Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on July 30th, 2016

The family of late rock icon Prince issued a press release on July 28 announcing an offical Prince tribute concert will take place on Oct. 13 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn. "We are excited for the opportunity to bring everyone together for the official family celebration of Prince's life, music and legacy, and there is no better place to do it than his hometown of Minneapolis," the statement read. "We are honored by the artists who will pay tribute and grateful to those that have worked so hard to make this celebration possible." Prince, who died on Apr. 21 of a drug overdose, has been honored by countless performers during their live shows in the past three months, and in May his songs "Nothing Compares 2 U" and "Purple Rain" were performed by Madonna and Stevie Wonder at the Billboard Music Awards. - AP, 7/29/16...... Carole King entertained delegates on the final day of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 28 with a performace of her classic "You've Got a Friend." Members of the audience were seen holding hands, smiling, singing and dancing together to King's 1971 hit, which was also popularized by James Taylor. "Hillary [Clinton]'s got so many friends and Bernie [Sanders] too and all of us together!," King said as she finished. - Billboard, 7/28/16...... A Lou Reed tribute concert at New York City's Lincoln Center called "The Bells: A Daylong Celebration of Lou Reed" took place on July 30. The free event took its name from the title track, "The Bells," from Reed's 1979 LP and was selected by Reed's widow, artist Laurie Anderson and his longtime producing partner Hal Wilner. Performers included members of Sonic Youth, fronted by such vocalists as David Hohansen of the New York Dolls, Lenny Kaye and Jon Spencer, among others. Reed died on Oct. 27, 2013 from liver disease at age 71. - New Musical Express, 7/28/16...... A massive 27-disc retrospective of early Pink Floyd recordings featuring unreleased demos, TV appearances and more than 20 unreleased songs called The Early Years 1965-1972 will hit stores on Nov. 11. Collected in 7 individual book-style packages, the set will bundle more than 15 hours of video, including rare BBC Sessions, live concert performances, interviews and three feature films: The Committee, More and La Valle (Obscured by Clouds). The previously unreleased tracks include 1967's "Vegetable Man" and "In the Beechwoods," which have been remixed for the release, as well as remixed and updated versions of the band's score for the film Zabriskie Point. A 2-CD set of highlights from the box set, The Early Years -- CRE/ATION, will be released on Nov. 11 as well through Pink Floyd Records. Each of the 7 packages will also be released separately in 2017 with the exception of the bonus disc CONTINU/ATION. - Billboard, 7/28/16...... Chapter and Verse, a musical companion piece to Bruce Springsteen's upcoming 500-page autobiography Born to Run, will drop on Sept 23. Featuring five previously unreleased songs, Chapter and Verse will reflect the themes and sections of Springsteen's Born to Run memoirs. Kicking off with two tracks from Springsteen's high school band The Castiles, its 18 tracks also include material from the Steel Mill and the Bruce Springsteen Band, winding its way through 2012's Wrecking Ball. The Born to Run book will arrive via Simon & Shuster in hardcover on Oct. 5. Springsteen and his E Street Band kick off the U.S. leg of their summer stadium tour with a three-night stand in East Rutherford, N.J., and conclude Sept. 14 in Foxborough, Mass. His anticipated new solo album, which manager Jon Landau says is a "very different kind of record," is expected in 2017. - Billboard, 7/28/16...... Rod Stewart has been added to the contributors of Beat Bugs, a new Netflix animated series that features Beatles songs covered by the likes of Eddie Vedder, Pink, Jennifer Hudson, Robbie Williams and the Lumineers, among others. Premiering in the U.S. on Nov. 18, season one of Beat Bugs will include Pink's version of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds," Robbie Williams with "Good Day Sunshine," Eddie Vedder singing "Magical Mystery Tour," and the Lumineers doing "Honey Pie." Stewart is set to cover "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in season two. A 27-track two-disc soundtrack album for the first season will be released exclusively to Apple Music the day of the show's Aug. 3 premiere. - Billboard, 7/27/16...... In other Beatles-related news, George Harrison's widow Olivia Harrison says she and her 37-year-old son Dhani Harrison have talked about him finishing some unreleased tracks that her late husband left behind. "There are a lot of songs that are unfinished," Olivia said. "I think there's a project there. I just need time to get to it." Olivia, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono all attended the 10th anniversary of the Beatles musical Love by Cirque du Soleil at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas on July 14. Ono says she's also working on a project of approximately 10 songs of hers and John Lennon's that she had intended to get out by now, but she was temporarly halted by a bout with the flu (and briefly hospitalized in February). "That derailed the whole situation," she said. "Everything in my body is OK now, except I have a problem walking," she added. Meanwhile, a stamp collection that belonged to John Lennon is set to go on display at the Stampex exhibition in London between Sept. 14-17. Lennon, who began his stamp collection at age 10, collected stamps from letters received from New Zealand and America and defaced pictures of Queen Victoria and King George VI with moustaches. A classic car owned by John is also going up for auction at RM Sotheby's in London on Sept. 7. Lennon purchased the 1956 Austin Princess in Aug. 1971 and went on to use it the following year in a promotional film for his album Imagine, alongside wife Yoko Ono. The car's seats were replaced with five aeroplane seats, which are still in the car today. - Billboard/NME, 7/25/16...... An appeal has been filed over the recent Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven" verdict in which songwriting partners Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were cleared of accusations that they lifted a riff from an obscure 1968 instrumental by Randy California of Spirit for the intro to the classic rock anthem. The filing does not provide legal arguments for why the case should be reconsidered, but trust attorneys complained after the verdict that the judge did not allow jurors to hear the recording of Spirit's "Taurus." A hearing on the appeal is scheduled for Aug. 8. Attorneys for Zeppelin and the other defendants, including their record label, are seeking close to $800,000 in legal and other fees from the trust California, whose real name is Randy Wolfe, because it failed to win. - AP, 7/27/16...... The O'Jays have sent a cease and desist letter to the campaign of 2016 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump after Republican congressman Rep. John Mica posted a new pro-Trump video using the group's classic "For the Love of Money" without the band's consent. Founding O'Jays members Eddie Levert and Walter Williams had decried the use of their 1972 hit "Love Train" just a few days earlier during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. The letter, issued by the O'Jays' attorneys and sent to Rep. Mica and copied to Trump's campaign chairman Paul Manafort, reads in part "Your use of our clients' signature song, and utilizing the original recording, constitutes a patently false implication that Mr. Levert and Mr. Williams have endorsed you or your political agenda or Mr. Trump's agenda. Our clients unequivocally do not endorse you, your agenda nor your party's views or those of Mr. Trump. On the contrary, Mr. Levert and Mr. Williams have actively opposed these ideals [and] we hereby demand that you... immediately and permanently refrain from exploiting our clients' proprietary material." - Billboard, 7/27/16...... The first ever Outlaw Music Festival set for Montage Mountain Pavillion in Scranton, Penn. on Sept. 18 was announced on July 26 by Willie Nelson on July 26. In addition to Nelson, the concert will be headlined by Neil Young + Promise of the Real, Sheryl Crow, The Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Lee Ann Womack and Brothers Osborne. - Billboard, 7/26/16...... Steven Tyler's new country crossover LP We're All Somebody From Somewhere has nabbed the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart for the week ending Aug. 6. The album sold 17,000 copies in its first week (ending July 21), according to Nielsen Music, and bowed at No. 19 on Billboard's all-genre Hot 200 album chart the same week. Tyler kicked off his Out on a Limb tour behind the new album on July 2 at the Venetian Theatre in Las Vegas, and will hit 19 cities. The newly released title track is the album's third single, with "Love Is Your Name" and "Red, White & You," peaking at Nos. 19 and 29 on the Hot Country Songs roundup. - Billboard, 7/26/16...... The Gibson cherry sunburst electric guitar used by Elvis Presley during rehearsals for his legendary 1968 "comeback" special is among several Presley items set to be auctioned beginning on Aug. 13, during Graceland's "Elvis Presley Week." Presley's birth record, a black and gold outfit he performed in, an