Paul Ackerman (February 18, 1908 – December 31, 1977) was an influential music journalist. Ackerman was born in

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

. From 1943 to 1973 he was the music editor of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' magazine. He wrote the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

to Harry Belafonte's 1958 album of folk ballads, '' Love Is a Gentle Thing''.

Personal life

Ackerman enjoyed " rural blues and country idioms".

Education

He obtained his degree from the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III a ...

and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He later received his master's degree in English.

Career

Ackerman worked as music editor for Billboard magazine from 1943–1973. He worked for Billboard magazine for a total of 47 years. He was among the first journalists to write on the newly created

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

genre. He was a scholar knowledgeable in European and American civilization. His work focused on

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

of all genres.

Awards and honors

Ackerman received a number of awards as a musical journalist and scholar. In 1995, he was inducted into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...

, in the non-performer category.

Bibliography

* Stambler, Irwin, & Grelun Landon (1969)
The Encyclopedia of Folk, Country & Western Music, 1st ed., p. 3-4
', (no ISBN) Amazon ASIN: B000RC4F16, LC:
67-10659
' . * Shemel, Sidney and M. William Krasilovsky, editor: Paul Ackerman (1964), '' This Business of Music"', (no ISBN) Amazon ASIN: B002KF9MLQ, LC:
64-25859
' .

External links

References

1908 births 1977 deaths 20th-century American non-fiction writers American magazine editors Journalists from New York City {{US-journalist-1900s-stub