Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on January 31st, 2017

According to an investigation of police records by the Miami Herald newspaper, the death of co-founding Allman Brothers Band member Butch Trucks was a suicide. The drummer, 69, reportedly shot himself in the head with a pistol inside his West Palm Beach condo as his wife of 25 years, Melinda, stood nearby. The records included a transcript of Melinda Trucks' call to police around 6 p.m. local time that was described as "hysterical," as she struggled to speak in complete sentences. Although Trucks was still breathing when police arrived, he passed away soon after. Police do not suspect foul play, and the results of an autopsy by the coroner's office will be released in a few weeks. - Billboard, 1/26/17...... Performing in Adelaide, Australia on Jan. 30, Bruce Springsteen spoke out against new US Pres. Donald Trump before launching into the song "American Land," which he described as an "immigrant song." "America is a nation of immigrants, and we find this anti-democratic and fundamentally un-American," Springsteen told the audience. Springsteen's words came after a federal judge in New York temporarily blocked an executive order by Pres. Trump on Jan. 28 that prevented individuals from seven countries with known terrorist ties from entering the U.S. Pres. Trump responded to the judge's action the next day on Facebook, saying his administration is "protecting our own citizens and border." - Billboard, 1/30/17...... In related news, Carole King has released an updated version of "One Small Voice," a song she first released more than three decades ago in support of the recent Women's March on Washington, D.C., in protest of Pres. Trump. In an essay on HuffingtonPost.com, King said: "It will take the strength and persistence of many small voices to overcome the lies of the loudest voice with our message of truth, dignity, and decency." "One Small Voice" tells the story of the Hans Christian Anderson classic "The Emperor's Clothes," and includes the lyrics "One small voice speaking with the values/ we were taught as children." King participated in her own women's march the same day in her small hometown of Stanely, Idaho. - Billboard, 1/26/17...... The Jacksons have announced they'll play a one-off UK show on June 18 at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, on June 18 as part of the venue's Nocturne concert series. The current Jacksons lineup is comprised of four founding members -- Jermain, Tito, Jackie and Marlon Jackson -- and the show will be the group's only UK headline performance in 2017. Kool and the Gang will be the opening act. - New Musical Express, 1/30/17...... In related news, Michael Jackson's 18-year-old daughter Paris Jackson will make her acting debut in 2017 on Fox's drama series Star, the network announced on Jan. 30. Star is set in the music industry and features Queen Latifah as a surrogate mom to aspiring young singers. A date for the episode with Paris Jackson wasn't announced. - AP, 1/30/17...... It is rumored that Prince's music will be widely released to streaming services by Grammy Night on Feb. 12 after a series of purple ads bearing the Spotify logo -- and only the Spotify logo -- appeared in New York's Union Square subway station on Jan. 30. While much of Prince's post-Warner Music catalog remains in varying degrees of legal limbo, the Warner catalog, as well as his music publishing, are reportedly on solid footing to be streamed in the near future. Reps for Spotify, Apple Music, Warner Music and the Prince estate have not confirmed the rumor. - Billboard, 1/30/17...... "Star Dust," a spellbinding David Bowie-inspired modern ballet, made its debut in New York at the Joyce Theater on Jan. 25 after debuting in Detroit in 2016. The production pairs familiar Bowie songs such as "Space Oddity" and "Rock N' Roll Suicide with modern dance. The program also includes the troupe of around 15 dancers in the Complexions Contemporary Ballet performing to "Changes," "Life on Mars?," "1984," "Modern Love" and "Young Americans," with an encore of "Let's Dance. The show is scheduled run through Feb. 5, 2017. - Billboard, 1/26/17...... A Broadway adaptation of the hit book and movie The Devil Wears Prada will feature music scored by Elton John and be written by legendary playwright Paul Rudnick. "Re-imagining The Devil Wears Prada for the musical theater is super exciting," Elton John said in a statement. "I'm a huge fan of both the book and the feature film, and a huge aficionado of the fashion world. I can't wait to sink my musical teeth into this hunk of popular culture." The Devil Wears Prada follows new graduate and aspiring journalist Andrea, as she tries to make her way working for an iconic fashion magazine under