Roger McGuinn

Born in Chicago, Roger McGuinn began his professional musical career at age seventeen when the Limelighters drafted him after an evening of jamming with them at the Gate of Horn. They invited him to record on their first RCA album in Los Angeles. The Chad Mitchell Trio heard about his guitar and banjo talent and hired him as an accompanist. He toured with them for two years before Bobby Darin saw him playing and offered him a place in his show. After touring with singer Bobby Darin, McGuinn moved to New York where he worked in the fabled Brill Building, as a song writer. It was at the Brill Building where he first heard the Beatles and decided to add their rock beat to traditional folk songs. An invitation to open for Hoyt Axton at the Los Angeles club, The Troubadour, lead to the meeting with Gene Clark. The rest of the story is the history of the Byrds. The Byrds have been given credit for being in the forefront of Folk Rock, Psychedelic Rock and the ground breaking genre of Country Rock. McGuinn is a three time Grammy nominee and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with the Byrds.