Hot Night at Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame : from United Press International

Simon and Garfunkel, whose “Sound of Silence” helped join folk and rock music, and the venerable groups the Who and the Kinks were slated to be inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame at its fifth annual dinner tonight.

Also among those to be honored at the induction were rhythm and blues performer Hank Ballard, and the Platters, one of the original doo-wop groups, whose hits include “Only You” and “The Great Pretender.”

The Hall of Fame’s home is in Cleveland, but problems with financing the construction of a building to house the facility kept the gala dinner at Manhattan’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel for another year.

Last year, the Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Dion DiMucci, the Temptations and Otis Redding were inducted in an evening that ended in a jam session starring Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen.

Also inducted into the exclusive circle of rock greats in the Hall of Fame today were the Four Tops, one of the biggest Motown troupes of the 1960s, finger-snapping singer Bobby Darin, and the Four Seasons, who, until the Beatles and Rolling Stones arrived in the early 1960s, were one of the biggest selling rock ‘n’ roll acts.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame Foundation also selected three jazz and blues stars as “early influences” on rock music, including famed trumpeter Louis Armstrong, Charlie Christian, an early be-bop electric guitarist, and legendary blues singer Ma Rainey.

Named in the songwriting category were two teams: Gerry Goffin and Carole King, who wrote dozens of hits like “Up on the Roof” and “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” for a wide variety of rock singers and groups, and Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland, whose melodies such as “Stop in the Name of Love” gave Motown groups numerous hits.