Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on September 21st, 2014

Paul McCartney has posted a video online asking members of the public to skip eating meat one day a week in order to help reduce their carbon footprint. Sir Paul is making the plea in conjunction with with the upcoming United Nations Global Summit, which is set for late September, and has launched a "Meat-Free Mondays" campaign in association with British Prime Minister David Cameron's climate advisor, Gregory Barker. More information can be found at MeatFreeMondays.com. Meanwhile, Macca is set to release an expanded edition of 2013's New. The new deluxe version includes two CDs and a DVD, and is presented as a hardback book. The second disc includes previously unreleased tracks "Hell To Pay" and "Demons Dance" as well as "Struggle," a song previously only available as a bonus track in Japan. Released in October 2013, New was McCartney's 16th solo studio album. In more McCartney news, a massive new McCartney tribute CD will include contributions from the likes of Bob Dylan ("Things We Said Today"), Billy Joel ("Maybe I'm Amazed," "Live and Let Die"), Willie Nelson ("Yesterday") and The Cure ("Hello Goodbye"), organizers announced on Sept. 9. Up to 42 songs will be featured in The Art of McCartney, and the release will be available in various formats including a two-CD package and box set. Due on Nov. 18, the CD is the brainchild of Los Angeles producer Ralph Sall. Sall says he's been working on the project since 2003, and on many of the cuts, the artists are backed by McCartney's current band. - New Musical Express/AP, 9/18/14..... In other Beatles-related news, Ringo Starr tells the UK's New Musical Express that he believes that bands will always be popular in music and that he has "never believed" that rock music is dying out. Starr says that he doesn't think the rock genre will disappear, and that bands will always "come through in the end." Speaking about his own tour, he added: "I'm always touring. I love to play -- that's why I do this. A lot of the bands wanna do it to be famous. But I wanna do it to play. That was all my dream was about, and then we became famous." - NME, 9/17/14.

A new Queen album entitled Queen Forever and featuring three previously unreleased tracks with Freddie Mercury on vocals -- including a collaboration with Michael Jackson -- will be released in November 2014. The Queen and Jackson duet, "There Must Be More To Life Than This," was written by Mercury during sessions for Queen's 1981 album Hot Space and the band recorded a backing track, but the song was never completed. Mercury later visited Jackson in Los Angeles, where Jackson's vocals were recorded but the song remained uncompleted. In 1984, Queen attempted to revive the track during sessions for their The Works album, but again it was not finished and Mercury's own version of the song surfaced on his debut solo album, 1985's Mr Bad Guy. This new production of the ballad uses Queen's original backing track and Mercury and Jackson's vocals, and was produced by William Orbit. Also featured on Queen Forever, which will be released both as a 20-track single CD and an extended 36-track, 2-CD set, will be previously unheard tracks "Let Me In Your Heart Again" and "Love Kills." Queen guitarist Brian May describes the rest of the album as "things that we have collected together that are representative of our growth rather than the big hits." - NME, 9/19/14...... In other Michael Jackson news, a federal judge in California has dismissed a lawsuit against Hologram USA owner Alki David, whose company produced a holographic re-creation of Jackson that was featured at the Billboard Music Awards. In court, David attacked those who had created the spectacle for allegedly infringing his patents rights. And through the media, he hyped the various applications for the projection technology. A day after the May 18 Billboard Music Awards, David gave an interview with CNN that aired with the caption, "Michael Jackson Hologram: How'd They Do It?" Pulse Entertainment then brought a $10 million lawsuit against David, charging that he "falsely claimed credit for creating and developing the visual effects spectacle in a nationally-televised interview on CNN." Now U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson notes that the allegation of misrepresentation is grounded in fraud and means that Pulse has the burden of specifying the statements it claims were false. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/19/14.

Longtime David Bowie producer Tony Visconti confirmed to CNN that David Bowie will be releasing more new music in the future. "There's gonna be another album, definitely soon," Visconti said in an interview on Sept. 19. In July 2014, Bowie put rumors that his 2012 comeback LP The Next Day was just a one-off affair by revealing he was working on another brand new album. But Bowie fans shouldn't hold their breath for the Thin White Duke's return to the stage. "I don't think he's gonna busk in the Tube... on the Underground. As far as a concert is concerned I have no idea," Visconti said. "He clearly didn't promote The Next Day with a concert and whether he does for the next one I don't know and I couldn't predict that -- it's up to him. It's whatever takes his fancy." While there is no word on when the new Bowie album might drop, a Bowie greatest hits compilation called Nothing Has Changed featuring a brand-new song produced by Visconti -- "Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)" -- will hit stores on Nov. 17. In other Bowie news, Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel has declared that Sept. 23 will be David Bowie Day in the Windy City, as the Bowie retrospective exhibition 'David Bowie Is...' begins its run at the Chicago Museum Of Contemporary Art. Emanuel noted that Bowie is hailed as "an undisputed global icon boasting a catalogue of 26 critically acclaimed studio albums," whose "remarkable half-century career has bridged cultures and faiths while both transcending and fortifying the music, art, fashion & design, and theatrical canons." - Billboard/NME, 9/19/14.

