Posted by Administrator on March 2nd, 2025
Interviewed by the London Sunday Times, Daryl Hall insisted he'll never work with his former Hall & Oates partner John Oates again. "That ship has gone to the bottom of the ocean. I've had a lot of surprises in my life, disappointments, betrayals, so I'm kind of used to it...," Hall said. "I've been involved with some pretty shady characters over the years. That's where the problems start." In 2023, Hall sued his former musical partner to stop him from selling their stake in their publishing company, Whole Oats Enterprises -- a move he branded "the ultimate partnership betrayal" -- and while he can't talk about the ongoing legal proceedings, the "Rich Girl" hitmaker admitted things have gone too far for them to reunite. Hall, 78, also admitted he feels frustrated that his prolific songwriting in Hall & Oates -- who sold 60 million records -- has largely gone unrecognized. He said: "The songs with his lead vocal are the songs he wrote, and all the other ones, which is about 90 per cent, are the ones I wrote... It was very frustrating." Since Hall and Oates went their separate ways, Hall has worked with former Eurythmics star-turned-producer Dave Stewart on several projects and insists their partnership is far more "meaningful" than the one he had with John. "[Dave is] a whirlwind. Witty and amusing, for sure. Also manic. He never stops," Hall said. In May, Hall is set to head out on the road with Squeeze's Glenn Tilbrook and, despite his advancing years, he still loves performing live. "[Playing live] is the way that music is supposed to be communicated, and it's unforgiving. What you do is what people hear." - Music-News.com, 3/2/25...... 
Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes are revisiting their 1999 collaboration with an expanded edition of Live at the Greek, and they've just shared a fresh taste from it on YouTube -- a newly unearthed live recording of Zeppelin's "The Lemon Song." Originally recorded during a soundcheck, this take on the Led Zeppelin II classic captures the raw chemistry between Page and the Crowes as they breathed new life into Led Zepp's bluesy, groove-heavy material. It's one of several unreleased tracks included in the expanded reissue, which drops Mar. 14. "I'm really looking forward to the soon-to-be-available release of Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes material from concerts in 1999," Page said in a statement. "The new mixes capture the collaboration of those historic encounters and provide the full explosive passion and exciting energy of those alchemical moments." - Billboard 2/25/25...... The Rolling Stones producer Andrew Watt has defended the legendary British band winning Best Rock Album at the most recent Grammys for their 2023 LP Hackney Diamonds. The Stones beat out the likes of Green Day, IDLES, Fontaines D.C and Jack White with their comeback album, their first full-length for 18 years and their first since the death of drummer Charlie Watts. However, some claimed their win was the result of their rich musical legacy as opposed to the quality of the album itself, and as such felt the other artists nominated were "robbed." Now Watt, who produced the album, has argued that the songwriting still made the Stones worthy of the Grammy. "They are in their 80s, They're 82 and 83 years-old. Tell me another band ever in history that has made a latter-day album that good in their 80s, with that level of songwriting, that level of performance?" Watt said in an interview with Rolling Stone's Music Now podcast. Watt accepted the award on the band's behalf during the ceremony. "Talked to Mick [Jagger] yesterday and he just wanted to say a big thank you to the Academy from the entire band. For a little boy that grew up playing guitar, it was one of the most amazing experiences to be around those musicians," he said at the time. Meanwhile, Watt has revealed that Ozzy Osbourne is back in the gym in preparation for the upcoming final Black Sabbath gig in Birmingham, UK on July 5. "He's OK. It's just his body is not doing what he wants it to do all the time," Watt explained. "But I talked to him a couple days ago, and he's, like, starting to get in the gym again a little bit by little, get himself ready for this last concert." - New Musical Express, 2/28/25...... On Feb. 28 Neil Young announced he'll be headlining a July 11 at the UK's annual BST Hyde Park festival in London, where he will be joined by "Peace Train" singer Yusuf/Cat Stevens and Van Morrison, with more support acts to be announced later. The gig will be Young's first at BST Hyde Park since a 2019 co-headlining gig there with Bob Dylan. Young's show will join a growing roster of 2025 BST Hyde Park headliners, which also include Jeff Lynne's ELO and such rising artists as Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, Zach Bryan and Noah Kahan. The addition of the Hyde Park show expands Young's burgeoning 2025 "Love Earth" tour roster, which is slated to kick off in Europe on June 18 at Dalhalla in Rttvik, Sweden before moving to North America on Aug. 8 with a show in Charlotte, N.C. - Billboard, 2/28/25...... The ever inscrutable Bob Dylan has inexplicably posted a 2016 video of an in-store performance by Machine Gun Kelly at the Park Ave. CDs record store in Orlando, FL. While Dylan has posted some on-brand messages lately, including a tribute to his friend and late The Band member Garth Hudson in January following the death of The Band's longtime keyboardist, the MGK love is in keeping with his out-of-left-field online activity. Earlier in 2025, the 83-year-old folk rock legend joined TikTok just days before what was slated to be a ban of the app, posting a kind of career retrospective clip, followed by a half dozen other archival videos. Perhaps we'll never know why the rock bard feels such love for MGK, but both Kelly and his good pal, singer/producer Mod Sun, were beyond pumped at the unexpected shout-out. "You having a