Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on January 29th, 2015

A source close to Paul McCartney says rumours that the former Beatle will be co-producing Kayne West's new album are "not true" after a second collaboration between Sir Paul and West, "FourFiveSeconds," was unveiled over the fourth weekend of January. Numerous reports that McCartney will work on West's Yeezus follow-up emerged on social media, citing comments made by West's longtime friend and barber Ibn Jasper on Instagram. McCartney also contributed backing vocals to a previously released collaboration with West, "Only One." In other McCartney news, Paul's ex-wife Heather Mills tells Britain's Event magazine in a new interview that her divorce from the rock legend was "a more traumatic experience than losing her leg in a motorcycle accident." The British model-turning-professional skier was married to McCartney for four years before their acrimonious split in 2006 and they subsequently faced off against each other in a bitter and highly-publicized divorce trial. Mills was awarded a $38.9 million settlement in 2008, and now seven years later, says she is still struggling to bounce back from the divorce drama. "It's very hard to be married to a Beatle. (McCartney's first wife) Linda had it tough, Yoko (Ono) had it tough and what happened to me after the divorce... losing my leg was easier to cope with... I felt I lost everything. I spent my whole life raising money for charities and I was asked to leave every charity because I became poison... Everything I had been was taken away." Mills, who has an 11-year-old daughter named Beatrice with Paul, says the experience has turned her against marriage in the future. "Never, never, never... I'm single, I want to have fun but I don't want to be married. It's one thing I'm absolutely sure about." She lost her left leg below the knee in a motorcycle crash in 1993. - NME/WENN.com, 1/26/15...... Tom Petty has been given a songwriting credit for Sam Smith's hit song "Stay With Me" after Petty's camp noticed a likeness between the song and Petty's 1989 hit "I Won't Back Down," on which he collaborated with the song's producer, Jeff Lynne of ELO. Smith's representatives reportedly settled the matter "amicably" after agreeing with Petty's team that there were similarities between the two tunes, although the writes of "Stay With Me" maintain they were "not previously familiar" with "I Won't Back Down." Now both Petty and Lynne will receive royalties. "Although the likeness was a complete coincidence, all involved came to an immediate and amicable agreement in which Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne are now credited as co-writers of 'Stay With Me' along with Sam Smith, James Napier and William Phillips," a representative for Smith says. Smith is currently in the running for six Grammy Awards, including song of the year for "Stay With Me." That particular category recognizes the songwriters of a track. Petty and Lynne are not expected to be included in the Grammy consideration, however, since they "didn't do any new writing for this work," according to the Recording Academy. The awards will be given out in Los Angeles on Feb. 8, where Sam Smith is scheduled to perform during the show's CBS broadcast. - The Hollywood Reporter/Billboard, 1/26/15...... A U.S. judge has ruled that Jack Utsick, a former promoter who produced shows for acts such as the Rolling Stones, Elton John and Aerosmith, will be denied bail in a $300 million criminal fraud case. U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres said on Jan. 28 that there was ample evidence 72-year-old Utsick might attempt to flee prosecution. Authorities say Utsick took off for Brazil in 2007 amid investigations by the FBI and Securities and Exchange Commission into his Worldwide Entertainment Inc. promotion company. Authorities say his concert business was actually a Ponzi scheme, with older investors being paid with money from newer ones. An estimated 3,300 investors were defrauded out of nearly $300 million. An attorney for Utsick, who was extradited to the US in 2014, say he will plead not guilty to mail fraud charges. - AP, 1/28/15...... What is described as Bruce Springsteen's "greatest offical bootleg ever" is now available on Springsteen's official site, Brucespringsteen.net. The Agora, Cleveland 1978 is from Aug. 18, 1978, a highlight performance from Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town tour. Springsteen burns through classics like "Rosalita" (with a snippet of the Village People's "Macho Man"), castoff gems like "Fire" and covers from "Summertime Blues" to "Twist and Shout." He peaks with a 10-minute "Prove It All Night," featuring a long, moody guitar-piano intro. - Rolling Stone, 1/29/15...... '70s funk legend Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone was awarded $5 million by a Los Angeles Superior Court jury on Jan. 27 in a breach-of-contract lawsuit that claimed his business partners and his own company cheated him out of royalties. The jury ruled in favor of the 71-year-old Stone, who has fallen on hard