The hall has frequently been criticized for failing to admit more women; it was one of Steve Miller’s many complaints at his induction this year. And among the 13 nominated acts who did not make the cut for the class of 2017 are Janet Jackson and Chaka Khan.

Other nominees this year who were not inducted include the Zombies, the Cars, the MC5 and Steppenwolf, all critics’ favorites; Depeche Mode and Jane’s Addiction, major names in alternative rock; the electronic pioneers Kraftwerk; the soul singer Joe Tex; the Massachusetts rock stalwart the J. Geils Band; and Bad Brains, whose furious speed had a major influence on the development of hard-core punk.

One nominee stands out for its repeated rejection. Chic, the disco-funk group led by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards that had hits including “Le Freak” and “Good Times,” was turned down for an 11th time, more than any other group in the hall’s history. (It took the Stooges seven nominations before they finally made it, in 2010.)

Despite being turned down so definitively — or perhaps as a consolation prize — Mr. Rodgers will be given the hall’s award for musical excellence, a loosely defined prize that replaced the sidemen category in 2011, and last went to Ringo Starr. It is chosen by a separate committee from the 900 musicians, journalists and executives who vote on the inductees.

In an interview, Mr. Rodgers, who in addition to his career with Chic has produced hits for Davie Bowie, Madonna, Duran Duran and Daft Punk, said he was honored by the award. (Edwards, who founded Chic with him, died in 1996.) But like many observers of the rock hall’s secretive ways, Mr. Rodgers was left scratching his head about the choice.

“I’ve never been angry about Chic not getting in,” Mr. Rodgers said. “It’s just perplexing to me. I want to know why I am in and why my band is not. What’s the thing that makes me cooler than them?”</s>As expected, ‘90s stars Pearl Jam and Tupac Shakur will enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility.

 

 They will be joined in the class of 2017 by progressive rock band Yes and first-time ballot entries Joan Baez, Journey and the Electric Light Orchestra.

 

 “We’re really happy with the way it came out because it’s a real cross-section of what we consider the definition of of rock ’n’ roll to be,” says Joel Peresman, the president of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation and a Mt. Lebanon native. “You have artists like Joan Baez and Tupac Shakur on the same ballot and being inducted at the same time, it really shows what the breadth of what rock and roll is.”

 

 The inductees were chosen by the more than 900 voters of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, as well as the aggregate results of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s online fan vote. The fans’ ballot consisted of ELO, Journey, Pearl Jam, Yes and The Cars, which did not make the cut.

 

 Among other nominees not voted in were Janet Jackson, the J Geils Band, Kraftwerk, MC5 and Jane’s Addiction.

 

 Two of the entries push the boundary of what is considered rock ’n’ roll. Ms. Baez, who began her career in 1960, was on the ground floor of the ‘60 folk revolution as a singer and and social/political activist known for such songs as “We Shall Overcome” and “Joe Hill” and her cover of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.” She joins the likes of Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Laura Nyro as folk-based artists in the Rock Hall.

 

 Shakur, who was born in Harlem, became legendary as a member of the West Coast rap movement of the early ‘90s, starting with “2Pacalypse Now” in 1991. He released just four albums before being gunned down in Las Vegas in September 1996 in what is believed to be a gang-related shooting. Six more albums have been released posthumously, along with various collaborations. He will be the sixth rap artist to enter the Rock Hall.

 

 Pearl Jam, one of the kingpins of the Seattle grunge movement, found success early with “Ten,” a 1991 debut that broke big in 1992, selling more than 13 million albums on the strength of singles "Alive", "Even Flow" and "Jeremy.” The band continues to sell out arenas with four of its five original members: Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready and Jeff Ament. Drummers Dave Krusen and Matt Cameron will also be inducted.

 

 Yes, which became eligible in 1994, got its first nomination in 2014 and has been nominated the last three years. The British prog rockers, known for their elaborate musicianship and such FM staples as “Roundabout” and "Owner of a Lonely Heart" (a No. 1 single), are currently split into two touring bands -- Yes (with ‘70s members Steve Howe and Alan White) and Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman (featuring longtime members Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman) -- which should make for an interesting induction.

 

 Yes is the fourth progressive rock band to enter, following Pink Floyd, Genesis and Rush.