phone is so rad," Kelly wrote in the comments on the post, with Mod Sun adding, "This is my favorite thing that's ever happened on the internet. What does it all mean? Who knows? But in the immortal words of Dylan: "don't criticize what you can't understand." - Billboard, 2/27/25...... Pink Floyd's beloved 1972 concert film, Pink Floyd at Pompeii -- MCMLXXII -- will return to movie theaters worldwide beginning on Apr. 24. The film directed by Adrian Maben, will also be screened on IMAX in a digitally remastered, 4K version taken from the original 35mm footage, with enhanced audio that has been newly mixed by Steven Wilson, representing what a press release said is the "definitive version of this pioneering film." "Since 1994, I have searched for the elusive film rushes of Pink Floyd At Pompeii, so the recent discovery of the 1972 original 35mm cut negative was a very special moment," said Lana Topham, Floyd's director of restoration in a statement. "The newly restored version presents the first full 90-minute cut, combining the 60-minute source edit of the performance with the additional Abbey Road Studios documentary segments filmed shortly after." The movie's re-release will be accompanied by a Legacy Recordings release of the live album on Blu-ray and CD, digital audio and for the first time in Dolby Atmos and on vinyl on May 2, featuring performances of the songs "Careful With That Axe, Eugene," "Something Else," "Syncopated Pandemonium," "Storm Signals" and "Echoes -- Part II," among others. - Billboard, 2/26/25...... 
Nick Simmons and Evan Stanley, the sons of KISS' Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, have recorded 10 songs together, and the pair recently shared photos with fans on Instagram showing themselves beside recording equipment as they performed as yet unheard material. Another post featured Nick and Evan performing an original track with guitarist Jacob Bunton, which Paul Stanley called "magic!!!" while Nick's sister Sophie Simmons gushed "we want the album" in the comments. Bunton has also been writing with the duo, although it remains unclear if an actual album will materialize. Meanwhile, Simmons recently responded to those who criticised his involvement in the recent Ronald Reagan biopic. The singer/bassist recorded a cover of the 1933 classic "Stormy Weather" for Reagan. During an appearance on Bill O'Reilly's podcast No Spin News, he was asked if he had received any pushback for his contribution to the movie. "How do I say this as nicely as I can? I don't give a squat," he said. - NME, 2/27/25...... Paul McCartney has commented on his forthcoming Wings book Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run. Scheduled for release on Nov. 4 via Liveright/W. W. Norton and Allen Lane/Penguin Press, the book is authored by McCartney and edited by historian Ted Widmer, featuring an in-depth personal account of his post-Beatles band, as told by McCartney, key players, and family members. "I'm so very happy to be transported back to the time that was Wings and relive some of our madcap adventures through this book," said McCartney in a statement. "Starting from scratch after The Beatles felt crazy at times. There were some very difficult moments and I often questioned my decision. But as we got better I thought, 'OK this is really good.' We proved Wings could be a really good band. To play to huge audiences in the same way The Beatles had and have an impact in a different way. It was a huge buzz." A description of the book notes that it is "organized around nine Wings albums," implying the narrative begins with 1971's Ram and also includes 1976's triple live record Wings over America. The volume also contains 150 black-and-white photographs, of which many are unseen, and focuses on many iconic stories of the band's history, including how they "survive a robbery on the streets of Nigeria [during the 1973 Band on the Run sessions], appear unannounced at various university halls, [and] tour in a sheared-off double-decker bus with their children." Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run follows a number of recent Wings-related releases, including a 50th anniversary reissue of Band on the Run and the long-awaited arrival of the live record and film One Hand Clapping in 2024. A 50th anniversary reissue of 1975's Venus and Mars is also scheduled to arrive on Mar. 21. - Billboard, 2/26/25...... In other Beatles-related news, a piece of toast that was left behind by George Harrison in 1962 has been sold. The crust of the bread left over by the late Beatles legend was saved by a fan named Sue Houghton, who was 15-years-old at the time. According to the Daily Express, she preserved the bread on a scrapbook page alongside the caption: "Piece of George's breakfast 2-8-63." The date noted indicates that the bread was from around the time that the Fab Four made their return to Liverpool after seven weeks of touring. As reported by the New York Post, the fan had taken the remains from Harrison's plate after befriending his family and making a visit to their home. Her scrapbook also contained other memorabilia from Harrison, including fluff from under his bed and thread from his jeans. The bread was originally sold in 1992 when Houghton auctioned off her scrapbook for $1,600 (1,265) to fund home repairs. Now it has been reported that the leftover piece of bread has changed hands again, with memorabilia collector Joseph O'Donnell buying the piece of toast, although the price he paid has not been publicly disclosed. O'Donnell did, however, say that it has been preserved by being framed in UV-protected glass of museum standard. "It's a brilliant story that is both bizarre, historical and a story I'll continue telling friends, memorabilia collectors and fellow Beatles fans," he said. The NY Post also highlights that word of the swiped piece of toast has made its way over to members of The Beatles, and has become an inside joke to the members. In 1992 for instance, Harrison