State Champ Radio Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Mary J. Blige is one of the well-deserved inductees of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024, and the superstar was visibly moved while discussing the honor on a new episode of the Tamron Hall Show.
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“I’m still trying to process this whole thing. It’s a big deal. I’m just so grateful because I know it didn’t have to be this way but it is this way, and I give to all the credit to God. I don’t even know what else to do. It’s just so humbling,” she shared, before adding, “I don’t know what to do besides be grateful and thankful.”
Blige will be inducted in the performers category alongside Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Kool & the Gang, Ozzy Osbourne and A Tribe Called Quest. In the musical influence category, Alexis Korner, John Mayall and “Big Mama” Thornton will be inducted and the musical excellence category features Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Dionne Warwick and Norman Whitfield.
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“I was home and I got the news from some people in my camp, my business, and I was grateful for the nomination because I was next to Cher, Mariah Carey, Sade, all these amazing women,” Blige said of finding out that she’s in the Rock Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024. “When I saw Cher, I was like, ‘We can forget about it.’ [laughs] Let me just sit down and be grateful for the nomination. So, when I heard the news on Sunday, I was like ‘What the—?’”
The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul concluded, “I work so hard mentally, spiritually, physically, intellectually. I’ve been through everything in front of the world, from taxes to shame to abusive relationships. All kinds of stuff I’ve been through. I figured out how to come out classy and strong, you know? Just keep moving to the next thing. It’s just about being grateful. Amazing things have happened.”
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s 2024 ceremony will stream live on Disney+ on Oct. 19, be available on Hulu the following day and air in edited form on ABC at a later date. Watch Blige’s interview will Hall below.
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Luke Bryan, “Small Town” (written and performed by John Cougar Mellencamp)
Triston Harper, “Heartbreak Hotel” (performed by Elvis Presley; written by Mae Boren Axton, Thomas Durden & Elvis Presley)
Julia Gagnon, “Run to You” (performed by Whitney Houston; written by Jud Friedman & Allan Rich)
Roman Collins, “You’re All I Need to Get By” (performed by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell; written by Nick Ashford & Valerie Simpson)
Kaibrienne, “I Hate Myself for Loving You” (performed by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts; written by Desmond Child & Joan Jett)
Jayna Elise, “I Have Nothing” (performed by Whitney Houston; written by David Foster & Linda Thompson)
Mia Matthews, “Those Memories of You” (performed by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris; written by Alan O’Bryant)
KAYKO, “High and Dry” (written and performed by Radiohead)
Emmy Russell, “I Can’t Make You Love Me” (performed by Bonnie Raitt; written by Mike Reid & Allen Shamblin)
Jordan Anthony, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” (performed by Whitney Houston; written by George Merrill & Shannon Rubicam)
McKenna Faith Breinholt, “Hard to Say I’m Sorry” (performed by Chicago; written by Peter Cetera & David Foster)
Jack Blocker, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” (written and performed by Bob Dylan)
Nya, “I Say a Little Prayer” (performed by Aretha Franklin; written by Burt Bacharach & Hal David)
Will Moseley, “Night Moves” (written and performed by Bob Seger)
Abi Carter, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” (performed by Elton John; written by Elton John & Bernie Taupin)
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A Tribe Called Quest will officially go into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as part of this year’s inductee class along with Mary J. Blige.
On Sunday evening (April 21), the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced their class of inductees for 2024 through their social media accounts. The legendary Hip-Hop group A Tribe Called Quest was among those to gain entry. The Queens, New York group of Q-Tip, the late Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi White had been previously nominated for the last few years until this point. The class also includes R&B icons Mary J. Blige and Dionne Warwick, and Kool & The Gang.
“Rock ’n’ roll is an ever-evolving amalgam of sounds that impacts culture and moves generations,” Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation chairman John Sykes said in a statement. “This diverse group of inductees each broke down musical barriers and influenced countless artists that followed in their footsteps.”
