NEW YORK (AP) – Eminem, Boy George, George Clinton, Sheryl Crow, Janet Jackson, the Doobie Brothers, NWA and Alanis Morissette are among the nominees for the 2025 class at the Songwriters Hall of Fame, an eclectic group of rap, rock, hip-hop and pop pioneers.

Joining them on the ballot are Bryan Adams, with radio staples like Summer of ’69 and Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman? and Mike Love of the Beach Boys, hoping to get in 25 years after band founder Brian Wilson. Co-lead singer of the pop-music group Bread David Gates is also looking for entry.

The Hall annually inducts performers and non-performers alike, and the latter category this year includes Walter Afanasieff, who helped Mariah Carey with her smash All I Want for Christmas Is You; Mike Chapman, who co-wrote Pat Benatar’s Love Is a Battlefield; and Narada Michael Walden, the architect of Whitney Houston’s How Will I Know and Aretha Franklin’s Freeway of Love.

Eligible voting members have until December 22 to turn in ballots with their choices of three nominees from the songwriter category and three from the performing-songwriter category. The Associated Press got an early copy of the list.

Several performers are getting another shot at entry, including Clinton, whose Parliament-Funkadelic collective was hugely influential with hits like Atomic Dog and Give Up the Funk, and The Doobie Brothers – Tom Johnston, Patrick Simmons and Michael McDonald – with such classics as Listen to the Music and Long Train Runnin. Steve Winwood, whose hits include Higher Love and Roll With It, has also been on the ballot before.

Hip-hop this year is represented by Eminem – whose hits include Lose Yourself and Stan – and NWA members Dr Dre, Eazy E, Ice Cube, MC Ren and DJ Yella. Already in the Hall are hip-hop stars like Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and Missy Elliot. Tommy Jam

-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin