Jan. 20, 1965 - Alan Freed (pictured in 1954), 43, self-proclaimed father of rock ’n’ roll and a central figure in the disc jockey payola scandal four years ago, died today in the Desert Hospital in Palm Springs, Calif. The cause of death was uremia and cirrhosis brought on by alcoholism.
Freed was said to have coined the term rock ’n’ roll in 1952 to describe the rhythm and blues music made the rage by Negro artists. He was a disc jockey in Cleveland at that time, and he gained immense popularity as that brand of music captured the youth of the nation during the 1950s.
His undisputed reign as the king of rock ’n’ roll put him in the $100,000-a-year income bracket, but the bubble burst when disc jockeys were accused of taking payoffs for records they promoted on their programs.
Freed was fired from WABC radio and WNEW-TV, where he did the “Big Beat” show, at the end of 1959 when he refused to sign a statement that he never received payola. He was indicted a few months later in New York City on 25 counts of commercial bribery. He was accused of having accepted $30,650 from seven recording firms to plug their records on his shows. Freed eventually pleaded guilty to two of the counts and was given a $300 fine and a six-month suspended sentence.
He was also indicted last March by a federal grand jury in Manhattan on charges of evading more than $37,000 in income taxes, much of it allegedly from payola. The indictment covered the years 1957, 1958, and 1959.
Freed is survived by his widow Inga — his third wife — two daughters, two sons, and one grandchild. He will be cremated in Palm Springs. The ashes will be flown to New York City for burial.

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