a cutthroat boss while maintaining her iconoclast identity. The blockbuster movie starred Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt. - Billboard, 1/26/17...... The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced on Jan. 27 that Neil Young will be inducting his frequent collaborator Pearl Jam into the Cleveland-based hall and museum during the 2017 RRHOF ceremony in New York on Apr. 7. Young and Pearl Jam memorably joined forces to play Young's "Rockin' in the Free World" at MTV's Video Music Awards in 1993, and Pearl Jam regularly covers the song on tour. Presenters for the other inductees, which include ELO, Journey, Tupac Shakur and Nile Rodgers, have yet to be announced. - AP, 1/27/17...... The headliners for the 2017 New Orleans Jazz Fest set for the Crescent City on Apr. 28-30 and May 4-7 will include Stevie Wonder, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Maroon 5 and Dave Matthews, organizers announced on Jan. 27. Also included in the more than 500 bands that will be performing are Kings of Leon, Alabama Shakes, Widespread Panic and Pitbull. - AP, 1/27/17...... Blondie have been added to the 2016 British Summer Time line-up, with the New York-based quartet supporting Phil Collins at the London show in Hyde Park on June 30. Also performing the same day will be Mike and the Mechanics and Starsailor. "The reaction from the British public has been overwhelming," said Phil Collins previously about the headline date. "I can't wait to play Hyde Park and see everyone there. I will be playing all of the songs that people love." - NME, 1/30/17...... Bob Dylan will be among the headliners and the fan-curated Firefly Festival this summer, which is set for Dover, Delaware on June 15-18. Weezer, Mars, The Shins and Kesha are also on the bill for the festival, which bills itself as the first to be "curated" by fans. - NME, 1/27/17...... Willie Nelson cancelled two shows at The Venetian resort in Las Vegas on Jan. 28 and 29 due to a "bad cold," according to his publicist. Nelson is still scheduled to play the remaining three shows, on Feb. 1, 3 and 4. The canceled shows have not been rescheduled. - AP, 1/26/17...... In a new interview with the London Times, Ozzy Osboure denied that he is a sex addict, despite a statement from a representative for Black Sabbath in 2016 that Osbourne was undergoing "intense therapy" for sex addiction. "I'm in a f---ing rock band, aren't I? There have always been groupies," Ozzy said. "I just got caught, didn't I? I don't think I'm a f---ing sex addict." The statement from Black Sabbath's rep was released following intense media speculation over Osbourne's 33-year marriage to Sharon Osbourne when the pair separated in May 2016. However, Osbourne later said that their marriage was "back on track again." - New Musical Express, 1/30/17...... Aerosmith is promising some "surprises" for their upcoming final tour of the U.K. and Europe, after first announcing it in 2016 by saying it would be "one of the greatest rock n' roll shows ever seen." Guitarist Brad Whitford says the band would "like to do some more deep cuts" on their "Aerovederci Tour" and "we'll see how that goes, it's very hard to get everybody to agree on certain things. We've basically done the hit-parade our whole career, and there's a lot of really great deep tracks that have been neglected. It would be nice to bring some of that stuff out. I think people would appreciate that." The 17-city tour commences on May 17 in Tel Aviv, Israel, also hitting Moscow, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. It also includes a headline performance at the Download Festival in Donington, UK, on June 11. - NME, 1/30/17...... TV legend Mary Tyler Moore was laid to rest on Jan. 29 after a small, private ceremony in Connecticut, according to the local paper Connecticut Post. Ms. Moore, a resident of Greenwich, Conn., was buried at Oak Lawn Cemetery in Fairfield at around 11 a.m., and her service was attended by approximately 50 of her closest friends and family members. The only celebrity in the crowd was Bernadette Peters, her co-star in the 1990 TV movie The Last Best Year. Ms. Moore's gravesite is surrounded by 12 empty plots that the family reportedly purchased at $2,000 a pop to ensure her privacy. Outside the cemetery, a small tribute to Ms. Moore in the form of three homemade signs proclaiming "We Love You," "Mary!!!," and "Rest in Peace, Mary" hung on the main gate, along with a picture of the actress smiling. Ms. Moore passed away on Jan. 25 at age 80 after dealing with a series of health issues, including diabetes. - PageSix.com, 1/30/17...... Officials in Los Angeles say they have positively identified the man who raped and killed Karen Klaas, the ex-wife of Righteous Brothers singer Bill Medley in 1976. Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said on Jan. 30) that investigators blame Kenneth Eugene Troyer for the slaying. Karen Klaas was strangled with her pantyhose in her home in Jan. 1976 as she returned to her home in Hermosa Beach, and the 32-year-old died a few years later. McDonnell says investigators used a controversial DNA testing technique that allows investigators to search databases to identify likely relatives of suspects who may have committed the crime. A forensic sample collected at the crime scene found a familial match to identify a close male relative of Troyer's. - AP, 1/30/17...... Geoff Nicholls, a longtime keyboardist for Black Sabbath who joined the band in 1979 after the firing of Ozzy Osbourne, died on Jan. 28 following a battle with lung cancer. He was 68. Nicholls first appeared on Black Sabbath's 1980 album, Heaven and Hell, and five years later he was named an official member of the group. After appearing on nine Sabbath albums and touring regularly with the band, he left in 1996, after Osbourne returned. "I'm so saddened to hear the loss of one of my dearest and closest friends Geoff Nicholls," Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi wrote on Facebook on Jan. 28. "I will miss him dearly and he will live in my heart until we meet again. Rest in peace my dear friend." - Billboard, 1/28/17...... John Hurt, a legendary actor perhaps best known for his role in the 1978 film Midnight Express which earned him an Oscar nomination, died on Jan. 27, his publicist confirmed the following day. He was 77. Hurt's cause of death was not immediately disclosed, however he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2015. Long a familiar face to moviegoers, Hurt's over 60-year career also included roles as wandmaker Garrick Olivander in the Harry Potter films, as the British dictator in V for Vendetta, and as the disturbed Harold "Ox" Oxley in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and the main character in Nineteen Eighty-Four. - NBCnews.com, 1/28/17...... Actor Mike Connors, best known as detective Joe Mannix on the 1967-1975 CBS crime drama Mannix, died on Jan. 26 in Tarzana, Calif. He was 91. In the 1950s, Mr. Connors appeared in the John Wayne film Island in the Sky and in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments, and he also appeared in the early-'60s TV series Tightrope! and Today's F.B.I. in the early 1980s. He later played Colonel Hack Peters in Herman Wouk miniseries War and Remembrance. Mr. Connors, who had been recently diagnosed with leukemia, is survived by his wife Mary Lou, daughter Dena and granddaughter Cooper. "He was a wonderful father, a wonderful husband, a wonderful father-in-law and a wonderful friend," his son-in-law Mike Condon said. "He was always there for anyone in need."- Variety.com, 1/26/17.

Interviewed for an in-depth cover story in the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Michael Jackson's daughter Paris Jackson says she still can't believe the world thought her late dad was a child molester, and that Michael would "cry to me at night" as he battled ongoing accusations of child abuse at his Neverland Ranch home in California. "Picture your parent crying to you about the world hating him for something he didn't do," said Paris, now a teenage model. "And for me, he was the only thing that mattered. To see my entire world in pain, I started to hate the world because of what they were doing to him. I'm like, 'How can people be so mean?'" Jackson's sensational 2005 trial ended with the members of the jury finding the King of Pop not guilty on all 14 charges against him. Paris also discusses her ongoing battles with cyberbullies, briefly mentions being sexually assaulted by "a complete stranger" at 14, and "multiple" suicide attempts stemming from her early teenage "depression and drug addiction" (she's now sober). Paris also insisted that Michael Jackson was her real father, that she "considers herself black" because her dad told her she was, and that her dad was somehow, murdered. "Absolutely," she said. "Because it's obvious. All arrows point to that.... all real fans and everybody in the family knows it. It was a setup." - WENN.com/jezebel.com, 1/24/17...... Great Britain's Royal Mail announced on Jan. 25 it will be commemorating David Bowie with a limited-edition run of 10 postage stamps featuring covers of Bowie's albums and images from his tours. The stamps will feature art from such landmark albums as Hunky Dory, Aladdin Sane, Heroes, Let's Dance, Earthling and Bowie's final work, 2016's Blackstar, as well as four of his tours. Royal Mail will issue the stamps on Mar. 14, and pre-orders are being accepted. Royal Mail previously has honored the Beatles in 2010 and Pink Floyd in 