Whitney Houston, Notorious B.I.G., Nine Inch Nails Among Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees

Whitney Houston and Notorious B.I.G. are among the performers being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year.

via NYDN:

Joining them will be fellow 2020 inductees Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, the Doobie Brothers, T. Rex, Irving Azoff and Jon Landau, it was announced Wednesday.

The Brooklyn-born Notorious B.I.G., who was killed at age 24 in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles in 1997, is among the most influential rappers of all time, with his albums “Ready to Die” and “Life After Death” considered to be some of the greatest hip-hop works ever.

Biggie, whose real name was Chris Wallace, will be the latest rapper to get inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, joining Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Run-D.M.C., N.W.A., the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy and Tupac Shakur.

He will be the first rapper to be inducted since Shakur in 2017.

Houston, who was born and raised in New Jersey, is the lone woman in the 2020 Hall of Fame class. The beloved pop and R&B crooner is a six-time Grammy winner and is among the top-selling artists ever. Her many hits include the timeless “I Will Always Love You” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”

Houston died at age 48 in 2012 from drowning caused by heart disease and cocaine use.

Performers are eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame 25 years after their first commercial recording. Both Biggie and Houston were on the ballot of nominees to be voted on for the first time.

The induction ceremony will take place May 2 in Cleveland, where the Hall is located.

Soundgarden and the Dave Matthews Band are among the artists who were on the nominees ballot but weren’t voted in this time around.

It’s a shame Whitney’s the only woman to be inducted this year.