Bill Monroe

Country music singer and mandolin player, born near Rosine, Kentucky, USA. He played with his uncle, Pen Vandiver, and other local musicians before moving to Chicago (1929). In 1932 he joined an exhibition square-dance team sponsored by radio station WLS, and during 1934–8 he and his brother Charlie Monroe gained national popularity as hillbilly radio singers. In 1938 he formed the Blue Grass Boys, and the following year he joined the Grand Ole Opry. Throughout the 1940s–50s, he made many hit recordings of instrumentals, and of religious and secular songs. His innovative string-band style became known as bluegrass music in the mid-1950s, and in the 1960s he was a central figure in the establishment of bluegrass festivals nationwide. Among his songs, ‘Uncle Pen’ is a country music classic, and ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky’ was recorded by Elvis Presley for his first release in 1954. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame (1970) and he was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts (1981).

Bill Monroe (born William Smith Monroe, September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) developed the style of country music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for his home state of Kentucky. He is often referred to as "the father of bluegrass."

Monroe was born in Rosine, Kentucky. Thirty years later, Monroe wrote a song ("Uncle Pen") in honor of him and the music.

Monroe's professional career began in the 1930s when he and his older brothers, Birch and Charlie, began performing as a trio, the Monroe Brothers, at a radio station in South Bend, Indiana near Hammond, Indiana where they worked in an oil refinery. Birch left the music scene early on in the Monroes' career, and the younger two brothers continued to perform as the Monroe Brothers. In 1939, after the brothers parted ways, Monroe formed the first edition of the Blue Grass Boys, and in October of the same year became a regular on the Grand Ole Opry.

As a mandolin player, Monroe brought a virtuosity previously unknown in country music to his instrument.

Monroe quickly replaced them and within a few years had formed what many consider the classic "High Lonesome" version of the Blue Grass Boys, featuring the cutting lead singing and powerful rhythm guitar of Jimmy Martin, the banjo of Rudy Lyle (replacing the fuller sound of Earl Scruggs), and dynamic fiddlers such as Merle "Red" Taylor and Charlie Cline. This band recorded songs such as "On and On", "Memories of Mother and Dad" and "Uncle Pen", as well as instrumentals such as "Bluegrass Ramble" and the defining piece of Bill Monroe's mandolin technique, "Rawhide".

Another defining version of the Blue Grass Boys was the so-called "Northern" band of the mid-1960's, featuring musicians not of southern rural origin, including Bill Keith and later Lamar Grier on banjo, Peter Rowan as guitarist and lead singer, and Richard Greene as the fiddler.

Bill Monroe was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970, the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor as an inaugural inductee in 1991, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as an "early influence") in 1997.

In 2003, CMT had Bill Monroe ranked #16 on CMT 40 Greatest Men of Country Music.