Three backup dancers in Cher's "Dressed to Kill" tour have sued the singer, claiming they were wrongfully fired from her current tour and that Cher engaged in racial discrimination. Filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Sept. 18, the wrongful termination lawsuit alleges Cher remarked that there were "too many dark-skinned dancers on her tour" and instructed her choreographer to "hire a white dancer over a qualified black performer." The suit states the dancers were fired from the tour after informing managers that another dancer assaulted an unidentified woman in a hotel room while on tour. Two of the plaintiffs, who are black, say their race was a motivating factor in their dismissal. The third dancer cites age discrimination as a factor in her firing. Cher's publicist Liz Rosenberg denies the allegations and says there is no truth to them. - AP, 9/18/14...... Meanwhile another famous diva from the '60s and '70s, Aretha Franklin, is preparing to release a new album on Sept. 30, produced by Arista Records president Clive Davis. Davis has previously produced Franklin and says she has "always held a very special place in my heart...She's universally recognized to be the greatest singer of all time" and that the new LP shows Franklin "in absolutely peak form." Aretha's new album is purely and simply sensational," Davis says. "She's on fire and vocally in absolutely peak form. What a thrill to see this peerless artist still showing the way, still sending shivers up your spine, still demonstrating that all contemporary music needs right now is the voice. What a voice." The album's name has not yet been announced. - Billboard, 9/18/14...... Lawyers representing Led Zeppelin have filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the heirs of founding Spirit member Randy Craig Wolfe alleging that Led Zep used Wolfe's song "Taurus" as inspiration for "Stairway to Heaven." Led Zeppelin's attorneys are basing their request on the simple reason that the members of the band are all British. Wolfe's heirs filed their lawsuit in Pennsylvania, and Led Zep's legal team say that "the individual defendants are British citizens residing in England, own no property in Pennsylvania and have no contacts with Pennsylvania, let alone ties sufficient to render them essentially at home here. Under established case law, no good faith basis exists to argue the Court has general jurisdiction over them." In a separate motion to dismiss, "Stairway" publisher Warner/Chappell Music also mentions that the plaintiff is relying "on a California Trust and his allegations that its ownership of Taurus is based on the claimed invalidity of Wolfes 1967 songwriter and recording contracts." - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/18/14...... Ozzy Osbourne's wife Sharon Osbourne recently revealed on her daytime television series The Talk that as a 27-year-old young single woman she once cut her wrists in an effort to prove how much she loved (her then-boyfriend, now-husband) Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne. After telling Ozzy, "I'd do anything for you," Sharon said she decided to prove the depth of her commitment to Ozzy by grabbing a steak knife and slashing her wrists. "Unfortunately for me, I kind of went too deep and it wouldn't stop bleeding so I'm saying, 'Dear, I think we'd better call an ambulance.'" Sharon says she now laughs about the whole thing, though it doesn't seem particularly funny -- she was apprently admitted to a psychiatric hospital after the incident. - Billboard, 9/18/14...... Bruce Springsteen will be among the headliners for the eighth edition of Stand Up for Heroes, an annual music and comedy event honors returning service members, veterans and their families. Stand Up for Heroes is one of the centerpiece events of the 11th annual New York Comedy Festival, running Nov. 5-9 at venues throughout New York City with more than 200 comedians performing. The group has raised more than $21 million to help post-9/11 injured service members and their families. This year's event will also feature Louis C.K., John Oliver and Brian Williams. - Billboard, 9/16/14...... A pair of new books about soul legend James Brown by two of his children offer a disturbing look into the world of the Godfather of Soul, with graphic descriptions of abuse and unbelievable tales of family murders going back 40 years. In her new memoir Cold Sweat, Brown's daughter Yamma Brown graphically describes how the legendary singer beat his second wife, Dee Dee, and recounts her own abusive marriage. She writes the abuse from her dad sounded "like thunder rolling through the house" as her mom was thrown against walls. "After that, the house would go completely quiet. The sound of the silence was the worst because that's when Deanna and I would wonder if our mother were alive or dead and if we would be next." Meanwhile a book by Yamma's half-brother Daryl Brown, Inside the Godfather, makes wild claims about Brown's death, suggesting that the singer was murdered and that other family members were also murdered. "My father was murdered," alleges Daryl Brown. He suggests it might have been done by members of Brown's inner circle but offers no concrete evidence. Instead, he asserts, "I just have a gut feeling that he was killed." Yamma Brown's book has been called "a courageous and often unsettling look at the not-so-glamorous consequences of being the offspring of a major celebrity," while Daryl's Brown's work has been dismissed for its hyperbolic claims of murder and its obsession with settling scores with rivals in Brown's inner circle. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/17/14...... Saturday Night Fever and Grease star John Travolta has dismissed allegations suggesting he enjoyed a steamy gay affair with his former pilot, insisting all of his supposed former lovers are simply chasing a big pay day. Travolta is currently fighting legal action from Douglas Gotterba, who is seeking to write a tell-all book about an alleged romance with the actor, which he claims took place while he was working for the star's Alto aircraft company in the 1980s. The 60-year-old actor has long been subjected to speculation over his sexuality, despite being married to actress Kelly Preston since 1991, and he is convinced Gotterba's reasons for going public with his accusations are simply rooted in money -- just like his previous accusers. "This is every celebrity's Achilles heel. It's just about people wanting money. That's all. It happens on many levels," he told the website TheDailyBeast.com. He added that he "let all the media stuff go a long time ago because I can't control it... I think that's why it (gay rumours) persists, to some degree." - WENN.com, 9/17/14.

