Overview
Released in Australia on 6 April 1981 as Endeavour END 015, Rock-N-Roll Heaven brought together 19 recordings associated with performers who had died. Endeavour was the TV marketing arm of 7 Records, operating from Brookvale, NSW. The selection extended beyond rock ’n’ roll to include soul, pop and country, placing Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent alongside Sam Cooke, Patsy Cline and Minnie Riperton.
The album opens with 'Ain’t She Sweet', credited solely to John Lennon despite being The Beatles’ Hamburg recording from 1961. Lennon’s lead vocal provided the connection to the album’s memorial theme, although the performance predates his solo career by almost a decade.
The cover features portraits of Lennon, Mama Cass, Buddy Holly, Minnie Riperton, Jimi Hendrix and Bobby Darin, divided by lightning flashes. A sleeve sticker advertised an enclosed poster, which measured 440 mm × 430 mm and reproduced the front-cover design, extending the tribute theme beyond the record itself.
