The 2024 Grammy Hall of Fame inductees were honored in what would be the first of a new annual tradition of galas, hosted at the Grammy Museum and Novo in Downtown Los Angeles this last Tuesday night.
Outside of a few delays and moments of miscommunication, the evening was a swift and enjoyable tribute to some groundbreaking albums and memorable songs, with a slew of famed modern artists paying tribute to their musical heroes.
Opening the musical part of the night was Andra Day, covering Donna Summer‘s disco classic “I Feel Love”, complete with a sparkling outfit to match the era that song dominated the charts. Following day was Elle King, who seemed like the perfect fit to deliver a rollicking cover of Wanda Jackson‘s “Let’s Have a Party”. King, who has traversed both rock, alternative and country music in her career, imbued the spirit of Jackson’s rockabilly classic.
As the evening continued, country gospel husband and wife The War and Treaty honored Charley Pride with a rendition of “Kiss an Angel Good Morning”, and band of brothers Hanson did a great version of the Doobie Brothers‘ “What a Fool Believes”. For me, the highlight of the evening was certainly having the soul great William Bell in the house to perform his own inducted classic “You Don’t Miss Your Water”. With the new Stax Records docuseries recently premiering on Max, there’s no better time to rediscover the catalog of this soul great, who continues to release wonderful new music. Andra Day then returned to the stage and paid tribute to Lauryn Hill, who was in the audience that night with her rising-star son YG Marley.
On top of honoring these song inductees, the evening also paid tribute to Atlantic Records, now in their 75th year. While feelings about labels can be contentious in our current climate due to the pay disparity between artists and labels, there’s no denying the amount of great music Atlantic has released over its seven+ decades. I even have a bit of history working with the label on Vance Joy‘s music video for “Saturday Sun”. While that song was of course not played during the night, the label did choose young talent Ravyn Lenae to sing Roberta Flack‘s “Killing Me Softly With His Song”, and modern rock titans Shinedown (riding high on the crossover success of current single “A Symptom of Being Human”), who completely nailed an electrifying version of Led Zeppelin‘s “Stairway to Heaven”.
The evening closed out with War and Treaty returning for a joyous version of Ray Charles‘ “What’d I Say”. There’s a reason the duo are having the best years in their career yet – the multitalented duo can get a party started with their powerhouse vocals.
On top of all the performances and tributes, the evening also acted as a fundraiser for the Grammy Museum’s programs and education outreach. In a time when schools are cutting arts and music programs, we should all be grateful that the Grammys are doing their part to help keep music education in schools and in communities.
See the full list of inductees below.
2024 GRAMMY Hall Of Fame Inductees:
3 FEET HIGH AND RISING
De La Soul
Album
APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION
Guns N’ Roses
Album
BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB
Buena Vista Social Club
Album
“I FEEL LOVE”
Donna Summer
Single
“KISS AN ANGEL GOOD MORNIN’”
Charley Pride
Single
“LET’S HAVE A PARTY”
Wanda Jackson
Single
“ORY’S CREOLE TROMBONE”
Kid Ory’s Creole Orchestra
Single
THE MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL
Lauryn Hill
Album
“WHAT A FOOL BELIEVES”
The Doobie Brothers
Single
“YOU DON’T MISS YOUR WATER”
William Bell
Single
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