The Famous Flames - Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Controversy and 2012 Induction

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Controversy and 2012 Induction

In 1986, the first committee of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced that James Brown would be one of the Hall of Fame's first charter members to be inducted. Oddly, Brown's former group the Famous Flames were not included in the induction. In its criteria, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame only inducts artists whose first recording had been out for more than 25 years. Because "Please Please Please" was actually a group recording, as was "Try Me" while the first three albums were credited under the James Brown and the Famous Flames billing and since Brown's first solo albums, The Amazing James Brown and James Brown Presents His Band/Night Train occurred in late 1961, missing the 25-year criteria, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame president and chief executive Terry Stewart contended that Brown was indeed eligible for induction but as a member of The Famous Flames . About the rest of the Famous Flames not getting inducted back in 1986, Stewart went on to say: "There was no legislative intent why they weren't included; somehow they just got overlooked." But Flames member Bobby Bennett later explained that Brown's 1986 solo induction may have been a result of the dissension among the other Famous Flames members and Brown: "We’d been having differences for years … all on account of the money," Bennett said. "James wanted the money for himself, and we wanted to get paid our money."

Rock Hall CEO Terry Stewart set up a special committee in 2011 in which bands and groups that had been eligible for induction but were left out because of the impact of the bands' lead singers/front men, finally correcting issues that had been implicit in the first two years of the induction ceremony. The Famous Flames (Byrd, Bennett, Terry and Stallworth) were inducted in April 2012 alongside other "backing groups" such as The Midnighters (Hank Ballard), The Comets (Bill Haley), The Crickets (Buddy Holly), The Blue Caps (Gene Vincent) and The Miracles (Smokey Robinson). In reality, these were not really "backing groups" at all, since their lead singers were all members of their respective groups in the first place. Smokey Robinson, who did the induction honors for all of the groups, including his own Miracles, stated:"These are not "backing groups". These are the groups." Bennett, as the group's only surviving member, accepted the induction in person in Cleveland. Bennett further stated the induction was not only a correction for the R&R Hall of Fame committee's mishap in 1986 but also a reunion: "For years, I felt like we were all separated," says Bennett. "I feel like we're whole again, I wish we could all be here as one group," he says. "Yes, James Brown was the most famous of the Flames, but we were all Famous Flames."

Backstage, during the ceremony, Miracles lead singer Smokey Robinson, who inducted the group, said, "If James Brown was the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, The Famous Flames were the hardest-working group".