Paul Rodgers Hall of Fame Induction speech:

 

 

I watched the 2025 Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony on ABC a few nights back (the original broadcast was on Disney back in November but I don't subscribe to Disney).  Bad Company was one of the inductees, but Paul Rodgers was curiously absent.  A friend mentioned that he had been ill, so I googled him.  Turns out he's had two bad strokes and eleven minor ones!!!  Ouch.  I'm quite surprised this hasn't been publicized more. I had NO idea. I saw Rodgers at The Mountain Winery in the Bay area in 2015.  He was nothing short of his incredible old vocal self.  It was all Free and Bad Company, and he sounded just GREAT.  Turns out the first bad stroke was in 2016, only one year after that show.  The second bad stroke was in 2019 and required emergency surgery to clear a blocked carotid artery.  All my best to Mr. Rodgers, one of my very favorite singers ever!

 

FYI, I shot some video that night @ The Winery.  If you go to YouTube and do a search for rob orme paul rodgers, all of them will come up.  You might be a bit disappointed.  The video police were out in FULL force.  So I pretended I was only taking pictures, and shot just a 10-20 second clip of each song just to give people an idea of how good he sounded.  That kept them from shutting me down.  Here's a quick sample.  I labeled them Paul Rodgers #1 - Paul Rodgers #9.

 

If you missed the Rock Hall segment, I thought it was very well done.  It might be on YouTube.  Added bonus:  Joe Cocker was inducted posthumously and The Tedeschi/Trucks Band closed out the show with a three song set including some special guest vocalists:  The Letter, Feelin' Alright, With A Little Help From My Friends.  They delivered their usual sterling performance.  What great publicity for Derek, Susan and Co. on national TV!