LOS ANGELES, CA – The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022 is nothing short of legendary as musical giants including Eminem, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo were announced as this year’s incoming inductees.
In addition, heavy metal band Judas Priest and the hit-making producing duo of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are set to be inducted in the Musical Excellence category. Harry Belafonte and Elizabeth Cotten will also receive the Early Influence Award, while record executive and producer Jimmy Iovine, entertainment attorney Allen Grubman, and Sugar Hill Records founder Sylvia Robinson will be honored with the Ahmet Ertegun Award.
“This diverse group of inductees each had a profound impact on the sound of youth culture and helped change the course of rock & roll,” Chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame John Sykes said in a statement. “Their music moved generations and influenced so many artists.”
Parton’s induction comes less than two months after the country superstar released a statement on March 14, in which she expressed gratitude for her nomination but said that she would “respectfully bow out” of consideration.
Three days later, the Rock Hall responded by saying that they were “proud to have nominated [Parton] for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” and that it was too late to remove her name from the ballots since they had already been sent out.
During a recent interview with NPR in April, Parton said that she would indeed “accept gracefully” if she were to be inducted and explained her reasoning behind her previous statement.
“I would just say thanks and I’ll accept it because the fans vote. But when I said that, it was always my belief that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was for the people in rock music, and I have found out lately that it’s not necessarily that,” Parton said. “But if they can’t go there to be recognized, where do they go? So I just felt like I would be taking away from someone that maybe deserved it, certainly more than me, because I never considered myself a rock artist. But obviously, there’s more to it than that.”
Eminem, who along with Parton, Simon, Richie and Duran Duran, were first-time nominees, is just the tenth hip-hop artist to join the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
This marked the second nomination for both Pat Benatar, who will be inducted alongside her husband and longtime musical partner Neil Giraldo, and Eurythmics.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, which will be held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Nov. 5, will air on HBO and stream on HBO Max at a later date.
