Aerosmith, Queen, Ritchie Valens to Enter Rock Hall
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The rock band Aerosmith, singer-songwriter Paul Simon, Grammy-winners Steely Dan and ''king of pop'' Michael Jackson were set on Monday to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The late rock pioneer Ritchie Valens, who was killed in a plane crash that also took the life of Buddy Holly in 1959, the British rock band Queen, R&B legend Solomon Burke and doo-wop combo the Flamingos also were among the latest crop of inductees into the Hall of Fame.
Artists become eligible for induction 25 years after the release of their first record and are represented in a permanent exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.
Both Simon and Jackson are already members, Simon as part of the '60s pop duo Simon & Garfunkel and Jackson from his days as part of the '70s brother act the Jackson 5. Their latest induction honors them for their solo work. Jackson's ``Thriller'' is the biggest worldwide seller of all time, with sales in excess of 46 million copies.
Aerosmith, a Rolling Stones-influenced quintet that formed in Boston 30 years ago, won fame with such 1970s hits as ``Dream On'' and ``Walk This Way.'' Fronted by singer Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry, the group has found a new generation of fans since recovering from a drugs-induced derailment in the mid-1980s.
Ten years after the death of singer Freddie Mercury from AIDS (news - web sites), Queen's surviving members will give a rare live performance at the ceremony. The band, among Britain's biggest musical exports in the 1970s and 1980s, rocked stadiums and venues with such hits as ``Bohemian Rhapsody,'' ``We Are the Champions'' and ``Crazy Little Thing Called Love.''
Steely Dan, headed by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, won the album of the year Grammy as well as their first Grammy ever just last month for their first album in 20 years, ``Two Against Nature.'' The jazz-rock duo scored in the 1970s with such hits as ``Peg'' and ``Rikki Don't Lose That Number.''
Other honorees at the gala ceremony in Manhattan include entertainment mogul Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, as a non-performer inductee, Elvis Presley's guitarist James Burton and Chuck Berry's pianist Johnnie Johnson, the inspiration for Berry's hit ``Johnny B. Goode,'' as sidemen inductees.
The inductees are determined by an international voting body of about 1,000 rock experts who made their choices from a list of 18 nominees. |