jokingly claimed that the toast couldn't have belonged to him in an interview with Vox.com, saying: "I ate all my toast! I never left any!" Harrison died in November 2001 following a battle with lung cancer at age 58. - NME, 2/27/25...... Tom Waits has added his talents to the final episode of Italian documentary series, Il Fattore Umano (The Human Factor), with his work accompanying stories of homelessness in America. The eight-part series, created by the Italian public television channel RAI3, offers investigative insights into how human rights have been violated by authoritarian regimes, autocracies and even democratic regimes. Focusing on how the most vulnerable and minorities face oppression in these countries, the final episode - titled "Ultima Fermata (The Last Ride)" -- serves as an in-depth look at American poverty. Looking specifically at four southern states -- Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana -- filmmakers travel through the regions on public buses, discovering forgotten communities while exploring the dignity and solidarity of those forced to live in marginalized conditions thanks to a system that lacks safety nets. "The Last " pairs the stories of these individuals with the voice of Waits, who shares performances on acoustic guitar and piano while also reading from his poem "Seeds on Hard Ground." A trailer for the episode is soundtracked by Waits performing "The Fall of Troy," which originally appeared on the soundtrack to 1996's Dead Man Walking. "I am an individual who is deeply concerned with the inequities as we all are, but ill equipped to solve any of them," Waits said in a statement. "I tell the world in the only way I know how: through my music. I don't deal with politics or laws, and I don't have answers to the big questions that concern us all. All I can do is try -- through songs and poems -- to inspire someone. I'm here to open up the window and open up our eyes. I guess a little bit, if I can." The episode was made available for global streaming on Feb. 26 via RAI's RaiPlay streaming platform. - Billboard, 2/25/25...... 
As the divisiveness in American politics grows increasingly sharper, veteran classic rock producer Bob Ezrin has said he plans to renounce his US citizenship and make a full return to his native country of Canada from his most recent US base, Nashville. Ezrin explained to the UK paper The Globe that the current polarized state of American politics and society is the driving force behind this move. "In the last few years, it seems as if America is split in half," Ezrin says. "The voices of a radical right have become so much louder. Conspiracy theories abound, people are armed to the teeth, and it's just a different place than the place I went to." Already a member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, Ezrin was recently named as a recipient of the lifetime artistic achievement award by The Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation, honoured for a legendary discography that includes milestone albums by such international stars as Alice Cooper, Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd, U2, Deep Purple, Rod Stewart, Nine Inch Nails, Kiss, Lou Reed, Taylor Swift and many more. He received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year in 1981 as producer of Pink Floyd's The Wall, which was subsequently voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008. Ezrin and his family moved to Los Angeles from Toronto in 1985, and he became heavily involved in the community of that area. The following decade, he became a US citizen in order to vote. He teamed up with U2's the Edge co-found Music Rising, an initiative to replace musical instruments lost in natural disasters. He is also a board member of the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, a national initiative that supports music in U.S. schools by donating musical instruments to under-funded music programs. - Billboard, 2/28/25...... Billy Joel will make history this summer when he plays all three New York City-area sports stadiums, making him the first artist to ever play all three in one summer. His impressive feat will come over a month-long period. Joel will play Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on July 18; East Rutherford, N.J.'s Metlife Stadium, home to the New York Giants and New York Jets, on Aug. 8; and Citi Field, home to the New York Mets, in Queens, N.Y., on Aug. 21. Rod Stewart will join him July 18, Stevie Nicks on Aug. 8 and Sting on Aug. 21. The feat is all the more remarkable in that it comes on top of ending his 10-year residency at New York's Madison Square Garden last July after playing the vaunted venue once a month for 10 years. Joel's 2025 tour kicks off March 15 in Toronto and ends Nov. 1 at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Fla. - Billboard, 2/24/25...... Brian May says he fears for the music industry as the UK government plans to make changes to AI copyright laws. The Queen guitarist is among those protesting the proposed amendment that would see artists have to opt out of having their work mined by AI algorithms. Sir Brian believes the damage is already done and has hit out at the "monstrously arrogant billionaire owners" of artificial intelligence and social media, making it "impossible for artists to be able to "afford to make music." May, 77, gave his stark warning to the UK's The Daily Mail as part of their campaign against the Labour government's proposed AI law changes. My fear is that it's already too late -- this theft has already been performed and is unstoppable, like so many incursions that the monstrously arrogant billionaire owners of Al and social media are making into our lives," May said. "The future is already forever changed." May backing the campaign comes after more than 1,000 artists -- including Kate Bush, Damon Albarn and Annie Lennox -- released a silent album in protest to the new changes. - Music-News.com, 2/28/25...... 
