Taylor Swift serenaded Carole King, former US President Barack Obama praised rapper JAY-Z, and Paul McCartney paid tribute to the Foo Fighters on Saturday at a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction
ceremony that also honoured Tina Turner and The Go-Gos.
Obama, speaking via video, called 23-time Grammy winner JAY-Z “the embodiment of the American Dream” for his rise from a poor New York neighbourhood
to a billionaire songwriter, record executive and businessman. JAY-Z, 51, seemed overwhelmed by the tributes, which included one
from comedian Dave Chappelle.
“That’s a lot. Trying to make me cry in front of all these white people!” he joked. “Growing up we didn’t think we could be inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We were told that hip-hop was
a fad.” Swift opened the show with a pop version of Will You Love Me Tomorrow while Jennifer Hudson sang A Natural Woman in honour of the singer-songwriter King, 79, who led the audience in a singalong
of her hit You’ve Got a Friend.
“I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know Carole King’s music,” said Swift, calling her 1971 Tapestry album “a watershed moment for humans in the world with feelings.”
The ceremony in Cleveland, Ohio, was packed with A-listers including Dr Dre, Eminem, Jennifer Lopez, Lionel Richie and Keith Urban. Christina Aguilera led a medley of Turner’s biggest hits.
The Simply the Best singer, who now lives quietly in Switzerland, was unable to attend Saturday’s ceremony but sent thanks by video.
“If they’re still giving me awards at 81, I must be doing something right,” Turner said.
Turner was first given the honour in 1991 with her former husband Ike Turner but on Saturday she was celebrated for her even bigger solo career in the 1980s and 1990s.
King and Dave Grohl were also two-time honorees. King had
previously been inducted with her songwriting partner Gerry Goffin, while Foo Fighters frontman Grohl was a member of the grunge band Nirvana which was inducted in 2014. McCartney said he and Grohl were both ‘ordinary kind of goofy’ kids who had somehow
fallen into rock and roll music.
-Reuters
