ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME 2015 INDUCTEES INCLUDE GREEN DAY, JOAN JETT, STEVIE RAY, LOU REED

Green Day, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Lou Reed, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and Bill Withers are the artists selected for induction into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.  Stevie Ray Vaughan was perhaps the greatest contemporary Bluesman, but his death in 1990 cut short what would have been a very prolific career. Green Day is being ushered into the Rock Hall in their first year of nomination, but some say that Lou Reed as a solo artist went in too late, as he died last year.  He did go in with his band The Velvet Underground. Another posthumous induction is Paul Butterfield who died in 1987.

One of the most worthy nominees though is Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, who still remain vibrant today. Just last year Joan released one of her strongest albums, Unvarnished, and what made it special was the balance between the hard-driving music and her honesty and “being real” about where she is in life and losing people she loves as she gets older.

Bill Withers is probably the oldest performer being inducted this year. Bill created such classics as “Lean On Me” and “Ain’t No Sunshine,” and we asked him at the ASCAP Centennial awards last month what his greatest accomplishment in music was.

Other being honored include Ringo Starr for the Award Of Excellence and The “5” Royales for the Early Influence Award.

The 30th Annual Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Ceremony Returns to Cleveland on April 18. Tickets for the event will go on sale December 18.