Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on March 17th, 2020

The Rolling Stones announced on Mar. 17 that they're canceling their 15-date North American No Filter Tour due to the global coronavirus pandemic. In a statement, the band said that they are "hugely disappointed" and "sorry to all the fans who were looking forward to it as much as we were, but the health and safety of everyone has to take priority," adding that "we will all get through this together -- and we'll see you very soon. The tour had been set to launch on May 8 in San Diego and wrap on July 9 in Atlanta. Meanwhile, the previous day Elton John postponed the U.S. leg his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, with shows from Mar. 26-May 2 have been pushed to 2021. David Lee Roth announced the same day he's postponing the last six shows of his Las Vegas residency, with Alice Cooper postponing his planned spring 2020 headlining North American tour that was slated to run from Mar. 31-Apr. 22 until the fall. On Mar. 12 Styx said they were rescheduling concerts from Mar. 13 to Mar. 28, and the Allman Betts Band canceled the rest of their scheduled shows in March. Saying she was "heartbroken... but the health of my fans comes first," Cher said on Mar. 12 will be postponing the remainder of her ABBA-inspired "Here We Go Again Tour" with new dates from September to December, and organizers of the 2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cleveland announced they will be postponing the ceremony until a later date. Also, the 2020 Record Store Day in the U.K. in which hundreds of vinyl and cassette releases were to be sold exclusively through independent record shops for one day only (Apr. 18) has been postponed, which will affect up to 230 independent record shops. - Billboard/NME, 3/17/20...... In related news, '70s disco queen Gloria Gaynor has shared a clip on Instagram calling on people to wash their hands to her classic 1978 break up anthem "I Will Survive" in a bid to combat coronavirus. Gaynor took to Tik Tok to inspire others to properly wash their hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds by indulging in the action herself. "It only takes 20 seconds to SURVIVE!," she captioned her video, which has already gone viral. Gaynor's clip prompted several Instagram users to post their own clips of themselves washing their hands to the track, which Gaynor has commented on by writing: "I love that people are taking part in the #iwillsurvivechallenge to #washyourhands and are duetting with me on @tiktok. Stay safe and healthy everyone! Wash your hands often every day for 20 seconds or more." - New Musical Express, 3/13/20...... Meanwhile, Neil Young is doing his part to help entertain homebound fans during the emergency by streaming a series of shows filmed by his wife, actress Daryl Hannah. "Because we are all at home and not many are venturing out, we will try to do a stream from my fireplace with my lovely wife filming," Young posted on his Neil Young Archives site. "It will be a down-home production, a few songs, a little time together... we will be soon be announcing the first one right here at NYA in the Times." Young has yet to reveal when the series will begin, but in the meantime, he's also streaming a massive list of premieres of archival films for his NYA subscribers, including Shut It Down, a documentary on the making of his Colorado LP, on Mar. 17. Other debuts are slated on a daily basis through the end of March. Also, Young and My Morning Jacket singer Jim James took part in a digital rally for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Mar. 16. The online-only Bernie 2020 Digital Rally came one day ahead of voters going to the polls in Arizona, Florida and Illinois. - Billboard, 3/17/20...... While the coronavirus outbreak might have put a damper on Ozzy Osbourne's touring plans in 2020, he and his wife Sharon Osbourne are set to appear in the Mar. 17 episode of ABC's sitcom The Conners. In the episode, titled "Beards, Thrupples and Robots," Ozzy and Sharon guest as themselves alongside leading stars John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson and Michael Fishman. It is said that Sara Gilbert's relationship with Sharon from their time co-starring on the morning show The Talk could lead to some cheeky inside jokes. - Billboard, 3/12/20...... ABBA member Bjorn Ulvaeus has told the Financial Times newspaper that the quartet's forthcoming "comeback tracks" were actually recorded back in 2018. "We recorded them quite some time ago, actually one-and-a-half years ago," Ulvaeus says. Ulvaeus, 74, partnered with a new software program called "Session," which registers contributions to recordings in real time and as a result, it can be used to resolve issues relating to music rights. However, Ulvaeus says "Session" wasn't used for recording the upcoming ABBA songs "because it wasn't quite ready." In February, the group announced they were "aiming" for a September 2020 release for their first new tracks in 35 years. In a clip shared by fan site ABBA Talk, ABBA's Benny Andersson was asked what has happened to the songs that have been promised for such a long time. In his native Swedish, he replied: "They're coming. They're coming this year. I'm guessing after the summer. But I can only guess, because I'm not really sure. But I would think so." Asked if they will be out in 2020, he added: "One shouldn't promise anything but if I were to decide myself, it would be September... I can't make that decision alone. But that's what we're aiming for." - Music-News.com, 3/15/20...... Sales and streams of Talking Heads music have seen a bump after the band's former frontman David Byrne performed on the Feb. 29 episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live. In all, the band's songs drew 5.7 million U.S. on-demand streams in the tracking week ending Mar. 5, a boost of 36%, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Additionally, Talking Heads earned 6,000 equivalent album units, a boost of 50%, with 2,000 of those via album sales. And on the digital download side, it racked up 7,000 song downloads, up 245%. Leading the way on a song level with 2,000 downloads was "Once in a Lifetime," which Byrne performed on SNL while promoting his "American Utopia" show, which after a multi-city tour also enjoyed a Broadway run that will continue this fall. "Psycho Killer" also saw gains, though its rise also came concurrent with its appearance in a trailer for Amazon Video's new series Hunters. With 1,000 downloads, the song debuted at No. 21 on Billboard Rock Digital Song Sales. - Billboard, 3/13/20...... A builder in the U.K. could be about to secure a £2,000 payday after finding the sketches Paul McCartney commissioned for his "psychedelic" piano in a dumpster. Oldham resident Andy Clyne, 54, says he was leading a team at a mill near Manchester in 1999 when he noticed the papers had been thrown out with other waste. After taking them out of the skip, Andy stored the papers in his loft for 20 years before recently deciding to get them valued. The sketches of the Sir Paul's "psychedelic" piano, which was designed in 1967 and he still plays in concert to this day, will now go under the hammer at Omega Auctions on Mar. 24, where they are expected to reach £2,000. "I've had them for 20-odd years. You put things away and forget about them and then something triggers your mind," Clyne said. "I haven't planned what I'll do with the money yet but I was surprised about the value... I Googled 'Paul McCartney's piano' and when I looked at the drawing it was very similar." Meanwhile, a sidewalk performer in London says McCartney tipped her guitar case while she was performing in the city on Mar. 11. Charlotte Campbell says she was performing outside Charing Cross station in the center of the capital when the Beatles legend approached her and tossed some coins her way. "I was absolutely speechless," Campbell told the Evening Standard, when Sir Paul approached her, but she nevertheless managed to thank Macca as he walked away. "When he looked up it was Paul McCartney, like actually Paul McCartney and I was so shocked because I am such a huge fan of the Beatles," Campbell says. "They are such an inspiration I think to any musician ever -- the Beatles are the ultimate -- and to see Paul McCartney and for him to be putting money in my guitar case I was so speechless." - New Musical Express, 3/16/20...... Lyle Waggoner, best known as a member of Carol Burnett's comedic troupe in The Carol Burnett Show in the late Sixties and early Seventies, died at his home in Los Angeles on Mar. 17 after battling an illness. He was 84. The handsome, tall Mr. Waggoner began as an announcer on Burnett's show in 1967, and stayed on with the sketch show through 1974. Some of his most notable sketches include being interrogated by a Nazi and his finger puppet and playing a love-lorn man in "As The Stomach Turns," a slave master in "The Oldest Man," Olympian Mark Spitz to Burnett's Charo, and an alien known as the Jolly Green Thing, in addition to be regularly gushed over by Burnett during her Q&A segments at the beginning of the show. His very first TV role was in Gunsmoke in 1966, and also guested on such series as Lost in Space, Marcus Welby, M.D., The Barbara Eden Show and Maude. Mr. Waggoner also made history by being the first male centerfold in Playgirl magazine, in 1973. After Burnett's show, Mr. Waggoner portrayed Colonel Steve Trevor, Jr. on the 1975 Wonder Woman series, on which he starred for four years, then appeared on such series as Charlie's Angels, Happy Days, Mork & Mindy and The Golden Girls. In 2017, he appeared on CBS' 50th anniversary special for The Carol Burnett Show. In the late 1970s, while still very active as an actor, he launched Star Waggons out of Sylmar, Calif., a company that specializes in leasing custom trailers to studios and production companies for location work. - Variety.com, 3/17/20...... Keith Olsen, a legendary rock producer known for working with a number of rock music icons including the Grateful Dead, Santana, Pat Benatar, Whitesnake, Rick Springfield, Ozzy Osbourne and the Scorpions, among others, died on Mar. 9 at his home in Genoa, Nev., it was announced on Mar. 13. He was 74. Most notably, Olsen produced Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham's 1973 collection Buckingham Nicks. After Olsen played one of the songs for Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood, Nicks and Buckingham were soon asked to join Fleetwood Mac. Olsen then produced the band's self-titled, chart-topping 1975 album, which included classics like "Rhiannon," "Say You Love Me" and "Landslide." - Billboard, 3/13/20.

"How Long," a classic No. 3 song from 1975 by the British band Ace, has finally topped a Billboard chart thanks to its use in a new ad for Amazon Prime. "How Long" entered the music industry magazine's Rock Digital Song Sales chart for the week ending Mar. 14 after selling 4,000 downloads, a surge of 2,059%. "How Long" also garnered 831,000 U.S. streams (up 30%) and has placed No. 19 on Billboard's Hot Rock Songs tally. Written and sung by versatile Ace vocalist Paul Carrack, the song was taken from Ace's 1975 LP Five-A-Side (an Ace album). Formed in 1972, Ace released three albums in the mid-'70s prior to disbanding in 1977. Carrack later went on to subsequent success with both solo hits and collaborations with Squeeze and Mike + The Mechanics. - Billboard, 3/11/20...... The Who's Roger Daltrey issued a statement on Mar. 12 announcing the band would be postponing their upcoming UK tour dates following the global outbreak of coronavirus. "After serious consideration, it is with much regret that The Who have postponed their U.K. tour, due to start next Monday March 16 in Manchester at the Manchester Arena and finishing at Wembley SSE Arena on April 8," Daltrey wrote. "The dates will be rescheduled for later in the year. All tickets will be honoured. The fans safety is paramount and given the developing coronavirus concerns, the band felt that they had no option but to postpone the shows as a precaution," he added. Daltrey's bandmate Pete Townshend added that the Who "haven't reached this decision easily, but given the concerns about public gatherings, we couldn't go ahead." The band also said it will be canceling its Mar. 28 charity gig and London's Royal Albert Hall which benefits the Teenage Cancer Trust, with plans to reschedule that show also. A total of 11 shows will be affected by the postponement of the tour, which had been slated to kick off on Mar. 16 at The Arena in Manchester and wrap on Apr. 8 at Wembley Stadium in London. Meanwhile, Queen + Adam Lambert announced on Mar. 7 that they've been forced to reschedule a May 20 concert at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris, France, following a government decree to cancel all indoor events over 5,000 capacity until May 31 in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. Queen said they are "currently working with the promoter to try to reschedule the date" and urged fans to "please keep hold of your tickets, which would be valid for the new date." Although several major rock acts are postponing their concerts in the near future, organizers of the UK's Reading & Leeds Festival announced on Mar. 12 that their festival, set for Aug. 28-30, is still going ahead despite of the coronavirus outbreak. In a statement, they said that they're "closely monitoring official guidance from the World Health Organisation, Public Health England, UK Government, local public health authorities and are working with event promoters and organisers as information evolves." California's Coachella and Stagecoach festivals recently announced their festivals have officially been postponed as state officials take drastic measures to contain the coronavirus, delaying their festivals until mid and late October, respectively. The outbreak has also affected two of Hollywood's most beloved actors personally, as Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson posted on Instagram on Mar. 11 that they have been diagnosed with coronavirus. The couple apparently contracted the disease in Australia, where Hanks is currently filming director Baz Luhrmann's as yet titled Elvis Presley biopic. Hanks said he and Wilson "will be tested, observed, and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires. Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time approach, no?" - New Musical Express/Music-News.com/The Hollywood Reporter, 3/12/20...... In related news, disco legend Gloria Gaynor is (literally) taking virus prevention measures into her own hands to inspire TikTok users to efficiently wash their hands (scrubbing with soap and water for 20 seconds). Fittingly, Gaynor is using her 1979 hit, "I Will Survive" to help her do so. In a fresh new take on the already trending #iwillsurvivechallenge on TikTok, Gaynor is seen lip syncing to her song while washing her hands. "It only takes :20 seconds to 'SURVIVE!'" she wrote in the caption. - Billboard, 3/11/20...... Led Zeppelin has once again prevailed in a long-running copyright dispute over whether the band infringed Spirit's "Taurus" to create "Stairway to Heaven." On Sept. 9, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court's decision of no copyright infringement after a jury in 2016 handed Led Zeppelin a win. The decision comes after the appellate court voted to re-do the trial only to have larger issues re-examined en banc, meaning before a wider panel of judges. A 54-page decision will likely become a new standard in copyright infringement cases and may be presented to the Supreme Court. Among other aspects of the decision, the Ninth Circuit determines it was not in error that the jury didn't get to hear the "Taurus" sound recording at trial. Furthermore, the appeals court elects to ditch the "inverse ratio rule," meaning the higher the degree of access to a work, the lower the bar for proving substantial similarity. - The Hollywood Reporter, 3/9/20...... The Allman Brothers Band staged a 50th anniversary reunion concert at Madison Square Garden on March 10. Billed as "The Brothers: Celebrating 50 Years of The Allman Brothers Band," the show featured the five surviving members of the ABB's last and longest lasting lineup, which played together from 2000 until their final show, at New York's Beacon Theater, on Oct. 28, 2014: guitarists Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks, bassist Oteil Burbridge, percussionist Marc Quinones and drummer Jaimoe, the only founding member on stage. (Dickey Betts is the only other survivor; he has not played with the band since 2000 and was not in New York.) The 4+-hour, 2 set gig had the band playing with urgency, intensity and creativity, with the absence of late ABB members Gregg Allman and Butch Trucks filled by Duane Trucks, Butch's nephew and Derek's brother; organist Reese Wynans; and pianist Chuck Leavell. They started the night with the first two songs on the Allman Brothers' 1969 debut, "Don't Want You No More" and "It's Not My Cross to Bear." Coming back for the encores, Jaimoe took the microphone and said a few words of thanks, before they closed out with "Midnight Rider" and "Whipping Post." A packed arena enjoyed the show, despite many attendees questioning their choice to attend due to the specter of the caronavirus threat, and word of a flood of cheap tickets online. - Billboard, 3/11/20...... Disney executive chairman Bob Iger announced on Mar. 11 that Disney has acquired the worldwide rights to director Peter Jackson's upcoming Beatles documentary, The Beatles: Get Back. The film, which takes a look back at the recording of the band's penultimate album Let It Be, "is a front-row seat to the inner workings of the genius of those creators," according to Iger, who announced the news during Disney's annual shareholder meeting in Raleigh, N.C. Jackson, who says he worked on the film with cooperation from Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison, pulled from 55 hours of unreleased footage of the band filmed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg in 1969 and 140 hours of largely unheard audio recordings from the Let It Be album sessions. The Beatles: Get Back also will feature footage of the band's final live concert as a group, their rooftop performance on London's Savile Row. "Working on this project has been a joyous discovery," Jackson said in a statement. "I've been privileged to be a fly on the wall while the greatest band of all time works, plays and creates masterpieces. I'm thrilled that Disney have stepped up as our distributor. There's no one better to have our movie seen by the greatest number of people," he added. Lindsay-Hogg directed the original Let It Be film, which was shot in 1969 but not released until 1970, after the Beatles had officially broken up. Disney says a fully restored version of the original Let It Be film will be released at a later date. The Beatles: Get Back will be released in the US and Canada on Sept. 4. - The Hollywood Reporter, 3/11/20...... As Linda Ronstadt's Feb. 1980 album Mad Love turns 40 this year, Ronstadt says it was never the intention of her and her producer Peter Asher to put out a New Wave album to compete with the likes of Blondie and The Cars. "I don't think that's how we wanted it to sound like intentionally," Ronstadt said during a phone interview from her home in San Francisco. "I was just trying to find 10 or so songs to do. Back then, I was doing about an album a year, so Mad Love fell into that cycle." Asher noted that "Every Linda record is the same in that we were just looking for great songs that we really liked and Linda felt that she could really sing, and then framing them in the best way we could think of. In Linda's case, it's always been the songs that lead a particular movement or style on one of her records, regardless if it's a Nelson Riddle album with songs from the 1930s or Mad Love with songs from the late '70s. It's all the same for us." Ronstadt's drummer, Russ Kunkel, cited the singer's "uncanny ability to pick songs from the great songwriters, whether it was Lowell George, JD Souther, Jimmy Webb or Elvis Costello." "Her strength was her ability to choose great songs. And even though Mad Love gets its tag as being her foray into new wave, she really only kept true to her roots... it was simply a collection of songs from great songwriters," he added. - Billboard, 3/10/20...... The Boomtown Rats of "I Don't Like Mondays" fame have announced they will release Citizens of Boomtown, their first new album in 36 years, on Mar. 13. Frontman Bob Geldof says the long gap wasn't because the Rats broke up, just that "we paused for 36 years." "There's just a sense that the music we had done and that attitude that produced the music was necessary again," says Geldof, who's released several solo albums during the interim. "The only thing I said was 'I'm not gonna do nostalgia.' This has to be about now, about today... There's nothing really for us to prove," he added. Formed during the mid-70s in Dublin and subsequently relocated to London, the Rats notched five Top 10 U.K. singles, hitting No. 1 with "Rat Trap" and "I Don't Like Mondays," the latter of which was also the group's biggest U.S. hit. The Rats released their last album, Long Grass, in 1984. Geldof is also publishing a lyric book, Tales of Boomtown Glory, that will include an introduction and 28 song stories, on Mar. 13. The Rats begin a U.K. tour behind the new LP on Mar. 14 in Zagreb, with 11 dates wrapping up May 2 in Newcastle, however a U.S. tour is not in the cards. "I don't think we could get arrested in the States," Geldof says. - Billboard, 3/11/20...... Former Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook says a future live reunion of the legendary U.K. punk band is doubtful. "I've hung up my go-between hat. I don't get involved much any more," Cook told the U.K. publication Daily Record. I'm still close to [Sex Pistols guitarist] Steve Jones, but that's as far as it goes. I can't see it happening again for the Pistols and I don t think anyone wants it to." The iconic punk band originally split in 1978 following the departure of frontman Johnny Rotten. Bassist Sid Vicious died the year after, but the Sex Pistols have since reformed on three separate occasions: 1996-2001, 2002-2003 and most recently from 2007-8. Cook went on to cite rifts between the former bandmates as the reason for a reunion not taking place. Explaining that although he's attempted to prompt a reconciliation in the past, he said it's now not "worth the aggravation." "It's not just Steve and Johnny. There's so much water under the bridge and so much history, I don't think it would work out." Cook added that Glen Matlock still "feels aggrieved at being kicked out," with the musician having been fired ahead of Never Mind the Bollocks... being recorded. Matlock is, however, credited on 10 of its tracks. In 2017, Steve Jones said that the likelihood of any Sex Pistols return seemed slim -- especially as he and Rotten no longer speak, despite both living in Los Angeles. Jones, a beloved L.A. radio station host widely known as just Jonesy, abruptly disappeared from the airwaves late last year after being hit with a sudden bout of Bell's palsy that paralyzed half of his face and left his speech compromised. Midway through last December, he made a quiet return to Los Angeles airwaves, moving out of the studio and into a weekly residency at the famed Viper Room in West Hollywood, where "Jonesy's Jukebox" broadcasts live on Meruelo Media's 95.5 KLOS before a studio audience every Friday at noon. - NME/Billboard, 3/12/20...... Neil Young has posted a lengthy endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders on his Neil Young Archives website. "I support Bernie Sanders because I listen to what he says. Every point he makes is what I believe in. Every one," Young wrote, adding "In 2016, if Bernie had run instead of Hillary Clinton, I think we would not have the incompetent mess we have now." Young, a frequent and verbal critic of Pres. Donald Trump, also took issue with the Democratic National Committee, saying they "pull[ed] every string" to stop Sanders during the last election in favor of Clinton, suggesting that the same is happening again in the battle between Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden. Young, who recently became a naturalized American citizen, said he's endorsing a presidential candidate for the first time. While he waits for his turn to vote in November's general election, Young has said he's planning to tour North American arenas with his longtime backing band Crazy Horse. - Billboard, 3/10/20...... Founding The Guess Who members Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman have announced they're reuniting for a summer 2020 tour for 24 dates, beginning on June 13 in Huber Heights, Oh. The tour will then play six Midwest U.S. dates before heading north of the border on June 11 in Windsor, Ontario, for the rest of the tour, finishing Aug. 8 in Grand Forks, B.C. The June 27 show in the Guess Who's hometown of Winnipeg will be part of historical celebrations for both the city and the province of Manitoba. will also be releasing The Bachman-Cummings Collection in June via Sony Music Entertainment, a seven-disc box set that features the Guess Who albums Bachman played on as well as subsequent material by Bachman and Cummings. The tour comes alongside the 55th anniversary of the Guess Who's first hit single, a cover of Johnny Kidd & the Pirates' "Shakin' All Over," and the 50th anniversary of the iconic "American Woman". "The timing for this seems right for both of us," Bachman says. "And as time goes by, I find that to me and Burton and all the fans, the songs mean more and more and more. The songs seem more relevant to about four or five decades of fans, from teenage kids to people in their seventies and eighties. That's an amazing thing." The fact that it's Bachman and Cummings singing them makes a difference as well, the duo contends. "There are one or two fake Guess Who bands out there," Cummings notes. "There have been a couple of different aggregations of BTO without Randy. I think it's nice the real guys are going out now." But the duo say they have no plans to write or record any new music -- "There's no record industry or radio anymore," Bachman notes -- and Cummings doesn't view that as a negative in any way. "I'm very content to sing the famous songs for the rest of my career," he says. "Do you know how hard it was to get those hit records? What's wrong with singing them for the rest of your life? There's nothing wrong with that." - Billboard, 3/9/20...... With his latest album American Standard, James Taylor has become the first act in the history of the Billboard pop charts to earn a top 10 album in each of the last six decades. American Standard, which sees the folk-rock icon taking on standards from the American songbook, entered the Billboard Hot 200 at No. 4 with 82,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Mar. 5. It also gives Fantasy Records its highest charting album since 1970, when Creedence Clearwater Revival's Cosmo's Factory spent nine weeks at No. 1. With American Standard, Taylor becomes the first act with top 10 albums in each of the last six decades: the 1970s, '80s, '90s, '00s, '10s and '20s, first peaking in the 1970's with Sweet Baby James in 1970. - Billboard, 3/8/20...... As Dolly Parton prepares to hit her milestone age of 75 in Jan. 2021, the "Jolene" hitmaker says she'd love to be on the cover of Playboy magazine one more time. Speaking to 60 Minutes Australia, Parton said: "I don't plan to retire. I just turned 74 and I plan to be on the cover of Playboy magazine again. See, I did Playboy magazine years ago and I thought it'd be such a hoot -- if they'll go for it, I don't know if they will -- if I could be on the cover again when I'm 75." When Dolly appeared on the cover in 1978 -- aged 32 -- she posed in a Playboy bunny costume complete with a black bustier and bunny ears, and she'd be up for wearing the same outfit 45 years later. She laughed: "Maybe! I could probably use it. Boobs are still the same." She added: "The good part with me though, I have my own look. I look kind of cartoonish and cartoons don't really age that much. Even when I'm 90, I'll still probably look about the same way -- just with thicker make-up and bigger hair." Meanwhile, Playboy announced on Mar. 11 that it was ending its "Playmate of the Year" title after 60 years. Speaking to the New York Post's gossip column "Page Six," a representative for the magazine confirmed it will be replaced by "Playmates of the Year," which will "celebrate all twelve diverse Playmates of the Month" from the previous year. "The point of this change was to not exclude anyone and instead of honouring one Playmate they're honouring all 12 diverse Playmates of the Year for each of their unique contributions to the brand," they said. Since 1960, the publication, founded by the late Hugh Hefner, has handed out the award to its favourite "Playmate of the Month" from the previous year, with Jenny McCarthy, Anna Nicole Smith and Victoria Silvstedt all receiving the honour. - Music-News.com/WENN-Canoe.com, 3/9/20...... Veteran actor Max Von Sydow, the tall, tragic-faced Swedish actor whose name was virtually synonymous with the films of Ingmar Bergman, died on Mar. 8 at the age of 90. Mr. Von Sydow, who became Bergman's symbol for the modern man in such films as The Passion of Anna and Shame after making his Bergman debut as the errant knight in The Seventh Seal, also had an unusually prolific career in Hollywood and international films. He made his American debut in the role of Jesus Christ in George Stevens' turgid 1965 epic The Greatest Story Ever Told and went on to make strong impressions with audiences in such films as The Exorcist, Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, David Lynch's Dune, Three Days of the Condor, Hawaii, Conan the Barbarian and Awakenings. Mr. Von Sydow worked for other Scandinavian directors as well, drawing an Oscar nomination for his role in Bille August's Pelle the Conqueror and starring in Jan Troell's acclaimed two-part epic The Emigrants and The New Land. Most recently, the actor starred in Game of Thrones as the Three-Eyed Raven. He also appeared in Kursk: The Last Mission (2018) and Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2017). In 2014 he was cast in J.J. Abrams' continuation of the Star Wars saga, Episode VII -- The Force Awakens as Lor San Tekka. In 1990, he was nominated for an Emmy in 1990 for his role in the HBO thriller Red King, White Knight. Mr. Von Sydow was married twice, to actress Kerstin Olin in 1951 and to French filmmaker Catherine Brelet in 1997. He is survived by Brelet; his two sons by Olin, Claes and Henrik (who appeared with the actor in the film Hawaii); and two sons, Cedric and Yvan, by Brelet. - Variety.com, 3/9/20.