Singer-songwriter Laura Nyro, who lived in Gloucester in the early 1970s, is one of 12 acts nominated for the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame for 2010.

Nyro was nominated along with Swedish pop group ABBA, Boston disco queen Donna Summer, heavy metal band Kiss, British rock group Genesis, California rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers, early punk rockers The Stooges, Phil Spector protege Darlene Love, rapper LL Cool J, British invasion band The Hollies, reggae star Jimmy Cliff, and '50s female R&B group The Chantels.

Nyro, a soulful pianist, is best known as the songwriter of hits for the 5th Dimension, Three Dog Night, Blood, Sweat & Tears, and Barbra Streisand, who had a hit with Nyro's "Stoney End."

She was still a teenager when Peter, Paul and Mary recorded her song, "And When I Die" in 1966. That song was later a hit for Blood, Sweat & Tears in 1969. Three Dog Night had a hit with her "Eli's Coming," while the 5th Dimension scored with her "Stoned Soul Picnic," "Sweet Blindness," and "Wedding Bell Blues."

She recorded 10 albums during her career, including 1968's "Eli and the Thirteenth Confession," which Rolling Stone magazine picked as one of the 100 best albums of the magazine's first 25 years from 1967 to 1992.

Nyro, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., first came to Gloucester to visit her great-aunt and great-uncle, artists Theresa Bernstein and William Meyerowitz in 1971, according to "Soul Picnic: The Music and the Passion of Laura Nyro" by Michele Kort.

During her visit, Nyro met and later married a Gloucester carpenter David Bianchini. During their marriage, they split their time between Cape Ann and Colorado. While here, they lived in Annisquam, alongside a quarry in Lanesville and near Granite Pier in Rockport.

The marriage didn't last and Nyro was living in Connecticut when she died of ovarian cancer in 1997.

Some 500 voting members of the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, whose museum graces the waterfront in Cleveland, will pick five of the 12 acts, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on March 15, 2010, at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City.

A winning 'Scorecard'

Of all the election documents and paperwork circulating throughout the city this past week, it was interesting to note that the most comprehensive compilation of Gloucester voting history didn't even come from City Hall.

Michael Ronan's biannual Gloucester Election Scorecard, printed through his own Michael Ronan Graphics at 18 Centennial Ave., not only looked like and served as an effective baseball "scorecard," with full candidate "lineups" for all of the city's 2009 election races, contested or otherwise, on one side. The flip side charted the precinct-by-precinct totals for all the races in the 2007 races, and noted the totals for every candidate in races dating back to 1987, when William Squillace outpolled Peter Bearse by 4,855 to 4,130 count for mayor, a previous mayor named Bruce Tobey led the at-large council race ad topped all city candidates with 5,016 votes, and John "Gus" Foote reeled in 1,056 votes while enjoying an unopposed free ride in Ward 2.

The scorecard is a local political junkie's delight, letting the reader follow nuggets such as Joseph Ciolino's back-to-back Ward 1 victories in 2001 and 2003, through his loss to newcomer Jason Grow in 2005, and then to his stepping up to his current at-large seat in 2007. It also notes Tobey's 1997 unopposed run for mayoral re-election, when perennial candidate Dan Ruberti mounted a run for council-at-large — and finished last again, despite pulling in 1,582 votes.

Ronan, the brother of Gloucester Poet Laureate John Ronan, notes that the Election Scorecard has been published prior to each final city election since 1985.

Distributed to all candidates and "interested residents," he notes, "it is not meant to promote any particular candidate, or cause, but rather to encourage interest in Gloucester's government."

It also serves as a very good — and very handy — look at Gloucester's political history.

Veterans Day honors

The honor flag will be flown this week at the Major Fred W. Ritvo Veterans Center in honor of all veterans. As we remember veterans of past wars, we pray for the safety of the men and women of the United States military who are defending our nation and protecting our freedom against terrorism today.