FINALLY!!!
Ed Sullivan is FINALLY being inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
This has been a GROSS oversite for decades now … SO happy to see this finally righted. (Forgotten Hits Readers know that we have long been campaigning for his induction for over twenty years now.)
Also going in this year as part of The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Class of 2026:
As Performers: Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Iron Maiden, Joy Division / New Order, Oasis, Sade, Luther Vandross and Wu-Tang Clan.
Sorry, but not much excitement here. The only one of these that I can personally justify as worthy would be Phil Collins … and he’s already in as a member of Genesis.
New Edition, who won the Fan Vote, did not make the cut ... proving once again just how important the fans' opinion really matter to The Rock Hall. (No tears will be shed by me ... I never thought they deserved the nomination in the FIRST place!)
Early Influence: Celia Cruz, Fela Kuti, Queen Latifah, McLyte and Gram Parsons
The Rock Hall's been trying to induct Fela Kuti for years now ... maybe there's hope for Shakira to get in fifty years from now if Celia Cruz finally made it. I do tip my hat to Queen Latifah and Gram Parsons, however.
Musical Excellence: Linda Creed, Arif Mardin, Jimmy Miller and Rick Rubin
I can immediately justify those last three … ALL deserving of such an honor ... but Linda Creed? I’ll need some convincing here. I know her more as a background singer than anything else! Is Merry Clayton in??? No??? Then how on earth do you induct Linda Creed before Merry Clayton?!?!?
Sullivan is being honored with The Annual Ahmet Ertegun Award … and fittingly so. Ed did more to advance rock and roll than anybody back in the day when America was being told this was all just juvenile delinquent rock and roll rebelry … only to learn some 65+ years later that the kids were right … and it was rock and roll REVELRY. His promotion of Black acts and every new artist to hit the market with a new sound is unparalleled. A list of artists who appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" is a better representation of the TRUE Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame than the organization so named and responsible for keeping things honest. (kk)
Ed Sullivan To Receive The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Ahmet Ertegun Award
By Harvey Kubernik
I’ve championed the legacy of Ed Sullivan for over half a century in print, books and online platforms.
Ed Sullivan was my Sunday School teacher.
In my book Screen Gems: Pop Music Documentaries & Rock and Roll TV Scenes, published in 2026 by Bear ManorMedia, I devoted an entire chapter to Ed Sullivan.
The Ed Sullivan library remained in the Sullivan family’s possession for almost two decades after The Ed Sullivan Show wrapped. In 1990, documentary filmmaker-producer Andrew Solt formed SOFA Entertainment Inc. and acquired the library from Sullivan’s daughter and son-in-law for an undisclosed sum. The Los Angeles-based production company became the copyright holder of the original programs and, eventually, more than 150 hours of newly created programming.
Solt is one of those American kids who grew up watching Sullivan on Sunday nights. Along with his aforementioned theatrical documentaries, his filmography includes the longform TV special Heroes of Rock ’n’ Roll (1979), an early collaboration with Malcolm Leo; and the miniseries The History of Rock ’n’ Roll (1995). SOFA Entertainment has produced approximately 400 programs for television and home video, including Elvis: The Ed Sullivan Shows (2006).
“Sullivan knew how to give a show that was for every generation that might be watching,” Andrew Solt explained during a September 2011 interview.
“The show was such a launching pad for such great, important, iconic moments, whether it’s Elvis or Bo Diddley. When the Beatles stepped onto Ed Sullivan’s New York stage on Sunday, February 9, 1964, to make their American TV debut, 86 percent of all TVs on at that hour — 73 million Americans — were tuned in. It was the most-watched program in history to that point and remains one of the most-watched programs of all time. To some, it will always be remembered by his introduction: ‘Here they are — The Beatles!’”
Solt commented about the pre-1965 black and white film that captured the monumental, televised appearances of the Beatles in America.
“I think because the footage is black and white it takes you back even more into an era in which to today’s generation, nobody understands why anything was ever in black and white. I think what really comes across is [the Beatles’] excitement, their charisma, their talent, and when you start to think those haircuts were considered revolutionary, weird, and long hair, that those Beatles boots they wore were different, so unusual. And in retrospect, it’s humorous, but that is Day One of the evolution of rock and roll post-Elvis.
