Canadian poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen will be inducted into the U.S.-based Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Monday by Lou Reed, the gravel-voiced singer who was once the Velvet Underground's guitarist.

The similarly deep-voiced Cohen is to be inducted into the Cleveland-based Hall of Fame in a ceremony at New York's Waldorf Astoria on Monday evening.

Canadian poet and singer Leonard Cohen sings in Warsaw, Poland, in 2007. Damien Rice is to sing one of Cohen's songs at his induction Monday into the Rock Hall of Fame.
(Alik Keplicz/Canadian Press)

Pop singer Madonna, blues-rocker John Mellencamp, British boy band The Dave Clark Five and instrumental group The Ventures also are to be inducted this year.

A group of 600 music industry professionals annually choose a handful of artists for induction.

Irish folk singer Damien Rice will perform one of Cohen's songs as part of the induction ceremony.

Cohen, 73, is being hailed as the "folk rock icon of the singer-songwriter movement."

A member of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, he is known for songs such as Suzanne, Hallelujah and Bird on a Wire.

It would be a stretch to call Cohen a rock star, says Ira Nadel, author of biography Various Positions: A Life of Leonard Cohen.

The honour is instead a recognition that Cohen's songs have been covered by dozens of rock 'n roll stars, from Elton John to Joe Cocker to Bono, Nadel told CBC News.

"Leonard Cohen is foremost a composer and secondarily perhaps a singer," Nadell said. "But this is what he's been looking for — a recognition of his significance as a songwriter."

Nadell said Cohen's following continues to grow, especially in Europe where fans are charmed by his far-from-idealized view of life and love.

"It's his melancholy. No one speaks to life like Leonard Cohen," he said.  "It's a recognition that life is not romantic. It's about what you lose and what you gain."

A concert tour of the U.S., Canada and Europe, Cohen's first in 15 years, begins in May.

Madonna, who has sustained a pop career since bursting on the scene with Holiday in 1982, will be inducted by Justin Timberlake.

Punk rocker Iggy Pop will salute her work, which includes hits Like a Virgin, Material Girl, Crazy For You, Papa Don't Preach and Vogue.

Madonna made her debut as a film director at this year's Berlin Film Festival and has an album, Hard Candy, ready for release in April.

The Rock Hall of Fame requires inductees to have a 25-year track record, so this is the first year she is eligible to be inducted.

The induction of The Dave Clark Five comes less than a month after the death of lead singer Mike Smith, 64. He died of pneumonia, four years after being paralyzed from the waist down because of a spinal cord injury.

The Dave Clark Five, rivals to the Beatles during the 1960s British invasion, are known for hits such as Glad All Over. The group will be inducted by Tom Hanks.

Mellencamp, who has been known as John Cougar and John Cougar Mellencamp, will be inducted by Billy Joel and plans to perform one of his own songs.

He began as a folk rocker in the 1970s and became a voice of America's heartland with hits like Pink Houses and Ain't That America.

The Ventures were a 1960s surfer group who sang Walk, Don't Run and the theme from TV's  Hawaii 5-O.

Members Bob Bogle, Nokie Edwards, Gerry McGee, Mel Taylor and Don Wilson are reuniting to perform at the ceremony. They are to be inducted by John Fogerty.

With files from the Associated Press