performed in Cleveland in September 2019.[36] The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame won the 2020 Webby People's Voice Award for Cultural Institution in the category Web.[37] Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum curator James Henke, along with "the museum's curatorial staff and numerous rock critics and music experts", created an unordered list of "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll".[38][39] The list is part of a permanent exhibit at the museum, and was envisioned as part of the museum from its opening in 1995.[40] It contains songs recorded from the 1920s through the 1990s. The oldest song on the list is "Wabash Cannonball", written circa 1882 and credited to J. A. Roff.[41][42] Since then, however, an additional 160 songs have been added, and the list is now simply referred to as "The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll". The most recent songs on the list are Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" and My Chemical Romance's "Welcome to the Black Parade", both released in 2006. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones are the most represented on the 660-song list, with eight songs each.[42] 25th anniversary concert Main article: 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concerts The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame celebrated its 25th anniversary with a concert series over two days on October 29 and 30, 2009 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The celebration included performances by Jerry Lee Lewis, U2, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Simon & Garfunkel, Dion DiMucci, Metallica, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Fergie, Mick Jagger, Lou Reed, Ray Davies, Ozzy Osbourne, Paul Simon, Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Sting, Little Anthony & the Imperials, and Crosby, Stills and Nash. The first night ran almost six hours with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band closing the concert with special guests John Fogerty, Darlene Love, Tom Morello, Sam Moore, Jackson Browne, Peter Wolf, and Billy Joel.[43][44][45] Inductees English guitarist, singer, and songwriter Eric Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. See also: List of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Artists are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at an annual induction ceremony. Over the years, the majority of the ceremonies have been held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. However, on January 12, 1993, the ceremony was held in Los Angeles and was held there again in 2013. On May 6, 1997, about a year and a half after the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, the ceremony was held in Cleveland. It returned to Cleveland in 2009 and again in 2012. Current plans call for the ceremony to be in Cleveland every three years. Generally, the number of inductees each year ranges from about a half-dozen to a dozen. Virtually all living inductees have attended the ceremonies, and they are presented with their Hall of Fame award by an artist who was influenced by that inductee's music. Both the presenter and the inductee speak at the ceremonies, which also include numerous musical performances, by both the inductees and the presenters. As of February 2021, there were 338 inductees.[46] The first group of inductees, inducted on January 23, 1986, included Elvis Presley,[47] James Brown, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry,[48] Sam Cooke, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Robert Johnson, Jimmie Rodgers, and Jimmy Yancey were inducted as Early Influences, John Hammond received the Lifetime Achievement Award and Alan Freed and Sam Phillips were inducted as Non-Performers.[49] Performers A nominating committee composed of rock and roll historians selects names for the "Performers" category (singers, vocal groups, bands, and instrumentalists of all kinds), which are then voted on by roughly 500 experts across the world. Those selected to vote include academics, journalists, producers, and others with music industry experience. Artists become eligible for induction 25 years after the release of their first record. Criteria include the influence and significance of the artists' contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock and roll. Block approval voting is used, with those nominees who receive the most votes being inducted, subject to a minimum of 50% approval. Around five to seven performers are inducted each year.