Sir Elton John honours Brian Wilson at Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony

Sir Elton John paid tribute to the late Brian Wilson while Cyndi Lauper turned True Colours into a defiant call for courage at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Sir Elton took the stage late in the show to sing the Beach Boys song God Only Knows in tribute to Wilson, who died in June, while Stevie Wonder led a musical tribute to Sly Stone, who died two days earlier.

The late Sheffield singer Joe Cocker, British band Bad Company, Lauper, Outkast, Soundgarden and the White Stripes were among those inducted into the Hall of Fame during the show in Los Angeles.

Partway through True Colours, Lauper shouted the line “don’t be afraid!,” thrust her fist in the air and kept it there as the music stopped for a long and dramatic stretch.

She was joined by British singer Raye to sing Time After Time and Avril Lavigne for Girls Just Want to Have Fun. As Lauper called for the ladies to sing with her, Salt-N-Pepa — who earlier in the night donned their old tri-colour jackets to rock the crowd with Push It for their induction — came dancing out and joined her.

Chappell Roan, who inducted Lauper while wearing a huge, ornamented, showgirl-style headpiece, said Lauper redefined what a pop star “could look like, sound like, sing like.”

Lauper returned for an all-star jam and sang a verse of inductee Joe Cocker’s With a Little Help From My Friends, along with Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes, Teddy Swims and Bryan Adams.

Cocker was one of several posthumous nominees, with a moving tribute to late Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell.

Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac inducted Bad Company, calling the British group founded by Paul Rodgers and Mick Ralphs in 1973 “classic rock legends”.

Rodgers had to skip the ceremony because of health issues and Ralphs died earlier this year, so drummer Simon Kirke was the only member on the stage.

Outkast did not perform together for the first time since 2016 as some had hoped, but the duo stood together on stage, surrounded by a crew of friends and cohorts as they gave grateful speeches after doing rock-paper-scissors to decide who would go first.

Andre 3000 sat out the performance but Big Boi, wearing shorts and a fur coat, started off an express tour through the Atlanta duo’s discography that included Tyler the Creator, JID and Killer Mike.

Janelle Monae joined them to shake her way through Hey Ya and Doja Cat delivered a sly and soulful take on Ms Jackson.

In his speech inducting them, Donald Glover praised them as “two visionaries who turned their differences into a dynasty”.

Emotions ran deep during Soundgarden’s segment of the night, starting with the induction speech of Jim Carrey, the actor and Soundgarden superfan who seemed to be fighting off tears throughout as he talked about Cornell, who died from suicide in 2017.

“When you looked into his eyes, it’s like eternity was staring back,” Carrey said. “For all time, his voice will continue to light up the ether like a Tesla coil.”

Each of his band mates, all major godfathers of the Seattle grunge scene, paid their own tearful tributes.

One of Cornell’s daughters, Lilian, spoke for him while another, Toni, sang a quiet rendition of his song Fell on Black Days.

The White Stripes reunion that some fans had hoped for did not happen, Twenty One Pilots performing a version of the duo’s anthem Seven Nation Army while Olivia Rodrigo and Feist delivered an acoustic version of We’re Gonna Be Friends.

Drummer Meg White, who has led an almost entirely private life since the band broke up in 2011, did not show up for the ceremony, but Jack White said his ex-wife helped him write the speech he delivered while wearing the band’s signature red and white.

The late singer-songwriter Warren Zevon was inducted by David Letterman, a friend and superfan who made Zevon a regular on his NBC late-night show, including an appearance when Zevon was dying of cancer in 2002.

“Warren Zevon is in my Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” Letterman said. “Actually his own wing.”

Other inductees who received video tributes were Chubby Checker, session bassist Carole Kaye, session piano man Nicky Hopkins and record producer and executive Lenny Waronker.