Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on February 21st, 2020

Rod Stewart closed the 2020 Brit Awards at London's O2 Arena on Feb. 18 with a reunion with two of his former Faces bandmates -- guitarist Ronnie Wood and drummer Kenney Jones. Stewart first performed a solo rendition the Crazy Horse song "I Don't Want to Talk About It," which he dedicated to the mother of Brit Awards host Jack Whitehall, joking that she was "throwing herself" at him earlier in the night. Rod then said, "This show may be 40 years old, but the Faces are 50 years old," referring to the bluesy hard rock outfit that formed out of Small Faces decades ago in the U.K. "There used to be five of us, and now there's three," he said, before inviting out the fellow two surviving members -- Wood and Jones -- for a little reunion in the form of the Faces' scuzzy booze-blues classic "Stay With Me." The 74-year-old Stewart also contributed some dance moves that stole the finale. - Billboard, 2/18/20...... A rare David Bowie album called I'm Only Dancing (The Soul Tour 74) has been announced for release for Record Store Day (Apr. 18). The LP collects previously unreleased tapes from Bowie shows in Nashville and Detroit in 1974 and will be released on 2LP and 2CD format, and joins a previously announced Bowie album, ChangesNowBowie, which will also be released on Record Store Day. In a press release, Parlophone Records said I'm Only Dancing (The Soul Tour 74) "was recorded mostly during David's performance at the Michigan Palace, Detroit on 20th October, 1974, with the encores taken from the Municipal Auditorium, Nashville on 30th November, 1974." ChangesNowBowie, a 9-track album culled from a 1996 session with longtime Bowie bassist Gail Ann Dorsey, guitarist Reeves Gabrels and producer Mark Plati during rehearsals for a 50th birthday gig at Madison Square Garden, was previously announced for Record Store Day release in January. - Billboard, 2/20/20...... A remastered version of the classic live Elvis Presley film That's The Way It Is will be screened in select cinemas in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Australia and New Zealand for one night only on Apr. 22. Originally released in Nov. 1970, the Denis Sanders-directed documentary was filmed during a series of shows the King played in Las Vegas in 1970. Tickets will go on sale on Feb. 26. Meanwhile, a Baz Luhrmann-directed biopic of Presley is currently in the works, with Tom Hanks set to play the late singer's manager Colonel Tom Parker. - New Musical Express, 2/20/20...... Ozzy Osbourne attended an album release party for his new solo album Ordinary Man at L.A.'s Rainbow Bar and Grill on the Sunset Strip on Feb. 20. With wife Sharon Osbourne, daughter Kelly Osbourne, and others in his sizable entourage including Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith also in attendance, Ozzy held court in the back booth for two full hours as tracks from the new LP played at top volume, the walls of the venue papered with photos from all different phases of his career. Osbourne, who was walking with the help of a cane and holding onto the arm of a male friend as he entered and exited the venue, recently told the UK tabloid The Sun that he is in "unbelievable pain 24/7" after a fall at his home in Feb. 2019 aggravated an old neck injury. In January, he revealed he had been diagnosed with a type of Parkinson's disease known as PRKN 2, a milder form of the progressive nervous system disorder. His health issues caused him to announce on Feb. 20 that he's postponing planned U.S. and Canadian dates on his "No More Tours 2" while he seeks treatment overseas. "I cannot go out on the road, until I'm 100 percent confident that I can pull it off," Ozzy said in an interview with Radio.com. "If I go out now and I can't carry on, people are gonna think I've lost the plot, ya know. So I'm not gonna go out there until I can give them the show that I want to give them, because it's not fair to them. I mean I've waited this long. I'm intending on going back out on the road," he added. The 27-date tour, with Marilyn Manson supporting, had been slated to kick off in May. Ordinary Man is currently available for streaming on Spotify.com. - Billboard, 2/21/20...... After becoming an official American citizen in January, Neil Young is already exercising his First Amendment rights with a scathing open letter to US Pres. Donald Trump that begins with the phrase: "You are a disgrace to my country." Young posted the lengthy screed on his Neil Young Archives Times-Contrarian website on Feb. 18 with a featured cover image of an angry young boy riding a bike with the American flag waving behind. "Your mindless destruction of our shared natural resources, our environment and our relationships with friends around the world is unforgiveable," the singer/songwriter wrote. "Your policies, decisions and short term thinking continue to exacerbate the Climate Crisis.... The United States of America, my country, is not a green on one of your branded gold courses that you can ride around on and damage so that other players cannot shoot straight," he added. Young also slammed the president for using Young's Grammy-winning classic rock anthem "Rockin' in the Free World" after kicking off his 2016 Republican presidential candidate announcement with the track, a song Young says he wrote back in 1989 as a critique of former Pres. George H. W. Bush's administration and his lack of care toward the poor in America. "'Keep on Rockin' in the Free World' is not a song you can trot out at one of your rallies," Young wrote. "Perhaps you could have been a bass player and played in a rock and roll band. That way you could be on stage at a rally every night in front of your fans, if you were any good, and you might be... Every time 'Keep on Rockin' in the Free World' or one of my songs is played at your rallies, I hope you hear my voice. Remember it is the voice of a tax-paying US citizen who does not support you. Me." Before ascending to the presidency, Pres. Trump attended multiple Young concerts over the years and even sat next to Patti Smith in the first couple of rows at a 2006 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young reunion show at The Theater in Madison Square Garden in New York City. "He's got something very special," Trump said in the interview at the time of the concert. "I've listened to his music for years." - Billboard, 2/19/20...... As he grants new interviews to help publicize his latest album American Standard, James Taylor told the UK paper The Guardian that his good friend Joni Mitchell is "coming back" with new music soon as she recovers from a brain aneurysm she suffered in March of 2015 and was found unconscious at her home. Taylor revealed the two have recently reconnected and that he "recently sort of re-engaged with Joni, and that's been wonderful." "She came to a show of mine recently, at the Hollywood Bowl, which was an unusual thing for her to do," Taylor said. Going on to seemingly reveal a comeback for the iconic folk singer, he added: "She's recovering, she's coming back -- which is an amazing thing to be able to do -- and I wonder what she has to tell us about that... think she's coming back musically... It's amazing to see her come back to the surface." Mitchell's most recent album, 2007's Shine, is set to be released on vinyl later in 2020. Taylor also told The Guardian that he fears he may have played a role in the demise of the Beatles by giving John Lennon hard drugs. Lennon's issues with heroin have long been rumoured to have contributed to the band deciding to break-up in 1969, a year after they met Taylor, who was at the time battling his own opioid addiction, and signed to their Apple Records label. Describing his drug use, he said: "You used to be able to buy something called Collis Browne's Chlorodyne, which was an old-fashioned medication. Essentially, it was a tincture of opium, so you'd drink a couple of bottles and you could take the edge off." But Taylor added he isn't absolutely sure it was he who introduced Lennon to hard drugs. "They were leaving as I was coming in. I often came in early and would sit in the control room and listen to them recording -- and hear playbacks of what they had just cut." Asked whether the band was "unravelling" at that stage, he adds: "Well, it was a slow unravelling, but it was also an extremely creative unravelling." Taylor subsequently left Apple Records, beat his addictions in rehab and moved to Los Angeles, where he recorded his breakthrough record Sweet Baby James featuring vocals from Carole King. - New Musical Express/WENN, 2/17/20...... Speaking of the Beatles, the Fab Four's Apple Corps and Subafilms, which owns the Yellow Submarine trademark, have been granted a $77 million default judgement over fake band merchandise. A Florida judge fined the 77 defendants in the case each $1 million in damages for trademark violations. London-based Apple Corps and Subafilms, which are owned by the former Beatles members, brought the federal lawsuit against the individuals in Nov. 2019 asking a judge to not only prohibit them from selling the counterfeit merchandise, but to also hold them accountable for any commercial sales made that infringed on the trademark. Apple Corps was also granted a permanent injunction against the defendants prohibiting them from "manufacturing, importing, advertising, or promoting, distributing, selling or offering to sell counterfeit and infringing goods using" the bands' trademarks. Defendants in the lawsuit were listed only through their domain names, seller IDs, URLs and email addresses. An attorney familiar with the case says the lawsuit was likely filed by Apple Corps "to send a message; protect its legitimate licensees; build its case against future infringers and hopefully, just hopefully, catch a few bad actors in the act, seize their assets and put them out of business." - Billboard, 2/18/20...... A charity founded in honor of late Black Sabbath and Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who died on May 16, 2010, will remember the musician with a 10th anniversary Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund concert and memorial awards gala at The Avalon in Hollywood on Feb. 20. Metal media maven Eddie Trunk will host the second annual gala, which will feature a performance by the current edition of the Dio band, which has been touring with a hologram of the late singer. Presenters will include Ahmet Zappa, Sebastian Bach, Motley Crue's