[50] In 2012, six additional groups, the Miracles, the Famous Flames, the Comets, the Blue Caps, the Midnighters, and the Crickets, were inducted as performers by a special committee due to the controversial exclusions when their lead singer was inducted. "There was a lot of discussion about this," said Terry Stewart, a member of the nominating committee. "There had always been conversations about why the groups weren't included when the lead singers were inducted. Very honestly, nobody could really answer that question – it was so long ago ... We decided we'd sit down as an organization and look at that. This is the result."[51] Early Influences Early Influences includes artists from earlier eras, primarily country, folk, jazz, and blues, whose music inspired and influenced rock and roll artists. Other notable artists that have been inducted as Early Influences include Bill Kenny & The Ink Spots, country musicians Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams, blues musician Howlin' Wolf, and jazz musicians Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong. After Nat King Cole and Billie Holiday in 2000, no one was inducted in this category until 2009, when rockabilly singer Wanda Jackson was selected. Unlike earlier inductees in this category, Jackson's career almost entirely took place after the traditional 1955 start of the "rock era". Ahmet Ertegun Award for Lifetime Achievement Formerly the "Non-Performers" award, this category encompasses those who primarily work behind the scenes in the music industry, including record label executives, songwriters, record producers, disc jockeys, concert promoters and music journalists. This category has had at least one inductee every year except 2007 and 2009. Following the death of the Hall of Fame's co-founder Ahmet Ertegun, this award was renamed in his honor in 2008.[52] Award for Musical Excellence Formerly the "Sidemen" award, this category was introduced in 2000 and honors veteran session and concert players who are selected by a committee composed primarily of producers. The category was dormant from 2004 through 2007 and re-activated in 2008. This honor was renamed the "Award for Musical Excellence" in 2010. According to Joel Peresman, the president of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, "This award gives us flexibility to dive into some things and recognize some people who might not ordinarily get recognized."[53] Library and archives The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, November 2015 The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum's Library and Archives is the world's most comprehensive repository of materials related to the history of rock and roll. The Library and Archives is located in a new building on the Metro Campus of Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland's Campus District. The Library and Archives' mission is to collect, preserve and provide access to these materials. The Library and Archives operates on two levels: people may come into the library and read books and magazines, listen to music and other recordings, and watch videos and films. More serious scholars, historians and journalists may also make an appointment for access to the archival collections under the supervision of the staff archivists. The library is composed of books, academic dissertations, and other references. It also includes popular magazines, scholarly journals and trade publications; commercial audio and video recordings, and research databases. The archival collections include music-business records from record executives, artist managers, labels, historic venues, recording studios, specialists in stage design and lighting, and long-running concert tours. The collections also contain important individual items, such as personal letters penned by Aretha Franklin and Madonna, handwritten working lyrics by Jimi Hendrix and LL Cool J, papers from music journalists such as Sue Cassidy Clark, and rare concert recordings from CBGB in the 1970s.[54][55][56] Criticism and controversy The most frequent criticism of the Hall of Fame is that the nomination process is controlled by a few individuals who are not themselves musicians, such as founders Jann Wenner and Suzan Evans, and writer Dave Marsh, reflecting their personal tastes rather than public opinion as a whole. A former member of the nominations board once commented that "At one point Suzan Evans lamented the choices being made because there weren't enough big names that would sell tickets to the dinner. That was quickly remedied by dropping one of the doo-wop groups being considered in favor of a 'name' artist ... I saw how certain pioneering artists of the '50s and early '60s were shunned because there needed to be more name power on the list, resulting in '70s superstars getting in before the people who made it possible for them. Some of those pioneers still aren't in today."