The National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame is an independent organization whose mission is to educate and to celebrate, preserve, promote, and present

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

music globally.

History

The National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame was founded in 2010. Its name was originally the Official Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame. It was founded and developed by American professional basketball player LaMont "ShowBoat" Robinson, who is also an R&B activist and an entrepreneur. Robinson's love for R&B and soul music began at an early age. He would often attend music practice sessions with his musician uncle, a house band member at Leo's Casino, a

night club A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. It was one of the premier clubs in the Midwest during the 1960s for R&B, jazz, and African American comedians such as

The Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959 as the Primettes. A premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful Amer ...

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player an ...

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...

Redd Foxx John Elroy Sanford (December 9, 1922 – October 11, 1991), better known by his stage name Redd Foxx, was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Foxx gained success with his raunchy nightclub act before and during the civil rights movemen ...

Flip Wilson Clerow "Flip" Wilson Jr. (December 8, 1933 – November 25, 1998) was an American comedian and actor best known for his television appearances during the late 1960s and 1970s. From 1970 to 1974, Wilson hosted his own weekly variety series '' The ...

Richard Pryor Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Known for reaching a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, he is widely regarded ...

and

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

. Robinson's love for R&B inspired him to start collecting memorabilia and artifacts that reflected the history of the rhythm and blues era. Robinson collected many of these while traveling worldwide to play basketball with the Globetrotters and other teams. Robinson's collection of memorabilia grew large enough to warrant display in a museum. He donated some of his collection to the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...

in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, but he wanted to find a museum that exclusively displayed, celebrated, and collected information about the great accomplishments of R&B artists. Unable to find such a museum, he decided to create one himself. His efforts were supported by friends, some of whom were

Rhythm & Blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

and

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

musicians. A mobile museum debuted in February 2012. An annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony followed, honoring artists, non-musical individuals, venues, events, and other influences on the world of R&B music. In 2022, a groundbreaking ceremony took place in

Marks, Mississippi Marks is a city in and the county seat of Quitman County, Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 1,444. History The town of Marks was named after Leopold Marks (1851-1910) who left Germany to avoid conscription by the Germ ...

to start construction of a permanent location for the museum.

Induction ceremonies

The Inaugural Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony was held on August 17, 2013 at the Waetjen Auditorium at

Cleveland State University Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in oper ...

in Cleveland. The first class of inductees included recording acts

The Temptations The Temptations is an American vocal group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1961 as The Elgins, known for their string of successful singles and albums with Motown from the 1960s to the mid-1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield ...

The Marvelettes The Marvelettes were an American girl group formed in Inkster, Michigan, Inkster, Michigan in 1960, consisting of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who was ...

The O'Jays The O'Jays are an American Rhythm and blues, R&B group from Canton, Ohio, formed in summer 1958 and originally consisting of Eddie Levert, Walter Lee Williams, William Powell, Bobby Massey, and Bill Isles. The O'Jays made their first chart appea ...

, Martha & The Vandellas ( Martha Reeves, Rosalind Holmes, and Annette Helton), The Dramatics, Ruby & The Romantics, and The Dazz Band Featuring Jerry Bell and Little Jimmy Scott; historic venue Leo's Casino; international journalist Larry Cotton; and radio hosts Tom Joyner and Tim Marshall. On December 20, 2017, 17 names were added to the list of inductees as 20th Century Early Music Influences such as

Sammy Davis Jr Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, actor, comedian, dancer, and musician. At age two, Davis began his career in Vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which tou ...

Ruth Brown Ruth Alston Brown (; January 12, 1928 – November 17, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and actress, sometimes referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of R&B". She was noted for bringing a popular music, pop music ...

Bill Haley William John Clifton Haley (; July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981) was an American rock and roll musician. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and million-sel ...

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

and others. On February 17, 2018, the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame founder LaMont "ShowBoat" Robinson, a lifelong Temptations fan and collector, gave a tribute concert for the late great

Dennis Edwards Dennis Edwards Jr. (February 3, 1943 – February 1, 2018) was an American soul and R&B singer who was best known as the frontman in The Temptations for Motown Records. Edwards joined the Temptations in 1968, replacing David Ruffin and sang w ...

called The

Tribute. The performance was to honor him for all his musical work and for his family and fans in Detroit, MI at Bert's Entertainment Complex. Edwards was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2013 with

and in 2015 with his own group

Review feat

. The National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame has announced it will forgo its live induction ceremony honoring its 2020 class due to the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Founder and CEO LaMont Robinson stated the live induction ceremony would be replaced by an online salute honoring the class of 2020 inductees. The induction committee combined the 2020 and the 2021 class to create a special class of 16 inductees called the 2020 Posthumously Class of Pioneers. In 2022 and 2023, the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame held its induction ceremonies in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, honoring artists such as

New Edition New Edition is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B/Pop music, pop group from the Roxbury, Boston, Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1978 by singer/rapper Bobby Brown. Their name is taken to mean a new edition of the Jackson ...

and

Aaliyah Aaliyah Dana Haughton ( ; January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer, actress, dancer, and model. Known as the " Princess of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop", she is credited with helping to redefine contemporary R&B, p ...

. In 2024, the event returned to

, Ohio—the birthplace of the Hall of Fame—on October 6. The sold-out ceremony celebrated the induction of R&B legends

Jeffrey Osborne Jeffrey Linton Osborne (born March 9, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and lyricist. He is the former drummer and lead singer of the American R&B/soul group L.T.D. (band), L.T.D., with whom he began his musical career in 1970. B ...

, Kenny Lattimore,

Ginuwine Elgin Baylor Lumpkin (born October 15, 1970), better known by his stage name Ginuwine ( ), is an American R&B singer. He began his career as a member of the musical collective Swing Mob in the early 1990s. As a solo act, he signed with Epic R ...

, William Bell,

Candi Staton Canzetta Maria "Candi" Staton (, ) (born March 13, 1940) is an American singer–songwriter, best known in the United States for her 1970 cover of Tammy Wynette's " Stand by Your Man" and her 1976 disco chart-topper " Young Hearts Run Free". In E ...

Regina Belle Regina Belle (born July 17, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter who started her career in the mid-1980s. Known for her singles "Baby Come to Me (Regina Belle song), Baby Come to Me" (1989) and "Make It Like It Was" (1990), Belle is most notabl ...

, and Frankie Beverly. These icons were enshrined in the Hall of Fame in a memorable event that underscored the enduring impact of R&B music and its artists. The 2018 and 2019 (the 10th annual induction event) were held at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

. Over the years, the National Rhythm & Blues of Fame inductions have taken place at the following locations:

Members

* 2015 Induction ceremony in Clarksdale MI
** 2015 Induction ceremony in Detroit
*** Inducted as a 20th Century Early Music Influence

Special awards and honors

* 2015 Induction ceremony in Clarksdale, MS
** 2015 Induction ceremony in Detroit

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame 2010 establishments in Michigan American music awards Awards established in 2010 Awards honoring African Americans Halls of fame in Michigan Music R Lifetime achievement awards Music hall of fame inductees Music halls of fame Music organizations based in the United States Rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues awards