Sunday, March 27, 2016

Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on Apr. 1st, 2016



The first of two David Bowie tribute concerts took place at New York's Carnegie Hall on Mar. 31, with Debbie Harry of Blondie, Ann Wilson of Heart, Michael Stipe of R.E.M., and the Flaming Lips performing live in memory of the late rock legend. Also taking part were Bowie collaborator Tony Visconti, '80s star Cyndi Lauper, and Laurie Anderson, the ex-wife of late Bowie collaborator Lou Reed, Rickie Lee Jones, and Bob Dylan's son Jakob Dylan. The concert, initially announced prior to Bowie's death, was originally intended to be a retrospective on his career. - New Musical Express, 4/1/16...... Paul McCartneyA 67-track, 4-disc Paul McCartney greatest hits compilation entitled Pure McCartney is being readied for a June 10 release via Hear Music. Billed as "the only comprehensive career collection released of Paul McCartney's solo works from his solo career," the collection has been curated by Sir Paul himself and includes songs later than 1989 which have so far not been included on any McCartney hits collection, including 2012's "My Valentine," 2014's "Hope For the Future," and 2015's "Say Say Say" remix. "Me and my team came up with the idea of putting together a collection of my recordings with nothing else in mind other than having something fun to listen to," McCartney said in a statement. "Maybe it's to be enjoyed on a long car journey or an evening at home or at a party with friends? So we got our heads together and came up with these diverse playlists from various periods of my long and winding career," he added. Also available the same day will be 2-CD version that includes his 12 Top 10 U.S. singles and 10 Top 10 U.K. singles. McCartney kicks off a U.S. tour on Apr. 13 in Fresno, Cal. - NME, 4/1/16...... A Mar. 28 Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert at New York's Madison Square Garden, which was a rescheduled due to the blizzard that struck the city in late January, provided a special treat for the Boss's fans: Springsteen's 90-year-old mother, Adele, was invited onstage to dance with her iconic rock star son. She's still got the moves," Springsteen declared about his mom, who started it all by buying her son his first guitar for $18 at a pawnshop. Adele Springsteen previously joined her son onstage for "Dancing In The Dark" at shows in Philadelphia in 2009 and 2012. The 32-song gig on his The River tour, which included a special "Meeting Across the River" that segued into "Jungleland," was attended by such celebrities as Bruce Willis, Danny DeVito, Brian Williams and U2 drummer Larry Mullen, Jr.. - Billboard, 3/29/16...... Elton JohnRepresentatives for Elton John are denying allegations first reported by the celebrity gossip cite TMZ.com that the Rocket Man sexually harassed his former security guard in 2014. Jeffrey Wenninger, who was employed by Elton as a security guard, claims he was groped by John on several occasions during that time. But Orin Snyder, a lawyer for John's Rocket Entertainment Group, has responded to the claims, strongly denying them and accusing Wenninger of making the story up to score a monetary settlement. "This baseless lawsuit is brought by a disgruntled former security officer seeking to extract an undeserved payment," Snyder told Digitalspy.com. "These claims are patently untrue and contradicted by numerous previous statements made by this plaintiff. We will not give into his latest abuse of the legal system," he added. In the lawsuit, Wenninger says he was harassed by Elton on three separate occasions in 2014, accuses the singer of putting his hands down the security guard's pants and attempting to grab his genitals and put his finger between his bum cheeks. The singer allegedly told him to "Get your todger out,", which is British slang for penis, and to "say hello to Uncle Elton." On another occasion, Wenninger claims John twisted his nipples and said, "You gorgeous thing, you." Wenninger claims he tried to resist Elton verbally and physically, but his attempts did not work.Wenninger, who was employed by Elton until Sept. 2014 when, according to him he was effectively fired from John's security detail because he had reported a fellow officer for overtime theft, is suing for sexual harassment and battery. He is a former LAPD officer and Medal of Valor recipient who now works for the security firms J Bondi, Inc. and Hamitsu. - WENN.com/AP, 3/29/16...... In a new interview Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards was critical of artists like Adele and Rhianna who work with a team of songwriters for their smash hits. "Well, they can't rely on themselves, can they?," Richards said, adding that "We're in the midst of a heavy-duty 'showbiz' period, even stronger than when we killed it last time. The X Factor and all this competition shit. It's just for people who want to be famous. Well, if it's fame you wants, good luck. You'd better learn to live with it." In contrast, Richards said that he wrote the classic Stones track "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" in "bed with a guitar" one night. - New Musical Express, 3/30/16...... Country music icon Merle Haggard has canceled his April concert dates as he recovers from a recurring bout of double pneumonia. Haggard, 78, said in a statement that "I want to thank my fans for their prayers and well wishes. I hope to be back on the road in May, but I'm taking it one day at a time." The "Okie From Muskogee" singer, who had a battle with lung cancer in 2008, had previously canceled dates in February and March. - AP, 3/30/16...... Charlie DanielsIn other country music news, it was announced on Mar. 29 that country/pop crossover star Charlie Daniels will officially be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame later this year. The induction of Daniels into the CMA's "Veterans Era" category is the crowning achievement in a career that dates back to the early 1960s. He wrote "It Hurts Me," a 1964 cut for Elvis Presley, and made a name for himself as one of the top instrumentalists in town -- playing on three of Bob Dylan's albums, including the seminal Nashville Skyline. His public breakthrough came in 1974 with the release of his Fire On The Mountain LP, and enjoyed his biggest hit with 1979's "The Devil Went Down To Georgia," which became the CMA single of the year. He continued to rack up hits in the 1980s and 1990s, with songs such as "In America" and "Drinkin' My Baby Goodbye." Daniels, along with '80s/'90s country star Randy Travis and legendary producer Fred Foster, will be officially inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame during a Medallion Ceremony in Fall 2016. - Billboard, 3/29/16...... Although Gene Simmons hasn't endorsed controversial Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump so far, the Kiss bassist/singer did have several positive things to say about him in a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine. "He is the truest political animal I've ever seen onstage," Simmons proclaimed. "He has no speechwriters, no editing, no nothing. He's actually on tape going 'motherf----r.' You cannot turn away." Simmons also said Trump is good for the political system" and pointed out that his non-politician status has allowed him to express beliefs most politicians wouldn't. On that note, he remarked, "Everybody is sick and tired of being politically correct." Simmons, who has expressed regret for voting for Barack Obama, also weighed in on Trump's proposal to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico: "...walls actually work... It's unkind, but in terms of pragmatics, it actually works The Pope has said the wall is unkind, but it's interesting that at the Vatican there's a wall." - Rolling Stone, 3/31/16...... Black Sabbath is teaming up with UK clothing manufacturer Supreme for a new clothing line. The "Supreme x Black Sabbath" collection will consist of denim jackets, sweatshirts, t-shirts and hockey jerseys adorned with the band's artwork for their 1970 self-titled debut as well as the typography from their fourth album Vol 4. - NME, 4/1/16...... Lemmy KilmisterIn other Heavy Metal news, Motörhead will release a live album and film from two shows during their last-ever tour. Titled Clean Your Clock, the release will come on colored double vinyl, as well as CD, DVD and Blu-ray. The release documents the band's two Munich gigs, which took place on Nov. 20 and 21 just five weeks before the death of frontman Lemmy Kilmister on Dec. 28, 2015, and before their final gig in Berlin on Dec. 11. - NME, 4/1/16...... Legendary Motown bassist James Jamerson, Jr., hailed as one of th greatest R&B bass players ever, died on Mar. 26. Jamerson, the son of Motown bassist James Jamerson, Sr. who died in 1983, was born in Detroit and was a member of the Temptations' road band in the late 1960s, soon developing into arguably the most sought-after bass player in the R&B world. He contributed to albums by such acts as Tavares, The Four Tops, The 5th Dimension, The Crusaders, Johnny Taylor, The Dramatics, Teena Marie and countless others. In the late 70s, Jamerson formed the group Chanson and landed a hit with "Don't Hold Back." He also toured with such artists as Natalie Cole, Chaka Khan and many others. - SoulTrax.com, 3/27/16...... Andy "Thunderclap" Newman, the pianist for the British band Thunderclap Newman, died at his home in London on Mar. 30. He was 73. Thunderclap Newman, which was founded by the Who's Pete Townshend, had their biggest hit in 1969 with the track "Something In The Air," from the album Hollywood Dream which was produced by Townshend. The song, which was later remade by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, spent three weeks at the top of the UK singles chart. Mark Mark Brzezicki, the former drummer for Thunderclap Newman and close friend of Newman's, said that after Townshend and producer Kit Lambert saw Newman play piano at art college, they were inspired to form Thunderclap Newman in 1968. "He was an incredibly talented musician. He had his own unique, very individual piano-playing style," Brzezicki said. Brzezicki and Newman were due to go back into the studio in April to work on more music. - 3/31/16...... Patty DukeOscar-winning actress, sitcom star and singer Patty Duke died in a Coer D'Alene, Idaho, hospital after battling a ruptured intestine on the morning of Mar. 29. She was 69. "This morning, our beloved wife, mother, matriarch and the exquisite artist, humanitarian and champion of mental health, Anna Patty Duke, closed her eyes, quieted her pain and ascended to a beautiful place," read a family statement. "We celebrate the infinite love and compassion she shared through her work and throughout her life." Duke won an Oscar in 1962 for her performance in the Hellen Keller biopic The Miracle Worker, becoming the youngest ever to win the statue in a competitive category. Although she performed in films, theater and TV, Duke was most successful in television, winning three Emmy Awards among 10 nominations. Duke was also the youngest star at the time to have a TV series bearing her name, with her The Patty Duke Show running for three seasons beginning in 1963 on ABC, and she was nominated for an Emmy in 1964. Duke later starred in the film Valley of the Dolls (1967) where, countering her squeaky-clean image, she played a pill-popping alcoholic. Her other films included Happy Anniversary (1959), By Design (1981), Willy/Milly (1986), The Hitch-Hikers (1989), Prelude to a Kiss (1992), Bigger Than the Sky (2005) and Amazing Love (2012), appearing opposite her son, Sean Astin. Born Dec. 14, 1946, in Elmhurst, N.Y., Duke got her first part as a film extra in 1955 and made her first television appearance as a dancer on the The Voice of Firestone. She was married from 1972-85 to former The Addams Family star John Astin. He adopted Sean, and they had Mackenzie together. - Variety, 3/29/16...... Legendary Jamaican singer Jimmy Riley died on Mar. 23 in New York after a battle with cancer. He was 68. In 1967, Riley recorded several rock steady classics with The Uniques including "My Conversation," as well as renditions of Curtis Mayfield's "Gypsy Woman" and "My Woman's Love." Riley embarked on a solo career around 1969 and his greatest commercial success arrived in the early 1980s when his first No. 1 hit in Jamaica, "Love and Devotion," also reached the British pop charts in 1982. Riley was the father of Tarrus Riley, one of contemporary reggae's most in-demand artists, with whom he often recorded with in recent years. - Billboard, 3/28/16...... David Baker, a prolific jazz composer and musician who founded the jazz studies program at Indiana University, died on Mar. 26 at the age of 84. Mr. Baker wrote more than 2,000 pieces of music and was nominated for a Grammy in 1979 and a Pulitzer Prize in 1973. In 2000 he was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, the United States' highest jazz honor. Mr. Baker performed in the U.S., Japan, Australia, New Zealand and across Europe, including a 1960 tour with longtime friend Quincy Jones' big band. He also worked with bands led by Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson and George Russell. - Billboard, 3/28/16...... Actor James Noble, best known for his role as Governor Eugene Gatling on the '70s sitcom Benson, died on Mar. 28 in Connecticut. He was 94. - Variety, 3/30/16.

