by Tracy Sow, Special to The New Tri-State Defender
The excitement and buzz surrounding the Oscar and Grammy ceremonies have nothing on the annual Memphis Music Hall of Fame presentations.
The 2018 ceremony is no exception. Although 2012 was the event’s inaugural year, it has quickly become a highly anticipated, Memphis tradition. All roads will lead to The King’s Palace on Beale Street, the venue for this year’s program.
Annually, the nominating committee reviews musical performers, producers, engineers & studio or recording industry professionals, writers, promoters, and radio professionals for induction. Each year, the number of inductees may vary. One thing holds true, Memphis has no shortage of musical legends deserving of recognition for their contributions to the arts.
Memphis, of course, is the home of the Blues, birthplace of Rock N’ Roll and the cradle of Soul. The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin born in Memphis was paid special tribute; other inductees were The Box Tops, O’Landa Draper, Eddie Floyd, George Klein, The Rock and Roll Trio and 8ball & MJG.
Memphis music royalty, sisters Lorraine and Yvonne “Von” Mitchell of Royal Studios, attended the announcement.
“I love them,” said Von. “They needed to be inducted, because they have really paid their dues.”
Lorraine remarked, “This has been one of the best ones yet. They had a lot of great people on here.”
Asked about the future of Memphis music internationally, Loraine predicted that “we are going to eventually have bigger stars than we did back in the day, and we have young people coming up now who are going to be big stars.
“I feel Memphis is going to be a melting pot for the music industry, once again.”
Von added, “not only that, we have great musicians and nobody in the world can emulate the music in our city. I don’t care where you go, they can not play Memphis’ music, or do Memphis’ music like we play Memphis music.”
Royal Studios, celebrating 60 years of music recording, will be honored October 6-7, at the Mempho Fest. Many of their artists are on the performance lineup.
The 2018 Memphis Music Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held November 1 at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets may be purchased for the event at the Cannon Center box office.
