Public can vote on crop of Pop Hall nominees
Starting today, the public will have the opportunity to vote online for another batch of nominees to America’s Pop Music Hall of Fame, the Canonsburg-based monument to music’s most potent hitmakers.
Online voters can go on the \Web to americaspopmusichalloffame.org to pick 10 nominees out of 25 that have been put forth this year by the Hall of Fame’s selection committee, which includes radio and music industry professionals and experts on pop music history.
The 25 nominees this year are: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass; the Association; Lou Christie; the Dave Clark Five; Petula Clark; Sam Cooke; Dion and the Belmonts; Fats Domino; Bob Dylan; the Four Tops; Connie Francis; the Grass Roots; the Jackson Five; Tommy James and the Shondells; the Lettermen; Barry Manilow; the Rascals; Paul Revere and the Raiders; Neil Sedaka; Smokey Robinson and the Miracles; Rod Stewart; Barbra Streisand; the Temptations; Three Dog Night; and Dionne Warwick.
The nominees are chosen based on the volume of hits they generated and the influence they had on popular music. First-time nominees this year include seminal figures like Domino and Alpert, while Dylan, Francis and Three Dog Night have been nominated previously.
“It’s probably the most diverse group that we’ve had,” according to Terry Hazlett, the executive director of America’s Pop Music Hall of Fame and the former borough manager of Canonsburg.
Christie, who hails from the Pittsburgh region, is another first-timer. Other acts from the area that have already been inducted include Perry Como and Bobby Vinton, both of whom are from Canonsburg.
Along with 10 nominees chosen by the public, in keeping with the Hall of Fame’s celebration of popular judgment, five additional nominees will be chosen by the selection committee. Also due to be inducted this year are five “legacy” acts – early hitmakers who were widely influential and popular in their time, but would perhaps not be able to win a 21st-century online contest, given their accomplishments are outside the memories of many who are alive today.
According to Hazlett, plans are on track for a four-story building to house America’s Pop Music Hall of Fame, though the location remains uncertain. The Meadows Racetrack & Casino remains the preferred spot, he explained, but there are eight to 10 other locations in Washington County that are possibilities. A full induction ceremony is planned for Labor Day weekend in 2016, and a concert celebrating the Hall of Fame is set to happen next May at the Meadows, Hazlett said.
The first group of nominees to America’s Pop Music Hall of Fame were inducted in 2013, and included such luminaries as the Beatles, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.