Music of Florida
The music of Florida has diverse influences, with roots in rock, jazz, blues, country, and Latin music. Cities such as Tampa, Gainesville, Orlando, and Miami developed influential rock, punk, and metal scenes in the 1970s–2000s. Miami in particular has a rich tradition of Latin and Caribbean music, which has influenced mainstream pop and hip hop in the 2000s and 2010s.
Indigenous music
Blues
artists from Florida include Piedmont blues singer and guitarist Gabriel Brown and saxophonist and blues shouter Buster Bennett. Some blues songs from the early 20th century reference geographic locations in Florida, including "Florida Blues" by W. C. Handy, "Jacksonville Blues", "Miami Blues", "Miami Beach Blues", "Swanee Blues", and "Pensacola Blues".Jazz
drummer Robert Thomas, Jr. and swing drummer Panama Francis were born in Miami. Saxophonist Archie Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale. Trumpeter Fats Navarro was born in Key West. Bassist, cellist, and composer Sam Jones was born in Jacksonville. Alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley and his brother, the cornet and trumpet player Nat Adderley, of Tampa, and tenor saxophonist Junior Cook of Pensacola were active in the hard bop era. Multi-instrumentalist and composer Gigi Gryce and blues and jazz singer and pianist Ida Goodson were also born in Pensacola. Pianist and singer Billie Pierce, of the Goodson Sisters, was born in Marianna. Trombonist Buster Cooper was born in St. Petersburg. Saxophonist Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis was born in Bradenton. Doug Carn of St. Augustine recorded several albums for Black Jazz Records in the early 1970s.Trumpeter Pete Minger, a South Carolina native, moved to Florida where he played with drummer William Peeples among others, and studied music at the University of Miami after working with Count Basie in the 1970s. Cuban jazz trumpeter, pianist, and composer Arturo Sandoval has been active in Miami since 1990.
Dean Dewberry, a Jazz Hall of Fame concert pianist, was born and raised in St. Petersburg. He played in local night clubs with his wife, Penny Parker Dewberry, as well as with jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington and Wild Bill Davidson. Later, after becoming Christians, both he and his wife created "Jazz For Jesus" and spent the rest of their working years uplifting inmates throughout the southeast; they did normal and home co-ministry with their friends Horace and Marilyn Ellsworth throughout Florida and southern Georgia.
Country
Florida is the home of several notable country musicians and musical acts. Johnny Tillotson is from Jacksonville. Country singer Mel Tillis was born in Darby, a small rural community in Pasco County. His daughter Pam Tillis, also a country music star, was born in nearby Plant City. Slim Whitman was born in Tampa and once played minor-league baseball for the Plant City Berries.The Bellamy Brothers, a duet act that hit number one on the country charts several times before reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with their cross-over hit "Let Your Love Flow", also hail from Darby. Their close friend Bobby Braddock, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame with multiple number ones to his credit, was born in Lakeland, in Polk County, and grew up in nearby Auburndale.
Kent Lavoie, better known by his stage name Lobo, hit number 5 on the Billboard Pop chart in 1971 with the soft rock song "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo". He was born in Tallahassee and grew up in Winter Haven. While attending the University of South Florida, Lavoie formed a band called The Rumors with Jim Stafford and Gram Parsons.
Gram Parsons was born in Winter Haven and attended exclusive The Bolles School in Jacksonville. He had a central role in the rock-and-roll scene of the 1960s, being friends or collaborating on projects with notables like Mick Jagger, Linda Ronstadt, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and The Kingston Trio. He tried to rescue Michelle Phillips by helicopter from the mayhem at the Altamont Music Festival in 1969. One of his songs is included in Gimme Shelter, a documentary about the events at Altamont. Parsons was a member of The Byrds and was also part of The Flying Burrito Brothers. Later, with some friends from Harvard University, he formed a folk/country band named International Submarine Band. He later toured extensively with Emmylou Harris before his death at the age of 26.
Jim Stafford, born in Eloise, grew up in Winter Haven and was a prominent country performer in the 1970s. He had his own television show, The Jim Stafford Show, in 1975, as well as co-hosting Those Amazing Animals with Burgess Meredith and Priscilla Presley and making regular guest appearances on The Tonight Show and other programs. Jake Owen had a number 4 album on the Billboard 200 in 2016.
Rock
Florida has been a center for rock music and its numerous subgenres since the 1960s. Cities such as Tampa, Jacksonville, and Gainesville in particular developed active punk rock and metal scenes starting in the 1970s and 1980s.Florida musicians inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame include The Allman Brothers Band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Southern rock
In the 1970s and early 1980s, Jacksonville saw an active music recording scene with Southern rock bands such as Molly Hatchet, The Allman Brothers Band, 38 Special, Outlaws, Blackfoot, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. The Bellamy Brothers also recorded their style of country music in the mid to late 1970s.Mainstream rock
and Gary U.S. Bonds were born in Florida. In the 1960s, Florida rock band The Outlaws was originated in Tampa; The Royal Guardsmen from Ocala; and the Classics IV from Jacksonville. Tropical country singer Bertie Higgins was inducted into the Florida Music Hall of Fame in 2016.Jim Morrison of The Doors was born in Melbourne, spent part of his childhood in Clearwater, and attended Florida State University for a few years.
