Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
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Courtney Love is legendarily allergic to holding her tongue. The former Hole singer proved it again on Friday (March 17) with yet another broadside aimed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in an op-ed in the Guardian, a follow-up to an Instagram missive earlier this week in which she said she was “so over these ole boys #fixtherockandrollhalloffame.”
The piece, titled, “Why Are Women So Marginalised by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?,” opens with Love describing her lifelong obsession with rock n’ roll by stating, “I got into this business to write great songs and have fun.”
But, she writes, “What no magazine or album could teach me or prepare me for was how exceptional you have to be, as a woman and an artist, to keep your head above water in the music business.” She cites the pioneering work of Big Mama Thornton (“Hound Dog”), who paved the way for Elvis, and, later, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, saying that their songs, and the latter’s “evangelical” guitar playing, changed music forever and helped create rock ‘n’ roll.
She then notes Tharpe didn’t make it into the RRHOF until 2018 — following what she terms a public shaming — more than three decades after 1986’s, all-male group of initial inductees: Chuck Berry, James Brown, Fats Domino, Ray Charles, Little Richard, Sam Cooke, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.
For the record, she adds, Thornton is still not in today, when just 8.48% of inductees are women and only nine women are on the organization’s nominating board. Love also quotes music historian Evelyn McDonnell, a Rock Hall voter, as saying that among the musicians and music industry members on the voting committee, 90% are male.
“If so few women are being inducted into the Rock Hall, then the nominating committee is broken. If so few Black artists, so few women of color, are being inducted, then the voting process needs to be overhauled,” Love writes. “Music is a life force that is constantly evolving – and they can’t keep up.”
Love says this year’s nominations provided another reminder of “just how extraordinary a woman must be to make it into the ol’ boys club,” noting that more women were nominated this year than at any time in the organization’s 40-year history. That group includes Kate Bush, Cyndi Lauper, Sheryl Crow and Missy Elliott, as well as the White Stripes’ drummer Meg White and New Order keyboardist Gillian Gilbert.
However, Love wrote, visionary pop iconoclast Bush is on her fourth nomination (after first becoming eligible in 2004), despite being the first female act to hit No. 1 on the U.K. charts with a song she wrote at 19, “Wuthering Heights.” She didn’t make it onto a ballot until 2018, after the Hall of Fame’s co-founder and then-chairman, Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann Wenner, was inducted in 2004.
“Never mind that she was the first woman in pop history to have written every track on a million-selling debut,” Love wrote of 1978′s The Kick Inside. “A pioneer of synthesisers and music videos, she was discovered last year by a new generation of fans when ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’ featured in the Netflix hit Stranger Things. She is still making albums.”
The list goes on: 30 years to induct Nina Simone, the 2014 crowning of Linda Ronstadt, who released her debut album in 1969 — acts are eligible 25 years after the release of their first record — and was the first woman to headline stadiums, not to mention Tina Turner finally being ushered in as a solo act 30 years after her first induction with former husband, bandmate and abuser, Ike Turner.
“You can write the Rock Hall off as a ‘boomer tomb’ and argue that it is building a totem to its own irrelevance,” she writes. “Why should we care who is in and who is not? But as scornful as its inductions have been, the Rock Hall is a bulwark against erasure, which every female artist faces whether they long for the honour or want to spit on it. It is still game recognising game, history made and marked.”
Calling the Rock Hall a “king-making force” in the global music industry that can impact an artist’s concert ticket prices, performance guarantees and quality of their reissue campaigns, Love says getting enshrined can be a “life-changing” experience. “The Rock Hall has covered itself in a sheen of gravitas and longevity that the Grammys do not have,” she adds. “Particularly for veteran female artists, induction confers a status that directly affects the living they are able to make. It is one of the only ways, and certainly the most visible, for these women to have their legacy and impact honoured with immediate material effect.”
Love ticks off seven-time nominee funk icon Chaka Khan as another “tragic” miss in the Hall’s induction history and claims that, “The Rock Hall’s canon-making doesn’t just reek of sexist gatekeeping, but also purposeful ignorance and hostility. This year, one voter told Vulture magazine that they barely knew who Bush was – in a year she had a worldwide No 1 single 38 years after she first released it.”
