NEW YORK, JAN. 17 — The Four Tops, the Who, six other rock-and-roll acts, two song-writing teams and three performers considered early influences on the music were inducted tonight into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

“It’s about time I suppose,” noted Roger Daltry, lead singer of the Who.

But Hank Ballard, who recorded “The Twist” before Chubby Checker did, had a different reaction. “I’ve been hanging out with God since I found out I was going to be here,” Ballard told reporters before ceremonies at the swank Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

The awards were announced in October in Cleveland, where the $48 million riverfront hall is scheduled to open in 1992. The fifth annual inductions will bring to 43 the number of rock-and-roll acts in the Hall of Fame.

“Most people didn’t think I was going to make it but I think positive 24 hours a day,” Ballard said. “I knew I would make it somewhere down the line.

“I’m still a damn fool onstage,” he said.

In addition to Ballard, the Four Tops and the Who, the acts being honored were Bobby Darin, who died in 1973, best known for “Splish Splash” and “Mack the Knife”; the Four Seasons; the Kinks; the Platters; and Simon and Garfunkel.

Art Garfunkel in his acceptance speech thanked his former partner, Paul Simon, who responded: “Art and I agree on almost nothing. But I admit it’s true. I did a lot to advance his career.”

One of the song-writing teams honored, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, created its first hit, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?,” for the Shirelles, and followed it with “Up on the Roof,” “Loco-motion” and “Go Away Little Girl.”

Brothers Brian and Eddie Holland and Lamont Dozier, a creative cornerstone of the emotional Motown sound of the 1960s and ’70s, were honored for writing more than 70 top 10 hits. Three of their 20 No. 1 hits were “Please Mr. Postman,” “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” and “Stop in the Name of Love.”

The three performers considered early influences on rock-and-roll were Louis Armstrong, Charlie Christian and Ma Rainey.

Armstrong, who died in 1971, was a trumpeter and singer, and considered by some the greatest jazz musician of all time. Christian, who died in 1942, was a jazz guitarist, the first to play hornlike, single-string solos on electric guitar. Rainey, who died in 1939, recorded nearly 100 blues songs after 1923 and toured, popularizing the music.

Singer Bonnie Raitt inducted Ma Rainey, saying, “I have a mental picture of this live oak of a woman draped in satin, feathers and pearls belting out songs of longing, humor and regret in an impossibly rich contralto.”

Rainey owned two movie theaters and worked in a Baptist church after making her last record in 1928, yet her death certificate gives her occupation as “domestic worker,” Raitt said.

Raitt said she hoped Rainey’s music would become better known so that schoolchildren “won’t think all this started with James Brown and Chuck Berry.”

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THE FIRE AND GUSTO OF MA’S SINGING WAS EXCEPTIONAL ~Bonnie

• RRHOF Induction Ceremony 1990 - Seymour Stein speech about inductee Ma Rainey / Tape of Ma Rainey / Bonnie Raitt inducts Ma Rainey

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Legendary rock producer Phil Spector managed to get people squirming in their seats as he gave a rambling, 15-minute introduction to the Platters that failed to mention the group’s name until the last line.

Spector, known for his unpredictable behavior, was true to form — at one point he said he was inducting Slim Whitman, Zamfir and Roger Whittaker into the Hall and at another point accused other singers of stealing his work.

Those eligible for induction had recordings released by the end of 1964. Some 200 performers, producers, writers, record executives and broadcasters selected by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation made the choices.

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