“That era of the 1960s starts February 9, 1964, in America. And it is the first time rock and roll ever comes to us. Before that, it was an exported item, never imported. They reinvent it and bring it back, and it changes the face of American pop music completely. That happened [in New York] and the city goes mad, the country goes wild, the whole place is affected. The beauty is watching the faces of these four young guys, knowing they’ve waited for this moment. They came to America with a number one record. They had it all lined up. They told that to Brian [Epstein, their manager], and it happened.
“For those of us who remember the music arriving around September, 1963, by the time they get to February, it’s after the John F. Kennedy assassination and we had been through the doldrums of a very horrific time where everything was questioned. Bomb shelters. I never thought I would see grown-ups running around, crying like the world had ended. I didn’t know what was going on, it was so severe.
“Ten weeks later or less, these guys land on our shores, and euphoria reigns. And [February 9] is the moment, and this can now be enjoyed by people around the world in a way that matters.”
Along with millions of other teens, I felt the emotional and musical impact of the Beatles’ Sullivan debut. Two other Sullivan guests transformative for me were Little Anthony & the Imperials on March 28, 1965, with Anthony’s mesmerizing lead vocal on “Hurt So Bad,” and soul singer/dancer James Brown singing a medley of his hits on May 1, 1966.
“The relationship between Berry Gordy’s Motown label and The Ed Sullivan Show also made music and television history,” Solt noted.
“Soon after the Supremes’ debut on Sullivan (December, 1964), it was clear that showcasing the latest Motown releases on CBS on Sunday nights (thirty-five million viewers was average) until 1971 was a way to expose the record company’s newest hits and boost the show’s ratings.”
Solt and I discussed Sullivan’s influence on the world of African-American entertainment.
“Ed had a fascination with African-American culture. He loved talent. He stood up for Harry Belafonte and Marian Anderson. Mahalia Jackson sang on the show, and one of the very first shows W.C. Handy sang was on The Ed Sullivan Show. He is considered the father of the blues.
“For one, a Harlem DJ, Dr. Jive, introduced R&B artists to America in late 1955. “Rock Around the Clock” was blasting out of every transistor radio and the main titles of Blackboard Jungle. Ed loved introducing African Americans on his stage, and most of all he enjoyed giving people big breaks and the most desired gift, national TV airtime. Ed liked his role as showbiz kingpin, and he knew he was very fortunate to be such a powerful arbiter of American taste. He took pleasure in influencing our culture and [presenting] acts that would make us gasp and swoon. He was an unlikely hero.”
“For us, being on The Ed Sullivan Show was so much more than record sales,” Mary Wilson of the Supremes emphasized when we spoke in 2016.
“It wasn’t about promoting us. It was about that we had grown up watching The Ed Sullivan Show. We had grown up watching shows where you didn’t see a lot of Black people starring on those shows. We were like every other family in America who spent hours watching Ed Sullivan. So, for us, being on the show was such a great honor, because we were there to see the world changing. To see America changing. We were excited! We’re on The Ed Sullivan Show.
“We came from a time when a whole family of all different colors didn’t sit around watching Black people on television. The Dick Clark Caravan of Stars tours were before us and there were segregated hotels.
“For us, that is what it was all about. We were part of that change. We were part of helping America to see Black people, Black women, being proud, beautiful, and successful. It wasn’t just us. Many people before us. But they didn’t have the television to expose them to that wide range of people as we did. We were lucky. We stood on a lot of shoulders. But we were there when the doors opened.
“The other thing was that we were seen in color after our initial appearances were in black and white. Recently, my granddaughter was watching a DVD collection of the Supremes. And she said to me, ‘Grandma! What happened to the color?’ Because she has never seen a black and white TV!”
The Temptations were among the most popular and influential Motown vocal groups to perform on The Ed Sullivan Show, four young Black men singing so fine, dressed to the nines, making smooth moves in unison. David Ruffin, a former member of the group, spoke with me for a story in the February 21, 1976, issue of Melody Maker.
“The Temptations were individuals who happened to sing together,” Ruffin emphasized. “To this day, I always meet people and musicians who tell me how much the Temptations influenced them. It makes me feel good that others learned from us and a lot of the younger groups always acknowledge the Tempts in interviews.
