Rock music of Canada the 1920s, rock and roll did not acquire its name until the 1950s. "Rock"' or its forerunners electric blues (Chicago blues) and rhythm and blues (Jump blues) was first heard in the late 1940s by Canadians who were living close enough to the American border to tune into American radio station broadcasts. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio, disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music for a multi-racial audience, and is credited with first using the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the musical sound of the Doo-wop vocal groups and the rockabilly singers who emerged in the 1950s.
Rock and Roll Is Dead Rock and Roll Is Dead "Rock and Roll Is Dead" is the first single released from the 1995 Lenny Kravitz album "Circus". It reached the top 20 in Canada, Finland, New Zealand, and Spain, but it underperformed in the United States, peaking at number 75 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. "Rock and Roll Is Dead" is an uptempo rock song. Kravitz on the meaning of "Rock and Roll Is Dead": The same year that "Rock and Roll Is Dead" was released, Prince released a B-side called "Rock 'N' Roll Is Alive (And It Lives in Minneapolis)" for the single "Gold"