Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on June 16th, 2018

Four surviving members of the Jackson 5 were honored with keys to the city of Detroit on June 15 during a high-ticket private party that launched the second Detroit Music Weekend festival. Detroit police chief James Craig, who presented the honors to Jermaine, Jackie, Tito and Marlon Jackson, declared the iconic Motown group "truly Detroiters." Jermaine told the crowd that "coming back to Detroit is like coming home," and Marlon said in an interview later that though it was Motown that made the Jackson 5 famous, the brothers already had a special relationship with the city before they signed to the label. A city key was also awarded posthumously to the late Michael Jackson, who Jermaine said "we miss dearly." Prior to the presentation the group and the city were mired in controversy over the naming of a street in downtown Detroit. In May it was announced that a Michael Jackson Ave. would be dedicated during the festival, much to the surprise and displeasure of the other brothers. A Detroit city ordinance requires streets to be named only after individuals, and no compromise was reached during the four weeks following the announcement, scuttling the plan entirely. But the Jacksons' management said on June 15 that the street naming would be revisited next year as part of the 50th anniversary commemoration of the Jackson 5's first recordings for Motown, which will also include a world tour and other projects. "It's all going to be rectified and done and we're going to celebrate it and come back and unveil the street and do a 50th year celebration here," Marlon said. The four Jacksons -- who will headline Detroit Music Weekend on June 16 -- also attended a 90-minute tribute concert featuring the hits of the Jackson 5. The Detroit Music Weekend is also scheduled to feature a performance from Grand Funk Railroad co-founder Mark Farner. - Billboard, 6/16/18...... Steve Miller, currently in the midst of his second co-headlining summer tour with Peter Frampton, has announced he and Frampton will release a live album of jams that they perform together during the tour. Miller says that every show is being recorded and that the two are "putting a record together now" that will showcase their performances of songs from such blues icons asd Freddie King, Elmore James, K.C. Douglas, Otis Rush, and more. "Jamming together has turned out to be a real interesting thing," Miller says. "We're just having fun. It's an added bonus to the tour, just a really, really great musical combination... [The record] is pretty much everything we've jammed from last year up through this year. ... As we go on we'll add more tunes." Meanwhile, Miller says he's been going through his vaults for unreleased material to mark the 50th anniversary of his first two albums. "We're trying to gather all the outtakes and interesting bits that weren't released and songs that were recorded that were never released, and we found some really good stuff," he says. - Billboard, 6/15/18...... Neil Diamond was honored with the Johnny Mercer Award during the 49th Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Dinner at New York City's Marriott Marquis Hotel on June 14. Diamond, who was officially inducted into the Hall in 1984, closed the with a rousing, extended rendition of "Sweet Caroline," even though the 77-year-old has announced he has retired from touring due to being diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. Diamond barely spoke at the event, where Kool and the Gang, John Mellencamp, Alan Jackson and Jermaine Dupri were inducted into the SHOF class of 2018. - AP, 6/15/18...... Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman has released a new LP of what he describes as "cosmic-influenced" ringtones. Cosmic Ringtones & Sonic Realms - Your Universe Is Calling is a 29-track album conceived and produced by Holzman and recorded by his son Adam Holzman, a known keyboardist and synthesizer artist. While the LP is available for download on all streaming services, the CD release contains liner notes that detail the origin story for each of the tracks. The cosmos-inspired titles include everything from the straightforward "The Big Bang" and "String Theory" to the whimsical "Primordial Cosmic Soup" and "Pluto Sheds a Tear." In the 1960s, as Holzman was discovering and signing such bands as the Doors and Bread to his fledgling record label, he released the groundbreaking album series Authentic Sound Effects in the 1960s. - Billboard, 6/15/18...... Paul McCartney will reportedly be joining late night talk show host James Corden in a new episode of Corden's popular "Carpool Karaoke" series. Sir Paul's episode will see the pair go on a Beatles tour in Liverpool. The series has previously featured a wide range of artists including Christina Aguilera, Foo Fighters, Linkin Park and Pink. While in Liverpool, McCartney also performed a