A spokesperson for the RRHOF had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment at press time. Billboard has not independently confirmed the statistics or numbers cited by Love in the piece.
“If the Rock Hall is not willing to look at the ways it is replicating the violence of structural racism and sexism that artists face in the music industry, if it cannot properly honour what visionary women artists have created, innovated, revolutionised and contributed to popular music – well, then let it go to hell in a handbag,” Love concludes.
Courtney Love is going for credit in the real world. The Hole frontwoman is calling out what she feels is the lack of female representation in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in an Instagram carousel shared March 10.
Citing a tweet from author Jessica Hopper, from the same date, in which the journalist criticized the institution’s programs celebrating Women’s History Month, Love captions a screengrab of Hopper’s post, “So over these ole boys. #fixtherockandrollhalloffame.”
The author’s original post says that of the 719 Rock Hall inductees, only 61 — roughly 8.5 percent — are women. Hopper goes on to report that the representation of women in the Rock Hall is “worse than women-artists-on-country-radio numbers (10%) and women headliners at major music festivals (13%).”
“Thanks so much @msjesshopp I’ve been begging someone to do this math for decades,” Love added.
In 2020, ahead of the year’s Rock Hall induction ceremony, NPR reported on a similar — though lower — percentage. That year, according to the nonprofit media organization, less than 8 percent of inductees were women.
Janet Jackson also spoke out on the lack of women in the Rock Hall during her 2019 induction speech, closing with, “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, please: 2020, induct more women.” Whitney Houston, Pat Benatar and Chaka Khan (with Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan) were nominated for the 2020 class. Of the three, only Houston was inducted that year.
In the second image of her carousel post, the Grammy-nominated rocker shares what appears to be a text message she sent to Dave Grohl, who was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2021 with the Foo Fighters, and in 2014 with Nirvana. “Have fun at rock hall Dave. Make sure and hold the seats of Tina turner & carole king, both who have been eligible for 30! Years each,” her text reads. (Both Turner and King were inducted as solo performers in the 2021 class; the former was previously inducted as part of Ike & Tina Turner in 1991, while the latter was inducted as part of the songwriting duo Goffin/King in 1990.)
Billboard has reached out to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Grohl’s rep declined to comment.
Six women have been nominated for the Rock Hall’s class of 2023: Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, Cyndi Lauper, Gillian Gilbert (with New Order) and Meg White (as part of The White Stripes). The inductees are set to be revealed in May; the ceremony will happen in the fall.
Check out Love’s Instagram post below:
Rage Against the Machine received its latest nomination for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame earlier this month, and Tom Morello finally reacted to the news in a new interview on Wednesday (Feb. 8).
“This is Rage Against the Machine’s fifth nomination. So always the bridesmaid, never the bride in a way,” he said in a joint sit-down with Måneskin for Audacy Check In. “It’s an honor, and it’s great for the fans, and it’s something my mom would be very happy (about).”
Other acts up for induction as part of the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023 include Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, Cyndi Lauper, George Michael, Willie Nelson, Soundgarden, The Spinners, A Tribe Called Quest, The White Stripes and Warren Zevon.
During the chat, the rock guitarist also offered up his assessment of the Italian newcomers, whom he joined on the band’s hard-charging new single “Gossip” from their recently released third studio album RUSH!, saying, “It’s an unusual thing in 2023 to have a rock and roll band that has songs on the radio. Then to have a song on the radio that has not one, but two guitar solos in it. It really is an anomaly in this day and age.”
The members of Måneskin only had great things to say about working with Morello in the studio, telling host Nicole Alvarez they learned from his “passion and not really giving a f–k about all these limits or anything. And that really inspired us and made us [think], like, ‘If a legend does it this way, then for me it’s right.’”
Watch the full interview with Morello and Måneskin below.
