Leo Nocentelli (The Meters)

As guitarist for the impossibly funky New Orleans band the Meters, Leo Nocentelli wrote an array of indelible riffs and songs; you’ve likely heard “Cissy Strut” in movies, TV promos and hip-hop samples, and “People Say,” from the great 1974 album Rejuvenation, is one of many other classics. He also played on high-profile releases as a teenage session musician in New Orleans and later, with and without the Meters, on songs by Robert Palmer, Dr. John, Labelle (including “Lady Marmalade”) and Peter Gabriel. And while the Meters were on hiatus in 1971, Nocentelli wrote and recorded a James Taylor-inspired singer-songwriter album, Another Side, that sat for 50 years before a miraculous resolution. It's a helluva story.