Here's who was just officially inducted into the 2017 Rock Hall of Fame

Here’s who was just officially inducted into the 2017 Rock Hall of Fame

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The death of rapper-actor Tupac Shakur, shown in 1995, is still considered a mystery and a tragic milestone in music. (Perry C. Riddle / Los Angeles Times)

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Tupac Shakur, August 1993, photo by Danny Clinch (American, born 1964) Courtesy of Danny Clinch (Danny Clinch / Annenberg Space for Photography)

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Tupac Shakur in 1994. (Ron Galella / WireImage)

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Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur at the 1996 MTV Music Awards.

(Manny Hernandez / Getty Images)

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Tupac Shakur arrives at New York’s Radio City Music Hall for the 13th MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 4, 1996, just days before his death. (Todd Plitt / Associated Press)

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Rapper Tupac Shakur, left, and Death Row Records’ Marion “Suge” Knight attend a voter registration event in South Central Los Angeles in August 1996. (Frank Wiese / Associated Press)

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Club 662, a nightclub located in Las Vegas, is reportedly where Tupac Shakur and Death Row Records Chairman Marion “Suge” Knight were heading when Shakur was shot Sept. 7, 1996. (Lennox McLendon / Associated Press)

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Snoop Dogg performs with a projection of Tupac near the end of his set with Dr. Dre, closing the third and final day of Week 2 of the 2012 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

By Randy Lewis

Dec. 20, 2016 5:05 AM PT

In what represents a rather varied group of inductees, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has chosen folk singer Joan Baez, British progressive rock band Yes, New York-born rapper Tupac Shakur, Seattle grunge band Pearl Jam, English pop-rock group Electric Light Orchestra and slick rock group Journey to join the institution for 2017.

In addition, Chic founding member, producer and guitarist Nile Rodgers will be inducted as an honoree for the hall’s award for musical excellence.

Four of the acts voted in by 900-plus voting members of the Rock Hall of Fame Foundation overlapped with the winners of the hall’s fan vote — Journey being the top pick of fans, followed by ELO, Yes, Pearl Jam and the only fan-selected act not to make the cut with the hall’s voters, Boston new wave band the Cars.

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On the other hand, Shakur and Baez were held in low regard by music fans who participated in the voting — many commenting that they did not consider the rapper or the folk music luminary to be “rock ’n’ roll.”

New member of the hall will be welcomed in April 7 when the 32rd annual induction ceremony takes place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Tickets available to the public to attend will go on sale in January. As usual, the induction speeches and musical performances will be filmed for a highlights special scheduled to run subsequently on HBO.

Baez, ELO, Journey, Pearl Jam and Shakur appeared on the slate of final nominees for the first time this year, even though Baez, ELO and Journey had been eligible years ago under the hall’s requirement that 25 years elapse from the release of an artist’s first recording before they can be considered for induction.

Yes had made the list of finalists last year, in 2016 and 2014.

The rest of those who were on the final nominee list were Bad Brains, the Cars, Chaka Khan, Chic, Depeche Mode, Jane’s Addiction, Janet Jackson, J. Geils Band, Joe Tex, Kraftwerk, MC5, Steppenwolf and the Zombies.

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