Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on August 15th, 2019

Bruce Springsteen has suprised his fans with the release of his full acoustic performance from Neil Young's inaugural Bridge School Benefit Concert in 1986. The show at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, Calif., was Springsteen's first major gig since wrapping up the huge Born in the U.S.A. tour and his first acoustic set in more than a decade. The set is available on Springsteen's site, BruceSpringsteen.net, with $2 from each sale going to benefit The Bridge School, which employs creative approaches to education and alternative communication systems to help educate children with severe speech and physical impairments. - Billboard, 8/12/19...... The generation-defining 1969 Woodstock festival will be commemorated in the third weekend of August as up to 100,000 fans are expected to flock to the original site in Bethel Woods, N.Y., for a 50th anniversary celebration featuring such acts as John Fogerty, Ringo Starr and Carlos Santana. Original Woodstock veteran Arlo Guthrie is set to perform on Aug. 15 before an outdoor screening of the Woodstock documentary. Organizers hope avoid the overcrowding and chaos that occurred 50 years ago by requiring event tickets and travel passes to drive to the site about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of New York City. Fans interested in visiting Woodstock without tickets or travel passes will still be able to do over the anniversary weekend, however their time at the location will be limited. A free shuttle bus service will take passengers to the site where they will have a maximum of 30 minutes to spend there before they are required to leave. The 1969 festival was held on a dairy farm in Bethel, upstate New York, which is now maintained by the Bethel Woods Centre for the Arts. The not-for-profit Bethel Woods center bought up the hillside and surrounding land in the late '90s, and constructed a Woodstock-and-'60s-themed museum which sits atop the fenced-in field. An outdoor amphitheater is located over the hill where Santana and Fogerty will play on separate nights. An estimated 400,000 people showed up for the event on Aug. 15-18, 1969. A competing 50th anniversary Woodstock concert promoted by original Woodstock co-founder Michael Lang was canceled in late July after months of setbacks, funding issues, artist defections and permitting issues. Meanwhile, Philadelphia radio station WXPN has announced plans to broadcast the full 1969 Woodstock festival exactly 50 years after it happened, over four days. At exactly 5:07 EDT on Aug. 15, WXPN, which airs on 88.5 FM public radio, will run through the entire original recording of 1969's Woodstock, featuring every performance, set breaks and stage announcements, from Richie Havens' opening acoustic set to Jimi Hendrix's blistering festival closer. "Woodstock -- As It Happened -- 50 Years On" is being dubbed a "full authentic musical account" of the classic festival, which featured the likes of Hendrix, The Who, The Grateful Dead, Joe Cocker and Janis Joplin. - AP/New Musical Express, 8/15/19...... Iggy Pop released a tongue-in-cheek video for his latest single "James Bond" on Aug. 14. The video centers on the punk rock veteran as he sings to the camera, his image clouded by light and shadow. Faith Vern, who sings on the track, also appears in the video. "I've never had more fun singing a lyric," Pop said of the song. "Faith's reading is so loaded, and Leron [Thomas]' production and trumpet along with the band swings like crazy." "James Bond" will be featured on Free, Iggy's 18th studio album that's due out Sept. 6 and the follow-up to his 2016 LP Post Pop Depression. - New Musical Express, 8/15/19...... A wide-ranging 40th anniversary exhibit showcasing The Clash's landmark 1979 third album London Calling is scheduled to open at the Museum of London. "The Clash: London Calling" will open on Nov. 15 and feature draft lyrics from Clash frontman Joe Strummer's notebook, stage outfits, photos and films. The free show, which will run through spring 2020, will also feature the bass guitar that Paul Simonon famously smashed on stage at The Palladium in New York on Sept. 21, 1979, handwritten albums sequence notes from singer/guitarist Mick Jones, and drummer Topper Headon's drum sticks. "London Calling is The Clash's defining album, a rallying call for Londoners and people around the world," said the Museum of London's Beatrice Behlen in a statement. "The album's lyrics reflected contemporary concerns, many of which are still relevant today, as it moved away from traditional punk by adopting and reworking much wider musical influences." The museum has also shared a YouTube trailer for the exhibit. In conjuntion with the anniversary, Sony Music has announced the release of London Calling Scrapbook, a 120-page hardback collection of photos, hand-written lyrics, notes and previously unseen material. - Billboard, 8/14/19...... Lynyrd