Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on May 9th, 2020

Little Richard, who became a seminal figure in the birth of rock & roll with his wild falsetto and no-holds-barred, piano-pounding style and embodied the new music's gleeful sexuality and spirit of rebellion, died on the morning of May 9 in Tullahoma, Tenn. of bone cancer. He was 87. Born Richard Wayne Penniman on Dec. 5, 1932, in Macon, Ga., Little Richard grew up in a devout Seventh Day Adventist family with two uncles and a grandfather who were preachers, though his father sold bootleg whiskey. Singing gospel and learning piano in his youth, though his parents never encouraged his musical interests, he was ejected from the house at age 13, which he later claimed was because of his homosexuality. He first performed professionally at Macon's Tick Tock Club, then in 1951 scored a contract with RCA Records after playing at an Atlanta radio audition. He recorded such songs as "Every Hour" and "Get Rich Quick" in the next two years which never made any commercial impression, and toured small black nightclubs playing mostly blues and where his rock numbers were not well received. As a last resort, he sent a demo tape to Art Rupe of Specialty Records, who had been looking for a hard-edged voice like his. With "Bumps" Blackwell producing, Little Richard entered the studio on Sept. 14, 1955, and an old between-songs filler piece called "Tutti Frutti," with its sexy-dumb lyrics and wild piano banging set the style for his future hits. Popular with both black and white fans, the influential single went to #17 on the pop chart sold over three million copies by 1968, and was followed by such memorable ravers as "Long Tall Sally" (#6) and "Rip It Up" (#17) in 1956; "Lucille" (#21), "Jenny, Jenny" (#10), in 1957; and "Good Golly, Miss Molly" (#10) in 1958. During this time he also appeared in three early rock & roll movies: "Don't Knock the Rock, The Girl Can't Help It (1956) and Mister Rock 'n' Roll (1957). However at the height of his success in 1957, he suddenly quit his rock career after claiming see a vision of the apocalypse in a dream while on tour in Australia. He later said several spooky events contributed to the decision, including a plane flight during which the overheated engines appeared in the darkness of night to be on fire, a glimpse of the Russian satellite Sputnik, and a plane in which he was scheduled to have flown in crashed. He interpreted these events as divine signs that he should change his ways, and became an ordained minister in the Seventh Day Adventist Church after receiving a B.A. degree from Oakwood College in Huntsville, Ala. Returning to rock in 1964, Little Richard mounted tours in Europe with the likes of the Beatles, and he tried to resurrect his following with an unsuccessful single called "Bama Lama Bama Loo" after failing to gain a major audience on the evangelical circuit with his gospel recordings. In the early '70s, he signed with Reprise Records and recorded three R&B/rock LPs, which garnered some fair critical reviews and let to some recording sessions with Delaney and Bonnie and Canned Heat. He also performed at the Toronto Pop Festival, and his performance was included in director D.A. Pennebaker's documentary of the event, Toronto Pop. After appearing on some late night talk shows and doing club dates, by decade's end he once again stressed his attachment to the church, and renounced rock & roll, drugs, and his own homosexuality. In 1984, he co-authored his autobiography, The Life and Times of Little Richard, with rock writer Charles White and Blackwell, his longtime manager. The book contained some juicy anecdotes (including a threesome with a stripper and Buddy Holly), and ended with a chapter-long sermon from Richard. In 1985, he launched a formidable comeback with a fieatured role in the hit movie Down and Out in Beverly Hills, and made appearances on such popular TV series as Miami Vice, Martin and Full House. He also became a pitchman for a number of companies, including Taco Bell, McDonald's, and Charlie perfume. Little Richard was among the first ten inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and in 1993 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grammy organization, NARAS. He was invited to perform at Pres. Bill Clinton's inaugural in 1993, and his hometown of Macon named a street in his honor, Little Richard Penniman Boulevard. Richard stopped making albums after 1992, although he continued to tour extensively and contribute occasional tracks to tribute albums, including a memorable take on "I Feel Pretty" for 1996's The Songs of West Side Story. Hip surgery in 2009 left him confined to a wheelchair, and in 2013, he declared that he was "done" with performing. "I have been many things and I am many things," he told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in 2003. "I am a creator, emancipator, inventor, the king, originator, a beauty, the Bronze Liberace, original Georgia peach, a human atom bomb, international treasure, living flame and a Southern child." - The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock/Billboard, 5/9/20.

