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The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced that the 2015 inductees will be Lou Reed, Green Day, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Bill Withers, and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Ringo Starr will receive the Award For Musical Excellence and the “5” Royales will receive the Early Influence Award.

Lou Reed is posthumously inducted for his solo work, having already been inducted as a member of the Velvet Underground in 1996.

Artists are eligible for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25 years after their first release, so Green Day have made it in the first year that they have been eligible (their first release, the EP “1,000 Hours,” came out in 1989).

Stevie Ray Vaughan is another posthumous inductee (he passed away in 1990), and many will be pleased to see the influential blues-rock performer inducted, along with his backing group Double Trouble.

It’s excellent news that Joan Jett will be inducted as she has remained true to her rock ‘n’ roll roots since performing as a teenager with the Runaways in the 1970s. A clearly delighted Jett told Rolling Stone:

It’s surreal… It’s incredible. I’m very flabbergasted… I’ve set myself up to not expect it because it’s easier to go about your life that way, just focusing on your life. If accolades comes, they do and you don’t have to stress out about it. I’ve always been hopeful because I think it’s an incredible acknowledgment. I’m very proud to be with all these great musicians.

Withers has also welcomed the honour, but amusingly told Rolling Stone that he doesn’t yet know whether he will perform at the ceremony because “I don’t want to be one of those old guys that sounds like a gerbil trying to give birth to a hippopotamus.”

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band were a fine blues rock outfit of the 1960s, whose leader also performed with other bands and released solo material before his untimely death in 1987. It was the Paul Butterfield Blues Band that were backing Bob Dylan when he controversially chose to plug-in at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. The band have been eligible for the Rock Hall since 1988 and were first nominated in 2006.

Ringo Starr is now the last of the Beatles to be inducted as a solo artist. The Beatles were inducted in 1988.

The “5” Royales has a string of hits in the 1950s, including “Dedicated to the One I Love,” “Think,” “Baby Don’t Do It” and “Help Me Somebody”. They have been cited as an influence by many artists, including Eric Clapton, James Brown and Steve Cropper.

The 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place at Cleveland’s Public Hall on April 18th, 2015.