The final backing band I’ll cover as part of my look at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class of 2012 is also the most egregious oversight.
The Miracles were Motown’s signature act, putting more than 50 songs on the Billboard charts, including sixteen in the Hot 100 Top 20.
And while Smokey Robinson was the lead singer and principal songwriter for the band, it was very much a band. Robinson didn’t embark on a solo career until he had released 17 albums over 12 years with The Miracles.
The next backing group inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2012 is The Midnighters, whose frontman Hank Ballard joined in 1990.
This case is more open and shut than most, in that almost all of Ballard’s success came with The Midnighters. He released three solo albums and a handful of singles, none of which amounted to much, while the band was all over the pop and R&B charts in the 50s and 60s.
The week of March 16, 1985, saw REO Speedwagon hanging on to the #1 spot of the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Can’t Fight This Feeling.‘
In the #2 spot that week was Glenn Frey’s ‘The Heat is On,’ the lead single from the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack.
Frey was a gun for hire on this track, paid $15,000 to play guitar and provide all vocals for the song, which was written by Harold Faltermeyer and Keith Forsey. Faltermeyer also penned the iconic ‘Axel F’ theme.
Throwing back to the week of March 15, 1975, we find The Doobie Brothers’ ‘Black Water’ moving into the #1 spot. Hot on its heels, a week before its own stint at #1, was Frankie Valli’s ‘My Eyes Adored You.’
This song was initially recorded by The Four Seasons but their Motown label declined to release it. Instead, Four Seasons lead singer Valli bought the rights for $4,000 and ended up with his first solo #1.
The third non-performer inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class of 2012 was Cosimo Matassa, a New Orleans-born sound engineer and studio head who played a key role in the early rock records of the 50s and 60s.
It was in Matassa’s New Orleans studio that Fats Domino recorded 1949’s ‘The Fat Man,’ a record considered by some the first rock-n-roll song. It was also the first rock-n-roll song to sell a million copies.
Meet Me In Montauk 