Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2008 inductees announced

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation today announced its inductees for 2008. The inductees will be honored at a ceremony on March 10, 2008, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.

“The 2008 inductees are trailblazers – all unique and influential in their genres,” said Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation President and CEO Joel Peresman. “From poetry to pop, these five acts demonstrate the rich diversity of rock and roll itself. We are proud to honor these artists and celebrate their contribution to rock and roll’s place in our culture.”

The performer inductees are:

Leonard Cohen
The Dave Clark Five (Dave Clark, Lenny Davidson, Rick Huxley, Denis Payton and Mike Smith)
Madonna
John Mellencamp
The Ventures (Bob Bogle, Nokie Edwards, Gerry McGee, Mel Taylor, Don Wilson)

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame also announced the induction of Little Walter in its sideman category, and the newly named “Ahmet Ertegun Award” (formerly the non-performer category) will be presented to legendary producers, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.

The 2008 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame performer inductees were chosen by the 600 voters of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. Artists are eligible for inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twenty-five years after their first recording is released.

In addition to being honored at the March ceremony, each inducted artist is commemorated at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland Ohio, which serves as a monument to rock and roll’s impact on our culture. There, this year’s inductees will be honored – along with previous year’s inductees and hundreds of other artists – with exhibits, video and interactive presentations and programs that serve to tell the story of modern music. The Hall of Fame itself will include artifacts from this year’s inductees, a multi-media presentation with highlights from each artist’s career and their signatures permanently engraved in the glass walls of the Hall of Fame.

Presenters and performers at the induction will be announced at a later date. The induction ceremony will again air live on VH1 Classic on March 10, 2008.