Cher, Ozzy Osbourne, Peter Frampton and Mary J. Blige are part of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class of 2024, along with Dave Matthews Band, Kool & the Gang, Foreigner and A Tribe Called Quest, the chamber announced on Sunday.
The newest collection of stars will be officially inducted into the pantheon in a ceremony Oct. 19 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, home to the hall’s affiliated museum.
The 39th annual group of inductees matches the genre and demographic spread of recent years, with a pop diva (Cher), a metal icon (Osbourne), a top funk band of 1970s and ’80s vintage (Kool & the Gang), a pair of ’90s hip-hop and R&B heroes (Blige, Tribe) and boomer-era rock staples (Frampton, Foreigner) and Gen X (Matthews).
Of those artists, four made it to the hall in their first nomination: Cher, Foreigner, Frampton and Kool & the Gang. Osbourne was first nominated as a solo act, although he was inducted into the hall as part of Black Sabbath in 2006. The Rock Hall has come under increasing pressure in recent years to diversify its ranks with more women and artists of color, and has made progress in doing so issue, although some critics say it’s not enough.
“Rock and roll is an ever-evolving fusion of sounds that influences 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 down musical barriers and influenced countless artists who followed in their footsteps.”
Seven acts nominated in February did not make the cut: Mariah Carey, Jane’s Addiction, Oasis, Sade, Eric B. & Rakim, Lenny Kravitz and, perhaps most surprisingly, Sinead O’Connor, who died last year at age 56 years. , caused a global outpouring of grief and a rethinking of her place in rock history.
The chamber will also honor blues musicians Alexis Korner, John Mayall and Big Mama Thornton with a musical influence award, while Jimmy Buffett, Dionne Warwick, the MC5 and Motown producer-songwriter Norman Whitfield will receive an honor for musical excellence . Suzanne de Passe, film and television producer and longtime Motown executive, will receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award for Non-Performers.
Artists become eligible for nomination 25 years after the release of their first recording. Nominations are voted on by more than 1,000 music historians, industry professionals and inducted artists.
This year, close observers of the Rock Hall’s opaque voting process had predicted the arrival of at least some of this year’s inductees.
One is Frampton, the English-born guitarist and singer-songwriter who played in the band Humble Pie in the late 1960s and early 1970s and went on to have a successful solo career, notably with the hit monster , double-LP “Frampton Comes Alive. !” (1976). At last year’s ceremony, Sheryl Crow had Frampton come on stage, to apparent acclaim.
And Cher essentially made her own case when she noted on an episode of “The Kelly Clarkson Show” in December that she’s had No. 1 songs — as part of Sonny and Cher, or on her own — in each of the past seven decades but not he was in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
“Wait, are you serious?” Clarkson said.
“I wouldn’t be in this now if they gave me a million dollars” answered Ser. “I’m never going to change my mind. They can just go themselves.”