Robert John, the Brooklyn-born singer-songwriter whose inimitable voice lent itself to a number of Billboard Hot 100 hits including "Sad Eyes" and an enduring version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," died on Feb. 24. He was 79 years old. The singer's son, Michael Pedrick, confirmed the news of his death to Rolling Stone. While no cause of death was given, John was still recovering from a stroke he suffered a few years prior to his passing. Born Bobby Pedrick, Jr., in Brooklyn, N.Y., first made waves in the pop world at just 12 years old with the single, "White Bucks and Saddle Shoes." The song peaked at No. 74 on the Hot 100 in 1958, marking his first of many hits on the chart. In 1965, he changed his name and by 1971, he notched a major hit, a cover of The Tokens' 1961 classic, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." John's version, one of the most popular renditions of the track to this day, made its way to No. 3 on the Hot 100 and No. 6 on the Adult Contemporary songs chart. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, John was a mainstay on the Billboard charts, hitting No. 49 with 1968's "If You Don't Want My Love," No. 71 with 1970's "When the Party Is Over," and No. 99 with 1972's "Hushabye." In 1979, after John worked as a staff writer for Motown for a few years, he topped the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart with his seminal hit, "Sad Eyes," which also hit the top 10 on the Adult Contemporary chart. At the 22nd annual Grammy Awards, "Sad Eyes" was nominated for best pop vocal performance, male. "Sad Eyes" was also featured on John's third, self-titled album, which peaked at No. 68 on the Billboard Hot 200 albums chart. His career continued throughout the 1980s, with the release of his last album, Back on the Street in 1980. Overall, John earned a collective 10 Hot 100 tracks and five Adult Contemporary hits. John is survived by his four sons and several grandsons, his ex-wife Diane and his partner Susan. - Billboard, 2/25/25...... The Isley Brothers member Chris Jasper -- also an award-winning songwriter, producer and keyboardist -- died on Feb. 23 after being diagnosed with cancer in December. He was 73. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer's family broke the news with a notice on Facebook posted one day after Jasper's death. "He will be deeply missed and his legacy will live on as an inspiration for generations," it reads. Born Dec. 30, 1951, and educated at the Juilliard School of Music, the Cincinnati native helped transform The Isley Brothers from vocal trio to full-fledged band when he joined the original lineup -- comprised of brothers O'Kelly Jr., Rudolph and Ronald Isley -- in 1973 alongside Ernie and Marvin Isley. During his decade with the group, they scored numerous entries on the Billboard Hot 100, including top 10 hits "That Lady (Part 1)" and "Fight the Power Part 1," both of which Jasper helped write. The Isley Brothers also charted a dozen albums on the Billboard Hot 200 during Jasper's tenure, including 1975's No. 1 LP The Heat Is On. 1973's 3+3, 1976's Harvest for the World, 1977's Go for Your Guns, 1978's Showdown and 1980's Go All the Way also all reached the top 10. After the group disbanded in 1984, the pianist formed Isley-Jasper-Isley with Ernie and Marvin, and recorded hits such as 1985's "Caravan of Love." He would later go on to pursue a solo music career, becoming known for tracks such as "Superbad" and "The First Time." He released his final album, It Started With a Kiss, in 2023. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame along with the rest of his Isley Brothers bandmates in 1992. In 2014, the Grammys honored the group with a Lifetime Achievement Award, eight years after which the Songwriters Hall of Fame inducted the members into its 2022 class. He is survived by his wife, New York attorney and author Margie Jasper, as well as his three sons Michael, Nicholas and Christopher. - Billboard, 2/25/25...... 