Indian ring, and a TCB necklace will also be auctioned. - NME, 7/26/16...... The Rolling Stones will screen their Mar. 25 free concert in Havana, Cuba, across the world this fall. Havana Moon: The Rolling Stones Live in Cuba includes the hits "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Start Me Up," "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Brown Sugar." The film will be released in cinemas internationally on Sept. 23. - NME, 7/28/16...... A Florida man who could possibly be German electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk's biggest fan has legally changed his name after the band. The man has posted a picture of his driver's license on his Flickr page with his name as "Kraftwerk," followed by his address. It is unclear what his real name is although his account web address lists the name David Sanborn. The man also posted a series of pictures wearing the band's iconic red shirt and black tie from their 1978 Man-Machine album as he goes shopping, driving, eating and gassing up his car. - NME 7/25/16...... Brian Wilson & Friends, a concert film of Brian Wilson's Dec. 12, 2014 concert for the PBS Soundstage concert series, is set to be released on Aug. 2. The concert featured appearances from Wilson's former Beach Boys bandmate Al Jardine, fun.'s Nate Ruess and country music star Kacey Musgraves. The concert originally aired in the U.S. on PBS throughout 2015, and was offered as exclusive DVD and Blu-ray sets as a premium gift for viewer contributions to the network's annual pledge drive. A CD version of the show will also be available for the first time and is to set to include bonus tracks, behind-the-scenes footage and guest artist interviews. Wilson is set to launch a book about his life, I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir, via Da Capo Press in October. - New Musical Express, 7/28/16...... The David Bowie co-written "Lazarus" musical is heading to London for a run this fall after premiering off Broadway just before the rock icon's death in January. Based on Walter Tevis' classic 1963 British sci-fi novel and considered Bowie's completion of Nicolas Roeg's 1976 film adaptation, "Lazarus" stars Michael C. Hall as a humanoid alien who came to Earth from his drought-stricken planet many years earlier. After amassing a fortune in business while attempting to build a rocket ship to take him home, he was experimented on by the government and finds himself living in depressed isolation, unable to leave or die. "Lazarus" is set to run in London from Oct. 22 through Jan. 22 at the Kings Cross Theatre. In other Bowie-related news, the band who backed the singer on his final album Blackstar have announced their own album inspired by and dedicated to their former collaborator. Saxophonist Donny McCaslin says he and his group, which includes guitarist Nate Wood, bassist Tim Lefebvre and drummer Mark Guiliana, will release the LP, titled Beyond Now, on Oct. 14 via Motma Music. The record includes original tracks by McCaslin and a number of covers of songs by the likes of Deadmau5, Mutemath, The Chainsmokers and Bowie. Meanwhile, Bowie's son Duncan Jones and his wife Rodene have welcomed their first child, and named baby boy after Duncan's late father. "Stenton David Jones. Born July 10th, exactly six months after his grandad made room for him. Love you both so," Duncan Jones posted on Twitter on July 29. Bowie, who passed away on Jan. 10, also has a daughter, Duncan Jones' half-sister, Alexandria, who is in her teens. Duncan Jones' mother is Bowie's first wife Angie, while Alexandria's mother is supermodel and businesswoman Iman, to whom Bowie was married from 1992 until his death.- Billboard/NME, 7/30/16...... Three of Michael Jackson's nephews -- Taj, TJ and Taryll Jackson -- have filed a $100 million libel suit against the celebrity gossip site RadarOnline.com over allegations that they were sexually abused by their uncle and accepted gifts to cover it up, stemming from purported documents from a 2003 raid of Jackson's Neverland Ranch. "Radar has built a business of publishing false, embarrassing and hurtful gossip for profit and its latest victims are the members of the band 3T, Taj, TJ and Taryll Jackson," according to the suit filed by Bert Fields on July 27. "Radar has tried to profit by launching a vicious and unrelenting attack on [Jackson] based on claims that, years ago, he was guilty of sexual abuse, even though, at the time, he was found 'not guilty' of that very charge," Fields writes. "Radar represents its 'reports' as 'new' and based on official 'Detective Reports.' Not only have those Detective Reports been available to the public for many years, Radar has misrepresented what the Reports say." In June, RadarOnline posted