times since his '70s heyday and at one point was even homeless, in his action against his ex-manager Gerald Goldstein, attorney Glenn Stone and Even St. Productions Ltd. Stone, whose real name is Sylvester Stewart, led Sly and the Family Stone to a string of hits in the 1960s and early '70s including "Everyday People," "Dance To The Music," "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" and "Family Affair." But heavy drug use began to take a toll. His attorneys say his career had been long eclipsed and that he was destitute when Goldstein and Glenn Stone convinced him to become an employee of and co-owner of Even St. Productions with them in 1989. Stone assigned royalty rights to the company and was supposed to receive some of the money it collected for him but Goldstein and Glenn Stone arranged to get it through shady accounting, his attorney Nicholas Hornberger argued. "It's a good day for Sly, it's a good day for entertainers in general," said Hornberger. "This was an important verdict for people that are artists, entertainers, music composers, etc." Jurors assessed $2.5 million in damages against Even St. Productions, $2.45 million against Goldstein and $50,000 against Glenn Stone. An attorney for Goldstein and Stone said the award will be challenged. - AP, 1/28/15...... ZZ Top performed three songs on the late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Jan. 26 as the show temporarily switched to Houston, Tex., from its normal location in Los Angeles. Band members Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard and Dusty Hill first performed a newer song from their 2012 LP La Futura, "I Gotsta Get Paid," then ran through the hard rock riffs of their 1975 classic "Tush" and then their 1973 hit "La Grange," extending the latter to over double its original time with a lengthy jam. - Billboard, 1/27/15...... The Doobie Brothers will be honored with one of the top awards in the music industry, the Chairman Award from the Music Biz Association, during the annual MBA convention on May 12-14 in Nashville. The award recognizes artists who have achieve significant and sustained success in their career, and MBA chairman Fred Beteille said in a statement that the Doobies "have achieved incredible success over the years, selling an astonishing number of records and maintaining a regular presence on the Billboard charts" and that the band, who on their latest LP Southbound re-recorded their hits with a host of current country artists, "has revealed new dimensions to songs that millions of people know by heart." - Billboard, 1/26/15...... Almost 500 items that put the famous Caribou Ranch recording studio on the rock and roll map, including an antique mahogany Steinway & Sons grand piano used by Elton John and a Gibson bass guitar said to have been played by Terry Kath of Chicago, were sold at auction on Jan. 24 at the studio located near Nederland, Colorado. Chicago's former producer, James Guercio, turned the ranch into a major recording studio in the 1970s, and a fire damaged the control room in 1985. The 1,600-acre ranch, which includes a converted barn studio and cabins named for Native American chiefs, was sold last year, setting the stage for the auction. - AP, 1/25/15...... In related news, one of the nine Mosrites guitars once owned by Johnny Ramone was sold at auction on Jan. 22 for $71,875, Boston-based auction RR Auction announced. The auction notes that the guitar features several modifications made by Ramone, including the replacement of the tremolo system with a stop bar tailpiece and installation of a DiMarzio FS-1 bridge pickup, as well as a tortoiseshell pick guard. It states this was Ramone's favorite guitar for TV appearances. A number of Ramones items have been auctioned off over the past years, including Joey Ramone's record collection and clothes in 2013. - Billboard, 1/23/15...... Veteran actor James Caan filed for divorce from his wife Linda on Jan. 26, for the third time in their 19-year marriage. The Godfather star wed Linda Stokes in 1996, but their relationship hit a rough patch in 2005, when Caan initially moved to end the union. They reconciled, only for the actor to again file for divorce in 2009. Now Caan has filed court papers once more, and he is seeking joint custody of the couple's youngest son, 16-year-old Jacob. Caan, 74, also has three other children from previous unions, including Hawaii Five-0 actor Scott Caan, from his second marriage to Sheila Marie Ryan. Caan and his current wife also have a 19-year-old son, James. - WENN.com, 1/26/15...... David Bowie has announced he'll release a French-language version of his 1977 hit "Heroes" on limited edition blue vinyl and his 2008 compilation album i Select on red vinyl. The 7-inch French edition of "Heroes" will be backed with a live version of the song recorded during Bowie's Serious Moonlight Tour in 1983. The vinyl is limited to 2000 copies and only available in France, but US and UK fans have the chance to win copies via Bowie's website. The pair of vinyl releases coincide with the opening of the "David Bowie Is" retrospective