2015. - Billboard, 1/26/17...... In other Bowie news, Sting stunned a "Celebrating David Bowie" concert at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles on Jan. 24 by making a surprise appearance to perform two songs from Bowie's Blackstar -- the title track toward the end of the 3-hour, 25 minute show, and "Lazarus," as one of the 4-song encores. The show featured a massive band comprised largely of alumni of Bowie's touring units, with celebrity lead vocalists including Perry Farrell, Bush's Gavin Rossdale and Def Leppard's Joe Elliott. The concert was part of a very limited five-city international Bowie tribute mini-tour. - Billboard, 1/25/17...... Queen with guest vocalist Adam Lambert have announced a 25-city arena summer tour of North America that will get underway on June 23 in Phoenix, Ariz. June dates also include Las Vegas (6/24), Los Angeles (6/26) and San Jose, Calif. (6/29). Major cities in July include Seattle (7/1), Denver (7/6), Chicago (7/13), Montreal (7/17), Detroit (7/20), Boston (7/25), Brooklyn (7/28), Philadelphia (7/30), and Washington D.C. (7/31), before three final dates in August -- Nashville, Tenn. (8/2), Dallas (8/4) and Houston (8/5). Tickets for the tour go on sale Feb. 3. - Billboard, 1/26/17...... A planned Janis Joplin biopic starring 5-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams has been scrapped, according to director Jean-Marc Valle. Valle, who also directed Dallas Buyers Club, says he's committed instead to the upcoming HBO series Big Little Lies. The movie, to have been called Get It While You Can, is not to be confused with another Joplin biopic starring Michelle Williams that is currently in production. That movie, Janis, is based on the biography Love, Janis by Joplin's sister, Laura Joplin, and uses Joplin's letters to family and friends to tell her story. Janis Joplin died in 1970 at the age of 27 from a heroin overdose after releasing only three albums; a posthumously released album, Pearl, was released just months after her death and featured one of her last hits, "Me and Bobby McGee." - Billboard, 1/25/17...... Fleetwood Mac announced on Jan. 25 that they will reissue their 1987 album Tango In the Night in a special deluxe 30th anniversary reissue with rare and unreleased tracks on Mar. 10. The reissue will arrive in three formats -- single CD, two CD and three CD, LP, and DVD -- and the expanded releases include 13 previously unheard recordings, rare B-sides and music videos. - NME, 1/25/17...... Ray Davies announced on Jan. 23 that he'll release his first solo album in 10 years, Americana, on Apr. 21 via Legacy Recordings. The LP's title is taken from Davies' 2013 memoir of the same name, and along with new songs, the album will also feature spoken-word passages from his memoir. Americana is the first of two volumes to be released by Davies in 2017, and the singer has also released it's lead single, "Poetry," which is backed by the alt-country band the Jayhawks. Davies was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in December. Americana will be his fifth solo effort, with his most recent being 2007's Working Man's Cafe. - NME, 6/23/17...... Rod Stewart announced on Jan. 23 that he'll kick off a summer tour of mostly smaller cities in America with opener Cyndi Lauper on July 6 in Hollywood, Fla. Visiting such markets as Tampa, Tuscaloosa, Camden, Bangor, Wantagh, Bristow and Rochester, the tour also visits Cincinnati on Aug. 4 and Dallas on Aug. 11 before wrapping on Aug. 12 in Houston. Stewart released his last album, Another Country, in 2015, and is currently in the studio recording. Sir Rod was also present at the Scottish Cup Draw football match on Jan. 22, where he reportedly had a blast plucking a series of numbered balls out of a bin and participated in the time-honored tradition of setting up the match-ups for the fifth round of the tournament. - Billboard, 1/23/17...... Neil Diamond has announced a 50-song, three-disc career retrospective, The 50th Anniversary Collection, will drop on Mar. 31. Diamond, 75, oversaw the selection of the song on the set, which will hit stores on the 50th anniversary of his first hit, 1966's "Solitary Man." Diamond's major hits and key album tracks will be featured on the set, which drops just before he kicks off a huge 2017 world tour on Apr. 7 in Fresno, Calif., that will run through an Oct. 17 gig at London's O2 Arena. - Billboard, 1/24/17...... The iconic '60s group Jefferson Airplane and its '70s offshoot, Jefferson Starship, has signed a worldwide management deal with legacy management firm Jampol Artist Management, which also has such iconic acts as the Doors, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Muddy Waters and the Ramones on its roster. "I think it's fan-f---ing-tastic that we're