Tommy Lee, Cinderella's Fred Coury, Quiet Riot's Frankie Banali, Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath) and Jeff Pilson (Foreigner, Dokken). Among the evening's honorees will be Rhino Entertainment/Warner Music Group (which will receive the Holy Diver Award), T.J. Martell Foundation CEO Laura Heatherly (the Killing the Dragon Award), and Dio hologram creator Jeff Pezzuti of Eyellusion (the Stand Up and Shout Award). Dio's widow Wendy Dio says she hopes to have a new Dio hologram out later this year with the Dio road band, which went on tour during 2019. "We're developing a new one because technology changes every day," she explains. "I was happy with the one we just did last year in the U.S., but now we can make it even better. It's something I think Ronnie would have wanted to do. He loved going to Disneyland and seeing the holograms there and always was very interested in developing one." Meanwhile, a new RJD documentary is on the way. BMG Music announced on Feb. 18 that the film will be the first documentary to be fully authorized by his estate and include never-before-seen archival footage and photos from his personal archives, as well as scenes with his closest peers, friends and family. The film will complete Dio's unfinished autobiography, which he was working on before his untimely death from stomach cancer in 2010. In conjunction with the film, BMG will release on Mar. 20 a remastered collection of Dio's acclaimed 1996 - 2004 studio albums Angry Machines, Magica, Killing The Dragon, and Master Of The Moon with rare and unreleased bonus tracks. - Billboard, 2/19/20...... The estate of late funk singer Rick James is being sued for $50 million by a woman who claims James raped her when she was only 15 years old. The unidentified plaintiff says James raped her while she was staying at a group home in Buffalo, New York, in 1979. The lawsuit was filed on Feb. 13 against the James Ambrose Johnson Jr. 1999 Trust, which is run by the singer's estate. The suit was filed under the Child Victims Act, which opened a one-year litigation window for victims who were once blocked by the statute of limitations. In the lawsuit, the woman said James was visiting one of the parents at the group hope. She said he came into her room after dinner and raped her. "He grabbed my hair and pushed my head into the pillow," she said in the suit. "I tried to fight him off, but he told me to 'shut up and quit moving or I'll cut you.'" The woman says she has suffered "physical, psychological and emotional injury" due to the alleged assault. James was convicted in 1993 of assaulting two women. The first case occurred in 1991, when prosecutors said James and his girlfriend tied a woman to a chair, burned her with a hot crack pipe and forced her to perform sex acts during a cocaine binge at his West Hollywood home. He was free on bail when the second assault occurred in 1992 in James' hotel room. He served more than two years in prison. He was found dead in his Los Angeles home on Aug. 6, 2004. - AP, 2/18/20...... Debbie Harry of Blondie, John Fogerty, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Sheryl Crow are among the headliners at the 2020 Jazz Plus concert series at the Hollywood Bowl which will begin on July 29 and run through Sept. 23. Corea and the Spanish Heart Band are set to open the series on July 29; Harry will participate in a Peggy Lee tribute on Aug. 5; Fogerty will headline on Aug. 19; Crow will perform on Sept. 16, and Hancock will close out the series on Sept. 23. Other headliners include Charlie Wilson (8/12) and Hiatus Kaiyote (9/9). - Billboard, 2/18/20...... A new musical inspired by the life and music of late '70s reggae legend Bob Marley will debut at London's Lyric Theatre from Feb. 6, 2021, on what would have been the seminal musician's 76th birthday. "Get Up, Stand Up!" will chronicle Marley's rise to superstardom, with Kene tackling the role of Marley. "I feel absolutely honoured to be able to take on this role," Kene said in a statement. "It is not only an honour to be able to spread Bob Marley's message further, but to get to be him for a little while is a lifelong dream come true. I grew up on his music and his mantra and he has been one of my role models since I was a child. I feel as if he's in my DNA. He's the man, I love him." - New Musical Express, 2/16/20...... Elton John canceled the two remaining New Zealand shows on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour on Feb. 18 as he continued to suffer from a bout of pneumonia. The shows have been rescheduled for next year. Earlier in February, John was forced to cut short a performance in Auckland after he lost his voice and needed medical help on stage. In a statement, Elton said he was "incredibly disappointed" and sent his sincerest apologies to his fans. It was not immediately clear if his illness would affect other dates on his tour, which next moves to Australia. John had just returned to New Zealand after performing at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 9. He won an Oscar for best original song for his theme song for the movie Rocketman. - AP, 2/18/20...... The Who are set to join an all-star group of performers for the 2020 Teenage Cancer Trust benefit shows at London's Royal Albert Hall in March. The Who's Mar. 28 show will feature Who frontman Roger Daltrey and guitarist/singer Pete Townshend performing with a full orchestra as part of a week of gigs (Mar. 23-29) in support of the only UK charity dedicated to meeting the needs of young people (13-24) battling cancer. The TCT shows, conceived and curated by Daltrey, have traditionally featured all-star lineups, including the likes of Paul McCartney, Oasis and The Cure. The 2020 shows will feature such artists as Stereophonics (3/25), Groove Armada (3/27) and Nile Rodgers and Chic (3/29). This year's gigs will celebrate the 20th year of TCT shows at Royal Albert Hall and the organization's 30th anniversary. - Billboard, 2/18/20...... "American Utopia," the critically acclaimed theatrical concert from former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, is set to begin a return Broadway engagement at New York's Hudson Theatre for a 17-week run this fall, with beginning performances set for Sept. 18 and scheduled through Jan. 17, 2021, and an official reopening date to be set. The "American Utopia" production combines songs from Byrne's Talking Heads heyday with selections from across his eclectic solo output, and calls for his fellow humans to "rewire their brains and connect with our ailing planet." A filmed version of "American Utopia," directed by Spike Lee, has been shot, with a release date to be announced for later in 2020. Meanwhile, Byrne and his backing band will be the musical guests on the Feb. 29 edition of Saturday Night Live. - The Hollywood Reporter, 2/17/20...... A video of a KISS cover band musician has been posted on Twitter with the hair of Bobby Jensen, who portrays Gene Simmons in the cover band Hairball, accidentally catching fire as he keeps on rock 'n rolling. Jensen was performing in Sioux City, Iowa, dressed in full KISS make-up and costume, when his long hair accidentally caught fire from the onstage pyro spark. He kept it totally cool, not missing a chord, or even really reacting at all, as the fire spread up his head while two crew members raced over to put out the flames. The crowd burst into cheers once the scary moment was over and Jensen was alright. See it all go down below via a fan on Twitter, who fittingly titled the clip: "The most rock and roll thing you will ever see." - Billboard, 2/18/20...... Actress Ja'net Dubois, best known as Willona Woods on the classic 1970s sitcom Good Times, apparently passed away in her sleep in her home in Glendale, Calif., on Feb. 18. She was 74. In addition to famously portraying the exhuberant neighbor Woods on Good Times, Dubois also co-wrote and performed "Movin' On Up", the theme tune for another All in the Family-related spinoff, The Jeffersons. Prior to her Good Times fame, Dubois made TV history with her role as Loretta Allen on soap opera Love of Life in 1970, when she was cast as the first African-American female regular on a daytime serial, and she went on to win two Emmy awards for her voice work on animated series The PJs, which ran from 1999 to 2001. Her other screen credits included films like 1988's I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle in 2003, while on TV, she appeared in Shaft, Kojak, ER, Home Improvement, Moesha, The Steve Harvey Show, and A Different World. The actress was also known for her roles on Broadway, where she began her career in plays like "A Raisin In The Sun" and 1956's "Golden Boy", which also featured Sammy Davis Jr. and Louis Gossett Jr. She reunited with Good Times co-star Janet Jackson in 1987 to play the R&B icon's mother in the video for her single "Control." "I am so very saddened to hear my longtime friend Ja'net DuBois has passed away," Janet Jackson posted online as news of Dubois' death broke, alongside a slideshow of snapshots of the pair taken over the years. Good Times producer Norman Lear also posted a tribute to the late actress and singer, sharing on Twitter, "Ja'Net DuBois was all light and will be missed. I love that she wrote the theme song for her passing, 'Movin' on Up'," referencing the theme song to The Jeffersons, which DuBois wrote and performed." - WENN/Canoe.com, 2/19/20...... Actress Kellye Nakahara, who portrayed Lieutenant Nurse Kellye on the hit wartime sitcom M*A*S*H died on Feb. 16 in Pasadena, Calif., following a battle with cancer. She was 72. The Hawaii native, who moved to San Francisco before landing the role as Nurse Kellye on M*A*S*H, also appeared in the films Clue and Black Day Blue Night, and was an accomplished watercolour artist. "Kellye Nakahara was a beautiful person and a natural as an actor," M*A*S*H star Alan Alda told Fox News in a statement. "She began as a background performer and worked her way up to playing the lead in an episode I wrote for her. She was adorable and brilliant in the part. But, you couldn't beat what she was as a person, funnier and warmer and kinder than most people I've known. We all loved her on 'M*A*S*H,' and we're all heartbroken to know she's gone. Kelley was a treasure." Alda's M*A*S*H co-star Loretta Swit also offered her condolences, calling Nakahara a "jewel" [who] radiated sparkle and goodness and joy. The light that her presence brought will be deeply and forever missed." - WENN/Canoe.com, 2/18/20.

Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on February 16th, 2020

Paul McCartney was among the celebs tweeting happy Valentine's Day wishes on Feb. 14. "Let's all have a loving #ValentinesDay! Love Paul," the former Beatle posted on his Twitter page alongside a cheeky picture of himself posing with a heart-shaped bouquet of red roses. - Billboard, 2/14/20...... Queen + Adam Lambert performed the same setlist from their 1985 Live Aid concert for the first time since that legendary performance during a massive Australian bushfire benefit concert at ANZ Stadium in Sydney, Australia on Feb. 16. Queen noted earlier in a social media post that it was the current incarnation of Queen's first time performing the original 22-minute set "for the first time in its history." At the Fire Fight Australia benefit, Queen even broadcast footage of late frontman Freddie Mercury to replicate how Mercury encouraged the 1985 Live Aid audience at Wembley in an energetic singalong, only to light-heartedly tell them "F--- you" afterwards. Queen guitarist Brian May had previously described Fire Fight Australia as a benefit concert "a bit like Live Aid" when he initially revealed that Queen had been approached to play the event. Other artists performing at FFA included Alice Cooper, k.d. Lang and Michael Buble along with native Aussies Olivia Newton-John, Daryl Braithwaite, Hilltop Hoods, Icehouse and Amy Shark, among others. - NME, 2/16/20...... Elton John was forced to end a Feb. 16 concert in Auckland, New Zealand earlier than normal after he began to lose his voice and was escorted from the stage, performing the show despite being diagnosed with walking pneumonia earlier in the day. Before the end of the gig at Mount Smart Stadium, Elton was seen visibly crying on stage and later told fans on Instagram that despite his illness "...I was determined to give you the best show humanly possible. I played and sang my heart out, until my voice could sing no more." John, 72, concluded his apology with "I'm disappointed, deeply upset and sorry. I gave it all I had. Thank-you so much for your extraordinary support and all the love you showed me during tonight's performance. I am eternally grateful. Love, Elton xx." Elton's "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" tour began in 2018 and is set to end in 2021. In other Elton news, John was awarded a Best Book award at the 2020 New Musical Express Awards on Feb. 12 for his 2019 autobiography, Me, triumphing over books written by or about such artists as Debbie Harry, Prince, Brett Anderson and Tegan & Sara. - New Musical Express, 2/16/20...... Authorities in Atlanta, Ga. have revealed they are evaluating new evidence and considering opening a formal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the 2006 of late Godfather of Soul James Brown. Paul Howard Jr. of the Fulton Co. D.A.'s office says on Feb. 12 prosecutors met with a woman named Jacque Hollander who said she had relevant evidence. Hollander reportedly told the DA that she believes Brown died under suspicious circumstances and was possibly murdered. She also was said to have handed over a bin containing some items relevant to the case that she had collected in the years since Brown's passing to the DA's office. "We told her that we would take the information, take the items, and we would review it," said DA spokesperson Chris Hopper. Hopper added that the DA said his office would also attempt to interview some individuals whose names Hollander provided them to determine whether there are facts to back up her assertions regarding Brown's death. The DA plans to make an evaluation in the next six months whether or not to move forward with any kind of official death investigation, according to Hopper. Brown's cause of death in 2006 at age 73 was listed on his death certificate as a heart attack and fluid in his lungs. - Billboard, 2/13/20...... Two years after being fired from Fleetwood Mac and a year after suffering a vocal cord injury which required emergency open heart surgery, Lindsey Buckingham announced on Feb. 11 that he's ready to hit the road again in 2020. Buckingham's trek will kick off at Reynolds Hall in Las Vegas on Apr. 25, also visiting Boulder, Co. (4/28), Kansas City, Mo. (4/30), St. Louis (5/1), Memphis (5/3), Atlanta (5/5), Knoxville, Tn. (5/6), Huntsville, Ala. (5/7), Wichita, Ks. (5/9), Oklahoma City, Ok. (5/10) and Tuscon, Ariz. (5/12) before wrapping at the Magnolia Performing Arts Center in El Cajon, Calif. on May 13. Buckingham, who had been forced to postpone some planned 2019 dates due to his medical issues, was kicked out of Fleetwood Mac in 2018 after more than four decades with the band after some differences with his former bandmate and girlfriend Stevie Nicks. He later settled a civil lawsuit against the band after he was cut from a run of concerts in North America which he said cost him millions in lost earnings. - Billboard, 2/12/20...... Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2019 inductees Def Leppard have announced a slate of 16 fall dates for their "20/20 Vision" tour that will immediately follow their summer stadium tour with Motley Crue, which has already sold more than 1.1 million tickets. With openers ZZ Top, the fall leg is set to launch on Sept. 21 at Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y., and run through Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana, Nebraska, Michigan and more before wrapping on Oct. 18 in Spokane, Wash. "What a year this is going to be!," Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott said in a release. "First, sold out stadiums, then we get to go on tour with the mighty ZZ Top! Having been an admirer of the band for a lifetime it's gonna be a real pleasure to finally do some shows together...maybe some of us will get to go for a spin with [ZZ Top front man] Billy [Gibbons] in one of those fancy cars..." Gibbons responded in his own statement: "We're excited about hitting the road with Def Leppard this fall; we've been fans of theirs since forever... Joe Elliott is always welcome to ride 'shotgun' with us and we won't even ask him to pay for the gas." - Billboard, 2/13/20...... Neil Young, Willie Nelson and Stephen Stills will be the headliners at the sixth annual Light Up The Blues benefit concert in Los Angeles, set for May 30 at the Greek Theatre. "With this year's stellar lineup -- and a meaningful venue in the Greek Theatre, our hometown favorite -- I am itching to get on stage with this crew and support the efforts of Autism Speaks. It's going to be another exciting and marvelous show!" said Stephen Stills in a release. Also on the bill for the show will be Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Lucius, Fantastic Negrito, Chris Stills and Oliver Stills. Actor/comedian Jack Black will serve as the concert's emcee, with additional special guests expected to appear. - Billboard, 2/12/20...... "Karn Evil 9," the almost 30-minute centerpiece of prog-rock trio Emerson, Lake & Palmer's 1973 album Brain Salad Surgery, is being turned into a science-fiction movie. The track, which takes up part of side 1 and all of side 2 of the album, is divided into four "impressions" and basically tells the story of a battle between humans and computers. The film will be executive produced by Radar Pictures, the group behind the hit Jumanji series, and written by Robopocalypse author Daniel H. Wilson, who'll adapt a screenplay based on the concept laid out by the ELP song. The movie will reportedly focus on "a society that has drained all its blood with a dependence on technology" and "explore the world controlled by a pervasive and dictatorial technocracy." The song's famous refrain -- "Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends / We're so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside" -- will most likely be represented by a carnival of exhibits that feature 20th-century "oddities," ranging from blades of grass to Dixieland music, that have been wiped out by technology, according to Radar's Ted Field."Our team at Radar looks forward to bringing this vision of where things may be headed to the big screen and beyond," Field said. While "Karn Evil 9"'s epic length prevented it from being released as a single, the second movement's rousing introduction and radio-ready melody made it a popular album track on FM radio for decades. The song's lyrics even inspired the title of Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Top 5 1974 live album, Welcome Back, My Friends, to the Show That Never Ends. No cast or release date has been announced so far. Drummer Carl Palmer is the only surviving member of the band; keyboardiest Keith Emerson died in March 2016, and vocalist/guitarist Greg Lake died in December of the same year. - Deadline.com, 2/13/20..... In an interview published in the March edition of Esquire magazine, former child star Macauly Culkin says that he never saw any abuse of children by his late friend and King of Pop Michael Jackson. "Look, I'm gonna begin with the line -- it's not a line, it's the truth: He never did anything to me," Culkin told the magazine. "I never saw him do anything. And especially at this flash point in time, I'd have no reason to hold anything back. The guy has passed on. If anything -- I'm not gonna say it would be stylish or anything like that, but right now is a good time to speak up. And if I had something to speak up about, I would totally do it. But no, I never saw anything; he never did anything." Culkin and Jackson spent a fair amount of time together in Culkin's youth, and Culkin also famously testified in defense of Jackson in 2005 when the singer was charged with molesting a 13-year-old boy who had cancer. Jackson was eventually acquitted. Culkin says the last time the two talked was in that courthouse during a recess and he was in the restroom when Jackson happened to enter. "We better not talk. I don't want to influence your testimony," Jackson said, according to Culkin, who added they then laughed at the moment. Culkin, 40, is the godfather of Jackson's daughter, Paris Jackson. The two talk often, he said, and have matching tattoos. - The Hollywood Reporter, 2/11/20...... Aerosmith reunited with their estranged drummer Joey Kramer on Feb. 10 during a show at the group's "Deuces Are Wild" residency at Park Theater Las Vegas at the MGM Grand. Kramer, 69, sat in with the group after getting iced out of rehearsals and a performance by Aerosmith at the Grammy Awards show on in Los Angeles on Jan. 26. Kramer had been sidelined by the group amid an ongoing lawsuit he filed against them for breach of contract after he suffered an ankle injury in 2019 which caused him to miss most of Aerosmith's recent Vegas residency. It was Kramer's first gig with the band since a shoulder injury caused him to quit performing in April 2019, at which point he was replaced by his drum tech. Aerosmith has yet to post any comments on social media about the reunion, and Kramer's future with the band. - Billboard, 2/11/20...... A 1962 vintage amplifier that helped former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman clinch his audition for the iconic British rock band is among more than 1,000 items being auctioned by the musician from his more than 50-year career. "Collecting and archiving has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life and will undoubtedly be one of my legacies," the 83-year-old Wyman, who quit the band in 1993, said in a statement. "It feels like the right time to share my archive with the world. I hope people will get as much joy from my collections as I have," he added. One of the most interesting items in the May 29-31 auction conducted by Julian's in Beverly Hills, which also includes stage clothes and other Stones memorabilia, is the 1962 Vox AC30 amplifier that then 26-year-old Wyman brought to his audition for the Stones at a London pub in 1962. According to Wyman, band members Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were impressed with the amp. "They had horrible amps so they were very happy about that. I bought a round of drinks for everyone and offered cigarettes and of course they jumped immediately because they all smoked but couldn't afford them," Wyman recalled in a 2008 interview. The amp carries a pre-sale estimate of $80,000 - $100,000. Wyman, who now fronts his own band Rhythm Kings, is also selling off several of his other bass guitars, including a 1969 Fender Mustang bass that he played at concerts and on Stones recordings in 1969 and 1970 that is expected to sell for up to $500,000. A portion of the auction proceeds will go to the Macmillan Cancer Support, the British-based youth charity Prince's Trust and the Central Caribbean Marine Institute. Some of the items will go on public display at the Museum of Style Icons in Ireland from March 10-April 20, and in Beverly Hills immediately before the May auction. - Reuters, 2/13/20...... Newly released footage has emerged of Rod Stewart appearing to give a Nazi salute and assaulting a security guard in a New Year's Eve incident at Palm Beach's The Breakers hotel. The scuffle took place as Stewart, 74, was vacationing in Florida with his family and he and his entourage were said to be denied access to a private party outside of the resort's children's area. Sean Stewart -- Rod's son whom he shares with first wife Alana Hamilton -- was accused of shoving the guard after being told to back up, according to a police report. This was allegedly followed by Rod stepping toward the guard and throwing a punch, striking the guard "in his left ribcage area." Footage from the night has now emerged, which shows what appears to be Stewart striking the security guard and performing a Nazi salute. Stewart is set to launch a North American summer tour with openers Cheap Trick on July 1 in Cuyahoga Falls, Oh. - New Musical Express, 2/16/20...... Former Eagles guitarist Don Felder has proposed to his girlfriend Diane McInerny, who anchors the syndicated TV celebrity show Inside Edition. Felder, 72, proposed to McInerny, 48, during a sunset stroll in Malibu in January, according to People magazine. It was the same spot where Felder says he wrote music for the Eagles' iconic 1976 album, Hotel California. "Diane is beyond excited to be engaged to the love of her life," a source close to the couple told People. "Their friends and family are thrilled for their happiness." McInerney showed off her engagement ring in an Instagram post on Feb. 10 -- a custom design featuring a five-carat round brilliant cut diamond -- and following the proposal Felder reportedly whisked his bride to be away for a luxury vacation in Mexico. The marriage is a second one for both. Felder has four children with ex-wife Susan Pickersgill, from whom he split in 2000 after three decades of marriage. McInerny was previously married to criminal defense lawyer, Edward Palermo, with whom she has two daughters. The New York-born journalist has been at Inside Edition since 2003. - DailyMail.co.uk, 2/11/20...... Paul English, the longtime drummer for Willie Nelson's band Willie Nelson & Family, died on Feb. 11 in Dallas following a recent battle with pneumonia. He was 87. Mr. English had been a beloved member of Nelson's fand since the 1960s, first playing with the Grammy-winning country star in 1955 before becoming his full-time drummer in 1966. He was a member of Nelson's band until his death. The Vernon, Tex. native served as part of the inspiration behind Nelson's famous 1971 road song "Me & Paul." The nearly four-minute track includes Nelson lamenting of their troubled travels in Nashville, being "almost busted in Laredo, but for reasons that I'd rather not disclose," and a Milwaukee airport not allowing them on the plane. "They said we looked suspicious/ But I believe they like to pick on me and Paul," Nelson sings on the song. In addition to his role as a drummer, Mr. English sometimes served as Nelson's bodyguard, and also credited Nelson for saving his own life. "If I hadn't gone with Willie, I would be in the penitentiary or dead," Mr. English told Rolling Stone in 2014. "I was running girls and playing music at the same time." Mr. English was reportedly surrounded by friends and family at a hospital near his home as he died. - Billboard, 2/12/20.

As was hinted by the band on Instagram a week earlier, the Rolling Stones announced on Feb. 6 that they'll return to North America for a 15-city stadium tour starting May 8 in San Diego. The fourth leg of the band's No Filter Tour will also hit Vancouver, B.C. (5/12), Minneapolis (5/16), Nashville (5/20), Austin, Tex. (5/24), Dallas (5/29), Buffalo, N.Y. (6/6), Detroit (6/10), Louisville (6/14), Cleveland, Oh. (6/19), Pittsburgh (6/23), St. Louis (6/27), Charlotte (7/1) and Tampa, Fla. (7/5) before wrapping on July 9 in Atlanta. Meanwhile, in a new interview with New York radio station Q104.3, Stones guitarist Keith Richards revealed that he has finally given up his longtime smoking habit. Richards told host Jim Kerr that he has not touched a ciggie since October 2019. "Done that, been there," Richards replied when asked about his decision to quit smoking, which he first announced in 2019. "Quitting heroin is like hell, but it's a short hell. Cigarettes are just always there, and you've always done it. I just pick 'em up and light 'em up without thinking about it," Keef told Mojo magazine at the time. "Lately, in fact -- spread the news -- I've managed to cut it down by a substantial amount every day," he added. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 2/6/20...... Elton John became the second-oldest winner in the history of Oscar's best original song category when he and songwriting partner Bernie Taupin picked up the award during the 92nd Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 9 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. John and Taupin's rousing, life-affirming "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again" from the Elton biopic Rocketman was Elton's second Oscar win in that category, and Taupin's first. "Thank you to Bernie who has been a constant in my life, when I was screwed up, when I was normal, he's always been there for me," John said, after Taupin remarked, "Being here with this guy, I don't have words for it. This is justification for 53 years of just hammering it out and doing what we do." The win enabled John to set a new record as the songwriter with the longest span of wins in the best original song category -- 26 years. He took the 1994 award for "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from the original The Lion King. The old record for the longest span of best song winners was held by James Van Heusen, whose wins spanned 20 years--from "Swinging on a Star" (1944) through "Call Me Irresponsible" (1963). The 72-year-old superstar also becomes the second-oldest winner in the history of the category. The oldest is Gulzar, who was 74 when he won for writing the lyrics to "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire (2008). Taupin, 69, becomes the third-oldest winner in the history of the category. Guests, including Heidi Klum, Diane Lane and Eric McCormack, were welcomed to the party with cocktails, followed by a gala dinner and viewing of the broadcast of the ceremony, after Elton took to the stage to share a few words. "What a night. It is so special to celebrate our Foundation's 28th annual Oscar Party with the Fab Five (cast members of Queer Eye) and Sam Fender and to top it off, another Oscar win!," Elton said. "But most importantly, tonight we have come together to raise urgently needed funds and awareness for the LGBT community at risk or living with HIV in the U.S. and around the world." - Billboard, 2/9/20...... In other Oscars news, Randy Newman performed his Toy Story 4 composition "I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away" during the ceremony, which was a best original song nominee. Performing at a Steinway piano in a black suit, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer offered a spirited version of the jaunty Toy Story contribution --- with puffs of cloud-like smoke occasionally getting in the way. It was the 13th Newman-written song to be nominated for an Academy Award -- including songs from all four Toy Story movies, with "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3 winning in 2010. Newman was also nominated for best original score for his work on the drama Marriage Story, while Toy Story 4 reigned victorious earlier in the evening for best animated feature. - Billboard, 2/9/20...... Heavy metal star and tattoo afficianado Ozzy Osbourne is asking fans to celebrate the Feb. 21 release of his highly anticipated new solo album Ordinary Man by sponsoring tattoo sales and Ordinary Man listening