A rep for AC/DC has responded to recent reports that former Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose will fill in for Brian Johnson for the rest of AC/DC's 2016 tour after Johnson was advised by doctors to "stop touring immediately or risk total hearing loss." "Nothing official to announce. Will update you if that changes," the rep told New Musical Express, in response to a report from Atlanta DJ Jason Bailey, who claimed that a "very very good source" informed him that Rose will join the band for the rest of their tour dates after being "flown in" to the US city to audition with the group. Bailey also said that Rose has met with AC/DC, and "it's all but a done deal that Axl will front AC/DC for the ten remaining shows. All ten, including Atlanta." A Guns N' Roses fansite has also reported that Rose was spotted in Atlanta, further speculating that he might have been auditioning to link up live with AC/DC. Rose is a longtime AC/DC fan who has been known to cover such classics as "Whole Lotta Rosie" at Guns N' Roses concerts in the past. Meanwhile, Rose has also been confirmed to be joining his former bandmates Slash and Duff McKagan this summer for a series of live GNR dates, including a headline slot at the Coachella festival in April and warm up gigs in Las Vegas. - New Musical Express, 3/24/16...... David GilmourDavid Gilmour of Pink Floyd opened his summer 2016 tour of North America behind his 2015 solo LP Rattle That Lock on Mar. 24 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Gilmour used the Bowl's specialized capability to have its searchlights converge in a perfect Dark Side of the Moon-style pyramid to full advantage, as he performed his guitar heroics before a capacity crowd on a tour that will also take him to Inglewood, Calif., Toronto, Chicago and New York. The Mar. 24 show was the 70-year-old Gilmour's first stage outing of any kind in 10 years. Also featured during the show was David Crosby of Crosby, Stills and Nash, who was brought out be Gilmour his songs "A Boat Lies Waiting," "On and Island," and the encore, the 1979 Pink Floyd classic "Comfortably Numb." - Billboard, 3/25/16...... The Rolling Stones performed a historic free gig in Havana, Cuba on Mar. 25 before a 450,000-strong crowd in a country where rock and pop music had been banned for decades, until the early 2000s. "Hello, Havana. Good evening, my people of Cuba," frontman Mick Jagger said, before the band launched into "Jumpin' Jack Flash." It was the first time ever Jagger and bandmates Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood had performed in the Communist country since the Stones were formed in 1962, just three years after the Cuban revolution. The 18-song set consisted of many of the same hits and classics they've been playing in various sequences on their Amrica Latina Ol Tour -- "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "It's Only Rock 'n Roll," "Tumbling Dice," "Paint It Black," "Honky Tonk Woman," "Midnight Rambler," "Miss You," "Gimme Shelter," "Start Me Up," "Sympathy for the Devil," "Brown Sugar," and the two-song encore, "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Satisfaction." Havana was the finale of the band's 2016 America Latina Ol stadium tour, which saw them previously playing in Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, and Colombia, and was filmed for a future Eagle Rock Entertainment DVD, to be titled Concert for Amity. - Billboard/NME, 3/26/16...... Tom Petty has reacted to the sudden death of his good friend, comedian Garry Shandling who passed away at age 66 on Mar. 24. "I've known Garry for a long time. We go back to the mid-80's," Petty said. "I just want people to remember what great work he gave us. The Larry Sanders Show just stands as some of the best TV work ever done. He was always quiet about his talent and just a really decent guy." Petty added that the two had a "very strong friendship" and they "kept in touch all that time." "You know, he'd come to our shows, and he'd hang out with us. I went to his house many times. And he would come to my house. It was a comfortable friendship where if he came over I didn't feel like I had to entertain him, and it was the same way back. He had an incredibly original talent, and as a man I can't say enough about him. He was more than a showbiz acquaintance to me, he was a dear friend, and I will miss him," he added. Born in Chicago, Shandling moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s to give comedy writing a shot, first earning a living writing ad copy. But his dry, cerebral wit quickly earned him staff-writer gigs on sitcoms and like Sanford and Son and Welcome Back, Kotter. After a near-death experience in a 1977 car accident, Shandling decided to concentrate on stand-up comedy, finding the constraints of traditional sitcom writing limiting. He started performing at the Comedy Store in L.A. a year later, capitalizing on his real-life neuroses. - Billboard, 3/25/16...... Paul McCartneyPaul McCartney is set to appear in the fifth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise, according to reports. Filming had apparently already concluded on the movie when Sir Paul was added to the cast, with an extra scene featuring him added to allow him to make his cameo. His appearance follows Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards' roles in the third and fourth POTC films, as Captain Teague. The fifth film, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, is due for release on May 26, 2017, and will star Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Javier Bardem and Geoffrey Rush. - New Musical Express, 3/24/16...... In other Beatles-related news, a rare record record recorded by the Fab Four that was found in the loft of Gerry and the Pacemakers keyboardist Les Maguire was auctioned off for #163;77,500 on Mar. 21. The 10-inch acetate of "Till There Was You" and "Hello Little Girl" from 1962 was the first Beatles disc to be cut before the band broke into the national charts and featured the handwriting of their manager Brian Epstein. The 78 rpm record, made at the former HMV record store on Oxford Street in London, was mislabelled by Epstein as "'Til There Was You" and described as being the work of "Paul McCartney & The Beatles." "Hello Little Girl," on the flipside, was again mislabelled as "Hullo Little Girl" and was described as being the work of "John Lennon & The Beatles." The record was submitted to late Beatles producer George Martin in an effort to secure a recording contract, and had been locked away in Maguire's Liverpool loft, where it had been wrapped in paper for more than 50 years. - NME, 3/22/16...... Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band helped promoters say goodbye to the L.A. Sports Arena with a Mar. 19 concert at the venue, which had hosted major concerts and other events for more than five decades. Springsteen and his band first performed at the arena, which is being demolished for the construction of a new soccer stadium, during his original The River tour in 1980. "We're so glad to be here in the beautiful Sports Arena tonight," Springsteen said from the stage at the first of the three sold-out shows. "They're gonna knock this beautiful building down." He then introduced "Wrecking Ball," a song written for the Meadowlands when his hometown stadium in New Jersey was demolished, as "One for the Sports Arena." It was Springsteen's 34th and final stop at the famed venue, which has also hosted such acts as David Bowie, the Kinks, U2 and AC/DC. - Billboard, 3/25/16...... A London-based law firm is suing the estate of Michael Jackson for more than $200,000 that it claims it is owed in legal fees it did for the King of Pop in the two years leading up to his 2009 death. Atkins Thomson Solicitors is suing prominent entertainment attorney John Branca and music executive John McClain, executors of Jackson's estate, for breach of contract in a state claim filed on Mar. 21 in California. In Nov. 2009, the firm filed a creditors claim for $204,204.36 and claims defendants refused to pay, finally rejecting the invoice in writing in Dec. 2015. "The Estate doesn't believe the attorney's claim for work allegedly done for Michael Jackson is valid and we intend to contest this lawsuit," Jackson estate attorney Howard Weitzman said in response to the suit. - The Hollywood Reporter, 3/23/16...... Barry GibbThe Bee Gees' Barry Gibb is reportedly set to join Coldplay during their headlining set at the 2016 Glastonbury Festival, which will take place at Worthy Farm over the week of June 22-26. According to the UK tabloid The Sun, Gibb had been asked to perform but didn't have time to perfect a full set with his touring band, and "as soon as Coldplay frontman Chris Martin got wind, he asked Barry if he wanted to come on stage with Coldplay." Gibb quickly agreed, and the musicians are putting a Bee Gees medley together cramming in all of their classics. "It's going to be really special. There are likely to be a few other surprise guests on the night too, which are still to be decided," according to a source. Barry Gibb is the last surviving member of the Bee Gees. - NME, 3/25/16...... Timeless pop tunes from the 1960s and 1970s, including Billy Joel's "Piano Man," Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," The Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go," and Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried" have been selected for induction into the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry. Under the terms of the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, the Librarian of Congress, with advice from the National Recording Preservation Board, selects 25 recordings each year to be preserved. They must be "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" and at least 10 years old. The Curtis Mayfield-led Impressions hit "People Get Ready," Santana's 