Jarobi White shared the news to his fans through his Instagram account, writing in the caption: “Wow!!! @qtiptheabstract @alishaheed we did it!!!! Phifey we got you in the hall of fame!!!! Wish you were here. Well I know you’re watching so….. Fuck yeah!!! lol To all of the questers, from the bottom of our hearts thank you!!!! #jedibusuness.” The induction makes A Tribe Called Quest the sixth Hip-Hop group to gain induction after Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Run-DMC, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, and N.W.A. The group’s induction also comes after missing out on two previous votes in 2022 and 2023. Their snub last year sparked ATCQ affiliate Consequence to blast the selection committee, writing: “What we not gon’ do is keep subjugating that name, A Tribe Called Quest, to a white popularity contest, and having them in there as the token n—-s pick. We gon’ stop that.”
Those who didn’t make the cut this year for induction included Eric B. & Rakim, Mariah Carey, and Sade. The 2024 induction class also includes rockers Cher, Ozzy Osbourne, Peter Frampton, and Jimmy Buffett along with the pioneering Big Mama Thornton. Two names instrumental to the success of Motown Records, executive Suzanne De Passe, and songwriter/producer Norman Whitfield, were also named. The 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees will officially go in at a ceremony held at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse next to the museum in Cleveland, Ohio on October 19, with the ceremony being aired live on ABC and streaming on Hulu the following day.
Mary J. Blige was beside herself when the news came down on Sunday night (April 21) that she will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the rest of the class of 2024 in October. “Beyond grateful!!!!!! This is incredible!!!,” Blige wrote just after the news was announced on Sunday’s episode […]
If you’ve noticed one trend with the artists the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has officially let through its doors this decade, it’s probably been the institution drifting away from the classic rock artists (mostly bands, mostly all-male) that defined its ranks for decades, and towards a broader genre view rewarding artists (often solo and female) of wide cultural iconicity.
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Artists like Whitney Houston, Carly Simon, Lionel Richie, Pat Benatar, Missy Elliott, Kate Bush and Dolly Parton did not fit the traditional mold of artist the Rock Hall would have looked towards in past decades — as evidenced by the fact that all of them except Missy had to wait at least a decade from their earliest eligibility until their induction. But of course, music has continued to progress further and further away from the late period traditionally considered the classic rock era, while modern audiences have come to place significantly less emphasis on rock as the sun that the world of Serious Music revolves around. It makes sense that Rock Hall voters would end up emphasizing game-changing pop, country and hip-hop artists whose relevance has endured into the 21st century over 20th century radio rock leftovers with little bearing on contemporary popular music.
And so of course, the 2024 inductees for the Rock Hall include Peter Frampton, Foreigner and the Dave Matthews Band.
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Now, that snarky comment isn’t totally fair to either the Rock Hall voters or the artists inducted. For one, there are still two artists from this year’s recently announced class that absolutely fit the newer brand of Rock Hall inductees in Cher and Mary J. Blige: both unquestionably iconic artists with rich, expansive legacies and subsequent generations of major artists that their impact can be traced through. Neither is traditionally rock — Cher dabbled in the genre and likely would’ve gone further with it than she did had she been allowed the artistic agency more frequently afforded today’s pop stars, while Blige’s intersections with the genre have been mostly incidental — but you can’t properly tell the story of the period of popular music the Rock Hall covers without either, so their presence is hard to argue with.
And while they cannot compare with artists like Cher or Mary J. Blige in terms of enduring pop culture ubiquity, those aforementioned rockier acts have legacies of their own that at least elbow their way into the discussion of Rock Hall worthiness. Peter Frampton had one of the biggest rock albums of the ’70s and a tremendous amount of peer respect for his work solo, as well as in prior group Humble Pie and as a sideman. Foreigner were among the biggest hitmakers in any genre for a solid decade from the late ’70s to late ’80s, with a handful of songs that remaining enduring staples on classic rock radio, movie soundtracks and even on singing competition reality shows. And for 30 years, Dave Matthews Band have been the model for a beloved jam-band also thriving as a massively successful recording act, scoring No. 1 albums and alternative radio hits and even a major pop crossover or two.
In an older Rock Hall class, you might not have looked askance at the three of them getting in. Even now, you might not think it that strange for any of the three of them to get in on their own. But for all three of them to get in the same year is fairly surprising, especially considering some of the names shut out. That includes Mariah Carey, one of the most accomplished and longest-lasting pop superstars of all time, and Sinéad O’Connor, a genre-blending star whose stardom was curtailed by artistic risks she took on and off record, but whose legacy feels even more vital and timely in 2024 (sadly following her death in 2023) than it even did at her commercial peak three-plus decades ago. By modern Rock Hall standards, both would feel like obvious picks; both will nonetheless remain on the outside for at least one more year.
