LOS ANGELES (AP) — Oprah Winfrey inducted the late Luther Vandross, and U2 was the surprise opener of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday night.
Winfrey, whose presence was also unannounced, said with relish that Vandross was “the maestro of the love song" and said he was once correctly named “the top artist that people make looove to.”
This R&B singer with the velvet voice was one of the definitive singers of the 1980s and ’90s.
He died in 2005.
“Luther Vandross sang with such passion and soul it could reach something deep inside that you didn’t even know needed to be reached,” Winfrey said.
Usher then took the stage and sang a sultry medley of Vandross hits, including “Here and Now” and “So Amazing.”
New members being inducted later in the show included Billy Idol, Phil Collins,Queen Latifah, New Order, Oasis and Iron Maiden.
Many of the inductees opted out of performing or appearing, and the Hall of Fame revealed next to nothing about the show, so it was a night full of surprises, with many more likely.
U2 played their new single “Silencio” while surrounded by dancers in riot squad gear with helmets and shields, then launched into their 1984 classic “Pride (In the Name of Love).”
Singer Bono alternately raised a peace sign and fist as guitarist the Edge and the rest of the band played the song about Martin Luther King, Jr. on the stage at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. U2 was inducted into the hall in 2005.
After streaming the ceremony live the past few years, the Rock Hall is returning to its previous model, where the public won’t see it until an edited version airs on ABC and Disney+ on Dec. 9.
Oasis, the youngest of the inductees, won’t be coming. Guitarist Noel Gallagher is playing a gig back home in Britain, and his little brother, Liam Gallagher, just doesn't want to come.
Iron Maiden will be on tour in Australia. Collins is likely to appear, but he said he cannot play his songs due to health reasons. Key members of New Order, getting a joint induction with their previous incarnation Joy Division, will also be out for health reasons.
Sade also decided to skip the induction. The singer and her band that's named after her were inducted by singer Andra Day and celebrated by singer Sienna Spiro, who sang the group's beloved hit “Smooth Operator.”
But the show will go on, and hip-hop could be the highlight. Wu-Tang Clan will be inducted along with Queen Latifah.
MC Lyte, a trailblazing female rapper starting in the late 1980s, was the first rapper inducted, with hip-hop star Remy Ma doing the honors and calling her “one of the first women in hip-hop to make sure there was room for the rest of us.”
MC Lyte said she was a “B-girl from Brooklyn just looking for my chance to inspire and motivate.” She did not perform at the moment of her induction but may be part of an ensemble later in the evening.
Latifah and Lyte enter the hall as recipients of the Early Influence Award along with posthumous nominees Gram Parsons, Fela Kuti and Celia Cruz.
Parsons, an essential figure at the crossroads of country and rock in the 1960s and '70s, got his own separate tribute Wednesday night at the legendary Troubadour club in West Hollywood, where his duet partner Emmylou Harris along with Rock Hall-of-Famers Elvis Costello and Sheryl Crow sang his songs and saluted his legacy.
Kuti will become the first African-born solo artist in the hall, and Cruz will become the first member who sang primarily in Spanish.
A group of producers will be inducted via the Musical Excellence Award: Rick Rubin, Linda Creed, Arif Mardin and Jimmy Miller. And TV host Ed Sullivan will get in as the winner of the Ahmet Ertugun Award, which goes to nonmusicians who've made rock history.
Many other major stars are likely to appear to induct the new members or to play the absentees' songs in tribute. In recent years, the hall has announced several special guests the week of the show, but with no live airing this year, it has returned to a model of keeping nearly everything secret until it happens.
The show is in Los Angeles for the second straight year, and organizers have said it will be here more often while still rotating to New York and Cleveland, where the actual hall resides.
