CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Jane Scott, the legendary journalist who covered four decades of rock 'n' roll for The Plain Dealer, died early Monday after a long illness. She was 92. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Busch Funeral Home of Fairview Park. A memorial service will be held at a later date in Cleveland.

Her byline appeared in the newspaper thousands of times, above music features, concert reviews and her long-running "What's Happening" column in Friday! magazine.

Scott was on a first-name basis not only with music fans across Northeast Ohio, but with most of the luminaries in the rock 'n' roll universe.

Paul McCartney was an old pal of hers. Bruce Springsteen serenaded her in concert. And when she met Bob Dylan, the World's Oldest Teenager (as Scott was affectionately known) got a peck on each cheek from the Voice of a Generation.

Scott was never at a loss for a great rock 'n' roll story. She regaled several generations of readers with countless firsthand tales about popular music's most colorful characters.

"I've always loved music," Scott said shortly before she retired in 2002, after 50 years at the newspaper.

Jane Scott: The Plain Dealer Archives

A collection of stories and reviews spanning her career as a rock critic.

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Growing up in Cleveland, I devoured every word she wrote: about Jackson Browne, Gil Scott Heron, Springsteen, the Ramones, the Stray Cats and Heart. She made me feel like I knew them, because she did. Not only did she, she got the very best out of exhausted, often cranky, certainly entitled stars. Because she could -- and did with unwavering dignity -- I believed I could too.

She was always one to take the high road. I heard a story about Elvis Costello being less than kind to her backstage at an Agora show - Jane's response on the following day didn't involve slamming Costello in print, but instead, she gave additional column space to the young opener, Eddie Money.

She was one of a kind in an era where an emerging music scene in a vibrant music city met the perfect woman at the perfect time.

I remember sitting next to her at a Kinks concert. Jane opened up that tote bag and offered a stack of photocopied pages from some encyclopedia of rock on the Kinks. "I have extras," she said.

"The thing about rock is, it gets you up on your feet and dancing and you forget everything else," she said. "The beat gets you going."

In an email Monday, country star Lyle Lovett said, "Music lost one of the dearest members of its family today. I will always love and remember Jane Scott. She was a true friend."

Jules Belkin, a leading local concert promoter, said he could never keep Scott from the stars. Many bands forbid reporters backstage, but "invariably Jane was there. The bands didn't care. She was just such a legend."

Terry Stewart, head of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, said, "She was a ball of energy and very excited about whatever the next bit of music was she was going to hear."

Her first day at The Plain Dealer was March 24, 1952, three days after the world's first rock concert -- Alan Freed's Moondog Coronation Ball at the old Cleveland Arena.

Scott started out at as a society writer. She soon worked both ends of the demographic spectrum, writing columns for teens and senior citizens.

When the Beatles performed Sept. 15, 1964, at Public Hall, Scott was there, reporter's notebook in hand. "I never before saw thousands of 14-year-old girls, all screaming and yelling," she recalled later. "I realized this was a phenomenon. . . . The whole world changed."

So did Scott's job. She became The Plain Dealer's rock writer and scored an interview with McCartney when the Fab Four returned to headline Municipal Stadium in 1966.

Scott went on to cover the Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, David Bowie and other future Rock and Roll Hall of Famers early in their careers.

Scott often told the story about the time she tagged along when Jimi Hendrix bought a blue Corvette at a Shaker Heights dealership.

Or the time Jim Morrison told her he wanted to start his own religion. The Lizard King invited Scott backstage for a beer before a 1967 show by the Doors. "The first sound Cleveland heard from Morrison onstage was a burp," Scott wrote.

Or the time she was interviewing Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and he parked himself behind a piano in the lounge of the old Stouffer Tower City Plaza Hotel. They sang "California Girls" together.

Scott was born May 3, 1919, in Cleveland. She was a 1937 graduate of Lakewood High School and a 1941 graduate of the University of Michigan, where she majored in English and drama and wrote for the college newspaper.

Scott enjoyed big-band music back then, with a soft spot for Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey. The first record she owned was Jimmy Rushing's "Sent for You Yesterday (And Here You Come Today)," which she used to play on a wind-up Victrola.

In later years, Scott was partial to Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and the Doobie Brothers hit "Black Water." Her favorite album was Springsteen's "Born to Run."

She also was a fan of the late Frank Zappa, Ray Davies of the Kinks and Lyle Lovett.

Amid the stacks of CDs and music memorabilia in her Lakewood condominium, Scott kept a snapshot of herself and Lovett. She captioned the photo "Before Julia" -- a little fun at the expense of Lovett's ex-wife, Julia Roberts.

Before she came to The Plain Dealer, Scott was a code breaker for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She later became women's editor of the Chagrin Valley Herald. She also did stints in advertising and public relations.

Scott had a knack for spotting talent. "His name is Bruce Springsteen. He will be the next superstar," she predicted in her review of a 1975 performance by the Boss at the Allen Theatre -- months before he graced the covers of Time and Newsweek. During another Cleveland concert years later, Springsteen dedicated "Dancing in the Dark" to Scott.

She wrote about the Raspberries, the Michael Stanley Band, Pere Ubu and hundreds of other lesser-known local acts, too.