1970 album Abraxas, and George Carlin's 1972 comedy LP Class Clown were also among the 25 recordings inducted this year. - Billboard, 3/23/16...... A previously unreleased David Bowie demo called "To Be Love" recorded in 1970 at the Roxbury Road Studios in Los Angeles during Bowie's first trip to the US with sound engineer Ron de Strulle has been made available for streaming online via de Strulle's MindBodyNetwork.com website. "My first impression of David was that he was warm, open, friendly, and not looking for star treatment like most of the other artists who came to RR Studios," de Strulle told The Huffington Post. "He was interested in the production process and excited about anything creative." De Strulle added that Bowie "could pick up an instrument and play anything. He would say 'I never played this instrument before,' and then he would cut loose and play. Pure genius." In other Bowie news, a mural of the late iconic rocker that became a shrine after his death is set to be listed by the South London city council to ensure it remains protected.The mural is on the side of Morleys department store, a stroll from the legendary Brixton Academy and just opposite the Tube station for Brixton, the south London area where Bowie was born in 1947. The artwork, created by Australian artist Jimmy C in 2013 after researching Bowie's life, has been visited by thousands of people, many of whom left flowers, message or gifts, in the days after Bowie passed away Jan. 10 following a battle with cancer. - NME/Billboard, 3/24/16...... Robin TrowerLegendary rocker Robin Trower will release a new studio album, Where You Are Going To, on May 6 via Manhaton Records. The guitarist, whose 1974 album, Bridge of Sighs, is regarded by many rock pundits as a blues milestone, describes his new studio album as a continuation of his previous album Something's About To Change. "It ranges from rock to funky soul, with some epic blues grooves," Trower says. "The title track is me reflecting on my life and career, and how we have no idea how our lives might unfold." Trower adds the album also features two very emotional tracks, "We Will Be Together Someday" and "I'm Holding On To You," which are "both dedicated to the memory of my late wife." - Noble PR, 3/23/16...... A deluxe reissue of the Beach Boys' influential 1966 album Pet Sounds will hit stores on June 10 to mark the LP's 50th anniversary. A 4 CD/Blu-ray Pet Sounds - 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition will feature stereo, mono, and high resolution recordings of the album, plus instrumentals, 5.1 surround mixes, session outtakes, alternate mixes, previously unreleased live tracks, and more. A 2 CD edition pairing the remastered album in stereo and mono with highlights from the collectors edition's additional tracks, as well as a vinyl release, will also be released. Band mastermind Brian Wilson began a 50th anniversary Pet Sounds world tour to also commemorate the album on Mar. 26 in Auckland, New Zealand. - Billboard, 3/23/16...... Elton John has met with rapper Young Thug at John's residence in Atlanta, Ga., on Mar. 23 to reportedly begin collaborating on new music. That day, the "Slime Season" rapper shared a photo of himself standing next to Johr on Instagram. In the photo, Elton is wearing a gold and black tracksuit and a cap with "THUGGER"' written on it. The two musicians have not revealed the nature of their meeting, saying only that they are "fans of one another." Young Thug has reportedly also recording a song using an instrumental of "Rocket Man" that Elton sent to him earlier in March, and in a December interview Elton said he was a fan of the Atlanta rapper. - NME, 3/23/16...... The estate of late M*A*S*H star Wayne Rogers is being sued for child support by a woman who claims he fathered her child. Melinda Naud filed a creditors claim against Rogers' estate on Mar. 21, a follow-up to a civil suit she first filed in Aug. 2013 before the actor's death last December. Naud, an actress who had roles on the TV shows Happy Days and The Dukes of Hazzard, claims Rogers made promises to financially provide for the child, including the creation of a $500,000 trust fund, a $1,000,000 life insurance policy, plus provision for college expenses and child support, a total she claims amounts to $3,418,000. She is also alleging reach of contract, fraud, concealment and false promise. Naud claims Rogers asked her to keep the news of the birth of "their child," Luigi Calabrese, in 1985, quiet and hid his existence from his second wife Amy Hirsh. In January a judge gave the go ahead for the suit to continue after the actor's passing. Rogers' estate is reputed to be worth $75 million. - WENN.com, 3/21/16...... Baseball Hall of Fame member Joe Garagiola, who later became a well known baseball announcer and sometime substitute host for Johnny Carson, passed away at the age of 90 on Mar. 22 in Arizona. Mr. Garagiola played nine seasons as catcher for four teams including the New York Giants, but he was most famous as an announcer for NBC Sports television and radio over nearly three decades beginning in 1961, trading the roles of play-by-play announcer and color commentator with Kurt Gowdy and, later, Tony Kubek. He also teamed with Vin Scully for three World Series in the 1980s. Mr. Garagiola also was a popular presence as a panelist on NBC's Today show and as host or panelist on various game shows, including He Said, She Said, To Tell the Truth and The Match Game. One of his fans was Johnny Carson, who had Mr. Garagiola serve as guest host several times on The Tonight Show. Mr. Garagiola had the distinction of presiding over the program when John Lennon and Paul McCartney stopped by in May 1968, marking the only appearance by any of the Beatles on the program. He was inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame in 2004 and was the 2014 recipient of Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to pro baseball. - Deadline.com, 3/23/16...... Earl Hamner Jr.Acclaimed writer Earl Hamner, Jr., best known for drawing upon his Depression-era upbringing in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia to create the beloved 1970s family series The Waltons, died in Los Angeles on Mar. 24 after a battle with pneumonia. He was 92. Although best remembered for The Waltons, which aired for nine seasons and won more than a dozen Emmys, that show barely scratched the surface of Mr. Hamner's literary accomplishments. Mr. Hamner was also a bestselling novelist (Spencer's Mountain), the author of eight episodes of the classic 1960s TV show The Twilight Zone and, as a screenwriter, adapted the popular children's tale "Charlotte's Web," into a hit 2006 film. He also created the popular, long-running TV drama Falcon Crest and wrote for such other TV shows such as Wagon Train, Gentle Ben and The Wild Thornberrys. Like The Waltons' John Boy character which he modeled on himself, Mr. Hamner was born in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, on July 10, 1923. Also like John Boy, he was the eldest of eight children and named after his father. The show aired for more than 200 episodes, with Mr. Hamner providing brief voiceover narration in each one, telling his audience about his family's years in the Blue Ridge Mountains and how it had shaped him. Mr. Hamner had decided to become a writer at age six, however, after getting a poem published on the children's page of a Richmond, Va., newspaper. After graduating from Schuyler High School at the top of his class, Mr. Hamner attended the University of Richmond on a scholarship until being drafted into the Army during the Second World War. He returned to Richmond in 2013 just a few days before his 90th birthday, to accept a resolution from the state Legislature declaring him a "Virginia treasure." Mr. Hamner, who was surrounded by family when he died as his favorite music, John Denver's Rocky Mountain Collection, was played, is survived by his wife, Jane; son, Scott; and daughter, Caroline. - AP, 3/25/16...... Ken Howard, the tall, barrel-chested actor konwn for starring in the CBS late '70s drama The White Shadow, died on Mar. 23. He was 71. Howard also appeared in the NBC drama Crossing Jordan and, more recently, on 30 Rock. He was also a former president of the SAG-AFTRA actors guild. - Variety, 3/23/16...... David Smyrl, the Emmy-winning actor best known for his role as retired firefighter Mr. Handford on Sesame Street, died after a bout with lung cancer on Mar. 22 at Lankenau Medical Center outside Philadelphia. He was 80. Mr. Smyrl moved to California to work on the sitcom Benson in the 1970s, where he earned a People's Choice Award. He also worked as a writer and actor on The Cosby Show, playing contractor Sam Lucas. From 1990 to 1998, Mr. Smyrl played the smiling, singing store-owner on Sesame Street, succeeding Leonard Jackson, who played a grumpier Handford. - AP, 3/25/16.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on Mar. 22nd, 2016





