Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts Madonna

Madonna spoke of being possessed by magic as she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday along with Leonard Cohen, rocker John Mellencamp, British pop band The Dave Clark Five and instrumental group The Ventures.

“I felt like I had been possessed by some magic and luckily for me I have been miraculously and continuously possessed by some kind of magic,” Madonna said at the annual Hall of Fame ceremony in New York.

“I have gone on to do so many things in my life, from writing children’s books, to designing clothes, to directing a film. But for me it always does, and it always will, come back to the music, so thank you” she said.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Madonna Cohen

Madonna, 49, was inducted by pop star Justin Timberlake, who has co-written and co-produced half the songs on her new album “Hard Candy,” which is released next month.
“Nobody has gotten into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame looking this damn fine“, he said. “You’re no old museum piece.”

Madonna made her debut in 1982 and her first album “Madonna”, including hits such as “Holiday,” “Borderline” and “Lucky Star”, helped her become one of the best-selling pop artists, with more then 200 million albums sold worldwide.

Artists become eligible for the Hall of Fame 25 years after the release of their first single or album and are represented in an exhibition at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum in Cleveland, Ohio.

Paying tribute to John Mellencamp, Billy Joel said: �Let’s face it. Nobody’s selling records anymore. The record industry died before you did. Congratulations, John.�

Mr. Mellencamp, the heartland rocker, performed his own songs, including �Pink Houses� and �Small Town,� and had much of the black-tie crowd on its feet during �Authority Song.� He said he was glad that during his career, �people thought the songs was about them. I want to thank those people.�

Tom Hanks praised the Dave Clark Five for both the joy of their music and for never signing away their publishing rights. �I wasn’t the greatest drummer,� Mr. Clark said. �It was the combination that made it work.�

Leonard Cohen was introduced by Lou Reed, who quoted extensively from Mr. Cohen’s lyrics. �Thank you so much for reminding me that I wrote a couple of good lines,� Mr. Cohen deadpanned in his sepulchral voice. He called entering the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame an �unlikely event.�

A respectful Ben Harper inducted Little Walter, saying, �You can hear the instrument saying to its player in every note, ‘Thank you, thank you for all you’ve done for me.’ � Then he performed �My Babe� with James Cotton on harmonica.

Early-1960s Ventures hits helped define the basic rock-band lineup of two guitars, bass and drums. They performed �Walk Don’t Run� with a substitute lead guitarist, since one of the band’s founders, Bob Bogle, could not attend. �That was the song that made all of the guitar heroes want pick up the guitar,� said Paul Shaffer, the night’s music director.

sources nationalpost.com and www.nytimes.com.