CLEVELAND, Ohio (Reuters) – Taylor Swift serenaded Carole King, former U.S. President Barack Obama praised rapper JAY-Z, and Paul McCartney paid tribute to the Foo Fighters on Saturday at a Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame induction ceremony that additionally honored Tina Turner and The Go-Gos.
Obama, talking through video, known as 23-time Grammy winner JAY-Z “the embodiment of the American Dream” for his rise from a poor New York neighborhood to a billionaire songwriter, report government and businessman.
JAY-Z, 51, appeared overwhelmed by the tributes, which included one from comic Dave Chappelle.
“That is loads. Attempting to make me cry in entrance of all these white folks!” he joked. “Rising up we did not suppose we might be inducted within the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame. We had been advised that hip-hop was a fad.”
Swift opened the present with a pop model of “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” whereas Jennifer Hudson sang “A Pure Girl” in honor of the singer-songwriter King, 79, who led the viewers in a singalong of her hit “You have Bought a Buddy.”
“I can not keep in mind a time once I did not know Carole King’s music,” stated Swift, calling her 1971 “Tapestry” album “a watershed second for people on this planet with emotions.”
The ceremony in Cleveland, Ohio, was full of A-listers together with Dr. Dre, Eminem, Jennifer Lopez, Lionel Richie and Keith City.
Christina Aguilera led a medley of Turner’s greatest hits.
The “Merely the Greatest” singer, who now lives quietly in Switzerland, was unable to attend Saturday’s ceremony however despatched thanks by video.
“In the event that they’re nonetheless giving me awards at 81, I should be doing one thing proper,” Turner stated.
Turner was first given the consideration in 1991 together with her former husband Ike Turner however on Saturday she was celebrated for her even greater solo profession within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineteen Nineties.
King and Dave Grohl had been additionally two-time honorees. King had beforehand been inducted together with her songwriting accomplice Gerry Goffin, whereas Foo Fighters frontman Grohl was a member of grunge band Nirvana which was inducted in 2014.
McCartney stated he and Grohl had been each “bizarre sort of goofy” youngsters who had one way or the other fallen into rock and roll music.
Feminine Nineteen Eighties rock band The Go-Gos, rapper LL Cool J, German digital pioneers Kraftwerk and the late Billy Preston had been additionally inducted.
American multi-instrumentalist Todd Rundgren, 73, was a no-show from his personal induction ceremony. Rundgren had stated he wouldn’t attend as a result of he did not contemplate music to be a contest.
The honors acknowledge artists who’ve spent greater than 25 years within the music business. They’re chosen primarily based on ballots despatched by the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame to greater than 1,200 artists, historians and members of the music business. Members of the general public additionally supplied votes.
The 2021 ceremony might be broadcast on cable channel HBO on Nov. 20.