working with JAM," said Jefferson Airplane frontwoman Grace Slick in a statement announcing the signing. Added co-founder Marty Balin: "The Airplane still flies! It was one of the greatest experiences I ever had. I am proud of the musical legacy Jefferson Airplane brings and I look forward to working with JAM." JAM, Inc. specializes in extending, promoting and diversifying offerings by legacy acts through documentary and feature film projects, stage productions, retail apparel and licensing campaigns, museum exhibitions, books and more. - Billboard, 1/23/17...... The iconic Whisky a Go Go marque from the legendary Sunset Strip club in Los Angeles was put up for auction on Jan. 25. The weathered 13-foot marquee, which says simply, "The Whisky," adorned the West Hollywood club in the '80s and '90s, and was replaced in 2004 with a new sign -- "Whisky a Go Go" -- that restored the full name used when the club opened in 1964. The marquee sold for nearly $35,000 in 2012, and it is expected the sign could fetch somewhere between $25,000 and $60,000. Over the years the Whisky a Go Go has played host to such acts as Led Zeppelin, the Doors, Janis Joplin, Frank Zappa, Van Halen and the Ramones, and it was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. - AP, 1/22/17...... Cher was among the Pres. Donald Trump protesters calling into MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews on Jan. 21, after the diva participated in the Women's March against Pres. Trump. "People from all over the world don't like him, don't trust him and they don't think he's a good person," Cher told host Chris Matthews. Cher responded to comments from some who might criticize the marchers as "sore losers" following their preferred candidate losing the election to Trump, despite receiving more of the popular vote. "You'd be disappointed if Mitt Romney won," said Cher. "Trump is a different thing altogether." The singer added that she "actually support (Trump's) people because they feel disenfranchised and through some sort of miracle they think he will fix their problems," and ended her conversation with a rallying cry: "His supporters always call us whiners, but we are going to kick their ass." - The Hollywood Reporter, 1/21/17...... In related news, Roger Waters has formally unveiled his latest set of anti-Trump live visuals in a new video in the wake of Pres. Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration. The Pink Floyd co-founder has inducted the visuals, which include a flying pig with the words "F--- Trump and his wall" emblazoned on it as well as superimposed pictures of the 45th president with some members of the Ku Klux Klan, into his live gigs during the past few months, including his high profile appearance at the Desert Trip festival in California in October. Now Waters has shared a new video for a Sept. 2016 performance of the 1977 Pink Floyd song "Pigs" in Mexico City on his Twitter and Facebook accounts, with the words "the resistance begins today" accompanying the newly-released footage. Meanwhile, Waters recently previewed new material from what will be his first new solo album in nearly 25 years. - New Musical Express, 1/22/17...... Country/pop crossover singer Crystal Gayle was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville on Jan. 21, nearly 50 years after she first walked onto the stage to perform as a teenager. The honor was performed by Gayle's sister, country legend and longtime Opry member Loretta Lynn, at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. Gayle is best known for her 1977 hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue," which is noted on her official website as the song that "opened the world's eyes to Crystal Gayle." - AP, 1/21/17...... UK rockers Status Quo have announced a series of new tour dates following the December death of Status Quo singer/guitarist Rick Parfitt. Surviving members Francis Rossi, Andrew Bown, John 'Rhino' Edwards, Leon Cave and Richie Malone will perform four shows in support of their recent album Aquostic II: That's A Fact!, including a concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. Other dates include Inverness (6/20), York (6/21) and Norwich (6/25). Status Quo has released over 100 singles -- many of which were penned by Parfitt -- and have sold over 100 million albums worldwide. - NME, 1/23/17...... Two of Prince's relatives who are likely to receive a share of the late rock icon's multimillion-dollar estate have accused the estate's special entertainment advisers of mismanaging an October Prince tribute concert and holding on to profits the estate was guaranteed to receive. Veteran entertainment attorneys L. Londell McMillan and Charles Koppelman have been employed by the estate as experts to help monetize Prince's