Veteran singer songwriter Bob Dylan and late British broadcaster John Peel will be inducted this year into the U.K. Music Hall of Fame, organizers said today (July 25).
Peel, who died of a heart attack while visiting Peru last October, will be posthumously recognized with honorary membership to the Hall of Fame. The accolade, which celebrates outstanding services to the music industry, was last year bestowed to Island Records founder Chris Blackwell.
The multi-media initiative will again be the subject of a series on British commercial broadcaster Channel 4 this fall. A string of prime-time programs will pay homage to a collection of influential international artists, climaxing in a 120-minute ceremony at an unconfirmed date in November.
A steering panel comprising artists, executives, broadcasters and reporters, will compile a shortlist of potential inductees.
The industry-endorsed Hall of Fame began in 2004 as a collaborative initiative of Channel 4 and TV production company Initial. Members of U2, Queen and the Rolling Stones were among those inductees who were on hand to receive their respective awards.
“The appetite for the U.K. to have its own music Hall of Fame was underlined last year by an extraordinary turnout of international A-list artists and, this year, by unprecedented support from some of the most influential figures in the music industry,” comments Malcolm Gerrie, CEO of Initial and chair of the project’s steering committee.
Earlier this year, the British Phonographic Industry confirmed it was in discussions with Anschutz Entertainment Group to build a Hall of Fame attraction at London’s maligned Millennium Dome. A spokesman for Initial parent company Endemol says the TV initiative is at the core of those plans.
“We are in talks with the BPI and AEG. It’s definitely been our ambition to have a permanent home for the Hall of Fame,” says the spokesman. An announcement in expected due course.
