Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on August 1, 2017

After picture of a calf born on July 28 in Texas that has a striking resemblance to the black-and-white face markings of Gene Simmons was posted on Twitter, the Kiss frontman tweeted back his admiration. Heather Taccetta, who lives at a ranch in Kerrville, Tex., near San Antonio with her family, said the calf belongs to her grandmother, and she decided to name it Genie, in honor of Simmons. Taccetta says the calf and its mother are doing fine and that Genie is a family favorite and won't be sold for slaughter. After seeing the pic of the calf, Simmons tweeted back on July 31, saying, "This is real, folks! Calf called Genie is born on Texas ranch and looks EXACTLY like Kiss rocker Gene Simmons." - AP, 8/1/17...... David Crosby has shared a new song called "Sell Me a Diamond" from his upcoming album Sky Trails. In a throatier, conversational cadence reminiscent of Steely Dan's Donald Fagen instead of his normal CSN tenor, Crosby sings about trying to negotiate the perfect, "conflict-free" diamond sale, and then gifting it to worthy, pure "souls." Sky Trails is out Sept. 29 via BMG. - Spin.com, 8/1/17...... Prog-rock legends Yes will kick off its Yestival tour during the first week of August with openers Todd Rundgren and Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy. After doing a few years of full-album shows, Yes guitarist Steve Howe says this time out Yes will be mining the group's first nine albums -- 1969's Yes through 1978's Tormato, with at least one song from each. "We're stopping on the first album, but also we're doing two songs from one of the albums, and one of them's going to be a surprise sort of acoustic song that just Jon [Anderson] and I will perform," Howe says. "We're bringing the focus to the songs rather than the albums, and I think we've got a good balance here with things that we're bringing forth that have never been played," he added. Howe says he's also excited about having his son, Dylan -- who's worked with him on many of his solo albums -- be part of Yes this summer. "Part of his education over the last 10 years has been to learn every Yes piece, and he knows virtually every one... because to him it was as good as learning Count Basie or Art Blakey -- partly because he's grown up with it, it's in his blood," Howe says. Howe added that Yes is starting to consider making some new music, which would be the followup to its last LP, 2014's Heaven & Earth. Before then, he will release Anthology 2: Groups and Collaborations on Aug. 11, focusing on his work in bands such as Yes and Asia and with other musicians. He's also started work on a two-part memoir, which he hopes will be published in 2018. - Billboard, 7/31/17...... Lionel Richie performed at the Hollywood Bowl on July 31 as his 22-date co-headlining tour with Mariah Carey hit Los Angeles. Celebrating the 40th anniverasary of the Commodores staple "Easy," Richie kicked off his set at the piano singing the song. The two-hour set, which also featured such solo hits as "You Are," "My Love," "Dancing On The Ceiling" and "Stuck on You" as well as Commodores catalog smashes "Three Times A Lady" and "Brick House," was closed with the night's most anticipated classic, "All Night Long (All Night)." - Billboard, 8/1/17...... AC/DC singer Brian Johnson was involved in a car crash on July 29 in a qualifying heat for the UK's Silverstone Classic celebrity car race. Johnson walked away from the crash unscathed after his vintage Austin A35 flipped over on the track. Johnson, a renowned car buff, was reportedly attended to by medical personnel at the scene, and was taken out of the running for the Celebrity Challenge Trophy, whose prize benefits the Prostate Cancer UK chairty. - Billboard, 8/1/17...... Stevie Wonder will be the headliner at the upcoming Global Citizen Festival 2017 set for the Great Lawn in New York's Central Park on Sept. 23. The annual charity concert will also include performances by Green Day, The Killers, The Lumineers, The Chainsmokers, Pharrell Williams and Big Sean, among others. Global Citizen is a social action platform dedicated to ending extreme poverty and other world issues. Fans can earn tickets to the event by taking part in the Global Citizen movement and completing advocacy tasks at GlobalCitizenFestival.com. Ticket draws will occur throughout the summer leading up to the event. - Billboard, 8/1/17...... Bruce Springsteen has signed a worldwide administration deal with Universal Music Publishing Group, bringing his catalog under a single global roof for the first time in his career. Previously, Springsteen's catalog was split between Downtown Music Publishing in the United States and Sony/ATV in the United Kingdom, among others. The new deal covers all of the Boss' future work as well as his back catalog, including albums like Born To Run, Born In the U.S.A. and