Description

From Director Kenny Vance

“THIS IS WHERE IT ALL STARTED”

On April 8, 1955, I was let in on the biggest secret in the history of music. I was thirteen years old, sitting on the balcony of the glittering Brooklyn Paramount Theater, part of a mob of thousands of teenagers. In front of our very eyes appeared Alan Freed, the famous DJ whose voice I had only heard on the radio, introducing a lineup of musicians who would become my heroes for life: The Teenagers, with 13-year-old Frankie Lymon, started it all with the first music by kids for us kids. Then came the parade of immortals: Bo Diddley, the Moonglows, the Penguins, Fats Domino and Buddy Holly. And then a girl group, the Chantels, stepped on stage and Arlene Smith blew the roof off with a voice that belied her teenage years. I sat there buzzing as if I were connected to the electric third rail of the Brooklyn Subway, thinking: What is this?

Today, looking back on those formative days of Fifties Rock & Roll, I often feel like it was all a dream. Although the truth I experienced, both on and off stage, lives within me, so much has slipped into the mists of time. Many have their perspectives, but I made this film to shine a light on the true stories of the young geniuses and their music that created the basis of so much of our music and culture, from rock to hip hop, and beyond. And to help restore them to their proper and deserving place.

It’s my hope that you’ll join me as they reclaim their rightful place, where their music lives on forever.

“Rock ‘n’ roll is America’s music. Preserving and telling the stories of these artists, especially those that aren’t widely known, is so important to our understanding of how our music evolved to where it is today. I commend Kenny Vance and his mission to shine a light on these musicians and their place in American music history.”

Nolen Bivens, President and CEO, Americans for the Arts

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