The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class of 2024 includes Cher, Mary J. Blige, Ozzy Osbourne, Dave Matthews Band and Dionne Warwick, among others.
The induction ceremony on Saturday night promises to be starry, jamming — and bittersweet. So many of the honorees this time have been lost.
Of the seven original members of Kool & the Gang, there is only one, Robert “Kool” Bell. There will be no living members of the MC5, which suffered the recent deaths of its two last original members, drummer Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson and guitarist and singer Wayne Kramer. Foreigner’s original bassist Ed Gagliardi and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald have died and guitarist Mick Jones has been sidelined by Parkinson’s disease. A Tribe Called Quest has lost Phife Dawg.
“I wish George was here and the rest of the other gentlemen — the other original members — because they well deserve this recognition”, said Hahn Brown, widow of Kool & the Gang drummer and songwriter George Brown, who died in 2023.
In many ways, the class of 2024 — which also includes Peter Frampton, Cher, Mary J. Blige, Ozzy Osbourne, Dave Matthews Band, the late Jimmy Buffett, Dionne Warwick and the late Alexis Korner, the late John Mayall and the late Big Mama Thornton — is a catch-up class, reflecting turnover in the hall’s leadership.