secret gig for fans at Liverpool's Philharmonic pub. - New Musical Express, 6/13/18...... Willie Nelson issued a statement on June 14 denouncing Pres. Trump's "zero tolerance" immigration policy that has resulted in the separation of hundreds of migrant children from their parents at the southern U.S. border. "What's going on at our southern border is outrageous," the Texas native wrote. "Christians everywhere should be up in arms. What happened to 'Bring us your tired and weak and we will make them strong?' This is still the promise land." The reference to "promise land" in the statement is a reference to the David Lynn Jones written song "Living in the Promiseland," which appeared on Nelson's 1986 The Promiseland album. Nelson is among a growing chorus of artists, activists, religious figures and politicians who are decrying the zero tolerance policy. - Billboard, 6/15/18...... Barry Manilow was forced to put the debut of his "Manilow Live -- The Hits Come Home" Las Vegus run on the third weekend in June on hold on June 14 after the 74-year old star was admitted to a local hospital and prescribed antibiotics. Manilow is scheduled to be released from the hospital in the next few days and is planning to resume his Vegas series on June 21. "Our new show is ready, we're all ready, and we were all looking forward to tonight," he tweeted shortly after his diagnosis. - Billboard, 6/15/18...... Speaking of Las Vegas, lawmen there are searching for two suspected burglars at Vegas icon Wayne Newton's home several miles southeast of the Las Vegas Strip after Newton and his wife Kathleen scared away the men as the arrived home after a June 14 Newton performance at Bally's hotel-casino. The Newtons told police the intruders fled when as they arrived at their their 20-acre home and believe that home surveillance video will help police identify the suspects. The also said they've bolstered security at the estate. The Newtons moved to their current house in 2013 following the bankruptcy sale of their nearby 40-acre estate, Casa de Shenandoah. The gilded property, which features gardens, pools, stables for Newton's Arabian horses, is now a tourist attraction and museum. - AP, 6/14/18...... The Def Leppard and Journey co-headlining summer tour hit New York's Madison Square Garden on June 13. After openers Journey performed their '80s anthems "Any Way You Want It," "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" and "Faithfully" with current frontman Arnel Pineda on vocals, Def Leppard came out swinging with "Rocket," following up with hits including "Let's Get Rocked" and "Armageddon It" during their 90-minute set. The band also covered the David Essex hit "Rock On," and ended the night with "Rock of Ages" and "Photograph." - Billboard, 6/14/18...... Paul Simon has scored his first entry on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Album Sales chart with a remixed version of his acclaimed 1986 LP Graceland. Graceland: The Remixes reinterprets all 11 of the original album's tracks, including "Al," by Groove Armada, as well as cuts by Paul Oakenfold, Sharam, Thievery Corporation and Joris Voorn. The original Graceland reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 200 in Apr. 1987, won the Grammy Award for album of the year and spun off three Hot 100 hits: "You Can Call Me Al" (No. 23), the title cut (No. 81) and "The Boy in the Bubble" (No. 86). - Billboard, 6/14/18....... The B-52s are in the midst of an extensive North American tour which was launched in May to celebrate their 40th anniversary. The "tacky little dance band from Athens, Ga.," as the band calls themselves, are playing arenas, amphitheaters and stadiums, joined by another LGBTQ pioneer, Boy George. The band formed in 1976, with singer Cindy Wilson's older brother, guitarist/principal songwriter Ricky Wilson (who died in 1985), and his best friend, drummer-guitarist Keith Strickland (who retired from touring with the band in 2012). Rounding out the lineup are Fred Schneider and Kate Pierson. Four of the band's five original members did, in fact, identify as LGBTQ: Ricky, Schneider and Strickland as gay men, and Pierson, who was involved with a man until the early 2000s, is now married to a woman. But Schneider says they didn't set out to explicitly write queer anthems, as later acts like Erasure would. "We just did our own thing," he says now. "I guess subconsciously we were trying to say something. But it was sort of stream of consciousness, it was so out there." - Billboard, 6/14/18...... Fleetwood Mac has been added to the lineup of the 2018 iHeartRadio Music Festival, set for Sept. 21 and 22 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. "It is an honor to be performing at the iHeartRadio Music Festival for our very first time," Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks said in a statement. "The beauty of an event like this is that it is a true representation of the power of