The 2009 Inductees were announced last night, recognizing this year's class of artists going into John Rook's Hit Parade Hall Of Fame.
Unlike The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame (who have typically been inducting just FIVE new artists each year), The Hit Parade Hall Of Fame went all out this year, inducting an incredible 64 new artists to their roster!
Also unlike The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, The Hit Parade Hall Of Fame takes the votes of the public into consideration ... we the people even get to help nominate artists for each year's ballot ... and while I'm sure that each and every one of us will find a couple of head-scratchers on the list (Kitty Kallen anyone???), the criteria for consideration is clearly spelled out on The Hall's Website ... an artist must have had at least TWO Top Ten Hits on ANY of the charts in order to qualify. That means that pop, rock, country, r & b and even album artists compete side by side for your votes. (Unlike The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, an artist's chart track record DOES count for something here!) And, as we have been suggesting for a while now, The Hall also has a very specific time limit that an artist can be eligible for induction ... if you don't make the cut after three consecutive years on the ballot, your name is dropped from the eligibility list.
John Rook told me that it was important to him to induct a much larger class than normal this year. With SO many of these great artists leaving us recently, he felt it was important to honor and recognize them while they are still around to appreciate it ... and I couldn't agree more. This has LONG been a beef of mine with The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, who sometimes seem inspired to consider a particular artist only after all the hoopla surrounding their passing brought them to greater attention.
The Hit Parade Hall Of Fame also clearly points out BY NAME the members of their committee, an esteemed panel of music experts, all of whom have some input as to the nominees and the artists ultimately selected ... but the DRIVING force is the public. As such, music fans (and many of the artists' fan clubs) have had the greatest impact on who does and doesn't make the cut each year.
Without further adieu, here are this year's 2009 Inductees:
Hit Parade Hall of Fame Inductees for 2009
Sixty-four recording stars have been inducted into the 2009 Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
It was the vote of fans and the decision of the Nominating Committee that the following recording artists:
America, the Ames Brothers, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Louis Armstrong,
Frankie Avalon, Brook Benton, the Buckinghams, Glen Campbell, the Chordettes,
Petula Clark, Sam Cooke, the Dave Clark Five, Creedence Clearwater Revival,
Buddy Holly & the Crickets, Sammy Davis, Jr., the Doors, the Drifters,
Tommy Edwards, the 5th Dimension, Eddie Fisher, Fleetwood Mac, Johnny Horton, Tennessee Ernie Ford, the Four Aces, the Four Lads, the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye,
Lesley Gore, Michael Jackson & the Jackson Five, Joni James, Sonny James, Billy Joel, George Jones, Kitty Kallen, KC & the Sunshine Band, Andy Kim, Carole King,
Gladys Knight & the Pips, Little Richard, Barry Manilow, Al Martino, The Mamas & The Papas, the McGuire Sisters, Les Paul & Mary Ford, Peter, Paul & Mary, Gene Pitney,
the Platters, Gary Puckett & the Union Gap, Helen Reddy, Marty Robbins, the Rolling Stones, Jimmie Rodgers, Bobby Rydell, Del Shannon, Simon & Garfunkel, Jo Stafford, Barbra Streisand, the Temptations, Three Dog Night, Bobby Vee, Bobby Vinton, Dionne Warwick and Andy Williams
are among the largest group of inductees of any given year since the formation of the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2006.
Once nominated, recording stars who have had two or more top ten hit’s in the 50’s, 60’s or 70’s have three years in which to be inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
Each year in January inductees of the past year are announced with the new nominees for the New Year in the second week of February.
John Rook, creator of the Hit Parade Hall of Fame said, “in announcing this, the largest class of inductees to the Hit Parade Hall of Fame, the nominating committee attempted to pay tribute to many recording stars who are long overdue the recognition they so richly deserve.”
This year's list of inductees join Paul Anka, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Bee Gees, Tony Bennett, Chuck Berry, Pat Boone, Bread, Teresa Brewer, Freddy Cannon, The Carpenters, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Chubby Checker, Chicago, Lou Christie, Jimmy Clanton, Nat "King" Cole, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Bobby Darin, Doris Day, John Denver, Neil Diamond, Dion DiMucci, Fats Domino, The Eagles, The Everly Brothers, The Four Seasons, Connie Francis, Aretha Franklin, Roy Hamilton, Tommy James and the Shondells, Elton John, Tom Jones, The Kingston Trio, Frankie Laine, Brenda Lee, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dean Martin, Johnny Mathis, Guy Mitchell, The Monkees, Ricky Nelson, Olivia Newton-John, Roy Orbison, Patti Page, Elvis Presley, Johnnie Ray, Johnny Rivers, Kenny Rogers, Linda Ronstadt, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Neil Sedaka, Frank Sinatra, Sonny and Cher, Kay Starr, B.J. Thomas, Johnny Tillotson, Jackie Wilson and Stevie Wonder ... many of whom have never even made The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame's voting ballot!
The 2010 Nominees will be announced shortly ... and YOU can vote and suggest artists, too! Simply visit The Hit Parade Hall Of Fame website for more information:
Click here: Welcome To The Hit Parade Hall Of Fame
Meanwhile, in Hit Parade Radio news ... John is still hoping to be streaming as well as broadcasting on the AM and FM dial (along with Wi-Fi) later next month. As always, we'll have the formal announcement here! You can listen to the online demo here:
Click here: Hit Parade Radio
