One of the founding fathers of rock & roll, New Orleans singer and songwriter Roy Brown made history in 1947 with “Good Rockin' Tonight,” ostensibly a jump-blues tune, but ultimately a seminal building block for '50s rock. Brown had a great run from the late '40s to the mid '50s on the DeLuxe and King labels. Brown never stopped recording and performing, working with everyone from Willie Mitchell to Johnny Otis on a variety of labels over the years, and was enjoying a revival of interest in his music when he died in 1981.