Howard Stern and Ann Wilson have both already announced that they’ll respectively induct Bon Jovi and the Moody Blues.
A Rock Hall press release sent out this morning adds that Mary J. Blige will induct Nina Simone, Alabama Shakes’ singer Brittany Howard will induct Sister Rosetta Tharpe and the Killers’ Brandon Flowers will induct the Cars.
Also, singer-songwriter Andra Day will perform for the late Simone.
The ceremony will premiere at 8 p.m. on May 5 on HBO.
Original Post: Shock Jock Howard Stern will induct Jersey rockers Bon Jovi into the Rock Hall at this year’s inductions.
The announcement came this morning during Bon Jovi’s appearance on Stern’s SiriusXM satellite radio show.
On the show, frontman Jon Bon Jovi said that he and Stern recently had a secret meeting to discuss the inductions.
“I had hoped this day was going to come, and it does come and I had given it a lot of thought to who I wanted to induct us,” Bon Jovi said on the Sirius show, adding that they met in a car on the street to discuss the matter. “You think about these rock stars, but I only had one choice, and I told no one, not my wife, certainly not my band. You’ve only ever been my first choice. The truth is, our careers have paralleled in a lot of ways. Whether ups or downs, we’ve come through everything together, and we do this at this point because we love the people we work with. We really do love what we do. Nobody knows not only me but the members of the band as well as Howard.”
Stern has turned down other bands because he thought he would “fuck it up.” He almost backed out of agreeing to induct Bon Jovi too since Bon Jovi didn’t initially tell Stern the inductions were in Cleveland this year, and Stern assumed they would take place in New York. When he got the call to inform him that the inductions would be in Cleveland, he wasn’t pleased.
“I gotta go to fuckin’ Cleveland,” Stern says. “I told my wife that I was going to call Jon and get out of it. But she told me that we are both going to go to Cleveland, and that it’s going to be fun.”
This article appears in Jan 17-23, 2018.
The Cleveland “dig” is all part of Howard’s shtick. He has been saying the same thing for years about everywhere…except NY. Privately I’m sure his is thrilled to induct his friend. Sirius lifetime subscription holder and long time Howard listener by the way. I’ll be at the induction as a member of the Hall and this makes seeing Bon Jovi get in a little easier to take.
Stay home, Howard.
How can Bon Jovi, a representation of all that is wrong with bloated commercial pander rock, get in to the rock hall.
Lyndon was right… a piss stain
Not sure why this wasn’t reported, but Howard said multiple times today that he really likes Cleveland and the people here. The “dig” wasn’t at Cleveland; it was that he wasn’t told he’d have to travel (which he notoriously hates).
I guess no one remembers when Howard Stern did a live broadcast downtown and it was broke into by people on a hand radio. And he vowed to never come to Cleveland again