Pearl Jam, Journey head list of 2017 Rock Hall of Fame nominees

Pearl Jam, the Seattle band featuring three former San Diegans, heads the list of 2017 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees.

The band is anchored by drum dynamo Matt Cameron, a South Bay native. Lead singer and principal songwriter Eddie Vedder, came of musical age in North County and was a member of the San Diego band Bad Radio, while lead guitarist Mike McCready is also a former North County resident. (The full list of nominees appears below.)

Also making the list of Rock Hall ballot contenders for the first time are Tupac Shakur, Joan Baez, Depeche Mode, Jane’s Addiction, Electric Light Orchestra, Bad Brains, Steppenwolf and Journey. Steve Perry, Journey’s original lead singer, has quietly been a Del Mar resident in recent years, although his current whereabouts are unclear.

Also on the ballot is former Rancho Santa Fe resident Janet Jackson, who failed to garner enough votes to be inducted last year and recently disclosed that she is pregnant at the age of 50.

Hip-hop legend Shakur, who was murdered in 1996, is the only deceased new first-time nominee. Repeat nominees on the 2017 ballot include soul vocal dynamo Joe Tex, who died in 1982, and disco pioneers Chic, which performed this summer at Chula Vista’s Sleep Train Amphitheatre. This marks the 11th time Chic have been on the ballot, a record for any Rock Hall nominee.

Other repeat nominees include the seminal German electronic music group Kraftwerk, which last month performed a sold-out San Diego show at the Balboa Theatre and is on the ballot for the fourth time, and the Boston-based J. Geils Band, also on the ballot for the fourth time.

R&B vocal great Chaka Khan is on the ballot for the second time as a solo artist, after having been nominated in 2012 as a member of the band Rufus. Also returning to the ballot is the proto-progressive-rock band Yes, whose current lineup performed at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay last month; The Zombies, which performed last month at the Belly Up; and The Cars. .

Pearl Jam’s debut album was released in 1991. Should the band get enough votes to be inducted, which appears likely, it will become the latest Rock Hall honorees with a strong San Diego connection. Previous inductees who came of musical age in San Diego include Tom Waits, Frank Zappa, Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson, The Byrds’ Chris Hillman and Talking Heads’ Tina Weymouth.

Artists become eligible for induction 25 years after releasing their first single or album. Votes will be cast by more than 800 artists, historians, critics and other music-industry professionals, including this writer.

The public can cast votes online, from today at 10 a.m. through Dec. 5 at rockhall.com. The top five artists selected by the public will comprise a “fans’ ballot,” which will be tallied along with the other ballots to choose the 2017 inductees. Fans must log in with a Facebook account or email to vote and can cast one ballot per day.

However, it is unlikely the fan votes will tilt the election in any nominees’ favor, since — as in previous years — their votes will account for only 1 percent of the total tally.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2017 inductees will be announced in December. The induction ceremony and performances will be held for the second consecutive year at Barclays Center in Brooklyn in April and will be televised at a later date by HBO. Ticket on-sale information will be announced at a later date.

2017 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees

Bad Brains

Chaka Khan

Chic

Depeche Mode

Electric Light Orchestra

J. Geils Band

Jane’s Addiction

Janet Jackson

Joan Baez

Joe Tex

Journey

Kraftwerk

MC5

Pearl Jam

Steppenwolf

The Cars

The Zombies

Tupac Shakur

Yes

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george.varga@sduniontribune.com