Joan Jett, Bill Withers, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Green Day Lead 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees
By Brian Ives, Radio.com
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has just announced the artists on the ballot for their 2015 induction ceremony, set to take place next year in Cleveland. Among the legendary artists nominated: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Sting, Lou Reed, the Spinners, Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Marvelettes and War. This year's rookies to the ballot include Green Day, Nine Inch Nails and the Smiths. To be eligible for nomination, an individual artist or band must have released its first single or album at least 25 years prior to the year of induction; in other words, the 2015 nominees had to release their first recording no later than 1989.
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The full list of nominees includes: the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Chic, Green Day, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk, the Marvelettes, hip-hop legends N.W.A., Nine Inch Nails, Lou Reed, the Smiths, the Spinners, Sting, Stevie Ray Vaughan, War and Bill Withers.
Lou Reed and Sting are both already Hall of Famers as part of their legendary bands; Reed with the Velvet Underground, and Sting with the Police. If inducted, they'd join Michael Jackson, John Lennon, Curtis Mayfield and Jimmy Page as other two-time inductees. (Only Eric Clapton has been inducted more than twice: he's been voted in as a member of the Yardbirds, Cream and as a solo artist).
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