RANDY NEWMAN

< Class of 2013

YEAR

2013

INDUCTED BY

Don Henley (Eagles)

Performers

Teller of tales, spinner of yarns and satirist of just about everything.

Randy Newman is a singer-songwriter with bite. Where others of his ilk wrote confessional, autobiographical songs, Newman told tales of invented characters and their hijinks, often to the effect of biting satire. Cynical romantic, subversive political satirist, social commentator, champion of the underdog and brilliant one-man medicine show, Randy Newman has been one of pop music’s secret hidden weapons for more than four decades.

Randy Newman

Don Henley of The Eagles Inducts Randy Newman

Randy Newman Acceptance Speech

Randy Newman, John Fogerty, Tom Petty and Jackson Browne perform "I Love L.A."

Randy Newman performs "I Think It's Going To Rain"

Randy Newman and Don Henley performing "I'm Dead (But I don't know it)"

HALL OF FAME
ESSAY

By Bud Scoppa

“I really thought maybe I’d have to die first,” Randy Newman told Rolling Stone upon learning he’d made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of-Fame twenty years after becoming eligible for induction. “I didn’t think it would happen if it didn’t happen, you know, a little earlier. But this is great. I’m really glad it happened when I was still around to see it.”

All things being equal, Newman wasn’t exactly a slam-dunk to make the cut. The L. A. native (he grew up in the Pacific Palisades) was never part o f any scene or movement.