Los Angeles' legendary The Troubadour nightclub, where the careers of such artists as Elton John, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and the Eagles were launched in America, could be in danger of shutting down permanently due to the coronavirus epidemic. The Troubadour's managment cites California Gov. Gavin Newsom's recent announcement that under Phase 4 of the state's plans for exiting the lockdown, concerts could be halted in the state until the middle of 2021. "That means the middle to the end of next year to potentially open, and maybe a 25% cap on crowd size," Troubadour general manager Christine Karayan says. "I can't foresee being able to ride this out like that." Karayan, whose father Ed founded the club with Doug Weston, added that "The more I think about it, it's just completely futile... At least a big seated venue has space where they can keep people apart. But I don't know how that works for a general admission venue. Are you going to stop them from using the restroom?" Since closing its doors in March, The Troubadour has set up a GoFundMe page to help its 20 hourly employees, so far raising $11,400 of its $30,000 goal. - The Los Angeles Times/New Musical Express, 5/6/20...... In an interview with Rolling Stone, Stevie Nicks says she's spending her time in lockdown working on a movie inspired by Fleetwood Mac's classic 1975 track "Rhiannon." "Last year, I made a pitch to everybody that when this Fleetwood Mac tour is over, I'm taking next year off because I want to work on my Rhiannon book/movie," says Nicks, who penned the song after being inspired by classic Welsh myths. "And I want to maybe work with some different producers... I don't know what I want to do! I just know that I don't want a tour!," she added. While Nicks says she's been unable so far to meet with producers to discuss the project, she says she's been recording music based on her poetry collection which dates back 30 years. "I have some Rhiannon poetry that I have written over the last 30 years that I've kept very quiet," she explained. "I'm thinking, 'Well here I have all this time and I have a recording setup.' And I'm thinking I'm going to start doing some recording. I'm going to start putting some of these really beautiful poems to music, and I have the ability to record them. So that's on my to-do list." - Rolling Stone/New Musical Express, 5/4/20...... Journey announced on May 4 that they're canceling their 2020 North American tour with openers the Pretenders due to the coronavirus pandemic. In a press release, the band said that restrictions regarding large gatherings "regretfully make it impossible" for the band to tour in 2020. "After carefully reviewing all options, the decision has been made to cancel the entire tour to make it possible for the band's legion of hardworking fans to immediately obtain access to refund options during these unforeseen and extremely challenging times," they said. Journey members Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain and Arnel Pineda also released a joint statement saying "not knowing what the rest of this year or 2021 will bring, we knew the right thing to do was to make sure our fans' health was not put in jeopardy," and also thanked "all doctors, nurses, police, other first responders and essential workers for their heroic efforts; as well as our fans for doing everything possible to stay safe." The Journey/Pretenders tour had been set to kick off May 15 in Ridgefield, Wash., hitting more than 60 U.S. cities before wrapping in Bethel, N.Y. on Sept. 12. - Billboard, 5/4/20...... '70s artists Billy Joel, Sting, Barbra Streisand and Bette Midler will be among the headliners of a "Rise Up New York!" citywide virtual telethon to raise awareness and funds to help New Yorkers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The event, organized by iHeartMedia and New York's largest poverty-fighting organization, Robin Hood, will take place on May 11 at 7 p.m. ET and feature a lineup of some of the city's biggest musicians, actors, comedians, chefs and other celebs including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Chris Rock, Robert DeNiro and Spike Lee. The special -- the latest in a growing list of one-off virtual all-star fundraising events for COVID-19 relief -- will be simultaneously broadcast on all New York City TV stations, iHeartMedia and Entercom broadcast radio stations, News 12, Spectrum News NY1, SiriusXM and nationally on CNBC. - Billboard, 5/4/20...... Bruce Springsteen has shared a surprise new 1981 live album to benefit coronavirus relief efforts. The new album was recorded on the final night of six at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, N.J., on July 9, 1981, as part of his The River Tour. All the money from the album, which is available for purchase on The Boss' live archive website for $9.95, or in lossless quality for $12.95, will go to the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund. The 28-song setlist, which includes such tracks as "Thunder Road," "The Promised Land," "Badlands" and "Born to Run," and only a few songs from the set have ever been released before. One of the tracks from the album, "Johnny Bye Bye," can be previewed on YouTube. - New Musical Express, 5/2/20...... An unheard demo by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr written for Ringo's 1992 album Time Takes Time is set to be auctioned on May 19, with the track expected to fetch as much as £20,000. A quarter of the profits from the song, owned by former Radio Luxembourg DJ Tony Prince, will go to the NHS Charities Together Covid-19. The demo tape features two versions of the track that did not make it onto the Time Takes Time album -- a demo with McCartney on vocals and a fuller take featuring Starr's vocals, alongside additional instruments and backing vocals. A demo of another Ringo track, called "Everyone Wins," also features on the cassette, which is being sold by Omega Auctions on May 19, alongside other memorabilia, including autographs by Paul and his late wife Linda McCartney. - New Musical Express, 5/4/20...... After KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons shared a photo on Twitter of a fan wearing a KISS bandana as a