Spinners in, White Stripes out for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class

The fourth time is the charm for the Spinners, the legendary Ferndale-bred soul and R&B act who will join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Class of 2023, Rock Hall organizers announced Wednesday.

They will be enshrined in a group that includes Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, George Michael, Willie Nelson and Rage Against the Machine. The induction ceremony will take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on Nov. 3.

Detroit garage rock revivalists the White Stripes, first-ballot nominees for this year's Class, did not make the cut, nor did Soundgarden, A Tribe Called Quest, Iron Maiden, Warren Zevon, Cyndi Lauper and Joy Division/ New Order. Acts are eligible for the Rock Hall 25 years after their first recording.

The Spinners, the five-piece best known for timeless R&B classics like "I'll Be Around" and "It's a Shame," were previously nominated for the Rock Hall in 2011, 2014 and 2015.

Singer Henry Fambrough, the sole living member of the original group, will be inducted along with his late bandmates Billy Henderson, Pervis Jackson, Bobbie Smith and Philippé Wynne, representing the group's classic lineup. More than a dozen others have been a part of the group's roster over the years.

Among Detroiters and Michigan artists, the Spinners join an illustrious list of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members that includes Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Jackie Wilson, the Supremes, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Hank Ballard, the Four Tops, John Lee Hooker, Martha and the Vandellas, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Little Willie John, Parliament-Funkadelic, Bob Seger, Madonna, the Stooges, Alice Cooper, the Miracles and Eminem. Berry Gordy Jr. and Holland-Dozier-Holland are in as non-performers, and Motown bassist James Jamerson was inducted in the “Sidemen” category, which was later changed to the Award for Musical Excellence.

Classmates at Ferndale's Lincoln High School in the 1950s, Fambrough and his friends got their start as street-corner doo-woppers the Domingoes, honing their chops in Detroit's club scene in the late '50s and early '60s. As the Spinners — named after the flashy Cadillac hubcaps they adored — they were signed by Gwen Gordy, sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy, and her soon-to-be husband, Harvey Fuqua, to Tri-Phi Records, which was later absorbed by Motown. Their first single, 1961's "That's What Girls are Made For," featured Marvin Gaye on drums.

The group was known for its spirited live performances — for a while, the Spinners' act included a Beatles tribute, which saw them imitating the group and calling themselves the Brown Beatles — and Motown released the group's debut album, "The Original Spinners," in summer 1967, collecting songs the group had recorded and released over the previous six years.

But among Motown's stacked roster of hitmakers, the Spinners weren't top priority, and they languished on the fringes of the label; the group members took on other jobs at Hitsville to stay busy, with Jackson working in shipping and Smith acting as the Temptations' driver on the road.

"We were disappointed, but we were never mad at anybody," Smith said in 2003 of the leaner Motown years. "We were getting lost in the shuffle, but if you say you're at Motown, it was a big deal at that time."

Their fortunes changed with 1970's "It's a Shame," which was written specifically for the group by Stevie Wonder, who also produced the track. The song hit No. 4 on Billboard's Hot Soul Singles chart and signaled new life for the group.

At the suggestion of Aretha Franklin, the group left Motown and made its way to Atlantic Records, where they teamed with producer Thom Bell and came to embody the spirit of the Philadelphia soul sound, racking up a string of Top 10 hits including "I'll Be Around," "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love," "Games People Play" and "The Rubberband Man." "Then Came You," the group's duet with Dionne Warwick, was No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart for one week in October 1974.

The group continued to record throughout the '70s. In 1979, the group's medley of the Four Seasons' "Working My Way Back to You" and Michael Zager's "Forgive Me, Girl" nearly topped the Hot 100 — it stalled at No. 2, behind Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II" — and in 1980, their medley of Sam Cooke's "Cupid" and Zager's "I've Loved You for a Long Time" became the group's final Top 10 hit.

The Spinners' live show was once heralded by David Bowie, who called their Apollo Theatre concert the best show he'd ever seen. Elvis Costello is also a devout fan; he included the group's 1978 compilation album "The Best of the Spinners" among his 500 greatest albums of all-time, he once said he based his vocal performance on his song "Alison" after the Spinners' "Ghetto Child," and along with John Hiatt, he covered the group's song "Living a Little, Laughing a Little" in 1985.

The group — known overseas as the Detroit Spinners, to avoid confusion with another UK act known as the Spinners — was inducted in the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999. Their songs have been sampled and interpolated by artists including Monie Love ("It's a Shame (My Sister)" borrows heavily from "It's a Shame"), 2Pac ("Dear Mama" lifts from "Sadie") and Boyz II Men (whose "End of the Road" follows the same chord progression as "Love Don't Love Nobody").

The six-time Grammy nominees earned six gold singles and five gold albums, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. They continue to perform live, with a lineup that includes Fambrough with Jessie Peck, Marvin Taylor, Ronnie Moss and C.J. Jefferson; they're due at the Music Hall in Detroit, alongside the Stylistics, on May 20. The Spinners released a new album, "Round the Block and Back Again," in 2021.

Wynne, who left the group in 1977, died in 1984 at age 43. Henderson died in 2007, Jackson died in 2008 and Smith died in 2013.

Other members of this year's Rock Hall Class include DJ Kool Herc, Link Wray, Chaka Khan, Al Kooper, Bernie Taupin and Don Cornelius.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees are selected by a voting body that includes more than 1,000 artists, historians and members of the music industry. A public vote is also weighed, which George Michael led with more than 1 million votes, followed by Lauper, Zevon, Iron Maiden and Soundgarden.  

agraham@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @grahamorama