The Rolling Stones pushed back their history-making concert in Havana, Cuba from Mar. 20 to Mar. 25 after learning that U.S. Pres. Barack Obama was making his own history-making two-day trip to the island on Mar. 20. "He's our opening act... at one point we thought he [Obama] was coming to the show," joked Stones production manager Dale Skjerseth. The Mar. 25 show, which caps the band's 2016's America Latina Ol stadium tour, is expected to bring approximately 500,000 fans to Havana's Ciudad Deportiva de la Havana venue. A free concert with a first-come, first-served arrangement, the unprecedented gig took 140 band employees and at least 80 Cubans to get the grounds ready. The Stones will become the biggest act to play Cuba since the country's 1959 revolution led to the rejection of rock bands like Elvis Presley and the Beatles. - Billboard, 3/21/16...... Mick JaggerIn other Rolling Stones-related news, frontman Mick Jagger has told the U.K.'s Daily Mirror paper that he regrets not staying in touch with David Bowie prior to his death on Jan. 10. Jagger, who collaborated with Bowie during the '70s and '80s, mostly notably working together for 1985 single "Dancing In The Street," said it had been a "long time" since he had seen his pal before he died, and that he was "very upset" at not being able to see him one last time. Jagger also revealed that he was in New York, the city where Bowie lived and died, when he passed away. "I was listening to his album [Blackstar] before he died and ahead of it coming out," Jagger said. "I thought I must get in touch with him as I hadn't seen him in long time. But he died almost immediately after that. I was very upset." Jagger also reflected on Bowie's career, noting he "chose rather good designers to work and had a tremendous sense of style and verve that took his stage act to another level... He was a bit like Grace Jones in some respect, she did the same sort of thing. In a certain way, that's a lot of superficiality... but for someone like Lady Gaga or Bowie, it's part and parcel of their sense of style and the projection of their inner self." - New Musical Express, 3/22/16...... Speaking of David Bowie, the rock star's longtime producer and collaborator, Tony Visconti, criticised the current music industry during his keynote speech at South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Tex., on Mar. 17. "It can't get any worse," he said, and went on to describe mainstream pop as "a computer and a vocal that was doctored to goodness knows how much." Visconti also took aim at TV talent shows for giving the impression "that becoming a big star is just luck. They think get a great hairdo and makeup and everything's going to be hunky dory -- until next week." The producer also criticised the record labels for not being willing to take risks: There are great people all around us -- the next David Bowie lives somewhere in the world, the next Beatles, the next Springsteen but they're not getting a shot, they're not being financed," he said. "[Bowie] was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us. For now, it is appropriate to cry," Visconti added. - NME, 3/17/16...... Elvis PresleyTo mark the 60th anniversary of the release of Elvis Presley's 1956 self-titled debut album for RCA Records, the label has released Elvis Presley - The RCA Album Collection, the most comprehensive album collection yet. Boasting 60 discs that span the entire run of the legendary artist's tenure with the label, the set includes every original album Presley released on the label, along with three discs of rarities. "What we decided to do was hone it down to what would be considered a new album with some new material on it that was released during his lifetime -- the first place that a song appeared on a long playing record while he was alive," says RCA/Legacy senior VP John Jackson. "There's also a few discs of stray material that either were never on LPs or was discovered after he passed away. In essence, it's the complete masters collection that we did about 10 years ago, but arranged in the order that the fans would have first experienced the music." - Billboard, 3/19/16...... A movie script based on "Bubbles the Chimp," Michael Jackson's famous pet during the 1980s, has been acquired by the production companies End Cue and Starbuns Industries, and will be made using stop-motion animation, in the vein of the Oscar-nominated film Anomalisa. Written by screenwriter Isaac Adamson, the script has been a hot property in Hollywood, and will be executive-produced by Adamson and Lee Stobby. The movie has Bubbles narrating his own life story after being adapted by Jackson, and "details his life within King of Pop's inner circle through the scandals that later rocked Jackson's life and eventually led to Bubbles' release." Bubbles the Chimp was a frequent companion to the iconic singer in the 1980s, even joining him on his Bad World Tour in Japan. Meanwhile, the two companies that fought viciously over the rights to hologram and digital projection technology for Michael Jackson and other deceased artists have finally come to an agreement with each other. The squabble began when Hologram USA, run by entrepreneur Alki David, filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Nevada against Pulse Evolution Corp. at the time of the 2014 Billboard Music Awards, which featured Pulse's work on a Michael Jackson hologram. But now the parties have agreed to rest their bitter dispute so as to move forward in their plans to conquer the universe with holograms and digital projections of celebrities everywhere. - The Hollywood Reporter/Billboard, 3/19/16...... When news broke on Mar. 14 that the Michael Jackson estate would sell its 50 percent share of Sony/ATV Music Publishing to Sony in a $750 million deal, many wondered whether Paul McCartney would finally be able to acquire the rights to his share of the company's crown jewel -- the Lennon-McCartney catalog -- since it begins coming up for reversion in 2018. Now it has been revealed that McCartney has initiated legal proceedings that will allow him to claim the ownership of parts of the Fab Four's catalog in the US, three decades after the rights to the tracks were sold to Jackson. Parts of the catalog will qualify for the claiming of ownership by the original songwriters in January of 2018, and while Yoko Ono has long since done a deal with Sony that gives the company ownership of Lennon's half of the song rights, McCartney has set the process for reclaiming his share into motion. McCartney is using the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, which gave songwriters the ability to recapture the publishers' share of their songs after two consecutive 28-year terms (or 56 years), to reclaim the rights to his share of 32 songs in the US, though the laws won't apply to his share of the rights in other parts of the world. It was widely reported that after Jackson had bought ATV Music in 1985, McCartney felt he had been undercut; he had advised Jackson on the virtues of music publishing and felt the King of Pop had betrayed their close personal friendship through setting up a deal to buy ATV music. - NME, 3/20/16...... In other Beatles-related news, John Lennon's son Sean Lennon has formed a band with Les Claypool of Primus called The Lennon Claypool Delirium. The new band is currently streaming a new single "Mr. Wright," from its upcoming album, Monolith of Phobos, which hits stores on June 3. The band, which also features the Beastie Boys' Mark Ramos Nishita and Paul Baldi of the Fungi Band, will also kick off a three month US tour this summer. - Billboard, 3/21/16...... Brian WilsonThe Beach Boys' Brian Wilson will perform the band's landmark 1966 album Pet Sounds in its entirety on tour around the world this summer to mark the 50th anniversary of the hugely influential LP. The 2016 tour, 70 to 80 dates in total, will be the first time Pet Sounds will be played in its entirety on stage in 17 years. When the album was released in 1966, "We didn't play it on stage," Wilson says, describing the record as, "an album that started out with 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' and just went from there." Wilson is touring as much as he has in the past 20 years, averaging over 50 dates and year and topping 70 this year. "No, I never thought I would [tour so much]," he muses, "but I do anyway. I'll be touring a little bit every year." And even though Pet Sounds as an album is noteworthy for its studio wizardry, Wilson says it adapts well to the concert stage. "I did it [live] 17 years ago," he says, "and we've gotten better over the years." Wilson says his favorite songs to perform live include "Callifornia Girls" and "Good Vibrations," the latter a masterpiece released as a standalone single the same year as Pet Sounds (it later appeared on 1967's Smiley Smile). Wilson's 2016 Pet Sounds tour begins Mar. 26 at the Auckland (New Zealand) Civic Center, and is expected to wrap in early November. - Billboard, 3/17/16...... Billy Joel has announced he will play his 36th show in his landmark "franchise" run at New York's Madison Square Garden on Dec. 17. The shows, which are being described as the most successful arena engagement of all time, include 35 sold-out performances before some 700,000 fans. This summer Joel will also play nine stadium dates, including seven Major League Baseball stadiums in North America, and a sold-out Wembley Stadium in London (with 60,000 tickets sold), and CommerceBank Arena stadium in Frankfurt, Germany. As part of this 2016 run, Joel has already sold out Wrigley Field in Chicago, Fenway Park in Boston and Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park, each for the third year in a row. - Billboard, 3/17/16...... Seymour Stein, the cofounder and chairman of Sire Records, will be honored with the Howie Richmond Hitmaker Award at this June's Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony. Stein, a music industry legend, signed a who's who of artists to the Sire label over the years, including Talking Heads, the Ramones, the Pretenders, Richard Hell, the Replacements and many more. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. The SHOF's 47th Annual Induction and Awards Dinner will take place June 9 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. - Billboard, 3/17/16...... Carole Bayer SagerVeteran songwriter Carole Bayer Sager, who penned many hit songs including "Nobody Does It Better," "A Groovy Kind of Love," "Don't Cry Out Loud" and "The Best That You Can Do," will release her memoir, They're Playing Our Song, via Simon & Shuster on Oct. 18. The title comes from the long-running musical of the same name, which was inspired by her relationship with the late Marvin Hamlisch. Sager was also once married to Burt Bacharach and close friends with movie icon Elizabeth Taylor. In her five-decade career, she collaborated with such top artists as Neil Diamond, Celine Dion, Bob Dylan, Carole King, Melissa Manchester, Bette Midler, Carly Simon, Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra, among many others. - Billboard, 3/21/16...... Motown legend Smokey Robinson will be honored by the MusiCares MAP Fund for his charitable efforts on May 19 during a ceremony in Los Angeles. The MusiCares MAP Fund provides members of the music community access to addiction recovery treatment regardless of their financial situation. Robinson will receive the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award, which was given to Pete Townshend of The Who at the 2015 benefit concert. The 76-year-old Robinson also will perform at the event, to be hosted by comedian-actor Cedric the Entertainer. Also performing some of Robinson's biggest hits will be Cee Lo Green, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmunds and El DeBarge. - AP, 3/20/16...... A 9-year-old rock fan up late at a Bruce Springsteen concert had a note for his teacher if he was late for class the next day - and it was signed by The Boss himself. Fourth-grader Xabi Glovsky and his dad Scott attended the Mar. 15 stop in Los Angeles by Springsteen and his E Street Band on their The River tour, catching the Boss's eye with a homemade sign that said: "Bruce, I will be late to school tomorrow. Please sign my note." After the show, Springsteen invited the pair backstage where they posed for photos, also scribbling a note for the Claremont boy's teacher: "Dear Ms. Jackson, Xabi has been out very late rocking & rolling. Please excuse him if he is tardy." Springsteen later posted the photos and the note on his website. Xabi's father, 48, is a die-hard Bruce fan who has attended dozens of Springsteen concerts in the last three decades, and says he has been singing Xabi to sleep with Springsteen songs since he was born. - AP, 3/21/16...... The British government body Historic England has just awarded Grade II listed status to the London townhouse where the Sex Pistols lived and recorded in the 1970s. Number 6 Denmark Street was built in the 17th century and still features caricatures drawn by John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) of his bandmates and other notable punk figures like Malcolm McLaren and Nancy Spungen, the girlfriend of Sex Pistols member Sid Vicious, on its walls. It was also recently announed that Joe Corr, the son of Sex Pistols manager Malcom McLaren, will hold a ceremonial burning of punk memorabilia in Camden, in which he'll torch a personal collection worth more than £5 million in its entirety. Corr is burning the collection in part to protest the establishment-sanctioned nature of the Punk London commemorative event, which has been backed by Queen Elizabeth II and takes place later this year. - New Musical Express, 3/22/16...... Gene SimmonsIn a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Kiss singer/bassist Gene Simmons said that he is "looking forward to the death of rap." "I'm looking forward to music coming back to lyrics and melody, instead of just talking. A song, as far as I'm concerned, is by definition lyric and melody, or just melody," Simmons mused. He added that songs like The Troggs' "Wild Thing" and Napoleon XIV's "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" are fine but are "predominantly novelty songs." "Music is about melody and lyric, whether it's rap or doo-wop, or yeah, even rock," he said. Asked why he never connected with rap music, Simmons replied: "I don't have the cultural background to appreciate being a gangster. Of course that's not what it's all about, but that's where it comes from. That's the heart and soul of it. It came from the streets." Simmons then predicted the death of rap music: "Rap will die. Next year, 10 years from now, at some point, and then something else will come along. And all that is good and healthy." - Rolling Stone, 3/17/16...... In a new interview, Rod Stewart revealed his five-year-old son Aiden, the youngest of his eight children, loves to dress up like a lady. "The little one, I don't know yet," the 71-year-old Stewart told The Interview People agency. "He likes dressing up as a lady. So we don't know which way he's thinking. He's always dressing up like Mary Poppins. Hopefully he'll grow out of it." Rod added that if Aiden comes out as gay when he is older, he would not be bothered, saying, "If he turns out to be homosexual, that's okay with me. As long as he's happy." Aiden is Rod's son with model Penny Lancaster, who he married in 2007. They have a 10-year-old son Alastair, and Rod is hoping he will follow his dad's passion and become a soccer star, but he says Penny wants him to be a swimmer. - WENN.com, 3/22/16.

Day of the Dead, a Grateful Dead tribute album featuring Mumford & Sons, Wilco, Bela Fleck, Bruce Hornsby, Lucius and The War on Drugs is set for release on May 20. The deluxe 5-CD set will also be available on limited edition vinyl, and profits from sales will benefit the Red Hot Organization, which fights AIDS/HIV health related issues around the world. Selections from the set will be performed live this summer at the Eaux Claires Festival in Wisconsin on Aug. 12-13. - Billboard, 3/17/16...... The Who have been named as the final night headliners of the 2016 Isle of Wight Festival, which is set for Seaclose Park in Newport between June 9-12. Founding members Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey will be backed by Zak Starkey, Pino Palladino, and Pete Townshend's son Simon Townshend as the Who brings its Who Hits 50! tour to the UK for its only performance in the country during 2016. Other headliners at the festival include Queen, Iggy Pop, Adam Ant, Buzzcocks and the Godfathers. - New Musical Express, 3/17/16...... Robert PlantRobert Plant performed at the South By Southwest festival in Austin, Tex., on Mar. 16, fronting a house band led by Charlie Sexton and featuring Jimmie Vaughan through renditions of classics by such artists as the Coasters ("Youngblood") and Clyde McPhatter ("Let the Boogie Woogie Roll"). Plant also paid tribute to late Austin DJ Paul Ray, whose radio program he called "my anchor, quite often, at least sonically" during his time there and said he was performing "to say thanks to (Ray's) contribution to me." A day earlier, Iggy Pop played a generous hour and 50-minute set at the SXSW fest with an all-star team that included Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. Pop will release a new solo album, Post-Pop Depression, on Mar. 18, and kick off a tour on Mar. 28 in Seattle, with a European leg launching May 4 in Stockholm, Sweden - Billboard, 3/17/16...... Stevie Wonder has announced he'll play his classic 1976 double LP Songs in the Key of Life in its entirety during the British Summer Time festival in Hyde Park on July 10. It will be the first time the Motown icon has brought his successful SITKOL tour to the UK, after performing the album for 34 shows in North America. It was previously announced that Carole King will also play the Summer Time fest on July 8, performing her classic 1970 LP Tapestry. - New Musical Express, 3/14/16...... Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band brought their The River tour to the Los Angeles Sports Arena on Mar. 15, performing the 1980 album The River in its entirety followed by a generous helping of "hits." With Springsteen skipping merrily (and repeatedly) through the crowd slapping hands and crowd-surfing, the excitement seldom lagged. The tour, Springsteen's first in two years, began in January and the U.S. leg wraps on Mar. 17 with another show at the Memorial Sports Arena. A four-city UK tour begins in Manchester on May 25. - Billboard, 3/16/16...... David Bowie's handwritten lyrics for his 1973 track "The Jean Genie" are being auctioned by U.S. auctioneers Paddle 8, with a starting bid of £35,000. The lyrics, written in just 18 lines with Bowie using a black ballpoint pen on a single page of cream lined notepaper, were given to fan Neal Peters when he was president of the Original David Bowie Fan Club in the US. "This is the only set of complete handwritten lyrics to have come to auction," Paddle 8 said in a statement. "Bowie is believed to have kept almost all of his original lyrics, notes, and manuscripts, creating an archive that spanned his entire career. As a result, major pieces of memorabilia rarely come on the market, and only a handful of key items have sold at auction over the years." Meanwhile, a Bowie-inspired music software plug-in that was developed by audio developers Eventide in collaboration with Bowie's long-time producer Tony Visconti is set to be released to the public. The plug-in is said to be inspired by "how powerful an instrument Bowie's voice was... and how he was able to harness that power by employing various microphone techniques" and aims to "mimic and build upon the real world effects that Visconti had created." The plug-in's first commercial use was on a track created for an upcoming episode of HBO's new '70s-themed series, Vinyl. - New Musical Express, 3/17/16...... David GilmourThe culture minister of Pompeii, Italy, announced on Mar. 16 that Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour will be returning to the city's ancient Roman Amphitheatre of Pompeii this summer on July 7 and 8, almost 45 years after Pink Floyd filmed their acclaimed concert Live at Pompeii at the same venue. Gilmour's two-night stand at the theatre will be part of his upcoming summer tour to support his 2015 solo album, Rattle That Lock, which gets underway Mar. 24 at the Hollywood Bowl in L.A. and runs through September, when he performs four shows at London's Royal Albert Hall. - Billboard, 3/16/16...... The Rolling Stones played Mexico for the first time in a decade on Mar. 14, delighting a crowd of about 60,000 fans who packed a sports stadium in