The River, as well as the songs he's written that were famously covered by others such as Rage Against the Machine ("The Ghost of Tom Joad"), Mary J. Blige ("American Skin (41 Shots)") and David Bowie ("It's Hard To Be a Saint In the City"), among others. "During a career spanning more than 40 years, Bruce Springsteen has amassed one of the most iconic catalogs of songs in the history of music," said UMPG chairman/CEO Jody Gerson in a statement announcing the news. "We are thrilled to put the entire global resources of our company into expanding the popularity of his music and creating exciting new fan experiences," he added. Springsteen's catalog, recorded over a 40-plus-year period for Columbia Records beginning with his 1973 debut Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., still sells well, and it helped land the rock icon at No. 3 on Billboard's annual Money Makers list for 2017. - Billboard, 7/31/17...... In other Springsteen-related news, the New Jersey-based minor league baseball team Lakewood BlueClaws paid homage to the rocker who grew up in Freehold, about 30 minutes from their stadium, on July 29 with "Bruce Springsteen Appreciation Night." Festivities included a pre-game concert by the E-Street Shuffle, a Springsteen tribute band, and the first "Born to Run Beer Mile" race, in which participating fans got a beer for each lap they completed around the field's warning track. The first runner to finish three laps and three beers was declared the winner. The BlueClaws played the game in jerseys bearing the "BruceClaws" name and planned to auction off the game-worn shirts after the game, with all the money raised going to its charities fund. "I've only met a handful of people who don't like him, and that's usually because they don't like his strong political views," said one attendee. "But I always tell them you can appreciate his musical talent without agreeing with his opinions." - AP, 7/30/17...... The Liverpool Echo newspaper is reporting that during a visit to to students at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts in late July, Paul McCartney told the students, "Sometimes the situation in the world is so crazy, that you've got to address it," and that the former Beatle has written a song pertaining to US Pres. Donald Trump. A rep for McCartney had no comment. Sir Paul is also a co-founder of the institute, also called LIPA, and was a student there when it was known as Liverpool Institute High School For Boys. The high school closed in 1985 and reopened as LIPA after an extensive renovation. McCartney is the school's Lead Patron. Earlier in July, McCartney told Australian newspaper reporter Cameron Adams that he's "not a fan at all" of the current American president. "He's unleashed a kind of violent prejudice that is sometimes latent among people," Macca said. "He's unleashed the ugly side of America. People feel like they have got a free pass to be, if not violent, at least antagonistic towards people of a different color or a different race. I think we all thought we'd got past that a long time ago." During the 2016 campaign, McCartney openly expressed his support for Democratic contender Hillary Clinton and the two posed for a picture together before a Paul concert in Cleveland. - Billboard, 7/30/17...... The Eagles headlined Day 1 of the The Classic East Festival on July 29 in New York City, after appearing at the concert's West Coast incarnation two week earlier. The concert kicked off with the Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan and then the Eagles -- the latter making their second appearance with Deacon Frey, who replaced his father, late Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey. The Eagles provided a couple of well-selected deep cuts -- the sweeping Hotel California closer "The Last Resort" and funky The Long Run talkbox exercise "Those Shoes" -- but their set mainly consisted of some of their biggest hits, including "Take It Easy" to "One of These Nights." Unlike at Classic West, when Don Henley & Co. seemed to hint that the two Classic concerts could represent the Eagles' last flight, there were fewer moments of finality at Classic East -- mostly just gratitude to the fans. On Day 2 of the Classic East Festival on July 30, Fleetwood Mac climaxed the event by playing 8 of the 11 songs off their classic 1977 album Rumours that came to define their strengths as a band (and their personal weaknesses as bandmates). Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham also played a solo version of his 1987 top 5 hit "Big Love," that included his own lightning-speed acoustic finger-picking. Also performing that night were Earth, Wind & Fire and Journey. - Billboard, 7/31/17...... Sam Shepard, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Oscar-nominated actor and celebrated author whose plays chronicled the explosive fault lines of family and masculinity in the American West, died on July 27 at his home in Kentucky from complications related to Lou Gehrig's disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He was 73. The taciturn Shepard, who grew up on a California ranch, was a man of few words who nevertheless produced 44 plays and numerous books, memoirs and short stories. He was one of the most influential playwrights of his generation: a plain-spoken poet of the modern frontier, both lyrical and rugged.S hepard's movie career began in the late '70s. While making the 1982 Frances Farmer biopic Frances, he met Jessica Lange and the two remained together for nearly 30 years. They had two children, Hannah Jane and Samuel Walker. They separated in 2009. Lange once said of Shepard: "No man I've ever met compares to Sam in terms of maleness." Shepard worked occasionally in movies, but took acting gigs more frequently as he grew older. Besides his plays, Shepard wrote short stories and a full-length work of fiction, The One Inside, which came out earlier in 2017. Shepard also joined Bob Dylan on the 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue tour of 1975, and co-wrote the song "Brownsville Girl" with him. Shepard and Patti Smith were one-time lovers but lifetime friends. "We're just the same," Smith once said. "When Sam and I are together, it's like no particular time." Smith published a beautifully poetic remembrance of her late friend titled "My Buddy" in The New Yorker on Aug. 1. - AP, 8/1/17...... Nasally comedienne Patti Deutsch, known for her appearances on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and game shows like Match Game and Tattletales, died on July 26 after a long battle with cancer. She was 73. Deutsch came to fame as a member of the 1960s-'70s improvisational comedy group Ace Trucking Company, which also featured Fred Willard, Bill "You Can Call Me Ray" Saluga, Michael Mislove and George Memmoli. She and the troupe appeared dozens of times on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson, on other talk shows, and on ABC's This Is Tom Jones, and they recorded an album of improvised sketches for RCA. The Pittsburgh-born Deutsch joined NBC's Laugh-In for its sixth and final season (1972-73) and had a regular role on the short-lived NBC comedy Grandpa Goes to Washington, starring Jack Albertson. Her other credits include Mr. Mom (1983) and the TV shows She's the Sheriff and Don't Trust the B-- in Apartment 23, and she was also a prolific voiceover artist and appeared in dozens of TV commercials, including Charmin and Folgers. - The Hollywood Reporter, 7/28/17...... Famed French actress Jeanne Moreau reportedly died in her home on July 31 at the age of 89. Moreau was considered one of the greatest actresses of her time, and is perhaps best known for her role in Francois Truffaut's new wave film Jules et Jim. Ms. Moreau's personal life included a brief marriage to The Exorcist director William Friedkin, and a relationship with designer Pierre Cardin, who she called her "true love." Ms. Moreau eventually starred in over 100 films, and also recorded albums, as she had a beautiful singing voice. - Jezebel.com, 7/31/17...... Martin "Marty" Sklar, a pioneering Walt Disney Co. imagineer who played an instrumental role in the design of Disney theme parks, died on July 27 at the age of 83. During his 54 years at Disney, Mr. Sklar led the creative development of the Burbank company's parks, attractions and resorts around the world, including its ventures in TV, the cruise business, housing development and the redesign of Times Square in New York. - The Los Angeles Times, 7/28/17.

Veteran music producer/mogul Quincy Jones was awarded $9.4 million in his royalty trial against the estate of Michael Jackson by a Los Angeles jury on July 26. Jones, dressed in a gray suit and wearing a lavender dress shirt, looked at a verdict form and paid close attention during the verdict reading, said later in a statement that "this lawsuit was never about Michael, it was about protecting the integrity of the work we all did in the recording studio and the legacy of what we created... Although this judgement is not the full amount that I was seeking, I am very grateful that the jury decided in our favor in this matter. I view it not only as a victory for myself personally, but for artists' rights overall." Jones had claimed he was cheated out of royalties after the King of Pop died in 2009, and had originally asked for $30 million in damages. Prior to the verdict, the Jackson estate had already conceded Jones was owed royalties of less than $400,000 due to accounting errors, but argued that the producer was not entitled to $30 million. Since Jackson's death, Jones has received about $18 million in royalties, according to court testimony given during the trial. - The Hollywood Reporter, 7/26/17...... An original Andy Warhol artwork owned by Alice Cooper