[57][58] Sister Rosetta Tharpe is often considered "The Godmother/Grandmother of Rock & Roll", but was not chosen for induction until 2017.[59][60] Velvet Underground drummer Maureen Tucker has dismissed the Hall of Fame as the "Hall of Lame" despite the band being inducted a couple of years prior to the remark.[61] There was also criticism of the opacity in the selection process. Janet Morrissey of The New York Times wrote: With fame and money at stake, it's no surprise that a lot of backstage lobbying goes on. Why any particular act is chosen in any particular year is a mystery to performers as well as outsiders, and committee members want to keep it that way[.][62] The chairman of the nominating committee, Jon Landau, confirmed: "We've done a good job of keeping the proceedings nontransparent. It all dies in the room."[62] According to Fox News, petitions with tens of thousands of signatures have also been ignored, and some groups that were signed with certain labels or companies or were affiliated with various committee members have even been put up for nomination with no discussion at all.[58] The committee has also been accused of largely ignoring certain genres.[63] According to author Brett Milano in 2007, "entire genres get passed over, particularly progressive rock, '60s Top 40, New Orleans funk and a whole lot of black music."[64] Critics have pointed out a bias in favour of American and British acts, while important Canadian rock bands, such as the Guess Who, are often ignored, with Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Rush, and the Band being the only Canadian acts in the Hall.[65][66] Another criticism is that too many artists are inducted. In one fifteen-year span, 97 artists were inducted.[67] A minimum of 50% of the vote is needed to be inducted, although the final percentages are not announced and a certain number of inductees (five in 2011) is set before the ballots are shipped.[67] The committee usually nominates a small number of artists (12 in 2010) from an increasing number of different genres. Several voters, including Joel Selvin, himself a former member of the nominating committee, did not submit their ballots in 2007 because they did not feel that any of the candidates were truly worthy.[68] Members of the British punk rock band the Sex Pistols, inducted in 2006, refused to attend the ceremony, calling the museum "a piss stain" and "urine in wine."[69] In 2018, when British rock band Dire Straits were inducted, bandleader Mark Knopfler did not attend the ceremony and offered no official explanation, leaving bass player John Illsley to say, "He just didn't feel like coming, it's as simple as that. It just didn't appeal to him, and I appealed to him on several occasions."[70] In BBC Radio 6 Music's Annual John Peel Lecture in 2013, singer Charlotte Church accused the museum of gender bias, stating, "Out of 295 acts and artists in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame, 259 are entirely male, meaning that Tina Weymouth's part in Talking Heads makes them one of the 36 female acts."[71][72] In fact, the actual percentage of female inductees is 8.5%.[73] Combining all the categories, there have been 719 inductees, of whom 61 have been women.[74] Following Donna Summer's death in 2012, Elton John had criticized the Hall of Fame for failing to induct her during her lifetime, saying "That she has never been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a total disgrace, especially when I see the second-rate talent that has been inducted."[75] Steve Miller, a 2016 inductee, directed a litany of complaints at the hall, both during his induction speech and especially in interviews after it. His criticisms included his opinions that there is a general lack of female inductees, that there is not enough support by the hall for music education, and that inductees are treated poorly at the award ceremony.[76] At the same ceremony, Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen commented on the hall's ticket policy for inductees and their families as unnecessarily expensive, a sentiment echoed by Miller.[77][78] In 2018, Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden criticized the Hall of Fame by calling it "an utter and complete load of bollocks ... run by a bunch of sanctimonious bloody Americans who wouldn't know rock 'n' roll if it hit them in the face."