George Michael, Missy Elliott, Kate Bush enter Rock Hall of Fame

NEW YORK, United States — A coterie of music's A-listers convened in Brooklyn to celebrate this year's class of legends entering the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, among them Missy Elliott and the late George Michael.

Rock experimentalist Kate Bush, agitators Rage Against the Machine, country icon Willie Nelson, heartland rocker Sheryl Crow, and R&B group The Spinners round out the 2023 class of inductees.

Chaka Khan, Al Kooper, and Bernie Taupin will receive the Hall's musical excellence awards. DJ Kool Herc and Link Wray meanwhile will be inducted as "influences" and the late creator of "Soul Train," Don Cornelius, will receive a non-performer honor.

The Cleveland-based Hall of Fame — which surveyed more than 1,000 musicians, historians and industry members to choose the entrants — will honor the acts in a star-studded gala concert at Brooklyn's Barclays Center.

For some time now the institution has defined "rock" less in terms of genre than of spirit, with a number of rap, pop, R&B, and country stars included.

Elliott will become the first woman in hip-hop — a constantly evolving genre that this year is celebrating its 50th anniversary — to enter the music pantheon. The "Lose Control" and "Get Ur Freak On" rapper made the cut in her first year of eligibility.

Artists can be inducted 25 years after their first commercial music release.

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Fellow rap star Queen Latifah will induct Elliott, who called the honor "a blessing" in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America" show.

It's particularly poignant given hip-hop's milestone anniversary, Elliott said: "No matter what people say, the hip-hop world is something special and unique."

Bush said in a statement Friday that she "won't be able to attend" without specifying why, adding that "for me the real honor is knowing that you felt I deserved it."

"I am completely blown away by this huge honor -- an award that sits in the big beating heart of the American music industry," Bush said in a statement on her website. "Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me. I never imagined I would be given this wonderful accolade."

'Progress' on inclusion

The Rock