Rock Hall Class of ’18

Iconic singer Nina Simone and New Jersey rockers Bon Jovi lead the 2018 class of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, which includes four first-time nominees.

The Cars, as well as first-time contenders Dire Straits, The Moody Blues and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, also are part of the 2018 class. They will be inducted on April 14 in Cleveland.

The six inductees were chosen from a group of 19 nominees, including Radiohead, who were expected to enter the Rock Hall in their first year of eligibility, but didn’t make it.

Tharpe, a pioneering guitarist who performed gospel music and was known to some as “the godmother of rock ‘n’ roll,” will be inducted with the “Award for Early Influence.” She died in 1973.

The jazzy and soulful Simone, also a first-time nominee, was a leader in pushing for civil rights and influenced generations of singers from Aretha Franklin to Alicia Keys. Simone died in 2003.

Bon Jovi said Wednesday of his band’s nomination, “I didn’t know how long things would last because I never envisioned 35 years later . . . It’s humbling.”

JANN Wenner’s loss is Bon Jovi’s gain. The Rolling Stone publisher had perennially blocked the New Jersey band from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but Wednesday the hall gave the “Livin’ on a Prayer” rockers the nod.

I reported a year ago when Bon Jovi was snubbed by the HOF that Wenner and Bruce Springsteen’s manager, Jon Landau, controlled the hall.

Frontman Jon Bon Jovi confronted Wenner last summer in the Hamptons. “They had words,” a source said.

“Wenner used to run the Hall of Fame, but he’s lost his clout,” one insider said. “Maybe he was preoccupied by the book.”

Wenner has been critical of Joe Hagan’s recent biography of him, “Sticky Fingers.”