Cher, Foreigner Attend Rock Hall of Fame Plaque Ceremony: Photos

Dave Matthews surprised fans with a sweet story about his Foreigner fandom during the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s plaque dedication ceremony on Friday afternoon in the plaza outside the museum.

A number of this year’s inductees – including Peter Frampton, three members of Foreigner (Lou Gramm, Rick Wills and Al Greenwood), Mary J. Blige, Kool & the Gang’s Robert “Kool” Bell and JT Taylor, and Ahmet Ertegun Award recipient Suzanee de Passe – attended the unveiling on a sun-soaked afternoon, in front of several hundred fans who cheered everything from their arrival to their brief comments during the ceremony.

Rock Hall CEO Greg Harris also acknowledged family members of deceased inductees who were sitting in a VIP area in front of the stage, including Jimmy Buffett’s widow and children, the son and wife (respectively) of late Foreigner members Ian McDonald and Ed Gagliardi, the parents and widow of A Tribe Called Quest’s Phife Dawg, some Kool & the Gang survivors and a contingent representing MC5, including Fred “Sonic” Smith’s children Jackson and Jesse – whose mother, Patti Smith, was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2007.

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The current members of Foreigner — which will be performing during Saturday night’s induction ceremony – was also in attendance.

Foreigner was top of mind for Matthews as he made his ostensibly unprepared remarks on Friday. “I don’t know in the communication line who didn’t tell me I was gonna have to talk today,” he cracked at the outset, adding that, “It feels like I’m in the deep end of the pool. So many heroes are up here. I didn’t get to everybody but I got to say to a few people up here that they are people that, I don’t want to say worship ‘cause then things get uncomfortable, (but) they’re people that were a huge part of my life that are up here and for why I wanted to play music…It’s an honor to be in the same pack being inducted here and being acknowledged together as a family.”

Matthews then launched into “one quick story,” about, “When I was a little kid, I was taking guitar lessons and my guitar teacher moved to a different place, it was above a studio. And one day I was waiting for my mom to pick me up and they started bringing in all these crates on wheels, cases…and I looked at one of them and it said Foreigner. And I was like, ‘What the fuck?!” And then my mom even told me when I came out to the car, and I was, ‘Wha…!’ And then the first time we ever recorded in a recording studio…we were in one studio room and in the next one was Foreigner, and then we were like, ‘What the fu…!’ And now we’re getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Foreigner. What the fu….!’”

Original Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm began the remarks with simple thanks “to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for this wonderful acknowledgement and this stunning award that represents our contributions to the rock community and the band we continue to have with our millions of loyal fans…We are honored and extremely proud.” Foreigner founder Mick Jones will not be at the ceremony due to health issues, while original drummer Dennis Elliott withdrew on Thursday, citing “totally unacceptable” conditions with the weekend schedule.

Frampton – who, like Foreigner, Buffett and MC5 has long been considered one of the Rock Hall’s most egregious slights – spoke about putting a QR code on his concert video screen during the public voting process “and we just stopped playing and I made you vote…I guess it worked, right?” He did add that, “Getting nominated is one thing, getting inducted is something I didn’t believe would ever happen, and I’m totally overwhelmed. I can’t thank the fans enough or voting for me. You are the ones who made this happen, and I’ll keep on thanking you, so thanks again.”

Both de Passe and Taylor choked up while talking about the honor, while Bell said that while he was recently on safari in Africa “we said, ‘All roads lead to Cleveland, to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’ – without the jungle boogie.” Blige was similarly moved, saying “this honor is above me.” And after the plaque unveiling, Taylor led an audience singalong to a recorded version of Kool & the Gang’s appropriate “Celebration.”

The plaque, featuring etchings of each of the inductees’ signatures, was quickly moved inside the Rock Hall and was on display during the evening’s VIP party. The induction ceremony takes place at 7 p.m. from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, streaming live on Disney+.