radio. It's an opportunity for artists across all genres to share one stage and what we all love most -- music!" The band will be marking its first time playing together as a new band since Lindsey Buckingham's exit in April, and will be joining previously announced headliners including Lynyrd Skynyrd, Justin Timberlake, Carrie Underwood, Mariah Carey, Imagine Dragons, Panic! at the Disco and Kelly Clarkson at the two-day event. - Billboard, 6/12/18...... David Byrne announced on June 12 that he'll launch a lengthy 2018 UK and Ireland arena tour this fall with cities to include Leeds, Glasgow, Dublin, Birmingham, Cardiff, London, Brighton and Manchester. "We'll be doing some new songs, and many others that will, I assume, be familiar," the former Talking Heads frontman said on his current production. "I'm excited. This is the most ambitious show I've done since the shows that were filmed for Stop Making Sense, so fingers crossed." - New Musical Express, 6/12/18...... Barbra Streisand announced on June 11 that she's inked a new content deal with the streaming giant Netflix, bringing 6 of her classic TV shows and a special edition of her 1976 film A Star is Born to the site soon. The diva's vintage specials set to stream on Netflix will include My Name Is Barbra (1965), Color Me Barbra (1966), Barbra Streisand: A Happening in Central Park (1968), Barbra Streisand and Other Musical Instruments (1973), Barbra Streisand: The Concert (1994) and Barbra Streisand: Timeless (2001). Her A Star is Born movie will reportedly feature never-before-scene footage in an extended cut. Streisand recently participated in an interview with actor Jamie Foxx on the closing night of the 2018 FYsee event. - Billboard, 6/11/18...... The Allman Brothers Band released a four-disc set of rarities on June 15 entitled Peach Picks: Cream of the Crop 2003. It features 36 performances from the Allmans' July 25-Aug. 10, 2003 run, including shows in Pittsburgh, Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C., Hartford, Conn., and Darien Center. N.Y., all during a tour supporting that year's Hittin' The Note, the Allmans' first new album in 10 years. "It was a really good time period for the band," says guitarist Warren Haynes, who served as supervising producer for the set. "We had all the new material and we were reinventing a lot of old material and the band was on a high note at that point, so it just seemed like a good thing to go back and make [the recordings] available to folks." Haynes says he was already working on Peach Picks when Gregg Allman's health took a turn for the worse in 2017, and listening to the material provided a bit of relief for him. "It's really interesting to hear how energized the band was at that point in time," says Haynes, who co-wrote "Desdemona" with Allman for the Hittin' The Note album. "Everybody was so psyched to make a new record and so proud of the record we had just made it just seemed like the band was really hitting it stride. Not having heard any of the stuff in a long time, when I went back to start listening to it. It was just really refreshing to get a snapshot of where the band was at that moment." The release also includes a selection of covers, including Derek and the Dominos' "Layla," as well as guest appearances by Susan Tedeschi, Karl Denson and Branford Marsalis, the latter of who plays saxophone on epic renditions of "Dreams" and "Whipping Post." - Billboard, 6/12/18...... Sylvester Stallone is currently under investigation for sex crimes by authorities in Los Angeles, a spokesperson for the LA District Attorney's office announced on June 13. It's unclear what allegations 71-year-old Rocky star faces, but according to CNN, the complaint was originally filed to the Santa Monica Police Department in Nov. 2017, and concerns an alleged sexual assault take took place in the 1990s. In December, the Santa Monica Police Department was investigating a claim that Stallone raped a teenager in the 1990s, an allegation that the actor denied at the time, although he admitted to spending three days with the woman in Israel on a shoot in 1987. Another instance of sexual assault allegations against Stallone has circulated in recent years -- this one involving a 1986 police report in which a 16-year-old alleges she was forced into a threesome with Stallone and his bodyguard, Michael De Luca, in Las Vegas. Stallone denied the allegations through his attorney Martin Singer, who called the announcement "outrageous" because "it makes the public think that there's something there." - Jezebel.com, 6/14/18...... Saturday Night Fever star John Travolta portrays infamous mob boss John Gotti in a new film called Gotti, which made its premiere on June 14. Speaking at the premiere, Travolta said Gotti's widow Victoria Gotti "made us a gorgeous spread one afternoon. It was awesome." Travolta's actress wife Kelly Preston appears as Victoria in the film which was sanctioned by the