height of popularity. After meeting with attorney
Suzan Evans about the concept, Ertegün brought
together a group of music industry professionals
includingRolling Stonepublisher Jann Wenner, attor-
ney Allen Grubman, and a handful of record ex-
ecutives. After numerous discussions, a nominating
committee was formed to select inductees into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The criteria established
by the group included three categories for induc-
tion: performer, nonperformer (including produc-
ers, journalists, and music industry executives), and
early influences.
Once the criteria were established, the search be-
gan for a home for a major museum that would
include a library, archives, educational facilities, a
performance venue, and a permanent museum col-
lection of rock-and-roll memorabilia. The first loca-
tion was to be a brownstone in New York City, but
other cities began to submit requests to be considered
for the honor. Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Fran-
cisco, Memphis, Chicago, and Cleveland all made of-
fers to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation.
The first inductees were honored at a dinner at
the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City on Janu-
ary 23, 1986. The inaugural class of the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame performers included Chuck Berry,
James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Dom-
ino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee
Lewis, Elvis Presley, and Little Richard. Robert John-
son, Jimmie Rodgers, and Jimmy Yancey were hon-
ored in the early influences category, and the first
inductees in the nonperformer category were leg-
endary producer Sam Phillips and disc jockey Alan
Freed, who was credited with first using the term
“rock and roll.”
On May 5, 1986, the foundation announced thatThe Eighties in America Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 835
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, designed by I. M. Pei.(Jason Pratt/cc-by-a-2.0)