In the performer category, Heart, Albert King, Randy Newman, Public Enemy, Rush and Donna Summer will receive the prestigious induction. Lou Adler and Quincy Jones will receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award, which is given to non-performers.
A few of those selected to be part of the 2013 group had been nominated before, but none have had the fan support for entry into the hallowed Hall of Fame as first time nominees Rush. The band had been eligible for nomination for the past 14 years.
Member Alex Lifeson told CNN after the group was nominated back in October that the honor meant a great deal to his group’s fan base.
“For our fans, it’s very, very important, and we feel great for them,” he said. “We’re at the next stage and we’ll see if we’re actually inducted. If so, we’ll support it in every way we can for our fans.”
The family of the late “Queen of Disco” Donna Summer expressed their gratitude. “We are overjoyed the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame has recognized Donna’s tremendous musical achievements,” the family said in a statement. “It’s an honor we know she quietly hoped for and would very much cherish. We are deeply grateful.”
Ann Wilson from Heart attended the announcement with her sister and bandmate Nancy, and said their inclusion as inductees left her feeling “somewhat surreal,” as she was “still trying to soak up the reality of it.”
This kind of acknowledgment “is so satisfying,” she went on, because it means “that we are not the tree falling in the woods … [W]e’re out there working and doing shows, traveling [and] writing for years and years and this means that we’ve been noticed.”
Super-producer and composer Quincy Jones, who has worked with a multitude of artists, from Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson, said he was humbled by the honor. “I was very blessed to work with almost every major artist in the last 50 years in America and you can’t plan that, not to say I knew that was gonna happen, and I’m grateful,” Jones said.
To be eligible for a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination, artists had to have released their work at least 25 years prior to appearing on the ballot. That means this year’s group released their first single in 1987 or earlier.
For the first time since 1993, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held on the West coast. The 28th annual event is scheduled for April 18 and will be held at the Nokia Theatre L.A. in Los Angeles, California.
The ceremony will be open to the ticket-buying public, and will air on HBO at 9 p.m. on May 18.
CNN’s Trish Lindo contributed to this report.
