Canada's melancholy bard, Leonard Cohen, is among five acts who will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland next year.

Pop singer Madonna, British group The Dave Clark Five, '60s surfer boys The Ventures and singer-songwriter John Mellencamp also were announced as 2008 inductees on Thursday.

Canadian poet and singer Leonard Cohen sings during a concert in Warsaw, Poland, in March 2007.
(Alik Keplicz/Canadian Press)

A panel of 600 industry figures selected the five artists who will be inducted March 10 in New York.

Cohen, 73, a Montreal poet and novelist known for songs such as Suzanne and Hallelujah, was inducted into Canada's Songwriters of Fame last year.

Author of The Beautiful Losers, Cohen issued his first book of poetry in 22 years, Book of Longing, in 2006. He also co-wrote songs and collaborated on the album Blue Alert with Anjani Thomas.

A Zen Buddhist, he returned to public appearances after experiencing a financial disaster when millions were bilked from his retirement savings.

Madonna, an international superstar who first made a name for herself in the 1980s with the dance club hit Holiday and Like a Virgin, parlayed her fame into film roles in Desperately Seeking Susan and Evita, and new touring success with 2007's Confessions tour.

She has been successful in manipulating her public image, from the sexy dance queen in corset outerwear, to film star, to celebrity concerned about the plight of African orphans.

British invasion-era inductees

The Dave Clark Five, British contemporaries of the Beatles, were known for hits such as Glad All Over and Bits and Pieces.

Formed in 1961 in Tottenham, U.K., the five-man group fronted by Mike Smith, with Clark on drums, broke up in 1970.

Indiana native Mellencamp became a voice of America's heartland with hits like Pink Houses and Ain't That America.

He began singing in the 1970s as a folk rocker under the name John Cougar and added "Mellencamp" to his name in 1982 with the success of his album American Fool. He has been a prominent supporter of American farms through FarmAid.

The Ventures, formed in Tacoma, Wash., in 1959, had 40 successful pop albums in the 1960s with their instrumental rock sound and surfer harmonies.

Their hits include Walk Don't Run and Hawaii Five-O.

Artists must have issued a first single or album at least 25 years ago to be eligible for nomination to rock's Hall of Fame.

With files from the Associated Press