Warren Zevon, legendary songwriter, artist, singer, musician, and storyteller, is finally getting his due. He is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025 posthumously.
Zevon will be recognized with the “Musical Influence Award,” which is bestowed to artists whose music and performance style have directly influenced, inspired, and evolved rock and roll and music impacting culture.
Salt-N-Pepa are also being honored in the same “Musical Influence Award” category.
According to the “Piano Man” Billy Joel, Warren Zevon was “the soul of Los Angeles,” and rightfully so.
Warren Zevon was an artist’s artist. One of the most talented and significant singer-songwriters to emerge in the 1970s, Zevon wrote poetic but offbeat songs, often with darkly humorous and acerbic lyrics, and delivered them with a dry wit and a twisted energy like no other performer could.
Zevon’s most famous compositions include “Werewolves of London,” “Lawyers, Guns and Money,” “Excitable Boy,” and “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner.”
He also wrote major hits that were recorded by other artists, including “Poor Poor Pitiful Me,” “Mohammed’s Radio,” “Carmelita,” and “Hasten Down the Wind.”
Zevon and Salt-N-Pepa are joining Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, Soundgarden, and The White Stripes, all of which are being inducted into the “Performers” category this year.
In addition, this year’s “Musical Excellence Award” recipients are Thom Bell, Nicky Hopkins, and Carol Kaye… the “Ahmet Ertegun Award” will go to record producer Lenny Waronke.
Corey Rieman on Warren Zevon getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Corey Rieman, lead singer of The Dilemma Band, remarked, “So many singers and songwriters like myself have held Warren Zevon as a beacon and a bastion of what we are supposed to do as artists.”
“The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acknowledging one of the great songwriters of our time after so many years of neglect feels like there’s still a hope for songwriting that includes passion, humor, and the true human soul in a way possibly only Shakespeare could’ve given us had he been born in Los Angeles,” Rieman acknowledged.
“As the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame moves forward in trying to strive to write the wrongs it had previously performed, finally acknowledging Warren Zevon feels like a step in the right direction. My problem is now, who am I gonna complain about to get into the freaking hall?” Rieman elaborated.
For more information on the musical legacy of Warren Zevon, check out his official website.
