Earl Eugene Scruggs (January 6, 1924 – March 28, 2012) was an American musician noted for perfecting and popularizing a three-finger banjo-picking style (now called "Scruggs style") that is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music.Although other musicians had played in three-finger style before him, Scruggs shot to prominence when he was hired by Bill Monroe to fill the banjo slot in his group, The Blue Grass Boys. He later reached a mainstream audience through his performance of "The Ballad of Jed Clampett", the theme for the network television hit The Beverly Hillbillies, in the early 1960s.
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance, Grammy Hall of Fame, Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals, Academy of Country Music Awards Cliffie Stone Icon Award
Music Groups
Foggy Mountain Boys, Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys
Nominations
Academy of Country Music Award for Vocal Event of the Year, Country Music Association Award for Vocal Event of the Year
Movies
The Three Pickers, Return of the Beverly Hillbillies, The Nashville Sound, All Star Bluegrass Celebration, Bluegrass: Country Soul, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Farther Along, Merlefest Live: 15th Anniversary Jam, Preachin', Prayin', Singin' With Charlie Daniels and Friends: ...
TV Shows
American Music Shop, Flatt & Scruggs TV Show
Star Sign
Capricorn
#
Fact
1
Inaugural inductee into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame (1991).
2
Received an honorary degree from Berklee College of Music on March 15, 2005.
3
Following his death, he was interred at Spring Hill Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee.
4
Earl invented what was to become known as "Scruggs tuners" allowing a quick dropping of the two middle strings from standard to "D" tuning. Originally, they were an extra pair of tuning pegs with cams pushing against the strings with adjustable set screws. This required drilling two extra holes in the peg head. Working with fellow banjo player Bill Kieth they were refined to geared units that simply replaced the two middle tuning pegs. Earl sometimes raised and lowered the strings as he picked them most notably in "Flint Hill Special" and "Earl's Breakdown".
5
He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 13, 2003.
6
Is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's most imitated musician. "Scruggs Style" is synonymous with picking a banjo with three fingers, and countless musicians worldwide list him as their primary influence.
7
He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington, D.C (1992).
8
Had two sons with Louise Scruggs: Gary Scruggs and Randy Scruggs. They also had a third son, Steve, who killed his wife, Elizabeth, with a pistol, then himself on September 23, 1992. He was their youngest child.
9
His wife, Louise Scruggs, who guided her husband's career for more than a half century, was the first female to become an artist booking agent in Nashville.
10
As a member of Flatt & Scruggs, inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame (1985).
$18 Million
