Whitney Houston will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2020 alongside Notorious B.I.G . and Nine Inch Nails , according to a recent update to the official site of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Also being inducted are Depeche Mode, The Doobie Brothers, and T-Rex.
Music producer Jon Landau and entertainment executive Irving Azoff will receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award during the ceremony. The award honors songwriters, producers, disc jockeys, record executives, journalists, and other industry professionals.
There were originally 16 nominees on the ballot for the Class of 2020, all music legends with a rightful place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
These included Pat Benatar, Dave Matthews Band, Depeche Mode, The Doobie Brothers, Whitney Houston, Judas Priest, Kraftwerk, MC5, Motorhead, Nine Inch Nails, Notorious B.I.G., Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Todd Rundgren, Soundgarden, T. Rex, and Thin Lizzy.
This year’s performance lineup will inevitably be filled with tribute performances, as several of the inductees including Houston, Notorious B.I.G. (real name Christopher Wallace), and Marc Bolan of T. Rex have since passed.
It has not yet been announced who will induct the nominees or who will take to the stage to perform. Those bands that still have most of their members will likely perform after their induction, in accordance with tradition.
According to the official announcement on the site, the winners were determined by an international voting body of more than 1,000 artists, including living inductees, historians, and members of the music industry.
Although The Dave Matthews Band was the overall winners of the fan vote, they did not make it on to the final list of inductees for this year.
Fans appeared to be divided in the comments section of a post shared by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its Instagram page. Many people included their own thoughts on who should have been both nominated and inducted.
“Cher has been eligible since 1990 and started her career in 1965. When will you give this woman the credit she deserves?? Cher’s attitude, music, costumes are literally the definition of female rock and roll and y’all should be ashamed,” said one disgruntled fan.
“The great Pat Benatar isn’t in? She paved the way for many female singers,” said a second fan.
“This is ridiculous. What is even the point of the fan vote? What a sham!” said a third fan about the exclusion of The Dave Matthews Band from this year’s inductees.
The 35th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place at Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 2. The official ceremony will be broadcast live for the first time on HBO, starting at 8 p.m. EST. In past years, the show has been taped and then aired at a later date.