Skynyrd announced on Aug. 13 they are postponing to upcoming shows on their farewell "Last of the Street Survivors" tour to allow guitarist co-founding member Gary Rossington to recover from recent heart surgery. The band has pushed back its Aug. 16 performance at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and Aug. 17 show at Toyota Amphitheatre in Wheatland, Calif. In a statement, the band said Rossington had been experiencing fatigue and other symptoms related to a leaky heart valve and underwent a procedure on July 31 to repair the valve. Rossington is expected to make a full recovery and the band has rescheduled the Nevada and California events for Oct. 18 and 19, respectively. "We all appreciate the well wishes for Gary and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused," said Skynyrd lead vocalist Johnny Van Zant in a press release. "But he can't wait to come back and perform at 100% for the fans. We will see you all soon!" Bad Company will remain as special guest, co-headliner for the rescheduled Las Vegas date on Oct. 18. Tickets purchased for the original Aug. 16 and 17 dates will be honored for the rescheduled dates in October. The tour, which runs through October, will also include special guests Hank Williams Jr., Bad Company, ZZ Top and Cody Jinks at selected dates. - Billboard, 8/13/19...... A new documentary defending Michael Jackson, Chase the Truth, was released the third week in August. The counter documentary, which features testimony from Jackson's former bodyguard Matt Fiddes and actor Mark Lester is an answer to the controversial 2018 documentary Leaving Neverland in which Wade Robson and James Safechuck claimed the King of Pop sexually abused them when they were children. "Acquitted in life, back on trial after death," reads the synopsis. "Michael Jackson: Chase The Truth takes an investigative look into the legal battles of the global superstar. Close friends, former staff and researchers paint an intimate portrait of Jackson's complicated world and put allegations of sexual abuse under the microscope." A trailer for Chase The Truth has also been made available on YouTube. Meanwhile, Wade Robson has spoken out on MTV's recent decision to keep their VMA Vanguard Award named after the late singer. "I don't personally need MTV to do one thing or the other, but as child abuse survivors all over the world watch to see whether society will support them or not if they have the courage to come forward, in that regard, it's an unfortunate choice," Robson told TheWrap.com. MTV began recognizing artists with the Video Vanguard Award in 1984 and named the honor after Jackson in 1991. Missy Elliott will become the first female rapper to receive the award at this year's show, on Aug. 26. - NME/Billboard, 8/15/19...... The Rolling Stones' longtime musical director, keyboardist Chuck Leavell, has released a cover of the Stones' "Tumbling Dice" along with an accompanying video on YouTube. The "Tumbling Dice" cover appears on Leavell's new album, Chuck Gets Big, with his backing band the Frankfurt Radio Big Band. "This (album) is really a celebration of the career," Leavell told Billboard, "so of course there's something from the Allman Brothers, something from Sea Level, something from the Stones, instrumentals from my own records, too. There are also a few of the songs I've just always loved playing -- like 'Georgia on My Mind,' 'cause Ray Charles is my true hero. It's just kind of a mishmash celebrating the career and hand-picking songs that I felt like people would appreciate." Leavell says the album is also an opportunity "to showcase my own voice." "I mean, I get to sing background with the Stones and did with The Allmans, [Eric] Clapton and [Dave] Gilmour, but I wanted to have the opportunity to showcase my voice -- not that I'm an incredible singer, but that was important to me. I'm very pleased with the way it worked out." Leavell -- who also guests on the Allman Betts Band's debut album Down to the River -- has five more dates left on the Stones' No Filter Tour, which wraps up Aug. 31 in Miami. - Billboard, 8/13/19...... Alice Cooper announced on Aug. 13 he'll launch a tour of Australia's five biggest cities in February 2020, beginning on Feb. 8 at Perth's RAC Arena. Other stops down under include Adelaide (2/11), Melbourne (2/14), Sydney (2/15) and Brisbane (2/18). Cooper's "Ol' Black Eyes Is Back" tour is currently in progress across North America, after which he'll begin a six-week tour of the U.K. and Europe, before returning to the United States for further dates in November. The "entirely new production" according to Alice incorporates a setting inside his Nightmare Castle, and features FrankenAlice, the new Billion Dollar Baby, and a setlist which includes many of his classic hits, deep album tracks, and new music. Meanwhile, The Coop continues to record and perform in his supergroup side project Hollywood Vampires, and will release a mini-album on vinyl, The Breadcrumbs, on Sept. 13 that's said to be a tribute to his Detroit rock origins. 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of Alice's Pretties For You, his very first album. "I'm a healthy young man at 71," he says. - Billboard, 8/13/19...... In other shock-rocker news, a new book by a science scholar claims that Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne is a genetic mutant. In his new book Pleased to Meet Me: Genes, Germs and the Curious Forces that Make Us Who We Are, Indiana University School of Medicine genetic research professor Bill Sullivan employed a study by Gnome, a Massachusetts-based research company who studied Ozzy's DNA in 2010 to work out how he had managed to live so long despite his extensive alcohol and drug use. Sullivan concludes that "Ozzy is indeed a genetic mutant" who has managed to stay alive so song thanks to a "quirk in his DNA which has made him resilient to years of substance abuse." Osbourne will kick off a solo tour of the UK and Europe on Jan. 21 at Motorpoint Arena in Nottigham. He'll also visit Dublin (2/2), Manchester (2/5), Newcastle (2/7), London (2/10), Glasgow (2/12) and Birmingham (2/14). - New Musical Express, 8/13/19...... Barry Manilow and his husband/manager Garry Kief are reportedly "fighting horribly" because Manilow's Broadway run has gone awry and turned into a flop. According to a report on PageSix.com, the trouble began because the "Copacabana" singer wanted the run to be very short -- similar to Morrissey's 10-day blitz at the Lunt-Fontanne in May, which reportedly made $1.9 million -- perhaps even just a week long. But Kief, who married Manilow in 2014 after a 39-year relationship, purportedly pushed Manilow to do a months-long residency similar to Bruce Springsteen's triumphant Broadway stretch from last October to December. In the end, they split the difference and did the three-week run, also at the Lunt-Fontanne. But the scaled-down show is struggling to sell tickets and Manilow is now facing an "ocean of empty seats." "If he weren't his husband, Barry would have fired Garry by now," the source is quoted as saying. Making matters worse, Manilow could lose money on the run because he's on the hook for the cost of the production, while Kief gets a straight salary as executive producer and could end up making money on it. "It's terrible. Barry's up there at 76 years of age, and Garry's sitting in the back of the theater eating bonbons," the source said. - PageSix.com, 8/13/19...... During his performance at the Outside Lands festival at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park on Aug. 11, Paul Simon surprised fans by inviting Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead onstage for a duet of Simon's "The Boxer." In 1967, Simon recalled, he was in SF and seeking out the Grateful Dead with the intent of inviting them to perform at the Monterrey Pop Festival. "I knocked on the door of the house, and Bob Weir opened the door," he said. "We've been friends ever since, but actually, this is our first duet." Although Simon no longer tours -- he wrapped his final tour in his native Queens, N.Y. back in September -- he hopped on the Outside Lands bill, and offered to donate his profits from the festival to the San Francisco Parks Alliance and nonprofit greening organization Friends of the Urban Forest. Simon's performance also included such hits as "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard," "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes" and "You Can Call Me Al," along with such deep album tracks as "That Was Your Mother (Zydeco)" and "Obvious Child." He rounded out the set with "Still Crazy After All These Years," the Weir-featuring rendition of "The Boxer" and "American Tune," and Simon held Weir's hand before the rest of the band joined them for a bow center stage. - Billboard, 8/12/19...... As their co-headlining tour hit the Detroit area on Aug. 11, Santana and the Doobie Brothers joined forces to treat fans with a rendition of Bob Marley & the Wailers' "Exodus" -- because, Carlos Santana told the crowd, "we smoked some different kind of weed. Is it legal here yet?" (It is). The 17 total musicians combined for a long, heavily improvised take on the tune that worked in a bit of Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up," while Santana tossed solos to Doobies guitarists Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons, keyboardist Bill Payne and saxophonist Marc Russo. Santana also used the occasion to pay tribute to the late Aretha Franklin in her home town as the first anniversary of her death approaches on Aug. 16. Before "Black Magic Woman" he the told the Motor City crowd that Franklin is "our queen that ascended into another dimension. She's still here with us -- she just changed her zip code." Pointing out that England has its queen, he concluded that Franklin is "my queen, that's your queen." - Billboard, 8/12/19.