David Johansen, frontman with glam rock band New York Dolls, died on Mar. 1 at his home in New York City. He was 75. "David Johansen died at home in NYC on Friday afternoon holding hands with his wife, Mara Hennessey, and daughter Leah, surrounded by music, flowers and love," his rep said in a statement. "He died of natural causes after nearly a decade of illness." The news of Johansen's death comes after the punk pioneer announced in early February that he was battling stage 4 cancer and a brain tumor. The musician was diagnosed in 2020, and after a fall that broke his back in two places in Nov. 2024, he decided to share his story. "We've been living with my illness for a long time, still having fun, seeing friends and family, carrying on, but this tumble the day after Thanksgiving really brought us to a whole new level of debilitation," revealed Johansen, who also acted and has appeared in films such as Scrooged and TV shows including Oz. "This is the worst pain I've ever experienced in my entire life. I've never been one to ask for help, but this is an emergency. Thank you." The Staten Island-born Johansen joined the Dolls in 1971, playing his first show with the group at a homeless shelter on Christmas Eve that year. Favoring simple, sloppy rock n' roll over the increasingly complex and conceptual rock music of the early '70s, New York Dolls made up for what they lacked in technical mastery and professionalism with attitude, gender-bending fashion (women's clothes and high heels) and gobs of lipstick. Gigging around Manhattan in 1972, the group steadily increasing in popularity among young, disaffected audiences looking for something different and the NYC art crowd. The group's self-titled 1973 album is a no-notes distillation of their rough-and-tumble, campy take on the straight-forward, blues-boosted rock n' roll of the '50s. "Personality Crisis" is a wild, careening send-up of self-obsessed people manufacturing drama for attention that rings as true today as it did half a century ago; "Looking for a Kiss" opens with a cheeky reference to The Shangri-Las; and while the Dolls weren't renowned for their lyricism, "Frankenstein" is a clever metaphor for the lumbering, confused and patched-together New York City of the '70s. Despite inspiring countless punks, glam rockers, heavy metal bands and Morrissey (who cites seeing the band on TV as a watershed moment in his life), the band's debut only reached No. 116 on the Billboard Hot 200, and its follow-up, In Too Much Too Soon (another seminal classic), peaked at No. 167. The band broke up in the mid '70s, and thanks in no small part to superfan Morrissey, eventually reunited in the '00s, playing several reunion shows before hitting the studio for three well-received albums: One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This(2006), Cause I Sez So (2009) and Dancing Backward in High Heels (2011). Johansen released four solo albums between 1978 and 1984, the first three of which included members of the New York Dolls in some capacity. While his self-titled solo debut found him delivering a slightly more polished version of the Dolls' rock ("Funky But Chic" is a treat), he began experimenting with disco ("Swaheto Woman") on its follow-up, In Style, and by 1981's Here Comes the Night, he was contemporizing his rock palette in a fashion that set him up for a commercial breakthrough with 1987's Buster Poindexter, the debut LP from his martini-swigging, lounge lizard alter ego Buster Poindexter. "We were a band's band in a lot of ways," Johansen said of the New York Dolls in an interview featured in Personality Crisis: One Night Only. "We influenced a lot of bands and a lot of kids were influenced by us who started bands. Take The Ramones. The Ramones saw us and they looked at each other said, 'Hey, if these guys can do this, we can do that.' To have an influence like that on people is really good. To give people the idea, like, 'Hey, I can do that.'" Johansen is survived by his wife, Mara, and daughter, Leah. - Billboard, 3/1/25.
Gene Hackman, the Oscar-winning actor whose gruff but soulful turns in classics such as The French Connection, The Conversation and Unforgiven made him one of the most respected performers in Hollywood, was found dead in his Santa Fe, N.M., home on Feb. 26. He was 95 and found dead alongside his wife, Betsy Arakawa, 64, a classical pianist, and the couple's dog, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office. "Foul play is not suspected as a factor in those deaths at this time however exact cause of death has not been determined. This is an active and ongoing investigation by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office," a statement by the authorities said. In a remarkable acting career that spanned six decades, Mr. Hackman established himself as one of the most distinctive and dependable film stars of his generation, and compiled one of the most impressive filmographies in the history of American cinema. He was part of a group of unconventional leading men who helped define the "New Hollywood" cinema of the 1970s, but he was just as prominent across the '80s and '90s. Born Jan. 30, 1930, in San Bernardino, Calif., Mr. Hackman dropped out of school at 16 and fibbed about his age to join the U.S. Marines. He was trained as a radio operator and served in China, where he picked up work as a disc jockey. He took his talents to the radio industry, moving to New York City following his military discharge to learn the trade at the School of Radio Technique. He eventually switched gears and decided to pursue acting, enrolling at the Pasadena Playhouse in Southern California, where he was deemed "least likely to succeed." In time, Mr. Hackman left Pasadena and moved back to New York, where he roomed with fellow striving thespians Dustin Hoffman and Robert Duvall. George Morrison, a former instructor at the famed Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, took Mr. Hackman under his wing and schooled him in the Method technique, teaching him to draw from personal experiences in his acting. Mr. Hackman started to get gigs in theater and on various television shows, such as the first episode of the CBS courtroom drama The Defenders, and in 1964 he landed his first meaty movie part alongside Warren Beatty and Jean Seberg in the psychological drama Lilith. Impressed with Mr. Hackman, Beatty chose him to play his older brother Buck Barrow in his breakout role in 1967's Bonnie & Clyde, a shockingly violent crime drama that mixed classic outlaw archetypes with the energy of the French New Wave and the playful spirit of the American counterculture. He picked up more film work in the late 1960s, including as a quietly intense Olympic coach in Downhill Racer, and opposite Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr in The Gypsy Moths as a barnstorming skydiver. But with William Friedkin's 
