Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame inducts Cher, Foreigner, Mary J. Blige, Ozzy and extra : NPR

CLEVELAND — Pure pop kicked off the inductions on the the Rock & Roll Corridor Fame induction ceremony on Saturday as Dua Lipa and Cher sang “Imagine” earlier than ceding the stage to a medley of rump shakers by funk masters Kool & the Gang, rock classics by Foreigner and Peter Frampton, and a powerhouse efficiency by gospel icon Dionne Warwick, bringing the home down at 83.

The inductees this yr in a ceremony that stretched over 5 hours additionally included: Mary J. Blige, A Tribe Known as Quest, Ozzy Osbourne, Dave Matthews Band and posthumous recognition for Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Alexis Korner, John Mayall, Norman Whitfield and Huge Mama Thornton.

“The place do I even start? Cher isn’t one individual,” Zendaya mentioned when inducting Cher. “Her title is simply as legendary as her legacy.” Zendaya famous that Cher, 78, is the one girl to have a No. 1 hit on a Billboard chart in every of the previous seven many years. “Cher has obtained the products,” Zendaya mentioned earlier than the singer carried out a rocking model of “If I May Flip Again Time.”

In her speech, Cher mentioned she was impressed by Cinderella and thanked her mom for instilling in her to at all times get again up after defeat. “The one factor I obtained from my mother is to by no means surrender,” she mentioned. “I by no means surrender. I am speaking to the ladies — down and out, we maintain going.”

Julia Roberts helped induct the Dave Matthews Band — she’s a self-avowed superfan and she or he appeared within the band’s video for the 2005 single, “Dreamgirl.” Roberts, sporting a band T-shirt, mentioned the attraction of the group is “spontaneous abandon” and added that the primary time she danced together with her husband was to a Dave Matthews Band tune.

The jam band, with their mixture of funk, folk-rock, jazz, blues and pop, then performed “Ants Marching” — asking the gang to sing the refrain — “Crash” and “So A lot to Say.” The sector was nonetheless full after they hit the stage after midnight, with the gang singing alongside and swaying.

Matthews hugged Roberts, handed out the trophies to his bandmates, and known as the category of 2024 spectacular. “We’re swimming in very deep water right here,” he mentioned. He thanked the present and former members of the band and the bar proprietor who gave them a house in Charlottesville, Virginia. When he thanked the followers, they roared again.

Dr Dre inducted Blige, who’s credited with creating a very new class of music — hip-hop soul. The nine-time Grammy-winner’s best-known tune is ”Household Affair″ from her triple-platinum 2001 album “No Extra Drama.” “If you take heed to Mary, you perceive you’re not alone in heartbreak,” Dre mentioned.

Blige, sporting shiny black hat, a glittery costume and lengthy black gloves and boots, sang a mixture of her hits, together with “Love No Restrict,” “Be Completely happy” and “Household Affair.” On the finish of her set, a dancer introduced up a cloak to wrap round her, in an echo of James Brown. She thanked her followers, her mother — a single mom elevating youngsters within the tasks — and Technique Man and Dr. Dre, who helped her earn a Grammy and an Emmy. “Transfer with grace. Belief the journey,” she suggested. “You might be worthy.”

Chuck D inducted Kool & the Gang, saying “This can be a long-due celebration.” The band had 12 Prime 10 hits on the Billboard Scorching 100 together with the 1980 chart-topper “Celebration” in addition to “Cherish,” “Get Down On It,” “Jungle Boogie,” “Women Night time” and “Joanna.” They’ve been eligible for the corridor since 1994.

The Roots helped the band do a medley of hits that obtained the gang grooving led by Robert “Kool” Bell — bass guitarist, co-founder and final authentic member — and longtime singer James “JT” Taylor. Confetti shot into the sector and Taylor requested the gang to make use of their cellphone lights as he learn off the names of 10 members who had been important to the band’s success.

Warwick arrived on the ceremony only some days after attending a memorial to her longtime good friend and collaborator, Cissy Houston, in Newark, New Jersey. Teyana Taylor known as her “really one in all a form” in addition to telling off the teleprompter operator for not placing “Ms.” earlier than her title. Jennifer Hudson sang “I’ll By no means Love This Means Once more” and was joined by Warwick, who additionally sang “Stroll On By.”

