Eagles, Fleetwood Mac Roll Into Rock Hall of Fame

The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac, whose harmonies onstage and excesses off stage helped define 1970s popular music, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in ceremonies at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Monday night.

Other inductees included the group Santana, led by Carlos Santana’s fiery guitar; the Mamas & the Papas, folk icons of the late ‘60s; rockabilly legend Gene Vincent; and Lloyd Price, an early practitioner of New Orleans rock ‘n’ roll.

Also inducted were New Orleans jazz composer-pianist Jelly Roll Morton, named as an early influence on rock ‘n’ roll, and New Orleans producer Allen Toussaint, inducted as a nonperformer.

The Eagles, formed in 1971, rode a distinctive country sound using traditional rock instruments to success. The group, led by drummer Don Henley and guitarist Glenn Frey, scored hits with “Tequila Sunrise,” “Best Of My Love” and “One Of These Nights.” Their biggest hits were the 1976 album and single, “Hotel California.”

Fleetwood Mac, started in 1967 by two former members of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, became an enormously popular pop-oriented group in the late 1970s.

Stevie Nicks’ haunting vocals and Lindsay Buckingham’s distinctive guitar work helped propel the band’s 1976 album “Rumours” to multiplatinum status.

Problems with alcohol and drugs, as well as well-publicized fights between band members, led to the breakup of both bands. Money and nostalgia brought them back together, leading to successful reunion tours by both bands in recent years.

The Mamas & the Papas--Denny Doherty, Michelle Phillips, John Phillips and Cass Elliot--performed from 1965 to 1968. Elliot, popularly known as Mama Cass, died of a heart attack in 1974.

John Phillips said it was the music, not the group’s freewheeling lifestyle, that is remembered.

Artists become eligible 25 years after the release of their first recording. Five to seven are nominated each year and voted on by about 1,000 rock writers, performers and industry leaders. The first induction ceremony was in 1986.

The names of Hall of Fame honorees are on exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland.