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...... In 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...... To 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...... The 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...... Veteran 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...... In 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 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...... The 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...... Former 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...... Former 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.