The other inductees include Willie Nelson, Kate Bush, Rage Against the Machine, Missy Elliott, Sheryl Crow and the Spinners, Variety noted. Elliott is the only artist in this crop to have made it into the hall in her first year of eligibility, being 25 years out from her first commercial recording; however, Crow and Michael joined Elliott in scoring with voters in their first appearances on the ballot.
In addition, there are six more inductees beyond that list; these individuals were selected by a select Hall of Fame committee to join the seven performers who were voted in via general balloting. These are singer Chaka Khan, instrumentalist-producer Al Kooper and lyricist Bernie Taupin, all in the “musical excellence” category; pioneering rock guitarist Link Wray and hip-hop originator DJ Kool Herc in the “musical influence” division; and “Soul Train” TV host Don Cornelius as the recipient of the annual Ahmet Ertegun Award.
These 13 honorees will be celebrated in an induction ceremony and concert to take place Nov. 3 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Michael topped the fan voting when balloting wrapped up April 28 for the list of 2023 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees, Billboard noted. While the fan vote was not a guarantee that Michael will be enshrined in Cleveland, the late Wham! and solo star’s decisive victory in the fan portion of the vote saw him getting more than 1 million votes (1,040,072), which put him comfortably in front of runner-up Cyndi Lauper (928,113).
Having three women among the seven 2023 inductees may help address concerns that the Hall of Fame has been too slow in selecting female artists—something Courtney Love alleged in a recent column.
—Andrew Davis