Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on April 11th, 2020

Sting participated in one of Jimmy Fallon's "classroom instrument concerts" on the Apr. 9 Tonight Show by playing guitar and shaker with Fallon, and members of Fallon's house band The Roots on a rendition of the Police's 1980 hit "Don't Stand So Close To Me." Sting took the center square in the virtual concert which also featured the sounds of hair picks, sneakers, wooden spoons and pot lids, along with some actual instruments (melodica, ukulele, bass and tuba) for the lively, totally unique version of the strangely prescient song. The "at home" version of "Don't Stand So Close to Me" has been shared on YouTube. - Billboard, 4/10/20...... Neil Young has reworked the video for his song "Shut It Down" from his latest album Colorado due to its poignancy during the coronavirus pandemic. "Shut It Down 2020" features clips from the original promo of Young and his backing band Crazy Horse performing the track at Colorado's Studio in the Clouds, interspersed with footage of people around the world in the midst of the health crisis. Among the scenes shown include hospital staff hard at work, people wearing face masks while venturing out in public, boxes of medical supplies being delivered in England, and empty New York City subway stations and streets -- cut together with footage of packed beaches in Florida. On the song, Young warns: "People tryin' to save this earth/from an ugly death/Have to shut the whole system down/all around the planet." In a statement accompanying the video, Young expressed his gratitude for those on the frontlines of the pandemic: "These are uncertain times. I wish you all the best as you care for our sick, the young and old who we love so much." Young says he was inspired by fans' messages requesting an updated video for the track, and was helped by actress wife Daryl Hannah. Young has been keeping busy while in self-isolation, serving up acoustic renditions of rare songs from his archives in his Fireside Sessions online series, shot by Hannah at their Telluride home. - WENN/Canoe.com, 4/10/20...... Songs by late revered singer/songwriter John Prine have been streamed more than 20 million times since his death due to coronavirus complications on Apr. 7, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. On Apr. 7-8, songs performed by Prine earned 20.8 million on-demand streams (audio and video) in the U.S., a surge of 1,297% compared to the previous two days. Prine's most-streamed song was "Angel From Montgomery," and on Apr. 8 his songs garnered more streams in one single day than they had in any other week previously. Interest in Prine's music had been on the rise since news of his hospitalization reached the masses on Mar. 29, when his streams began to log more than a million a day. Prine's songs and album sales have also surged with 57,000 copies, up 1,423% compared to the 4,000 sold April 4-6. Meanwhile, the entertainment website Consequence of Sound has announced a livestream tribute to Prine on Easter Sunday (Apr. 11). "Angel from Maywood: A Livestream Tribute to John Prine" will feature cover performances of Prine's catalogue from "friends, collaborators" including Norah Jones, Kevin Morby, Grace Potter and others. The tribute stream will begin at 6:00 pm GMT/2pm EDT on Consequence of Sound's Instagram page. On Apr. 8, Bruce Springsteen took over his SiriusXM E Street Radio show for one morning hour during which he played some of his favorite songs about hope, loneliness and solitude while sharing a few words of wisdom during our nationwide lockdown, also paying homage to the loss of Prine. "Over here on E Street we're devastated by the loss of John Prine," Springsteen said. "He was not only one of our country's greatest songwriters, a real national treasure, but a sweet and lovely man and I was proud to count him as my friend." His set also included some Jersey shore classics, including Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer," as well as Huey "Piano" Smith & the Clowns' "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu." The show ended with a song of remembrance and loss in honor of those who've passed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers' "The Last Mile of the Way." During the coronavirus lockdown Sirius is offering free streaming of Springsteen's and other channels through May 15. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 4/10/20...... During a virtual auction of Beatles memorabilia on Apr. 10 conducted by Julien's Auctions, Paul McCartney's handwritten lyrics for the Beatles classic "Hey Jude" sold for a whopping $910,000, well over its $160,000 estimate. The lyrics were used in studio for the recording of the No. 1 hit at London's Trident Studios in July 1968. In addition, the Beatles' Cow Palace concert drumhead sold for $200,000, a "BAGISM" drawing by John Lennon and Yoko Ono sold for $93,750, a "Hello Goodbye" music video shoot script page sold for $83,200, Ringo Starr's Abbey Road ashtray sold for $32,500, and the stage of the group's first performance sold for $25,600. Julien's staff accepted digital real-time bids via phone and online from remote locations. Meanwhile, Paul McCartney will be among the performers at an "One World: Together at Home" coronavirus benefit concert curated by Lady Gaga and hosted by US talk show hosts Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert on Apr. 18. The concert will be broadcast live across US television networks ABC, CBS and NBC, as well as being streamed online. Also performing will be Billie Eilish, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Eddie Vedder, Billy Joe Armstrong, Keith Urban, John Legend, Lizzo and Alanis Morissette, among others. An adapted version of the concert will be broadcast on BBC One the following day featuring exclusive performances from UK artists and interviews with workers on the frontline. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 4/10/20...... Bob Dylan has scored his first-ever No. 1 song on a Billboard chart with his new hit "Murder Most Foul," a nearly 17-minute chronicle of the 1963 assassination of Pres. John F. Kennedy. "Murder Most Foul," released on Mar. 27, debuted at No. 1 on the Rock Digital Song Sales survey dated Apr. 11, selling 10,000 downloads in its first tracking week ending Apr. 2. Previously, Dylan had reached as high as No. 2 on the Hot 100 pop chart with "Like a Rolling Stone" (Sept. 4, 1965) and "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35" (May 21, 1966), along with a No. 2 best on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart with "Things Have Changed" (May 13, 2000). He also hit No. 2 on the Mainstream Rock Songs airplay list three times as part of supergroup Traveling Wilburys in the late '80s and early '90s ("Handle With Care," "End of the Line" and "She's My Baby"). In announcing the release of the piano ballad, Dylan said it was an "unreleased song we recorded a while back." It's the rock icon's first music released since his 2017 covers album Triplicate and his first original material since 2012's Tempest. Radio stations around the country say they have no qualms about playing the song, despite its 16 minutes and 54 seconds length. "It's an instant Dylan epic. We had no concerns about playing it at all," says WXPN program director Bruce Warren. "We play a lot of Dylan, and if a song is great, in our opinions, we'll play it no matter how long it is." - Billboard, 4/8/20...... In a lengthy Facebook post on Apr. 3, '80s hitmaker Christopher Cross revealed has been diagnosed with the coronavirus. "I'm sorry to report that I am among the growing number of Americans who tested positive for the COVID-19 virus," the five-time Grammy winner wrote. "Although I am fortunate enough to be cared for at home, this is possibly the worst illness I've ever had," he added. Cross pleaded with his fans to take the virus seriously and urged them to "make every attempt to stall the spread of the virus." "Wherever you are in the world, let's all be kind to one another," the "Sailing" singer/songwriter wrote. "Only if we work together can we defeat COVID-19." - Billboard, 4/3/20...... Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi has revealed that he's been in touch with his longtime bandmate Ozzy Osbourne on a daily basis during the coronavirus-enforced lockdown. Speaking to the Birmingham Mail, the 72-year-old musician discussed his personal experience in dealing with the current crisis. "Neighbours have dropped a note through the door asking if I want any shopping," Iommi said of being stuck indoors at his home in Worcestershire. "They're looking out for the poor old sod!" Iommi added that he believes the social restrictions implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19 have in fact brought us all closer together. "I m even in touch with Ozzy every day as he gets over his own health problems in LA," Iommi said. - New Musical Express, 4/11/20...... Original Creedence Clearwater Revival drummer Doug "Cosmo" Clifford is releasing a new -- albeit 35-year-old -- solo album called Magic Window he says he recorded with friends while living in Lake Tahoe in the 1980s. Clifford says he got busy with other projects, including the "Neighbors For Defensible Space" initiative to deal with a drought about the same time, and the tapes were put away and moved to his current residence in Reno -- where he unearthed them last year in his garage. "I found all these two-track masters, about 10 of them, probably 100 songs with different artists," Clifford says. "I'm using myself as the first guy out of the shoot 'cause (Magic Window) was my best performance as a singer and a songwriter. It was a complete project for me; I wasn't just the drummer in the band. I was the artist and producer and all those other things." Magic Window will drop Apr. 24 and will be the follow-up to his 1972 solo effort Cosmo (his nickname), which he says he considers "an album for the sake of art... an experiment." Clifford, whose voice has been impacted by cancer treatments, says he has no plans to play live in support of Magic Window, but he does plan to dip into his stash of other recordings he found for eventual release, including some with Bobby Whitlock from Derek and the Dominos on vocals. - Billboard, 4/9/20...... The new Netflix series Ozark has helped send four classic hits by REO Speedwagon back to Billboard's rock charts for the week ending Apr. 11. The songs include "Keep on Loving You" (No. 10); "Can't Fight this Feeling" (No. 13); "Time for Me to Fly" (No. 15); and "Take It on the Run" (No. 16). "We are big fans of Ozark here in the Cronin house, and have been waiting patiently for Season 3," REO frontman Kevin Cronin wrote in a post on REO Speedwagon's official website. "The family will be snuggling up and going on a major Ozark binge this weekend. Be safe and take care." Meanwhile, REO's 1988 collection The Hits, which includes all four songs, has entered the Top Rock Albums chart at No. 49, up 85% to 4,000 equivalent album units. - Billboard, 4/8/20...... Blondie's Debbie Harry and Chris Stein have announced details of their rescheduled "In Conversation" UK tour, after it was postponed due to coronavirus. Harry and Stein say they will now tour in November 2020 instead of April as originally planned. Harry and Stein's tour includes discussions chaired by artist Rob Roth about the five decades of Blondie and their lives as artists and creative partners promised. "Each presentation has its own surprises with new stories," Roth said of the tour. "Plus special guests and previously unseen visuals." - New Musical Express, 4/8/20...... Iggy Pop has shared a previously unreleased version of "China Girl" from his upcoming The Bowie Years deluxe box set. Iggy's version of "China Girl" was originally the second single from his LP The Idiot before it was taken on by Bowie for 1983's Let's Dance. To mark the announcement, an alternate mix of Pop's "China Girl" has been shared on YouTube. The song was originally the second single from The Idiot before it was taken on by Bowie for 1983's Let's Dance. The Idiot and Lust For Life will also be released as standalone 2-CD deluxe editions, which come with bonus live CDs. These performance discs are Live at The Rainbow Theatre and TV Eye Live respectively. - New Musical Express, 4/11/20...... Paul Stanley of KISS has paid tribute to his "awesome" dad who turned 100 years old recently. In identical Twitter and Instagram posts, Stanley wrote alongside a photo of the two of them together: "MY DAD IS ONE HUNDRED YEARS OLD TODAY! He Is An AWESOME Man And I Am So Proud To Be His Son. We Can't Be Together Since It's Not Safe. I Love Him Dearly And Am Asking EVERYONE PLEASE WISH HIM HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON THIS MILESTONE. Thank You. (sic)" Stanley, 68, also recently promised to share his songwriting process with fans as he was going "a little bit crazy" self-isolating at home. "My plan tomorrow is to sit here, get a guitar, maybe tell you some stories, maybe show you how I wrote a song -- show you how I wrote 'Love Gun.' That could be interesting 'cause I need to connect with you 'cause I'm going a little bit crazy," he posted. - Music-News.com, 4/9/20...... Randy Newman has shared a performance video of himself playing "Stay Away," a new song he s written about self-isolating during the coronavirus crisis, on YouTube. Newman introduces his performance video by speaking about social distancing, saying "apparently there s some disease that's going around before telling people to wash their hands, not touch their faces and practice safe distancing techniques." Newman is then seen in the clip performing the jaunty "Stay Away" on his piano in his home studio, with lyrics including "stay away from me/ keep your distance, please and I'm gonna be with you 24 hours a day/ What a lucky man I am." In January, Newman cancelled the Australian and New Zealand legs of his "An Evening With Randy Newman" tour, citing a longer than expected recovery period from a recent hip operation. - NME, 4/9/20...... Willie Nelson will co-host the first ever online version of Farm Aid during the second weekend in April, featuring live-streamed performances by the likes of Nelson, Neil Young and Dave Matthews. "At Home With Farm Aid" will be streamed on Apr. 11 and hosted by Nelson and his sons, Lukas and Micah. Nelson, Young, Matthews and John Mellencamp will all perform remotely during the event, which is being staged as "a virtual show of support and solidarity for family farmers and ranchers." "Farm Aid is working hard to support farmers and ranchers in this difficult time," Nelson said in a statement. "We're making emergency grants to help with household and medical expenses. We're answering calls on our hotline. We're creating lists of resources and working with our partners to advocate for policies that build a more resilient food system for the future." The event will be available to watch as a free webcast stream on both the Farm Aid website and AXS. Meanwhile, Nelson is preparing to release his 70th solo album, First Rose of Spring, on July 3. - New Musical Express, 4/9/20...... British actress Honor Blackman, best known for playing the James Bond girl Pussy Galore in 1964's Goldfinger, has died at the age of 94, her family announced on Apr. 6. Ms. Blackman died of natural causes at her home in Sussex, southern England the family said in a statement to The Guardian newspaper. "As well as being a much-adored mother and grandmother, Honor was an actor of hugely prolific creative talent; with an extraordinary combination of beauty, brains and physical prowess, along with her unique voice and a dedicated work ethic," the statement said. "She achieved an unparalleled iconic status in the world of film and entertainment and with absolute commitment to her craft and total professionalism in all her endeavours she contributed to some of the great films and theater productions of our times," it added. In addition to her famous Goldfinger role, Ms. Blackman also appeared as Cathy Gale in The Avengers, a 1961 spy drama television series. Following news of her death, Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said Ms. Blackman was a "film icon." "Today we mark the passing of a film icon, Honor Blackman who shall forever be remembered as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger. She was an extraordinary talent and a beloved member of the Bond family. Our thoughts are with her family at this time," they said in a joint statement. - Reuters, 4/6/20...... Film and TV music producer Hal Willner, who worked many years on Saturday Night Live, has died apparently due to coronavirus complications, according to multiple reports. He was 64. Wilner worked on SNL as a music sketch music producer since 1981, and at the time of his death, he was working on a tribute album and documentary project on Marc Bolan and T. Rex, for which he enlisted contributions from U2, Elton John, Joan Jett and Foo Fighters, among others. - The Hollywood Reporter, 4/7/20...... Veteran actor Allen Garfield died on Apr. 7 due to coronavirus complications. He was 80. The New Jersey-born star appeared such famous '70s films as The Conversation, The Candidate, The Stunt Man and Nashville. "RIP Allen Garfield, the great actor who played my husband in Nashville, has died today of Covid; I hang my head in tears; condolences to family and friends; I will post more later; cast and crew, sending love," Mr. Garfield's Nashville co-star Ronee Blakley wrote on Facebook. Known for playing nervy characters, his most famous role came as Bernie Moran in Francis Ford Coppola's paranoid 1974 thriller The Conversation about a surveillance expert, played by Gene Hackman, who finds himself in the middle of a murderous conspiracy. Mr. Garfield suffered a stroke while preparing to appear in Roman Polanski's 1999 thriller The Ninth Gate, and suffered another one in 2004 that confined him to residing in the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital in Woodland Hills, Calif. - WENN/Canoe.com, 4/8/20...... Willie Wilkerson, who was briefly engaged to Aretha Franklin during 2012 and was an integral part of her touring entourage, died on Apr. 8 in a suburban Detroit hospital from complications of COVID-19. He was 72. With Franklin, Wilkerson was a devoted companion who, in addition to their personal time, organized the sheet music for her orchestras, took care of side-stage and backstage operations such as outfit changes, and serving as a de facto backup bodyguard. He also made a cameo appearance in Franklin's video for "Jimmy Lee," a single from her 1986 album Aretha. - Billboard, 4/10/20.

Critically acclaimed singer/songwriter John Prine, a legend in the Americana music scene and two-time Grammy winner, died on Apr. 7 in Nashville due to complications from coronavirus. He was 73. Prine's family first revealed his coronavirus diagnosis on Mar. 29, posting to social media that he had been hospitalized for several days and his condition was "critical." His wife, Fiona, gave an update April 2, stating that he was still "very ill," yet she remained "hopeful." Born on Oct. 10, 1946 in Maywood, Ill., Prine learned guitar from his father at an early age and played the Chicago coffeehouse circuit while employed at the post office. He graduated from the Chicago folk scene with the help of his friend and production cohort Steve Goodman (who penned Arlo Guthrie's hit "The City of New Orleans"), and Paul Anka helped him secure a recording contract after liking some of Prine's Hank Williams-influenced songs. Prine traveled to Memphis in 1971 to cut his self-titled debut LP which featured a memorable track called "Sam Stone," a bleak drug-addicted Vietnam vet's saga that aptly demonstrated the singer's laconic, drawling delivery. Though commercial success eluded him, other artists began recording his songs, including the Everly Brothers ("Paradise"), and Joan Baez and Bette Midler, who both covered "Hello in There." A 1975 album, Common Sense, shocked his folk-oriented fans with hard-rock rhythms and a gutteral singing style. The Goodman-produced Bruised Orange in 1978 returned him to a more acoustic style, and the 1979 album Pink Cadillac saw him experimenting with electric rockabilly and was produced by Memphis legend Sam Phillips and his son at Sun Studios. German Afternoons, Prine's second album for the Oh Boy Records label he formed in 1983, was more countryish and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Recording. Prine released a live album, John Prine Live, in 1988 and won a Best Contemporary Folk Grammy for his 1991 effort The Missing Years, which was produced by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers bassist Howie Epstein and featured contributions from Petty, Bruce Springsteen, and Bonnie Raitt, who had been covering Prine's "Angel from Montgomery" in concert for years. He made his movie acting debut in 1992 with a small role in John Mellencamp's Falling from Grace. In 1998, doctors removed a cancerous tumor from his throat, taking some of his neck which left him permanently slumped. Prine was honored by the Recording Academy as their 2020 lifetime achievement award recipient and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019, where he and Raitt performed "Angel From Montgomery." Highly regarded within the Americana scene, he was named artist of the year by the Americana Music Association in 2017. His last release was 2018's The Tree of Forgiveness, his first set of new music since 2005’s Grammy-winning Fair & Square. Prine is survived by his wife, Fiona Whelan Prine, and three sons, Jack, Tommy and Jody. Among those offering tributes to Prine was Bruce Springsteen, who posted to Twitter: "Over here on E Street, we are crushed by the loss of John Prine. John and I were 'New Dylans' together in the early 70s and he was never anything but the lovliest guy in the world. A true national treasure and a songwriter for the ages. We send our love and prayers to his family." - Billboard/Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock, 4/8/20.