has been rediscovered after it was rolled up in a tube and placed in a storage locker for over 40 years. The piece is a red silkscreen from Warhol's "Little Electric Chair" series, and it was rediscovered after being placed into storage alongside artefacts from Cooper's 1970 stage show -- including a mock electric chair. Cooper's former girlfriend, Cindy Lang, orginally purchased the artwork for Cooper as a gift, but it soon entered the singer's touring collection and he, by his own admission, forgot about it in a "swirl of drugs and drinking." But it was Cooper's manager, Shep Gordon, who eventually rediscovered the painting after he had dinner with an art dealer who told him of the huge sums that Warhol works regularly attract at auction. "Alice's mother remembered it going into storage. So we went and found it rolled up in a tube," said Gordon, who took the painting to Richard Polsky, a Warhol expert who is assured of its authenticity and dated the artwork back to 1964 or 1965. Cooper says he is planning to hang the painting in his home when he finishes touring at the end of the year. "You should have seen Alice's face when Richard Polsky's estimate came in. His jaw dropped and he looked at me", Gordon added. "'Are you serious? I own that!'" Although another Little Electric Chair work by the artist sold in 2015 for $11.6 million, Alice's is unlikely to sell for that sum because it is unsigned and experts at the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts stopped authenticating works in 2011. Cooper says he has not decided whether he plans to eventually sell the painting. - New Musical Express, 7/25/17...... On July 26 a New York federal judge ruled that the Beatles are the legitimate owners of footage of their famous August 1965 concert at New York's Shea Stadium, rejecting the contention that the company of the late promoter of the concert, Sid Bernstein, was the owner. A movie of the Aug. 15, 1965 concert was broadcast on ABC in 1967, then footage from the concert was used in the mid-1990s documentary series called The Beatles Anthology. Most recently, Ron Howard used footage for his own film, Eight Days a Week -- The Touring Years. Around the time that Apple Corps -- the company established by Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr -- announced the release of Howard's film, those controlling Bernstein's company after the promoter's death in 2013 submitted an application to register ownership of the copyrights in the "master tapes" of the 1965 concert. However, the registration conflicted with a 1988 one from Subafilms, an entity associated with Brian Epstein and the Beatles. Rejection by the U.S. Copyright Office didn't stop the Sid Bernstein company from then suing Apple Corps and Subafilms in 2016 upon the theatrical debut of Eight Days a Week. The plaintiff asserted ownership and claimed that the ABC movie, The Beatles Anthology, and Howard's film were infringing derivative works. On the motion to dismiss, the defendants pointed to the acknowledgment that once the concert began, Bernstein just "observed" and had no control or input into the filming of the concert. "By zeroing in on Bernstein's contributions to the filming of the concert rather than his efforts as a producer and promoter of the event, it is obvious that he is not an 'author' of any fixed works," the judge ruled. Sid Bernstein died in 2013 at the age of 95. - The Hollywood Reporter, 7/27/17...... In other Beatles-related news, Ringo Starr has teamed with Paul McCartney and members of the Eagles and Toto for a track on his upcoming album, Give Me Love, that drops on Sept. 15. "We're on the Road Again," which features bass guitar and backing vocals from McCartney, also features keyboardist Edgar Winter, Toto guitarist Steve Lukather, and Eagles vocalist-guitarist Joe Walsh. - Billboard, 7/27/17...... A hologram image of legendary heavy metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio will be going on a world tour with live musicians from the Dio tribute band Dio Disciples. The European leg of the Dio Returns Tour is set to kick off in Helsinki on Nov. 30, and it'll arrive in the U.S. by the spring of 2018. The tour is also expected to make an appearance at select festivals in 2018. Dio's widow, Wendy Dio, and his estate worked on the project with the hologram company Eyellusion. The tour will use audio from some of Dio's live performances, and the hologram will supposedly take you back to the singer's Sacred Heart and Dream Evil tours. "In 1986, for the Sacred Heart Tour, Ronnie and I created the Crystal Ball with Ronnie filmed and speaking in a suspended crystal ball effect, done with back projection, which was the closest we could get to a hologram," Wendy told Rolling Stone magazine. "[The tour] gives the fans that saw Ronnie perform an opportunity to see him again and new fans that never got to see him a chance to see