Tina Turner and Jay-Z among tonight's Rock Hall inductees, the ceremony to be held at Cleveland's Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse....2021 Rock Hall nominees Mary K Blige, Chaka Khan, and Dionne Warwick snubbed.... Jay-Z, Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift, Foo Fighters, Eminem, and Jennifer Lopez are among those who are slated to perform....By editor and associate publisher Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader

The 2021 Rock Hall class includes Tina Turner, rapper Jay-Z, and Carole Kin (pictured), among others. Turner and Jay-Z were the only Blacks inducted, and Rock Hall nominees Dionne Warwick, Mary K. Blige and Chaka Khan, all three of them Black women, were among those snubbed  

Clevelandurbannews.com and-Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com,

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, associate publisher

CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland-based Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is celebrating its inductees for the class of 2021 this weekend in Cleveland, Ohio amid a still existing pandemic with R&B legend Tina Turner, rapper Jay-Z and singer-songwriter Carole King making the cut among other inductees and R&B artist Chaka Khan, also dubbed the "Queen of Funk," getting snubbed. 

Others honored this year in the performer category are hard rock act Foo Fighters, the Go-Go's, and  instrumentalist and producer Todd Rundgren.

Jay-Z and Turner are the only Blacks inducted this year, though Blacks like LL Cool J. billy Preston and Gill Scott -Heron are Rock Hall award recipients. 

There were 16 nominees for the 2021 Rock Hall class, and Mary K. Blige and Dionne Warwick were also among them, though, like Khan and others, neither of them made this year's cut. 

“This diverse class of talented inductees reflects the Rock Hall’s ongoing commitment to honor artists whose music created the sound of youth culture,” John Sykes, Chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, said in a press release. “It will make for an unforgettable live celebration of music in October at this year’s Induction Ceremony in Cleveland.”

The 36th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is taking place for the first time in the city of Cleveland and live on Sat, Oct 30, 2021 at 8 p.m. ET at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse coupled with a radio simulcast on SiriusXM’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Radio channel 310. 

Jay-Z, Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift, Foo Fighters, Eminem, and Jennifer Lopez are among those who are slated to perform Saturday night. 

It will air at a later date on HBO and stream on HBO Max. The festivities begin at 5 p.m. and include a red carpet event and a show hosted by media personality and actor Bevy Smith, which will precede the 8 pm ceremony.

To be eligible for induction, artists are required to have released their first record 25 years prior to induction. Learn more about the qualifications and categories here: rockhall.com/inductees/categories

  

Select Rock Hall donors and members were given exclusive induction ticket opportunities. Donate or join by June 30, 2021 to be eligible. 

Visit rockhall.com/join to learn more.

Last year's ceremony was virtual and prerecorded, and later aired on HBO, and had it had it gone forward as an in-person gathering as planned before the pandemic it would have marked a first time change in location from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York to Public Auditorium in Cleveland.

Both Tina Turner, who won the online ballot vote as to this year's nominees, and Carole King have been inducted at least twice before, Turner for her work as the Ike and Tina Turner group. Turner and King follow Stevie Nicks as the only women to be inducted multiple times.

In determining this year's class of inductees, and some previous year inductees, ballots were sent to an international voting body of more than 1,200 artists, including current living inductees, historians and members of the music industry and actors such as an artist’s musical influence on other artists, length and depth of career and the body of work, innovation and superiority in style and technique are taken into consideration.

The full list of the 2021 honorees, which includes the 2021 Rock Hall inductees class, and awardees is as follows: 

Rock Hall Class of 2021/Performer Category:
Foo Fighters
The Go-Go’s
JAY-Z
Carole King
Todd Rundgren
Tina Turner

AWARDS

Ahmet Ertegun Award:
Clarence Avant

Musical Excellence Award:
LL Cool J
Billy Preston
Randy Rhoads

Early Influence Award:
Kraftwerk
Gil Scott-Heron
Charley Patton

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, associate publisher. Coleman is a Black political, legal and investigative reporter who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post in Cleveland, Ohio, and under two publishers and several editors

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black and alternative digital newspaper and Black blog.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.