[79] Dickinson has also expressed an overall distaste for the Hall of Fame entity, arguing that "if you put [music] in a museum, then it's dead." Iron Maiden had been eligible for induction since 2004.[80] Hard rock and heavy metal website Blabbermouth.net observed how it had taken Kiss 15 years to be inducted and Deep Purple 23 years. Regarding his band's non-induction into the Hall, Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill stated in a 2019 interview, "I don't think they like heavy metal music in general."[81] Several people criticized the 2020 inductions because Dave Matthews Band was not part of the class despite them topping the fan vote.[82] Dave Clark Five On March 14, 2007, two days after that year's induction ceremony, Roger Friedman of Fox News published an article claiming that the Dave Clark Five should have been the fifth inductee, as they had more votes than inductee Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. The article went on to say that Jann Wenner availed himself of a technicality on the day votes were due in. In reality, The Dave Clark Five got six more votes than Grandmaster Flash. But he felt "we couldn't go another year without a rap act."[83] The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation responded "There is a format and rules and procedure. There is a specific time when the votes have to be in, and then they are counted. The bands with the top five votes got in."[84] The Dave Clark Five was subsequently nominated again and then inducted the following year.[85] The Monkees In June 2007, Monkee Peter Tork complained to the New York Post that Wenner had blackballed the Monkees, commenting: [Wenner] doesn't care what the rules are and just operates how he sees fit. It is an abuse of power. I don't know whether the Monkees belong in the Hall of Fame, but it's pretty clear that we're not in there because of a personal whim. Jann seems to have taken it harder than everyone else, and now, 40 years later, everybody says, "What's the big deal? Everybody else does it." [Uses studio artists or backing bands.] Nobody cares now except him. He feels his moral judgment in 1967 and 1968 is supposed to serve in 2007. In a Facebook post, fellow Monkee Michael Nesmith stated that he did not know if the Monkees belonged in the Hall of Fame because he could only see the impact of the Monkees from the inside, and went on to say: "I can see the HOF (Hall of Fame) is a private enterprise. It seems to operate as a business, and the inductees are there by some action of the owners of the Enterprise. The inductees appear to be chosen at the owner's pleasure. This seems proper to me. It is their business in any case. It does not seem to me that the HOF carries a public mandate, nor should it be compelled to conform to one."[86] Various magazines and news outlets, such as Time,[87] NPR radio,[88] The Christian Science Monitor,[89] Goldmine magazine,[90][91] Yahoo Music[92] and MSNBC[93] have argued that the Monkees belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Dolly Parton Country singer-songwriter Dolly Parton was announced as a nominee for the 2022 Hall of Fame ballot in February 2022.[94] Parton requested to be removed from the ballot in March 2022, after the ballots had been sent to voters. In a statement, Parton wrote "Even though I am extremely flattered and grateful to be nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I don't feel that I have earned that right. I really do not want votes to be split because of me, so I must respectfully bow out."[95] The Rock Hall replied days later she would remain on the ballot, in part because the ballots for the 2022 class had already been sent to voters.[96] Although Parton had asked to be removed from the ballot because she did not think of herself as a rock artist, the Hall responded that "From its inception, rock and roll has had deep roots in rhythm & blues and country music. It is not defined by any one genre, rather a sound that moves youth culture. Dolly Parton's music impacted a generation of young fans and influenced countless artists that followed. Her nomination to be considered for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame followed the same process as all other artists who have been considered."[97] In April 2022, Parton told Morning Edition that she would accept her induction if she were selected.[98] Parton was announced as a 2022 inductee on May 4.