Most influential/important non-musician...

[damnhippie]

Leo Fender.

didn't play a note, produced and marketed the first truly mass produced electric guitars and basses.

*awaits tidal wave of apathy from techno fans*

 

[twistedAM]

But Alexis Korner was a musician so surely he doesn't count?


How about Ahmet Ertegun?

Beat me to it.

Also, after his shite singing career was over, Roy Acuff was a contender.

Of people this century, you might have to say Steve Jobs.

 

[BigTom]

albert hoffman and alexander shulgin both have a shout for their parts in lsd and mdma which have definately had strong influences on music.
but for me personally john peel for sure. there's some US radio dj whose name I can't remember who is often mentioned in the same way as john peel as being very influential in bringing new bands to light.. west coast dj I think.

 

[Magic Sam]

Alan Freed?

 

[twistedAM]

Alan Freed?

He was from Cleveland, OH and was supposedly the radio jock that popularised the phrase rock'n'roll

 

[ringo]

For reggae (because I don't know about anything else) it would be Steve Barrow and Penny Reel. Barrow for his incredible compilations for Trojan and then Blood & Fire, and Jah Reel for his writing.

 

[danny la rouge]

John Peel was secretly an avid tambourine player.

And played mandolin on Maggie May.

 

[ohmyliver]

Leo Fender.

didn't play a note, produced and marketed the first truly mass produced electric guitars and basses.

*awaits tidal wave of apathy from techno fans*

yeah, him and Les Paul. Similarly Elisha Gray and Robert Moog also are fairly important...

 

[damnhippie]

yeah, him and Les Paul. Similarly Elisha Gray and Robert Moog also are fairly important...

without Robrt Moog there'd be no Hawkwind

what did Elisha Gray do, by the way?

 

[Boycey]

Thomas Edison?

nikola tesla actually

albert hoffman and alexander shulgin both have a shout for their parts in lsd and mdma which have definately had strong influences on music.

absofuckinglutely!

although both of them regretted their influence on recreational drug habit.

 

[Y_I_Otter]

It's gotta be John Hammond, head of A&R for Columbia Records for several decades. He discovered, or made popular, a vast list of performers, including: Benny Goodman, Charlie Christian, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Teddy Wilson, Big Joe Turner, Pete Seeger, Babatunde Olatunji, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Bob Dylan, Freddie Green, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, Asha Puthli and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

 

[ohmyliver]

without Robrt Moog there'd be no Hawkwind

what did Elisha Gray do, by the way?

invented the worlds first synth in the late 19th century

"At the church, on December 29, 1874, Gray gave the first public demonstration of his invention for transmitting musical tones and transmitted "familiar melodies through telegraph wire" according to a newspaper announcement. This was the first electric music synthesizer using self vibrating electromagnetic circuits that were single-note oscillators operated by a two-octave piano keyboard. The "Musical Telegraph" used steel reeds whose oscillations were created by electromagnets and transmitted over a telegraph wire. Gray also built a simple loudspeaker in later models consisting of a vibrating diaphragm in a magnetic field to make the oscillator tones audible and louder at the receiving end."
(from wiki)

 

[dodgepot]

Sam Phillips

bums, beaten to it. and alan freed, to.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Richey Manic

 

[damnhippie]

invented the worlds first synth in the late 19th century

"At the church, on December 29, 1874, Gray gave the first public demonstration of his invention for transmitting musical tones and transmitted "familiar melodies through telegraph wire" according to a newspaper announcement. This was the first electric music synthesizer using self vibrating electromagnetic circuits that were single-note oscillators operated by a two-octave piano keyboard. The "Musical Telegraph" used steel reeds whose oscillations were created by electromagnets and transmitted over a telegraph wire. Gray also built a simple loudspeaker in later models consisting of a vibrating diaphragm in a magnetic field to make the oscillator tones audible and louder at the receiving end."
(from wiki)

 

[Clint Iguana]

And played mandolin on Maggie May.

miming though i do believe (?)

 

[Clint Iguana]

Thomas Edison.... oops, someone else has done this

 

[yardbird]

Harold Pendleton.



Vince Power my arse !!

 

[BlackArab]

DJ Kool Herc for giving birth to Hip-Hop.

The company Merck for developing MDMA.

The Roland Corp for introducing the TR-808.

 

[stavros]

bez

He's listed as playing percussion on the Mondays' albums.

 

[plasticene]

Margaret Thatcher

 

[danny la rouge]

miming though i do believe (?)