entertainment assets, and have entered a number of licensing agreements on behalf of the estate. At a recent hearing, the judge said the estate would likely be dived between the six people listed on the initial filing with the court: sister Tyka Nelson and half-siblings Sharon Nelson, Norrine Nelson, John Nelson, Omarr Baker, and Alfred Jackson. The Official Prince Tribute-A Celebration of Life and Music concert was held on Oct. 13, 2016 in St. Paul, Minn. - Billboard, 1/26/17...... Bassist Pete Overend Watts, a founding member of Mott the Hoople, passed away on Jan. 22 after a battle with cancer. He was 69. Born in Yardley, Birmingham on May 13, 1947, Watts met drummer Dale Griffin at Ross Grammar School, and the pair played in local bands before moving to London in 1969 where, having formed a band called The Shakedown Sound, they came to the attention of producer Guy Stevens, who also auditioned and appointed Ian Hunter as their lead singer. Renamed Mott the Hoople, the band was a popular glam-rock group in the early '70s, with hits including "All the Way from Memphis," "Roll Away the Stone" and "All the Young Dudes." After Mott the Hoople disbanded in 1974, Watts went on to form the bands Mott and British Lions. "Overend was a warm, funny, intelligent, talented and hugely charismatic person who always had an entertaining story to tell," Mott the Hoople keyboardist Verden Allen posted on Facebook. "There are no words to explain how much he will be missed, and by so many that he was an inspiration to." - New Musical Express, 1/23/17...... Butch Trucks, a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band who played drums alongside Jai "Jaimoe" Johnny Johanson throughout the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers' 46-year on-and-off history, died on Jan. 24 in West Palm Beach, Fla. He was 69. Born Claude Hudson Trucks in Jacksonville, Fla., Trucks first played in local bands and the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, as well as in ensembles at Florida State University, where he studied. In a 2016 interview, Trucks said he "was a good drummer and didn't know it" when the late Duane Allman approached him to be in the band in 1968. "I was about to head back to school and get a degree in math and teach... when Duane knocked on my door with Jaimoe, and then the Allman Brothers happened," Trucks recalled. "Duane decided he wanted two drummers -- he told Jaimoe, 'If James Brown can have two drummers, so can I!' -- and Jaimoe kept telling me, 'Butch is your guy. Butch is the guy!'" Trucks is the uncle of Derek Trucks, who also played drums in a later incarnation of the ABB, and another nephew, Duane Trucks, is a member of Widespread Panic and Hard Working Americans. Trucks becomes the third member of the original Allmans to pass away: Duane Allman died after a 1971 motorcycle crash at the age of 24, and bassist Berry Oakley was killed in a similar accident at the same age less than 13 months later. Trucks and the other ABB members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He is survived by his wife, Melinda, their four children and four grandchildren. "I'm heartbroken. I've lost another brother and it hurts beyond words. Butch and I knew each other since we were teenagers and we were bandmates for over 45 years," bandmate Gregg Allman said in a statement. "He was a great man and a great drummer and I'm going to miss him forever. Rest In Peace Brother Butch." - Billboard, 1/25/17...... Folk-rock singer-songwriter Maggie Roche, a member of the sister vocal trio The Roches, has died of cancer, according to an online statement posted by her sister Suzzy Roche on Jan. 21. She was 65. The Park Ridge, N.J. sisters caught the eye of Paul Simon while touring in the '70s, and Simon recruited them as backup singers for his hit 1973 album, There Goes Rhymin' Simon. The Roches released their debut album in 1975, also playing Greenwich Village folk venues, and in 1979 released their well-received album The Roches, the first of a dozen albums. The Roches' final studio album, Moonswept, was released in 2007. "Maggie was a brilliant songwriter, with a distinct unique perspective, all heart and soul," Suzzy Roche posted. - AP, 1/21/17...... Ronald "Bingo" Mundy, best known for his work with the doo-wop group The Marcels and their hit "Blue Moon," died of pneumonia on Jan. 20 at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. He was 76. "Blue Moon," which was reportedly recorded by the five-member Marcels in only two takes, is instantly recognizable for the bass vocals that begin the song -- "Bom ba ba bom ba bom ba bom bom." Mundy can be heard singing the background refrain of "Moon moon moon moon moon." The single hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1961. - AP, 1/24/17.