And it’s not just the rockers among the less-expected inductees for 2024. Kool and the Gang, funk hitmakers of the ’70s and ’80s who had been picked up as something of a cause in recent years for their longtime Rock Hall snubbing, have been granted entry on their first nomination. Meanwhile, the third time proves the charm for A Tribe Called Quest — among the most beloved and celebrated groups in hip-hop history, but one that never achieved the massive crossover success of recently inducted rappers like Missy, Jay-Z and Eminem. For those two groups to get in not just over Carey and O’Connor, but more traditional rock and roll flag-wavers like Oasis and Lenny Kravitz, is also something of a shock. (The eighth and final 2024 inductee not yet mentioned was this year’s most predictable: Ozzy Osbourne, who satisfies both classic rock cred and solo star recognizability and prototypicality.)
Nonetheless, the recognition of that trio of long-eligible 20th century rock acts (and male ones, as six out of this year’s eight artists inducted are) suggests that as much as the Rock Hall has shifted towards a less hemmed-in, genre-specific institution over the years– an evolution likely necessary for its continued relevance — there are still plenty of voters primarily concerned with rock representation. DMB were likely helped by their continued presence within the industry, while Foreigner were doubtless boosted in no small part by the celebrity campaigning on their behalf by insider’s insider Mark Ronson (stepson of the band’s guitarist and founder Mick Jones). But the recognition of Frampton in particular — who we pegged as having the second-lowest chances of induction among this year’s 15 years — feels indicative of pushback against the Rock Hall’s broadening definitions.
If there is more of a unifying theory to the new inductees to the Rock Hall this year, though, it might have to do with the breakdown of longstanding critical preconceptions in evaluating said artists. Of the eight artists granted entry this year, only A Tribe Called Quest could really be considered in any way to be critics’ darlings. Of the seven others, several (Dave Matthews Band, Cher, Foreigner) existed as critical punching bags at their commercial peaks, and others (Kool & The Gang, Mary J. Blige, solo Ozzy Osbourne) were largely shrugged at by rock critics outside their home genres. Perhaps the expulsion of Jann Wenner from the Rock Hall’s Board of Directors last year has also served as the final severing of the institution’s adherence to classic critical canons, in favor of a slightly more updated perspective less beholden to the received wisdom of previous generations.
In any event, the 2024 class makes it clear that while the Rock Hall’s constituency may be forever evolving in their tastes and priorities, the musical values of decades past have not yet been completely lost to time. We will have to wait and see from the next few years’ classes whether this year’s represents the beginning of a pendulum swinging back to more traditional rock hall definitions for voters, or a final emptying of the bench for the classic rock faithful.
The 2024 inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will be announced live coast-to-coast during a Rock Hall-themed episode of American Idol on Sunday (April 21). The inductees will be announced by American Idol host Ryan Seacrest along with judge (and 2022 Rock Hall inductee) Lionel Richie. The episode will air 8-10:01 p.m. […]
Mark Ronson is biased, but he think Foreigner definitely deserves to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The “Cold As Ice” rockers earned their first nomination for enshrinement at the Hall in Cleveland this year despite being eligible since 2002 and in an Instagram video posted on Tuesday (Feb. 20), Ronson recruited some heavy hitters to help stump for his stepdad’s band.
“Everything that made me want to be a record producer came from being in the studio watching Foreigner make records. I’m still completely in awe of the sound of those first five albums. Guitars with swagger and bite. Heavy drums that groove like a mutha with the bass. Wide layers of synths. And then there’s that voice. And those songs. It’s really crazy,” Ronson wrote in the post alongside a video touting some of the band’s bona fides, including sales of more than 80 million albums and their status as one of the most-played artists on classic rock radio.
“It’s also kind of crazy that this is the first time they’ve ever been on the ballot for the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame – after 20 years of eligibility,” Ronson added, with a “WTF???” exclamation point to drive the point home.