Warwick mentioned this yr was the third time she was nominated for the Corridor. “I’m so happy to be right here,” she mentioned. “I am simply going to say this and get off the stage: Thanks, thanks, thanks.”

Dave Chappelle helped induct A Tribe Known as Quest — Q-Tip, Jarobi, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and the late Phife Dawg — the lone hip-hop group to make the minimize this yr. Chappelle mentioned the group integrated “jazz and soul in a means hip-hop had by no means seen” they usually additionally proved you would be “cool and never essentially gangster.” Queen Latifah, Busta Rhymes, Widespread, The Roots and De La Soul had been readily available to carry out a medley of Tribe hits, together with “Bonita Applebum,” “Situation” and “Can I Kick It?”

Sammy Hagar launched Foreigner, and thanked their followers for his or her tenacity to demand inclusion. The English-American rockers — with hits like “Chilly as Ice,” and “Ready for a Woman Like You” — topped the charts within the Nineteen Seventies and ’80s however by no means made it into the Corridor — a lot much less a poll — till final yr, regardless of being eligible for greater than 20 years.

Hagar famous that Foreigner at the moment excursions with none authentic members. “That is how good the songs are,” he mentioned. “Who deserves this greater than Foreigner?” Demi Lovato and Slash joined the touring Foreigner for “Feels Just like the First Time” and Hagar then took lead for “Scorching Blooded.” Kelly Clarkson thrilled with a strong “I Need to Know What Love Is” however the area erupted when authentic singer Lou Gramm joined her. Gramm thanked guitarist Mick Jones, sidelined in New York by Parkinson’s illness.

Saturday’s induction ceremony was held on the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, the place the Corridor has promised to return to each few years. A TV particular with efficiency highlights will air on ABC on Jan. 1.

Roger Daltrey of The Who inducted Frampton. “It’s about bloody time!” he mentioned. “Peter has had essentially the most wonderful profession of all time. It’s in all probability simpler to call the individuals he hasn’t labored with than the individuals he has,” Daltrey mentioned.

Frampton earned his means into the Corridor largely on the power of his 1976 reside double album “Frampton Comes Alive!,” buoyed by the hit songs “Present Me the Means” and ″Child, I Love Your Means.” Daltrey famous Frampton has at all times performed with a large smile.

A fittingly grinning Frampton — who performed ultimately yr’s ceremony to honor Sheryl Crow — introduced on Keith City to commerce licks on “Do You Really feel Like I Do” and confirmed why he’s thought-about one in all rock’s nice guitarists. He attached his well-known speak field impact and the gang roared. “I actually am a fortunate man to have this wonderful profession,” he mentioned, thanking David Bowie for resurrecting his skilled life after it had spun out.

Dave Matthews — earlier than his band’s inducement — helped honor Buffett with an acoustic model of the late singer-songwriter’s “A Pirate Seems to be at Forty.” James Taylor then got here out to name Buffett — who popularized seaside bum tender rock with the escapist tune “Margaritaville” — “larger-than-life however on the similar time right-sized and at all times genuine.” Taylor, Kenny Chesney and Mac McAnally then carried out Buffett’s “Come Monday.”

Musician-actor Jack Black toasted Osbourne, saying that “heaven opened up above me” when he first listened to the album “Blizzard of Oz.” Black known as Osbourne “the Jack Nicholson of rock” and joked that his actuality TV present “The Osbournes“ was presumably “essentially the most evil factor he ever did.”

Osbourne, seated in a throne, credited the late guitarist Randy Rhodes and his spouse, Sharon, for profession and life. That is the second time Ozzy has entered the Corridor, the primary time being in 2006 with the seminal steel band Black Sabbath, A tribute band to the Prince of Darkness — together with Jelly Roll, Billy Idol, Maynard James Keenan, Wolfgang Van Halen, Steve Stevens, Robert Trujillo and Chad Smith — performed “Loopy Practice,” “Mama, I’m Coming Dwelling” and “No Extra Tears.”

The In Memoriam part included tributes, amongst others, to Kris Kristofferson, Cissy Houston, David Sanborn and Liam Payne. Dave Matthews Band carried out “Burning Down the Home” as followers filed out.