Ready to rock! The 2018 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees were announced on Wednesday, December 13.
Bon Jovi, Nina Simone, Dire Straits, The Moody Blues and The Cars are the five performers joining the class of 2018. In addition, Sister Rosetta Tharpe will receive the Award for Early Influence. The 33rd annual induction ceremony will be held at Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 14, 2018. An edited version will be broadcast on HBO and SiriusXM radio in spring 2018.
Four of the inductees — Simone, Dire Straits, The Moody Blues and Tharpe — were on the ballot for the first time. To be eligible, artists must have released their first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the induction year.
“It’s a Christmas miracle,” Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan said in a statement to Rolling Stone after learning the news. “[We were] guys living the dream, getting on a bus with no guarantees in any way shape or form or anything. It was, ‘Let’s go out and make this happen.’ And we actually did.”
Dire Straits haven’t performed together since the group’s 1992 split. Tharpe died in 1973, and Simone died in 2003. Bon Jovi, led by Jon Bon Jovi, and The Moody Blues still actively perform, while The Cars reunited in 2010 after breaking up in 1988.
