Tupac Shakur, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) and Sly Stone are among the artists who will receive lifetime honors from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.
Six artists have been selected to enter the Rock Hall, including Joan Baez and grunge act Pearl Jam.
Tupac Shakur will be only the fifth hip-hop artist recognized, after the likes of Run DMC and Public Enemy.
The Grammys will honor Velvet Underground and Sly Stone with their special merit awards.
In a statement, the Recording Academy said the Velvet Underground, whose career was masterminded by Andy Warhol, were “ahead of their time, both visually and sonically”.
“Despite a relatively brief lifespan and limited commercial success, the Velvet Underground are now recognized as one of the most influential rock bands of all time,” the statement added.
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Sly Stone, who was the lead singer in Sly and the Family Stone, was praised by the Academy for playing “a critical role in the development of soul, funk, rock, and psychedelia”.
Other recipients include jazz legend Nina Simone, gospel singer Shirley Caesar, jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal, country star Jimmie Rodgers and guitarist Charley Pride.
Nina Simone, who died in 2003, became famous in the 1950s and is known for classic songs including Feeling Good and I Put a Spell on You.
The musicians will be celebrated in February as part of the festivities in the run up to the Grammy Awards.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is arguably the more prestigious honor, is voted for by 900 historians, members of the music industry and artists, including every living Rock Hall inductee.
Artists become eligible 25 years after the release of their first album or single. 2017 is the first year Pearl Jam and Tupac Shakur were eligible. They are also the first artists to join the institution who started their careers in the 1990s.
The induction ceremony will take place on Friday, April 7, 2017, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. HBO will broadcast the highlights, which often include an all-star jam featuring past and present winners.
A limited number of pre-sale tickets will be available for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame members in advance of the public sale date. To be eligible for the member pre-sale, you must be an active Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member by December 31, 2016. Additional public ticket details and presale offers will be announced in the future. The special exhibition on the 2017 Inductees will open at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on March 30.
This year’s Sundance Film Festival in Utah has opened with a documentary about famed jazz singer Nina Simone.
What Happened, Miss Simone? traces the singer’s life from her early days as a classically trained pianist to her later jazz and blues career.
Nina Somone’s struggles with mental illness and her involvement in the civil rights movement are also covered in the documentary.
The premiere, in Park City, Utah, was followed by a short concert by singer-songwriter John Legend.
“I’m so grateful to be here today honouring the legacy of the wonderful, powerful, dynamic, super-talented Nina Simone,” John Legend told the audience at Thursday’s event.
John Legend, who received an Oscar nomination last week for a song he co-wrote for Martin Luther King biopic Selma, went on to perform three numbers made famous by Nina Simone, who died in 2003.
The latest edition of the annual independent film showcase, which runs until February 1, will feature 118 feature-length documentary and narrative films in its program.
Festival co-founder Robert Redford makes an on-screen appearance himself this year in A Walk in the Woods, an adaptation of the Bill Bryson memoir that will have its premiere later.
Other titles in the line-up include Slow West, a 19th Century western starring Michael Fassbender; True Story, a fact-based crime drama starring James Franco and Jonah Hill; and Grandma, a comedy starring Lily Tomlin that will close this year’s event.
Festival director John Cooper said there had been “a lift in the quality” in submissions, adding that “the wild ride of the festival is going to be felt by the audiences.”
The opening of this year’s event follows the announcement that Sundance London, an offshoot of the festival that ran from 2012 to 2014, will not take place in 2015.
It also comes in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks in Paris, something Robert Redford touched upon during a news conference on January 22.
“That was a sad event, it was a shocking event,” he told reporters.
“I also have a hunch it was a bit of a wake-up event.
“Freedom of expression seems to be in danger in a lot of areas,” Robert Redford continued.
“But as far as we’re concerned, we will do everything in our power to keep it alive here.”
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