exhibition at the Philharmonie de Paris. The exhibition features more than 300 objects from the rocker's 50-year-career, including handwritten lyrics, original costumes, film, set designs and Bowie's own instruments. Originally presented in London, it has also travelled to Toronto, Chicago, Sao Paulo and Berlin. After Paris, it will head to the Netherlands and Australia. Bowie is also set to release an English language 7" vinyl picture disc of "Young Americans" on Feb 24 for its 40th anniversary, after having released similar 7-inchers of Knock on Wood - Live and Diamond Dogs. - New Musical Express, 1/27/15...... Edgar Froese, a pioneering German electronic musician and founding member of Tangerine Dream, died on Jan. 20. He was 70. Froese founded Tangerine Dream in 1967 Berlin and was the group's most consistent member through a number of lineup changes over the decades. Tangerine Dream's electronic music was less about mimicking the rhythms of urban landscapes and more about evoking cosmic, spacey landscapes, and their 1974 Phaedra and 1975 Rubycon albums are considered essential works from the electronic "Krautrock" music genre. The band's unique sonic soundscape also captured the attention of The Exorcist director William Friedkin, who tapped them to score his 1977 film Sorcerer. During the 1980's, the band would go on to craft iconic musical scores for Thief and Risky Business, adapting those scores from parts of their 1979 album Force Majeure. In recent years, Tangerine Dream contributed music to the Grand Theft Auto series. - Billboard, 1/23/15...... Greek singer Demis Roussos, whose often high-pitched pop serenades won him household recognition in the 1970s and 1980s across Europe and beyond and who sold more than 60 million records, died in Athens on Jan. 26 following a lengthy hospitalization for undisclosed causes. He was 68. Roussos was once dubbed the Kaftan King -- and rotund, bearded appearance, he enjoyed the respect of his colleagues and a steady global following. In 1985, Roussos was among 153 people taken hostage when two Shiite Muslim militiamen hijacked a TWA Boeing 727 on a flight from Athens to Rome, and he spent his 39th birthday on the plane. He was released unharmed five days later, and at a press conference thanked his captors for giving him a birthday cake. "He had a superb voice, he traveled in the world... he loved what he was doing," singer Nana Mouskouri told French radio RTL in a tribute. "He was an artist, a friend. I hope he is in a better world." - AP, 1/26/15.

Two of the '70s most famous singer/songwriters, James Taylor and Paul Simon, paid tribute to late jazz great Michael Brecker on Jan. 20 in New York City with performances and kind words at a cancer benefit for their friend who died in 2007. Taylor, who Brecker's widow said had the flu, performed "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" -- the first song he played with the jazz saxophonist -- while Simon performed "Still Crazy After All These Years" and "The Boxer," songs he said he "closely associates" with Brecker. "I miss him all the time," Taylor said after the performance. "Michael saved my life and probably a lot of other people. He led me to freedom, really from addiction, and showed a number of us the way." Taylor joined forces with Simon, Dianne Reeves and Bobby McFerrin to close the 90-minute show with "Shower the People." Brecker, who died of a form of bone marrow cancer at age 57, won more than a dozen Grammy Awards and played with a number of iconic artists, including Simon, Taylor, Elton John and Joni Mitchell. - AP, 1/21/15...... Jazz greats Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea, who last toured together 37 years ago when Pres. Jimmy Carter was in the White House, have announced a 19-city world tour of duo piano concerts that will launch in Seattle on Mar. 14. Corea and Hancock, who both were members of Miles Davis' bands of the 1960s and contributed to his groundbreaking jazz-fusion albums In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew, will also hit such cities as Vancouver, Denver, San Diego, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago before wrapping the North American leg in Carmel, Indiana, on Apr. 18. After a break, the duo will perform in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. - AP, 1/23/15...... Bob Dylan is making headlines for being featured on the cover of the Feb./Mar. issue of AARP magazine, and in the interview the 73-year-old rock legend revealed that "if I had to do it all over again, I'd be a schoolteacher," and adding that he "probably" would have taught Roman history or theology. On Feb. 3, the musician will release Shadows in the Night, an all-Frank Sinatra covers album of songs from the 1920s to the 1960s, including standards like "Autumn Leaves," "That Lucky Old Sun" and "Stay With Me." The new album was hinted at as early as last May, when Dylan released album artwork and a cover of another Sinatra favorite, "Full Moon And Empty Arms." Dylan is giving 50,000 AARP magazine readers a free copy of his album, and his "Stay With Me" cover is