– Press Release

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation has announced its inductees for 2007. The inductees are:

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (Kid Creole, Cowboy, Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel, Mr. Ness, Raheim)
R.E.M. (Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe)
The Ronettes (Estelle Bennett, Ronnie Spector, Nedra Talley)
Patti Smith
Van Halen (Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar, Alex Van Halen, Eddie Van Halen, David Lee Roth)

The five inductees will be honored at a ceremony on March 12, 2007 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Presenters and performers at the induction will be announced in February, 2007. “We couldn’t be more proud to honor this unique, diverse group of rockers, rappers, singers and poets. This is what rock and roll is all about,” said Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation President and C.E.O., Joel Peresman.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on March 12, 2007 will also honor Ahmet Ertegun, legendary founder of Atlantic Records. Ertegun, who was a crucial figure in the careers of artists ranging from Ray Charles to Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones to Led Zeppelin, was instrumental in founding and was the Chairman of the Foundation. The Rock Hall Museum in Cleveland’s main exhibit hall is the Ahmet Ertegun Exhibition Hall.

The 2007 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, R.E.M., The Ronettes, Patti Smith and Van Halen 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 25 years after their first recording is released.

In addition to being honored at the ceremony on March 12, 2007, each artist who is inducted is commemorated within the I.M. Pei-designed museum in Cleveland, Ohio. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame displays the signature of each inductee inscribed in glass. In addition, there is an exhibit of artifacts from this year’s inductees, and a multi-media film presentation with highlights from each artist’s career. The exhibit on this year’s inductees will open in March, 2007 and will run for one year.