 

 “Yes was one of those early early bands that was doing it, and just their musical style that extended to their artwork, colleges all over the country were putting up their album, covers and poster. They’re important group and happy they got their recognition. They always got the recognition of people buying their records and going to their shows. It’s nice for us to see the recognition of them being inducted.”

 

 ELO debuted as an Beatles-influenced orchestral rock band in 1971, making it eligible since 1996. The band, with nominees Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood, Bev Bevan and Richard Tandy, charted 20 Top 40 singles in the ‘70s and ‘80s, including “Evil Woman,” “Strange Magic” and “Don’t Bring Me Down.” Mr. Lynne, who became a member of the supergroup Traveling Wilburys with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty, has also been a prolific producer, working on albums by Petty, Harrison, Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson, among others. He released and toured behind 2015’s “Alone in the Universe,” the first new ELO album since 2001.

 

 Journey, founded with two former members of Santana (Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie, who is already in the Rock Hall), debuted in 1975 and became one of the so-called "corporate rock" bands that ruled the airwaves in the late '70s. Journey received a spike in popularity with the hit "Don't Stop Believin'" after its use on "The Sopranos" finale. Steve Perry, who sang on the band’s hits before leaving in 1998, will be inducted as a member of Journey, but none of the singers who followed him will be included.

 

 Will there be awards ceremony drama with Yes and Journey?

 

 “I hope not,” Peresman says. “Everything we’ve heard is that there’s no horrible lawsuits, that everyone seems to get along and that people can work out whatever it is and on the night of the induction all be able to play together.”

 

 The Award for Musical Excellence will be given to musician/producer Nile Rodgers, whose band Chic was nominated for the 11th time.

 

 “When it didn't happen this year, the committee that gets together said if the voters aren’t going to see this, we as an institution feel that he’s important,” Mr. Peresman said.

 

 The 32nd annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, presented by Klipsch Audio, will take place on April 7 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Ticket on-sale dates will be announced in January.</s>NEW YORK — The late rapper Tupac Shakur and Seattle-based rockers Pearl Jam lead a class of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees that also include folkie Joan Baez and 1970s favorites Journey, Yes and Electric Light Orchestra.

The rock hall also said Tuesday it would give a special award to Nile Rodgers, whose disco-era band Chic failed again to make the cut after its 11th time nominated.

Baez will be inducted only months after her 1960s paramour, Bob Dylan, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The hall’s 32nd annual induction ceremony will take place on April 7 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. HBO will show highlights later, with SiriusXM doing a radio broadcast.

Shakur was shot and killed after attending a boxing match in Las Vegas in 1996, a murder that has spawned conspiracy theories but remains unsolved. “Changes,” ”Keep Ya Head Up,” ”Ambitionz Az a Ridah” and “Life Goes On” are among his best-known songs. Only 25 when he died, Shakur left behind a trove of music that was released posthumously.

Pearl Jam exploded in popularity from the start in the early 1990s behind songs like “Alive,” ”Jeremy” and “Even Flow.” After Nirvana, it is the second band with roots in Seattle’s grunge rock scene to make the hall. Behind singer Eddie Vedder and other original members Mike McCready, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, Pearl Jam remains active and is a popular live act.

Vedder is no newcomer to rock hall ceremonies, having given induction speeches for Neil Young and the Ramones.

Baez was a political activist and mainstay of the folk movement, performing at the first Newport Folk Festival at age 19 in 1959. She was known primarily as an interpreter of others’ songs, introducing Dylan to a wider audience at the beginning of his career. Their affair ended badly in 1965, for which Dylan later apologized.

Baez’s own “Diamonds and Rust” in 1975 was one of her biggest hits.

Journey’s 1981 song “Don’t Stop Believin'” was given new life by being featured in the closing scene of HBO’s “The Sopranos” and became a favorite of a new generation. Its 6.8 million iTunes sales makes it the most-bought song on that platform from the pre-digital era, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Former singer Steve Perry, estranged from the band for many years, offers some potential rock hall drama: will he show up for his induction? Founding member Neal Schon was quoted in Billboard recently saying that there are so many non-rock artists in the hall that “I don’t really care about being there.” He did allow that it would be nice for fans of the band, never a critical favorite.