events at more than 50 cities globally on Feb. 20. Attendees can choose from a collection of Ozzy-inspired ink designs while they listen to Ordinary Man before anyone else. Participating cities include NYC, Paris, Athens, Las Vegas, London, Honolulu, Istanbul, Rome, Sydney and Toronto, among many other cities. On the actual day of release (Feb. 21), Ozzy will be hosting his first in-store appearance in a decade, which will take place at Amoeba Records in Hollywood, Calif. at 5 p.m. PST. In order to attend, fans must purchase Ordinary Man in-store at Amoeba on the day of release. There is a two-copy purchase limit per person. - Billboard, 2/6/20...... '70s artists and outspoken Pres. Donald Trump foils Cher and Bette Midler were among the celebs to criticize the recent acquittal of Pres. Trump on abuse of power and obstruction impeachment charges by the U.S. Senate on Feb. 4. "Run, #Mitt, RUN!!," Bette Midler posted on Twitter after Sen. Mitt Romney was the sole GOP senator to vote to convict the president on the abuse of power charge. She also praised House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for tearing up the Pres. Trump's speech following his State of the Union address on the evening of Feb. 4. "Last night? Too bad Nancy didn't tear that speech into little, teeny, tiny pieces and throw that blizzard of lies right back in his face!," the Divine Miss M posted. Cher went more directly at the president, saying that he is "the most vengeful illiterate, limp, imitation of a man ever." Star Wars movie actor Mark Hamill also weighed in, claiming that the outcome of the trial would have been different if the vote was secret, and praised Sen. Romney for putting "country over party." - DailyMailUK.com, 2/5/20...... Rod Stewart has been confirmed to close out the 2020 BRIT Awards show, which is set for Feb. 18 at the O2 Arena in London. "Happy to be asked to close out The BRITs on their 40th show celebrations," Sir Rod, 75, said in a statement. It will be the second time Stewart has performed at The BRITs, having first performed at the 1993 show where he also picked up an honorary award for outstanding contribution to music. It is not known if Stewart will receive an honorary award this year. It will be the 40th edition of the annual pop music awards sponsored by the British Phonographic Industry, with hot rising artists Billie Eilish and Lizzo also set to perform. The BRIT Awards 2020 will air live on Feb. 18 at 8:00 p.m. GMT, 3:00 p.m. ET, 12:00 p.m. PT. Viewers in the UK can watch on ITV and STV. International fans can watch via YouTube.com/BRITs. - Billboard, 2/20/20...... Former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne is set to make his first Saturday Night Live appearance in 31 years on Feb. 29. Byrne's appearance on SNL will come just two weeks after his acclaimed "American Utopia" show ends its five-month long residency on Broadway. Byrne last appeared on the venerable comedy show in 1989, performing two songs from his debut solo album Rei Mono. - New Musical Express, 2/8/20...... Collectors of newly released vinyl LPs are said to be in for a probable "vinylgeddon" after a plant in California -- one of only two in the world that manufactures the lacquers used for making vinyl master discs -- suffered massive damage during a fire on Feb. 7. "To all of [our] wonderful customers. It is with great sadness we report the Apollo Masters manufacturing and storage facility had a devastating fire and suffered catastrophic damage," a statement by company on its official website read the following day. "The best news is all of our employees are safe. We are uncertain of our future at this point and are evaluating options as we try to work through this difficult time. Thank you for all of the support over the years and the notes of encouragement and support we have received from you all." Luckily, no employees were injured in the fire, although several were present in the building when the fire broke out. The fire comes as a difficult blow to the booming vinyl record industry, as Billboard reported in January that 26% of all physical albums sold in the U.S. in 2019 were vinyl. - Billboard, 2/7/20...... Dead & Company have announced dates for a 17-date summer 2020 North American tour that will launch with two datesat Folsom Field in Boulder, Col. on July 10 and 11. The tour will also hit three other major league fields -- two-show stops at Chicago's Wrigley Field on July 24 and 25, and a tour closer at Boston's Fenway Park on Aug. 7 and 8. Other stops include Maryland Heights, Mo. (7/13), Noblesville, Ind. (7/15), Atlanta (7/18), Cincinatti (7/20), Clarkston, Mich. (7/22), Cuyahoga Falls, Oh. (7/27), E. Rutherford, N.J. (8/1), Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (8/3) and Bristow, Va. (8/5). The Grateful Dead spinoff band is currently led by original GD members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kruetzmann, along with Jeff Chimenti, Otiel Burbridge and John Mayer. - Billboard, 2/6/20...... Lyle Mays, a jazz keyboardist whose work, chiefly with the Pat Metheny Group, won nearly a dozen Grammy Awards, died pm Feb. 10 in Los Angeles. He was 66. Mays had a "long battle with a recurring illness," according to Pat Metheny's website. Mays joined the guitarist group Metheny in the 1970s, where he was a performer, composer and arranger. The group's endlessly innovative fusion style incorporated everything from rock and contemporary jazz to world music. Mays, who also was a sideman for such artists as Joni Mitchell, Rickie Lee Jones and Earth, Wind & Fire, also helped compose movie soundtrack music for several movies, including 1985's The Falcon and The Snowman. Pat Metheny praised Mays as "one of the greatest musicians I have ever known" and added "every moment we shared in music was special." - AP, 2/11/20...... Steven Cagan, a composer and conductor who worked with the likes of Bette Midler, Melissa Manchester and Olivia Newton-John, died Feb. 1 in Los Angeles at age 77. Cagan scored numerous TV series and specials, including those starring Spinal Tap, Robert Klein, Michael Keaton and Rob Reiner. He also worked with such theatrical giants as Michael Bennett, Lester Wilson, Michael Peters, Bob Avian and Joe Layton. His original songs included "I Will Touch You," recorded by Olivia Newton-John in 1972; "Dinah! I've Got a Song," recorded by Dinah Shore for a 1979 Sesame Street album, and "Such A Morning" recorded by his sister-in-law Melissa Manchester for her 1978 album, Don't Cry Out Loud. - Billboard, 2/11/20...... Orson Bean, the witty actor and comedian, died on Feb. 7 in Los Angeles after being hit and killed by a car in a traffic accident, according to the L.A. County coroner's office. He was 91. According to a police report, Mr. Bean was walking in the Venice neighborhood when he was clipped by a vehicle and fell, with a second vehicle then striking him which was fatal. Mr. Bean enlivened such TV game shows as To Tell the Truth, appeared in the title role of "Mr. Bevis" in an episode of The Twilight Zone,, and played a crotchety merchant on Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. He also appeared in a number of films, notably, Anatomy of a Murder and Being John Malkovich, and starred in several top Broadway productions, receiving a Tony nod for the 1962 Comden-Green musical "Subways Are for Sleeping." He continued working into his 80s, with guest roles on TV series such as Hot in Cleveland and Modern Family. Survivors include his third wife, actress Alley Mills, who played the mother on the TV series The Wonder Years. - AP, 2/8/20...... Actor Robert Conrad, the star of such TV series as Hawiian Eye, The Wild Wild West and Baa Baa Black Sheep, has passed away in Malibu, Calif., a member of his family confirmed to People magazine on Feb. 8. He was 84. The rough and tumble actor had toplined at least one TV series in the 1950s, '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s, a rare feat of longevity for a TV star. Born Konrad Robert Falkowski in Chicago on Mar. 1, 1935, Mr. Conrad made his big screen debut in 1958, playing a pilot in Thundering Jets, and would go on to make credited appearances in some 15 additional films, notably the 1975 heist pic Murf the Surf and as John Dillinger in 1979's The Lady in Red. However he made a far bigger presence on the small screen after signing with Warner Bros. in 1959 to star in the Honolulu-set detective show Hawaiian Eye, which ran for four season. Mr. Conrad played the half-Hawaiian P.I. Tom Lopaka and guested as that character on three episodes of 77 Sunset Strip. He was perhaps best known as charming Secret Service agent James T. West in the 1965-69 series The Wild Wild West. An innovative bland of Western and sci-fi stories, the series also starred Ross Martin as West's partner Artemus Gordon as the pair rode a gadget-ridden personal train around the Old West, fighting supervillains in 19th century James Bond style. After the show, which wasd known for its well-choreographed fight sequences in which Conrad's West almost always outlasted a large number of foes, was canceled in 1969 for being too violent, Mr. Conrad starred in the telepic D.A.: Murder One, which led to a follow-up film and a brief 1971-72 series called The D.A. The actor played a spy in another short-lived series, ABC's Assignment Vienna, during the 1972-73 season. He had more success with NBC's Baa Baa Black Sheep (later known as Black Sheep Squadron), which fictionalized the experiences of Second World War ace Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington (whom Conrad played) and the fighter squadron he led in the South Pacific. The series ran for two season from 1976-78 but has aired repeatedly in syndication and on outlets such as the History Channel. During the 1970s he was arguably most well known famous for a series of commercials for Eveready Batteries in which he dared viewers to "knock this battery off" his shoulder. In 2003, Mr. Conrad was convicted of DUI after a car accident that left him partially paralyzed and seriously injured the other driver. He was sentenced to six months of house arrest in a plea agreement. In later years he began hosting a show on CRN Digital Talk Radio in 2007. Mr. Conrad, who was married and divorced twice, the second time to actress LaVelda Fann, is survived by 8 children and at least 19 grandchildren. - Variety, 2/8/20.

Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on February 6th, 2020

Patti Smith has been tapped to receive the PEN America Literary Service Award during the organization's Literary Gala on May 19 at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. "In all of Patti Smith's thrilling incarnations -- rock goddess, poet, eloquent witness to the bohemian New York of her youth -- she has testified to the transformative power of literature in her own life, and used her stardom to encourage reading and writing in the legions who revere her," PEN President Jennifer Egan said in a press release. "A polestar of my own teenage years, she set an example of badass female artistry, coupled with deeply principled humanity, that I'm still trying to live up to." The annual gala celebrates "freedom of expression through writing and its power to shape humane values." Meanwhile in other Patti Smith news, one of the punk poetess's former guitarist/producers has died at age 72. Ivan Kárl, a Czech musician who joined Smith's Patti Smith Group in the '70s as a bassist and guitarist and who co-wrote Smith's iconic 1979 track "Dancing Barefoot," passed away after a bout with cancer on Feb. 3 in his Michigan home. Kárl also worked with the likes of Blondie, Iggy Pop, John Waite and Shaun Cassidy after his short-lived band Luger broke up in 1973. His latest solo album, Smile, has been scheduled for release on Feb. 28. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 2/5/20...... On Feb. 5 the Rolling Stones teased they could be hitting the road Stateside in 2020 with a post on Instagram featuring a cartoon of their iconic "lips logo" being projected into the night sky, alongside the caption: "Feeling restless." While the vague post prompted plenty of speculation among fans, a variety of U.S. media outlets are reporting that a North American tour will be announced soon sometime in February, with ABC News pointing out, "their lips logo has been spotted on sidewalks in downtown Tampa, Florida, as well as Buffalo, Cleveland, Charlotte and other major US cities." Other cities rumoured to be on the list of American tour dates includes San Diego, St. Louis, Louisville, Nashville, Atlanta and Pittsburgh. The Stones previously toured the U.S. in 2019, but were forced to reschedule a string of dates after frontman Mick Jagger underwent heart surgery. Jagger underwent successful surgery in March 2019 to replace a faulty heart valve, before resuming the tour at Chicago's Soldier Field in June. Meanwhile, actress Rae Dawn, best known for her roles in Commando and The Color Purple, is alleging that she once slept with Mick Jagger when she was only 15. In a new interview with the U.K. paper The Daily Mail Dawn, now 58, claims she and Jagger spent the night together one time in New York in 1977, and that Jagger was unaware of her age but didn't ask. "He never asked me how old I was and I never told him. It never came up. I remember thinking he was really cute. He had tousled hair. I thought, 'Oh man, he is beautiful'," she said. The pair reportedly spent a subsequent day together in the recording studio, before heading to a Fleetwood Mac concert at Madison Square Garden. But Rae, who later appeared in the video for Jagger's 1985 track "Just Another Night," says the rendevous took place in "a different era" and stressed that Jagger should not be vilified. "It was the 1970s, a different era. I wasn't a victim," she said. "I don't want him to get into trouble about this. It wasn't traumatising. I knew what I was doing. I wasn't an innocent schoolgirl. I always acted a lot older than I was. I was a grown-up at 15." While the age of consent was 17 at the time, Jagger cannot face criminal charges as the statute of limitations for reporting second-degree rape lasts 20 years. She added: "He did nothing wrong. He didn't make me do anything I didn't want to do. Jagger was married to Nicaraguan model Bianca Jagger from 1971-78. - New Musical Express, 2/5/20...... Country stars Willie Nelson and Hank Williams Jr. will headline the inaugural Born & Raised Music Festival, set for the Pryor Creek Music Festival Grounds in Pryor, Okla., on June 6 and 7. Also performing at the music and camping experience, which will celebrate "Outlaw, Texas and Red Dirt country music" according to a press release, will be Shooter Jennings, Jamey Johnson, Whiskey Myers, Blackberry Smoke and Margo Price, among others. - Billboard, 2/5/20...... The family of late '70s reggae legend Bob Marley commemorated what would have been Marley's 75th birthday on Jan. 31 at the newly opened 1 Hotel in West Hollywood. A group of family, friends and industry dignitaries gathered for one in a series of Marley 75th birthday events in 2020, including 23-year-old Skip Marley, currently signed to Island Records, and free agent football player Nico Marley. "This family celebrates individuality," explained Mystic Marley of the family's legacy at the panel. "I feel like that comes from learning about freedom. We are all so different. If we all make a song, it will sound completely different (person to person). If we (want to) say something, it would never sound the same." On Feb. 5, Marley's daughter Cedella Marley dropped a revamped 40th anniversary video for Bob's trademark "Redemption Song." "I think it came out amazing," says Cedella of the song, which was originally released on Marley's twelfth album Uprising and written after he was diagnosed with the cancer. "When I watch it, it still gives me goosebumps." Marley died in 1981 of cancer at age 36. - Billboard, 2/5/20...... Founding Beach Boys members Brian Wilson and Al Jardine are calling for a boycott of a Beach Boys concert fronted by Mike Love and featuring Bruce Johnston set for Feb. 5 at the Safari Club International Convention in Reno, Nev., due to the organization's support of trophy hunting, which Brian Wilson says he and Jardine are opposed to. According to a petition calling for a boycott of the show posted on Change.org, which has amassed more than 64,000 signatures, the convention "glorifies the killing of bears, lions, bald eagles, chimpanzees, parrots and turtles as 'trophies' for hunters." It also urges Beach Boys fans to "pledge to stop buying or downloading all Beach Boys music, going to Beach Boys concerts, and purchasing any Beach Boys merchandise until the Beach Boys withdraw from the SCI Convention and publicly state their opposition to this sick 'sport' of killing animals for 'fun'." The Beach Boys currently tour with two longtime members, Mike Love and Bruce Johnston. Brian Wilson and Al Jardine have endorsed the petition. "This organization supports trophy hunting, which Both Al and I are emphatically opposed to," Wilson tweeted on Feb. 3. "There's nothing we can do personally to stop the show, so please join us in signing the petition." - Billboard, 2/3/20...... A niece of Aretha Franklin says she's quitting as representative of the late singer's estate, citing a rift in the family since handwritten wills were discovered last year. "Given my aunt's love of family and desire for privacy, this is not what she would have wanted for us, nor is it what I want," Sabrina Owens stated in a letter filed on Jan. 30 in a suburban Detroit court. Franklin died without a known will in Aug. 2018, and Owens, an administrator at the University of Michigan, says she became manager of the estate at the request of Franklin's four sons. Nine months later, Owens reported that three handwritten wills had been discovered in Franklin's home, including one under cushions in the living room. One document seems to indicate that Franklin wanted a son, Kecalf Franklin, to serve as executor or representative. After a judge agreed to let a handwriting expert examine the documents last August, another son, Theodore White II, asked the judge to make him co-representative of the estate with Owens. Meanwhile, court filings show a mediator has been privately working with the parties. "I hope that my departure will allow the business of the estate to continue, calm the rift in my family and allow me to return to my personal life," Owens said. "I love my cousins, hold no animosity towards them, and wish them the best." Franklin's estate reported assets of $17 million at the end of August, including master recordings and publishing rights worth an estimated $10.5 million. The Internal Revenue Service in October filed tax claims against the estate of more than $6 million. - AP, 2/3/20...... Don Powell, a drummer in the UK hard rock group Slade, revealed on Feb. 6 that he's been fired from the band after over 50 years. "It is with great sadness and regret that Don needs to inform his fans that he now is no longer a member of Dave Hill's Slade," a post on his website reads. "Dave has sent Don a cold email to inform him that his services are no longer required, after working together and being friends since 1963." The message goes on to reveal that Powell is set to return to playing Slade songs with his new band, the suitably named Don Powell's Slade, which he has formed with ex-Slade bassist Craig Fenney. The post also says Powell is recording a debut solo album, and has completed a new record with his other band, Don Powell's Occasional Flames. "Don hopes that all his loyal fans will support his new ventures which he is very excited about," the message concludes. Hill responded to Powell's post on his Facebook page, wishing Powell "every success in his future" and adding that his announcement of how he was fired "is not accurate." Powell's departure means that Slade have effectively now split up, with Hill the only remaining member. Slade formed in 1963 with founding members Noddy Holder, Jime Lea, Hill and Powell. - New Musical Express, 2/6/20...... ABBA member Benny Andersson has said in a new clip shared by the ABBA fan site Talk that the Swedish quartet is "aiming" to release new music this September. "They're coming. They're coming this year. I'm guessing after the summer. But I can only guess, because I'm not really sure. But I would think so," Andersson said of their first new songs in 35 years that ABBA first announced in 2018 