7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7

where he received a number of honours for his music.

After Prokofiev’s death in 1953, he was the undisputed

head of Russian music. Since his own death his music has

been the subject of furious contention between those

upholding the Soviet view of the composer as a sincere

Communist and those who view him as a closet dissident.

Bill Monroe

(b. Sept. 13, 1911, Rosine, Ky., U.S.—d. Sept. 9, 1996, Springfield, near

Nashville, Tenn.)

C

reation of the bluegrass style of country music is

credited to American singer, songwriter, and mando-

lin player William (“Bill”) Smith Monroe.

The youngest of eight children of a Kentucky farmer

and entrepreneur, Monroe was exposed early to traditional

folk music by his mother. Another important early musical

influence on the young Monroe was Arnold Schultz, a local

African American miner who also was an accomplished

fiddler and guitarist and who played both blues and

country music. Monroe began playing the mandolin pro-

fessionally in 1927 in a band led by his older brothers Birch

and Charlie. In 1930 they moved to Indiana, and in 1932

they joined a barn-dance touring show; their reputation

grew, but, because Birch did not like to travel, Bill and

Charlie maintained the Monroe Brothers as a duo, touring

widely from Nebraska to South Carolina. In 1936 they

made their first recordings on the RCA Victor label,

recording 60 songs for Victor over the next two years. In

1938 Bill and Charlie decided to form separate bands. Bill’s

second band, the Blue Grass Boys (his first, called the

Kentuckians, played together for only three months),

auditioned for the Grand Ole Opry on radio station WSM

in Nashville, Tenn., and became regular performers on

that program in 1939.