[99] See also Rock music portal List of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees List of music museums List of 200 Definitive Albums in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) is an American institution founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer, music publisher/songwriter Abe Olman, and publisher/executive Howie Richmond to honor those whose work, represent, and maintain, the heritage and legacy of a spectrum of the most beloved English language songs from the world's popular music songbook. It not only celebrates these established songwriters, but is also involved in the development of new English language songwriting talent through workshops, showcases, and scholarships. There are many programs designed to teach and discover new English language songwriters. Nile Rodgers serves as the organization's chairman.[1] The Hall of Fame was formed in 1969, and in 2010, an exhibit was put on display online inside the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live in Los Angeles.[2] The Hall has no permanent place of residence, and because the awards are not televised, there would be no other digital recording of the event for posterity.[3] There are numerous examples of collaborating songwriters being inducted in unison, with each person being considered a separate entrant. The inaugural year featured 120 inductees, many of whom had a professional partnership, such as Rodgers and Hammerstein. Burt Bacharach and Hal David followed in 1972. Betty Comden and Adolph Green were selected in 1980, and Lieber and Stoller were inducted in 1985. John Lennon and Paul McCartney were inducted in 1987.[4][5] In the same year, Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Barry Mann, and Cynthia Weil were inducted into the SHOF. Motown's Holland-Dozier-Holland team were honored the following year. Elton John and Bernie Taupin were among those chosen in 1992, and the pop music group the Bee Gees had all three brothers inducted in 1994. In 1995, Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe as well as Gamble and Huff were inducted. John Denver was inducted in 1996. The Eagles' Glenn Frey and Don Henley were co-inductees in 2000. Queen was the first rock band to have all their band members inducted in 2003.[6][7] Five members of Earth, Wind & Fire were in the class of 2010. Four members of Kool and the Gang were honored in 2018. Through 2019, 461 individuals were inducted into the SHOF.[citation needed] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony was postponed until 2022.[8] The Songwriters Hall of Fame president and CEO, Linda Moran, chose to move the event so that a proper celebration could take place.[9] New 2020 inductees would include Mariah Carey, Chad Hugo, the Isley Brothers, Annie Lennox, Steve Miller, Rick Nowels, William “Mickey” Stevenson, Dave Stewart and Pharrell Williams. Additionally, Jody Gerson of Universal Music Group will be given the Abe Olman Publisher Award and Paul Williams is set to receive the Johnny Mercer Award.[10] On March 8, 2022, the ceremony was officially announced to take place on June 16, 2022, at its longtime location, the Marriott Marquis New York’s Times Square.[11] Abe Olman Publisher Award The Abe Olman Publisher Award is given to publishers who have had a substantial number of songs that have become world-renowned and who have helped to further the careers and success of many songwriters.[12] 1983 – Howard S. Richmond 1986 – Leonard Feist[13][14] 1987 – Lou Levy 1988 – Buddy Killen 1990 – Charles Koppelman & Martin Bandier 1991 – Frank Military & Jay Morgenstern 1992 – Bonnie Bourne 1993 – Berry Gordy 1994 – Buddy Morris 1995 – Al Gallico 1996 – Freddy Bienstock 1997 – Gene Goodman 1998 – Irwin Z. Robinson 1999 – Bill Lowery 2000 – Julian Aberbach 2001 – Ralph Peer 2002 – Edward P. Murphy 2003 – Nicholas Firth 2004 – Les Bider 2005 – Beebe Bourne 2006 – Allen Klein 2007 – Don Kirshner[15] 2008 – Milt Okun 2009 – Maxyne Lang 2010 – Keith Mardak 2012 – Lance Freed 2017 – Caroline Bienstock[16] 2022 – Jody Gerson[17][18] Board of Directors Award The Board of Directors Award is presented to an individual selected by the SHOF Board in recognition of his or her service to the songwriting community and the advancement of popular music.[19] 1986 – Jule Styne 1988 – Stanley Adams 1992 – Edward P. Murphy 1996 – Anna Sosenko & Oscar Brand 1997 – Thomas A. Dorsey Contemporary Icon Award The Contemporary Icon Award was established in 2015 to recognize songwriter-artists who attained an iconic status in pop culture.[20] 2015 – Lady Gaga[21] 2019 – Justin Timberlake[22] Global Ambassador Award In 2017, Pitbull was presented the Global Ambassador Award.