Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2023 Inductees: Missy Elliott, Kate Bush, and George Michael

2023-11-03 23:50:15

(New York) The music elite in the United States gathered Friday evening in New York to celebrate the new entrants to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the pantheon of rock and many popular musical styles: among them, Missy Elliott , Kate Bush and George Michael, died in 2016.

Updated yesterday at 11:31 p.m.

Maggy DONALDSON Agence France-Presse

This institution established in Cleveland (Ohio), in the northern United States, is also trying to improve its image in terms of gender diversity and ethnic diversity.

In addition to the American rapper Missy Elliott, the Californians of the metal and rap fusion, Rage Against the Machine, the Texan icon of country, Willie Nelson, 90 years old, the American rocker Sheryl Crow and the R & B group The Spinners complete the 2023 vintage.

At a gala concert Friday night at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in their honor, singer George Michael was inducted by fellow Wham! bandmate Andrew Ridgeley, and a medley was performed on stage by Miguel, Adam Levine and Carrie Underwood, including One More Try.

George Michael “would have been delighted and flattered by his entry into these hallowed ranks,” according to Andrew Ridgeley. “George was one of the greatest singers of our time, his voice was sublime […] His pain healed ours and his grace gave hope,” he added.

Rocker Sheryl Crow, for her part, sang her biggest hits, including If It Makes You Happy with Olivia Rodrigo, who we then join Stevie Nicks and Peter Frampton.

“All my energy has been devoted to expressing my experiences through music and words, and here I have received back what I gave,” said Sheryl Crow.

The prestigious Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – which surveyed more than 1,000 musicians, music historians, music industry executives to make its choices – has never been solely confined to rock and has opened its pantheon, from its first edition in 1986, to other genres: soul, blues, R & B, folk, country, then rap.

In 2022, rapper Eminem and country queen Dolly Parton made their debut.

First woman in hip-hop

Missy Elliott will become the first female star of the hip-hop cultural and musical genre who celebrated her 50th birthday in New York this summer – to enter the music pantheon.

To be one, you need at least 25 years of career following the first commercial success.

It is the rapper Queen Latifah who will induct Missy Elliott, a “blessing” said the latter on the ABC channel because “whatever people say, the world of hip-hop is both special and unique”.

Rapper Big Boi inducted the famous British singer-songwriter and musician Kate Bush, 65, who announced in a press release on Friday that she “might not[t] not attend” the ceremony, without giving a reason, but expressing her “honor” to be rewarded by “the beating heart of the American music industry”.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is one of the pillars of this industry, as is the Recording Academy which oversees the Grammy Awards, the Oscars of music.

This pantheon has had to, like many cultural and entertainment institutions in the United States, make efforts for its image and its diversity policy: to be less masculine and less white.

Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin and Madonna have notably been inducted, but women represent barely 10% of the thousand members of the Hall of Fame since 1986.

Controversy

Because the institution was shaken by a controversy in September.

Jann Wenner, 77-year-old American businessman and founder in 1967 of the respected cultural magazine Rolling Stone, was removed from the board of directors of the Hall of Fame for comments deemed racist and sexist in the New York Times.

Asked regarding the complete absence of musicians of color in his latest book of tribute to the greatest rock stars (The Masters), Jann Wenner responded that no female rocker “expressed herself in a sufficiently intellectually structured way”.

The president of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, John Sykes, assured this week in the New York Times that “the electorate is young and diverse enough to really make the most thoughtful decisions regarding who should be inducted.”

“We need to do better, but we are making progress,” he said.

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