currently streaming for free via NPR.com. In February, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter will present Dylan with the 2015 MusiCares Person of the Year honor next month in Los Angeles. - AP/Billboard, 1/22/15...... Lawyers representing Michael Jackson's mother Katherine Jackson argued before a panel of appellate justices on Jan. 22 that a new trial against concert promoter AEG Live LLC should be allowed, but the justices instead focused on the relationship between Jackson, AEG and Dr. Conrad Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for giving the singer a lethal dose of the anesthetic propofol. Katherine Jackson's lawyers contend that the trial court judge incorrectly dismissed negligence and employment claims before the original 2013 trial, and jurors were given an improper verdict form and instructions. The panel noted that Dr. Murray treated Jackson before the concerts were planned and questioned whether the doctor's fee would be reimbursed by Jackson after the shows, and two of the justices questioned how AEG could have known that Murray was giving Jackson treatments of propofol. The justices did not state when they would issue a ruling for a possible new trial, and two of them must agree on the decision. - AP, 1/22/2015...... Upcoming Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Joan Jett was among the friends and family of Kim Fowley paying their respects to the late music impressario at his funeral at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles on Jan. 22. Jett, whose early band The Runaways Fowley is credited with discovering in the late 1970s, delivered a heartfelt speech, while Fowley's longtime friend, musician Michael Des Barres, delivered the eulogy and later tweeted that the ceremony was "transcendent." Fowley, a colorful and sometimes controversial character, died Jan. 15 of bladder cancer at age 75. It was reported that he had expressed a dying wish to be featured on the cover of Girls and Corpses magazine, but publication's publisher reportedly passed on the request. A photo of Fowley's grave, however, was posted on Twitter soon after the funeral wrapped. - Billboard, 1/22/15...... Another famous music impressario, former Arista Records president Clive Davis, has been tapped to receive the famous Harvard Hasty Pudding Award at a gala in New York City on Apr. 13. The Order of the Golden Sphinx, which recognized extraordinary contributions to the performing arts, is the highest honor awarded by Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Institute of 1770. A five-time Grammy winner and a 2000 inductee of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in the Non-Performer category, Davis has worked with a wide range of artists, from Janis Joplin and Billy Joel to Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys. - AP, 1/22/15...... The BBC is now streaming for free a new The Clash documentary featuring previously unseen footage. The Clash: New Year's Day '77 is both an excellently raw portrait of a band on the brink of fame and a wide-lens look at the political and cultural chaos that birthed them. - Entertainment Weekly, 1/23/15...... Rush announced a 34-city 40th Anniversary tour on Jan. 23 that will probably be the last of its kind for some time. "This will most likely be their last major tour of this magnitude," Rush's press release noted about the tour, which will kick off May 8 in Tulsa, Okla., and wrap on Aug. 1 in Los Angeles. The Toronto-based rockers will visit a mix of large and medium-sized markets, including Lincoln, Neb.; St. Paul, Minn., St. Louis, Mo.; Dallas, Tex.; New Orleans, La.; and Bristow, Va. Rush formed in 1968, so the 40th anniversary technically commemorates drummer Neil Peart joining the band (which actually happened in 1974). For the upcoming tour, the band is expected to play much more of their '70s material, which was mostly avoided when they toured behind 2012's Clockwork Angels. - Billboard, 1/23/15...... Elton John's New Year's Eve performance at Brooklyn's Barclays Center before 16,470 fans sold over $3 million worth of tickets, earning the Rocket Man the top slot in Billboard's weekly Hot Tours chart for the week of Jan. 14-20. John's show, his first ever in New York City on New Year's Eve, closed out a year of touring in North America and Europe in support of the 40th-anniversary reissue of his 1973 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album. Following its launch last March, the tour hit 21 markets in the U.S. and Canada in two legs and also played 42 cities in 16 European countries during treks in the summer and fall. Meanwhile, Fleetwood Mac's show at Houston's Toyota Center on Dec. 15, with ticket sales of $1,837,886, was good for the No. 2 spot. Ranking at No. 9 and 10 were shows by Gregg Allman and Foreigner. - Billboard, 1/22/15...... Speaking of Fleetwood Mac, the band was forced to cut a Nebraska concert about an hour short on Jan. 17 after drummer Mick Fleetwood became ill. Stevie Nicks told the crowd of roughly 14,000 at Lincoln's Pinnacle Bank Arena that Fleetwood was throwing up backstage before