Biography

Inductee: Paul Ackerman (music journalist; born February 1908, died December 31, 1977) For three decades, from 1943 to 1973, Paul Ackerman served as music editor of Billboard magazine. His tenure in this post coincided with the birth of rock and roll. Among the first journalists to champion this new music form, he recognized in it the roots of earlier musical traditions. A longtime fan of rural blues and country idioms, and an academic scholar versed in European and American civilization, he wrote and reported on popular music of all types. “Music is the most important of our arts,” he proclaimed, ...