Grand Ole Opry star George Hamilton IV, best known for such country hits as "A Rose and a Baby Ruth" and "Abiline," passed away at a Nashville, Tenn., hospital on Sept. 17 at the age of 77. Hamilton is also remembered as one of the first Nashville-based artists to blend country with folk, recording many songs by up-and-coming songwriters as Gordon Lightfoot and Joni Mitchell. He also recorded many Gospel records which were well received by fans and critics alike. Born in Winston Salem, N.C., on July 19, 1937, Hamilton recorded the John D. Loudermilk-penned "A Rose and a Baby Ruth" for a small regional label named Colonial Records while still attending college, and it climbed to No. 6 on the Bilboard Hot 100 in 1956. The flip side of the single, "If You Dont Know," was very much in the rockabilly fashion. The record was acquired by ABC / Paramount, where Hamilton would remain through 1960. He would place nine more releases on the Billboard pop chart, with the biggest being 1958's "Why Don't They Understand," which hit No. 10. In 1959, Hamilton moved his family to Nashville, and became a member of the Grand Ole Opry soon after. His country hits continued throughout the decade, with the biggest being 1963's "Abilene," (also written by Loudermilk) which topped the country charts for four weeks and hit No. 15 on the charts. Hamilton also enjoyed worldwide popularity, and earned the moniker "The International Ambassador of Country Music." He also hosted a weekly syndicated show in Canada, and was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2010. His last album was 2011's In The Heart of Texas, recorded on the Heart of Texas label. He also recorded many Gospel records which were well received by fans and critics alike. - Billboard, 9/18/14...... Polly Bergen, a versatile Emmy-winning actress perhaps best known as the terrorized wife in the original Cape Fear movie as well as portraying the first woman president in Kisses for My President, died from natural causes in her Southbury, Conn., home on Sept. 20. She was 84. A brunette beauty with a warm, sultry singing voice, Ms. Bergen was a household name from her 20s onward. She made albums and played leading roles in films, stage musicals and TV dramas, including the 1983 epic The Winds of War, and during the 1950s she became a regular on the popular game show To Tell the Truth. She also hosted her own variety series and founded a thriving beauty products company that bore her name. In recent years, she played Felicity Huffman's mother on Desperate Housewives and the past mistress of Tony Soprano's late father on The Sopranos. Ms. Bergen won an Emmy in 1958 portraying the tragic singer Helen Morgan on the famed anthology series Playhouse 90, and was nominated for another Emmy in 1989 for best supporting actress in a miniseries or special for War and Remembrance. She also battled emphysema and other ailments in the late 1990s, a result of 50 years of smoking. She is survived by her children Peter Fields, Kathy Lander and Pamela Fields and three grandchildren. - AP, 9/20/14...... Johnny Rotella, an accomplished instrumentalist and songwriter who wrote the Frank Sinatra standard "Nothing but the Best" and recorded with such artists as Neil Diamond, Frank Zappa, Steely Dan and others, died peacefully in his sleep in Van Nuys, Calif., on Sept. 11. He was 93. Mr. Rotella, a master of the clarinet, saxophone and flute, played with Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman's big bands, was featured on the twin altos with the Billy Vaughn Orchestra and worked in many sessions with top-notch composer/arrangers Jimmie Haskell, Earle Hagen and Buddy Baker. He was a band regular on the 1970s CBS variety series The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour and contributed to TVs I Spy and the first two The Godfather films. He also played in the orchestra for Broadway shows and Los Angeles theater productions. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/18/14.