They're bringing out the big guns for the 27th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony next year in Cleveland.
Guns N' Roses will be enshrined during the gala affair Saturday, April 14, at Public Auditorium, along with fellow performer honorees the Beastie Boys, Donovan, Laura Nyro, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Small Faces/Faces.
Bluesman Freddie King, alias "The Texas Cannonball," will be ushered in as an early influence. He died in 1976.
Among the nonperformer inductees will be Don Kirshner, Tom Dowd, Glyn Johns and Cosimo Matassa.
The Rock Hall's incoming Class of 2012 was to be announced Wednesday by the New York-based Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, which oversees the inductions.
Tickets for the ceremony will go on sale Saturday, Dec. 17.
The festivities will be televised on HBO, although not live. Tentative plans call for an early May airdate.
Guns N' Roses, whose hard-rocking repertoire includes "Welcome to the Jungle," "Sweet Child o' Mine" and "Paradise City," were nominated in their first year of eligibility. The group burst out of Los Angeles 25 years ago with a debut album titled "Appetite for Destruction," which has sold 18 million copies in the United States alone, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
Guns N' Roses headline a concert tonight at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown. Frontman Axl Rose is the only founding member in the current lineup.
This was the first nomination for the Small Faces/Faces, British exports responsible for such hits as "Itchycoo Park" and "Stay with Me." First came the Small Faces in the '60s, including singer-guitarist Steve Marriott, keyboardist Ian McLagan, bassist Ronnie Lane and drummer Kenney Jones. By the '70s, Marriott was gone and they were simply the Faces, with the additions of singer Rod Stewart and guitarist Ronnie Wood. Stewart and Wood are already in the Rock Hall -- the former as a solo artist; the latter as a member of the Rolling Stones. Marriott and Lane died in 1991 and 1997, respectively.
The Beastie Boys, Donovan, Nyro and the Red Hot Chili Peppers were previously nominated, but failed to make the final cut until now.
POPTOPS2Associated PressThe Beastie Boys, circa 1998.
New York's Beastie Boys -- Michael "Mike D" Diamond, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz and Adam "MCA" Yauch -- used to be punks, then switched to hip-hop. Their calling-card smash "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)" crashed the Top 10 in 1987. They went on to crusade for loftier causes, including Tibetan independence. Their eighth album, "Hot Sauce Committee Part Two," came out in April.
Scottish folkie Donovan (full name: Donovan Leitch) had his heyday in the '60s. Among his best-known tunes are "Sunshine Superman" and "Mellow Yellow."
Nyro, a piano-playing singer-songwriter from New York, made her debut in 1967. Her tunes became hits for numerous other artists, including Blood, Sweat & Tears, which notched a Top 5 single with Nyro's "And When I Die." She died in 1997.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been playing funky alt-rock since the '80s, although the Los Angeles group's biggest hit to date was a ballad: "Under the Bridge." The band remains active, anchored by founding members Anthony Kiedis (vocals) and Michael "Flea" Balzary (bass) and longtime drummer Chad Smith. Their 10th album, "I'm with You," came out in August.
Artists become eligible for Rock Hall nomination 25 years after the release of their first recording. Nominees on the latest ballot who were passed over include the Cure, Eric B. and Rakim, Heart, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan, the Spinners, Donna Summer and War.
Ballots were sent to 500 voters, including music-industry insiders and previous inductees.
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERSAssociated PressThe Red Hot Chili Peppers, circa 2002.
The early influence and nonperformer honorees were chosen by separate committees.
Kirshner, host of the television series "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" and a driving force behind the Monkees and the Archies, will be the recipient of the Ahmet Ertegun Award. Kirshner died in January.
Record producers and engineers Dowd, Johns and Matassa will receive the Award for Musical Excellence.
Dowd's credits include landmark albums and hit singles for everyone from John Coltrane to Aretha Franklin to Eric Clapton. Dowd died in 2002.
Johns has worked with the Rolling Stones, the Who and the Eagles, among others. Matassa was a key player in the success of the likes of Fats Domino and Little Richard.
The inductions here will be preceded by nine days of tie-in events, including the grand opening of the Rock Hall's library and archives on Cuyahoga Community College's Metropolitan Campus, the launch of a major new exhibition and a free "Concert for Cleveland."
guns-roses-illo.jpgView full sizeChristopher Morris, The Plain Dealer
Details for those events will be announced later, along with celebrity presenters for the inductions.
This will be the third induction ceremony in the Rock Hall's hometown.
In 2007, Rock Hall officials and city leaders announced an agreement to bring the event (usually held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan) to Cleveland every three years, starting with the 2009 ceremony, where the honorees included Metallica and Run-D.M.C.
Cleveland also hosted the inductions in 1997.