Britain’s Yes, known for its complex compositions, was a leader of the 1970s progressive rock movement. Yes’ hits include “I’ve Seen All Good People,” ”Roundabout” and “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” and its fans have waged a vociferous campaign to see them honored. Founding bass player Chris Squire, the one constant in many years of personnel changes, died in June 2015.

Electric Light Orchestra got its start melding classical influences to Beatles-influenced pop, and charted with “Evil Woman,” ”Mr. Blue Sky” and “Don’t Bring Me Down.” The band essentially exists now in leader Jeff Lynne’s imagination and home studio and had a mildly successful comeback a year ago.

Chic, led by Rodgers and the late Bernard Edwards, has become the rock hall’s version of Susan Lucci and her long quest to win a Daytime Emmy. While Shakur, Baez, Pearl Jam and ELO were elected this year in their first time on the ballot, Chic has endured years of disappointment.

The hall’s award for musical excellence to songwriter and guitarist Rodgers is no consolation prize. When disco cooled, Rodgers became one of the hottest producers in the business, behind the boards for some of the ’80s most indelible albums: David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance,” Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” and the B-52’s “Cosmic Thing.”</s>Slain rapper Tupac Shakur will join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, organizers said on Tuesday, reflecting the strength of his influence 25 years after his death and the growing acceptance of hip hop as a force in mainstream music.

Folksinger Joan Baez, British progressive rock band Yes, American rockers Pearl Jam and Journey, and English rock band Electric Light Orchestra rounded out the 2017 inductees, but pop star Janet Jackson was again excluded, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame said.

Shakur was killed at age 25 in an unsolved 1996 drive-by shooting in Las Vegas that has only boosted his fame. The Harlem-born rapper, who sang about social inequity and black struggles, is regarded as one of the most influential voices in hip hop music, spurring the release of documentaries, movies and a Broadway musical.

Shakur was chosen as a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee on his first nomination. California rappers N.W.A. were inducted in 2016 as only the fifth hip hop act to be voted in.

Artists must have released their first recordings at least 25 years ago to be eligible for nomination. The inductees were voted on by music fans and 900 music industry experts.

The class of 2017 will be inducted at a ceremony and performance show in New York on April 7.

Baez, 75, became a voice of protest in the tumultuous 1960s, becoming one of the first singers to promote the songs of Bob Dylan and singing at the 1969 Woodstock festival. Her performances of the traditional song “We Shall Overcome” in the early 1960s became an anthem of the civil rights movement.

Jackson, 50, the youngest child of the famed Jackson singing family, is one of the best-known pop singers in the world but is still waiting induction after becoming eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2007. It was her second nomination for the honor.

Yes and Electric Light Orchestra enjoyed their biggest fame in the 1970s and 1980s with concept albums and elaborate stage sets, while American grunge band Pearl Jam was influential in the 1990s music scene.

San Francisco-based rockers Journey have proved one of the more commercial rock/pop bands with multi-generational hit songs like “Don’t Stop Believin’” and “Faithfully.”</s>This year's inductees are Joan Baez, Electric Light Orchestra, Journey, Pearl Jam, Tupac Shakur and Yes.

The group was selected out of 19 nominees.

All of the inductees were first time nominees with the exception of Yes.

To be eligible for nomination, an individual artist or band must have released their first single or album at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination. This year marked Pearl Jam and Shakur's first shot at eligibility.

The inductees were selected by more than 900 voters of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. The organization also aggregated fan votes. Electric Light Orchestra, Journey, Pearl Jam and Yes won the fan ballot, along with The Cars. Nile Rodgers will also be honored with an award for musical excellence. The 32nd Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony will take place April 7, 2017 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The ceremony will be aired on HBO. Tickets for the event will go on sale in January.</s>Pearl Jam, who burst on to the charts in the 90's at the beginning of the grunge era will be inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame next spring.

Pearl Jam to be inducted into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Pearl Jam, intimately connected to West Seattle, by lead singer Eddie Vedder's home here will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame next April. The band was inducted in the Performer category.

The announcement came in a press release from the Hall Dec. 20:

"The 32nd Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, presented by Klipsch Audio, will take place on Friday, April 7, 2017 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York for the third time. Ticket on-sale dates will be announced in January. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2017 Induction Ceremony will again have its television premiere on HBO, and a radio broadcast on SiriusXM. Broadcast details will be announced in early 2017.



