Goodie Mob, Kansas ready to roll into Hall of Fame

GEORGIA MUSIC HALL OF FAME

The ceremony airs live at 8 p.m. Saturday, Georgia Public Broadcasting.

For Big Gipp, the fact that his group’s name will live among Ray Charles and Gladys Knight, James Brown and Little Richard, is mind-blowing.

But the Goodie Mob member also feels that the quartet’s commitment to soul and rock as well as hip-hop is worth noting.

"We always considered ourselves as doing music. That's why I feel we're being inducted, because we chose music instead of rap or just one form of music. We chose it all," Big Gipp said last month while hanging out backstage at the One Musicfest with his Goodie Mob mates.

On Saturday, the renowned Atlanta foursome of Big Gipp, T-Mo, Khujo and Cee Lo Green, who just released their first new album in 14 years, will indeed see the group’s name immortalized when they’re inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.

This year’s event — the 35th annual — will take place at the Georgia World Congress Center. The 8 p.m. ceremony, hosted by former Channel 2 Action News anchor Monica Pearson and HLN’s Robin Meade, will air live on Georgia Public Broadcasting.

“What an accolade,” Green added of the “Performers” award being bestowed upon Goodie Mob. “It’s quite a gratifying feeling for all of us, and we’re proud to be inducted in our native home.”

Joining Goodie Mob in the honoree circle is Kansas, which will receive the “Group” award.

Yes, the band was founded in Kansas, but original members Phil Ehart, Steve Walsh and Richard Williams moved to Atlanta in the late ’70s and remain here.

“We wound up playing Atlanta frequently at Alex Cooley’s Electric Ballroom,” recalled guitarist Williams, “and we loved the city. I met my second wife in Atlanta. The other guys met their wives there. I guess you could say we moved here for women, but it was such a fun town and there was a lot going on musically. Now, I’ve been here longer than I was in Kansas.”

Joining the original Kansas men are Billy Greer, a member since the 1980s, and David Ragsdale, part of the band since the 1990s. The band is working on a documentary, “Miracles Out of Nowhere,” to be released next year.

“We had been approached over the years to (be inducted), but we really weren’t ready for it. It seemed like something you would do when you’re done,” Williams said. “But earlier this year, we were inducted into the Kansas Hall of Fame (at the Great Overland Station) and felt if we’re going to do this, this is the time.”

• The year's event will also honor sometime-Atlantan Whitney Houston with the "Posthumous Award." Her brother, Gary Houston, who sang with Houston for 20 years, will perform a special tribute.

• Northwest Georgia natives Kathy, June, Kim and Christy Forester, known professionally as the Forester Sisters, will receive the "Pioneer Award." Though their careers blossomed in Tennessee, the women still live on Lookout Mountain, where they began singing as children in church.

• This year's "Non-Performer Award" will be bestowed upon Atlanta radio legend James "Alley Pat" Patrick. At 93, Patrick is the last surviving DJ from the first black-owned station in the U.S., WERD-AM on Auburn Avenue.