Cong.Steve Cohen

ALT All this comes amid an effort by a number of musicians and industry types to get Zevon onto the ballot for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which will announce nominations Wednesday for its 2023 class of inductees. Among the boosters is Billy Joel, who recently wrote a letter to the hall’s nominating committee urging them to consider Zevon, who became eligible for induction in 1994 but has never made the ballot. (Rock Hall rules say an artist or band becomes eligible 25 years after the release of their first commercial recording.)

ALT “I just wanted to put in my two cents of supporting Warren Zevon to be included,” Joel tells The Times. “If anyone deserves to be, he does. He was a real original, and I don’t know if that’s appreciated enough.” Joel, who was inducted into the hall in 1999 and who says he’s written similar letters on behalf of Joe Cocker and Cyndi Lauper, remembers seeing Zevon perform in the late ’70s at a club near Philadelphia. “The first minute I saw him, I was knocked out. He was like the crazy brother I never had. He was fearless, and it stuck with me. I never thought he got the attention he deserved.”