Premiering 05.18: ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTION CEREMONY

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The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum held their latest Induction Ceremony LIVE at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on 04.18 and HBO was there. It took the network one month to do any editing and marketing and is ready to broadcast the results on 05.18. Are you ready for the  stellar concert?

What follows is a list of the 2013 Inductees and their presenters.

It is a smaller Class than those installed into the Hall of Fame last year but certainly prove a worthy list of contributors to the music industry and musical culture.

 Heart – presented by Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell; Albert King – presented by John Mayer; Randy Newman – presented by Eagles’ Don Henley; Public Enemy – presented by Harry Bellefonte and Spike Lee; Rush – presented by Foo Fighters’ David Grohl and Taylor Hawkins; Donna Summer – presented by Kelly Rowland; Lou Adler – presented by Cheech (Marin) and (Tommy) Chong and Quincy Jones – presented by Oprah Winfrey.

Do you need a short guide to the inductees? Again, in order, there is –

Heart – Ann Wilson (vocals, guitar, flute), Nancy Wilson (vocals, guitar, mandolin), Roger Fisher (guitar), Steve Fossen (bass), Howard Leese (keyboards, synthesizer, guitar), Michael DeRosier (drums).

With a mix of hard rock riffs and lush, driving harmonies, Heart emerged from the Pacific Northwest with one of the most original sounds of the 1970s. Behind Ann Wilson’s powerhouse voice and Nancy Wilson’s percussive guitar playing, Heart recorded a series of albums that stand as the best mix of hard rock and folk rock of their era. The band has sold more than 30 million records; has had 20 Top 40 singles, seven Top 10 albums and four Grammy nominations. In 2012, Heart received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Hit songs include “Crazy For You,” “Magic Man” and “Barracuda.”

Ceremony Performance: Joining all the original members of Heart’s onstage at the ceremony are Jerry Cantrell (Alice In Chains), Chris Cornell (Soundgarden) and Mike McCready (Pearl Jam).

Albert King – (guitar, vocals).

As an electric guitar player who focused more on tone and intensity than flash, Albert King had a tremendous impact on countless rock and roll guitarists, including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Bloomfield and Stevie Ray Vaughan.  He traveled the country playing his guitar with anyone who would have him and ended up playing with some early rock-n-roll greats like T-Bone Walker and Jimmy Reed. King’s real breakthrough came in 1966, when he signed with Stax Records. He recorded such classics as “Crosscut Saw” and “As the Years Go Passing By.” In 1967, Stax released his Born Under a Bad Sign album and that title track became his best-known song which has been covered by many artists. Through the years he had performed with a number of bands and guitar players who were influenced by his style including The Doors, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Joe Walsh.

Ceremony Performance: Guitarist Gary Clark Jr. performs and is also joined by Booker t. Jones and John Mayer for a jam of “Born Under a Bad Sign.”

 

Randy Newman – (piano, vocals).

 The Hall of Fame describes him as a cynical romantic, subversive political satirist, social commentator, a champion of the underdog and brilliant one-man medicine show. Randy Newman has been one of pop music’s secret hidden weapons for more than four decades. In 1962, when he was 18, he released his first single, “Golden Gridiron Boy.” The record was not a success, and so Newman chose to focus on songwriting and arranging. Then the Fleetwoods recorded his song “They Tell Me It’s Summer” and from then on he has been on a roll. Newman went on to release his first album and though it was a critical success, it did not make the charts. But, everybody wanted to cover his songs from that album onward, including Judy Collins, the Everly Brothers, Dusty Springfield, Pat Boone, Peggy Lee, Three Dog Night, Linda Ronstadt and Ray Charles. He eventually went on to write songs for the movies and has gone on to receive 20 Oscar nominations.

Concert Performance: Randy Newman performs at his piano for the concert and is joined by the Eagles’ Don Henley.

 

Public Enemy – Carlton Ridenhour aka Chuck D (vocals), William Drayton aka Flavor Flav (vocals), Richard Griffin aka Professor Griff (minister of information) and Norman Lee Rogers aka Terminator X (DJ).

The group released its first album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, in 1987. The album garnered some positive reviews, but it was the second album, 1988’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, that made Public Enemy a household name. The album reached Number 42 on the pop chart and Number One on the R&B chart. The album, which included the singles “Don’t Believe the Hype” and “Bring the Noise,” was hailed as a hip-hop masterpiece and went on to sell more than a million copies. Chuck D. – routinely rated as one of the greatest rappers of all time – pushed the art of the MC forward with his inimitable, rapid-fire baritone where his counterpart, Flavor Flav, brought humor and a madcap energy to the songs. Along the way, they brought a new level of conceptual sophistication to the hip-hop album and a new level of intensity and power to live hip-hop performance. In 1992, Public Enemy and Anthrax hit the road for a joint tour, closing each show with a joint performance of “Bring the Noise.” Public Enemy also opened for U2’s Zoo TV tour. Then, in 1994, a motorcycle accident shattered Terminator X’s left leg, and in 1998 he decided to retire from the group. Eventually, Public Enemy added DJ Lord as their full-time DJ.