family, and some critics say it's too sympathetic and favourable toward a mafia boss. Gotti, who died in prison in 2002, was head of the Gambino crime family and was convicted of murder and racketeering in 1992. The film has been in the works for years, with even Lindsay Lohan in the running to play the mobster's daughter in an early iteration. - AP, 6/15/18...... D.J. Fontana, who acheived rock 'n' roll immortality as Elvis Presley's first and longtime drummer, died in his sleep in Nashville, Tenn., after suffering complications from breaking his hip in 2016. He was 87. Mr. Fontana, a member of the Rock Hall of Fame, was the last surviving member of Elvis' original core of musicians. He met Presley and the others on the Louisiana Hayride, a popular and influential radio and TV country music program based in Shreveport. Staff drummer Fontana asked to join his group for a session broadcast in October 1954. A regional act at the time, the 19-year-old Presley had been recording and touring since the summer with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, the musicians Sun Records founder Sam Phillips brought in after Elvis turned up at the Memphis, Tennessee-based label's studio. Fontana was there for Presley's first wave of success, from such hit singles as "Hound Dog" and "Jailhouse Rock" to his increasingly frenzied live shows and hip-shaking appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and other TV programs. He played on many soundtracks -- and was occasionally seen on camera -- for Presley's '50s and '60s movies. He was on the "comeback" Christmas TV special of 1968 that featured Presley and fellow musicians jamming on a tiny stage before a studio audience, with Fontana keeping time on a guitar case. Widely cited for reviving Presley's career, that show was his first live performance in years and the last time Moore and Fontana worked with Elvis, who died in 1977. In 2000, Mr. Fontana played on Paul McCartney's cover of an early Presley hit, "That's All Right." - AP, 6/14/18...... Nick Knox, the former drummer of the band The Cramps, has died at the age of 60. Knox, born Nicholas Stephanoff, had played in the Electric Eels with Cramps frontman John D. Morton before becoming a member of the influential punk outfit. - New Musical Express, 6/16/18.

Elton John has called for a boycott of major social media companies who allow homophobic hate speech to exist on their platforms. "I don't know why they allow it. It's supposed to be free speech, but the things that are on social media are so disgusting that there has to be action taken by the people who own these companies," Sir Elton said in an interview with BBC News on June 8. "People say, 'well, what about my freedom of speech?' Well, sod your freedom of speech," he added. John says a boycott, and the resulting lack of revenue it would cause, would force the social media giants to "sit up" and take a stance against homophobic hate speech on their platforms. "Companies like Facebook and Instagram cannot pretend they are purely private enterprises. I believe they have a public role and responsibility," he said. "But if we found ways to automatically respond to hatred with fact, good could be all the way around the world before falsehood even got its boots on." Shortly before the interview, Elton delivered the "Diana, Princess of Wales Lecture" on HIV in London, when called on the British government and private sector to take necessary actions in order to rid the country of the disease. - Billboard, 6/11/18...... Paul Simon treated fans to a performance of his 1970 Simon & Garfunkel smash "Bridge Over Troubled Water" as his "Homeward Bound: Farewell Tour No Longer" trek stopped in Detroit at the DTE Energy Music Theatre on June 10. Simon explained to the crowd that he hadn't played the Grammy-winning song that he wrote yet on the tour, which began on May 16 in Vancouver, because "it has a strange deterrent for me... that's not much of an introduction is it?" SImon added he was "setting expectations low" for this rendition, but after the performance received a rapturous response, he quipped that "maybe I'll sing it again sometime." Simon is scheduled to wrap up the first American leg of the tour on June 20, then head to Europe 10 days later, then return to the U.S. for one final leg in September, closing with two shows at Madison Square Garden on Sept. 20-21 and a third, on Sept. 22 at a location to be announced. - Billboard, 6/11/18...... Bruce Springsteen performed a stripped-down spoken word rendition of his 1984 Born In the USA track "My Hometown" during the 72nd Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 10 in New York City. After being presented with a special Tony honor by his pal Billy Joel and receiving a warm introduction from his actor friend Robert DeNiro, who quipped how hard it was to get tickets to the Boss's "Springsteen on Broadway" show, Springsteen strode over to the piano and