Having wrapped his 11-month "Freshen Up" tour on July 13 at L.A.'s Dodger Stadium on July 13 after 37 concerts, grossing $192.2 million and selling 928,252 tickets, Paul McCartney is now among the top 10 artists in the history of the Billboard Boxscore report. The tour began in Canada in Sept. 2018 and ended with a 16-show run across North America from May 23-13, with the former Beatle playing four shows in Japan, eight concerts in Europe, and five in South America. However the tour fell short of his 57 shows from 2016-17's "One on One Tour" and the 60 shows of 2013-15's "Out There Tour." Accordingly, his recent $129 million gross trails the $199 million and $196 million of those previous tours. Meanwhile, Sir Paul will be signing copies of his new picture book Hey Grandude! in London in September. It will be a rare book signing event for the music icon, during which he will read the story of Grandude -- "a super-cool Grandad who takes his grandchildren on a whirlwind magical mystery tour, from tropical seas to Alpine mountains, all before bedtime!" It will take place on Sept. 6 at the Piccadilly branch of London's Waterstones alongside the book's illustrator Kathryn Durst. Fans will have the chance to purchase one of a limited amount of tickets to attend the event with up to two children or grandchildren, it was announced on McCartney's website on Aug. 8. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 8/9/19...... In other Beatles-related news, the group's Apple Corps Ltd. along with their record label Capitol/Ume announced on Aug. 8 that the 50th anniversary release date of the band's 1969 swansong LP Abbey Road will be celebrated on Sept. 26 with several Abbey Road releases featuring unreleased demos and special recordings. The packages include a super deluxe box set that includes 40 tracks on three CDs and one Blu-ray disc, while the Super Deluxe digital audio collection presents all 40 tracks for download purchase and streaming. The limited edition Deluxe vinyl box set features all 40 tracks from the Super Deluxe collection on three 180-gram vinyl LPs. The packages, which will be released on the anniversary date, will feature the album's 17 tracks newly mixed by producer Giles Martin and mix engineer Sam Okell in stereo, high res stereo, 5.1 surround, and Dolby Atmos. Additionally, there will be 23 session recordings and demos, which are mostly unreleased. For more budget-minded fans, the 25th anniversary Abbey Road will also be available on single CD, MP3 music, and vinyl releases. Anniversary editions of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and The Beatles (White Album) were released in 2017 and 2018, respectively. - Billboard, 8/8/19...... In more Abbey Road news, hundreds of fans of the Fab Four gathered at a crosswalk in London's St. John's Wood neighborhood on Aug. 8 to recreate the album's iconic cover photo exactly 50 years after it was taken in 1969. Spectators snapped photos on cellphones and lookalikes from a Beatles cover band crossed the street in tribute to the original image, which was taken at 11:35 a.m. on Aug. 8, 1969, when Iain Macmillan photographed the quartet striding single-file across the black-and-white "zebra" crossing outside the Abbey Road Studios while a police officer stopped traffic. The spot remains a place of pilgrimage for Beatles fans from around the world. "Every hour of every day there are fans on the crossing," said Beatles tour guide Richard Porter, who organized the commemoration. "I've seen lots of different sights on the crossing, too, from couples having their wedding photos taken to people going across naked." - AP, 8/8/19...... Philadelphia's Music Alliance announced on Aug. 7 that a genre-spanning group of musicians including '70s stars The O'Jays and disco queen Evelyn "Champagne" King have been inducted into Philadelphia's Music Walk of Fame. The Class of 2019 inductees, which also includes the '80s group the Hooters and Universal Music Publishing Group head Jody Gerson, will be formally inducted on Oct. 22 during a gala at The Bellevue. - AP, 8/8/19...... Bruce Springsteen made a surprise appearance at the premiere of the new Springsteen-themed movie Blinded By the Light on Aug. 8 at the Paramount Theater in Asbury Park, N.J. The Boss was flanked on the red carpet by his wife, Patti Scialfa, and the film's director, Gurinder Chanda and her family. He reportedly posed for photos, but didn't take questions. In the theater, he jammed on a handful of his classics including "Sherry Darling." Blinded by the Light, which tells the story of a British-Pakistani teenager in Margaret Thatcher's England who falls in love with Springsteen's music, will be in wide release across the U.S. on Aug. 16, and was released in the U.K. on Aug. 9. The Blinded By the Light soundtrack album is also currently available and features a previously unreleased song called "I'll Stand By You," which Springsteen originally wrote for a Harry Potter film, but was never used. "It's pretty good!" Springsteen said