Here’s a list that, frankly, no one wants to be on – artists who have had the most nominations to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame without being inducted. Because, whether they admit or not, most artists wants to be inducted, awarded, feted and celebrated.
Three of this year’s nominees to the Rock Hall are creeping up this list. This is the fifth nomination for Rage Against the Machine and the fourth for Kate Bush and The Spinners. It’s the second for Iron Maiden, Soundgarden and A Tribe Called Quest — but we limited this list to artists who have been nominated three or more times without being inducted.
Sometimes, the Rock Hall gives special awards to artists who have been passed over in the regular voting. Nile Rodgers received an award for musical excellence in 2017, the same year his band Chic was passed over for the 11th time. LL Cool J received the same award in 2021 following several snubs. The Rock Hall stresses that all routes to their honors are valid and should be accorded respect. They don’t want anyone to regard special honors as consolation prizes (even if many fans will see them that way).
LL’s musical excellence award removed him from this list. Chic remains on the list because the other members of the group — Bernard Edwards, Tony Thompson, Luci Martin and Norma Jean Wright — have yet to be honored.
Eight of this year’s 14 candidates are first-time nominees, which suggests that time is marching on in the Rock Hall nominating process, as it should. You can also see evidence of that in the “most recent nod” column here. 1950s R&B star Chuck Willis’ most recent nod was in 2011. You have to go back to 2005 for Gram Parsons’ most recent nod, and all the way back to 1988 for Ben E. King’s. Barring some new impetus to induct these artists, their chances appear close to nil. But never say never: Kate Bush had a thoroughly unexpected revival in 2022, which greatly boosted her chances of making it in this year.
Chaka Khan has faced the voters seven times without being inducted – three times on her own and four times fronting Rufus.
To be nominated for the Rock Hall, an artist or band must have released its first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination.
Here’s how Billboard‘s Andrew Unterberger pegs this year’s nominees in terms of their likelihood of being inducted this year — from least to most likely. Of the six repeat candidates, he is highest on Bush and Soundgarden making it in this year, with the other four deemed less likely to get the job done this year.
Here’s a list of the artists who have been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three or more times but haven’t been inducted yet.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is filled with hundreds of artists that combine commercial success with cultural influence: The Beatles (class of 1988), U2 (class of 2005), Blondie (class of 2006), The Who (class of 1990), Stevie Wonder (class of 1989), Bob Dylan (class of 1988) and Whitney Houston (class of 2020) represent dozens of No. 1 records, platinum records and Grammy Awards (and one Nobel Prize in literature).
Sometimes, as with Parliament-Funkadelic (class of 1997), importance can also be measured by the number of times their songs were sampled in hit songs. In other instances, such as the Grateful Dead (class of 1994), inclusion of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame comes from an unmatched touring legacy more than a relatively modest sales history (In The Dark reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1987).
But influence alone might not be enough. In 2022, voters opted not to induct proto-punk groups New York Dolls and MC5, pioneering Afro-funk musician Fela Kuti and new wave group Devo (whose track “Whip It” reached No. 14 on the Hot 100 in 1980). They even passed on Beck, whose 180,000 album equivalents units far surpassed both Pat Benetar and The Eurythmics, although his airplay audience was far lower.
Influence can trump commercial success in determining who voters induct, however. The Ramones (class of 2002) and Velvet Underground (class of 1996) had little commercial success when active. Even as their fame grew over the decades, neither band’s catalog sales matched their significant cultural importance. The Hall has purposefully set aside space to recognize the genre’s foundational musicians. Blues greats such as Robert Johnson (class of 1986), Lead Belly (class of 1988), Howlin’ Wolf (class of 1991) and Elmore James (class of 1992) were inducted as “early influences” for their incalculable impact on rock music, not their album sales figures.
None of this year’s nominees have 2022 consumption numbers nearly as low as MC5 (8,000), New York Dolls (7,000) and Kuti (37,000) had in 2021. Warren Zevon is the at the bottom of the group with 66,000 units. Last year, Carly Simon’s 91,000 units was the lowest of the inductees.
