Here are this year's inductees into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will be held Sept. 20.
Hamp Swain
You may not know his name, but the influential Hamp Swain helped launch the careers of James Brown, Little Richard and Otis Redding. That alone would be reason enough to put him in the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Before becoming a pioneering DJ, Swain (known as "King Bee") was a musician whose band once included a young Little Richard and as a DJ at Macon's WIBB, he's credited as the first to play Brown's "Please Please Please."
Dottie Rambo
One of Christian music's most beloved and prolific figures, Rambo spent a good portion of the '80s living and working in Stone Mountain. After health issues and personal problems derailed her career in the '90s, the Kentucky native returned to music and ministry full-time in the new millennium. The 74-year-old singer, songwriter and performer had been working on a new album before a bus accident in Missouri took her life in May 2008. One of Rambo's best-known songs, "I Go to the Rock," was recorded by Whitney Houston and the Georgia Mass Choir for the film "The Preacher's Wife."
Keith Sweat
New York-bron R&B singer, songwriter and producer scored big with his first album, "Make It Last Forvere," back in 1987. He became one of the biggest starts on the new jack swing era, teaming up with Gerald Levert and Johnny Gill in LSG. In the mid-'90s, he moved to Atlanta, eventually launching his own syndicated radio show, the Sweat Hotel, which airs on more than 30 stations, including Macon's WRBV (V-101.7 FM) and WAGH (Magic 101.3 FM) in Columbus. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, he's sold more than 13 million albums, putting him just ahead of Cher, Snoop Dogg and fellow inductee Ludacris.
Ludacris
He's rap royalty around these parts and he's been talking up the ATL since he was a DJ at Hot 97.5 back in the '90s. He was known as Chris Lova Lova back then, but he would go on to become a multi-million selling artist, an actor in television and film (including Oscar winner "Crash" and Guy Ritchie's upcoming "RocknRolla") and a restauranteur. His restaurant, Straits on Juniper Street in Atlanta, received a three-star review from the AJC's Meridith Ford. Christopher Brian Bridges, Ludacris's given name, is a modern-day Renaissance man.
Fred and Dinah Gretsch
This year marks the 125th anniversary of Gretsch guitars, so it seems like a good time to honor the folks who head the company. Gretsch began in 1883 with German immigrant Friedrich Gretsch in Brooklyn, N.Y. After a successful run under Friedrich's descendants, the company was sold to Baldwin in the late '60s. In the mid-'80s, Fred Gretsch III, great-grandson of the company's founder, bought the company back and moved operations to Savannah, where it remains. Fred and wife Dinah, the company's chief financial officer, were major sponsors of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame even before it opened and are fervent supporters of musical education initiatives.
Widespread Panic
One of the great independent success stories in the music business, Athens' jam-rock kings have a large and fiercely loyal following. Earlier this year, the band marked another milestone. In June, Panic played its 32nd sold-out gig at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado and has now sold more tickets than any other performer at that famed venue. The guys regularly do that kind of thing in their own back yard at Philips Arena, too. And these road warriors have achieved all of their success with very little help from radio and retail.
