THE ORIGINALS OF ROCK AND ROLL

These sketches are a work of love by the artist. Rock and roll music and the men and women that made it happen originally were the source of inspiration for this artist in the development of my artistic talents.

Elvis Presley's recording of "Heartbreak Hotel" was the eerie sound that drew me into my adolescence. My focus fixed, I pressed on into my teenage years with a zest and purpose that has not yet diffused.

In retrospect, the best that rock had to offer segued out of style as the English invasion matured and rock music began to divide into many camps, most of which were drug-inspired. The ROLL went out of ROCK and finally the melody lingers as nostalgia, a memory being kept alive by oldies stations, commercials and rock historians.

This gallery of rock and rollers is offered to those who value the records and music of the Fifties. The subjects are the artists, the rockers that changed the face of music and the art of the times as reflected in record label designs, the fashions, the publicity pages. The drawings are arranged in a loosely chronological fashion that reflects a sense of the story of rock and roll.

Bill Fergusson III 1944 -1995