a series of stories claiming newly discovered documents show Jackson had been "stockpiling images of pornography, animal torture, S&M and gore in a bid to seduce innocent young boys." The site claims the documents came from Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department reports and quotes a "private investigator with direct knowledge of the raids" saying "the report cites Michael even used sexy photos of his own nephews, who were in the band 3T, in their underwear to excite young boys." The complaint also says the Jackson nephews demanded a correction of the libelous stories on July 5 and received a refusal from RadarOnline two days later. - The Hollywood Reporter, 7/27/16...... Ozzy & Jack's World Detour, a new travel show starring Ozzy Osbourne and his son Jack Osbourne, premiered on the History Channel July 27. The series takes the father and son duo to historic sites around the U.S. and the U.K., including the Alamo in Texas, where in 1982 the Prince of Darkness famously relieved himself on the Alamo Cenotaph across the street. Ozzy, who resumes his Black Sabbath The End tour on Aug. 17 in Wantaugh, N.Y., has also provided a voiceover for an episode for Disney's animated series The 7D. He cameos in the episode titled "Bummer Vacation," premieres on July 30. The show, which sees the seven dwarfs from Snow White getting a modern update, also features Osbourne's wife Sharon and daughter Kelly. Appearing on ABC's Good Morning America on July 25 to promote his new projects, Ozzy declared his marriage to Sharon is "back on track again," after tabloid reports in May claimed the pair had had "mutually agreed" to split, with Ozzy moving out of their family home. It was suggested that the singer had an affair with a celebrity hair stylist. "You just, you make mistakes, and you learn by your mistakes, I think," Ozzy said. "It's just a bump in the road. Some days it's good, some days it's terrible, some days you just drift apart for a while. But you get back on the horse, you know," he added. - Billboard/NME, 7/30/16...... Veteran rock producer Sandy Pearlman, best known for producing nine albums for Blue Oyster Cult as well as the Dictators' Go Girl Crazy! and the Clash's first U.S. release Give 'Em Enough Rope, died on July 26 after a long struggle following a cerebral hemorrhage he suffered in Dec. 2015. He was 72. Pearlman, who is sometimes credited with coining the phrase "heavy metal" while working at the rock magazine Crawdaddy, also managed Blue Oyster Cult, The Dictators, Romeo Void, and, briefly, the Ronnie Dio-era Black Sabbath. He was president of 415 Records and vice president of pioneering 1990s online music service e-music. Pearlman's work producing, writing for and co-managing Blue Oyster Cult was immortalized in the legendary Saturday Night Live "More Cowbell" sketch, where Christopher Walken played a fictionalized version of the rock n' roll raconteur. - Billboard, 7/26/16...... Marni Nixon, a Hollywood voice double whose singing was heard in place of the leading actresses in such classic movie musicals as West Side Story, The King and I and My Fair Lady, died on July 24 of cancer in New York. She was 86. Ms. Nixon, who was initially uncredited for her work, early on resented the dubbing work but later came to terms with it. "I realized now that this was something that would outlive me. Something that would last," she wrote in her 2006 memoir, I Could Have Sung All Night. Ms. Nixon also appeared before the cameras in 1965, in a small role as a nun in The Sound of Music, and provided the singing voice of Grandmother Fa in the 1998 animated film Mulan. Ms. Nixon was the the ex-wife of Oscar-winning composer-conductor Ernest Gold, and the mother of late rock musician Andrew Gold, who arranged music for Linda Ronstadt and had a top 10 hit in 1977 with "Lonely Boy." He died in 2011. She also had two daughters with her first husband, Martha and Melani. - AP, 7/26/16.

The Beatles' Apple Corps' Ltd. and Universal Music Group announced on July 20 that the band's 1977 live LP of 1964 Hollywood Bowl performances will be released globally on CD for the first time ever on Sept. 9. Containing material from the legendary quartet's Hollywood Bowl concerts in Aug. 1964 and Aug. 1965, The Beatles Live at the Hollywood Bowl will also be available as a digital download the same day, and a 180-gram vinyl release will follow on Nov. 18. Intended as a companion release to director Ron Howard's new Beatles rockumentary Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years, the package will include all 13 tracks from the original vinyl release, plus four previously unreleased live tracks -- "You Can't Do That" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" from the Aug. 