Cher, Mary J. Blige, Ozzy Osbourne among Rock Hall of Fame inductees

AFP | Los Angeles                                              

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Cher, Mary J. Blige and Ozzy Osbourne were among this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, an elite group formally introduced into the music pantheon Saturday at a star-studded concert gala.

Kool & the Gang, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, A Tribe Called Quest, and Peter Frampton round out the 2024 class of honorees, artists honored at the ceremony held in Cleveland, Ohio, home of the prestigious hall.

Big Mama Thornton, Alexis Korner and John Mayall received special honors for “musical influence,” as Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Dionne Warwick and Norman Whitfield received awards for “musical excellence.”

Suzanne de Passe, a trailblazer for women executives in the music business, who was big in Motown, won the night’s award for non-performing industry professionals.

Dua Lipa kicked off the evening with a performance of “Believe,” with Cher joining the pop star onstage to finish her 1998 smash hit, which was credited as the first song to use auto-tune technology as an instrument.

“I changed the sound of music forever,” she said in her acceptance speech, less than a year after railing against the hall for not having yet added her to the ballot.

“It was easier getting divorced from two men than it was getting in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” she quipped Saturday night. Performers included Kelly Clarkson, Sammy Hagar, Slash and Demi Lovato, who all appeared for Foreigner.

A group of artists including Queen Latifah, De La Soul and Busta Rhymes also performed with the surviving members of the eclectic, pioneering hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest -- Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White.