began reciting childhood memories of his home on Randolph Street in Freehold, N.J. He played softly as he reminisced, speaking of growing up "surrounded by God and all my relatives" near St. Rose's Cemetery, where people did the best they could to "hold off the demons, outside and inside, that sought to destroy them." His spoken word gave way to lyrics from "My Hometown," a song that ruminates on the places most familiar to us. The musician was nominated for a special Tony for his Broadway show, which kicked off at the Walter Kerr Theatre on Oct. 3, 2017. The show is currently scheduled to wrap in Dec. 2018. - Billboard, 6/10/18...... In related news, Paul McCartney and CBS Late Late Show host James Corden made a surprise visit to Paul and the other Beatles' hometown of Liverpool, England on June 9 when they toured such sites as Sir Paul's childhood home at 20 Forthlin Road and the roundabout immortalized in the Fab Four's classic "Penny Lane." The pair also made a stop at the Philharmonic Dining Rooms, where Paul played a set with members of his band. Meanwhile, the sudden disappearance of McCartney's profile pics on his Twitter and Instagram pages have prompted rumours that the superstar could be getting ready to make a big announcement very soon, possibly a release date for a new album he's been working on for some time or a special 50th anniversary release of "The White Album." - Billboard, 6/9/18...... Speaking of 50th anniversaries, Led Zeppelin have posted on their offical Twitter account that they have reunited to work on a new book about the band to mark the 50th anniversary of their formation. John Paul Jones, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page are pictured with the official announcement, with Plant holding a draft copy of a new book they've been working on together. "Led Zeppelin By Led Zeppelin is the first and only official illustrated book to be produced in collaboration with the members of the band," according to the description. "It is being produced to celebrate 50 years of the iconic rock group and will feature photographs of Jones, Page, Plant, and Bonham "on and offstage, in candid moments and in the recording studio. This definitive 400-page volume includes previously unpublished photos, artwork from the Led Zeppelin archives and contributions from photographers around the world," the description adds. Led Zeppelin By Led Zeppelin is currently available for pre-order and will hit stores in October via Reel Art Press. - New Musical Express, 6/8/19...... The estate of Prince has announced that a previously unheard home studio cassette recording of Prince performing at his piano in 1983 will be released as Piano & a Microphone on Sept. 21. The nine-track, 35-minute project from the Prince Estate in coordination with Warner Bros. Records is planned for what would have been the rock icon's 60th birthday, and is currently available for pre-order on CD, LP, deluxe CD+ LP, digital release and pre-save for streaming. Tracks include Prince working through "Purple Rain" and "17 Days," both of which would be released the following year, a cover of Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You," and a rare recording of the pre-Civil War spiritual "Mary Don't You Weep." - Billboard, 6/7/18...... Authorities in Los Angeles have charged Redmond O'Neal,, the son of actor Ryan O'Neal and the late actress Farrah Fawcett, with a long list of offenses including attempted murder after he went on what they describe as a "violent crime spree" between May 2 and May 8. O'Neal, 33, is currently in jail after being arrested in May for an alleged armed robbery, and after his June 8 court appearance the LA District Attorney filed multiple charges against the former voice actor, including one count of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of criminal threats, one count of brandishing a knife and one count of battery. O'Neal, who has struggled with drug addiction for years, allegedly "randomly attacked five men in unprovoked confrontations," in early May, the LAPD said in a statement, with two of the five men being seriously injured. O'Neal has yet to enter a plea in relation to the new charges. - MSN.com, 6/9/18...... As the new Beach Boys-authorized release The Beach Boys With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra hit stores on June 8, BB co-founder Al Jardine says "the symphony doesn't get in the way of the vocals." "The vocals are the star of the show," Jardine says. "When the mixes are a little weird or someone tries to do something with a well-known song, it never seems to work out. But this one actually takes you to another level. It's like a punctuation mark on an entire career." The band didn't have a hands-on role in the recording, but simply let one of the world's most prestigious symphony orchestras do their thing over original recordings of "California Girls," "Help Me, Rhonda," "The Warmth of the Sun" and