"You always felt you were extremely important when Jane was talking to you," said Michael Stanley. "We traveled around the country for 15 years on tour and whenever Cleveland came up, the first thing people wanted to talk about wasn't the Browns or the Indians or Eric Carmen. It was, 'Jane Scott -- she's so cool!'

"She always gave glowing reviews. Even if she hated something, she could find the good in anything, which is a wonderful, admirable quality. . . . Jane deserves to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."

Scott was "a champion -- more like her, please," said Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders.

As musical trends came and went through the '70s, '80s and '90s -- from punk to new-wave to grunge -- Scott rolled with rock's changes, writing about everyone from Mariah Carey to Wendy O. Williams, Nine Inch Nails to Nirvana, Prince to U2.

Scott got sunburned at Live Aid, slogged through the mud at Woodstock '94 and braved the mosh pits at Lollapalooza.

Along the way, she became a celebrity herself. She was profiled in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone and People magazine, among other publications. CNN and MTV did stories on her, too.

Scott's retirement made headlines around the world. She was interviewed by the BBC and Diane Sawyer on "Good Morning America."

As Scott once put it herself, with typical understatement: "I'm a little bit of a character."

Jane Scott in her own words

In May 2002, on the eve of her retirement, Jane Scott sat down with The Plain Dealer's John Soeder to reminisce about her amazing career. Excerpts:

Audio: On the Beatles

For her first assignment as a rock writer, Jane Scott covers the Beatles in 1964 at Cleveland's Public Auditorium.

Audio: On Jimi Hendrix

'Scuse Jane Scott while she goes car shopping with the legendary guitar hero.

Audio: On Jim Morrison

Jane Scott hits it off with the Lizard King and drinks beer backstage with the Doors.

Audio: On Bruce Springsteen

in 1975, Jane Scott predicts superstardom for the Boss.

Audio: On the Doobie Brothers

Reviewing the rock band at Blossom Music Center, Jane Scott has an epiphany in the middle of "Black Water."

Audio: Secrets of the purse

Jane Scott never went anywhere without earplugs and a peanut butter sandwich.

Audio: 'That's What I Like About Rock'

Jane Scott talks about the first record she ever owned and her lifelong love of music.

Heads inevitably turned when she showed up at concerts with her dyed-blond hair, trademark red-rimmed trifocals and a ticket stub affixed to her blouse or jacket with a safety pin. In her bulging purse, Scott always carried three pens, earplugs, a flashlight, a camera and a peanut butter sandwich, in case she got hungry.

Her ability to infiltrate backstage areas, even when performers were off-limits to the media, never ceased to amaze veteran concert promoter Jules Belkin.

"Invariably, Jane [found] a way to show up," Belkin said. "Everybody [knew] her."

In her relentless pursuit of killer quotes, juicy personal tidbits and behind-the-scenes gossip, Scott often broke the ice with musicians by offering to read their palms or analyze their handwriting. When she was around, even the most outlandish rock stars tended to be on their best behavior.

"We're talking about some of the most depraved people in the world," Stanley said. "But with Jane, it was like they were talking to their mom or their grandma. . . . It was, 'Yes, ma'am' and 'No, ma'am.' "

When she wasn't hobnobbing with the famous or the infamous, Scott mingled with concertgoers. She made a point of sprinkling their comments liberally throughout her reviews.

"She was a fan of the fans. . . . She reported everything through their eyes," said David Spero, a Cleveland-based talent manager whose clients have included Buffalo Springfield, Sam Moore, Survivor and Billy Bob Thornton.

Spero first crossed paths with Scott in the '60s during tapings for WEWS Channel 5's "The Big 5 Show" (later known as "Upbeat"), produced by Spero's father. Scott dropped by the television studio every Saturday to interview the musical guests, from Simon and Garfunkel to Otis Redding.

"What Dorothy Fuldheim was to television, Jane Scott [was] to rock 'n' roll," Spero said. "She [was] an icon."

For Jane's 80th birthday bash at the Odeon Concert Club in 1999, the Raspberries reunited to perform a Beatles medley for the guest of honor. Tributes poured in from well-known well-wishers, including Glenn Frey of the Eagles, who declared: "Jane, you never met a band you didn't like."

"I must confess -- I love Jane Scott," Lou Reed wrote. "When I was in the Velvet Underground in the '60s, Jane was one of the only people I can remember who was nice to us. . . . a very smart, guileless lady who loved music and musicians and had unbiased attitudes toward the evolving culture."

Pere Ubu's David Thomas sang Jane's praises, too. "She peeked behind the curtain and rooted out the parochial," he noted. "Every musician sees the media as gullible rubes. Well, Jane just didn't cooperate. She laid the haughty low with an enthusiasm for the humble (and human) detail."

Even after she retired, Scott kept rocking, taking in concerts by Springsteen, the Rolling Stones and the Who, among others.

"I mean, if you can meet Bruce Springsteen, who wants to sit around and play bridge?" she told a reporter.

Scott's brother, Will, died May 26, 2005. Her companion, Jim Smith, died in October 2004.

She is survived by nieces and nephews.

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The band Beau Coup released this paean to Jane Scott in 1987: