Kiss, Linda Ronstadt, Peter Gabriel + More Voted Into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Kiss, Linda Ronstadt, Peter Gabriel, Nirvana, Hall & Oates and Cat Stevens have been elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 2014 class. That means Deep Purple, Yes and the Zombies are among the nominees who were not chosen this year.
According to Rolling Stone, Bruce Springsteen's longtime backing group, the E Street Band, will be presented with the Award for Musical Excellence. Former Beatles manager Brian Epstein and original Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham will both receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award for non-performers.
According to the Hall's official website, "The 2014 inductees are chosen by a secret ballot of over 600 individual voters consisting of all past inductees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, musicians, historians, critics and members of the music industry."
This year they gave one of those 600+ ballots to music fans around the world via a special poll. Kiss edged out Nirvana, Yes and Deep Purple for this honor by earning 17% of the vote. So who knows, maybe it was your mouse click that finally got them into the Hall of Fame.
Two years ago, the group seemed less than concerned about repeatedly failing to be elected into the organization, suggesting they could "just buy it and fire everybody." But this year they encouraged fans to vote for them in the fan-voted poll on their Twitter page. Gene Simmons also courted controversy by saying he wouldn't want to perform with original Kiss members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss if the group were inducted this year.
Gabriel was already inducted into the Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis back in 2010. Since leaving that group in 1975, he's remained one of the most innovative and literate artists in rock music, as well as being one of the first to incorporate world music influences into his compositions.
Ronstadt, one of the biggest music stars of the '70s, helped reacquaint a generation of music fans with then-forgotten rock and R&B songs from the ’50s and ’60s, and also helped introduce figures like Andrew Gold and Warren Zevon to a wider audience. Earlier this year she announced that Parkinson's disease had brought an end to her music career.
The 29th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held in April 2014 in New York City. The festivities will be presented on HBO in May.