 

Rush – Gary Lee Weinrib aka Geddy Lee (vocals, bass), Neil Peart (drums), Alex Zivojinovich aka Alex Lifeson (guitar).

Rush burst out of Canada in the early 1970s with one of the most powerful and bombastic sounds of the decade. Their 1976 magnum opus 2112 represents progressive rock at its grandiose heights, but just a half decade later they had the guts to put epic songs aside in favor of shorter (but no less dynamic) tunes like “Tom Sawyer” and “The Spirit of Radio” that remain in constant rotation on radio to this day. Absolutely uncompromising in every conceivable way, the trio has spent the last 40 years cultivating the largest cult fan base in rock while still managing to sell out arenas around the globe. Rush’s popularity would soar over the years as each album released help lofty positions on the charts, and in 1980, with the release of Permanent Waves, the group became known as one of the most successful bands in the world. Through the years the band has been able to adapt new sounds and song styles to keep it going today as they still record and tour.

Concert Performance: Though the group changed members in their formative years the current trio has been solid for decades. Dedicating their award to the fans, Rush plays some of their classics at the Induction Ceremony and are later joined by Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins and Nick Raskulinecz.

 

Donna Summer – (vocals)

Donna Summer’s lifetime in music was a study in contrasts: The “Queen of Disco,” who was a church-reared gospel singer throughout childhood and wrote most of her own songs become the first true pop diva of the modern era, but spent her formative years singing in a rock band. She did all so well and left the stage far too soon. Shortly out of high school she was in the rock band Crow and went on to play in the musical Hair in Germany. It was there that she met Georgio Moroder and that partnership got her on the pop scene in Europe. She came back to the states in a big and erotic way with “Love To Love you Baby.” After that the hits kept coming with songs like “I Feel Love,” “Bad Girls,” “She Works Hard For the Money” and “MacArthur Park.”  Her top songs continued the whole way up to 2010 with the dance chart hit “To Paris With Love.” In August 2010, Summer scored another Number One dance hit with “To Paris with Love.” Over the last decade, endless covers and sampling of Summer’s music by producers and DJs have kept the five-time Grammy Award–winner’s pioneering body of work on the front line.

Concert Performance – Obviously, it would have been better for the late Donna Summer to have performed her own hits but, Jennifer Hudson does the tribute for this concert.

 

Lou Adler – (record executive and producer)

Lou Adler has had a long and successful career that has extended from the music business to the film industry. He founded two record labels, Dunhill Records and Ode Records, and he managed several artists, including Jan and Dean, Carole King and The Mamas and The Papas. He produced The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the Cheech and Chong films, and has also been a songwriter and record producer. He has been feeling the pulse of the music for a long time. A few more achievements include producing the 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival and the accompanying film version, Monterey Pop. That festival was a watershed even in rock history as it launched the careers of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. Another big industry milestone was Carole King’s Tapestry album which was also produced by Adler. And though, quirky at best bringing the film version of The Rocky Horror Show is all Lou Adler’s doing.  Adler has lessened his involvement with the music world in the last several years, though he still owns the Roxy Theatre, a key Los Angeles music venue and certainly earns a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Concert Performance: Carole King performs from her album “Tapestry.”

 

Quincy Jones – (producer, conductor, arranger, composer).

Quincy Jones has had one of the longest, most successful careers in popular music. He is a record producer, conductor, arranger, film composer, television producer and trumpeter. He has worked with such artists as Michael Jackson, Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis just to name just a few. He has been nominated for a record 79 Grammys – and won 27 – and in 1991, he received the Grammy Legend Award. He started in music as a trumpet player for Lionel Hampton and then musical director for Dizzy Gillespie. He has led an unrivaled course to some of the most iconic musical moments from scoring movies and TV shows (who knew he scored the Sanford and Son theme?); the “Thriller” album and coordinated the “We Are The World” event. Quincy Jones continues to this day to work and make frequent appearances on TV shows and documentaries about popular music. The beat goes on for him but he doesn’t really need to work for he already holds the title as the producer behind the best-selling album of all time.

Concert Performance: Usher represents the work of Quincy Jones by performing Michael Jackson tunes.

Now, I know that was a lengthy article. But, now with that heads up you are ready to enjoy THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTION CEREMONY that airs 05.18. at 9:00pm. I hope you accept this last indulgence before we wrap up. Thee has been a lot of reading here but no music so HBOWatch leaves you with —-

RUSH – “Tom Sawyer”

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