Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist Scotty Moore dies at 84
Scotty Moore, the longtime guitarist for Elvis Presley and one of Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists, died Tuesday at his home in Nashville. He was 84, and had been in poor health.
Moore started playing the guitar at age 8, and after moving to Memphis in the 1950s, was asked by Sam Phillips of Sun Records to play on Presley's first single, "That's All Right (Mama)." Presley was just a teenager at the time, and after the single was successful, Moore, bassist Bill Black, and drummer D.J. Fontana founded the Blue Moon Boys, a band that backed Presley on such hits as "Heartbreak Hotel," "Hound Dog," "Blue Suede Shoes," and "Jailhouse Rock." The band also appeared in four of Presley's movies — Jailhouse Rock, Loving You, King Creole, and G.I. Blues.
Moore worked with several other musicians, including Ringo Starr, Ronnie Wood, Jeff Beck, and Keith Richards. Richards once said: "When I heard 'Heartbreak Hotel,' I knew what I wanted to do in life. It was as plain as day. All I wanted to do in the world was to be able to play and sound like that. Everyone else wanted to be Elvis; I wanted to be Scotty." In 2000, Moore was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with other sidemen who "spent their careers out of the spotlight."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
North Carolina Supreme Court risks undermining its legitimacy
Under the radar A contentious legal battle over whether to seat one of its own members threatens not only the future of the court's ideological balance, but its role in the public sphere
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Sudoku hard: January 14, 2025
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Crossword: January 14, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Honda and Nissan in merger talks
Speed Read The companies are currently Japan's second and third-biggest automakers, respectively
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Taylor Swift wraps up record-shattering Eras tour
Speed Read The pop star finally ended her long-running tour in Vancouver, Canada
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Drake claims illegal boosting, defamation
Speed Read The rapper accused Universal Music of boosting Kendrick Lamar's diss track and said UMG allowed him to be falsely accused of pedophilia
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
'Wicked' and 'Gladiator II' ignite holiday box office
Speed Read The combination of the two movies revitalized a struggling box office
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Jussie Smollet conviction overturned on appeal
Speed Read The Illinois Supreme Court overturned the actor's conviction on charges of staging a racist and homophobic attack against himself in 2019
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Quincy Jones, music icon, is dead at 91
Speed Read The legendary producer is perhaps best known as the architect behind Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Kris Kristofferson, singer-songwriter, is dead at 88
Speed Read The musician wrote hit songs for Janis Joplin and Johnny Cash before starring in Hollywood movies
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Shannen Doherty, star of '90210,' dies at 53
Speed Read The 'Charmed' actress was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published