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The arena rock “Juke Box Hero” band were formed in New York in 1976 by Ronson’s stepfather, guitarist Mick Jones, singer Lou Gramm, drummer Dennis Elliott, keyboardist Al Greenwood, multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald and bassist Ed Gagliardi. The band went on a chart-topper tear from jump with their 1977 self-titled debut album, which featured the hit singles “Cold as Ice,” “Feels Like the First Time” and “Long, Long Way From Home.” They kept the streak going on 1978’s Double Vision, which spun off rock radio staples “Hot Blooded,” “Double Vision” and “Blue Morning, Blue Day.”
The hits kept coming on 1979’s Head Games, thanks to such hits as “Dirty White Boy,” “Head Games” and “Women” and 1981’s smash 4, which included “Urgent,” “Waiting for a Girl Like You” and “Juke Box Hero.” In total, the band had nine top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 (and 22 songs total on the tally), released six multi-platinum albums and have long been considered one of the Hall’s biggest annual snubs, with fans waging campaigns for their inclusion for many years.
Despite all those hits, the band has never been nominated before, so Ronson corralled some A-list pals to stump for the the band in the accompanying video, including Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Jack Black, GNR’s Slash, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and Queens of the Stone Age singer Josh Homme.
“You want to know what love is? Love is putting Foreigner in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame… Foreigner should absolutely be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” Homme says in the video, with Grohl adding that he’s “loved Foreigner since I got their debut record… There’s one drum riff that I have used in more than a few songs,” he notes before cueing up said beat.
“I can’t believe they’re not in already, oh my God,” Smith says, as video unspools of the always excitable Black singing along to “Feels Like the First Time” before sending a personal message, complete with hand heart, “Hey, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, open the door! Foreigner’s waiting outside. Let ’em in.”
When the nomination was announced last month, Jones told Billboard, “I deeply appreciate the recognition from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (nominating) committee. It is wonderful that Foreigner has maintained its presence all these years and brought the music to our fans. Getting this news is an incredible endorsement of what we have achieved over time.”
Ronson appears in the video as well, saying there is “no way” he’d be the record producer he is today without Foreigner. The Grammy-winning producer (Amy Winehouse, Barbie soundtrack) ended his post with a list of Foreigner’s achievements, including: “Foreigner are the most played band on classic rock radio to not be in the hall of fame. They’ve been sung by our fave characters from the Simpsons, The Office, I, Tonya, Stranger Things and Wet Hot American Summer. They’ve been covered by Diana Ross and Mariah Carey (what the rock band can boast that??). They were sampled and turned into HOT FIRE by M.O.P. (remember that ‘Cold As Ice’ joint?) and Tone-Loc who used them to concoct some ‘Funky Cold Medina.’ Yes, Mick is my stepdad and I love him more than anything. But I’m also a MEGA fan just like Dave, Jack, Slash, Chad and Josh (shown here). Enjoy this video and VOTE BABY VOTE!”
The other class of 2024 RRHOF nominees include: Ozzy Osbourne, Jane’s Addiction, Dave Matthews Band, Oasis, Mary J. Blige, Eric B. & Rakim, Kool & the Gang, Sade, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz, Sinead O’Connor, Peter Frampton, A Tribe Called Quest and Cher.
Check out Ronson’s video below.
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The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame released its list of nominees for the year, featuring high-profile women artists like Mariah Carey and Sade.
On Saturday (Feb. 10), the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced their full list of nominees for 2024. Fans and observers noted that women artists made up a significant amount of the nominees list, with Mariah Carey, Cher, Sade and Sinead O’Connor being included among the inductees for the first time. Mary J. Blige was also among the inductees after being nominated previously.
The rest of the list includes A Tribe Called Quest (who were nominated last year as well), Dave Matthews Band, Eric B. & Rakim, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Jane’s Addiction, Kool & the Gang, Lenny Kravitz, Oasis and Ozzy Osbourne. In order to be considered, nominees have to have released their first commercial recording at least 25 years before the year they are selected for nomination. The final list of inductees, which are voted on by over 1,000 figures from the music industry along with artists and historians, will be announced in April. The 2024 induction ceremony will take place at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.
