KANNAPOLIS — After a year of waiting to honor the 2020 inductees, the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame will hold its inductions Oct. 21. The 2020 inductees, announced last year during the COVID-19 pandemic, included six nationally known and award-winning legends from North Carolina. This year, a “double-induction” will honor both the 2020 and 2021 classes. 

The honorees are:

The Briarhoppers (Charlotte): Oldest continuing bluegrass group in the world. The band formed in Charlotte in 1934 at WBT studios as their first house band to play live on radio.

Donald Lawrence (Gastonia): Grammy Award winning gospel music songwriter, record producer, vocal coach, and artist who has won multiple Stellar Awards and was musical director of the Tri-City Singers.

Charles Whitfield (Greensboro): Music producer, executive and A&R executive/investor of Hidden Beach Recordings and currently manager of community relations at Lowe’s Companies Inc.

Jermaine Dupri (Asheville): Grammy Award winning producer, hip-hop artist, songwriter, and record executive who is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and is known for his successful record label So So Def.

Michael Mauldin (Murphy): Co-founder of the Black American Music Association as well as co-founder of the Black Music Entertainment Walk of Fame. Former president of the Black Music division at Columbia Records, and former senior Vice President of the Columbia Record Group, entertainment executive and live event producer and CEO of Scream Nation, a concert venture with Live Nation Entertainment. He is a talent manager and father of recording artist/producer/songwriter and fellow inductee Jermaine Dupri.

The Squirrel Nut Zippers (Chapel Hill): Jazz band formed in 1993 that reached commercial success during the swing revival during the late 1990s. The band’s music is a fusion of Delta blues, gypsy jazz, swing and other styles.

Tony Rice (Reidsville): Award-winning guitarist, bluegrass musician, singer, and composer. Rice redefined bluegrass guitar playing and left a lasting print of the genre.

Robert Moog (Asheville): Engineering physicist and pioneer of electronic music for more than 50 years. He was the founder of Moog Music and the inventor of the first commercial synthesizer, which debuted in 1964 and revolutionized every genre of music.

The Hall of Fame will also feature two past inductees to honor with Lifetime Achievement Awards. Tony Brown and Roberta Flack will be recognized for their lifetime achievement of success in the music industry and their massive contributions to American music over several decades:

Tony Brown: Grammy award winning record producer and pianist, known primarily for his work in country music from Greensboro. Brown co-founded Universal South Records and is the former president of MCA Records Nashville—a title he held for nearly a decade. Brown produced numerous hits by artist like George Strait, Reba McEntire, and Vince Gill. He has won seven Academy of Country Music awards, including Producer of the Year, multiple CMA awards, and he has many gold, platinum, and multi-platinum album credits.

Roberta Flack: Grammy award winning singer-songwriter from Black Mountain. She is the only solo artist to win a Grammy for Record of the Year for two consecutive years. Flack is a humanitarian, mentor and founder of the Roberta Flack School of Music at the Hyde Leadership Charter School in the Bronx, providing an innovative and inspiring music education program to underprivileged students free of charge. She also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.

The ceremony will take place at the historic Gem Theatre and will feature each inductee’s acceptance of their induction, video presentations, and live performances.