Do you remember New Edition? I’m up for the Hall of Fame

The nominations for the Class of 2026 were announced just over a month ago Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. This is the list of candidates Black Crowes, Jeff Buckley, Mariah Carey, Phil Collins, Melissa Etheridge, Lauryn Hill, Billy Idol, INXS, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, New Edition, Oasis, P!NK, Sade, Shakira, Luther Vandross And Wu-Tang Clan. But this is only the first phase of a process that will lead to the list of those who will be included in the Hall of Fame this April, while next autumn the actual ceremony will be held and admission will be certified. The unquestionable requirement for a single artist or band to be nominated is to have published their first album at least 25 years before the year of the nomination.

An international voting body made up of over 1,200 artists and members of the music industry will be called to elect those deserving to enter the Hall of Fame. Plus, until April 3rd, there are fan votes cast on website from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, even if their preferences have (perhaps) the only prerogative of ‘orienting’ the votes of those entitled to vote, they have no practical value. To give a very close example, last year i Phish they were the most voted and Billy Idol the third most voted by fans, but that wasn’t enough to get them elected.

A few days after the closing of the fan ‘survey’, the leaders of the rankings by a wide margin are the New Edition (935,000 preferences), ahead of Phil Collins (810,000) e Pink (744,000). They follow Luther Vandross, Shakira, Inxs And Sade. A ranking that might surprise more than one person and more than one person might be surprised to think, but who are the New Edition?

THE New Edition they are an r’n’b band with a strong pop streak that had considerable success in the United States in the 1980s, but whose fame clearly seems to have no end and the votes acquired in the Hall of Fame voting open to the public are there to remember it. The history of New Edition began in Boston in 1978. The group’s first lineup consisted of teenagers Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, Ronnie DeVoe, Bobby Brown And Ralph Tresvant. The group, heir to the Jackson 5 and forerunner of the boy bands that followed, debuted in 1983 with the album “Candy girl”. The title track was greeted with success reaching number one in both the American R&B charts and the English charts.

The second album followed the following year, “New Edition”for the group made up of minors. The album rose in the charts to number six. Among the best-known songs on the album are the singles “Cool It Now” And “Mr. Telephone Man”.

In 1985 the third album was released, “All for love”And Bobby Brown he left the group to start a solo career. In 1986 i New Edition they release the fourth chapter of their musical history, the covers album “Under the blue moon”the first without Brown in the lineup. The most successful song on this album is “Earth angel”a 1954 Penguins cover that i New Edition recorded for the film’s soundtrack ‘Karate Kid 2’.

In 1987 the band welcomed into the group Johnny Gill and went back to being a quintet. In the first half of the nineties i New Edition they interrupted their activity as a band to dedicate themselves to other projects, mainly solo. They returned years later, in 1996, as a sextet (with the return of Brown) with the album “Home again”which even reached first place in the sales charts in the United States. Apparently everything seemed to flow in the best possible way, but the tour in support of the album was tumultuous to say the least, characterized by constant arguments that led Bobby Brown And Michael Bivins to leave, leaving the band to perform in concert as a quartet.

Despite their latest album, “One love”dates back to 2004 – over twenty years ago – and despite the constant back and forth on the part of the various members of the group, the band has never stopped performing live, in this period the group is on tour together with Boyz II Men And Toni Braxton. The fans did not abandon them so much as (more united than ever) they voted them as the most deserving of being part of the 2026 draft of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We’ll see if the committee responsible for choosing the new ‘elected’ thinks the same way.