OZZY OSBOURNE, FOREIGNER And JANE'S ADDICTION Among Nominees For ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME 2024 Induction

Ozzy Osbourne, FOREIGNER, JANE'S ADDICTION, OASIS, Peter Frampton and Lenny Kravitz are among the nominees for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame's Class Of 2024.

Other nominees are Mariah Carey, Sinead O'Connor, Cher, Sade, Mary J. Blige, A TRIBE CALLED QUEST, DAVE MATTHEWS BAND, Eric B. & Rakim and KOOL & THE GANG.

To be eligible for this year's ballot, each nominee's first single or album had to have been released in 1999 or earlier.

According to Rolling Stone, ten of the fifteen nominees — Mariah Carey, Cher, FOREIGNER, Peter Frampton, KOOL & THE GANG, Lenny Kravitz, OASIS, Sinéad O'Connor, Ozzy Osbourne and Sade — are on the ballot for the first time.

Ozzy, along with the rest of the original lineup of BLACK SABBATH, was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2006, but the legendary heavy metal singer has yet to be recognized for his solo career.

Ozzy said in a statement: "I'm deeply honored to receive this news from the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. To be one of the few musicians who's being considered for a second entry, now as a solo artist, is something I could never have imagined. After 44 years as a solo artist the fact that I can continue to record music and receive this recognition is something I am incredibly proud of."

The top vote-getters will be announced in late April and inducted in the fall during a ceremony in Cleveland.

The inductees will be determined by an international voting body of more than 1,000 artists, historians, and members of the music industry, in addition to a fan vote on the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame web site.

The Rock Hall induction ceremony will stream live on Disney+. It will also be available on Hulu following its premiere, and will also receive a special airing on ABC.

Earlier today, FOREGNER's founding member, guitarist Mick Jones, said in a statement: "I deeply appreciate the recognition from the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame committee. It is wonderful that FOREIGNER has maintained its presence all these years and brought the music to our fans. Getting this news today is an incredible endorsement of what we have achieved over time. I know I speak for my fellow FOREIGNER nominees, Lou, Rick, Al, Dennis, and the families of Ed Gagliardi and Ian McDonald."

Sharon Osbourne discussed Ozzy's absence from the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as a solo artist during a recent appearance on "The Adam Carolla Show". Asked by host Adam Carolla how the nomination process works and whether she has to lobby to get Ozzy in as a solo artist, Sharon said: "There are people on the board, and the people on the board have to go in, and it has to be on their list, and it has to be on more than, I think, half of the votes. More than half."

Sharon went on to say that she doesn't like to "beg" anyone for anything. "I will never beg, and I will never ask for favors," she explained. "I've never asked anyone for a favor. So, my thing is fuck you if you don't realize that somebody really deserves to be here. And you don't recognize that? Then, see ya."

When Adam pressed Sharon about whether she has done "any lobbying" to get Ozzy into the Rock Hall, she said: "We went to a dinner last year for the people who had been inducted in last year. They invited us to the dinner and we went. And people were saying to Ozzy, 'Oh, you've been inducted in,' and we were, like, 'No, actually. We were just invited for the food, so we're here.' That's as near as we've got, but no."

Sharon added: "They know that Ozzy deserves to be there. They know he's been a solo artist. You've gotta be doing it for 25 years. He's been 43 years as a solo artist. He sold nearly a hundred million albums as a solo artist. So where is he? Induct him."

Artists are eligible to be inducted into the Rock Hall after at least 25 years have passed since their first record was released.

In 1999, Ozzy attempted to take BLACK SABBATH's name off the Hall Of Fame's nomination list that year, deeming the institution's nod "meaningless."

In an October 1999 letter to the Hall Of Fame, Osbourne said: "Just take our name off the list. Save the ink. Forget about us. The nomination is meaningless, because it's not voted on by the fans. It's voted on by the supposed elite for the industry and the media, who've never bought an album or concert ticket in their lives, so their vote is irrelevant to me." He added, "Let's face it, BLACK SABBATH has never been media darlings. We're a people's band and that suits us just fine."

Back in 2005, BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi told Launch he was not happy that SABBATH had not yet been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. "I'm pissed off about that," he said. "I think that's... you know, I don't normally go round blowing our own trumpet saying we are this and we are that. I'm not that kind of person but I really think we deserve... you know, to be in that. Because without us that kind of music wouldn't have existed. 'Cause a lot of bands that have sparked off from us wouldn't be around and there probably wouldn't be this king of music."

When BLACK SABBATH finally earned its induction in 2006, the band went in with LYNYRD SKYNYRD, Mike Davis and BLONDIE.

Even though artists are eligible for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame 25 years after the release of their first album or single, iconic hard rock and metal bands like IRON MAIDEN and MOTÖRHEAD have yet to be recognized by the institution, which inducted GUNS N' ROSES in that group's first year of eligibility.

Rock Hall rules state that artists become eligible a quarter century after their first records were released, but the Hall also claims that other "criteria include the influence and significance of the artists' contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock 'n' roll," which is, of course, open to interpretation.