Kate Bush, also passed over for induction in 2022, could have better odds this year after her 1985 recording “Running Up That Hill” re-entered the Hot 100 — peaking at No. 3 — thanks to the Netflix series Stranger Things. Last year, that renewed interest pushed Bush’s album equivalent up 326% and her U.S. radio audience up more than 5,400%, according to Luminate.
Returning nominees Rage Against the Machine and A Tribe Called Quest have some of the highest consumption figures of this year’s batch. Both groups had about the same number of equivalent units in 2021 and 2022. Soundgarden’s 218,000 album equivalent units are in the middle of the pack but could be helped by its airplay audience that ranked second only to Bush.
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Source: ROBYN BECK / Getty / Missy Elliott
Missy Elliott, A Tribe Called Quest, and The Spinners are among 14 other nominees who are one step closer to music immortality after being nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2023.
Wednesday, the complete list of nominees came out, including names like Rage Against the Machine, Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Iron Maiden, Joy Division-New Order, Cyndi Lauper, George Michael, Willie Nelson, Soundgarden, The White Stripes, and Warren Zevon.
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For Elliott, who gave the world the iconic album Supa Dupa Fly, this will be her first time being on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s ballot, per Variety, and there is no one more deserving of the honor.
Among her many accomplishments, Elliott is the first and only female Hip-Hop artist with six platinum albums on her resume. She has written numerous hits for herself and other artists while producing iconic records for the late Aaliyah, Keyshia Cole, 702, Nicole Wray, and Jazmine Sullivan.
This Is The Second Time For ATCQ
For ATCQ, this is the second time the Queens Hip-Hop group has made the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s finalist list. They were nominated in 2022 with last year’s inductees Enimem, Lionel Richie, plus Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
ATCQ is one of the best Hip-Hop groups ever, blessing the Hip-Hop genre with three platinum albums that gave us classic records like “Find A Way,” “Award Tour,” “Can I Kick It?” and “Check The Rhime.”
The 70s iconic Detroit R&B group The Spinners, best known for hits like “It’s A Shame,” got their start with Motown Records before jumping ship to Atlantic Records, releasing 19 Top 10 hits on the R&B Billboard Charts, including songs your parents still sing while cleaning the house like “Sadie,” “Ill Be Around,” “The Rubberband Man,” and “Might Love.”
How To Help Get The Into The Hall
If Missy Elliott and ATCQ make it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they will join the likes of Run DMC, the Beastie Boys, N.W.A., JAY-Z, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Biggie Smalls, Tupac Shakur, and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
If you want to ensure Missy Elliott, ATCQ, and The Spinners make it in, fans are encouraged to vote, which they can do daily on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s website until April 28.
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Photo: ROBYN BECK / Getty
Sheryl Crow had no words for her excitement about being on the list of 2023 nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Okay, she had a few. “I am BLOWN AWAY by the nomination,” the singer tweeted Wednesday night (Feb. 1). “It really means so much to me. Thank for your support, and for being a part of the voting process! Love you all! [heart emoji],” she added.
Crow joined an eclectic list of nominees for the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023, including: Art rock auteur Kate Bush; hip-hop iconoclast Missy Elliott; metal legends Iron Maiden; post-punk-turned-dance-rock pioneers Joy Division/New Order; eccentric pop icon Cyndi Lauper; pop titan George Michael; country GOAT Willie Nelson; rap-metal firebrands Rage Against the Machine; grunge trailblazers Soundgarden; soul vocal pros The Spinners; alt hip-hop progenitors A Tribe Called Quest; garage blues revivalists The White Stripes; and caustic singer-songwriter Warren Zevon.
The rootsy rocker joins other first-time nominees Elliot, Joy Division/New Order, Lauper, Michael, Nelson, the Stripes and Zevon. To be eligible for the RRHOF, an artist’s first commercial release must have come out at least 25 years prior to the nomination year.
