Two Illinois classic rock bands have gained their first nominations for the upcoming 2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class. Cheap Trick and Chicago are first-time nominees, joined by The Cars and Steve Miller as virgin nominees. Steve Miller, BTW, was just nominated this week for the Songwriters HOF. Deep Purple and Yes are repeat nominees for this coming year’s class.
Here are a few comments from the nominees:
Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen: “Being nominated is an honor for Cheap Trick. We owe it to our fans for keeping us working and relevant.”
Former Yes singer Jon Anderson: “Very excited for al the zillions of Yes fans, and to be nominated is a great honor.”
Chicago’s Robert Lamm: “We are surprised and honored to be nominated.”
To be eligible for nomination this time around, an artist had to release a recording by 1990, the same age of nominee Janet Jackson’s first fake rack. Ballots will be sent to an international voting body, consisting of some 800 artists, historians and music industry insiders. For the fourth year, fans can vote starting today at RockHall.com. The public’s top five artists will comprise a “fans’ ballot,” for what that’s worth, that will be tallied along with the other ballots in the voting for the 2016 class.
Doc Watson