“I never regretted any of the songs we did, and even the choreography on stage has been widely copied. I liked the dancin’ part of that group. Then you couldn’t just stand there and sing. The audience was moving, and you just reflected what was goin’ on. I’d like my association with the Temptations to be remembered as that we gave something. We helped young artists get in a position.”
While the Temptations were topping the pop charts with “My Girl” in 1965, they were also subjected to racial discrimination and harassment during tours.
“Some cats had to buy us food ’cause restaurants wouldn’t serve us, mostly in the South,” Ruffin lamented. “Things are much better today, but I can think of the times when I was driving independently of the group in my Cadillac, and the police, who didn’t like Black people with money or any fame, made me get out of town. They wouldn’t even let me stay overnight. I was visiting my mother, parked the car outside, and the cop said, ‘You can’t park it here.’
“Yet we always had respect from the musicians, and later, all kinds of kids went to our shows. We would rap and sing on the bus ride between concerts, and it was a lot of fun.”
In November, 1974, for Melody Maker, I interviewed Bobby Rogers, a member of the Miracles and a Motown fixture since their inception in 1958, when Bobby joined up with his sister Claudette, Ronnie White, Warren “Pete” Moore, and Smokey Robinson.
“We used to tour with the Rolling Stones and people like Georgie Fame,” Bobby recalled. “During the breaks from touring, a lot of the groups would ask questions about certain songs on our albums. I remember when we filmed the T.A.M.I. Show in ’64. Mick Jagger asked me about what I’d thought of the album James Brown Live at The Apollo, which was his favorite LP.
“Man, those early tours were a trip. Endless hours of bus rides and all these skinny English dudes asking us about the Tamla-Motown sound. I never realized how important or influential we were on groups like the Beatles and Stones.”
The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show nine times (three live, six pre-taped or on video), and the Rolling Stones on six occasions (the last pre-taped).
“Ed Sullivan was a true American phenomenon,” observed Andrew Loog Oldham, the Rolling Stones’ producer-manager from 1963-1967. “Every country has one: a seemingly untalented nebbish with strictly local/national appeal. But say what you will, and we did, his musical booking decisions opened the eyes and ears of America and created a legacy/library for all future generations. And he’s the only dude I know who made the Rolling Stones change their lyrics.
“When the Beatles played The Ed Sullivan Show, [it was] that moment when American youth [were] feeling the subtext, feeling the great unspoken hurt of a nation still traumatized by the assassination of its president just a few months before. It’s an incredible moment: Suddenly, American youth had its own music, a reason to be alive.
“Barney Ales — the jewel in the crown. His efforts on behalf of Mr. Gordy and the artists were the primary reason the ‘Sound of Young America’ graduated all over the world.”
Ales was Berry Gordy’s right-hand man and Motown’s ultimate insider, whose job was to get the records played and the company paid. He rose to become executive vice president and general manager but remained in Detroit in 1972 when Gordy moved Motown to California. Ales became its president in Los Angeles during his return to the firm from 1975 to 1978.
“It was as really a battle in those days to get Black artists on network television in prime time,” Ales emailed me in 2016.
“Sammy Davis Jr. and Nat Cole were about the only ones — anyone else, they just weren’t accepted. But when the Supremes broke through, we knew we had an opportunity. They looked so great, as well as sounding great. And Harvey Fuqua and Maxine Powell did a wonderful job, grooming the girls, getting them ready for prime time.
“The Ed Sullivan Show was the real breakthrough: Sunday nights, millions of people watching. Once Sullivan took to the Supremes, we knew we were on the right track. And album sales picked up like crazy whenever they were on, so we always made sure to tell the distributors they needed to check their inventory.
“After the Supremes, we got everyone on Sullivan’s show: Stevie, Gladys, the Temptations. We had a good relationship with the producer, Bob Precht. He liked Motown, and Esther, Berry’s sister, used to take the dressing room keys afterward as souvenirs. They’re probably somewhere in the Motown Museum to this day.”
60 YEARS AGO TODAY:
4/14/66 – The Beatles record “Paperback Writer”
Also on 4/14, Hall Of Fame Pitcher Greg Maddux is born
