Nat King Cole & Billie Holiday Enter Hall of Fame

By Sushuma on 2000-03-07 18:24:34

(VH1)-Monday's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony took time to honor those who had passed on, as well as those unsung musicians whose contributions helped make rock and roll what it is today. For the first time, the Hall of Fame chose to induct sidemen as well as rock's legendary forebears. A suit by the name of Clive Davis was also honored in the non-performer category. Of the legends portion of the show, Ray Charles was there to induct the late Nat "King" Cole, the renowned jazz pianist who became even bigger when he applied his honeyed vocals to songs like "Route 66" and "Mona Lisa." Charles said of Cole, "I did my best to sound exactly like him. By sounding like Nat Cole, I could work, man." Diana Ross inducted Billie Holiday. Ross memorably portrayed the drug addicted jazz singer in Lady Sings the Blues. It was a performance many say ranked with Ross' Dorothy in The Wiz. Ross revisited her role as Holiday by singing her signature tune "Strange Fruit" a cappella before praising Holiday performing with "such a grace, such a power, bound up in such a great sadness." Arguably the most interesting - or, the most controversial - part of the show was a new category designed to honor sidemen. No one could argue with the inclusion of Presley's guitar picker Scotty Moore, King Curtis, James Jamerson, Earl Palmer or Hal Blaine. But where was Johnnie Johnson, the Chuck Berry pianist whose fight to be inducted got the Hall of Fame to set up the category in the first place? No one was quite sure, so let us now praise musicians who never got much credit at the time. As drummer Earl Palmer chose to put it in his speech, "No singer sings without a band." Motown bassist James Jamerson had another way of putting it, according to his widow Annie. "My husband used to say, 'The dirt keeps the funk.'" Arista boss Clive Davis, who everyone knows - if you haven't been munching toadstools all year - resurrected the career of Santana and was inducted in the non-performer category by Patti Smith. The punk poetess was so grateful to Davis' belief in her that she nearly burst into tears at the memory of his mentoring. Davis' best piece of advice to the author of "Piss Factory:" "Loosen up." Smith then sang a rendition of her song "People Have the Power" to the multimillionaire before saying, "You have risen and are still rising." Irony had clearly left the building. The ceremony can be seen on VH1 tomorrow night (Wednesday) at 9 PM ET.

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