1964 concert, and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" and "Baby's in Black" from the Aug. 1965 show -- along with a 24-page booklet with an essay by Rolling Stone contributor David Fricke. All tracks have been remixed from the original three track tapes by producer Giles Martin, the son of Sir George Martin who produced the original album and wrote in the original liner notes, and engineer Sam Okell at Abbey Road Studios. The original Hollywood Bowl album debuted on the Billboard charts on May 21, 1977, and peaked at No. 2 in the UK and No. 1 in the UK. Although it was never released officially on CD, the album was heavily bootlegged. Ron Howard's new film, which premieres within a week after the album's release, concentrates on the group from the years 1962 to 1966 and will include footage of the "Boys" performance featured on the original Hollywood Bowl album. - Billboard, 7/20/16...... In other Beatles news, a long lost recording by Paul McCartney in his early Fab Four days has been discovered in tucked inside a paper bag in the attic of the family of British pop singer Cilla Black and is expected to fetch at least $20,000 when it's put up for auction on Aug. 27. The 7-inch 45 record has no artist listed, only the title "It's For You" and "Demo." In 1964, McCartney recorded a demo of the track to a Dick James demo disc, which was delivered to Black at the London Palladium, where she was performing. The whereabouts of the demo since then have been unknown until now. The official version of Black's "It's For You" cracked the Top 10 in the U.K., but only reached No. 79 in the States. A 20-second excerpt of the song can be heard at beatlesauction.co.uk, who is conducting the auction. - MeTV.com, 7/21/16...... The list of '70s Classic Rock and Soul musicians objecting to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump using their songs during his political events has exploded after the GOP convention in Cleveland, Oh., on July 18-21. George Harrison's estate, the Rolling Stones, Earth, Wind & Fire and The O'Jays have joined the likes of Queen, Paul Rodgers of Bad Company, Aerosmith, Neil Young and REM, among others, in protesting Trump's use of their music. After Harrison's Beatles classic "Here Comes the Sun" was played during the RNC convention on July 21, his estate tweeted "The unauthorized use of 'Here Comes the Sun' at the RNC is offensive & against the wishes of the George Harrison estate" the next day, wryly adding, "If it had been Beware of Darkness, then we MAY have approved it! #TrumpYourself," in reference to the track from his solo album, All Things Must Pass. Also on July 21, Trump and the Republicans ignored a previous request from the Rolling Stones to refrain from playing their music at the candidate's events. "The Rolling Stones do not endorse Donald Trump. You Can't Always Get What You Want was used without the band's permission," a rep for the band tweeted the next day. Earth, Wind & Fire slammed the Trump campaign on July 20 in a tweet after their hit "September" was played at the convention, tweeting "Another unauthorized use (September) at the Republican Convention, against our wishes." The O'Jays are also upset that their 1972 smash "Love Train" was used at the RNC event, with founding members Eddie Levert and Walter Williams issuing a statement saying "Our music, and most especially, 'Love Train' is about bringing people together, not building walls... I don't appreciate being associated with Mr. Trump and his usage of our music without permission." Finally, Queen have issued a second statement expressing their frustration against Donald Trump using their 1977 single 'We Are The Champions' at his rallies. Queen released another statement on July 20 stating they are "frustrated" at Trump's "repeated unauthorised use of the song ['We Are the Champions']." - Billboard/NME, 7/22/16...... A "lost" David Bowie album titled The Gouster that eventually became his hit 1975 LP Young Americans will be included in a planned second box set compiling the late singer's complete music. The tracklisting for The Gouster was to have been: "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)," "Somebody Up There Likes Me," "It's Gonna Be Me," "Who Can I Be Now?," "Can You Hear Me," "Young Americans" and "Right" before Bowie decided to revamp the album and name it after Young Americans' title track, a reference to a dress code worn by Chicago teenagers in the 1960s. The Gouster will be included in Who Can I Be Now?, the second Bowie box set that follows the release of 2015's Five Years, which covered the years 1969 through 1973's Pin Ups. The new release will cover 1974-76, and feature a booklet written by Bowie producer Tony Visconti, who produced many