him for the first time. We hope everyone will enjoy the show that we have all worked so hard to put together," she added. - Stereogum.com, 7/26/17...... Rock poetess Patti Smith joined U2 as the Irish rockers stopped in Paris on their Joshua Tree Tour for an motional performance of the album's closing track, "Mothers of the Disappeared." U2's Joshua Tree Tour will return to North America in September. - Billboard, 7/26/17...... Rounder Records announced on July 26 that Gregg Allman's final studio album, Southern Blood, will be released on Sept. 8. The posthumous LP will be the first new recording from Allman, who died on May 27 of complications from liver cancer at age 69, since 2011's Low Country Blues, and feature songs composed by the likes of Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Jerry Garcia and Willie Dixon, among others. Before his death, Allman spent his last years working on the project, collaborating on it with his friend and manager Michael Lehman, and producer Don Was. In making the announcement, Rounder Records shared a new track composed by Allman, "My Only True Friend," which Was says was "Gregg's attempt to contextualize the course of his life." "He's addressing a woman and explaining that, although he loves her and doesn't want to face living his life alone, being away on the road and performing every night is his lifeblood. If you understand this about Gregg Allman, every other aspect of his life makes complete sense," Was added. - Billboard, 7/26/17...... A new music video for the title track of Adiós Glen Campbell's final album, has been released and features the country/pop crossover star's guitar traveling across the US in the hands of loved ones and fans. His daughter Ashley is the first one to see it off, and his grandson Jeremy is the last one to hold it before a Viking funeral for the instrument in California. Adiós was recorded in 2012, a year after it was announced the ailing star had Alzheimer's disease, and debuted in the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 200 LP chart earlier in 2017. - Billboard, 7/25/17...... The classic lineup of the '70s pop/rock band The Flamin' Groovies has reunited for a new album called Fantastic Planet. The album is the first album with the two founding members of the band, Cyril Jordan and Chris Wilson in 38 years. It comes after Wilson made a guest appearance with the group during 2013 in London, which led to him rejoining the band shortly thereafter. "We showed up at the gig and came in backstage and there was Chris; As soon as we saw each other it was hugs and kisses and we were back together," Jordan told Billboard. "We hadn't decided to put the band back together, but the word got out that we were friends again and all of a sudden the offers started coming in. It was a nice kick start, and we've been going ever since." Fantastic Plastic comes out Sept. 22, and Jordan considers the first single, "What The Hell's Going On," to be a slice of what most would consider classic Groovies sound. Jordan added that he painted the cover illustration for Fantastic Plastic as a homage to late Mad magazine artist Jack Davis. The Flamin' Groovies will kick off a tour behind the new album on Aug. 22 in Worcester, Mass., with two U.S. legs and a European tour. - Billboard, 7/25/17...... Rolling Stones guitarist has posted on his YouTube channel "Ask Keith Richards" that the band will be heading into the studio "very shortly" to record their first album of original material in 12 years. When asked, "Are you inspired to get back in the studio with the Stones and do some more recording?," Richards replied, "Yes, yes, we are -- very, very shortly." The Stones' last studio effort, A Bigger Bang, came out in 2005, then in 2016 they released a blues covers album, Blue & Lonesome. Meanwhile, frontman Mick Jagger has released two new surprise tracks he says are inspired by the current "changing political situation" in the UK. Jagger says he wrote "Gotta Get a Grip" and "England Lost" in April, and he wanted to record and releae them right away. Jagger says the two tracks were the result of "anxiety, unknowability of the changing political situation" in his native England. He said "England Lost," which features Skepta in an accompanying remix, is "ostensibly" about seeing England lose in the football, but the title gave it a wider importance. "It's about a feeling that we are in a difficult moment in our history," he explained. "Gotta Get A Grip" has, according to Jagger, the message of "despite all those things that are happening, you gotta get on with your own life, be yourself and attempt to create your own destiny." - New Musical Express, 7/27/17...... Legendary composer and conductor Lalo Schifrin, best known for writing the Mission: Impossible theme, will be honored on his 85th birthday with a concert Oct. 7 at the Alex Theater in Glendale, Calif. In addition