the end of the 90-minute show. The band continued its itinerary on Jan. 20 in Grand Rapids, Mich. - AP, 1/18/15...... Late '70s comedian Richard Prior's widow Jennifer Lee Pryor has filed a lawsuit against T-shirt designer FretShirt.com over a design that depicts an image of Pryor superimposed with the word "swag." Jennifer Pryor's suit alleges FretShirt has infringed her rights to the likeness of her late husband, who "created a general acceptance and good will for his name and likeness among the public," and that the shirt violates a California civil code statute that requires consent from the rightsholder of a deceased person's likeness for the commercial use of the likeness. She is seeking $5 million that she claims represents FretShirt's profits from the shirt in addition to $1 million in compensatory damages, as well as an injunction against the sale of the shirt. Jennifer Pryor previously executive produced a documentary on his life, Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic, and is executive producing a Weinstein Co. biopic in the works. - The Hollywood Reporter, 1/21/15...... Barbra Streisand has set another music industry record after her latest album Partners was certified platinum, giving the diva the most platinum album certifications for a woman in RIAA history. Partners is Streisand's 31st album to ship more than 1,000,000 copies in the U.S. Her closest competition, Reba McEntire, has 19 platinum-certified albums. Partners debuted at the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 200 in Sept. 2014. It was her 10th album to top that chart, making her the only act to notch a No. 1 album in each of the last six decades. - Billboard, 1/20/15...... Mick Jagger is honoring his late girlfriend, fashion designer L'Wren Scott, by establishing a scholarship for fashion students in her name. The Rolling Stones frontman's grant will be given to one masters student annually (through the 2017 school term) at the prestigious Central Saint Martins design college in London; it will cover that pupil's entire tuition, plus some living expenses. Scott, a self-taught designer, did not attend the school but had a close friendship with the university's longtime M.A. course director, Louise Wilson. Scott (born Laura Bambrough in Salt Lake City, Utah) was a celebrated clothing designer whose sophisticated, red carpet-ready dresses outfitted many A-list stars, including Angelina Jolie and Sarah Jessica Parker. After her death, Jagger released a statement saying that he was "still struggling to understand how my lover and best friend could end her life in this tragic way" and that "I will never forget her." - Billboard, 1/18/15...... After controversial rocker Ted Nugent uploaded a photograph of Kid Rock to his Facebook page which shows Rock posing with a dead couger, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is criticizing Rock for apparently taking part in a hunting expedition. "Hail my MotorCity boy Kid Rock for saving all those muledeer elk and livestock by whacking this magnificent mountain lion," Nugent said in an accompanying caption. "I can hear the braindead squawkers already with their obscene denial that killing lions is wrong. It's legal, it's necessary, it's good, it's beneficial, it's a damn riot!" PETA's U.S. Senior International Media Director, Ben Williamson, said that "only the very smallest percentage of people find it acceptable in any way to support blood sports like trophy hunting." - WENN.com, 1/20/15...... Former Crosby, Stills & Nash drummer Dallas Taylor died on Jan. 18 of as yet undisclosed causes, according to his wife Patti McGovern-Taylor. He was 66. A native of Denver, Col., Taylor cut his teeth as a session musician in the early 1960s, soon joining the psychedelic rock band Clear Light. After the group achieved modest fame with the single "Black Roses" in 1967, he was recruited into Crosby, Stills and Nash. He performed on CSN's breakthrough self-titled debut album, released in 1969, and their following album, Déjà Vu (with another new member, Neil Young, in 1970). Taylor performed with CSN&Y at Woodstock in 1969 and with Van Morrison at the 1974 Montreux Jazz Festival. After leaving music, he worked as a drug and alcohol interventionist in Los Angeles. "(Dallas) came into my life almost 18 years ago and saved me as much as I may have saved him. To me he was just a good man, a good friend, a good father, a good grandfather or Pop Pop, a great drummer and much beloved by many," his wife posted on her Facebook page. - Billboard, 1/18/15...... Stan Irwin, a Las Vegas producer and manager who persuaded the Beatles and several other top artists to play Vegas in the 1960s, died on Jan. 21 of natural causes in Los Angeles. He was 94. Mr. Irwin guided the careers of such celebs as Johnny Carson, Don Rickles, Buddy Hackett and Pearl Bailey, and served as executive producer of The Tonight Show in 1962, which was the first year of Carson's tenure. He also voiced the Lou Costello character in Hanna-Barbera's The Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show in the 1960s. - AP, 1/23/15.