After starting her career as a backup singer on Michael Jackson’s Bad tour in 1987 and recoding backing vocals for everyone from Jimmy Buffett to Stevie Wonder, Crow dropped her smash Grammy-winning 1994 debut Tuesday Night Music Club, which spawned the hits “Leaving Las Vegas,” “All I Wanna Do,” “Strong Enough” and “Can’t Cry Anymore.” Her self-titled 1996 follow-up continued the hot streak, landing more Grammy wins for the single “If It Makes You Happy,” and spawning the radio staples “A Change Would Do You Good” and “Everyday Is a Winding Road.”
Inductees will be revealed in May, with the induction ceremony taking place this fall. The top five artists selected through fan voting will be tallied along with the ballots from the Rock Hall’s international voting body to determine the Class of 2023. Fans can vote online every day through April 28 at vote.rockhall.com or IRL at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland.
Check out Crow’s tweet below.
Warren Zevon’s daughter Ariel says that “tears came to my eyes” when she learned that her father was finally nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But she and her brother Jordan were all smiles as they discussed the nod with Billboard via Zoom on Wednesday (Feb. 1).
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The consideration has been a long time coming. Zevon — who died in 2003 at the age of 56 from mesothelioma, a type of cancer — has been eligible since the mid-90s, and his exclusion from the ballot has been among the most controversial through the years. Social media groups were started to protest and also promote a nomination — echoing good friend and early producer Jackson Browne, who once told Billboard, “Why the fuck isn’t he in there? Come-on!”
Most recently it was revealed that Billy Joel wrote a letter to the Rock Hall in praise and support of Zevon.
And there were huzzahs from many corners of the music world when the nomination was formally announced on Wednesday morning.
Zevon’s legacy certainly merits the celebration. He left 15 studio albums — including The Wind, recorded after his terminal diagnosis. It won Grammy Awards — Zevon’s first — for best contemporary folk album and best rock performance from the track “Disorder in the House,” featuring Bruce Springsteen. Linda Ronstadt, Bob Dylan and Browne are just a couple of the artists who have covered Zevon’s songs over the years. And former manager/producer Andrew Slater is moving forward with a family-approved documentary.
Both of Zevon’s children have followed in their father’s footsteps and released music of their own. Jordan, who resides in Los Angeles, contributed tracks to the tribute albums Enjoy Every Sandwich and Hurry Home Early, and Ariel, who’s in Vermont, also has acting credits in Silence & Darkness, My Little Assassin and TV’s ER. And while they’re not getting ahead of themselves, both are happy that their father’s finally getting this long-awaited opportunity…
Billboard: How are you feeling about the nomination?
Jordan: I’m excited. I had to wake up at 4.50 in the morning to get the news firsthand, so I’m very caffeinated and possibly a little dizzy, but I’m excited.
Ariel: When I first saw it, tears came to my eyes first and then sort of the shock of it being 20 years later since he passed away. It feels definitely, like, significant. I don’t pay much attention to any of this type of stuff; I’ve removed myself from the whole business aspect of it. But it feels like a significant moment for the Zevon family.
How would he have felt about it?
Jordan: There’s this misconception that dad wouldn’t have cared. I think maybe, to be blunt, the later records didn’t sell a million copies; that didn’t mean he hated the industry. It just meant he was on the fringes because he wasn’t Britney Spears. But he wouldn’t have been, like, “Who cares about that?” It’d be like, “Hey Johnny, hey Ariel, guess what?!” It would have been, “It’s a big deal.” It was his business. He wanted to be good at it. You want to win, you know, best plumber of the year. (laughs)
He’s been on so many lists over the years of someone who’s nomination was overdue. Did you feel that way as well?
Jordan: I’ve respected the choices that they’ve made. It’s been such a broad range of people that I kind of didn’t think it would happen. I thought he was worthy of it, but it seemed like there were so many boxes they were trying to check that getting around to dad might not have happened. It was such a grassroots thing, people rooting for it, that I was excited for them. There’s been Facebook groups and stuff like that for years.