Guitarist Tom Petty was born in and grew up in Gainesville. Most of the members of the three bands he recorded with—The Epics, The Heartbreakers, and Mudcrutch—were also from Florida, mainly from in and around Gainesville and northern Florida. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers had ten number one songs on the Mainstream Rock chart. Bands of the mid-to late-1990s with strong links to Florida include Tabitha's Secret from Orlando, the rock band Creed from Tallahassee, and Sister Hazel from Gainesville. The rock band, The Freddy Mitchell Euphoria released, "Above and Below", "Fallen Moons" and "Animator". Alter Bridge from Orlando had a number 5 album on the Billboard 200 with One Day Remains.
Alternative rock
and The Tempests are from Tampa. Chris Carrabba and his band, Dashboard Confessional, is usually associated with the new wave of popular alternative music. Originating from Boca Raton, the band had two number 2 albums on the Billboard 200 in 2003 and 2006. Chris Carrabba graduated from Florida Atlantic University in Boca. His former band, Further Seems Forever, is also a popular indie rock band from Pompano Beach.The band Saigon Kick from Coral Springs had a top 12 Billboard hit with "Love Is on the Way". Post-grunge band Seven Mary Three formed in Orlando.
The bands Shinedown, Cold, and Yellowcard formed in Jacksonville. Shinedown had a number 4 album on the Billboard 200 with Amaryllis and twelve number one songs on the Mainstream Rock Chart in the 2000s and 2010s, including "Second Chance" and "Sound of Madness".
Christian alternative band Tenth Avenue North is based out of West Palm Beach. Christian rock band Casting Crowns formed in Daytona Beach. Jani Lane, the original lead vocalist for Warrant, grew up in Winter Park; he later opened a club in downtown Orlando named Jani Lane's Sunset Strip. Todd LaTorre, the current vocalist for Queensrÿche, grew up in Tampa Bay; he also was the frontman of Crimson Glory.The American emo band Pool Kids formed in Tallahassee, Florida, in 2017. Their debut album was Music to Practice Safe Sex To.
Rock recording industry
In the 1960s, Tampa was active in the music recording industry. Mercy recorded a Jack Sigler, Jr. original entitled "Love " at the old Charles Fuller Studio on MacDill Avenue in Tampa. The Royal Guardsmen recorded "Snoopy vs. The Red Baron" at this same studio. Many bands used Charles Fuller Studios for their 45 records. The Tropics, a Tampa/St. Petersburg-based band, recorded and released "I Want More" on the Knight label and "Time" on Columbia Records. The Tempests, a St. Petersburg-based band, recorded and released "I Want You Only" and "I Want You To Know" on the Fuller label.Criteria Studios, a recording studio in Miami, produced Rumours by Fleetwood Mac and Hotel California by The Eagles.
Punk rock
Active punk rock scenes flourished in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area in the late 1970s, including bands such as The Straight Jackets, The Shades, the Jackers, Just Boys, The Art Holes, The Stick Figures, A New Personality, and the Veal Rifles.Prior to moving to Los Angeles, Exene Cervenka lived in St. Petersburg and other locations in Central Florida during her teenage years.
Hardcore punk gained a widespread following, originating from cities like Gainesville, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Tampa. One of the first bands in this style is believed to be Roach Motel of Gainesville; however, The Eat, from Hialeah, formed around 1978–79. Miami also was home to one of the first American punk bands to release an indie single: "Silver Screen" by Critical Mass, which is still in demand by collectors today. Rat Cafeteria, U-Boats ; Sector 4, Hated Youth, and Paisley Death Camp ; No Fraud ; F ; Morbid Opera ; and Crucial Truth also gained an audience and some had songs compiled on the album We Can't Help It If We're From Florida.
In the 1980s, hardcore bands from Orlando included Dissent, Damage, Zyklon-B, The Bully Boys, Florida's Unwanted Children, Sewer Side Rouges, Declared Ungovernable, Contradiction, The Damn Maniacs, and Genitorturers. Mid-1980s-era band Black Label featured John Reece as well as Rusty Penrose and John Stalzer on drums. Black Label was the second band to ever play at the Orlando concert venue Electric Avenue. The band's inaugural show brought in 981 people, a feat that would never again be accomplished by any local band at that venue. Black Label released one single, "Rootbeer For Everyone", a song that was in heavy rotation on Rollins College radio station WPRK, which was hosted at the time by future Genitorturers' front woman Jennifer Zimmerman.
Gainesville and Jacksonville had very active punk scenes in the 1990s and 2000s. Less Than Jake, Against Me!, and Hot Water Music are from Gainesville. The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Inspection 12, The Softer Side, and Evergreen Terrace are from Jacksonville. Mayday Parade and Stages & Stereos are from Tallahassee.
Other hardcore, post-hardcore, and metalcore bands from Florida include: Against All Authority, Anberlin "Feel Good Drag", Underoath, The Almost, Combatwoundedveteran, Poison the Well, Assholeparade, A Day to Remember, New Found Glory, Fake Problems, and Shai Hulud. The bands Sleeping With Sirens and There for Tomorrow are from Orlando. The pop punk band We the Kings is from the Sarasota area.