the country's capital. Frontman Mick Jagger celebrated the concert by poking fun at actor Sean Penn, whose secret interview with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman while the convicted drug lord was a fugitive from justice has provoked controversy in Mexico. "Sean Penn came to interview me at the hotel, but I escaped," Jagger joked to cheers and roars of laughter. Jagger also quipped that the band enjoyed drinking tequila but now they prefer mezcal, another agave-based spirit which is known for its smoky flavor. After a second show in Mexico on Mar. 17, the Stones will perform a historic free concert in Havana, Cuba, on Mar. 25, three days after U.S. Pres. Barack Obama wraps up his own landmark visit to communist-run Cuba. - AP, 3/15/16...... The death of Emerson, Lake & Palmer keyboardist Keith Emerson on Mar. 9 was officially ruled a suicide by the Los Angeles coroner's office on Mar. 15. Authorities had suspected Emerson shot himself but the determination did not become official until after the autopsy. In a recent interview with the U.K. publication The Daily Mail, Emerson's girlfriend Mari Kawaguchi, who found his body at their shared California residence, revealed that Emerson's "right hand and arm had given him problems for years... He had an operation a few years ago to take out a bad muscle but the pain and nerve issues in his right hand were getting worse." Kawaguchi added that he had concerts coming up in Japan and -- even though a back-up keyboard player was hired to support him -- he was worried about his playing ability, and was sensitive to online criticism about some of his performances in 2015. "He was tormented with worry that he wouldn't be good enough," Kawaguchi said. "He was planning to retire after Japan. He didn't want to let down his fans. He was a perfectionist and the thought he wouldn't play perfectly made him depressed, nervous and anxious." Meanwhile, on Mar. 10 Emerson's former bandmate Greg Lake paid tribute to Emerson on his official website. "To all ELP friends and fans all over the world, I would like to express my deep sadness upon hearing this tragic news," Lake posted. "As sad and tragic as Keith's death is, I would not want this to be the lasting memory people take away with them. What I will always remember about Keith Emerson was his remarkable talent as a musician and composer and his gift and passion to entertain. Music was his life and despite some of the difficulties he encountered I am sure that the music he created will live on forever," he added. - AP/Billboard/NME, 3/15/16...... Peter WolfFormer J. Geils Band singer Peter Wolf will release his first new solo album in six years, A Cure For Loneliness, this spring. Described as a stylistic blend that mixes studio creations with live recordings -- including a bluegrass-flavored "Love Stinks" -- A Cure For Loneliness is due on Apr. 8. Wolf will be touring with his backing band, the Midnight Travelers, behind the new LP throughout 2016, starting with a show in Hartford, Conn., on Apr. 29. - Billboard, 3/17/16...... Lynyrd Skynyrd and Peter Frampton have announced they'll co-headline a a summer tour of North America beginning on June 3 at Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y. In Nov. 2014, Frampton teamed with the iconic Southern rockers for a cover of J.J. Cale's "Call Me the Breeze" at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, which appeared on Skynyrd's July 2015 live CD, One More For the Fans! So far twelve dates have been announced for the tour, which also includes stops in Los Angeles on Aug. 18 and Las Vegas on Aug. 19, and more dates are expected to be announced soon. - Billboard, 3/15/16...... Sony Corp. has agreed to buy out Michael Jackson's 50 percent interest in the Sony/ATV music publishing company, giving Sony complete control of the company. According to the announcement, Sony has signed a memorandum of understanding to pay the Jackson estate $750 million for the 50 percent interest it has in the publishing company that began as a joint venture between Sony and Jackson 21 years ago. A definitive agreement is expected by Mar. 31, with the deal closure expected to come in late 2016 or early 2017. The transaction is subject to certain closing conditions as well as regulatory approval. With the deal's closure, the Jackson estate will retain the 10 percent interest it holds in EMI Music Publishing, as well as Mijac Music, the publishing company that owns the songs written by Jackson as well as songs written by other writers, plus Jackson's master recordings. John Branca of the Jackson estate said the deal will "further allow us to continue our efforts of maximizing the value of Michael's estate for the benefit of his children." A portion of the proceeds will be used to finish the pay-down of $500 million in debt that the estate held seven years ago, leaving it completely debt-free and with cash on hand, according to one source. After taxes, fees and expenses, the balance will be transferred to a trust for the benefit of Michael's beneficiaries, which are his three children. - Billboard, 3/14/16...... Aretha Franklin was forced to cancel two shows in Florida on Mar. 14 due to "lack of band personnel." Although the Sarasota, Fla. and St. Augustine, Fla. shows were canceled, Franklin will still be performing at the Jazz in the Gardens Music Festival in Miami Gardens, a rep for Franklin has confirmed. The Queen of Soul will also be performing in North Carolina and Ohio through July. - Billboard, 3/14/16...... In a new interview with the BBC, Eagles co-founder Don Henley said the tribute by the Eagles and Jackson Browne to late Eagles member Glen Frey at the Grammy Awards on Feb. 15 was the Eagles' "final farewell" and he "doesn't think you'll see us performing again. "I think it was an appropriate farewell," Henley said, and noted that the tribute almost didn't happen. Frey died on Jan. 18 of complications from rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis and pneumonia in New York at age 67. - Billboard, 3/13/16...... Jackson Browne and filmmaker Judd Apatow were among those paying tribute to the late Warren Zevon during a Zevon tribute show at the Largo in Los Angeles on Mar. 11. Also participating was Zevon's son Jordan Zevon, who spookily recaptured some of his father's vocal idiosyncrasies on the song "Studebaker." - Billboard, 3/12/16...... A trailer for the upcoming Miles Davis biopic starring Don Cheadle was released on Mar. 16. The film focuses on a period of the iconic jazzman's life in the '70s when he took a break from music. The film, called Miles Ahead, will hit U.S. theaters on Apr. 1 and Apr. 22 in the U.K. - NME, 3/16/16...... Phil_CollinsFormer Genesis member Phil Collins played his first public solo show in six years on Mar. 11 at a charity show in Miami, where he resides. The show featured five Collins originals, including "Another Day in Paradise," "Against All Odds," "In the Air Tonight," "Easy Lover" and "Take Me Home," as well as covers of the Temptations' "My Girl" and Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." In Oct. 2015, Collins announced that he was "no longer officially retired" and is working on a new album as well as making plans to perform live, partly in order to show his kids what their dad does. - NME, 3/12/16...... Singer Gogi Grant, who once knocked Elvis Presley off the top of the U.S. hit parade with her 1956 hit "The Wayward Wind," died on Mar. 10 at the age of 91. Ms. Grant also dubbed for actress Ann Blyth in the 1957 biopic of torch singer Helen Morgan, and portrayed a recording artist in the rock & roll movie The Big Beat, (1958), a movie that also featured Fats Dominon, The Del-Vikings, The Diamond and The Mills Brothers. "The Wayward Wind," which replaced Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" at No. 1 on the Billboard charts in 1956, was performed by many other acts over the years, including Tex Ritter, Patsy Cline, Sylvia and the Beatles. Ms. Grant took a two-decade hiatus from show business to raise a family but returned to singing in 1987 and performed into her late 80s. - Billboard, 3/13/16...... Singer Frank Sinatra Jr., the only son of iconic entertainer Frank Sinatra, died of cardiac arrest on Mar. 16 before a scheduled concert performance in Daytona Beach, Fla. He was 72. Sinatra Jr. had been scheduled to perform at the 2,500-seat Peabody Auditorium, but local NBC affiliate WPTZ reported he became ill in the afternoon and was taken to Halifax Health Medical Center. He was scheduled to perform next on Thursday at the 2,000-seat Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg, Florida., and then on May 19 at the 2,400-seat Adler Theater in Davenport, Iowa. He began performing in his teens and carried on a career of entertaining across mediums for the past 50 years. More recently, he had a guest spot playing himself on The Sopranos and appeared on two episodes of Family Guy. Survivors also include his mother, Nancy Sinatra Sr., the first of Frank Sinatra's four wives, and his son, Michael. His father died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on May 14, 1998, at age 82 after suffering a heart attack. - Billboard, 3/16/16...... British composer Peter Maxwell Davies, who served as Queen Elizabeth II's official master of music, died on Mar. 14 of leukemia at his home in Scotland's Orkney islands. He was 81. One of Britain's best-known modern composers, Mr. Davies created some 300 works including symphonies, the operas "Taverner" and "The Lighthouse," and "Eight Songs for a Mad King," about the current queen's troubled ancestor, George III. His most recent work was an opera for children, "The Hogboon." - AP, 3/14/16...... Actor Robert Horton, who starred on the TV series Wagon Train and, later, A Man Called Shenandoah, died of natural causes on Mar. 9 at a rehab facility in Los Angeles. He was 91. - WesternClippings.com, 3/13/16.