Ariel: I have been asked — and Jordan might have had this similar experience where some of the fans ask me in this, like accusatory way, like I’ve stood in the way somehow, allowing (the exclusion) to happen. And It’s like, “No, I would love it. It’d be great!” So, yeah, I’m especially thrilled for all of those fans who have been pounding their fists saying, “Why hasn’t this happened yet?!” It’s great for them.
Do you have any sense about why it finally happened this year?
Jordan: I don’t know exactly what’s happening right now. I get notifications form the Facebook groups, just so I can post things once in awhile. They’re hosted by other people. But the people asking to join his group and the amount of people that have gone to his website over the past few months has just skyrocketed. So I don’t know.
I think there is a feeling from awhile back, like strike while the iron is hot. But I’ve seen this resurgence lately that I can’t really account for. It’s been amazing to watch. But before any of this…I just kept wondering, “Where is everybody coming from?” It’s pretty exciting. It’s just something in the air, I guess.
What’s today been like? Have you been hearing from a lot of people?
Jordan: Yeah, I have. It’s just some of the people like Roger Bell and Duncan Aldrich, and some of the crew that he’s worked with. I haven’t heard from, like Jackson (Browne) or Waddy (Wachtel) or anybody like that. But it’s bene nice.
Ariel: Some, although again I’m pretty removed from everything. But yes, I have gotten calls and messages saying congratulations. There is definitely a buzz about it, and it’s exciting. It’s an exciting thing to share with my kids. My kids are actually almost 20, so for them it’s like, “Look what’s going on!” They’re pretty psyched about it. They’re passing around the voting thing to all their buddies at college. That’s great.
Jordan: I’m the older one but Ariel is the smarter one, and she’s distanced herself from social media and stuff, which I should really be doing at my age. (laughs) But I’ve been more kind of tuned into all the Facebook hits and sharing and everything else and, yeah, that part has been a little out of control. My 14-year-old is excited, but her biggest question is, “If he does get in, will Billie Eilish be at the ceremony?” (laughs)
Were the two of you aware of the Billy Joel letter that had been sent?
Jordan: No.
Ariel: No, I didn’t know. He’d be cool to see play a song.
Jordan: OK, we’ll put that one out there.
Ariel: That’s one I hadn’t even thought about but that’d be really cool. (laughs)
It is just a nomination at this point, but are you allowing yourselves to think about what the induction night might be like?
Jordan: I do. It’s been a while since I’ve attended or done one of those things, and you know it may be a little geeky, but that’s kind of like a like a sports game, or something like that. I know the energy and the way they’re put together. So I can just kind of picture it almost on the technical aspect and basically the adrenaline of the entire evening, and I kind of picture it that way.
It’s almost a rhetorical question, but what’s your stump speech to the voters? Why does your dad deserve to get in?
Ariel: For one thing, you know, great artists, great writers, great songwriters, write things that echo again and again throughout the ages, right? And I feel like probably some of that momentum happening right now is that his words are still resonating, maybe truer than ever, his view on his perspective on the world.
It resonates in a whole deeper, broader sense, I think, for a lot of people nowadays given where we’re at globally and everything else. So I would say that’s a good sign of somebody who probably deserves to be recognized, for a contribution to the arts, just generally speaking.
Jordan: You know, I’ve been just engulfed in music all my life, and listening to so many different genres. And I just think the quality of the music and the songwriting, it’s such a different level, and I think that he put so much care into it. He didn’t flippantly write songs. When he was writing songs there was a typewriter. There was a lot of little balled up pieces of paper. He even told me, “It’s really hard.”
And I think that when you put his education, musically and intellectually, along with his experiences, it just combined to make something that is really in, and of its own. You can have, like, the dangerous songs and the party songs, and then the more fore-thinking songs like “Don’t Let Us Get Sick” and “My Shit’s fucked up,” which means so much more even now than they did then. I just think his view and the way that he managed to keep writing for such a long time. And commercial put aside, quality-wise he still kept writing some songs that I think are just really, truly amazing, throughout his career. I just think he is pretty fucking good!
