Conn. (WTNH) — The New England Music Hall of Fame announced its Class of 2022 inductees, set to be celebrated at various concerts throughout the summer.
Inductees include blues legend James Cotton, Roomful of Blues’ founder and guitarist Duke Robillard, singer Bob Orsi, bassist Marty O’Brien, and Rock N Roll Hall of Famer Gene Pitney.
Several groups will be inducted, including the folk-rockers of Aztec Two-Step, Rhode Island’s metalheads of Matthias Steele, and the horn section of Uptown Horns. Ed Stack, former longtime president of the Connecticut Blues Society, will also be inducted, as well as Charlie Karp of the Connecticut Lyric Opera.
Photos via The New England Music Hall of Fame
Each induction will take place at separate concerts this summer. The ceremonies will kick-off at Waterbury’s Palace Theater where the original members of The Uptown Horns will be inducted on June 25 and will perform with the Hollywood All Stars.
From there, induction concerts will take place on June 30 at The Kate in Old Saybrook, followed by the The Center for Arts in Natick, Massachusetts on August 6.
The New England Music Hall of Fame, founded in 2019, aims to promote, preserve, unite, and eduate New England’s music and the people who inspire and represent it.
June Millington, the Filipino American songwriter and guitarist, was previously inducted. Millington was a part of the all-female rock band Fanny that signed with a major label and was a huge inspiration to the women’s movement. Additionally, NEMHOF inducted Cherie Currie, who was in one of the first all-female bands alongside Lita Ford and Joan Jett of the Runaways.
The NEMHOF said it will be inducting mostly women next year in order to pay homage to the many women artists who don’t get the credit they fully deserve.