Biography
Craig Inciardi is a music historian, curator and author who has over three decades of experience curating, cataloging and appraising popular music materials and rock and roll artifacts. He joined Sotheby’s in 1988; cataloging and appraising rock and roll and Hollywood memorabilia and launched Sotheby’s first ever sports memorabilia sales.
In 1991, Inciardi became the founding curator of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and was instrumental in launching the museum and building the institution’s collection from the ground up through 2022. He has curated numerous award-winning exhibitions including “Rock Style,” a collaboration with the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1999. He also curated major exhibitions on The Rolling Stones, The Who's Tommy, Rolling Stone Magazine and “Louder Than Words,” an exhibition about rock and roll and politics which was a collaboration with the Newseum in Washington, DC. He was also charged with building the collection to open the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Library and Archive.
In 2019, Inciardi co-curated “Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock and Roll” with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He has conducted numerous on camera interviews and short-form documentaries with artists including Bono, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, Tom Morello, Gregg Allman, Taylor Swift, Ringo Starr, Paul Simon and former president Jimmy Carter. He was a contributor to the documentary Jimmy Carter: The Rock and Roll President which was released in 2020. In 2025. Inciardi rejoined Sotheby’s as Consultant in Popular Culture focusing on musical instruments, pop ephemera, music manuscripts, stage wardrobe and rock and roll memorabilia.
Books by Craig Inciardi
Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock and Roll; Yale University Press (co-author)
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: The Outrageous, Definitive and Untold History; Diversion Books
