The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame did not forget the Motor City for its class of 2024.
Though no Detroit area or Michigan music figures were nominated this year, three major figures from the local scene will be part of the Rock Hall’s induction festivities on Oct. 19 in Cleveland. The groundbreaking rock band MC5, which had been nominated six times since 2003, will receive one of four Musical Excellence Awards, along with the late Motown songwriter-producer Norman Whitfield. They’ll be joined in the category by Dionne Warwick and, posthumously, Jimmy Buffett.
Another Motown luminary, Suzanne de Passe, will receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award for those who’ve worked in executive and business-side roles.
The honorees were announced Sunday night, April 21, during “American Idol” on ABC. This year’s Performer inductees are: the Dave Matthews Band, winner of the public vote for a second year; Mary J. Blige, Cher, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Kool & the Gang, Ozzy Osbourne; and A Tribe Called Quest. Big Mama Thornton and the late British bluesmen Alexis Korner and John Mayall will receive the Rock Hall’s Musical Influence Award.
The three new honorees bring Michigan’s total to 35 in the Rock Hall. The most recent was R&B group the Spinners, who were inducted last year. (See the full list below)
HEATWAVE FOR HITSVILLE
“I’m truly blown away and honored,” says de Passe, a New York native who joined Motown in 1968, famously helping to guide the Jackson 5’s success and also producing Motown-related TV specials such as “Motown 25: Yesterday, today, Forever,” “The Temptations” and “The Jacksons: An American Dream.” Her credits also include miniseries such as “Motown on Showtime,” “Lonesome Dove” and “Dead Man’s Walk” and other Motown specials form the company’s 30th and 40th anniversaries.
“To be honest, I burst into tears when they told me,” says de Passe, who recalled Motown founder and mentor Berry Gordy Jr. getting the same Rock Hall honor in 1987. She met Gordy during 1967 in New York through her friend Cindy Birdsong, who had replaced Florence in the Supremes; de Passe had rented an “I can’t afford” limousine for the evening and was recruited to give Gordy — whose own car hadn’t shown up — a ride to a local art gallery, which he repaid with dinner at the Savoy Hotel.
“I had a very abrupt entry into the world of Berry Gordy and Motown, and (Gordy) gave me the opportunity of a lifetime,” recalls de Passe, who likens her time at the company as “like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. I really learned a lot and was able to go out on a limb in some cases and either rise or fall, but never not be in a position of learning and growing.
“I’m very, very grateful for the career I’ve had and the opportunities that have come my way because of that launching pad.”
de Passe remains active as a producer with partner Madison Jones and is currently working on projects such as an anime-inspired studio and a Christmas movie starring Leslie Jones and Charles Randolph Wright.
de Passe is also happy to be getting into the Rock Hall in the same class as Whitfield, who wrote and produced numerous hits for the Temptations — including “Cloud Nine,” Motown’s first Grammy Award winner — and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” — as well as other artists such as Marvin Gaye, the Marvelettes, the Velvelettes, the Undisputed Truth and Rose Royce. Considered one of the creators of “psychedelic soul” during the 60s, Whitfield also co-wrote and produced “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” a hit for both Gaye and Gladys Knight & the Pips.
He died in 2008 at the age of 68, four years after being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004 with his regular lyricist partner Barrett Strong. All told he had a hand in 92 hits on the Billboard charts.
“(Whitfield) was one of the funniest human beings I’ve ever met in my life, a born comedian,” de Passe recalls. “We worked together a lot and I learned a lot from Norman. He really took me under his wing and taught me a lot about working in the studio. We had a great relationship. Gordy issued a statement celebrating the honors for both de Passe and Whitfield, calling it “a moment of intense pride.” He said that de Passe’s “vision and passion contributed to Motown’s success. Every task I ever threw to her, she not only accomplished, but exceeded my expectations…I continue to be proud of her.” And he called Whitfield “a true musical genius and…one of the most important creative forces of his time.”
KICKING OUT THE JAMS
For MC5, the Rock Hall arrival is bittersweet. With its multiple, unsuccessful nominations Wayne Kramer had taken to calling the band “the Susan Lucci of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” referring to the soap opera actress who was famous snubbed 20 times for a Daytime Emmy Award. By the time of the last nomination in 2022, however, he’d decided that “if the MC5 is recognized for their contribution I think that would be a good thing. There’s a lot of people out there who love the band and love what the band represents. To have that appreciation confirmed wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
Unfortunately Kramer passed away on Feb. 2 at the age of 75. Three of his bandmates — Rob Tyner, Fred Smith and Michael Davis — are also dead, leaving only drummer Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson from the from the band, which formed during the mid 60s in Lincoln Park and released three provocative and at times controversial albums, starting with 1969’s legendary “Kick Out the Jams,” recorded live at Detroit’s Grande Ballroom.
“Yes, it’s bittersweet — perhaps even the exact right thing at precisely the wrong time,” says Kramer’s widow Margaret Saadi Kramer, who now manages continuing MC5 affairs and was his partner in the Jail Guitar Doors USA initiative to bring instruments and music classes to penitentiaries. “Yet, I’m certain he would have landed in gratitude for this recognition and received it like the beautiful free radical he was, an underdog victorious.”
Colleagues recall Wayne Kramer’s enormous contributions, before and after MC5
Nevertheless, Kramer added that her husband "was not one for personal accolades and that it was the intimate conversations with his fellow players about his influence as a musician and activist that had the most profound impact on him."
Kramer kept MC5 alive over the years, in a partnership with Thompson and Davis during the mid-2000s, then as a going concern beginning with a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the "Kick Out the Jams" concerts in 2018. Before his death Kramer had completed recording a new MC5 album, "Heavy Lifting," a 13-song set due out later this year and features guests such as Thompson, Guns N' Roses' Slash, Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave), Living Colour's Vernon Reid, Alice in Chains' William DuVall, Rise Against's Tim McIlrath, Don Was and others. The package will also include a bonus "10 x MC5 Live" concert album recorded at Detroit shows during 2018.
The induction ceremony will be shown live on Disney+ on Oct. 19 and begin streaming on Hulu the following day. ABC will also air an edited version of the event at a date TBD. For more information and updates visit rochall.com.
The full list of Michigan Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees includes:
Hank Ballard, 1989
Benny Benjamin, 2003 (Award for Musical Excellence)
Suzanne de Passe, 2024 (Ahmet Ertegun Award)
Eminem, 2022
The Four Tops, 1990
Aretha Franklin, 1987
Marvin Gaye, 1987
Berry Gordy, Jr., 1988 (Ahmet Ertegun Award)
Al Green, 1995
Bill Haley, 1987
Holland-Dozier-Holland, 1990 (Ahmet Ertegun Award)
John Lee Hooker, 1991
Isley Brothers, 1992
The Jackson 5, 1997
James Jamerson, 2000 (Award for Musical Excellence)
Little Willie John, 1996
Gladys Knight & the Pips, 1996
Madonna, 2008
Martha & the Vandellas, 1995
MC5, 2024 (Musical Excellence Award)
The Midnighters, 2012
The Miracles, 2012
Parliament-Funkadelic, 1997
Smokey Robinson, 1987
Bob Seger, 2004
Del Shannon, 1999
Chad Smith (with Red Hot Chili Peppers), 2012
Patti Smith, 2007
The Spinners, 2023
The Stooges, 2010
The Supremes, 1988
The Temptations, 1989
Norman Whitfield, 2024 (Musical Excellence Award)
Stevie Wonder, 1989
Jackie Wilson, 1987
Wayne Kramer, co-founder of revolutionary rock band the MC5, dead at 75