It’s fitting that on Wednesday morning (Feb. 1) Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott became the first-ever female hip-hop artist to be nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in her first year of eligibility. The pioneering rapper/songwriter/producer celebrated the news in a statement in which she said, “This is an incredible honor. I’m so humbled and grateful to be counted amongst all the incredible honorees.”
Elliott joined a list of 2023 nominees that also included Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Cyndi Lauper, Iron Maiden, JoyDivision/New Order, The Spinners, George Michael, Willie Nelson, Rage Against the Machine, Soundgarden, A Tribe Called Quest, The White Stripes and Warren Zevon.
“I’ve spent my career making the kind of music I love and it means so much to know that I have touched others as well,” Elliott added. “But to hear that I am the first female hip hop artist to EVER be nominated into the Rock & Rock Hall of Fame?!? Wow!! This one hits extra different as I hope it opens doors for other female emcees to be recognized!”
To be eligible for the RRHOF, an artist’s first commercial release must have come out at least 25 years prior to the nomination year. After making a name for herself in her early 20s writing and rapping on songs by Raven-Symoné, Jodeci, SWV and Aaliyah, Elliott’s genre-expanding debut, Supa Dupa Fly, dropped in 1997, featuring the psychedelic video for “The Rain,” her first of many eye-popping collaborations with director Hype Williams.
Elliott won a Grammy — one of four she’s earned to date — for best rap solo performance in 2002 for her landmark hit “Get Ur Freak On” and hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 with her 2003 single “Work It.” In addition to her six solo albums, Elliott has continued to be one of the most in-demand producers and songwriters in the business, working with everyone from Mary J. Blige and TLC to Beyoncé, Ciara, Fantasia, Jazmine Sullivan, Monica and Fifth Harmony, among many others.
She was also the first female rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (2019), the first to receive the MTV VMAs Video Vanguard Award (2019) and with more than 40 Million records sold worldwide she is the best-selling female rapper in Luminate history.
RRHOF Inductees will be revealed in May, with the induction ceremony taking place this fall. The top five artists selected through fan voting will be tallied along with the ballots from the Rock Hall’s international voting body to determine the Class of 2023. Fans can vote online every day through April 28 at vote.rockhall.com or IRL at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland.
Cyndi Lauper is definitely good enough for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” singer who blazed a technicolor trail through the 1980s with a string of bouncy pop hits and equally colorful videos was overjoyed to celebrate the news that she is among the 2023 nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“It’s such an honor and thrill to be recognized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a nominee,” Lauper tells Billboard about bout joining the 2023 class of nominees that also includes Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, Iron Maiden, JoyDivision/New Order, The Spinners, George Michael, Willie Nelson, Rage Against the Machine, Soundgarden, A Tribe Called Quest, The White Stripes and Warren Zevon
“Seeing my name on this year’s ballot with so many talents that I admire means so much to me,” she adds. “It has been a lifetime privilege to reach so many different kinds of fans with a message of following your own path (and having fun along the way, too).”
First-time nominee Lauper made the list nearly four decades after the release of her smash debut solo album, 1983’s She’s So Unusual, which included such forever hits as “Time After Time,” “She Bop” and her signature empowerment anthem, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” Thanks to those hits and covers of new wave band The Brains’ “Money Changes Everything” and Prince’s “When You Were Mine,” the album spun off four straight Billboard Hot 100 top five hits and charted on the Billboard 200 for more than a year.
The Grammy-winning album arrived at a time when MTV was a rising avenue of exposure for visually interesting acts, with Lauper’s technicolor hair, larger-than-life persona and fun-time videos helping to push her to the top of the pop heap. She continued to spin off hits throughout the decade, including “True Colors,” “The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough,” “I Drove All Night” and others as she dipped her toe into acting in films and TV (Vibes, Life With Mickey, The Simpsons) while becoming an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ causes and a beacon for a new generation of female rock and pop stars.
Inductees will be revealed in May, with the induction ceremony taking place this fall. The top five artists selected through fan voting will be tallied along with the ballots from the Rock Hall’s international voting body to determine the Class of 2023. Fans can vote online every day through April 28 at vote.rockhall.com or IRL at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland.