Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on January 7th, 2020

Gene Simmons of KISS kicked off 2020 with a Twitter post that launched a heated debate about adding ice to his milk and cereal. "Anyone else put ice cubes in their cereal?," Simmons simply asked alongside photos of his concoction: Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats and Oreo O's in a bowl of milk, with a number of large ice cubes floating around. The result was a flooded comment section filled with people who were disgusted at the idea of watered-down milk, and others who have been adding ice to their go-to breakfast their whole lives. Simmons' son, Nick Simmons, even hilariously chimed in that he's experienced "30 years watching him do this. This is my life." - Billboard, 1/2/2020...... A Huddleston, Va. woman named Beth Bays has created a 15-foot-tall hay sculpture of Willie Nelson that has struck a chord with the community. Bays has been making giant hay bale sculptures for the last eight years, and her most memorable ones include characters from The Wizard of Oz and the Virginia Tech "Hokie" bird mascot. Bays' Nelson sculpture, which she branded "Will-Hay Nelson," can be viewed on Instagram. - AP, 1/3/2020...... Rod Stewart and his 39-year-old son Sean Stewart are due to appear in a Palm Beach court on Feb. 5 after the pair were involved in a New Year's Eve scuffle at the The Breakers hotel. According to court records, a security guard named Jessie Dixon told police officers that Stewart's group was at the check-in table for a private party that they weren't authorized to attend. When the group became unruly and began causing a scene, Dixon said he put his hand on the younger Stewart's chest and told him to back up and make space, which prompted Sean Stewart to shove him backwards and go "nose to nose" with him, the report said. Rod, 74, then allegedly punched Dixon in his "left rib cage area" with a closed fist. Sean told investigators he became agitated when they were not able to attend the event "due to Dixon's interaction with him and his family." After viewing security footage, police determined the Stewarts were the "primary aggressors," and Dixon signed an affidavit saying that he wanted to press charges against the pair, who were both charged with simple battery and issued notices to appear in court on Feb. 5. Meanwhile, Rod Stewart announced on Jan. 7 that he'll launch a North American summer tour with openers Cheap Trick on July 1 in Cuyahoga Falls, Oh. The 21-city tour will visit mostly mid-size markets including Clarkston, Mich. (7/25), Hershey, Pa. (8/1), Wantagh, N.Y. (8/14), Columbia, Md. (8/15), and Maryland Heights, Mo. (9/2) before wrapping Tinley Park, Il. on Sept. 5. Stewart became the oldest solo male artist to top the U.K. pop charts in December with his latest album, You're In My Heart. - AP/Billboard, 1/7/20...... Ozzy Osbourne's wife Sharon Osbourne made a surprise announcement on her syndicated daytime TV show The Talk. on Jan. 7 that Ozzy is collaborating on a new song with Elton John. When asked about Ozzy's plans for 2020 after a year of health scares, Sharon told co-host Carrie Ann Inaba: "A lot of good things. Wellness. And to get back with his fans, to get doing what he loves, which is touring and being out there with his fans." Sharon continued: "And yes, there's new music, and it's great. He's got all his friends playing on it. He's doing a song with Elton. There's so much good stuff. Good things." News of the two rock icons' collaboration comes only a few days after Ozzy's daughter Kelly Osbourne dismissed what she described as "bullshit" reports that her famous dad was in "dire straits" and on his deathbead. "Today I had a wonderful start to 2020. I went out to lunch with my family," the 35-year-old posted on Instagram. "Then I spent the rest of the day laughing and hanging out with my dadI come home to read sickening articles about my dad supposedly being on his 'death bed' sometimes the media makes me sick!!," she added. On Jan. 6, Ozzy posted a video for "Straight to Hell," his second single from his upcoming album Ordinary Man, on YouTube. - NME, 1/7/20...... In an interview with the U.K.'s Daily Mail on Jan. 3, Meat Loaf claimed that 17-year-old climate change activist Greta Thunberg has been "brainwashed" into believing in climate change. Meat Loaf said "I feel for Greta" and that she's been "brainwashed into thinking that there is climate change and there isn't... She hasn't done anything wrong but she's been forced into thinking that what she is saying is true." Thunberg, who has become an icon in the global environmental movement and inspired a number of protests and strikes, responded to the musician's words on Twitter on Jan. 7: "It's not about Meatloaf. It's not about me. It's not about what some people call me. It's not about left or right," she tweeted. "It's all about scientific facts. And that we're not aware of the situation. Unless we start to focus everything on this, our targets will soon be out of reach." Meat Loaf's interview also included his thoughts on his self-proclaimed "sex god" status, back surgeries, and his favorite TV shows. In 2019, he made headlines when he fell offstage during a speaking event and broke his collarbone. He has previously claimed that his health issues that resulted in him collapsing on stage at another event mean that he may never sing again. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 1/7/20...... Speaking of Greta Thunberg, Patti Smith penned an environmentally conscious poem for the young activist's 17th birthday on Jan. 3. Smith posted Thunberg's photo on her Instagram page and broke up the poem's stanzas within the caption: "This is/ Greta Thunberg, turning/ seventeen today, asking/ for no accolade, no gifts,/ save we not be neutral./ The Earth knows its kind,/ just as all deities, just as/ animals and the healing/ spring. Happy birthday/ to Greta, who stood today,/ as every Friday, refusing/ to be neutral," the punk poetess posted. The last three lines refer to Thunberg's weekly routine of heading to the front of the Swedish parliament building on Fridays with her "Skolstrejk fr klimatet" sign (which translates to "School strike for the climate") to demand action toward the global climate change crisis. - Billboard, 1/3/20...... The surviving members of the Allman Brothers Band announced on Jan. 3 that they'll be celebrating the ABB 50th anniversary with a show at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 10. The concert will reunite drummer Jaimoe Johanson, guitarists Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks, bassist Oteil Burbridge and percussionist Marc Quinones under the name The Brothers. Also appearing will be "special guest" Chuck Leavell on keyboards. It will be the first performance of the ABB since Gregg Allman died following a battle with liver cancer in 2017 and the suicide of ABB drummer Butch Trucks. Founding guitarist Dickey Betts will not be at the show, having had a falling out with the band years ago. - Billboard, 1/3/20...... R&B/Funk legends The Isley Brothers have been confirmed as headliners for the 2020 Playboy Jazz Festival, set for L.A.'s Holywood Bowl on June 6 and 7. In addition to brothers Ronald and Ernie Isley, the lineup will include St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science and Musiq Soulchild among several other artists, according to organizers the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. The full talent lineup for the 42nd annual PJF will be announced on Feb. 18, along with the complete schedule for the Hollywood Bowl's summer 2020 season. Actor/comedian George Lopez will mark his eighth anniversary as festival host. - Billboard, 1/7/20...... Elton John and his longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin were honored with a best original song Golden Globe award during the 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 5, 2020 in Beverly Hills, Calif. The duo took BOS trophies home for "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again," the new song they contributed to Rocketman, the kaleidoscopic musical biopic about Sir Elton's life. Incredibly, John noted it was the first award he and Taupin have won as a duo. "It's the first time I won an award with him. Ever," John said while accepting the award. "We never won a Grammy, we never did anything together except for this and I'm so happy, thank you very much." Taupin then added: "[The song] deals with our relationship... and a 52-year-old marriage... which doesn't happen very much in this town," he said, visibly moved. Elton, a five-time Grammy winner, did not win any of them with Taupin, who has been nominated twice, but has no wins. Since 6 of the last 10 Globe winners for best original song went on to win the Oscar, as did 7 of the last 10 Globe winners for best original score, John and Taupin could be considered as front-runners for the coveted Oscar. If John and Taupin's win for BOS was a mild surprise (facing competition from Beyoncé and Taylor Swift), Taron Egerton's win as Best Actor for a Musical or Comedy for portraying John in Rocketman was a flat-out shock, beating out heavily favored comeback king Eddie Murphy in Dolemite Is My Name. His award was well-earned however, as Egerton supplied his own vocals in the biopic, while 2019 Golden Globe winner Rami Malek did a lip-synced performance of Freddie Mercury in 2018's Bohemian Rhapsody. Egerton thanked Elton for allowing him the honor of portraying him onscreen. "To Elton John -- thank you for the music, for living a life less ordinary and for being my friend," he said. - Billboard, 1/5/20...... In an apparent attempt to avoid new EU copyright laws which went into effect on Jan. 1, a collection of about 130 rare and unpublished Rolling Stones recordings were published to the YouTube account 69RSTRAX shortly before the new year, then mysteriously removed within hours. Offering no immediate clue as to the identity of the publisher, a YouTube-mandated email address for 69RSTRAX directs business enquiries to ABKCO, a music publishing company that owns the rights to a substantial number of early Rolling Stones recordings. According to Variety, the publishing of the tracks might have been an attempt to avoid EU copyright laws and keep them out of the public domain on the 50th anniversary of their creation. Sound recordings are protected for 50 years after they are published, and can be extended to 70 years as long as they are "lawfully communicated to the public" within the first 50 years. Previously, some publishers, faced with similar issues, have released collections of recordings, such as the Beatles' 2013 album Bootleg Recordings 1963, and a limited-run Bob Dylan compilation album literally published as The Copyright Extension Collection, Volume 1. The Stones tracks included several near-complete 1969 concerts and multiple alternate studio versions of songs from the albums Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers, many of which have been available for decades on bootlegs -- along with many that have not. Variety note that while the brief release of the Stones recordings could extend their copyright, they are not sure whether a post on YouTube constitutes a publication as defined by European Union law. The 20-year extension to the 50-year copyright period was passed in Sept. 2011 by the Council of the European Union, which at the time claimed that the change was designed to benefit artists and songwriters. However, a number of artists decried the council's decision, noting that the extension would instead benefit record companies -- who in most cases retained ownership of sound recordings in the original record contracts -- rather than the musicians who wrote and performed them. - New Musical Express/Billboard, 1/3/20...... As anticipated, a California appeals court on Jan. 3 restored two lawsuits accusing Michael Jackson of child sexual abuse, after the state's statute of limitations on the crime was extended. The lawsuits were filed by Wade Robson in 2013 and James Safechuck in 2014, but were dismissed on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired for both men. California law required such cases to be filed before the accuser's 26th birthday. However, in October 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new state law giving those who claim they were sexually abused as children until age 40 to file suit, effective Jan 1. In November, three judges from the 2nd District Court of Appeal said in a tentative ruling that in light of the new law, Safechuck and Robson's suits ought to be reconsidered. Now, the California judges have made that ruling official. While the new ruling does not address the truth of their allegations, it does give them the green light to proceed with their lawsuits against MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures, who they argue are liable for the alleged abuse. Howard Weitzman, attorney for the Estate of Michael Jackson, said that "The Court of Appeal specifically did not address the truth of these false allegations, and we are confident that both lawsuits will be dismissed and that Michael Jackson will be vindicated once again." - Billboard, 1/3/20...... The Grateful Dead spin-off band Dead & Company paid tribute to the band's legacy with a career-spanning New Year's Eve show at Chase Center in San Francisco on Dec. 31. Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Walton, the most iconic Deadhead, appeared as a seven-foot tall Father Time in a wizard-white beard, a resplendent crown of roses, to ring in the new year and decade. Dead & Co. band member John Mayer took photos as if he were a fan, and not the band's lead guitarist, tasked with the impossible role of reanimating the spirit of Jerry Garcia. Then a few thousand rainbow-colored balloons descended from the rafters to the floral strains of the GD classic "Sugar Magnolia." Three hours, three sets and 24 songs strong, it was encored with a rendition of the band's biggest pop hit, "Touch of Grey." It was the final show of a four-night "Fun Run" mini-tour by the band that included two stellar performances the previous week at The Forum in Los Angeles. In line with the band's storied tradition, the trip remained "long and strange." - Billboard, 1/2/2020.

A group of music publishing companies who own the rights to some of the most popular songs of all time filed a lawsuit in New York federal court on Dec. 30 against U.K.-based producer Coda Publishing, Marina del Rey-based distributor Vision Films, director Robert Carruthers and others over several documentaries released by the companies. The suit claims documentaries about the Rolling Stones (Their Satanic Majesties and Big Hits), ABBA (The Gold Singles), Elton John (In Performance), and Lynyrd Skynyrd (Rock Case Studies), along with documentaries about U2, Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers, "are nothing more than a delivery system for intentionally infringed materials." Online retail giant Amazon.com appears to have pulled the titles, but as of Jan. 1 some of them were still available for rental or purchase though Vimeo.com. The complaint asks the court to declare the defendants willfully infringed the copyrights, to order that all copies of the films be destroyed, and to award statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringement or actual damages plus the defendants' profits. - The Hollywood Reporter, 1/1/20...... The Washington Post has published an article by writer Nancy French who says she was given David Lee Roth's old phone number when she and her new husband moved from Tennessee to New York City in the 1980s, and began to receive sultry phone calls from several women asking to "speak to David." French said she would hand the phone to her husband who insisted it was a wrong number and hang up, but the calls caused her to question her marriage. "Maybe our relationship was all a ruse. I'd heard stories of people getting married only to realize their spouse had a double life," she wrote. Thankfully, Roth's agent finally called and cleared the confusion. "Apparently, [Roth] had changed his number right before we moved to Manhattan but still gave out his old number to women he met but wanted to let down easily," French wrote. "Later that year, he appeared on MTV with Van Halen. When rumors of them getting back together started flying, our phone rang with congratulations and invitations to exclusive parties." - Billboard, 12/30/19...... Vinyl album releases by Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, the Beatles, Queen and classic rock artists on a Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack have helped the vinyl LP format to top sales of 1 million in a single week for the first time in the Nielsen Music era. In the week ending Dec. 26, 2019, a whopping 1.243 million vinyl albums were sold. Vinyl albums were once the dominant format for album purchases in the U.S., up until the early 1980s. After that, cassettes took hold until the early 1990s, when the CD format flourished and become the leading format for album purchases. Of the top 10 single biggest weeks for the vinyl album format in the Nielsen Music era, five occurred in 2019, three in 2018, one in 2017 and one in 2015. It's expected that 2019 will mark yet another big year for vinyl, once the 2019 Nielsen Music tracking year closes on Jan. 2, 2020. - Billboard, 12/30/19...... In a new interview with the U.K. music mag Mojo, Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood recalled how his fellow Stones guitarist Keith Richards branded him a "weakling" after he attempted to ditch alcohol and drugs for the first time. Wood, who has been sober for a decade, said RIchards was dismissive of his efforts when he first attempted to get clean in 2005. "I do remember going on stage clean for the first time, it was at this club in Canada for the start of a tour (in August 2005)," Wood noted. "I was like this, ([terrified], and Mick [Jagger] whispered, 'It's alright, you can do it, don't worry.' But Wood said Richards was "trying to make out I was the weakling" by going "rehab's for quitters!" "But it takes a lot of strength to do this if indeed I'm gonna be able to do it at all because there's no guarantees," Wood said. Wood added that during a 2009 intervention when he began to relapse, "they took my counsellor away and got me so annoyed... You sometimes wonder if they want you to go out and drink again... It's big money for them." "So I left rehab and did it for myself I felt I knew what to do... Fellowship. I did 90 meetings in 90 days and I did the same again. Didn't need the rehab place -- I did it through the meetings." - New Musical Express, 1/31/19...... Officials in the U.K. apologized on Dec. 28 for mistakenly publishing the home addresses of more than 1,000 people who received special honors including pop singers Elton John and Olivia Newton-John, along with several Oscar-winning film directors, senior politicians and diplomats, popular athletes and people in sensitive defense roles. The addresses were published online for about an hour on the evening of Dec. 27 when the Cabinet Office posted the recipients of New Year's Honors, including knighthoods. "The information was removed as soon as possible," the Cabinet Office said in a statement. "We apologize to all those affected and are looking into how this happened." Officials said the individuals will be contacted about the error. The Information Commissioner's Office said it was investigating "in response to reports of a data breach involving the Cabinet Office and the New Year's Honors list." It can impose fines for privacy violations. Britain's Cabinet Office publishes a list of the people receiving honors for merit, service or bravery twice a year: shortly before New Year's Eve and on the Saturday in June when Queen Elizabeth II's birthday is officially observed. - AP, 12/28/19...... Actress Teri Garr, star of such blockbuster films as Young Frankenstein and Tootsie, is reportedly "fine" after being hospitalized on Dec. 30 for a "medical emergency." Garr, 75, was taken to a local medical center by ambulance, but her rep says the situation was much more minor than first implied, and said Garr had actually been suffering from dehydration, which led to confusion. "Teri is fine. She had some confusion which it turns out was caused by dehydration. To be cautious they are keeping her overnight and she'll be home tomorrow," the rep said. Garr has suffered health issues for years and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999. She also suffered a brain aneurysm in late 2006, but recovered and returned to acting until she retired in 2011. - WENN/Canoe.com, 12/31/19...... British songwriter and comedian Neil Innes, who collaborated with the Monty Python comedy troupe and co-founded the Beatles parody band The Rutles, died unexpectedly of natural causes on Dec. 29. He was 75. Innes wrote several original songs for Monty Python's sketch-comedy TV show, Monty Python's Flying Circus, as well as 1975's classic movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in which he also appeared as an actor. Innes' years as a supporting player with Monty Python and his gift for wry and funny songwriting led to a long-running stint as co-leader of The Rutles, a fictional late-'70s Beatles pastiche that featured Monty Python's Eric Idle as the Paul McCartney stand-in, Dirk McQuickly, and Innes as the John Lennon stand-in, Ron Nasty. The Rutles ultimately became a "real" band, appearing on Saturday Night Live and recording a mockumentary film called All You Need Is Cash in 1978. Assorted Rutles reunions, tours, retrospectives and compilations have followed in the decades since. Innes released numerous solo albums over the years, beginning with 1973's How Sweet to Be an Idiot, and in 2010, the the Essex-born musician