Madonna, Leonard Cohen lead way to rock`s Hall of Fame

"Even the people who said I was talentless, that I was chubby, that I couldn't sing, that I was a one-hit wonder, they helped me, too," she was quoted by DPA as saying. "They inspired me because they made me question myself repeatedly and pushed me to be better."

"I felt like I had been possessed by some magic and luckily for me I have been miraculously and continuously possessed by some kind of magic," Madonna said at the annual Hall of Fame ceremony in New York.

"I have gone on to do so many things in my life, from writing children's books, to designing clothes, to directing a film. But for me it always does, and it always will, come back to the music, so thank you," she said.

The ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria hotel also saw inductions for folk-rock poet Leonard Cohen, American rocker John Mellencamp and pioneering pop and surf rockers The Dave Clark Five and The Ventures.

"This is a very unlikely occasion for me. It is not a distinction that I coveted or even dared dream about," said Cohen.

"From poetry to pop, these five acts demonstrate the rich diversity of rock and roll," Hall of Fame president Joel Peresman said. "The 2008 inductees are trailblazers - all unique and influential in their genres."

The five artists have been chosen by 600 music industry professionals, and beat out disco queen Donna Summer, New York-based funk group Chic, rap pioneer Afrika Bambaataa and hip-hop group The Beastie Boys for the 23rd annual induction.

Artists become eligible for the Hall of Fame 25 years after the release of their first single or album and are represented in an exhibition at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum in Cleveland, Ohio.

Getting an induction into the Hall of Fame is generally regarded as a career-pinnacle and last year's inductees were REM, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Van Halen, the Ronettes and Patti Smith.

Madonna, who will be 50 in August, released her first record in 1982. Her hits include Holiday, Like A Virgin and Ray Of Light. She was inducted by Justin Timberlake and ...