Singing their praises

“This will be an historic party,” said Robert Billington, chair of the board of directors for the Hall of Fame, who believes the induction ceremony is going to be a “where was I when Woodstock took place” type of event.
  “You will want to be there. You will want to be in the room,” he said.
  The ceremony at The Met, which is located at Hope Artiste Village, 1005 Main St., is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. It will be followed by a concert featuring two inductees -- John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band and Roomful of Blues – and a tribute to another inductee – the late Dave McKenna. He will be honored in a performance by his sister, Jean (McKenna) O'Donnell, and friends.
  “The Cohans (legendary entertainer George M. Cohan) and so on have been recognized in the Rhode Island Hall of Fame, but the depth of the story has not been told,” Billington said, explaining why it is important to establish the music hall.
  “Most people have no idea of the Rhode Island musical greats,” he said. “As we work on this project, we are learning about more and more people who born here that have gone on to earn great national and international reputations as musicians.”
  Billington said the initiative is an offshoot of the Rhode Island Popular Music Archive Hall of Fame administered by Rick Bellaire, vice chair of the RIMHOF. According to Billington, Bellaire “is the guts” of the organization, bringing forth nominations and overseeing the musical archives.      In a statement from the board of directors, Bellaire says, “This initiative provides a great opportunity to not only acknowledge Rhode Island's musical greats and celebrate their achievements, but to put in place an organization whose primary goal is to promote and preserve Rhode Island's rich musical heritage in all its forms. With actual exhibit space, coupled with an online archive, we have in place the tools to curate and showcase the best of Rhode Island's musical artistry."
  The RIMHOF is a nonprofit organization, and it plans on holding annual inductions. At the inaugural event, mockups of what will become permanent displays in the hallways of Hope Artiste Village will be unveiled.
  Besides the Beaver Brown Band, Roomful of Blues and McKenna, the first class of the hall will consist of Eileen Farrell, who died in 2002, and Oliver Shaw, who died in 1848, as well as Archive Hall of Fame members Ken Lyon, Anders & Poncia and Gerry Granahan.
  After 40 years, Beaver Brown is still an in-demand attraction and one of the best-selling Rhode Island acts of all time, according to the board. Roomful of Blues is one of most successful blues acts of the second half of the 20th century, with more than 20 albums in its catalog, and it has garnered five Grammy nominations as well as dozens of awards.  
  McKenna, a Woon-socket native, burst onto the jazz scene in the late 1940s and was quickly recognized as one of the finest pianists to ever set fingers to a keyboard and became a highly respected sideman, accompanist and soloist. Although a native of Connecticut, Farrell spent her teenage years at Woonsocket High School before becoming one of the finest American sopranos of the 20th century and one of the best-selling classical artists of all time.
  Based in Providence during the early 19th century, Shaw is best remembered as a composer of sacred, brass band, topical music and popular songs, according to information from the RIMHOF. A Newport native and a lifelong Rhode Island resident, Lyon's has achieved legendary status in southern New England as a “godfather” of the blues.    
The Providence-born duo of Peter Anders and Vini Poncia first achieved success in 1960, when their doo-wop group, The Videls, went national with an original song, “Mister Lonely.” They parlayed their success into a decade-long career as writers for well-known singers and then succeeded on their own. Granahan has been a Rhode Island resident for the last 50 years and reached the heights of the music business as a performing singer-songwriter and producer, earning three Gold Record awards. 
  The Met will open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. For tickets, go online to www.rhodeislandmusichalloffame.com.