Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, Marvin Gaye Among Songwriting Hall of Fame Inductees
Tom Petty, Elvis Costello and Marvin Gaye are among the music legends that will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame at a June 9th ceremony in New York. The Class of 2016 also includes Chic‘s Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards as well as songwriter Chip Taylor, who penned “Angel of the Morning” and the Troggs’ “Wild Thing.” Additional special award recipients will be announced soon.
“The 2016 roster of Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees is a beautiful mosaic of the best of late 20th Century popular music. With creators of Rock & Roll, Soul/R&B, Country and Funk/Dance represented, we are looking forward to an unforgettable and extremely exciting event,” the Hall’s co-chairmen Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff said in a statement. “With the exception of two, all of the 2016 inductees are alive and continue to be as vitally creative as ever.” Gaye was killed in 1984 and Edwards passed away in 1996.
This year’s class will be celebrated at the Songwriters Hall of Fame 47th annual induction ceremony, taking place at the Marriott Marquis in New York. In December, the Songwriters Hall’s announced the long list of nominees that would potentially join the over 400 artists and songwriters already enshrined; in addition to this year’s inductees, that list of nominees included Madonna, John Mellencamp, Sly Stone, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, Blondie’s Deborah Harry and Chris Stein and pop music extraordinaire Max Martin.
In 2015, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, which was established in 1969, welcomed the Grateful Dead duo of Jerry Garcia and lyricist Robert Hunter, blues legend Willie Dixon, Cyndi Lauper, Linda Perry, Toby Keith and Country Music Hall of Famer Bobby Braddock.