Punk poet Patti Smith accepts Hall of Fame honour 'like a lady'

Punk poet Patti Smith brought her earthy growl to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday, inducted as a member with the Ronettes, Van Halen, R.E.M.

and the institution's first hip-hop act, Grandmaster Flash.
Fighting back tears as she talked of family members, Smith recalled how her late husband, Fred (Sonic) Smith, told her before he died she would someday make the rock hall.
"He asked me please to accept it like a lady and not to say any curse words," she said, "and make certain to salute new generations.

"
The bohemian poet straddled the hippie and punk rock eras. Her album Horses set a standard for literate rock and she had radio hits with Because the Night, co-written with Bruce Springsteen, and the anthem People Have the Power. 
The annual ceremony at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel ballroom was televised live for the first time on VH1 Classic and streamed on aol.

com.
With jewelry dangling from his hair, Keith Richards inducted the Ronettes, the New York City girl group who sang 1960s era pop symphonies like Be My Baby and Baby I Love You. He recalled hearing them the first time on a tour together in England.

"They could sing all their way right through a wall of sound," Richards said. "They didn't need anything. They touched my heart right there and then and they touch it still.

"
Lead singer Ronnie Spector thanked a list of people from Cher to Springsteen to her publicist — but made no mention of ex-husband Phil Spector, the producer whose gigantic "wall of sound" is synonymous with the act.
Spector was arrested in 2003 for allegedly shooting a woman to death at his mansion in suburban Los Angeles. His trial is due to start next week.

After the Ronettes sang a trio of their hits Monday, bandleader Paul Shaffer came to the microphone to read a note from Spector which read: "I wish them all the happiness and good fortune the world has to offer."
Hall officials paid tribute to one of the institution's founders, record executive Ahmet Ertegun, who died in December. One of his top artists at Atlantic, Aretha Franklin, sang the first million-seller she made with Ertegun, I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You).

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, including vocalist Melle Mel, led the rap revolution at the rock hall. Their Reagan-era hit The Message was a milestone message from urban America.
With 25 years needing to pass between an act's first recording and rock hall eligibility, it means the vanguard of hip-hop stars will become eligible in coming years.

Other inductees included Van Halen, which has had some hard times as of late. The band was planning a summer concert tour with ex-lead singer David Lee Roth back in the fold, but the tour plans were cancelled and guitarist Eddie Van Halen said earlier this month that he was entering rehab for unspecified reasons.
Another inductee, R.

E.M., viewed the Hall of Fame ceremony as a chance for a reunion.

Drummer Bill Berry, who had left the band in 1997 after suffering an aneurysm onstage two years earlier, was scheduled to perform on Monday.
R.E.

M. largely invented the indie rock scene out of Athens, Ga., in the early 1980s.

Critical hits like Radio Free Europe gave way to mainstream hits like Losing My Religion in the early 1990s.
The band is still active as a trio with Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills.

Linebacker Singor Mobley and defensive back Donald Brady's lengthy stints with the Edmonton Eskimos came to an end Monday when the CFL club released the veteran pair.