Alan Freed, a Cleveland disc jockey, is credited with coining the term "rock and roll" to describe the uptempo black R&B music he played on the radio as early as 1951. Freed is referred to as the "father of rock and roll" due to his promotion of this style of music and his introduction of the phrase "rock and roll." Freed also put together the Moondog Coronation Ball, a Cleveland concert that is now considered the first-ever rock and roll concert. His career was destroyed by the payola scandal that hit the broadcasting industry in the early 1960s.