A limited number of pre-sale tickets will be available for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame members in advance of the public sale date. To be eligible for the member pre-sale, you must be an active Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member by December 31, 2016. Additional public ticket details and presale offers will be announced in the future.

The special exhibition on the 2017 Inductees will open at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on March 30.

Artists are eligible for inclusion in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 25 years after the release of their first recording. The 2017 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Performer Inductees were chosen by more than 900 voters of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, as well as the aggregate results of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s online fan vote. The top five artists from the fan vote comprised the fans’ ballot that was tallied along with the other ballots to determine the 2017 Inductees. Four of the groups from fans’ ballot (Electric Light Orchestra, Journey, Pearl Jam, and YES) will be inducted as performers in 2017.

When they released their debut album, Ten, in August, 1991, Pearl Jam were a band of young unknowns to anyone not from Seattle, Washington.

At home, Pearl Jam were practically a supergroup – founded in 1990 at a crossroads of classic rock, Seventies heavy metal and hardcore punk, just as that city’s underground scene was about to go worldwide.

Bassist Jeff Ament and guitarist Stone Gossard played in the proto-grunge bands Green River and Mother Love Bone; Mike McCready was a highly regarded lead guitarist steeped in Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Matt Cameron of Seattle elders Soundgarden played drums on Pearl Jam’s early demos, finally joining in 1998 after a parade of drummers including Dave Krusen. Singer Eddie Vedder was an out-of-town wild card, a San Diego emigrant whose baritone howl, aggressively emotional lyrics and jubilantly unhinged stage presence quickly made him a universal symbol of the personal trials and cleansing rage at the heart of Nineties alternative rock.

Propelled by the hits “Alive” and “Jeremy” (about a high school student’s suicide), Ten sold over 13 million copies in America, launching a singular career of enduring commercial success (ten Top Five studio albums, half of them Number Ones) and staunch idealism. In the mid-Nineties, Pearl Jam challenged monopolistic practices in the concert-ticket industry; in 2000, they took the live-tape-sharing aesthetic to a new fan-friendly extreme, initiating a series of soundboard-quality live releases from every show – a now-common practice among bands big and new. Pearl Jam have also collaboratored extensively – as a group and individuals, on stage and records – with a long list of inspirations including Neil Young, the Who and the Ramones. Twenty-five years after Ten, Pearl Jam are still one of the most reliably explosive, vigorously committed and truly modern rock bands in the world.

Selected discography: “Even Flow,” “Alive,” “Jeremy,” Ten (1991)
• “Animal,” “Daughter,” Vs. (1993)
• “Better Man,” Vitalogy (1994)
• “Hail, Hail,” “Off He Goes,” No Code (1996)
• “Given To Fly,” Yield (1998)
• “Last Kiss” (1999)
• Binaural (2000)
• Riot Act (2002)
• Pearl Jam (2006)
• Backspacer (2009)
• Lightning Bolt (2013)</s>In order to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 25 years must have passed since an artist has released their first album or single.

For Pearl Jam and Tupac Shakur, 2017 marks the first year of eligibility, and makes them the first acts to be inducted into the institution who started their careers in the 1990s.

He told Rolling Stone magazine: “It’s sort of bittersweet. I’m quite flattered that they believed that I was worthy, but my band Chic didn’t win. They plucked me out of the band and said, ‘You’re better than Chic.’ That’s wacky to me ... I am flattered and I think it’s cool, but I feel like somebody put me in the lifeboat and told my family they can’t get in.”

INTERNATIONAL NEWS - The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will induct Pearl Jam, Tupac Shakur, Journey, Yes, Electric Light Orchestra, Joan Baez, and Nile Rodgers in 2017.The induction ceremony for the seven artists will be held at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn on April 7 2017, and will also see Chic’s Nile Rodgers be handed the Award for Musical Excellence.For Nile Rogers, the Musical Excellence Award comes after his band Chic were nominated 11 times, but never found themselves inducted.</s>The list of this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees has been announced. Pearl Jam, Tupac Shakur, Journey and Joan Baez are in the lineup.

Chic's Nile Rodgers, the producer behind Madonna's "Like a Virgin" and David Bowie's "Let's Dance," will be receiving an award for musical excellence.

His prize raises a big question Westword spoke with him about it in February: Why, after eleven nominations, has the disco sensation Chic still not been inducted?