other highlights from the band's body of work. "It doesn't sound like Mahler or anybody, where it takes hours to listen to," adds BB member Bruce Johnston. "It's beautiful seasoning. It didn't ruin Brian (Wilson)'s production magic." Brian Wilson added that "it's a great honor and privilege that we could be associated with that great of an orchestra... I'm very proud of it." - Billboard, 6/8/18...... Peter Stringfellow, a British nightclub owner who was an early backer of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Kinks and Jimi Hendrix, has died after a secret battle with cancer. He was 77. Stringfellow once booked a little-known Fab Four to play the Azena Ballroom in his hometown of Sheffield, but in the interim between the booking and the performance Beatlemania exploded, and Stringfellow recalled in a 2014 interview that Beatles manager Brian Epstein "gave me his word and stuck to it... It was just pandemonium when the Beatles came on stage. It was the most exciting night of my life." Other groups performing at Stringfellow's various Sheffield venues included Wilson Pickett, The Small Faces, Stevie Wonder, The Searchers, Elton John, The Who, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner and Pink Floyd. After running venues in Manchester and Leeds, Stringfellow relocated to London and opened the first of his eponymous chain of topless strip clubs in London's West End in 1980, which were frequented by the likes of Prince, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Rod Stewart, Tom Jones and professor Stephen Hawking. - Billboard, 6/7/18...... Former Fleetwood Mac guitarist/vocalist Danny Kirwan died in London on June 8 of as yet undisclosed causes. He was 68. Kirwan joined Fleetwood Mac in 1968 and contributed to several albums, including Then Play On, Blues Jam at Chess, Kiln House, Future Games and Bare Trees. The first song he recorded with the group was 1968's instrumental single "Albatross." Kirwan was asked to leave the band while on tour in 1972, reportedly due to his alcoholism. He went on to release a handful of solo albums, and in 1998, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with other members of Fleetwood Mac. Posting on the band's official Facebook page, Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood noted Kirwan was "a huge force in our early years" and "his legacy... will forever live on in the music he wrote and played so beautifully as a part of the foundation of Fleetwood Mac, that has now endured for over fifty years." - Billboard, 6/9/18...... Eunice Grayson, who was the first "Bond girl" in OO7's on-screen debut in 1962's Dr. No, has died at the age of 90. Ms. Grayson starred as Bond's love interest, Sylvia Trench, in Dr. No, as well as the follow-up, 1963's From Russia With Love. As Sylvia Trench, Ms. Grayson elicited one of Bond's most famous catchphrases at the beginning of Dr. No. Over a game of cards at the Le Cercle Club casino, Bond asks her for her name. "I admire your courage, Miss, er" She replies: "Trench, Sylvia Trench. I admire your luck, Mr..." "Bond, James Bond," Connery replies. Ms. Trench said in a 2012 interview that Connery was very nervous in the scene, and she was asked by director Terrence Young to "take him away for a drink" to calm him down, which she did. Ms. Trench, whose lines were rerecorded over by voiceover artist Nikki van der Zyl (like many other Bond girls in the 60s and 70s), had originally been cast as Miss Moneypenny, but the part went to Lois Maxwell instead. The Surrey-born actress had been due to be a recurring character in the Bond franchise, but the idea was dropped by the director of Goldfinger, Guy Hamilton. "An amazing lady who left a lasting impression on everyone she met. She will be very much missed. Our sincere thoughts are with her family," Bond franchise producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli tweeted on June 8. - The Guardian.com, 6/9/18...... Jerry Maren, the last surviving Munchkin in the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz, has died at a San Diego nursing care facility. He was 98. Mr. Maren memorably welcomed Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) to Munchkinland as part of the Lollipop Guild, the middle Munchin in a trio donning green and presenting Garland with a giant candy. The actor later appeared in TV bits on popular shows over the years including The Twilight Zone, Seinfeld and Bewitched. His most recent role was in 2010, when he appeared in the movie Dahmer vs. Gacy. Mr. Maren was close to his nieces and nephews after his wife Elizabeth, who was also a little person, died in 2011 at age 69. "I've done so many things in show business, but people say, 'You were in The Wizard of Oz? It takes people's breath away," Maren recalled during an interview in 2011. "But then I realized, 'Geez, it must have been a hell of a picture, because everyone remembers it everywhere I go.'" - MSN.com, 6/6/18.