Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on January 9th, 2015

An acetate recording of "My Happiness," the first song Elvis Presley ever recorded, sold at auction for $300,000 on Jan. 8, what would have been the late singer's 80th birthday. An 18-year-old Presley recorded the song for a $4 fee in 1953 at Sun Records, the Memphis studio operated by Sam Phillips. According to legend, Presley then left the studio and went to the home of friend Ed Leek to listen to it as his family didn't have a record player. Presley ended up leaving the record behind, and it remained in Leek's and later his niece's possession until she contacted Graceland -- Presley's former home and now a museum and tourist attraction -- and it was offered for auction, with the bidding starting at $50,000. Other items on sale at the Graceland auction included an autographed copy of "That's All Right," a custom designed watch, Presley's first driver's license, and the jacket he wore in his iconic 1964 film Viva Las Vegas. To mark Presley's 80th birthday, hundreds of fans joined the Presley family in Memphis, Tennessee, to slice an eight-tier cake in celebration. Sony/Legacy Recordings have also planned a yearlong celebration of Presley's music, which includes releasing the singer's The Complete '60s Albums Collection Vol. 1 onto iTunes. Also, a new website called ElvisTheMusic.com was launched the same day, featuring a comprehensive online database of the singer. In December, the largest Elvis retrospective ever mounted in Europe, "Elvis At The O2: The Exhibition Of His Life," opened in London. It showcases over 300 artifacts from the Presley family's treasured Graceland Archives, and is open for nine months. Meanwhile, Julien's auctions has announced two jets formerly owned by Elvis are going on their auction block. The company that operates the Graceland has told the current owners of the plane "Lisa Marie," and another plane called the "Hound Dog II," that it wants the planes removed from Graceland by late Apr. 2015, or shortly afterward. Although the planes are not airworthy, their interiors have been preserved and were on display at Graceland until recently. Julien's is accepting bids on the planes until Feb. 2. - NME/Billboard, 1/9/15.

Led Zeppelin announced on Jan. 8 that they will release a Super Deluxe Edition of their 1975 double-LP Physical Graffiti on Feb. 23, one day before the 40th anniversary of the album's Feb. 24, 1975, release. Remastered by Jimmy Page and featuring a companion disc of seven previously unreleased tracks (including rough mixes of the songs "In My Time Of Dying" and "Houses Of The Holy"), the reissue also features different takes on classic hits, including an early mix of "Trampled Under Foot" called "Brandy & Coke," and the Sunset Sound mix of "Boogie With Stu" and "Driving Through Kashmir." The deluxe album will be available from Feb. 23 via Atlantic/Swan Song in CD, Vinyl and digital formats. Zeppelin reissued their first five albums in 2014, making the Top 10 charts in several countries around the world. - New Musical Express, 1/8/15...... The unlikely pairing of hip-hop star Kayne West and rock legend Paul McCartney on West's new single "Only One" has bowed at No. 35 in the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart, giving the former Beatle his first appearance in the Top 40 after a 25-year break. The touching ballad, a tribute to West's late mother, Dr. Donda West, sold 125,000 downloads in the week ending Jan. 4, according to Nielsen Music, and bowed at No. 10 on Digital Songs. It serves as the first single from West's upcoming studio album, and, according to Def Jam Records, is the first of further West/McCartney collaboarations. Sir Paul last reached the Top 40 more than 25 years ago, when "My Brave Face" rose to No. 25 in July 1989. The song is also McCartney's second to reach a Billboard chart in the past month. His "Hope for the Future" spent a week at No. 44 on the Hot Rock Songs chart dated Dec. 27. The song accompanies the online first-person shooter game Destiny. - Billboard, 1/9/15...... The Recording Academy has announced that former U.S. Pres. Jimmy Carter will present Bob Dylan with the 2015 MusiCares Person of the Year honor during a pre-Grammy ceremony on Feb. 6 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Dylan's accolade was announced in Sept. 2014, with MusiCares Foundation CEO Neil Portnow saying "Dylan's body of creative work has contributed to America's culture, as well as that of the entire world, in genuinely deep and lasting ways." Performing at the show will be Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Bonnie Raitt, Tom Jones and John Mellencamp, among others. Proceeds from the event, which is in its 25th year, will support MusiCares, which provides financial and medical help to musicians in need. - AP/Billboard, 1/6/15...... The copyright infringement trial brought by the family of Marvin Gaye against Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke over the controversial creation of the mega-hit song, "Blurred Lines," is scheduled to get underway in federal court in California on Feb. 10. In trial that will surely be an historic one for the music industry, both sides have submitted memos that outline their key arguments and evidence over whether "Blurred Lines" is or isn't a copyright infringement of Gaye's 1977 chart-topper "Got to Give It Up." As the Gaye family seeks compensation from Williams and Thicke's profits from "Blurred Lines" as well as statutory damages, Williams and Thicke hope to limit potential damages to the value of the license fee they would have paid for the Gaye songs. - The Hollywood Reporter, 1/6/15...... In related news, Daryl Hall has sued the Rural Media Group, which broadcasts his web show Live From Daryl's House, for expenses related to his appearance in last year's Rose Parade that he was allegedly promised would be reimbursed. The Hall & Oates singer appeared in a float called "You Make My Dreams Come True" in the 2014 New Year's Day parade in Pasadena, racking up more than $87,000 he claims to be owed. According to TMZ.com, Rural Media Group has been selling a Rose Parade DVD for $29.99 that includes Hall's photo on the cover and features his songs. - Billboard, 1/6/15...... Neil Young has revealed to Rolling Stone magazine that he's working on a new album with Willie Nelson's sons, Lukas and Micah Nelson. "I'm working on another album now that I'm going to be doing with Willie Nelson's sons. It's an upbeat review of the situation," Young said, adding that the working title is The Monsanto Years. Monsanto is the agriculture company Young has been publicly battling for years. The singer boycotted Starbucks last year over the coffee company's involvement with Monsanto in a lawsuit against the state of Vermont's new requirements to label genetically modified ingredients. Meanwhile, on Jan. 7 Young launched his much-hyped Pono music player. The device, which according to Young offers high-quality audio and will be capable of storing 1-2,000 high resolution songs, is now available for order online for a price of $260 and will be delivered to customers in February. "This is all about making music sound as good as it can," Young said of the Pono player. "Music is about having a good time feeling in your soul, whether it makes you laugh or it makes you cry. The mission of Pono is to make you feel as much as you can." - NME, 1/9/15...... AC/DC will be among the headliners at the Coachella 2015 festival, which is set for Indio, Calif., this spring. The Aussie head-bangers will perform on Apr. 10 & 17 during the two-weekend fest. Other headliners include Jack White, Drake, Steely Dan, Florence + the Machine and Tame Impala. - Billboard, 1/6/15...... The producers behing the Sting-penned Broadway musical "The Last Ship" announced on Jan. 6 that the production will close on Jan. 24 due to poor attendance. The show reportedly cost $15 million to produce with $625,000 or more weekly running costs, and producers said in the end they couldn't make the numbers work. News of the closure comes despite Sting joining the cast in Dec. 2014 in a late effort to boost flagging ticket sales and drum up much needed publicity. The musical was Sting's first to hit Broadway, and the early reviews were mixed at best, with the former Police frontman's score garnering critical praise and the book receiving less positive notices upon the show opening in October. - The Hollywood Reporter, 1/6/15...... The first ever academic conference on German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk will take place in the UK at Aston University in Birmingham on Jan. 20-21. "Volksmusik for the Twenty-First Century: Kraftwerk And The Birth Of Electronic Music In Germany" will feature former Kraftwerk member Wolfgang Flur will also read extracts from his memoir Kraftwerk: I Was A Robot and take part in a Q&A session. Kraftwerk, along with the Beatles, will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2015 Grammy Awards, set for Jan. 26 at the Staples Center in L.A. - New Musical Express, 1/8/15...... British Classic Rockers Status Quo have spent a landmark 500 weeks in the UK charts, after their latest album Aquostic (Stripped Bare) currently at Number 34, has been in the charts for 11 weeks. Status Quo joins the likes of only 50 other artists, including Queen, the Beatles and Elvis Presley, who have been in the album charts for 500 weeks over their career. Queen, who have spent 1,457 weeks in the album charts, have spent the most weeks in the UK chart, which is compiled by the Official Charts Company. Status Quo will launch a 7-city UK tour at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall on Apr. 20. - NME, 1/5/15...... Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler's daughter, actress Liv Tyler, has sparked speculation she is engaged to David Beckham's close pal Dave Gardner by sporting a ring on her left hand. In September, Tyler confirmed she is pregnant with her second child, one month after going public with her romance with sports agent Gardner amid rumours they had been dating for months. Tyler has a 10-year-old son, Milo, from a previous relationship with British musician Royston Langdon. - WENN.com 1/5/15...... Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood already chronicled his band's notorious, coke-fueled Seventies excesses in his first memoir, 1990's Fleetwood. But his new book, Play On: Now, Then, and Fleetwood Mac, brings his and the band's story up to date, breezes over the same material (with fewer lurid stories) and adds behind-the-curtain tidbits about the Mac's later years. But only Mac die-hards will want to read about the collapse of Fleetwood's third marriage. - Rolling Stone, 1/15/15...... Olivia Newton-John and actress Didi Conn, who played memorable best friends and cousins Sandy and Frenchy in the 1978 classic movie Grease, reunited for a performance of the film's song "Summer Nights" at Las Vegas' Flamingo Hotel & Casino on Jan. 3 during Newton-John's show. Wearing black and pink jackets in tribute to their high school greaser girl and Pink Ladies roles, the two sang the famous "Summer Nights" track for the audience. "The Olivia Newton-John: Summer Nights" show features an eight-piece band and includes numerous Grease throwbacks, including "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "You're the One That I Want," as well as Newton-John's 1980 single "Physical." - The Hollywood Reporter, 1/5/15...... Author David Ritz's new Aretha Franklin biography Respect delves into the Queen of Soul's dark side: her early drinking problems, her "gentleman pimp" first husband, her testy working relationships with producers like Luther Vandross and Jerry Wexler, and her deeply competitive streak, which she once unleashed on Whitney Houston while recording a duet. Ritz's writing can be choppy and indulgent, but his research is solid, and he vividly expresses what made her voice and albums so monumental in the Sixties. - Rolling Stone, 1/15/15...... Classic rockers Toto will release Toto XIV, their first studio album in ten years, on Mar. 24 in the US and a day earlier in the UK. Toto XIV is the band's first album of new material since 2006's Falling In Between. However, the band personally considers the new album to be the true follow-up to Toto IV, which made the band global superstars. "This is opposite of going through the motions," says keyboardist Steve Porcaro. "We just want to be the best version of ourselves that we can be. Be true to ourselves and make the best music we can. Entertain people which is what we were put on this earth for." Configurations include CD, with a Deluxe Edition available featuring a "Making of" Documentary on DVD. Additionally Toto XIV will be available as a 2LP vinyl set, and a Super Deluxe limited edition which includes the Deluxe CD/DVD edition, 2LP vinyl, an exclusive poster, t-shirt, and lithograph. Toto will kick off a world tour behind the album in Glasgow on May 21, 2015. - Noble PR, 1/8/15...... Iconic band Spain, featuring singer/bassist Josh Haden, have announced a 6-week tour from Jan. 28 - Mar. 11. Kicking off in Boston, Mass., the band then plays Lincoln Center in NYC, before club shows in Philly, D.C. and Brooklyn. The brief Northeast swing will see the band perform as a trio (bass, guitar, drums) and will mark the band's first East coast shows in 15 years. The multi-continent tour, which includes thirty shows in Europe, will support Spain's latest release, 2014's Sargent Place, which achieved glowing 4-star reviews from several music mags and newspapers. - 1888 Media, 1/7/15...... Ray McFall, a former owner of the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool where the Beatles played almost 300 times over a two-and-a-half year period, has died at the age of 88. Mr. McFall owned the club in the 1960s, changing it from a jazz venue to a rock 'n' roll club and booking Merseybeat bands like the Beatles. The Fab Four went on to play at the legendary basement venue 292 times. "It was Ray who opened it up to those early Merseybeat sessions, which led to the whole Merseybeat explosion," said Jon Keats, a director of the Cavern. "It was completely his vision that moved the club forward, with what turned into the huge Merseybeat explosion and the Beatles' success and Gerry and the Pacemakers and all the main bands." The venue also hosted gigs by the Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, John Lee Hooker and Howlin' Wolf. But in 1966, McFall was declared bankrupt and the Cavern Club was forced to close. In 1973, the cellar was filled in but the club was rebuilt near the original site and opened again in 1984. - The BBC, 1/8/15..... Famed rock concert promoter and music impresario Bill Graham will get his first ever museum retrospective when a "Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution" exhibit opens at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles starting May 7. The exhibit will feature never before seen photos and artifacts on loan from the Graham family, including the original artwork of several iconic Fillmore concert posters, along with archival concert footage, historical and new video interviews and psychedelic art related to Graham, who was godfather of the San Francisco concert scene and one ofthe most influential concert promoters in history. The Berlin-born Graham, who died in a helicopter crash in 1991 at the age of 60, was known for working with such major rock acts as the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones, among many others. The exhibition, which will run through Oct. 11, coincides with two 50th anniversaries: Graham's first concert and the Grateful Dead's live debut. - Billboard, 1/9/15...... Acclaimed gospel artist Andra Crouch, a seven-time Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, arranger, producer and pastor, died at Northridge Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles on Jan. 3 after suffering a heart attack. He was 72. Crouch, who penned several popular gospel songs such as "The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power," also directed the choirs that sang on Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" and Madonna's "Like a Prayer." He was often praised for bridging the gap between popular music and gospel, bringing a contemporary pop and R&B sensibility to his music. He also served as a pastor alongside his sister at the New Christ Memorial Church in San Fernando, Calif. - Billboard, 1/8/15...... Actor Rod Taylor, known for his leading roles in such films as The Birds and The Time Machine, died on Jan. 8 at his home in Los Angeles. He was two days shy of turning 85. Mr. Taylor big breakthrough came with his starring turn in The Time Machine, director George Pal's 1960 adaptation of the H. G. Wells 1895 sci-fi classic. He also played the heroic Mitch Brenner in Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 classic The Birds, coming to the aid of Tippi Hedren. His dozens of other movie credits include Giant (1956), The V.I.Ps (1963), Sunday in New York (1963), Do Not Disturb (1965) and The Glass Bottom Boat (1966). Most recently, the suave native of Sydney, Australia, played Winston Churchill in director Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds (2009). His TV credits include Hong Kong, Bearcats!, The Oregon Trail, Outlaws and Falcon Crest. - The Hollywood Reporter, 1/8/2015...... Irwin Steinberg, a co-founder of Mercury Records, passed away at his home in Brattleboro, Vermont, on Dec. 29. He was 94. Before entering the music business, Mr. Steinberg studied at the University of Chicago, gained a Masters from the University of California and served in the AirCorps. After leaving Mercury Records in 1968, he went on to become chairman and CEO of Polygram Records, where he worked for over 30 years. - NME, 1/4/15.

The death of British rocker Joe Cocker on Dec. 22 after battle with small cell lung cancer has spurred his fans to celebrate the rock legend's music in droves. Cocker's catalog of albums saw a 2,319 percent sales gain in the week ending Dec. 28, according to Nielsen Music, rising to 22,000 sold (up from 1,000 the week before). His biggest seller for the week was The Best of Joe Cocker: 20th Century Masters the Millennium Collection (released in 2000), which sold 7,000 (up 4,878 percent), good for a No. 75 debut on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart. It was the singer's first appearance on the chart since 2007. Meanwhile, Cocker's songs sold a combined 121,000 downloads in the week ending Dec. 28, a 3,630 percent surge. His best-selling tune during the week was his iconic cover of the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends," which moved 32,000 downloads (up 5,090 percent). It debuted at No. 6 on Rock Digital Songs, and No. 8 on the overall Hot Rock Songs chart (which measures sales, airplay and streaming). Cocker's 1972 track "Feeling Alright," also bowed on Hot Rock Songs, at No. 22, selling 13,000 downloads for the week (up 2,734 percent). Overall streams of Cocker's songs grew to 3.87 million for the week, a 1,241 percent blast. His top-streamed song in the week ending Dec. 28 was "With a Little Help From My Friends" with 1.3 million (up 1,716 percent). Finally, Cocker debuted at No. 84 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart, which ranks most popular acts across Billboard's most influential charts, including the Hot 100, Top Album Sales and the Social 50. - Billboard, 1/2/15...... In an op-ed published by Wired.com, Peter Gabriel is advocating the use of unbiased video evidence in the United States' legal system. "How is it that despite compelling video evidence, justice can be so elusive for the victims of police brutality?" the former Genesis frontman ask in the piece titled "Tech Can Make Video Evidence a Cornerstone of Justice." Gabriel contends