Tamping down the volcanic anger that fueled The French Connection, he created an introverted character ravaged by paranoia and suspicion. The film and Mr. Hackman's tragic performance brilliantly captured the unease of the Watergate era. He entered one of the busiest stretches of his career in the 1980s, taking on a combination of leading roles and supporting parts in various dramas, action flicks and romances. He played a magazine editor in Beatty's epic Reds, a small-town basketball coach in Hoosiers and the secretary of defense in the noirish political thriller No Way Out. He capped his busy 1980s run with Mississippi Burning, playing an FBI agent, a role based on real-life investigator John Proctor, who was looking into the mysterious disappearances of three civil rights volunteers in a fictional Mississippi county. Mr. Hackman, who seemed drawn to projects that explored moral gray areas, earned his second Oscar in 1992 for his supporting work as the brutal Sheriff Little Bill Daggett in Unforgiven, Clint Eastwood's revisionist Western drama. The movie picked up four Oscars, including the best picture prize and best supporting actor for Mr. Hackman, and six years later the film earned a spot on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 best American movies ever made. In the 1990s, Mr. Hackman continued to work at a steady clip and frequently played a grizzled foil to younger stars, including Tom Cruise in The Firm, Denzel Washington in Crimson Tide, Robin Williams in The Birdcage and Will Smith in Enemy of the State, a frenetic surveillance thriller that paid homage to The Conversation. In 2001, he endeared himself to a new generation of moviegoers as the deeply flawed but rakishly charming family patriarch in Wes Anderson's ensemble film The Royal Tenenbaums, showing off his comedic chops and a more mischievous side of his public persona. Three years later, he left Hollywood behind, making his final film appearance in the largely forgotten Ray Romano vehicle Welcome to Mooseport. In a rare 2004 interview, Mr. Hackman told Larry King that he did not have any film projects in the pipeline and expected that his screen acting days were mostly behind him. He remained creative even in retirement, however, writing four historical fiction novels -- Wake of the Perdido Star, Justice for None, Escape From Andersonville: A Novel of the Civil War and Payback at Morning Peak: A Novel of the American West -- as well as the 2013 police thriller Pursuit. Mr. Hackman, who spent his final years in Santa Fe, N.M., is survived by three children -- Christopher, Elizabeth and Leslie -- from his first marriage to Faye Maltese. - NBCNews.com, 2/27/25.
Midwestern '70s and '80s prog rockers Kansas have been forced to cancel two shows following the revelation that their current frontman, Ronnie Platt, has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Platt, who has been singing with the band for a decade, took to social media on Feb. 19 to announce his diagnosis, assuring fans his cancer has been caught early. "For all of you asking, Tuesday I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer but before everyone gets all excited, it has a 99 per cent survival rate," said Platt, who took over lead vocal duties with Kansas from Steve Walsh in 2014 before singing with the band Shooting Star. "It has not spread. It's contained to my thyroid. I just have to have my thyroid removed. Go through some rehab time and be right back in the saddle." Ahead of the announcement the band nixed their Feb. 21 show in New Orleans citing "band illness," and have also canceled a Mar. 1 show in Louisiana for the same reason. The "Carry On Wayward Son" band celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023. - Music-News.com, 2/21/25...... In a new interview with Mojo magazine, Phil Collins says he isn't "hungry" to make music nowadays because he's been "very sick." Collins, who is 73 and has been plagued with health issues for several years, disclosed that he's thought about getting back behind the kit, but hasn't been able to, due in large part to his condition. "I keep thinking I should go downstairs to the studio and see what happens. But I'm not hungry for it anymore. The thing is, I've been sick. I mean, very sick," he said. The "In the Air Tonight" singer's health issues stem from a 2007 spinal injury that left him with severe nerve damage and limited mobility, complicating his ability to play the instrument. He went into further detail about his condition in a December documentary titled Phil Collins: Drummer First, in which he revisited his drums for the first time in years. "It's still kind of sinking in," Collins says in the doc, which premiered on the 
Despite announcing his retirement from touring in late 2023, Elton John set to headline Singapore's 2025 Formula 1 Grand Prix, closing out the huge three-day motor racing event on Oct. 5. More than two years after concluding his "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" tour with an emotional concert in Stockholm, Sweden, Sir Elton will make his highly-anticipated return to the stage on the Padang Stage in Zone 4 after the F1 race. John previously told fans that he would possibly still play "the odd show" after retiring from touring, and since concluding his mammoth Farewell Yellow Brick Road run, he has made live appearances at numerous events. These include the 50th annual Candlelight Concert in the US last December, and the opening of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center over the summer. In 2023, Elton played live at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony where he inducted his longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. Last October, he made a surprise appearance during his "Cold Heart" collaborator Dua Lipa's orchestral show at the Royal Albert Hall in London. In March, he played at the 2024 Gershwin Prize in Washington, D.C. - where he and Taupin were honoured with the Library Of Congress Gershwin Prize For Popular Song. On Apr. 4, he'll release 