The addition of these notable women musicians to the nominees’ list is a definitive response to criticism of the Hall’s past decisions. “It is something that has come up in the past,” said Rock & Roll Hall of Fame President and CEO Greg Harris during an interview. “And quite frankly, in recent years, the nominating committee and the voting body have definitely been electing more diverse members.”
“We continue to work to recognize and honor the impact and influence of female artists by inducting more into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” the Hall of Fame wrote in the press release about the nominees. “As our past three inductee classes have shown, we are committed to making a difference in this area.” According to data released by the institution, from the inception of the Hall in 1986 to 2020, 13% of inductees were women and 37% of them were people of color. From 2021 to 2023, those numbers rose – 33% of inductees were women, and 48% were comprised of people of color.
Count former Oasis singer, solo star and proprietor of one of rock‘s most legendary bored-to-death stares Liam Gallagher as someone unimpressed by his band’s inclusion on the 2024 short list for nomination into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The notoriously tetchy singer who went solo after older brother and chief Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher split the band in 2009 summed up his dyspeptic feelings about the nod in a short, sharp tweet in which he wrote, “F–ck the Rock n Roll hall of fame its full of BUMBACLARTS.” The latter is a Jamaican slang term frequently employed by Gallagher on his socials when peeved to express his disdain in no uncertain terms.
At press time a spokesperson for the RRHOF had not returned Billboard‘s request for additional comment on Gallagher’s tweet.
When someone commented with a reminder to Oasis fans to choose the group in the RRHOF fan vote since, at the moment, Oasis was “losing stratospherically” to this year’s other nominees, Gallagher responded, “Don’t waste your time Rkid as much as it’s appreciated it’s all a load of bollox.” He later wrote a comment on another post suggesting the Britpop superstars really do deserve the award. “I appreciate that you do but I honestly feel there’s something very fishy about those awards,” Gallagher wrote in one of dozens of snarky, humorous replies.
To be fair, someone else resurfaced a 2021 response Gallagher posted to someone asking his thoughts on Oasis’ possible induction into the Rock Hall, to which the singer said, “Not interested in any of that.”
At press time Oasis had just over 23,500 votes from fans, with Ozzy Osbourne leading all vote-getters (39,848), followed by Peter Frampton, Foreigner, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Lenny Kravitz, Mariah Carey and Kool & the Gang. The only acts below Oasis currently are Sinéad O’Connor, Sade and Jane’s Addiction. This year’s roster of nominees also includes Mary J. Blige, Eric B. & Rakim and A Tribe Called Quest.
Gallagher’s pointed response was quite different from one of his fellow irascible British rock peers, metal god Ozzy Osbourne, who said he was “deeply honored” to be considered as a solo act after already being enshrined with Black Sabbath. Foreigner singer Mick Jones also said it was an honor, calling the nomination an “incredible endorsement” of the band’s achievements over the past 45+ years and guitar great Frampton said he “screamed” when he found out. In the past, the Sex Pistols’ John Lydon and Guns N’ Roses’ Axl Rose have thrown cold water on their bands’ induction and a number of key band members have been conspicuously absent at inductions of Black Sabbath, Jefferson Airplane and Van Halen.
Gallagher would certainly not be the first potential inductee to say they’d prefer not being enshrined in Cleveland. Back in 2022, country superstar Dolly Parton initially “respectfully” declined the Hall’s nomination, later reversing course and accepting the honor, as well as releasing her first rock album, Rockstar.
The 2024 nominees will be decided by a voting body of 1,000+ “artists, historians and members of the music industry,” per a press release. The Rock Hall’s Class of 2024 will be announced in late April.
Check out Gallagher’s tweet below.