evidence in courtrooms is often based on our "fallible memories, spoken evidence produced long after the event" -- that is proved to be unreliable and often reimagined. "Justice flourishes in the light, in openness and transparency, in which the defense and prosecution are seen to be treated fairly and given equal opportunity," he said, and also encouraged tech companies to create a "proof mode" on video evidence so that investigators, journalists and audiences to know whether a piece of media has been tampered with at all. - Billboard, 12/30/14...... Mega-selling hip-hop star Kayne West has released his latest single, "Only One," online with Paul McCartney on organ. Instead of the rapper's usual bombast, the song boasts a spare arrangement with West tenderly singing from the perspective of his late mother as she looks down from the heavens and addresses him. "Hello my only one, just like the morning sun/ You'll keep on rising till the sky knows your name," the song's chorus goes. It's possible that West and the famous former Beatle will collaborate again, as the New York Post reported in 2014 that the pair were working on a song called "Piss On My Grave." Aside from West's "Only One" track (now available on iTunes), McCartney's most-recent work is the song "Hope For The Future," his song featured on the soundtrack of video game Destiny. - New Musical Express, 1/1/15...... In an interview with the New York Times promoting his new book Sound Man, engineer and record producer Glyn Johns describes the Beatles' original Phil Spector-produced LP Let It Be as "a bunch of garbage." "I was disappointed that Lennon got away with giving it to Spector, and even more disappointed with what Spector did to it," Johns told the paper. "It has nothing to do with the Beatles at all. Let It Be is a bunch of garbage. As I say in the book, he puked all over it. I've never listened to the whole thing, I've only listened to the first few bars of some things and said, 'Oh, forget it.' It was ridiculously, disgustingly syrupy." In the book, Johns also claims that Bob Dylan enquired about the possibility of making an album with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. "He asked me if I would find out whether the others would be interested," Johns says, however Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger brushed off that idea. - NME, 1/2/15...... According to Nielsen Music, vinyl LP sales hit another historic high in 2014. The '70s favorite music format grew by 52 percent in 2014 to 9.2 million copies (up from 6.1 million in 2013). For the seventh straight year, more vinyl albums were sold than in any other year since Nielsen started tracking music sales in 1991. Notably, there were 94 albums that sold at least 10,000 copies on vinyl in 2014 -- up tremendously from 46 titles in 2013. Nielsen says 3.6 percent of all albums sold in 2014 were on vinyl. To compare, 10 years ago in 2004, just 0.2 percent of all albums sold were on vinyl (1.2 million of 681.4 million). - Billboard, 12/31/14...... In a new interview with the PBS television network, Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham hints that the band may be entering into their final years together, describing their forthcoming world tour as the "last act" for the group. Discussing the possibility of hearing new music from the band, as well as their live plans, Buckingham said: "We're going to continue working on the new album, and the solo stuff will take a back seat for a year or two. A beautiful way to wrap up this last act." Fleetwood Mac are set to kick off a tour of the UK in 2015 playing multiple shows in London in May, then visiting Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Dublin in June before wrapping with two shows in Leeds on June 30 and July 5. They'll also headline The Isle Of Wight Festival in June, their only UK festival appearance of 2015. - NME, 1/3/15...... Grand Ole Opry cast member Little Jimmy Dickens, known for such humorous country hits as "May The Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose," "Take An Old Cold Tater (And Wait)" and "A-Sleeping At The Foot Of The Bed," died on Jan. 2 in Nashville due to cardiac arrest. He was 94. Mr. Dickens came to prominence in country music in the late 1940s, during the time of Hank Williams and Eddy Arnold, and became the last man standing from that era -- continuing to entertain fans at the Grand Ole Opry less than two weeks ago. Born Dec. 19, 1920 in Bolt, W.Va., Mr. Dickens became a member of the WSM's Grand Ole Opry Radio show in Aug. 1948, and signed with Columbia the next month. The following year, he scored four Top 10 records on the country chart, and became one of the genre's biggest stars in the early 1950s, thanks to continued success with singles such as "I'm Little But I'm Loud," "Hillbilly Fever," and "Out Behind The Barn." In 1965, the singer recorded his biggest hit with "May The Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose," which became his only