The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame held its 36th annual induction ceremony Saturday night at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland.
Carole King, Tina Turner, The Go-Go's, Todd Rundgren, Foo Fighters and Jay-Z were inducted in the Performer Category. We’ve got some highlights from the big night.
The show started with Taylor Swift performing Carole King's "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" (a hit by The Shirelles) before she took the podium to induct Carole.
This is Carole's second induction into the Hall. She was inducted back in 1990 for her songwriting with her former husband, the late Gerry Goffin.
Carole said:
"It is different because I have had this career of doing a thing that I never thought I'd do, which is to be a performer. And I feel that as a performer, after all the years that I've actually been doing it, it's just part of the way that I bring the music to people and it's just another way that I actually do it as a performer and I understand what an audience comes to see and hear. I know they don't expect perfection so that's good."
Tina Turner was the second artist inducted Saturday night.
Actress Angela Bassett (who played Tina in the 1993 movie “What’s Love Got To Do With It” said, "Let us remember that Tina is already a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for her earlier work with Ike Turner. But what brings us here tonight is Tina's journey to independence. For Tina, hope triumphed over hate, faith over fear and ambition eclipsed adversity."
Tina did not attend, but taped her acceptance speech in which she said that she must be doing something right at the age of 81 to receive such an award.
Todd Rundgren was the night's third honoree.
Patti Smith, his longtime friend, inducted him via video, saying, "He was unflinching in the face of new technology. He would just bend it in his hands." And, referring to Rundgren producing her 1979 album Wave, she added, "He would tell the band, 'If you know what you want, I will help you. If you don't know what you want, I'll do it for you.'"
Rundgren has repeatedly made it clear that he wants nothing to do with the Rock Hall. He was performing Saturday night in Cincinnati and did not attend his induction
The Go-Go's were the night's fourth honoree Actress Drew Barrymore spoke on behalf the girls, calling them her "heroes."
Go-Go's bassist Kathy Valentine once talked about what it's like being in the band.: "It is not like anything else. It's kind of like being married -- in our case a polygamous same-sex marriage that ends up getting divorced and remarried and divorced and remarried."
[Source: Classic Hits Today]