to Mission: Impossible, the six-time Academy Award nominee has scored more than 100 films, including Bullitt, Cool Hand Luke, Dirty Harry, The Cincinnati Kid and The Competition. The five-time Grammy winner is expected to attend the tribute concert, which will feature conductor Chris Walden leading an all-star big band through Schifrin's best-known works. - Billboard, 7/27/17...... Kenny Shields, the lead singer of legendary Canadian rockers Streetheart, died on July 21 of heart failure in Winnipeg. He was 69. In Canada, Streetheart's hits included "Action," "Hollywood," "Draggin' You Down," "What Kind of Love is This," "One More Time," and covers of the Bert Berns-penned "Here Comes The Night," Small Faces' "Tin Soldier," and perhaps the best-ever cover of "Under My Thumb." Streetheart formed in Winnipeg in 1977 and originally included Paul Dean and Matt Frenette, who left to form Loverboy. Streetheart called it quits in 1983 after releasing six studio albums, plus a "best of, and a double live album. They reformed in 1999 and have been active ever since. A tribute to Shields at Winnipeg Classic RockFest is planned for Aug. 29 at Shaw Park. - Billboard, 7/22/17...... Singer/songwriter Michael Johnson, best known for the hit "Bluer Than Blue," passed away on July 25 after a long illness, according to his website, MJBlue.com. He was 72 years old. Born on Aug. 8, 1944 in Alamosa, Col., Johnson enjoyed a successful string of pop and country hits in the 1970s and 1980s, with his most notable numbers being "Bluer Than Blue," "Give Me Wings," and "The Moon Is Still Over Her Shoulder." After recording a pair of albums for indie label Sanskrit, Johnson hit the big time in 1978 with the ballad "Bluer Than Blue." The song would peak at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, and top the Adult Contemporary chart. He also hit the Top-40 with the follow-up "Almost Like Being In Love," and 1979's "This Night Won't Last Forever." He recorded five albums for EMI before signing with RCA in Nashville in 1985, giving country music a try. He was an immediate hit in the genre, and his first single was a collaboration with labelmate Sylvia on "I Know You By Heart," which peaked at No. 9 in the winter of 1985-86. He topped the country chart with both "Give Me Wings" and "The Moon Is Still Over Her Shoulder" in 1987, with the latter becoming the first major hit for Hugh Prestwood. He continued to release chart singles for the label through 1989, and his final album was 2012's Moonlit Deja Vu, released on Redhouse Records. - Billboard, 7/27/17...... Bobby Taylor, the veteran singer and producer who brought the Jackson 5 to Motown Records in the late Sixties, died on July 22 at a hospital in Hong Kong, where he'd been living for the last several years. He was 83. Although Motown and the Jacksons gave credit for years to superstar singer Diana Ross for discovering the family band that made "I Want You Back" and "ABC," it was Taylor who spotted them at Chicago's Regal Theatre in 1968. The still-unknown Jackson 5 had been opening for Taylor's Vancouvers. Taylor scored minor hits for Motown such as "I Am Your Man" and "Malinda" before encountering the Jackson 5. After the group moved on from Taylor, he put out "Taylor Made Soul" on Motown in 1969, but it sold little and the company didn't release the follow-up. He overcame throat cancer in the Seventies, then worked with various musicians, including Ian Levine on "Cloudy Day." He moved to Beijing for a job roughly 15 years ago, then relocated to Hong Kong, where he sang at friends' nightclubs. His last known recording was the unreleased "Humanity," a tribute to the late rock guitarist Dick Wagner. - 7/23/17...... Barbara Sinatra, the fourth wife of legendary singer Frank Sinatra and a prominent advocate and philanthropist for abused children, died of natural causes at her Rancho Mirage, Calif., home on July 25. She was 90. A former model and Las Vegas showgirl, Mrs. Sinatra was a prominent Palm Springs socialite in her own right before she married Sinatra in 1976. They remained wed until his death in 1998, and together founded the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center, for which she was the director. The nonprofit has provided therapy to more than 20,000 young victims of physical, sexual and emotional abuse since opening in 1986. Mrs. Sinatra remained active at the center until recently, raising funds and visiting with the children. - Billboard, 7/25/17...... June Foray, the voice behind several classic cartoon characters including Rocky the Flying Squirrel from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and How the Grinch Stole Christmas' Cindy Lou Who, died of natural causes on July 27. She was 99. Ms. Foray was also the original voice of the school teacher in Frosty the Snowman, before her voice was mysteriously re-dubbed by another actress. - Philly.com, 7/27/17.