Norman Whitfield & Suzanne de Passe - Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2024 Inductees

**bradsupremes** · 04-21-2024, 08:47 PM

Congratulations to Norman Whitfield and Suzanne de Passe on being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - Class of 2024. The ceremony will take place in October in Cleveland, Ohio.

Suzanne's bio - https://rockhall.com/inductees/suzanne-de-passe/
Norman's bio - https://rockhall.com/inductees/norman-whitfield/

Full list of the class of 2024
https://rockhall.com/2024-inductees/

**jobeterob** · 04-21-2024, 10:05 PM

They are coming around, listening and responding - Dionne Warwick, Foreigner, Cher, Norman Whitfield and wow, Suzanne. Also Mary J Blige

Now - Cher said they could fuck themselves - it’ll be interesting how this plays out

**jboy88** · 04-21-2024, 10:10 PM

Dang, I was just about to post this! Congrats to Norman and Suzanne, but also Dionne, Mary J.’ Kool and the Gang and even Cher. Too bad Sonny Bono wasn’t nominated too.

**Motown Eddie** · 04-22-2024, 05:28 AM

I'm very happy that The Rock Hall inducted many of my Heroes like Dionne Warwick, Kool & The Gang, Suzanne DePasse, Norman Whitfield & Big Mama Thorton.

**sansradio** · 04-22-2024, 06:51 AM

Happy to hear about all the new inductees, but the burning question is: Why in the hell wasn't Big Mama Thornton inducted into the inaugural class??? She's Mt.-Rushmore-of-Rock status, for God's sake!!!

**daviddesper** · 04-22-2024, 12:01 PM

I am confused by all these different awards and categories. Has it always been that way? I thought the normal process was that they announced a field of 15-20 nominees each year, and then there was a voting process to narrow it down to the 8 or so that actually made it into the Hall of Fame. I don't recall ever hearing about all these supplemental awards.

**reese** · 04-22-2024, 01:35 PM

Originally Posted by daviddesper

I am confused by all these different awards and categories. Has it always been that way? I thought the normal process was that they announced a field of 15-20 nominees each year, and then there was a voting process to narrow it down to the 8 or so that actually made it into the Hall of Fame. I don't recall ever hearing about all these supplemental awards.

I was a bit confused as well. I know they used to have early influences or something similar as a category. And now they have this Musical Excellence Award which Dionne is receiving this year and Chaka received last year. Why wouldn't they be inducted as performers?

In any event, I'm glad Dionne is finally getting in. When Lionel Richie announced the inductees on AMERICAN IDOL last night, it seemed like they were rushing him near the end and I could have sworn that he said Dionne's name but I wasn't sure. Good to know I wasn't hearing things.

**jobeterob** · 04-22-2024, 01:47 PM

Originally Posted by reese

I was a bit confused as well. I know they used to have early influences or something similar as a category. And now they have this Musical Excellence Award which Dionne is receiving this year and Chaka received last year. Why wouldn't they be inducted as performers?

In any event, I'm glad Dionne is finally getting in. When Lionel Richie announced the inductees on AMERICAN IDOL last night, it seemed like they were rushing him near the end and I could have sworn that he said Dionne's name but I wasn't sure. Good to know I wasn't hearing things.

It appears they are responding to the negative publicity and bad press from last year which caused them a lot of damage and loss of credibility.

It looks like they are moving in the right direction.

**bradsupremes** · 04-22-2024, 08:21 PM

Since the beginning there has always been different categories of inductees. It was only until recently that they have made it a point to induct people in each category. For a long time until Jann Wenner's realm, there would be years where they would only induct a small group of performers and no one else. Some years it may one or two people from a special category along with performers, in other years it would be all of them. It made absolutely no sense and I chalk that up to Wenner's personal grievances. This created a huge backlog of people who just now getting inducted like Big Mama Thornton who frankly should have been inducted 30 years ago.

As for the categories...
The performer category is the one that's voted on and most publicized. Each year they usually announce 16 nominees who get voted on by inductees, music historians, industry folks, etc. The inductees for this group range each year from 5 to 8 although lately they have been making the classes bigger to make up for the backlog of artists e.g. Cher.

The Ahmet Ertegun Award was originally the Non-Performer category which recognizes industry professionals, songwriters, producers, DJs, executives who worked behind the scenes and weren't performers. Folks such as Berry Gordy, Dick Clark, Holland-Dozier-Holland received this award. This category is not voted on and is selected by a special committee.

The Musical Excellence Award was originally the Sidemen category when it was introduced in 2000. It was originally created to honor the musicians who worked in the background and not necessarily were known by the public. It was this category that got James Jamerson and Benny Benjamin inducted. Recently they have become more broad with the criteria and are recognizing individuals [[musicians, producers, songwriters, artists). It has become a catch-all category for artists who get nominated multiple times and yet don't get voted in as performers such as Nile Rodgers, LL Cool J, Chaka Khan, and now Dionne Warwick. This award is selected by a special committee.

The Musical Influence Award was originally named the Early Influence category. Up until recently, it honored artists who pre-dated rock and roll but had an impact on its creation such as Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holliday. It's kind of taken on a new form honoring musicians who were influential on its evolution/new sound that came out of rock and roll while still honoring the early artists. Gil Scott-Heron is a great example as he was inducted a few years ago in this category for laying down the groundwork for hip hop. This award is selected by a special committee.

**ralpht** · Yesterday, 10:52 AM

What isn´t mentioned is under De Passes´ tenure the L.A. operation never matched the output of Detroit. No new acts were brought forth successfully to add to the roster created in Detroit. Sure, it has been mentioned that Berry was jaded with the business, but he was also a shrewd business man. Does anyone actually think the store would have been sold if the hits were popping out like they once did in Detroit?

**motony** · Yesterday, 01:30 PM

So right, Ralph. What really boils my blood, is putting someone like Suzanne DePasse in when MARY WELLS & also the Marvelettes have not been put in YEARS AGO.They were true pioneers.