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 and guitarist Peter Frampton.
Alexis Korner, John Mayall and Big Mama Thornton won the Musical Influence Award, while the late Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Dionne Warwick and Norman Whitfield will receive the Musical Excellence Award. Pioneering music executive Suzanne de Passe won the Ahmet Ertegun Award.
“Rock 'n' roll is an ever-evolving amalgam of sounds that impacts culture and moves generations,” John Sykes, president of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, said in a statement. “This diverse group of inductees broke musical barriers and influenced countless artists who followed in their footsteps.”
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The induction ceremony will be held on October 19 at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio. It will air live on Disney+ with a broadcast on ABC at a later date and available on Hulu the following day.
Those musical acts nominated this year didn't make the cut it included Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz, the late Sinéad O'Connor, soul-pop singer Sade, Britpoppers Oasis, hip-hop duo Eric B. & Rakim and alternative rockers Jane's Addiction.
There had been a star-studded push to get Foreigner – with hits “Urgent” and “Hot Blooded” – into the venue, with Mark Ronson, Jack Black, Slash, Dave Grohl and Paul McCartney publicly backing the move. Ronson's stepfather is Mick Jones, founding member, songwriter and lead guitarist of Foreigner.
Osbourne, who had many parents clutching their pearls in the 1980s with his devil-may-care imagery and sludgy music, enters as a solo artist, having been inducted into the hall with metal masters Black Sabbath.
Four of the eight – 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 increase the number of women in the room, critics say, too . down
Artists must have released their first commercial recording at least 25 years before they are eligible for induction.
The nominees were voted on by more than 1,000 artists, historians and music industry professionals. Fans voted online or in person at the museum, and the top five artists chosen by the public formed a “fan ballot” that was counted 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 entered the room.