of the song in a 2016 interview, confirming that the track was written with the purpose of being used in the film franchise. "You'd have to ask them [why they didn't use it]," he said, describing the track as a "big ballad" that he wrote for his eldest son. "[It's] very uncharacteristic of something I'd sing myself. At some point I'd like to get it into a children's movie of some sort," he added. - Billboard, 8/8/19...... A spokesperson for Willie Nelson says the country music legend will return to the road in September, including his annual Farm Aid gig on Sept. 21, after he canceled some dates on his current Club Lick tour on Aug. 8, citing a "breathing problem." "To my fans, I'm sorry to cancel my tour, but I have a breathing problem that I need to have my doctor check out. I'll be back," Nelson, 86, posted to his social media accounts. Nelson's extensive summper tour is scheduled to wrap on Nov. 29 at the WinStar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville, OK. In June 2018, Nelson canceled his performance at the Outlaw Music Festival due to illness, just months after scrapping several shows, citing the flu. In August 2017, he was also forced to cut a show short due to breathing difficulties. He has been the target of various online death hoaxes over the years, and addressed them in 2017 in a song called "Still Not Dead" on his God's Problem Child album. - Billboard, 8/8/19...... During a hearing on Aug. 6, an Oakland County, Mich. Probate Judge agreed to allow a handwriting expert to examine wills discovered in couch cushions after Aretha Franklin's death. A handwritten 2014 document shows Franklin apparently wanted her son, Kecalf Franklin, to handle her estate, which might be worth millions. After Franklin's death last August her heirs agreed to put the estate in the hands of Franklin's niece, Sabrina Owens, who is a university administrator. During the Aug. 6 hearing Judge Jennifer Callaghan also placed the administration of Franklin's estate under court supervision. - AP, 8/7/19...... A giant 7-meter sculpture of Tina Turner's head is set to be unveiled at the Dreamland vintage amusement park in Margate on Aug. 10. The fan art is being erected ahead of this year's Tina Turner Prize which comes to Margate's Turner Contemporary gallery from Sept. 28. The Tina Turner Prize is an open competition to find a new Tina Turner-themed work of art to adorn Dreamland's "Mural by The Sea" billboard. It even contains a karaoke booth so fans of the iconic singer, who turns 80 this year, can belt out her famous hits. The sculpture was commissioned by the artists Cool Shit who previously made a giant version of Lionel Richie's head in 2013. - New Musical Express, 8/7/19...... '70s star John Travolta is featured in a video for the new single by American rapper Pitbull titled "3 To Tango". The video, for the most part, shows a bald man watching three beautiful women dance for him while he sips on an alcoholic drink. Some in-between scenes show a group of women, wearing black and red lingerie, doing a sultry dance routine. Although there were hints that the man was Pitbull, viewers were surprised at the end to see it was Travolta all along. Adding some extra spice to the clip, Travolta shows off his tango moves with each of the ladies before signing off with Pitbull's signature saying, "dale!" - Billboard, 8/5/19...... The Osmonds singer Jimmy Osmonds is unlikely ever to be able to perform live again after suffering a stroke on stage in Birmingham, U.K. in Dec. 2018, according to his brother Merrill Osmond. "I think live performances are off the cards. They're off the cards, brother," Merrill told a U.K. news outlet on Aug. 6. He added that Jimmy was currently only well enough to see his close family. "He doesn't want to meet with anybody. The rest of the time, it's basically family and all the space he needs to get better.... he's asked us to not to get into details... he just needs to have his life and live it the way he wants," Merrill added. Jimmy, 56, was the youngest member of The Osmonds and was appearing in "Captain Hook" at the Birmingham Hippodrome when he was taken ill. - NME, 8/6/19...... The state of California Franchise Tax Board has filed a $400K tax lien against Elvis Presley's 51-year-old daughter, Lisa Marie Presley. Lisa Marie allegedly owes the money from the years 2016 and 2017. Lisa Marie and her ex-husband, Michael Lockwood, have been fighting over post-nuptial agreements, spousal supports and custody of their twin daughters, Harper and Finley, both 10. In March, a psychologist was appointed by the court to evaluate Lisa's daughters amid the bitter divorce war. Lisa Marie has been fighting for full custody of the girls. The tax lien is likely to add more pressure to the mother of four, who also shares daughter Riley, 30, and son Benjamin, 26, with Danny Keough. Earlier in 2019, sources told the website RadarOnline.com that Lisa's friends were worried sick over her drug use. "It