Rochester Music Hall of Fame inductees include Broadway star and YouTube influencer
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Music Hall of Fame has introduced its class of 2024. This year, the hall of fame also introduced three new genres: Social media influencer, Christian rock, and Latin.
The inductees are:
- Rick Beato: A music commentator on YouTube and social media in addition to being a multi-instrumentalist and music producer.
- Scott Mayo: A Grammy-nominated producer who has worked with music superstars including Beyonce, Sir Paul McCartney, John Legend, Bruce Springsteen, and Bruno Mars.
- Jennifer Cody: A musical theatre performer who has been in many Broadway and off-Broadway shows including “A Christmas Story”, “Grease” and “Cats”.
- Johnny Vega: A singer, songwriter, and Salsa-music pioneer.
- John Ellison: An R&B singer and guitarist whose songs include the hit “Some Kind of Wonderful”.
- Keyboardist Charlie Lowell and guitarist Matthew Odmark: Members for the Grammy-winning Christian rock band Jars of Clay.
This year also featured two music educator awards. Bill Tiberio, who teaches at Fairport High School, was recognized. So was Johnny Cummings, who passed away in 1989 but led numerous school bands throughout the region.
“One of the reasons that music in Rochester continues to thrive and excel, are all the music educators in our area,” said Jack Whittier, president of the Rochester Music Hall of Fame board of directors. “There’s a lot of people that go to school here, whether Eastman or Nazareth, that go on to be teachers and they stay in the area.”
This was also the first year to include a Broadway performer, Jennifer Cody.