Former The Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon (née Johnny Rotten) has dismissed a new Sex Pistols tour in 2025 featuring his fellow original band members Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock as "karaoke." News of a new Sex Pistols tour emerged in 2024 when it was first announced that the band -- sans Lydon -- were to reunite for a two-night affair to benefit West London's Bush Hall. Instead, the group was to be fronted by Frank Carter, who has previously fronted acts such as Gallows, Pure Love and Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes. The initial shows soon led to further dates around the U.K. and Europe, with the band billed as "Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter." Further shows have since been announced for Australia, New Zealand, and other European countries throughout 2025. In January, Jones confirmed U.S. dates would follow, though specifics are yet to arrive. Although Lydon has remained largely quiet about the new Sex Pistols activity, on Feb. 13 he spoke to British publication The i Paper about the tour, explaining that he largely felt "annoyed" by the whole affair and feared it would tarnish the group's legacy. "When I first heard that the Sex Pistols were touring this year without me it pissed me off," he explained. "It annoyed me. I just thought, 'they're absolutely going to kill all that was good with the Pistols by eliminating the point and the purpose of it all.' I didn't write those words lightly. They're trying to trivialise the whole show to get away with karaoke but in the long term I think you'll see who has the value and who doesn't. I've never sold my soul to make a dollar. It's the Catholic in me -- that guilt I don't want to trip." The Sex Pistols initially existed from 1975 until 1978, releasing their sole studio album 
Jerry Butler, the beloved Chicago soul singer, producer and, later, politician who began his career in the late 1950 singing alongside childhood friend Curtis Mayfield in The Impressions, died on Feb. 20 of undisclosed causes after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. He was 85. Working alongside singer/guitarist Mayfield -- whom he'd met as a teenager singing in a church choir -- Mr. Butler began his career in the Northern Jubilee Gospel Singers group before joining the Roosters, who in short order became known as The Impressions. The group struck gold off the bat with the Mr. Butler co-written "For Your Precious Love," a slow-burning, yearning song inspired by a poem Mr. Butler wrote in high school -- credited to Jerry Butler & the Impressions -- that melded the friends' church-based gospel roots with a stirring soul sound. The single, released by Vee-Jay Records and ranked in 2003 as the No. 335 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, would be one of only two Mr. Butler recorded with the group, followed up by that same year's No. 29 Billboard R&B chart hit "Come Back My Love." Tensions in the group over Mr. Butler's first-billing status led to the singer going out on his own, though his first solo hit was a reunion with Mayfield on the 1960 Vee-Jay co-write "He Will Break Your Heart." That song peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. While Mayfield soon became a star in his own right thanks to his funky soul soundtrack to the 1972 blaxploitation film Superfly and such civil rights anthems as "People Get Ready," Mr. Butler embarked on run of hits in the 1960s and 70s that included 38 career Hot 100 entries -- including three top 10s -- as well as 53 songs on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. In 1961, Mr. Butler's impressive vocal range and always fresh attire earned him the career-long nickname "The Iceman" from WDAS Philadelphia DJ George Woods, bestowed on the singer after he kept his cool and continued to sing after the PA system burned out on him at a Philly show. He scored another top 10 hit in 1964 with the hopelessly-in-love ballad "Let It Be Me," a collaboration with singer Betty Everett on the Everly Brothers-written song that appeared on their joint Delicious Together album and peaked at No. 5 on the Hot 100. Mr. Butler's third top 10 song came in 1969 with the inspirational soul stirrer 
Roberta Flack, the beloved, Grammy-winning 1970s singer best known for such hits as 
He isn't quite "slip-slidin' away" yet -- on Feb. 18 Paul Simon announced an ambitious 2025 North American tour on 
In what is likely a major disappointment to many fans, Ozzy Osbourne has said he won't play a full Black Sabbath set at the band's upcoming farwell show on July 5 in Birmingham, UK. Osbourne made the announcement on his Ozzy Speaks program on SiriusXM channel Ozzy's Boneyard, where he provided an update as to his plans for the recently-announced "Back to the Beginning" concert with the "ultimate" Sabbath lineup of Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward. "I'm not planning on doing a set with Black Sabbath but I am doing little bits and pieces with them," the "War Pigs" singer explained. "I am doing what I can, where I feel comfortable." Osbourne hasn't performed a full set since Dec. 31, 2018 on the final date of his "No More Tours" tour. Just two months later, the heavy metal pioneer was diagnosed with Parkinson's, and any plans for further large-scale performances have been affected by numerous cancellations and health issues. "I am trying to get back on my feet," Osbourne added. "When you get up in the morning, you just jump out of bed. I have to balance myself, but I'm not dead. I'm still actively doing things." Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that Guns N' Roses, Tool and Jason Mamoa have been added to the lineup of the final Black Sabbath concert. Aquaman actor Momoa will host the event, while Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello will serve as musical director. Other previously announced acts include Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Rival Sons, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, songwriter-producer Andrew Watt, and bassist Dave Ellefson. Osbourne and Billy Morrison have shared their new single, "Gods Of Rock N Roll," on 