is a miracle Lisa Marie is still alive," one pal told the source. She has reportedly battled addictions to cocaine, prescription pills and booze, court documents released in 2019 claimed the mother of four was "paranoid and hallucinatory" after abusing cocaine. The court filings also revealed that Lisa Marie's ex claimed to the Los Angeles Department Children and Family Services that the troubled singer popped "up to 80 opiate pills a day." After authorities began to investigate Lisa Marie's drug habits, she checked herself into rehab in an attempt to clean up her life. "She finally realized that she was killing herself, and decided that she didn't want to end up like her dad," a source said. - American Media/Canoe.com/RadarOnline, 8/9/19...... Michael Jackson's nephew TJ Jackson has been handed guardianship of the late pop star's youngest son, Prince Michael "Blanket" Jackson, until he turns 18 in February 2020. TJ Jackson, who has shared guardianship of Blanket since 2012, has been granted an extension, which will leave him in charge of his cousin's welfare for the rest of his childhood. According to court documents, TJ filed updated Letters of Guardianship documents, and the agreement automatically ends when Blanket turns 18, "is adopted, marries, becomes emancipated by a court order, enters into active military duty, or dies." TJ has also been given "full legal and physical custody" of his cousin after previously sharing it with the boy's grandmother, Katherine Jackson. Blanket Jackson was 7 years old when his father died in 2009. - WENN/Canoe.com, 8/7/19...... Wayne Newton is being sued by a Las Vegas woman who claims a pet monkey bit and injured her daughter during a visit to Newton's former mansion, Casa de Shenandoah, in 2017. Jocelyne Urena filed a civil negligence complaint in Nevada state court on Aug. 7, seeking at least $15,000 in damages on behalf of her daughter, Genevieve. The suit alleges the monkey attacked Genevieve without provocation during a visit to Newton's lavish 40-acre property southeast of the Las Vegas Strip where Newton lived with his family for more than 40 years before moving to another home in 2013. The Newtons sold the compound featuring several homes, gardens, pools, and exotic animals in 2010 to investors under the name CSD LLC who opened a tourist attraction and museum. The company also is named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Newton's wife, Kathleen McCrone Newton, said that a family business entity broke ties with Casa de Shenandoah in July 2017, three months before the lawsuit alleges the girl was injured. "We are not a party and have no idea what happened in October 2017," she said. - AP, 8/8/19...... Nicky Wonder, longtime guitarist for Brian Wilson and one of the founding members of the Wondermints, has died, aged 59. Born Nick Walusko on May 22, 1960, Wonder formed the Wondermints with another admirer of Wilson's work, Darian Sahanaja, in 1992. The band released five albums, including their self-titled debut album in 1995, and their final LP, 2009's Kaleidoscopin': Exploring Prisms of the Past. "Today is a sad sad day," Brian Wilson wrote in a statement posted to his website on Aug. 7. "It is with my deepest regret to tell you that our beloved Nicky Wonder passed away last night in his sleep. We are in a state of shock as you can imagine. But we are going to honor him with tonight's show." Wilson finished his statement by adding: "Our hearts go out to his wife Susan and his entire family, friends and fans. We love you Nicky." - New Musical Express, 8/8/19...... Henri Belolo, a co-creator of the Village People, died on Aug. 3 of as yet undisclosed causes. He was 82. The French music producer helped shape disco music, penning hits for the Village People that were featured in several films, Broadway, commercials, and more. Born in Casablanca, Morocco in 1936, Mr. Belolo worked as a DJ/producer and moved to the U.S. in 1973, where he met fellow Moroccan producer Jacques Morali. He and Morali teamed up to produce the Ritchie Family's "Brazil" in 1975, which soon grew to be a hit and led the partnership between the two producers to carry on into the next decade. Together, they shaped the world of disco, hitting up night clubs and eventually forming the six-member group, Village People, in 1978. The group was wildly progressive, embracing gay culture with fantasy characters, costumes, and a free-spirited approach to music. The characters included a construction worker, police officer, cowboy, Indian, biker and soldier. Mr. Belolo became a strong ally for his partner Morali, who was gay and passed away from AIDs complications in 1991. "We extend our deepest sympathies to Henri's family... Henri will live on in our hearts and minds forever," Scorpio Music, the French record label founded by Mr. Belolo, said in a statement. A private funeral for Mr. Belolo was already held in France and a public memorial service will be announced soon. - Billboard, 8/7/19.