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on Mar. 12th, 2016





Keith EmersonLegendary prog rock keyboardist Keith Emerson of the British supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer was found dead at his home in Santa Monica, Calif., on Mar. 10 of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He was 71. "We regret to announce that Keith Emerson died last night at his home in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, aged 71," a post on ELP's official Facebook page stated. "We ask that the family's privacy and grief be respected." A native of Yorkshire, UK, Emerson enjoyed a musical career spanning 50 years and was widely acknowledged as one of the finest keyboardists of the early '70s prog rock era. Emerson, along with guitarist/singer Greg Lake drummer Carl Palmer formed ELP in London in 1970, and the trio released its first eponymous album in 1971, which peaked at No. 18 in the US and was certified gold the same year. ELP's six additional albums of the decade, including Pictures at an Exhibition, Trilogy, Brain Salad Surgery (considered by many fans to be their finest work), and the live set Welcome Back My Friends... To the Show That Never Ends, also acheived gold album status and continued to feature he group's instrumentally complicated yet sonically cohesive prog-rock mixing classical structures, improvisational jazz and electronics. After splitting up in 1979, the band recruited a new drummer, Cozy Powell, in 1986 and continued on as Emerson, Lake & Powell. Keith EmersonIn 1992, Carl Palmer rejoined the band and the original trio released two additional albums, Black Moon and The Return of the Manticore. Prior to his success with ELP, Keith Emerson played with British band The Nice, melding rock music with classical and jazz influences, and his keyboard contributions can also be heard on Rod Stewart's 1970 album, The Rod Stewart Album. Classically trained as a child, Emerson was known as one of the most technically proficient keyboard players of his generation. He started experimenting with the Moog synthesizer after hearing Wendy Carlos' landmark 1968 LP Switched-On Bach. His showmanship while performing on the Moog, Hammond organ or piano was one of the trio's defining elements. Emerson also released several solo albums, played in the '80s prog rock band 3, and scored several films including 1981's Nighthawks starring Sylvester Stallone. "I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of my good friend and brother-in-music, Keith Emerson," Carl Palmer said on his website. "Keith was a gentle soul whose love for music and passion for his performance as a keyboard player will remain unmatched for many years to come. He was a pioneer and an innovator whose musical genius touched all of us in the worlds of rock, classical and jazz. I will always remember his warm smile, good sense of humor, compelling showmanship, and dedication to his musical craft. I am very lucky to have known him and to have made the music we did, together. Rest in peace, Keith." - Billboard/New Musical Express, 3/11/16.

Ted Nugent has weighed in on the popularity of controversial conservative Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump, calling the real estate developer and former reality show host a "glowing middle finger" to American politics, but adding that "nobody believes Trump is a conservative." In a brief interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Nugent said he is none too pleased with conservatives in the entertainment industry who won't stand up for their principles in liberal Hollywood. "I know [some of them support Trump] for a fact, but vowed to not 'out' them," Nugent said. "To balk at performing our we-the-people responsibilities to demand accountability from our elected employees is America's greatest sin. Pu----s." The Nuge, also known as a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, revealed he also supports Texas senator Ted Cruz in his bid for the White House, but Trump "is the only candidate to admit he carries -- i.e. keeps and bears -- a firearm." - The Hollywood Reporter, 3/11/16...... Graham NashGraham Nash, who is set to release his first new solo album in 14 years, This Path Tonight, on Apr. 15 says it's a "very hopeful album" despite being at least partly inspired by his current divorce from his second wife, Susan. "That's why I started the album with 'Where are we going?,' because I don't know," says Nash. "I only know I'm on the right path. But I'm not a dark person. I'm trying to be as positive as possible, and even though it looks bleak and it looks like I don't know where I'm going, there's light at the end of the tunnel," he adds. Nash says that "Target," a track from the new album, was inspired by his relationship with his girlfriend Amy Grantham, a New York artist who shot This Path's Tonight's cover photo of the musician in Woodstock, the famous locale where Crosby, Stills and Nash performed in 1969. As for the future of CSN, Nash says there are no plans for the trio to continue on together. "Right now, I don't want anything to do with [David] Crosby at all. It's just that simple," he says. "In my world there will never, ever be a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young record and there will never be another Crosby, Stills & Nash record or show." After headlining the Bluesfest in Australia later in March, Nash will kick off a spring U.S. tour on Apr. 22 in Beverly Hills, Calif., then tour Europe in May and June. Meanwhile, the Graham Nash: Touching the Flame exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Oh., will be on display through the end of spring. - Billboard, 3/11/16...... A three-minute preview of the eight-part TV series Soundbreaking that recently deceased Beatles producer Sir George Martin was working on when he died on Mar. 8 is available for viewing on YouTube. Sir George and his son Giles Martin had spent the past five years working on the series, which chronicles the evolution of recording technologies. "Music is the only common thread and universal language that binds us together regardless of race, nationality, age or income," he said prior to his passing. "And, recorded music is how we experience it and what makes it accessible. Through the production of Soundbreaking, I was afforded the opportunity to tell the story of the creative process of so many of the artists I have worked with throughout my life." Soundbreaking will make its North American broadcast debut on PBS in Nov. 2016. Details will be unveiled at SXSW in Austin, Tex. on Mar. 14. - Billboard, 3/11/16...... In other Fab Four-related news, Paul McCartney has just announced six initial North American dates on his upcoming 2016 One on One tour. Kicking off on Apr. 13 in Fresno, Calif., the tour will also visit Portland, Ore. (4/15), Seattle (4/17), Vancouver, B.C. (4/19, 20), Little Rock, Ark. (4/30) and Sioux Falls, S.D. (5/2). In a press release, Sir Paul promised a newly redesigned set and "no shortage of surprises." His last North American tour, dubbed the "Out There" tour, wrapped in Oct. 2015. - NME, 3/9/16...... Saying she was "inspired" by Kim Kardashian's recent nude selfie that went viral on the Internet, Ozzy Osbourne's wife Sharon Osbourne has posted her own nude selfie on Twitter. "You inspired me!," Sharon tells Kardashian in the post with the same censor bars Kardashian used in her viral pic. - Billboard, 3/9/16...... Sharon OsbourneElton JohnMeanwhile, in an interview with Sharon Osbourne on her daytime show The Talk on Feb. 27, Elton John lamented the fate of Tower and his favorite L.A. bookstore, Book Soup on Sunset Boulevard. "I love record stores... and book stores," John told Osbourne. "If Book Soup, over the road, went as well, then I'd probably throw myself off a cliff." Later, the Book Soup store then acknowledged Sir Elton's endorsement with a message on a chalkboard in front of the store. "He comes in every other month and stocks up," says Book Soup's Rob Bieselin, who lettered the chalkboard and constructed a "shrine" to the rock star in one of the store's windows in gratitude for his business and support of West Hollywood charities. Bieselin added that Book Soup's celebrity-savvy customers usually leave John alone when he visits and peruses limited editions and the store's collection of vinyl LPs. "He just does his thing," Bieselin said. John also revealed on The Talk that Sharon Osbourne once stole his boyfriend, before she hooked up with Ozzy. "Years ago -- and I'm talking about years ago -- I would stay at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel (in New York) with my boyfriend at the time, and he disappeared," Elton recalled. "He didn't come back to the room and I found out years and years later (he had been with Sharon)." Sharon quickly apologized and said, "It's not my fault! He was interested in my stamp collection!" Osbourne then said it was actually Elton she wanted, which prompted the openly-gay Rocket Man to respond, "Well, you got as much chance of that as Donald Trump winning the Democratic (presidential nomination)!" Meanwhile, Elton is also known as an avid collector of photography, and a collection of photographs from his private collection is set to be displayed at the Tate Modern art galleries in London as part of a new exhibition. The modernist photography show, titled "The Radical Eye," will feature more than 150 pieces from more than 60 artists, including Man Ray, Andre Kertesz and Berenice Abbott. In a statement, John described it as an "honor" for him and husband David Furnish to loan the images to the gallery. "It is a great honour for David and I to lend part of our collection to Tate Modern for this ground-breaking exhibition. The modernist era in photography is one of the key moments within the medium and collecting work from this period has brought me great joy over the last 25 years," he said. The Radical Eye: Modernist Photography from the Sir Elton John Collection opens on Nov. 10, 2016. - The Hollywood Reporter/NME, 3/10/16...... It has been revealed that David Bowie's teenage daughter Alexandria, 15, will inherit a $25 million windfall from her late dad when she reaches her 25th birthday. Alexandria is the child of Bowie and his former supermodel wife Inman, his wife of 24 years. She will also inherit his trendy apartment in Manhattan's trendy Soho district. Duncan Jones, Bowie's 44-year-old son with his first wife, actress Angela Barrett, will inherit his share of his dad's estate in the coming weeks. Bowie, who succumbed to a battle with cancer on Jan. 10 at age 69, also didn't forget about his loyal household staff members and assistants either, setting aside a few million dollars to make sure they were taken care of. - WENN.com, 3/9/16...... Bill WymanFormer Rolling Stones member Bill Wyman has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to reps for the legendary bassist. "Bill has been diagnosed with prostate cancer," reads the statement. "He is undergoing treatment and is expected to make a full recovery as it was caught in the early stages. The Wyman family has asked for their privacy during this time." After leaving the Rolling Stones, Wyman has fronted his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings. He was present at the recent wedding of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and model/actress Jerry Hall, the former girlfriend of Stones frontman Mick Jagger. Meanwhile, Mick Jagger was recently spotted in downtown Bogot, Columbia, strolling down the city streets, surrounded by security detail and with throngs of fans snapping pictures alongside. At one point along the way, Jagger stopped at an oblea stand, and using a series of hand signals, manages to purchase one and starts munching away. For the uninitiated, obleas are a Colombian delicacy, consisting of dulce de leche spread between two large, thin wafers. The Stones performed at Bogota's Campin Stadium on Mar. 10 as part of their "Amrica Latina