Genesis, ABBA, The Stooges Honored as Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees

In 2010, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is going to be swelling its ranks with new inductees featuring The Hollies, Jimmy Cliff, The Stooges, ABBA and Genesis.

A group of non-performers is also going to be inducted. Ahmet Ertegun Award individual recipients include David Geffen, music mogul, as well as songwriters Otis Blackwell, Mort Shuman, Jesse Stone, Jeff Barry, Elle Greenwich, Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann.

The induction ceremony is taking place in New York on March 15. It will be aired live on Fuse, the national music TV network of Madison Square Garden.

Joel Peresman, Foundation President for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame said, we’re so happy to be able to present this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees. They represent a tremendous cross-section of different types of artists defining the history of rock and roll’s broad spectrum as well as people who have contributed an immeasurable amount to our business.

ABBA, the Swedish pop sensation from Stockholm that was formed during the late 1960′s, went on and became one of popular music’s biggest selling bands in history. The group featured two couples: Frida Lyngstad and Benny Andersson along with Bjorn Ulvaeus and Anna Faltskog. In the US they scored numerous hit over eight studio albums. They included “”Dancing Queen,” “Fernando,” and “Mamma Mia.” The latter song was used eventually to form the basis for a musical that become a long running hit with the same name, featuring many of the songs of ABBA’s. According to Associated Press, the group every year continues selling over three million albums, despite the fact that the band broke up over 25 years ago.

Genesis from the UK emerged out of the late 1960′s English rock art scene. Peter Gabriel, the singer, led the band. Genesis gained a following rather quickly behind the outlandish stage persona of Gabriel’s. During the early 1970′s the band recorded several progressive rock albums that were very influential. In 1975 Peter Gabriel left the band and Phil Collins, the drummer, took over as the group’s frontman. The band quickly and smoothly made a transition and became a pop hit mighty machine. During the early 1980′s they churned out several Top 10 hits and helped to usher the MTV era in. The band broke up in 1999, but reunited in 2006 and had a very successful world tour.

The Stooges, born out of a working class suburb in Michigan, help to pave a future path for punk rocker generations all over the world. Iggy Pop, the band’s lead singer who was born as James Osterberg, fueled the group’s anarchistic fury. The band recorded three LPs that were very influential during the late 1960′s to the early 1970′s. It included the debut for the band which was produced by John Cale or the Velvet Underground and recorded in only four days. The album scored the hit singles “No Fun,” “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” and “1969.” A few years later they flamed out. In 2003 the band was reformed and has continued to tour as the group Iggy and the Stooges. Early this year Ron Asheton, founding guitarist passed away.

The Hollies, the British soft rock group that featured Eric Haydock, Allan Clark and Graham Nash, churned out multiple hit singles during the late 1960′s. There was one point where they charted 21 UK Top 20 hit singles in a row, including “Bus Stop,” and “Look Through Any Window.” In 1968 Nash departed to join Stephen Stills and David Crosby in another hit producing band. The Hollies then regrouped and produced another round of chart toppers, including “The Air That I Breathe,” “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress,” and “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.”

Jimmy Cliff, who at times gets lost in the shadow of fellow giant of reggae Bob Marley, helped to introduce Jamaican reggae music to a worldwide audience with his film and 1972 album “The Harder They Come.” Cliff is considered to be reggae’s first superstar. His songs “Sitting in Limbo,” “You Can’t Get It If You Really Want,” and “Many Rivers to Cross” are still classics of the reggae genre.

The inductees for 2010 were selected from a list of nominees that included The Chantels, Red Hot Chili Peppers, LL Cool J, Laura Nyro, KISS, Donna Summer and Darlene Love.