Rush, Public Enemy and Heart to Join Rock Hall of Fame

Michael Falco for The New York Times Alex Lifeson of Rush at Madison Square Garden in 2007.

Rush, Heart and Public Enemy are among the six acts to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum at a ceremony in Los Angeles next May. The other honorees will be the bluesman Albert King, the disco queen Donna Summer and the songwriter Randy Newman.

The decision to give Rush, the Canadian progressive-rock power trio, a berth in the hall rectifies what some in the music industry have considered a glaring oversight in past years. Since its 1976 breakthrough album “2112,” the band has released almost nothing but gold and platinu m albums, even though its album-oriented style only produced a few hit singles, chief among them “New World Man” in 1982.

Donna Summer's elevation to the hall just months after she died of cancer also appeared intended to make up for ignoring her in the past. She had been nominated several times but never chosen. When she died in May, many influential figures in pop music, among them Elton John, said it was shameful that she had not been recognized.

Steve C. Mitchell/European Pressphoto Agency Chuck D. and Flavor Flav of Public Enemy.

Indeed, after her death, Jon Landau, a prominent rock manager and chairman of the hall's nominating com mittee, also said “there is absolutely no doubt that the extraordinary Donna Summer belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” and expressed the hope that the voting group would recognize her in this year's balloting.

Selecting Public Enemy, the seminal rap group known for politically charged lyrics and hits like “Fight the Power,” may also signal a turning point for the hall. (N.W.A. was also nominated but passed over by the voters.)

The list of other acts that did not make the final cut was an eclectic bunch: Kraftwerk, Procol Harum, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the Meters, the Marvelettes and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.

The winners were chosen by 500 voters, mostly musicians and other music industry veterans, who belong to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. This year, the hall also took into account the results of an Internet p oll of fans in deciding the inductees, though that was given little weight in the tally.

For the first time since 1993, the induction ceremony will be held on the West Coast, at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. It will be broadcast on HBO on Saturday, May 18, at 9 p.m.