they were planning on recording. Asked if they will be out in 2020, he added: "One shouldn't promise anything but if I were to decide myself, it would be September. I can't make that decision alone. But that's what we're aiming for." In 2018, Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog and Frida Lyndstad announced they had recorded two new songs, "I Still Have Faith in You" and "Don't Shut Me Down" to tie in with a proposed ABBA avatar tour. They said in a statement at the time: "The decision to go ahead with the exciting ABBA avatar tour project had an unexpected consequence. We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio." However, the tracks have yet to materialise and Bjorn later explained the plans had been delayed until at least 2020 due to the complex technical nature of the show they are creating. ABBA split in 1982 and performed together for the first time in decades in 2016 at a private event, which marked the 50th anniversary of the first meeting between songwriters Bjorn and Benny. - Music-News.com, 2/4/20...... John Lennon's eldest son Julian Lennon was recently rushed to hospital for an emergency cancer operation after a suspicious-looking mole was discovered during a routine appointment with is dermatologist. Julian, 56, told the U.K. paper The Sun that the mole was discovered during a routine appointment with skin expert Dr. Tess Mauricio. "The trouble is... you think you have time...," Julian noted. "A few days ago, I went to visit my dermatologist, here in LA, when she noticed a little bump on my head that was actually a mole that had been there, along with a birthmark, for the last 57 years. But this time, it looked & felt a little different," he explained. After a biopsy he had several days ago revealed that it was "malignant/cancerous" and needed to be removed immediately, Julian underwent the operation. "Hopefully we managed to remove all that was cancerous, but the mole is being sent off again, for a further/deeper analysis, and I'll have those results next week," he said. "I cannot tell you how I felt, from one moment of joy, to the fear of feeling that I may be gone, at any given moment. I'm still shaking inside... but my faith is strong." In a post on his Facebook page on Feb. 2, Julian urged his fans to also get checked out and "do every health check possible." "Life is too short & Don't make it shorter by being ignorant about your own health," he posted. Julian's latest album, Everything Changes, was released in 2011. Since then, he has released a handful of standalone singles, including 2016's "Saltwater 25." - Music-News.com, 2/4/20...... Director Spike Lee is set to direct a movie adaptation of former Talking Heads member David Byrne's "American Utopia" tour. The Do The Right Thing director will helm the feature-length adaptation of Byrne's well received tour, which features songs that are described as "forthright pleas and musings on a country that might one day build a better home for everyone in it." A Broadway adaptation of Byrne's "American Utopia" tour was also staged, and Byrne also released a live EP of the tour. Speaking about the film in a statement, Byrne said: "Pinch me. This couldn't have worked out better for this project. Spike Lee directing and Participant producing two socially engaged teams, well, three if you count us in the band, coming together in what I feel will be something moving, important, and unlike anything anyone has seen before." - NME, 2/2/20...... Blues rock artist Mike Zito has announced a spring 2020 U.K. tour behind his latest album, Rock 'n Roll: A Tribute to Chuck Berry. The tour will kick off in Kinross on Apr. 2, followed by shows in Hartlepool (4/3), Devizes (4/4), Sutton (4/5), Chislehust (4/7), London (4/8), Pershore (4/9) and Sheffield (4/11). The new album consists of 20 Chuck Berry classics performed by Zito and an impressive array of 21 guest guitarists, among them Joe Bonamassa, Walter Trout, Eric Gales, Robben Ford, Sonny Landreth, Luther Dickinson, Albert Castiglia, Anders Osborne and, significantly, Chuck Berry's grandson, Charles Berry III. "This was a very special project for me," Zito says. "I lived in Chuck's hometown of St. Louis for 32 years... Chuck Berry was a tremendous influence on my career, and, of course, on many other musicians' as well." - Noble PR, 2/3/20...... Andy Gill, guitarist and founding member of legendary U.K. punk band Gang of Four, has died following a short respiratory illness. He was 64. Gill played guitar for Gang of Four since the Leeds band's inception in 1976, alongside original members Jon King, Dave Allen and Hugo Burnham. Though the band's line up changed several times over the years, Gill remained the sole original member of Gang of Four throughout -- a career ranging from 1978 debut single "Damaged Goods" to 2019's Happy Now, their most recent studio album. Gill was also a highly respected producer, not only on much of Gang of Four's work, but several high-profile bands including Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Stranglers, Michael Hutchence, Killing Joke, Therapy?, The Jesus Lizard and The Futureheads. The news was announced in a post on the Gang of Four's Twitter account on Feb. 1. "This is so hard for us to write, but our great friend and Supreme Leader has died today," the statement begins. "Andy's final tour in November was the only way he was ever really going to bow out; with a Stratocaster around his neck, screaming with feedback and deafening the front row... to us, he was our friend -- and we'll remember him for his kindness and generosity, his fearsome intelligence, bad jokes, mad stories and endless cups of Darjeeling tea. He just so happened to be a bit of a genius too." - NME, 2/2/20...... Veteran director/producer Gene Reynolds, a six-time Emmy winner best known for directing and producing for the lauded socially conscious 1970s TV shows M*A*S*H and Lou Grant, died on Feb. 3 in Burbank, Calif. He was 96. Born in Cleveland, Oh. as Eugene Reynolds Blumenthal, Mr. Reynolds began as a child actor, making his big screen debut in a 1934 Our Gang short. His first significant non-acting work came in 1957 for the TV series Tales of Wells Fargo, which he created with James L. Brooks and Frank Gruber. Over the series' multiseason run, Reynolds wrote and directed several episodes. He had a solid run as a director on My Three Sons and stints on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Leave It to Beaver, The Andy Griffith Show, The Donna Reed Show, Gidget, The Munsters and F Troop. Over the course of his career, Mr. Reynolds drew 24 Primetime Emmy nominations, winning six times, including for outstanding series for M*A*S*H and, twice, for Lou Grant. He won his first Primetime Emmy in 1970 as a producer for Room 222. M*A*S*H remained in the top 10 for its entire run, and its final episode was at the time the most-watched program in history, with more than 50 million families tuning in. Mr. Reynolds described his later career as "freelance directing," and helmed several TV movies and episodes of such TV series as Life Goes On, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Touched by an Angel. His last directing effort was the 1999 telepic How to Get There. Starting in 1993, Mr. Reynolds served four years as president of the Directors Guild of America, which confirmed his death. He also won a Humanitas Prize for Lou Grant and DGA awards for direction of a comedy series for M*A*S*H twice and for direction of a drama series for Lou Grant once. In 1993, Mr. Reynolds received the DGA's Robert B. Aldrich Achievement Award for extraordinary service to the guild. - Reuters, 2/4/20...... Legendary Hollywood actor and producer Kirk Douglas, one of the first box office stars of the silver screen, died at his home on Feb. 5, according to his son, actor Michael Douglas. He was 103. "It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103," Michael Douglas told People magazine. "To the world, he was a legend, an actor from the golden age of movies who lived well into his golden years, a humanitarian whose commitment to justice and the causes he believed in set a standard for all of us to aspire to." With over 92 acting credits, including some 75 movies, seven of which co-starred his friend Burt Lancaster, Mr. Douglas became a superstar even before the term was coined. Born Issur Danielovitch Demsky, the poor son of an illiterate Russian-Jewish immigrant, in Amsterdam, N.Y., on Dec. 9, 1916, Mr. Douglas was known as Izzy as a child and had some 40 jobs growing up including newsboy, before acting in high school plays sent him on the course that would eventually make him a household name. He studied at Manhattan's American Academy of Dramatic Arts alongside classmate Lauren Bacall, who later helped get him a screen test that led to his first movie role, opposite Barbara Stanwyck, in 1946's The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. He received his first Academy Award nomination in 1950 for Champion, and was nominated again in 1953 for the Hollywood expose The Bad and the Beautiful, and once more in 1957 for his performance as Vincent Van Gogh in the biopic Lust for Life. A man of heartfelt conviction, Mr. Douglas hired blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo -- and giving him full-screen credit -- to write the 1960 epic Spartacus, in which Mr. Douglas starred and served as executive producer. In 1996, he was awarded an honorary Oscar for 50 years as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community, and in 2018, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The legendary actor had been in good health since suffering a stroke in 1996, and spent the last years of his life surrounded by his loved ones including Michael's son Cameron, who was released from prison in 2016 after being convicted on drug charges. He celebrated his 103rd birthday on Dec. 9 with his family -- and several tributes from his relatives including Michael and his wife, actress Catherine Zeta-Jones. He survived by his wife of 65 years, Anne, and his sons Michael, Joel, and Peter. - People.com/TheBlast.com, 2/6/20.