Queen guitarist Brian May. Created with significant design input from May, only 100 of the Brian May SJ-200 12-String models will be available worldwide in a limited run via Gibson.com, the Gibson Garage Nashville and London, and authorized Gibson dealers. In a press release, May said he "had the idea for the guitar when I needed a 12-String on tour, and the one I was accustomed to wasn't performing right on stage." "The guys at Gibson very kindly said, 'We'll make you something special that you can use on the tours.' One of the things I asked for was for the octaves to be placed around the other way from where it is normally done, because I like to pick upwards and hear the top notes when I'm playing," he added. Referring to his other career as an astronomer, he said: "Gibson was able to put the universe on it in a figurative way and the planet Mercury is here, and that is a little nod to a friend of mine that is always with me." An episode of the Gibson TV podcast with May introducing the instrument has been shared on 
A unique version of the classic Procol Harum single "A Whiter Shade of Pale" featuring late singer Gary Brooker is among the songs on the new charity album 
Scottish drummer Jamie Muir, a former drummer of the British prog rock group King Crimson, died of as yet undisclosed causes on Feb. 17. He was 82. News of his passing was confirmed by his friend and bandmate Bill Bruford, who wrote on Facebook: "Jamie Muir died today, 17.02.2025, in Cornwall, UK, with his brother George by his side." Mr. Muir was best known for his stint with the legendary King Crimson from 1972 to 1973, playing most prominently on their fifth studio album Larks' Tongues In Aspic, released in 1973. Born in Edinburgh in 1942 and educated at the Edinburgh College Of Art, he moved to London in the 1960s as a passionate jazz trombonist, before switching to percussion. In London, he was involved in several free improvisational groups, including The Music Improvisation Company, and played with respected figures such as Derek Bailey and Evan Parker. King Crimson leader Robert Fripp invited him to join the band via a phone call in the summer of 1972, alongside a new incarnation of the band that included Yes drummer Bruford, bassist John Wetton and violinist David Cross. After just a year, and just days after the release of Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Muir abruptly left King Crimson and moved to a monastery in southern Scotland to pursue life as a Buddhist monk. He did return to music in 1980, appearing on albums by Bailey and Parker, as well as the soundtrack of the 1983 British independent film Ghost Dance. In 1990, he withdrew from the music industry once again, opting to devote his time to painting. Mr. Muir's passing comes just months after King Crimson songwriter and lyricist Peter Sinfield died, aged 80, on Nov. 14. Robert Fripp paid tribute to Mr. Muir on Instagram, writing: "Jamie Muir was a major, and continuing, influence on my thinking, not only musical. A wonderful and mysterious person. Of the five members of KC 1972, Jamie had the greatest authority, experience and presence. Fly well, Master Muir." - NME, 2/18/25.
A rep for Don Felder says the former Eagles guitarist is "feeling much better" after a medical emergency during a Rock Legends Cruise performance on Feb. 13. In a video shared by an attendee and posted on the celebrity gossip site TMZ.com, Felder is seen introducing the Eagles classic, "Tequila Sunrise," sharing the inspiration behind the song before he began strumming his guitar to perform it. He then appears to look to crew members on the side stage and lose balance, before a member of his team and his bandmates helped escort him offstage. The crowd cheered in support for the musician before the video ends. Posting on Instagram, his rep said medical personnel determined that Felder "was deemed to be suffering from dehydration... He was given fluids, and is feeling much better." The statement continued that the remainder of Felder's cruise performances will be rescheduled to "ensure he has ample time to rehydrate and recover fully," before concluding, "Thank you for your understanding and remember -- drink your water!" Felder, 77, performed with the Eagles from 1974 to 2001, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the band in 1998. After his departure from the group, he filed two lawsuits alleging wrongful termination, breach of implied-in-fact contract and breach of fiduciary duty, though the case was settled in 2007. Felder published the book, Heaven and Hell: My Life in The Eagles, in 2007. - Billboard, 2/14/25...... In other Eagles-related news, a rare book dealer filed a lawsuit against band co-founder Don Henley, their manager Irving Azoff, and their attorneys in New York state court on Feb. 6. Henley and his co-defendants are being sued by Glenn Horowitz, one of the men who was criminally charged for allegedly attempting to sell handwritten lyrics connected to the Eagles' 1976 album 
English Heritage, the charity responsible for the National Heritage Collection of England, announced on 
Patti Smith has announced she'll be hitting the road in the U.K. and U.S. this fall to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her iconic debut album, 
10cc's Graham Gouldman and Kevin Godley celebrated the 50th anniversary of their 1975 hit 
The Stylistics have shared their first new song in more than 16 years, "Yes, I Will," featuring country star Shania Twain. The '70s soul legends -- who are behind the hits "You Are Everything," "Betcha by Golly, Wow," "I'm Stone in Love with You," "Break Up to Make Up" and