Rodgers had the following to say about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:



...thinking about the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame brings a smile to my face, because if people knew me — and a lot of people at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame know me — they'd know I don't make music for awards. Think about this: If you look at my discography, the amount of hits and number one records I've had is pretty staggering, but I never got a Grammy until Daft Punk. And when we were getting all those Grammys that night, Pharrell kept looking at me and saying, "Wait a minute. You didn't get a Grammy for Let's Dance and 'China Girl' and 'Dress You Up' and 'Good Times' and 'Le Freak'?" And he kept going on and on and on and on. Every time we'd sit back down, he'd say, "Wait a minute." It was almost like a running joke. But when he said, "How could you not get a Grammy for 'Let's Dance'? That's insane," I'd say, "How about Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'? We came out the same year." That's why we didn't get a Grammy. If Michael hadn't come out, we'd probably have gotten a Grammy, but

Thriller was the biggest record of all time.

I don't do records for awards. I do records because I'm compelled to do them, and this is what the artists demand of me. I want to make the best record I can. So when we're nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I always laugh, because hall of fames should be based on statistics, right? Anytime I've heard about a hall of fame — baseball, basketball, whatever it is — they're all based on statistics. Anything other than that is what we'd call an opinion poll. So if you base it on statistics, not only would I be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame — I might be sitting on the throne or something! (Laughs.) How many people have sold more records than me? The Beatles or something?

Take three records. Like a Virgin was more than a double-diamond album: 27 million records. We sold 25 million at the time. Let's Dance: a diamond album, eleven million albums. And look at "Le Freak," the only triple platinum single in Atlantic Records history. And this is a label that's got Bruno Mars, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin. But guess what? There's been one triple platinum single, and it's (sings) "Freak out!" So you say to yourself, wouldn't that guy be pretty important? So whenever we get nominated by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I think, what is the secret sauce? What did I not do? I have more hit records than most of the people in there. What didn't I do? Didn't I steal enough bases? Because if you base it on hits and home runs, we should be up there with Babe Ruth and some of those guys. Or did I have too many errors? Maybe that's it, because I've had so many flops. Like I said, you have to mine a ton of ore for an ounce of gold — so maybe they're counting the tons and tons of flops that I've had instead of all the hits.

I don't know. It's a funny thing. It makes me laugh, because I don't know how you could call it the Hall of Fame. Maybe they should call it the Hall of Fame opinion poll. It's like when they'd do readers polls, where it's based on your artistic and intellectual achievements. I can accept that. But if they're saying it's a Hall of Fame, which is based on your performance, then I don't get it...

I don't know if we'll never get in. We're the most nominated group of all time. How can you get nominated ten times and not get in? What are they going to do? Wait until I die, like Donna Summer, and then let me in? At that point, I can't make a good joke. (Laughs.) I just want to tell a joke!</s>The late rapper Tupac Shakur and Seattle-based rockers Pearl Jam lead a class of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees that also include folkie Joan Baez and 1970s favorites Journey, Yes and Electric Light Orchestra.

The rock hall also said Tuesday it would give a special award to Nile Rodgers, whose disco-era band Chic failed again to make the cut after its 11th time nominated.

Baez will be inducted only months after her 1960s paramour, Bob Dylan, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The hall’s 32nd annual induction ceremony will take place on April 7 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. HBO will show highlights later, with SiriusXM doing a radio broadcast.

Shakur was shot and killed after attending a boxing match in Las Vegas in 1996, a murder that has spawned conspiracy theories but remains unsolved. “Changes,” “Keep Ya Head Up,” “Ambitionz Az a Ridah” and “Life Goes On” are among his best-known songs. Only 25 when he died, Shakur left behind a trove of music that was released posthumously.

Pearl Jam exploded in popularity from the start in the early 1990s behind songs like “Alive,” “Jeremy” and “Even Flow.” After Nirvana, it is the second band with roots in Seattle’s grunge rock scene to make the hall. Behind singer Eddie Vedder and other original members Mike McCready, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, Pearl Jam remains active and is a popular live act.</s>NEW YORK (AP) — The late rapper Tupac Shakur and Seattle-based rockers Pearl Jam lead a class of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees including folkie Joan Baez and 1970s favorites Journey, Yes and Electric Light Orchestra.

