(CNN) — Drumroll, please: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced its 2015 class of honored musicians.
Green Day; Bill Withers; Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble; Lou Reed; Joan Jett and the Blackhearts; and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band will all be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next spring.
Those six performers were selected from a list of 15 nominees, which also included acts like N.W.A., Nine Inch Nails, Sting, The Smiths and Chic.
The Beatles’ Ringo Starr will also be honored at the 2015 induction ceremony with the award for musical excellence, while R&B quintet The “5” Royales will be recognized for their early influence.
“As we mark 30 years of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductions, we’re proud to honor these artists,” Rock and Roll Hall of Fame foundation president Joel Peresman said in a statement. “These Inductees epitomize rock and roll’s impact over the past 50 years and continuing through today.”
In order to be eligible for induction into the Rock Hall’s 2015 class, an act had to release its first recording in 1989 or earlier. That means Green Day, which dropped its EP “1,000 Hours” in April 1989, has the distinction of being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the band’s first year of eligibility.
“The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has always held something for me because my heroes were in there,” Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong told Rolling Stone.
When he heard the news that the band’s being inducted, “I had to go for a walk,” Armstrong continued. “I wound up at this cafe and I sat down and my son met up with me. I told him and he was like, ‘Oh my God. No way.’ It just took some time to sink in. We’re in incredible company and I’m still trying to make sense of this. It’s just incredible.”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held in Cleveland on April 18, 2015. The event is open to the public, and tickets can be purchased for the 30th induction ceremony beginning at 10 a.m. ET on December 18.
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