MUSIC

Ronstadt heads Rock Hall’s new class

12/17/2013
BY RANDY LEWIS
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Linda Ronstadt during the Rolling Stone record review. December 19, 1974
Linda Ronstadt during the Rolling Stone record review. December 19, 1974

LOS ANGELES — Talk about mixed emotions: In the same year that Linda Ronstadt told the world she can no longer sing a note because of the Parkinson’s disease afflicting her, she has been elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an organization about which she told the Los Angeles Times recently, “It’s not anything I’ve ever given a second thought to.”

Ronstadt, 67, is one of six new members who will be formally inducted next year, along with Peter Gabriel, KISS, Hall and Oates, Nirvana, and Cat Stevens.

Acts that made the final ballot but did not make the cut for induction are Yes, N.W.A, Chic, the Meters, Deep Purple, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, LL Cool J, the Replacements, Link Wray, and the Zombies.

Part of the reason Ronstadt never aspired to the Hall of Fame came out in Simple Dreams, her new “musical memoir,” in which she wrote that “I never thought of myself as a rock ‘n’ roll singer — I’ve thought of myself as a singer who sang rock ‘n’ roll, who sang this, who sang that.”

Ronstadt’s broad repertoire, from rock to pop to traditional Mexican music to opera and Broadway, is likely one factor she was overlooked until this year, even though she’s been eligible for induction since 1992. Performers become eligible once 25 years have elapsed since the release of their first recording.

She also told the Times in September that she’s paid little attention to other industry accolades bestowed on her, including Grammy Awards and Recording Industry Association of America gold and platinum sales awards.

Gabriel is entering the hall a second time, having been inducted in 2010 as a member of prog-rock group Genesis. But prog-rock came up short in this class, with Yes missing the mark even though the British group finished in the top five in the fan voting component. Fans cast 1.3 million ballots, with the most votes going to KISS (17.2 percent), Nirvana (15.7 percent), Deep Purple (11.9 percent), Yes (10.9 percent), and Hall and Oates (8.1 percent). The fan balloting yielded one additional vote for each of those acts.

“This year’s Hall of Fame inductees really capture the passion of the fans,” Joel Peresman, president and chief executive of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to again be able to have the fans be a part of the show.”

Hard-rock fans have long complained about KISS’ absence from the Hall of Fame, so the cartoonish band’s election eliminates one barb often hurled at the institution.

The induction of Cat Stevens, who changed his name to Yusuf Islam and converted to Islam at the end of a streak of artistic and commercial success in the ’70s, won’t be without controversy because of remarks he made in 1989 that were interpreted as supportive of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s imposition of a death sentence on The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie. Yusuf Islam subsequently denied that he had advocated anyone killing Rushdie.

The 2014 nonperformers joining the ranks are Beatles manager Brian Epstein and Andrew Loog Oldham, best known as the Rolling Stones manager, producer, and songwriter.

Additionally, Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band will be welcomed into the Hall of Fame (the group’s Boss was inducted in 1999). The hall has moved in recent years to include the bands that played significant roles in their inducted leaders’ successes.