Fuck the Rock n Roll hall of fame its full of BUMBACLARTS LG x— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) February 12, 2024
Peter Frampton was taking a bathroom break during a recording session at home in Nashville when his managers called to tell him he was included on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ballot — for the first time ever.“I screamed — not like a girl, but I did scream. I said, ‘You’re kidding me!’” Frampton tells Billboard via Zoom, with a laugh. “My band leader Rob [Arthur] was in my music room at the time, ’cause we were doing a video… He came running, ‘What the hell’s going on!’ He thought something was wrong. “So, anyway, it was a very good day.”Frampton’s long-awaited appearance on the ballot — he’s been eligible since the early ’90s based on his first recordings — is good news for a legion of fans that have long been lobbying for him and protesting his exclusion from even the Rock Hall ballot. In fact, Frampton notes, “A lot of those fans feel more outraged about it taking so long for me than I am. So they can all rest easy now; at least my name’s in the hat.”“I never expect anything,” adds Frampton, who for several years has been battling degenerative Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM). “I’m a realist. I understand there have been criticisms of the past Rock Hall administration for bizarre choices, which I agree there were. And, yes, my career is what it is, and whatever anybody thinks about it I do feel I deserve [to be inducted].” However, he cautions, “This isn’t it, you know? I’ve still got to get the votes.”Frampton credits his nomination in part to 2023 Rock Hall inductee Sheryl Crow. She included him in last year’s ceremony in her performance with Stevie Nicks, which Frampton says “stirred the pot big-time and made people aware — including some of the board members, I think. They thought I was already in.”Frampton’s Rock Hall credentials are unquestioned, certainly. A younger classmate of David Bowie‘s at Bromley Technical School in England, where Frampton’s father was a teacher, he began playing from the time he was an adolescent and began touring in 1964 with his band The Preachers, whose recordings were produced by the Rolling Stones‘ Bill Wyman. As a member of The Herd, Frampton was named “The Face of 1968” by the British teen magazine Rave, and a year later he was part of the original Humble Pie, in which he spent three years before going solo.Along the way Frampton also played on George Harrison‘s All Things Must Pass, and he did sessions for The Who‘s John Entwistle, Harry Nilsson and Jerry Lee Lewis. Frampton’s first solo album, Winds ofChange, came out in 1972, and it was of course the iconic Frampton Comes Alive! album in 1976 that made him a global star, with estimated sales of more than 20 million copies worldwide and an induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Frampton lost his rock credibility after that, however, with his I’m in You album and an ill-advised starring role in the 1978 film adaptation of The Beatles‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.“I was trounced on, rightly so, for being the pop star. I became this teenybopper thing,” Frampton acknowledges. But Frampton continued to record and got a boost from Bowie, who featured Frampton on his 1987 album Never Let Me Down and in the band for the subsequent Glass Spider Tour, which reminded the world he was first and foremost a guitar player. Back in rock ‘n’ roll favor, he also won his first Grammy Award in 2007 for the previous year’s instrumental album, Fingertips.
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“I have had so many wonderful helping hands along the way,” Frampton says. “Yes, my career has been my own, but I really have had some helping hands, wonderful helping hands, along the way that went to bat for me.”Frampton adds that the Rock Hall nomination is so fresh that “I haven’t quite realized what I feel it means yet. I’m still in the troughs of ‘Really?!’” But as “a super, super fan of other great talent,” he says the nomination, and the potential of an induction, mean a great deal to him.“It’s a heady kind of thought, really,” Frampton explains. “If I do make it, to be on the same level these artists that are the be-all and end-all, as far as I’m concerned, is pretty incredible.” Among those as well is fellow first-time nominee Foreigner, whose founder Mick Jones played on “All I Wanna Be (Is By Your Side)” on Wind of Change. “I’m so thrilled to hear that Foreigner got on [the ballot] ’cause Mick and I have been friends for a lifetime.”Frampton says he’ll do some modest campaigning — mostly reminding fans to participate in the Rock Hall’s public vote — when he sets out on his Never EVER Say Never Tour on March 3 in Greensboro, N.C. He’s been busy of late as well: he and his son Julian, who’s also a musician, recently appeared on the Fox TV reality show We Are Family , and Frampton is among the 60 musicians playing on Mark Knopfler‘s new version of his 1983 instrumental “Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero,” a fundraiser for the U.K.’s Teenage Cancer Trust that comes out Feb. 19.During the summer, meanwhile, Frampton says he’ll continue work on both a new album of original songs — his first since Hummingbird in a Box in 2014 — and a documentary that’s been in process for several years.Rock Hall inductees are expected to be announced during early May, with the ceremony taking place this fall in Cleveland, on a date to be determined. Disney+ will again telecast the event.
