Cher, Left and Dua Lipa perform during the 39th annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony Saturday at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland.
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CLEVELAND – Pure pop turned to the rock classic, a mix of funk masters Kool & The Gang’s rump shakers, when Dua Lipa and Cher sang “Believe” at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday. Foreigner and Peter Frampton, and a powerhouse performance by gospel icon Dionne Warwick, brought the house down in 83.
This year’s inductees at the more than five-hour ceremony included: Mary J. Posthumous recognition for Blige, A Tribe Called Quest, Ozzy Osbourne, Dave Matthews Band and Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Alexis Korner, John Mayall, Norman Whitfield and Big. Mother Thornton.
“Where do I begin? Cher is not a person,” Zendaya said when introducing Cher. “Her name is as legendary as her legacy.” Zendaya noted that Cher, 78, is the only woman to have a No. 1 hit on every Billboard chart in the past seven decades. The singer of “If I Good “Cher’s got the goods,” Zendaya said before performing a rocking version of “Turn Back Time.”
In her speech, Cher said she was inspired by Cinderella and thanked her mother for inspiring her to always bounce back after failure. “One thing I got from my mom is to never give up,” she said. “I never give up. I talk to girls — down and out, we keep going.
Julia Roberts helped Dave Matthews put the band together – she’s a self-confessed superfan and appeared in the band’s 2005 video, “Dreamer.” Roberts, wearing a band T-shirt, said the group’s request was for “spontaneous abandonment” and danced to a Dave Matthews band song for the first time with her husband.
A jam band, with a mix of funk, folk-rock, jazz, blues and pop, then asked the crowd to sing along to the chorus of “Ants Marching” – “Crash” and “Say”. Even after midnight when they hit the stage, the venue was packed.
Matthews hugged Roberts, presented the trophies to his bandmates, and called the Class of 2024 impressive. “We’re swimming in very deep water here,” he said. He thanked the bar owner and the band’s current and former members for giving them a home in Charlottesville, Virginia. When he thanked the fans, they roared back.
Mary J. Blige speaks during the 39th annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony Saturday at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland.
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Dr. Dre Blige is credited with creating an entirely new genre of music called hip-hop soul. The nine-time Grammy Award winner’s best-known song “Family Affair” is from her triple-platinum 2001 album “No More Drama.” “When you listen to Mary, you realize you’re not alone,” Dre said.
Dressed in a shiny black hat, sparkly dress and long black gloves and boots, Blige sang a medley of her hits including “Love No Limit,” “Be Happy” and “Family Affair.” At the end of her set, a dancer brought a dress around her in an echo of James Brown. He thanked his fans, his mom — a single mom raising kids on the projects — and Method Man and Dr. Dre, who helped land him a Grammy and an Emmy. “Move with grace. Trust the journey,” she advised. “You deserve it.”
Chuck D’Cool & The Gang introduced, saying, “It’s been a long celebration.” “Celebration” topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1980 and spawned 12 top 10 hits, including “Cherish,” “Get Down on It,” “Jungle Boogie,” “Ladies’ Night” and “Jonah.” They have been eligible for the Hall since 1994.
Bass guitarist, co-founder and last original member – and longtime vocalist James “JD” Taylor – helped The Roots assemble a crowd led by Robert “Cool” Bell. Confetti shot into the arena and Taylor asked the crowd to use their cell phone flashlights while reading the names of 10 members who were instrumental in the band’s success.
Robert “Cool” Bell of Cool & The Gang performs at the 39th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony Saturday at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland.
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Warwick arrived at the ceremony just days after attending a memorial service for her longtime friend and collaborator Cissy Houston in Newark, New Jersey. Dayna Taylor called her “really one of a kind” and told off the teleprompter operator for not putting “Ms.” before her name. Jennifer Hudson sang “I’ll Never Love This Way Again” and “Walk on By” with Warwick.
Warwick said he was nominated for the Hall for the third time this year. “I’m very happy to be here,” he said. “I’m going to walk off the stage saying this: Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Dave Chappelle helped launch the tribe known as Q-Tip, Jarobi, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and the late Phife Dawg — the solo hip-hop group Quest — which was cut this year. Chappelle said the group combined “jazz and soul in a way that hip-hop had never seen” and that they proved that you “can be cool and not a gangster.” Queen Latifah, Busta Rhymes, Common, The Roots and De La Soul performed “Bonita Applebum,” “Scenario” and “Can I Kick It?” performed a medley of tribal hits including
Sammy Hagar introduced Foreigner and thanked their fans for their determination to request inclusion. The Anglo-American rockers — with hits like “Cold As Ice” and “Waiting For A Girl Like You” — topped the charts in the 1970s and ’80s. Despite being qualified for over 20 years.
Hagar noted that Foreigner is currently touring without any of the original members. “Such good songs,” he said. “Who deserves it better than a foreigner?” Demi Lovato and Slash joined the touring foreigner for “Feels Like the First Time,” and Hagar then fronted for “Hot Blooded.” Kelly Clarkson rocked a powerful “I Wanna Know What Love Is,” but the arena erupted when original singer Lou Gramm joined her. Gramm thanked Mick Jones, a guitarist sidelined in New York by Parkinson’s disease.
Saturday’s induction ceremony was held at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, where Hall has promised to return every few years. A TV special featuring the performance will air on ABC on January 1.
Jack Black, left, and Ozzy Osbourne appear at the 39th annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony Saturday at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland.
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Roger Daltrey of The Who introduced Frampton. “It’s bloody time!” He said. “Peter has had one of the most amazing careers of all time. It’s easier to mention the people he worked with than the people he didn’t,” Daltrey said.
Buoyed by the hits “Show Me the Way” and “Baby, I Love Your Way,” 1976’s live double album “Frampton Comes Alive!” Frampton stormed into the hall on the strength of Daltrey noted that Frampton always played with a broad smile.
A suitably grinning Frampton — who played last year’s festival honoring Sheryl Crow — brought Keith Urban to trade on “Do You Feel Like I Do” and showed why he’s considered one of rock’s greatest guitarists. He incorporated his famous talking box effect and the crowd went wild. “I’ve been really lucky to have this amazing career,” she said, thanking David Bowie for reviving her career after it took a nosedive.
Dave Matthews — before his band’s induction — helped honor Buffett with an acoustic version of the late singer-songwriter’s “A Pirate Looks at Forty.” James Taylor later came out to call Buffett — who popularized beach bum soft rock with the escapist song “Margaritaville” — “larger than life, but at the same time just the right size and always real.” Taylor, Kenny Chesney and Mac McConally performed Buffett’s “Come Monday.”
Musician-actor Jack Black toasted Osbourne, saying “the heavens opened above me” when he first heard the album “Blizzard of Oz.” Black called Osborne “the Jack Nicholson of rock” and joked that his reality TV show “The Osbornes” was “the worst thing he’s ever done.”
Osborne, seated on a throne, was joined by the late guitarist Randy Rhodes and his wife, Sharon, for careers and careers. It was the second time that seminal metal band Black Sabbath, featuring Jelly Roll, Billy Idol, Maynard James Keenan, Wolfgang Van Halen, Steve, came to Ozzy Hall in 2006 with a tribute band to the Prince of Darkness. Stevens, Robert Trujillo and Chad Smith – “Crazy Train,” “Mama, I’m Coming Home” and “No More Tears.”
The In Memoriam section paid tribute to Kris Kristofferson, Cissy Houston, David Sanborn and Liam Payne. Fans filed in as Dave Matthews Band performed “Burning Down the House.”