and writer formed a new group called the The Idiot Bastard Band. He is survived by wife Yvonne, their three sons and three grandchildren, who "give thanks for his life, for his music and for the joy he gave us all," according to a statement. - NPR.org, 12/30/19...... Songwriter/musician Allee Willis, who wrote the theme tune for the hit sitcom Friends as well as hits for such bands as Earth, Wind & Fire, the Pointer Sisters and Pet Shop Boys, died on Dec. 24 after suffering a sudden heart attack. She was 72. Willis co-wrote "I'll Be There For You," which went on to be recorded by The Rembrandts, with Friends creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman in 1995. She was nominated for an Emmy for the track in the same year, missing out on the award to the theme for Star Trek: Voyager. Willis moved to New York in 1969 where she worked as a copywriter at Columbia and Epic Records, getting her start as a songwriter three years later. Since then, songs penned by her have reportedly sold more than 60 million records around the world, while she was also nominated for two Grammys for her work on the soundtracks for Beverly Hills Cop and the musical version of The Color Purple. She was also responsible for tracks such as Earth, Wind & Fire's "September" and "Boogie Wonderland," the Pet Shop Boys/Dusty Springfield collaboration "What Have I Done To Deserve This," and the Pointer Sisters' "Neutron Dance." She once described "September" as being "that song that when people found out I'd written that, they just go, 'Oh my God' and then tell me in some form how happy that song makes them every time they hear it." She also collaborated with the likes of Herbie Hancock, James Brown and Bob Dylan, and wrote the theme song for The Karate Kid in Joe Esposito's "You're The Best." More recently pictured working with rapper Big Sean. In 2018, Willis was inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame. - New Musical Express, 12/25/19...... Actress Sue Lyon, best known for her first major role as a teen nymphet in the 1962 Stanley Kubrick-directed film Lolita, passed away in Los Angeles on Dec. 26. She was 73. In the movie based on Vladimir Nobokov's famous novel about a middle-aged college professor who becomes infatuated with a teen nymphet, Lyon starred opposite James Mason, picked out of 800 young actresses who had auditioned to play the title character in the controversial film when she was just 14 years old. Her performance earned the blonde beauty the Golden Globe in the most promising newcomer-female in 1963. Her followup to Lolita was a co-starring role opposite Richard Burton, Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr in the John Huston-directed 1964 feature The Night Of the Iguana. She went on to appear in two dozen movies and TV shows, more notably Evel Knievel, Tony Rome and 7 Women. Her last screen credit was the 1980 horror movie Alligator. According to her longtime friend Phil Syracopoulous, her health had been declining for some time. - Deadline.com, 12/28/19...... West Coast jazz trumpeter Jack Sheldon, best known for playing "The Shadow of Your Smile" in the 1965 Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton drama The Sandpiper, serving as Merv Griffin's TV talk show sidekick, and voicing characters on the children's series Schoolhouse Rock!, died on Dec. 27, according to this longtime manager, Dianne Jimenez. He was 88. Mr. Sheldon's haunting version of "The Shadow of Your Smile," written by Johnny Mandel and Paul Francis Webster, won the Grammy Award for song of the year and the Academy Award for best original song. Mr. Sheldon was also seen or heard in several other films including The Long Goodbye (1973), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Save the Tiger (1973), Mommie Dearest (1981), Mr. Saturday Night (1992), Arachnophobia (1990) and For the Boys (1991). On Merv Griffin's long-running TV talk show that began in 1962, the fun-loving Mr. Sheldon enjoyed rich comic banter with the host, a big band singer himself. Griffin's favorite song was "The Shadow of Your Smile," and Mr. Sheldon performed it at Griffin's funeral in 2007. The Jacksonville, Fla., native also provided the voice for the Conjunction Conductor and performed as proposed legislation in the memorable piece "I'm Just a Bill" on the Saturday morning kids educational series Schoolhouse Rock!, which premiered on ABC in 1973. He parodied "I'm Just a Bill" as an "Amendment to Be" on a 1996 episode of The Simpsons and reprised his roles as the bill and the conductor on episodes of Family Guy in 2000 and 2001. In the late 1950s, Mr. Sheldon toured with orchestras led by Stan Kenton and Benny Goodman and backed such famous singers as Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. An inventive player, he also headed his own 17-piece orchestra. His TV credits include The Cara Williams Show, Run Buddy Run and The Girl With Something Extra. He was the subject of a 2008 documentary, Trying to Get Good: The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon, in which he detailed his battle with alcohol and substance abuse. He then made a resounding recovery from a stroke suffered in 2011 that robbed him of the use of his right arm. "I like the music to swing," he told the Los Angeles Times in 1987, "and I like to make people feel it, feel happy and sad, everything. If the music makes me smile and happy, then maybe the people will feel it, too." - The Hollywood Reporter, 12/31/19.