Eligible for induction since 1999, KISS didn't get its first nomination until 2009, and was finally inducted in 2014.

DEEP PURPLE was eligible for the Rock Hall since 1993 but didn't get inducted until 2014.

JUDAS PRIEST received the Musical Excellence Award at the 2022 Rock Hall event, which honored Eminem, Dolly Parton, DURAN DURAN, Lionel Richie, Pat Benatar, EURYTHMICS and Carly Simon in the Performers category.

Legendary Ozzy guitarist Randy Rhoads was posthumously inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame during the 2021 ceremony. Rhoads, who played in Ozzy's band more than four decades ago, received the Musical Excellence Award at the October 2021 event.

In an October 2023 interview with "Good Day Rochester", the morning news show which airs on the Rochester, New York television station 13 WHAM, original FOREIGNER singer Lou Gramm once again addressed the fact that the band is not in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and had not even been on the ballot for consideration yet. He said: "Boy, I tell this story a lot… Mick Jones and the director of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame were very close friends. Their families were close, they used to run together and have dinner with the families and see each other socially a lot. They were good friends. When we didn't get inducted with our peers, and most of the bands in the area that we were successful in had all gotten into the Hall Of Fame, Mick and our manager went to see… The guy who is the head of the Hall Of Fame is also the owner of Rolling Stone magazine; I can't remember his name offhand. So they went to see — they had an appointment, and they went to see him and asked him if there was something we had done or said or something that insulted him. They couldn't understand why we weren't brought up for induction. And it started to get heated, apparently. I was not there, but this is what I heard. And it got real heated. And when our manager and Mick got up to leave, [the head of the Rock Hall] said, 'It'll be a cold day in hell before FOREIGNER gets into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.' And that was about 25, 30 years ago now."

Two months earlier, current FOREIGNER singer Kelly Hansen told Houston Press about the band's exclusion from the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame: "As an entity, I find it unusual that a group of people can have an arbitrary standard from which they decide who is in this substantial sounding-titled Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. They cite as one of their criteria as 'influence.' Well, how many people have picked up a guitar and tried to learn 'Cold As Ice' or 'Hot Blooded'? Or sing 'I Want To Know What Love Is' in a karaoke bar? This band has sold 80 million-plus records. And that's real records, not streams or downloads. That is the definition of influence."

Eligible since 2002, FOREIGNER has had a huge number of rock hits, including "Cold As Ice", "Double Vision", "Hot Blooded", "I Want To Know What Love Is", "Juke Box Hero" and "Urgent", and has been nominated for three Grammy Awards, with no wins.

In April 2023, FOREIGNER's manager Phil Carson addressed the group's absence from the Rock Hall one day after sharing an April Fools' Day post in which he claimed "the entire board of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame met especially to nominate FOREIGNER." In a follow-up social media post, Phil wrote: "Thank you all for your reactions to yesterday's spoof. While it was posted with a sense of humour, it was not without a touch of irony.

"FOREIGNER should be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Mick Jones groundbreaking song writing and production skills coupled with music sales and performances that eclipse most of their contemporaries should be enough to warrant FOREIGNER's nomination and induction. Mick founded FOREIGNER in 1977 and went on to conquer the world with as many Billboard top ten hits as FLEETWOOD MAC, just one less than THE EAGLES, and more than JOURNEY and most of the heritage band Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame alumni. He created the current version of FOREIGNER in 2005 and chose the amazing Kelly Hansen as the lead singer to breath new life into the songs he wrote and co-wrote. That band has performed around 100 shows all over the world each year since then and continues to play to sell out business as they continue the journey on their two year farewell tour.

"Please try to see them before they are done, but most of all, help us put some pressure on the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame board to do the right thing while their is still time for them to deliver a stellar performance at their well deserved induction.

"Thank you for listening."

In August 2022, Gramm was asked in an interview with Sleeve Saturday why he thinks the band has yet to get the Rock Hall nod. Gramm said: "I think it's less about whether we're qualified and I think it might be more personal now. I know that at some point when a lot of our compatriots were being nominated and accepted into it, the bands and the artists that came up when we came up that were inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame and we were left out, I believe that our manager at that time and Mick went to see the head of the Rock Hall Of Fame and had a discussion with him which led to some heated words. And as that discussion ended — I don't know who; it might have been Jann Wenner from Rolling Stone magazine, who actually was a very good friend of Mick's, I think he told Mick and our manager that it'll be a cold day in hell before FOREIGNER gets in the Rock Hall Of Fame. That's the way it ended up. And sure enough, I bet you 20 years has gone by since that."

Six years ago, Jones was asked by Tigman of the Q103 radio station in Albany if it means anything to him to get inducted into the Rock Hall. Jones responded: "Well, let's say it's not something I wrestle with or something that affects my life. Of course, it would be nice, but sometimes you wonder if it's a political thing more than a musical [thing] or [anything to do with] achievement. Because as far as achievements, we've certainly achieved a tremendous amount with the band. And we'll see. I guess someday. Who knows?"