The Vocal Group Hall of Fame

I have been meaning to write a post regarding the “Vocal Group Hall of Fame” for a long time, but just never quite got around to it. The concept of honoring singing groups from the past is awesome to me because some of these artists would never get any recognition without this venue. I am always somewhat disappointed by the outcome of the inductions in the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” because there seems to be a lot bias and political implications involved in the voting. Whereas the voting to select vocal groups seems to be evenhanded and the voters seem to make a sincere effort to be inclusive of all genres of group musicians from Peter, Paul, and Mary to the Stylistics.

The museum, located in Sharon, Pennsylvania in the Columbia Theater, is a work in progress and it will not be opened until the fall of 2008. The museum will feature three floors of displays complimented with a restaurant, banquet center, and piano bar. Inductions have been held since 1998 and many artists have been inducted since the hall’s inception. The 2006 Inductees include America, Bread, The Byrds, The Deep River Boys, Billy Ward and the Dominos, The Duprees, The Fleetwoods, Hayden Quartet, The Hi-Lo’s, The Hollies, Journey, The Lovin Spoonful, The Moody Blues, Queen, The Shangri –Las and Simon and Garfunkel.

The website is remarkable, with footage from induction concerts, listings of special events, a video library, a gift shop, and a list of the 2007 nominees, which is impressive indeed. This is also a page explaining “Truth in Music”, a movement that protects artists from identity theft and the public from being mislead to believe they are seeing the legendary artists that made the song where when in actuality they are not. Currently several states have passed the “Truth in Music” bill, among them are Pennsylvania, Illinois, Connecticut, Michigan, Massachusetts, Maine, South Carolina, North Dakota, Virginia, New Jersey, Florida, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Missouri, Texas, Nevada, New York, and California.

If you like good music I invite you to visit the website, take the virtual tour and enjoy the rich history of music performed by vocal groups of the past.