[23] The award is given to an individual "whose music has true worldwide appeal, crossing genre, cultural and national boundaries".[24] Hal David Starlight Award Hal David smiling. Hal David at the ASCAP Awards in 2011 First presented in 2004 as the Starlight Award, the prize was renamed in 2006 as the Hal David Starlight Award in honor of the SHOF Chairman's longtime support of young songwriters.[25][26] Award recipients are gifted songwriters who are at an apex in their careers and are making a significant impact in the music industry via their original songs.[27] 2004 – Rob Thomas (Matchbox Twenty) 2005 – Alicia Keys 2006 – John Mayer 2007 – John Legend 2008 – John Rzeznik (Goo Goo Dolls) 2009 – Jason Mraz 2010 – Taylor Swift 2011 – Drake 2012 – Ne-Yo 2013 – Benny Blanco 2014 – Dan Reynolds (Imagine Dragons) 2015 – Nate Ruess (Fun) 2016 – Nick Jonas 2017 – Ed Sheeran 2018 – Sara Bareilles 2019 – Halsey 2022 - Lil Nas X Howie Richmond Hitmaker Award The Howie Richmond Hitmaker Award is given to musical artists who have had a substantial number of hit songs across a lengthy career, and who, according to the Hall of Fame, "recognize the importance of songs and their writers".[28][29] 1981 – Chuck Berry 1983 – Rosemary Clooney & Margaret Whiting 1990 – Whitney Houston 1991 – Barry Manilow 1995 – Michael Bolton 1996 – Gloria Estefan 1998 – Diana Ross 1999 – Natalie Cole 2000 – Johnny Mathis 2001 – Dionne Warwick 2002 – Garth Brooks 2003 – Clive Davis 2008 – Anne Murray 2009 – Tom Jones 2010 – Phil Ramone 2011 – Chaka Khan 2014 – Doug Morris 2016 – Seymour Stein 2018 – Lucian Grainge Johnny Mercer Award Johnny Mercer in front a piano, holding a pen. Johnny Mercer between 1946 and 1948 The Johnny Mercer Award is the highest honor bestowed by the event. It goes to writers already inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame for having established a history of outstanding creative works.[30][31][32] 1980 – Frank Sinatra[33] 1981 – Yip Harburg 1982 – Harold Arlen 1983 – Sammy Cahn 1985 – Alan Jay Lerner 1986 – Mitchell Parish 1987 – Jerry Herman 1990 – Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick 1991 – Betty Comden & Adolph Green 1992 – Burton Lane 1993 – Jule Styne 1994 – Irving Caesar 1995 – Cy Coleman 1996 – Burt Bacharach & Hal David 1997 – Alan and Marilyn Bergman 1998 – Paul Simon 1999 – Stephen Sondheim 2000 – Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller 2001 – Billy Joel 2002 – Carole King 2003 – Jimmy Webb 2004 – Stevie Wonder 2005 – Smokey Robinson 2006 – Kris Kristofferson 2007 – Dolly Parton 2008 – Paul Anka 2009 – Holland–Dozier–Holland 2010 – Phil Collins 2011 – Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil 2013 – Elton John & Bernie Taupin 2014 – Kenneth Gamble & Leon Huff 2015 – Van Morrison 2016 – Lionel Richie 2017 – Alan Menken 2018 – Neil Diamond 2019 – Carole Bayer Sager 2022 – Paul Williams[17][18] 2023 – Tim Rice Patron of the Arts The Patron of the Arts is presented to influential industry executives who are not primarily in the music business but are great supporters of the performing arts.[34] 1988 – Martin Segal 1989 – Roger Enrico 1990 – Edgar Bronfman Jr. 1991 – Edwin M. Cooperman 1992 – Jonathan Tisch 1993 – Michel Roux 1994 – Philip Dusenberry 1995 – Theodore J. Forstmann 1996 – Sumner Redstone 1997 – Dr. Samuel LeFrak 1998 – David Checketts 1999 – Robert Mondavi 2001 – Iris Cantor 2002 – Stephen Swid 2003 – Martin Bandier 2004 – Michael Goldstein 2005 – Henry Juszkiewicz Pioneer Award The Pioneer Award was established in 2012 to recognize the career of a historic creator of an extensive body of musical work that has been a major influence on generations of songwriters.[35][36] 2012 – Woody Guthrie 2013 – Berry Gordy Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award Sammy Cahn playing a piano. Sammy Cahn in 1950s Named for the former President of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award is given to individuals or teams who are recognized as having done a great deal to further the successes of songwriters.[37] 1980 – Ethel Merman 1981 – Tony Bennett 1982 – Dinah Shore 1983 – Willie Nelson 1984 – Benny Goodman 1985 – John Hammond 1987 – Jerry Wexler 1988 – Dick Clark 1989 – Quincy Jones 1990 – B.B. King 1991 – Gene Autry 1992 – Nat King Cole 1993 – Ray Charles 1994 – Lena Horne 1995 – Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gormé 1996 – Frankie Laine 1997 – Vic Damone 1998 – Berry Gordy 1999 – Kenny Rogers 2000 – Neil Diamond 2001 – Gloria & Emilio Estefan 2002 – Stevie Wonder 2003 – Patti LaBelle 2004 – Neil Sedaka 2005 – Les Paul 2006 – Peter, Paul & Mary 2012 – Bette Midler Scholarship awards John Legend performing. John Legend was honored in 2002 with the Abe Olman Scholarship Abe Olman Scholarship Abe Olman was an American songwriter and music publisher. He was later director of ASCAP, and a founder of the Songwriters Hall of Fame which, in 1983, named the Abe Olman Publisher Award. In his honor, the Abe Olman Scholarship is given out each year by his family in the interest of encouraging and supporting the careers of young songwriters.