Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - 2012

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony will take place on April 14, 2012 at the Waldorf Asteria in New York City. Inductees include the Beastie Boys, Donovan, Guns N' Roses, Laura Nyro, Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Faces. Artists are eligible for inclusion twenty-five years after their first recording is released.

Check out the display in the Audiovisual Room.

Beastie Boys are an American, Jewish hip hop trio from Brooklyn, New York City. The Beastie Boys began as hardcore punk band in 1979. They released their first EP, Polly Wog Stew, in 1982. In 1984 they made the transition to hip hop after their release of 12" Cooky Puss. As of 2010, they have sold 22 million albums in the United States and 40 million albums worldwide.

Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. He began in the British folk scene and developed his own distinctive style that bleneded folk, jazz, opp, psychedelia and world music.Donovan was one of the leading British recording artists of his day. He started playing in the United Kindgdom in early 1965 and influenced both John Lennon and Paul McCarney by teaching them his finger-picking guitar style in 1968. He was scorned in the 1970s and 1980s because of his folk and hippie image. In 2004, he released a new album, Beat Cafe.

Guns N' Roses are an American hard rock band, started in 1985 in Los Angeles, California. Members of the band were vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler. Axl Rose is the only member remaining in the group. The band has released six studio albums. Guns N' Roses revived the popularity of rock 'n' roll. Dance music and pop metal were popular at the time. In the late 1980s and early 1990s they rebelled much like the early Rolling Stones.

Laura Nyro (October 18, 1947 - April 8, 1997) was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. Song from her abums Eli and the Thirteenth Confession and New York Tendaberry were sung by Barbra Streisand and The 5th Dimension. The 5th Dimension scored with "Stoned Soul Picnic" and "Sweet Blindness" in 1968, "Wedding Bell Blues" in 1969 and "Blowin' Away" in 1970. Barbara Steisand charted with "Stoney End," "Time And Love" and "FLim Flam Man." Elton John acclaimed her influence to Elvis Costello: "The soul, the passion, the out-and-out audacity of her rhythmic and melody changes was like nothing I'd ever heard before."

Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American alternative rock band, formed in Los Angels in 1983. Their style is rock with funk and elements from punk, rock, hip hop and psychedelic rock. The band's members are anthony Kiedis (vocals) and Michael Balzary (bass) with drummer Chad Smith and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer.

Small Faces were English band from East London. The group began in 1965 with Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston. They wrote "Itchycoo Park", "Lazy Sunday", "All or Nothing" and "Tin Soldier". By 1969, when they disbanded, they were a psychedelic band. After they disbanded, they were joined by Ronnie Woods and Rod Stewart in the 1970s and became The Faces. They broke in 1975 when Rod Stewart went solo.Small Faces are one of the biggest influences on the Britpop movement of the 1990s. Their music is still among the most famous British mod and psychedelic of the mid to late sixties.