The rock hall, in downtown Cleveland, also said Tuesday it would give a special award to Nile Rodgers, whose disco-era band Chic failed again to make the cut after its 11th time nominated.

Baez will be inducted only months after her 1960s paramour, Bob Dylan, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The hall’s 32nd annual induction ceremony will take place on April 7 at the Barclays Center. HBO will show highlights later, with SiriusXM doing a radio broadcast.

Shakur was shot and killed after attending a boxing match in Las Vegas in 1996. His death has spawned conspiracy theories but remains unsolved. “Changes,” ”Keep Ya Head Up,” ”Ambitionz Az a Ridah” and “Life Goes On” are among his best-known songs. He was 25 when he died and left behind a trove of music that was released posthumously.

Pearl Jam exploded in popularity from the start in the early 1990s behind songs including “Alive,” ”Jeremy” and “Even Flow.” After Nirvana, it is the second band with roots in Seattle’s grunge rock scene to make the hall. Behind singer Eddie Vedder and other original members Mike McCready, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, Pearl Jam remains active and is a popular live act.

Vedder is no newcomer to rock hall ceremonies, having given induction speeches for Neil Young and the Ramones.

Baez was a political activist and mainstay of the folk movement, performing at the first Newport Folk Festival at age 19 in 1959. She was known primarily as an interpreter of others’ songs, introducing Dylan to a wider audience at the beginning of his career. Their affair ended badly in 1965, for which Dylan later apologized.

Baez’s own “Diamonds and Rust” in 1975 was one of her biggest hits.

“I never considered myself to be a rock and roll artist,” Baez said Tuesday. “But as part of the folk music boom which contributed to and influenced the rock revolution of the ’60s, I am proud that some of the songs I sang made their way into the rock lexicon. I very much appreciate this honor and acknowledgement by the Hall of Fame.”

Journey’s 1981 song “Don’t Stop Believin'” was given new life by being featured in the closing scene of HBO’s “The Sopranos” and became a favorite of a new generation. Its 6.8 million iTunes sales makes it the most-bought song on that platform from the pre-digital era, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Former singer Steve Perry, estranged from the band for many years, offers some potential rock hall drama: Will he show up for his induction?

Guitarist and co-founder Neal Schon told Billboard he’s reached out to Perry.

“I would hope that Steve would at least do something with us,” Schon said. “He went and sang a couple songs with the Eels last year to let people know he can still sing, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed but I’m not counting on anything.”

There was no immediate response Tuesday to a call to Perry’s lawyer.

Britain’s Yes, known for its complex compositions, was a leader of the 1970s progressive rock movement. Yes’ hits include “I’ve Seen All Good People,” ”Roundabout” and “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” and its fans have waged a vociferous campaign to see them honored. Founding bass player Chris Squire, the one constant in many years of personnel changes, died in June 2015.

Alan White, the band’s drummer for 44 years, said from his home in Seattle that it was wonderful to get the recognition and thanked fans for their advocacy.

Electric Light Orchestra got its start melding classical influences to Beatles-influenced pop and charted with “Evil Woman,” ”Mr. Blue Sky” and “Don’t Bring Me Down.” The band essentially exists now in leader Jeff Lynne’s imagination and home studio and had a mildly successful comeback a year ago.

Chic, led by Rodgers and the late Bernard Edwards, has become the rock hall’s version of Susan Lucci and her long quest to win a Daytime Emmy. While Shakur, Baez, Pearl Jam and ELO were elected this year in their first time on the ballot, Chic has endured years of disappointment.

The hall’s award for musical excellence to songwriter and guitarist Rodgers is no consolation prize. When disco cooled, Rodgers became one of the hottest producers in the business, behind the boards for some of the ’80s most indelible albums: David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance,” Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” and the B-52’s “Cosmic Thing.”

Rodgers, in an interview with “Good Day, New York,” said he’s flattered to get the award but it felt a little odd.

“So they plucked me out of the band and said, ‘You’re worthy, but the band’s not worthy,'” he said. “And that sort of makes you feel a little weird, because I wouldn’t know David Bowie or INXS or Duran Duran or Madonna or Paul Simon or any of these people unless I was in Chic. They were all Chic fans.”
Tupac Shakur, Joan Baez, and most of the members of Pearl Jam are to receive honors in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.