Ol" tour. - Billboard, 3/10/16...... Elvis & Nixon, a comedy about the famous 1970 meeting between the King of Rock and Roll and US Pres. Richard Nixon at the White House in Washington, D.C., will debut at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, which runs from Apr. 13-24. Directed by Liza Johnson, Elvis & Nixon is produced by Amazon Studios and stars Michael Shannon as Presley and Kevin Spacey as Richard Nixon. - AP, 3/9/16...... In a new interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson suggested the Canadian power trio's 2015 R40 Tour would be their final tour. "We had such a great time on the tour. And It was really nice to go through all the material reverse chronology, and I think our fans really enjoyed it. I think that no matter how long it would have been it would have been too short," Lifeson said, but added hope for the future. "Maybe next fall or something like that, we'll plan something," he said. "We took a year off before the last tour and we didn't discuss anything about the band or work, and everybody had a great time, and we came back from that." - Billboard, 3/9/16...... Patrisha McLean, the wife of folk rock singer/songwriter Don McLean, has filed for divorce in Maine, only weeks after Don McLean was arrested on domestic violence charges. A lawyer for Patrisha stated in the legal papers filed oN Mar. 10 cited "adultery, cruel and abusive treatment, and irreconcilable differences." McLean, a resident of Camden, Me., was arrested in January on charges including domestic violence assault. He has pleaded not guilty, and has been prohibited from having contact with his wife. The McLeans have been married for 30 years. - AP, 3/10/16...... Brian JohnsonAC/DC has rescheduled 10 tour dates on their Rock or Bust World Tour after doctors advised lead singer Brian Johnson to stop touring immediately or risk total hearing loss. The Aussie rockers announced they were postponing a Mar. 8 concert in Atlanta, as well as stops in Washington, D.C., Detroit and Philadelphia leading up to April 4's planned show at New York City's Madison Square Garden. The band is expected to make up these canceled gigs later in the year, likely with a guest vocalist. Current ticket holders may hold onto their tickets for the rescheduled concerts, or receive a refund. The band had also been set to perform UK gigs in Manchester and London during June, although it is not currently known whether these shows will continue to go ahead with or without Johnson, who joined the band in 1980 after the death of singer Bon Scott. Original AC/DC vocalist Dave Evans has offered to fill in for Johnson during his absence. Evans, who briefly sang in the band during 1974, recently told The Sydney Morning Herald paper: "It would be nice to do one guest performance [with AC/DC]. [Former members] were all part of the band no matters what era they were from." - Billboard/NME, 3/7/16...... Despite recent revelations that former Deep Purple bassist Glenn Hughes won't be performing with the band during its upcoming induction of Deep Purple into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Hughes says he still hopes to perform when the band is inducted during the ceremony on Apr. 8 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. "All I know is I'm getting the award," said Hughes, who played with the band for three studio albums between 1973-76. "There's a lot of gossip and innuendo about who's saying what. I'd love to play. I'd love to sing. And so would David," referring to David Coverdale, who was part of Deep Purple's "Mk. 3" (third iteration) and "Mk. 4" (fourth iteration) lineups with Hughes. Meanwhile, Hughes is gearing up for a solo tour that will kick off Aug. 9 in Annapolis, Md., a start that was delayed to allow him to recover from double knee replacement surgery during January. "The knees are doing incredible," he said. Hughes says he's also planning to record a solo album during June that he hopes to have out by fall. - Billboard, 3/7/16...... Carole KingCarole King will play her first UK gig in 27 years this July when she will be among the headliners at the British Summer Time festival at London's Hyde Park. King, 74, will headline the July 8 show, with support coming from the Eagles' Don Henley and her daughter Louise Goffin. King will be performing her classic 1971 album Tapestry in its entirety, the first time she has ever done so at a concert. "I can't wait to perform Tapestry from beginning to end for the first time... in the heart of one of my favorite cities," King said. - NME, 3/8/16...... Robert Plant will be among the headliners at the UK's Meltdown Festival, which takes place at Southbank Centre in London from June 10-19. The former Led Zeppelin frontman will play the final day of the festival, which will raise funds to aid Britain's refugee crisis. - NME, 3/8/16...... Foreigner have confirmed they'll embark on a massive summer 2016 tour of Europe beginning with a concert at the London Palladium on June 7. Foreigner will then play dates Belgium's Graspop, Cologne's Tanzbrunnen, and Tel Aviv's Caesarea Amphitheatre, among several others. Opening for the band will be John Parr, known for his hits "St. Elmo's Fire," "Restless Heart" and "Naughty Naughty." - Noble PR, 3/10/16...... Actor/comedian Steve Martin will curate an exhibition at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts devoted to Canadian modernist Lawren Harris. Martin was on hand at the museum for a preview on Mar. 11, and discussed Harris' work the following day during the public opening of the show. "The Idea of North: The Paintings of Lawren Harris" runs through June 12. - AP, 3/11/16...... Jon English, an Australian singer and actor known for his work in music, television and on the stage, died suddenly on Mar. 9 following complications from surgery. He was 66. English's roles include Judas Iscariot in Jesus Christ Superstar in the 1970s and later as the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance. In February, English was hospitalized due to what was described as "unexpected ill health," and his unexpected death surprised many. - Billboard, 3/9/16.

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on Mar. 9th, 2016





George MartinSir George Martin, the famed Beatles producer who signed the group to a label contract when no one else would and produced virtually all of their songs and introduced many of their arrangements, passed away at the age of 90 on Mar. 9. Known as the "Fifth Beatle," Sir George was the head of EMI's Parlophone Records in the UK which, in its early years, concentrated on jazz and comedy. Sir George was on the lookout for a rock act when he met Beatles manager Brian Epstein in Feb. 1962. At the time, the Beatles were comprised of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and drummer Pete Best, and every other British label had passed on signing the band. After hearing the band's demo made for Decca Records a month earlier, Sir George thought it was "rather unpromising," but detected something special in the harmonies of Lennon and McCartney, and scheduled the group for a recording session at EMI's Abbey Road studios in June. Liking what he heard, he signed them up, but suggested they replace Pete Best in the studio with another drummer, and Ringo Starr came on board. He allowed them to record their own material, including "Love Me Do," which became their first single and peaked at No. 17 on the British charts. For the band's first U.S. single, "Please Please Me," released in Nov. 1962, he convinced the boys to speed up the tempo. It proved to be a smash hit. "Gentlemen, you have just made your first No. 1 record," he memorably told them from the control room. Sir George also served as the Beatles' arranger, and suggested strings be added to "Yesterday," which would become one of the most covered songs of all time, and conducted the string section for "Eleanor Rigby." He played piano on "In My Life" and composed its harpsichord section; was responsible for the breathtaking orchestral windup in "A Day in the Life"; and used backward tapes to help shape the psychedelic elements of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, piecing together shreds of tape at random after throwing them in the air for the the swirly organ on "Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite." In his 1979 autobiography All You Need Is Ears, Sir George recalled how his recording sessions with the Beatles was a "team effort." "Without my instruments and scoring, very many of the records would not have sounded as they do. Whether they would have been any better, I cannot say. They might have been. That is not modesty on my part; it is an attempt to give a factual picture of the relationship." George MartinSir George received an Academy Award nomination for best music, scoring of music, adaptation or treatment for the Beatles' 1964 classic film A Hard Day's Night; arranged the score for their 1968 animated movie Yellow Submarine; and scored, with Paul and Linda McCartney, the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die. In addition to producing other artists including America, Jeff Beck, Cheap Trick, Ella Fitzgerald, Neil Sedaka, Dire Straits, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Meat Loaf, Carly Simon, Celine Dion and many others (in total, he was behind a whopping 23 No. 1 singles in the U.S. and 30 in the U.K.), Sir George also worked on such film as Crooks Anonymous (1962), The Family Way (1966) and Pulp (1972). In 2006, Sir George remixed, along with his son Giles Martin, the music for "Love," the Cirque du Soleil production that celebrated Beatles music in conjunction with Apple Corps. It included a new orchestral song, written by Martin, for a solo version of Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." His work with the solo LP's of Paul McCartney included producing his albums Tug of War (1982), Pipes of Peace (1983). He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1996 (a year before Paul McCartney received the honor) and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. Born on Jan. 3, 1926, in Highbury, London, Sir George received a few piano lessons as a child but mostly learned to play by himself and had "fantasies about being the next Rachmaninoff." He entered the Royal Navy and after leaving the service in 1947, he received a government grant to study music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, a London college, where he learned composition, orchestration and how to play the oboe. He became head of A&R at Parlophone in 1955, working with such major British stars as Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. In 1962, under the pseudonym Ray Cathode, Sir George put out an electronic dance single, "Time Beat," recorded at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which fueled his desire to find a rock 'n' roll group with whom to work. He left EMI in 1965 but continued to work in a freelance capacity, producing the Beatles' final album release, Abbey Road. Along with his longtime engineer Geoff Emerick, Sir George oversaw postproduction on an eight-track analog-mixing desk for platinum-selling Beatles compilations like Live at the BBC and Anthology, which featured unreleased songs "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love." In 1949, Sir George married Sheena Chisholm, and after they divorced, wed Judy Lockhart-Smith, a Parlophone secretary, in 1966. In addition to Judy Martin and his son Giles, survivors include his other children Alexis, Gregory and Lucy. "The world has lost a truly great man who left an indelible mark on my soul and the history of British music," Paul McCartney posted on his blog after hearing the news of Sir George's passing, also calling him a "true gentleman" and saying he "was like a second father to me." "God bless George Martin peace and love to Judy and his family love Ringo and Barbara George will be missed xxx," Ringo Starr tweeted on Mar. 9. - Billboard, 3/9/16.