New York — Mary J. Blige, Cher, Foreigner, A Tribe Called Quest, Kool & The Gang and Ozzy Osbourne have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a class that also includes folk-rockers Dave Matthews Band and singer-guitarist Peter Frampton.
Detroit’s pioneering rock bank MC5 earned the Musical Excellence Award along with the late-Jimmy Buffett, Dionne Warwick and the late-Norman Whitfield, while pioneering music executive Suzanne de Passe won the Ahmet Ertegun Award.
Detroit’s music legacy was well represented by de Passe, the MC5 and Whitfield.
De Passe was one of the music industry’s first leading female executives, which included an “extraordinary 20 years with Motown,” according to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s website. In 1968, she helped sign the Jackson 5. She went on to sign The Commodores, Rick James, Teena Marie, and DeBarge to the label. She remains an active TV and film producer.
Whitfield was a legendary songwriter and producer for Motown. “Whitfield’s ‘Psychedelic Soul’ fused soul, rock and funk with complex arrangements, socially conscious lyrics, and iconic anthems,” according to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In 1966, he became The Temptations’ main producer, a role he held for almost a decade as the group created a string of hits. “Whitfield was known for using innovative, extended instrumental arrangements – most notably heard on the Temptations’ “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” and Gladys Knight & the Pips’ “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.” He died in 2008.
The MC5 formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan, in the 1960s and became one of the most influential rock and punk groups of the era. The group’s 1969 debut album “Kick Out the Jams” was recorded over two nights at Detroit’s Grande Ballroom. It’s considered to be a protopunk staple, and was listed more than once in Rolling Stone’s list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.”
“Rock ‘n’ roll is an ever-evolving amalgam of sounds that impacts culture and moves generations,” John Sykes, chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, said in a statement. “This diverse group of inductees each broke down musical barriers and influenced countless artists that followed in their footsteps.”
The induction ceremony will be held Oct. 19 at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio. It will stream live on Disney+ with an airing on ABC at a later date and available on Hulu the next day.
Those music acts nominated this year but didn’t make the cut included Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz, the late Sinéad O’Connor, soul-pop singer Sade, Britpoppers Oasis, hip-hop duo Eric B. & Rakim and alt-rockers Jane’s Addiction.
There had been a starry push to get Foreigner — with the hits “Urgent” and Hot Blooded” — into the hall, with Mark Ronson, Jack Black, Slash, Dave Grohl and Paul McCartney all publicly backing the move. Ronson’s stepfather is Mick Jones, Foreigner’s founding member, songwriter and lead guitarist.
Osbourne, who led many parents in the 1980s to clutch their pearls with his devil imagery and sludgy music, goes in as a solo artist, having already been inducted into the hall with metal masters Black Sabbath.
Four of the eight nominees — Cher, Foreigner, Frampton and Kool & the Gang — were on the ballot for the first time.
Cher — the only artist to have a No. 1 song in each of the past six decades — and Blige, with eight multi-platinum albums and nine Grammy Awards, will help boost the number of women in the hall, which critics say is too low.
Artists must have released their first commercial recording at least 25 years before they’re eligible for induction.
Nominees were voted on by more than 1,000 artists, historians and music industry professionals. Fans voted online or in person at the museum, with the top five artists picked by the public making up a “fans’ ballot” that was tallied with the other professional ballots.
Last year, Missy Elliott, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Chaka Khan, “Soul Train” creator Don Cornelius, Kate Bush and the late George Michael were some of the artists who got into the hall.
Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