After former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters announced on Jan. 23 he'll launch a summer North American tour in July, the Jewish advocacy organization B'nai B'rith International is pushing back on one of the tour's ticket presale sponsors, Major League Baseball. In a letter to MLB commisioner Rob Manfred, B'nai B'rith charged that Waters "is an avowed anti-Semite whose views on Jews and Israel far exceed the boundaries of civil discourse" and they were "saddened and outraged that baseball ... would use its online resources to publicize an individual with an alarming history of anti-Semitic hatred. We call on MLB to cease providing Roger Waters a platform." MLB said in a statement the promotion was part of an ad buy by AEG/Concerts West for multiple concert tours and that the league "will respond to B'nai B'rith privately." Waters' tour is slated to begin July 8 in Pittsburgh and wrap on Oct. 3 in Dallas. - AP, 1/31/20...... Footage from an upcoming Beatles documentary from director Peter Jackson about the fractious Let It Be recording sessions was previewed at a Universal Music showcase on Jan. 28, and indications are it could change the way the Fab Four are viewed forever. Jackson (The Lord of the Rings) has been has been working on the film for a year, remastering hours of unused footage from Michael Lindsay-Hogg's 1970 documentary film Let It Be and editing previously unreleased footage into a film that appears to bust the myth that the sessions were fraught with tension between band members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. One clip reportedly showed the quartet in Let It Be recording sessions "joking around, making fun of each other, singing in silly accents and generally indulging in vintage Moptop hijinks," according to Variety. The footage was presented by Apple Records president Jeff Jones, who said: "We have created a brand-new film that will attempt to bust the myth that the Let It Be sessions were the final nail in the Beatles' coffin." With rehearsals of songs that would appear on the 1970 Let It Be album and early demos for songs that would crop up on solo records, Variety says that Beatles fans "will lose their minds over this film." Both the original Let It Be film and LP of the same name were released in May 1970, a month after the band officially announced their split. However, they had released Abbey Road, recorded during the band's final ever studio sessions together as a four-piece unit, in 1969. It was recorded after the notorious Let It Be sessions. The new Let It Be film is being prepped to coincide with its 50th anniversary this May, and will reportedly be followed by a remastered rerelease of the original film. - Yahoo Movies UK, 1/29/20...... In an interview with the UK music publication Kerrang, Ozzy Osbourne says he doesn't think he'll be around for "too much longer" after he was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and that he thinks about when his time will come, but "I don't worry about it." "It's gonna happen to us all," Osbourne says. "Am I happy now? No. I haven't got my health. That thing knocked the shit out of me, man, but I'm still here." Ozzy's battle with PRKN 2, a form of Parkinson's, comes after he fell in the middle of the night while going to the toilet in Feb. 2019, which impacted metal rods that were implanted after a motorbike accident in 2003. He added that he "feels better now" after owning up to his fans about having Parkinson. "To hide something is hard -- you never feel proper. You feel guilty. I'm no good with secrets. I cannot walk around with it anymore. It's like I'm running out of excuses," he said. Ozzy says he's now on the mend though and will release Ordinary Man, which features a title track collaboration with Elton John, on Feb. 21 and launch a UK tour of rescheduled arena shows behind the new album in October. Meanwhile in other Ozzy news, the shock rocker is featured in a new cat anti-declawing video by the animal rights group PETA. In the video, Osbourne shows the bloody stumps of his fingers to decry declawing cats. The musician nearly lost some of his own fingers in late 2018 as a result of an infection, and said in a statement that "amputating a cat's toes is twisted and wrong." "If your couch is more important to you than your cat's health and happiness, you don't deserve to have an animal! Get cats a scratching post -- don't mutilate them for life," he added. Veteranarians say declawing cats is like cutting off the end of human fingers, and the animals have to relearn how to walk because of the impaired balance, and are more likely to bite as a means of self-protection since they've lost their first defense mechanism. New Musical Express/Billboard, 1/30/20...... Sammy Hagar and his backing band the Circle have announced they'll kick off a 30-city U.S. summer tour with openers Whitesnake and Night Ranger on July 9 in West Palm Beach, Fla. "I love some friendly competition on stage and that's exactly what this is going to be," said Hagar in a release. "David [Coverdale] and I have nothing but the highest respect for one another, but we would also like to blow the other guy off the stage! Add in Night Ranger and the fans will have one hell of a night of music," he added. Hagar's band the Circle also includes former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony, drummer Jason Bonham, and guitarist Vic Johnson. The tour is set to run through Georgia, Virginia, New York, Michigan, Texas, and more before wrapping on Sept. 20 in Chula Vista, Calif. Hagar says his setlist will include career-spanning hits from his former bands Van Halen and Montrose, along with several solo career tracks. - Billboard, 1/27/20...... Boston-based groups Aerosmith and New Kids on the Block have announced they'll headline two shows at Boston's Fenway Park, the home of baseball's Red Sox, on Sept. 18 and 19, respectively. Aerosmith's gig is being billed as a "50th anniversary celebration" and will feature support from Extreme. Aerosmith were recently honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year during Grammy week before taking the stage at the Jan. 26 Grammys show to perform "Walk This Way" with Run-D.M.C.. - Billboard, 1/27/20...... Elton John was forced to abandon a concert in Australia on Jan. 31 after a downpour occurred during the show. As John was in the middle of playing his 1973 single "Funeral For a Friend," a torrential rain and hailstone storm began to flood the stage and instruments were damaged. Three assistants ushered Sir Elton off the stage in Victoria more than 95 minutes into his concert at Rochford Wines in Yarra Valley. He was unable to return to the stage because the bad weather continued. At the beginning of the concert, John remarked how "f---ing hot" it was in Australia. "Thank you for buying a ticket to the show. We love doing it, even though it's hot," he said, to widespread applause. The concert was the first of two shows John played in Victoria. - New Musical Express, 1/31/20...... Queen + Adam Lambert have added two final dates to their upcoming U.K. "Rhapsody Tour." The two new shows in Birmingham on June 14 and 15 come after six shows at The O2 in London between June 2 and 9, and before four additional shows at London's O2 between June 17 and 21. The band will kick off the European leg of the tour in Bologna, Italy on May 24. Meanwhile, it has been reported that Queen guitarist Brian May's company Brian May Guitars has begun selling sports bras. - NME, 1/29/20...... Tom Jones and Lionel Richie will be among the headliners of the UK's Edinburgh Summer Sessions 2020 festival, which runs from Aug. 8-20 at Princes Street Gardens. The two-week event kicks off with Jones performing on Aug. 8 and Richie headlining the following evening's show, with additional headliners on other nights including such acts as The 1975, McFly, Simple Minds and Travis. ionel Richie, who will be making his Edinburgh Summer Sessions debut, said in a statement: "I'm really looking forward to heading back to Scotland next summer, the crowds are some of the best in the world and I can't wait to get back over there to see you all." - NME, 1/29/20...... In a new interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Fleetwood Mac founder Mick Fleetwood says his band will never reunite with former member Lindsey Buckingham, who was fired from the band in 2018. "No," Fleetwood said when asked about the prospect of Buckingham rejoining the group. "Fleetwood Mac is a strange creature. We're very, very committed to [new members] Neil [Finn] and Mike [Campbell], and that passed away a time ago, when Lindsey left. And it's not a point of conversation, so I have to say no." Fleetwood continued: "It's a full drama of Fleetwood Mac, no doubt. [Buckingham's] legacy is alive and well, and as it should be. A major, major part that will never be taken away, and never be down-spoken by any of us. Neil and Mike have tremendous respect for Lindsey. The situation was no secret. We were not happy. It was not working, and we parted company. And that really is the all of it." Band frontwoman Stevie Nicks has cited Buckingham wanting too much time off to concentrate on his solo work as the reason for his being kicked out of the band. Buckingham has denied that was the case, and says he was given a list of things that "Stevie took issue with" in a phone call with the band's manager Irving Azoff, including how he had "smirked" during her thank you speech at a MusiCares concert and that he had had an outburst over the band's intro music, "Rhiannon." - NME, 1/28/20...... Film and TV character actor Robert Sampson, veteran of such shows as The Twilight Zone, That Girl, Green Acres, Bridget Loves Bernie and Star Trek, died peacefully of natural causes on Jan. 18 in Santa Barbara, Calif., it was reported on Jan. 31. Mr. Sampson enjoyed a 50-plus-year acting career spanning over 150 movie and television productions, including Re-Animator, The Dark Side of the Moon, Robot Jox, and many theatre and commercial productions. Mr. Sampson worked steadily from the 1960s to the 1990s and held regular roles in five short-lived television series, acted in about thirty-five movies, and guest-starred in about eighty television series, primarily in the 1960s and 1970s. He starred alongside David Birney in the 1970s series Bridget Loves Bernie, playing Bridget's older brother, a priest. In the original Star Trek series, he portrayed Sar 6 in the first season episode "A Taste of Armageddon." He is survived by a partner, Richard Witt, and a daughter, Rebecca. - TheLifeandTimesofHollywood.com, 1/31/20...... Fred Silverman, a legendary network TV programmer who greenlit such influential projects as All in the Family, Roots and Hill Street Blues during tenures at CBS, ABC and NBC, died on Jan. 30 at his home in Pacific Palisades, Calif. He was 82. Known as "The Man With the Golden Gut," Mr. Silverman gave David Letterman his first TV show; orchestrated such popular spinoffs as The Jeffersons, Rhoda, Laverne & Shirley, The Bionic Woman and The Facts of Life; and brought "Jiggle TV" series like Charlie's Angels and Three's Company to the airwaves (and suggested Suzanne Somers play Chrissy on the latter). Known as a genius of counterprogramming, Mr. Silverman honed his skills working on kids shows (he came up with the idea for Scooby-Doo), game shows (he resurrected The Price Is Right and launched Family Feud) and daytime TV (under his watch, All My Children and General Hospital aimed for younger viewers). At CBS, Mr. Silverman jettisoned rural comedies like The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction in favor of smarter shows like All in the Family and M*A*S*H, then took the beleaguered ABC network to No. 1 in primetime. He shifted to NBC in 1978 with oversight of the entire company, reporting only to the chairman of RCA. Born on Sept. 13, 1937, in New York City and raised in Queens, Mr. Silverman's father was a TV and radio repairman for Sears and his mom a housewife. He made a hobby of collecting radio scripts, getting them from the porters who worked at the radio networks; he said that at one point that he had about 5,000 of them. He earned his master's degree at Ohio State, where he recalled an adviser suggested he get into programming instead of his first choice of directing because programming "requires a real knowledge of the business, and it is kind of creative, because you're picking the shows." His first job was editing commercials at Tribune's WGN-TV in Chicago in 1961, where he oversaw Bozo's Circus, a live program that was a hit at noon, then found unlikely success with a repackaged, recut and heavily promoted block of Bomba, the Jungle Boy films. In 1970, Mr. Silverman was put in charge of everything on the air at CBS. "We had an old schedule that was directed at old people in rural areas," he once said. "Our company-owned stations in cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles were dying with this schedule. Something had to be done." He convinced CBS president Bob Wood to put All in the Family on the air, after ABC twice passed on it. Soon, the network was thriving, helped by Maude, The Jeffersons, Good Times and One Day at a Time -- all from producer Norman Lear. In 1978, Mr. Silverman jumped to NBC as president and CEO, where he guided David Letterman's talk shows and came up with the idea for Hill Street Blues, but exited the network in 1981 after it finished with its worst season in history. Mr. Silverman was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in 1999. He married his secretary at CBS, Catherine Ann Kihn, in 1971, and they had two children, Melissa and Billy. They survive him, as does his daughter-in-law, Anna. - The Hollywood Reporter, 1/30/20.