of its recordings. - New Musical Express, 7/22/16...... The PonoMusic Store, Neil Young's high resolution digital music service, has gone offline following the recent acquisition of Omnifone, up until now PonoMusic's sole provider of hi-resolution audio downloads. The sale has forced Young's service to go dark until a new platform can be established, which will be 7digital, a London-based indie services platform. In a message posted to its website, Pono said the "process of transition is now well underway" and that it would take several weeks to complete. Young launched his PonoMusic Store in Jan. 2015 with a library of 2 million-plus songs with all the major labels. In an open letter in Aug. 2015, Young called Pono a "labor of love" and reiterated the company's mission to bring high-quality audio to fans -- "not some 21st century fake shallow Xerox facsimile, with all of the essence taken away and replaced by a thin exterior with no passionate core." - Billboard, 7/22/16...... Don McLean of "American Pie" fame has taken a plea in a domestic violence assault case against his estranged wife, Patrisha McLean, that dates back to January of 2016. McLean pleaded guilty to domestic violence in a Camden, Maine court on July 21, which will allow him to avoid jail time if he stays out of trouble for at least a year, however he was ordered to pay a $3,000 fine. A lawyer for Patrisha McLean said in March that his client was filing for divorce and that the legal papers cited "adultery, cruel and abusive treatment, and irreconcilable differences." The two had been married 30 years. Don McLean, whose original manuscript and notes to "American Pie" sold at auction for $1.2 million in 2015, initially pleaded not guilty to the charges. - AP, 7/22/16...... Britain's Official Charts Company has announced it's honoring Paul McCartney with its second "Official Record Breaker Award" as the most successful album act of all time in the U.K. The honor was given after Sir Paul hit the No. 1 album spot 22 times beginning from his time with the Beatles and continuing into his solo career. Macca's run of 15 UK number one albums with the Beatles began in 1963 with Please Please Me and With the Beatles, and his solo U.K. chart toppers began in 1971 with Ram. "Okay, you know how it really feels? It feels unbelievable, because when you write your songs you don't count how well they're doing," McCartney said in a statement. "I remember when Please, Please Me went to No. 1, that was our first No. 1 record, and it's a beautiful feeling to suddenly get this [award], I mean it's amazing." McCartney went on to thank the OCC, which is celebrating its 60th birthday in 2016, and "everyone who made it possible by buying the records, we love you too!" - Billboard, 7/22/16...... Debbie Harry of Blondie is collaborating with the iconic blue jeans manufacturer Levi's, and took the stage during a July 19 concert at New York's Bowery Ballroom in honor of Levi's new 505C jean, a style inspired by the Levi's 505s that Harry wore in a now-iconic image by photographer Richard Young from a 1978 performance in Tokyo. "Blue denim has always been truly American," said the 71-year-old singer, who performed hits like "Call Me," "Heart of Glass" and "Rapture" (including the rap) at the event. - Billboard, 7/20/16...... Bruce Springsteen's manager Jon Landau says Springsteen's next project will be a solo album, which he describes as "a very different kind" of Springsteen record. "All I can say is that there is a solo record -- and when I say solo record, I'm not talking about an acoustic record," he says. "It is, in fact, a very expansive record, a very rich record. It's one of Bruce's very creative efforts. Stay tuned, and we'll see exactly how that shapes up next year." Landau did not elaborate on a release date or supporting tour, only saying it's "premature to say much about it." "It's a wonderful record, and we'll see how the next year unfolds. We're terrible planners. You have people who know where they're playing 18 months from now and have all of next summer's festivals booked, and we just have a knack for not planning that far ahead. That's our way." Commenting on The Boss's current The River tour, Landau said: "This is a 67-year-old guy that's out there doing the best shows of his life, and people are coming." - Billboard, 7/21/16...... Joe Perry returned to performing with his new supergroup Hollywood Vampires at Weill Hall in Rohnert Park, Calif., on July 22 after having a health scare during a show in Brooklyn on July 10. The band, which also includes Alice Cooper Ian Hunter, Johnny Depp and Matt Sorum, has three additional dates scheduled with one in Oregon and two in California for the remainder of their tour. - Billboard, 7/21/16.