Longtime Bradenton resident will be inducted into the Rock Hall with rest of band April 14

Next year’s roll call of Rock & Roll Hall of Famers will include a Manatee County resident.

Founding and current Moody Blues drummer Graeme Edge, who lives in Bradenton, will be inducted along with the band’s current guitarist Justin Hayward and bassist John Lodge, and past flutist Ray Thomas, keyboardist Mike Pinder and guitarist Denny Laine. Bon Jovi, The Cars, Dire Straits, Nina Simone and Sister Rosetta Tharpe will also be inducted.

In an interview with the Herald-Tribune, Edge said he was both pleased and surprised by the announcement Wednesday.

“For 25 years, we’ve been eligible and we’ve never even been nominated before,” Edge said. “I thought it was going to be something that wasn’t in my cards.”

The English rock group is best known for their 1967 album “Days of Future Passed,” which was influential on psychedelic and progressive rock. Its single “Nights in White Satin” would become a No. 2 U.S. hit.

The Moody Blues formed in Birmingham, England in 1964 with Edge, Pinder, Thomas, Laine and bassist Clint Warwick. They started as a R&B-based group like The Rolling Stones and The Who, and had a No. 1 U.K. hit that same year with “Go Now.”

Edge describes the ‘60s British rock scene as a freewheeling time where future rock legends would frequently run into and jam with each other. One night after a show, he jammed for an hour with Eric Clapton, Cream bassist Jack Bruce and a “new guitarist” named Jimi Hendrix.

“And there was no cellphone in sight, d--- it!” Edge said. “There was absolutely no way of recording that for posterity, because I would dearly love to have a copy of that.”

Edge also had what he calls the proudest moment of his career when he played the London Palladium. His grandfather — who was also a musician, as was Edge’s father — thought that was the pinnacle venue one could play, and got to see his grandson perform there.

In 1966, Laine and Warwick both left the Moody Blues, and Lodge and Hayward joined. The change in sound on “Days of Future Passed” from the band’s R&B past came from Hayward’s melodic, folk-inspired songwriting, as well as a Mellotron keyboard that allowed for added instrumentation.

“It gave us such an amazing amount of flexibility, the sounds that you could have,” Edge said. “You could have simulated violins, trumpets, brass sections, basses, all sorts of things.”

The Moody Blues released several more records until their final studio album to date, 2003’s “December.” Pinder left the group in 1978 and Thomas retired in 2002.

Edge moved to Bradenton more than two decades ago. He had a sailboat he kept on Anna Maria Island and fell in love with the area, which he called at the time “the last hippie outpost.”

“Everything was so relaxed,” Edge said. “You could only get onto the island with two bridges, so back then there was not much traffic. It was warm and sunny.”

Edge still goes boating in his free time, though he doesn’t sail anymore. He also has an old-fashioned Morgan sports car, which he has entered into car shows.

“In fact, I’ve got a few best in class awards, which sounds good except there’s only two or three Morgans ever there, so there’s not much competition to be best in class,” Edge said. “But an award is an award, and I’m as proud of that as I am me gold discs.”

The Moody Blues will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on April 14, in a ceremony that will be televised on HBO and broadcast on SiriusXM. Edge hopes all the inducted members can attend, but Pinder and Thomas have health issues.

The current band is also touring next year, including stops Jan. 13 at Clearwater’s Ruth Eckerd Hall and Jan. 14 at Estero’s Germain Arena. The tour commemorates this year's 50th anniversary of “Days of Future Passed,” with the group performing the album in full.

“Apart from ‘Tuesday Afternoon’ and ‘Nights,’ that’ll all be songs that we’ve performed only just these last six months, 50 years since we recorded it,” Edge said. “That was quite an experience. It was overwhelming nostalgia actually, thinking about the two boys that are not well at the moment and remembering those days and those fantastic guys.”