[38] The scholarship has been awarded since 1989 to individuals such as Matt Katz-Bohen, John Legend, and Bebe Rexha. Holly Prize Created in 2010, the Holly Prize is a tribute to the legacy of Buddy Holly, a SHOF inductee. The award recognizes and supports a new "all-in songwriter" — an exceptionally talented and inspired young musician/singer/songwriter whose work exhibits the qualities of Holly's music: true, great and original. The Holly Prize is administered and juried by the SongHall.[39] 2010 – Laura Warshauer 2011 – Kendra Morris 2012 – Emily King 2013 – Ben Howard 2014 – Jack Skuller 2015 – Jenny O. 2016 – Shun Ng 2017 – Katie Pruitt 2018 – Sylvan Esso[40] 2019 – Adia Victoria NYU Steinhardt Songwriting Scholar Award Announced in 2011, along with a collaboration between the Songwriters Hall of Fame and NYU Steinhardt's Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions, the NYU Steinhardt Songwriting Scholar Award is presented to a music composition student whose work holds great potential for success in the field, and embodies the art, craft, individuality and qualities of communication of the best songwriting.[41] Towering Performance Award The Towering Performance Award is given in recognition of one-of-a-kind performances by one-of-a-kind singers that have recorded outstanding and unforgettable interpretations of songs that have become iconic standards.[42] 2003 - Tony Bennett 2005 – Bill Medley 2009 – Andy Williams 2012 – Ben E. King Towering Song Award The Towering Song Award is given to creators of an individual song that has influenced the culture in a unique way over the years.[43][44][29] 1995 – "As Time Goes By" (written by Herman Hupfeld) 1996 – "Happy Birthday To You" (written by Patty Hill and Mildred J. Hill) 1997 – "How High The Moon" (lyrics by Nancy Hamilton and music by Morgan Lewis) 1998 – "The Christmas Song" (written by Robert Wells and Mel Tormé) 1999 – "Fly Me To The Moon" (written by Bart Howard) 2000 – "All of Me" (written by Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons) 2000 – "You Are My Sunshine" (recorded by Jimmie Davis) 2001 – "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" (lyrics by Beth Slater Whitson and music by Leo Friedman) 2002 – "You're a Grand Old Flag" (written by George M. Cohan) 2003 – "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" (written by George Cory and Douglass Cross)[45] 2004 – "What the World Needs Now is Love" (lyrics by Hal David and music by Burt Bacharach) 2005 – "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (written by Phil Spector, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil) 2006 – "When the Saints Are Marching In" (lyrics by Katharine Purvis and music by James Milton Black) 2007 - "Unchained Melody" (lyrics by Hy Zaret and music by Alex North) 2008 – "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (lyrics by Jack Norworth and music by Albert Von Tilzer) 2009 – "Moon River" (lyrics by Johnny Mercer and music by Henry Mancini) 2010 – "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (written by Paul Simon) 2011 – "It Was a Very Good Year" (written by Ervin Drake) 2012 – "Stand by Me" (written by Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) 2013 – "A Change Is Gonna Come" (written by Sam Cooke) 2014 – "Over The Rainbow" (lyrics by E.Y. Harburg and music by Harold Arlen) 2015 – "What a Wonderful World" (written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss) Visionary Leadership Award Created in 2011, The Visionary Leadership Award recognizes members of the Hall of Fame Board of Directors who have made a significant contribution in furthering the ongoing mission of the organization.[46][47] 2011 – Hal David 2014 – Del Bryant 2015 – John A. Lofrumento 2019 – Martin Bandier

PicClick Insights - Amazing Bob Seger 1958 7Th Grade Yearbook Ann Arbor Michigan Scarce PicClick Exclusive

  •  Popularity - 0 watchers, 0.0 new watchers per day, 10 days for sale on eBay. 0 sold, 1 available.
  •  Best Price -
  •  Seller - 807+ items sold. 0% negative feedback. Great seller with very good positive feedback and over 50 ratings.

People Also Loved PicClick Exclusive