No. 1 country hit. It also marked his lone appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart, peaking at No.15. In 1983, Mr. Dickens achieved the pinnacle of his career with his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and continued to tour through the years, but became known as one of the symbols of the Opry during his later years. He often introduced many newcomers to the stage, and also extended invitations to many to become members, such as the Oak Ridge Boys and Trace Adkins. Mr. Dickens turned 94 on Dec. 19, and made his final appearance on the Opry stage the next night. He was admitted to the hospital on Christmas Day. - Billboard, 1/2/15...... Tony award-winning stage and screen actor Edward Herrmann, who portrayed Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1976 TV movie Eleanor and Franklin and charmed audiences as the stuffy dad on TV's Gilmore Girls, died on Dec. 31 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital of brain cancer. He was 71. Herrmann also appeared in a 1977 sequel to the Roosevelt biopic, Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years, and in the 1982 movie musical Annie. In 2014, he also provided the voice for FDR in Ken Burns' PBS documentary series The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, while his urbane tones were heard on a variety of other documentaries and on hundreds of audio books including Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken. He had recently narrated a documentary on cancer, according to his son Rory Herrman. His other major film credits includie "Reds and The Wolf of Wall Street, and he was an acclaimed stage actor whose Tony-winning performance came in 1976 for a revival of "Mrs. Warren's Profession" opposite Lynn Redgrave. - AP, 12/31/14...... Actress Donna Douglas, best known as the buxom tomboy Elly May Clampett on the hit 1960s sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies, died on Jan. 1 in Baton Rouge, La., near her hometown of Zachary, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 82. Chosen for the role of Elly May from more than 500 other actresses, Ms. Douglas said she felt at ease playing the role because, like her character, she grew up a poor Southern tomboy. Her childhood in Pride, Louisiana, came in handy when she was asked during her audition to milk a goat. "I had milked cows before," she recalled in a 2009 interview with AP. "I figured they were equipped the same, so I just went on over and did it." The series, which ran from 1962 to 1971, also starred the late Buddy Ebsen and Irene Ryan as well as Max Baer Jr., who turned 77 on Jan. 4. Ms. Douglas' career began with beauty pageants -- she was Miss Baton Rouge and named Miss New Orleans in 1957 -- followed by a trip to New York to pursue a career in entertainment. After appearances on The Perry Como Show and The Steve Allen Show, she landed a featured role in the 1959 film Career, starring Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine, and a bit part in the film musical Li'l Abner. She also had small roles as Tony Randall's secretary in the 1961 Doris Day/Rock Hudsonromantic comedy Lover Come Back, and in the memorable Twilight Zone episode "The Eye of the Beholder" in 1962. After The Beverly Hillbillies, Ms. Douglas worked in real estate, recorded country and gospel music albums and wrote a book for children that drew on biblical themes. Ms. Douglas was married twice, to Roland John Bourgeois, Jr. until 1954, and then to Beverly Hillbillies director Robert M. Leeds. They divorced in 1980 after nine years of marriage. Survivors include her son, Danny P. Bourgeois. - AP, 1/2/15...... Jazz guitarist Jeff Golub, who played alongside such artists as Rod Stewart and Billy Squier, died on Jan. 1 of an as yet undisclosed cause, however he had been battling a rare brain disease called Progressive Supranuclear Pals that caused him to inexplicably lose his eyesight in 2011. He was 59. Golub released 12 solo albums and three more as the leader of the instrumental band, Avenue Blue. He played alongside Stewart from 1988-1995, on four albums and five world tours. He also did session work for such pop and jazz acts as Tina Turner, Vanessa Williams, Peter Wolf and Bill Evans, releasing a number of his own albums over the years. - Billboard, 1/2/15...... Frankie Randall, a vocalist, pianist, actor and pal of Frank Sinatra who performed the theme song for the 1960s NBC adventure series Flipper, died of lung cancer at JFK Medical Center in Indio, Calif., on Dec. 28. He was 76. Randall toured in nightclubs around the country, was a regular on Dean Martin's 1966 summer variety series for NBC and appeared in the 1973 film The Day of the Wolves. He met Frank Sinatra while playing Jilly's bar in New York and often accompanied him as his pianist. He also served as entertainment director for The Golden Nugget in Atlantic City and later became a vice president at the Bally's casino. - The Hollywood Reporter, 12/31/14.