makeshift mask on May 2, a follower named David Watson replied in the comments that cloth masks "don't keep you safe" during the global coronavirus pandemic, a comment that the band's co-founder wasn't going to let slide. But Simmons wasn't about to let the fan get the last word. "You are incorrect and misinformed," Simmons firmly responded. "The idea of cloth masks or any other kind of mask, is not to protect you. It's to protect everybody else around you inn case you cough or talk. It's not about you, David. It's about protecting everybody else. From you." When another follower chimed in to claim that urging people to wear masks is "social pressuring" because masks don't prevent the spread of viruses, Simmons kindly wished them "good health" and urged, "Please wear a mask, to prevent your cough, sneeze or other, from infecting people. Be safe, not sorry." Simmons then kept the conversation going the following day, sharing a CNN video of how far coughs can travel, and reminded his followers to maintain social distancing to help reduce cases of COVID-19. To help keep fans safe, Simmons and KISS have launched a new line of face masks featuring images of the band members. Per the rockers' Instagram post, 100% of the proceeds will benefit Live Nation's Crew Nation, which is providing aid to touring and venue crews as concerts are canceled in the wake of the global health crisis. Meanwhile, Simmons revisited the Nazi concentration camp that once imprisoned his late mother on May 5 to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the camp by Allied forces. Gene's mother, Flora Klein, was the only member of her family to survive at the camp. She died in 2018, aged 93 ."She was strong," Simmons told reporters at the Mauthausen camp in Germany. "She fought all of this on her own... If somebody says that all of this was in the past -- that's not true. It was yesterday. It all happened just now." Simmons claims his mother survived the camp because she learned how to cut hair as a 12-year-old girl, and the SS commander's wife needed someone to do her hair. Simmons said she was also chosen to cut hair and avoid the gas chamber because she spoke little German. "When she was doing the hair, the commander's wife thought she wouldn't understand anything. But she did," he said. - Billboard/Music-News.com, 5/5/20...... Nearly two decades after gracing the stage of the 2001 Emmy Awards to sing Rodgers and Hammerstein's ballad "You'll Never Walk Alone" following the 9/11 tragedy, Barbra Streisand has shared a reworked version of the song to help raise funds for the coronavirus pandemic. "I sang this song almost 20 years ago after 9/11. Today we face another crisis, but I think the words still apply. With love and gratitude, Barbra," the 78-year-old diva posted. Streisand also intersperses archival footage of her Emmy Awards performance before a soothing video of burning candles shines a light on the information for the non-profit pandemic relief organization Direct Relief. The video can be viewed and donations can be made at DirectRelief.org. - Billboard, 5/5/20...... Cher, a longtime nemesis of Pres. Donald Trump, has told Billboard she always thought the 45th president was "an attention-seeking fool." Cher, who has often taken to social media to slam Trump, says her dislike for the former Manhattan real estate tycoon began years before he took office. "I had only heard about him when I lived in New York but I had a place in Aspen and we used go skiing there," Cher says. "I met him a couple of times at a restaurant called Mezzaluna. He was always so starved for attention. Everyone in there was rich or famous, but he kept getting up to get salt or tomato sauce or to go to the bathroom. He made a tour around that restaurant three or four times. And I was thinking, 'Oh my God, do you see yourself or have any awareness about what everyone in this room is thinking?' It's like when he used to call up magazines pretending to be his own press agent. He's a con artist that had a TV show." But Cher adds she'd be willing to tone down her criticism of the president if he only showing a little compassion or really stepped up his game amid the coronavirus crisis. "If his administration would start saving lives, I'd back off for a while," she says. Cher also said she's glad that her "Here We Go Again" ABBA-themed tour was shut down in March because she understood how dangerous the coronavirus outbreak was going to be. "I knew more than most Americans because I had friends in Italy who were doing live shows when it was there, and everybody had to just get out," she says. "We were lucky we didn't all come down with it because my dancers and I were literally two inches away from each other, breathing right into each other's mouths onstage." Cher then retreated to her Malibu home to self-isolate and shortly after began recording a rework of ABBA's classic "Chiquitita" as her first Spanish-language song. The new track will debut on May 8 and the video will premiere as part of UNICEF's COVID-19 Virtual Special. "It's such a beautiful, optimistic experience. It's great when you can see anything positive now because all of the turmoil we are in," she adds. - Music-News.com, 5/6/20...... On May 1, the Rolling Stones announced the launch of "Extra Licks," a six-part weekly series of special online featurettes featuring concert films from across their career. "Extra Licks" began its broadcast on the veteran rockers' official YouTube channel on May 3, and a teaser trailer has been shared on YouTube. "Extra Licks" is the first time any of the footage has been made available digitally, and it includes performances from the band's 1994 "Voodoo Lounge Tour" and 2016 "Latin America Ole! Tour." Meanwhile, Stones frontman Mick Jagger starred in a 1940's style black-and-white public service announcement on NBC's The Tonight Show on May 4 aimed at showing us all how to stay busy during the coronavirus lockdown. Following the advice of the narrator, Jagger does his chores, which include cooking, gardening, animal husbandry and light exercise. At the end, there was a plea to support Save the Children. "Coronavirus -- the biggest global health crisis of our lifetime -- threatens children in every way," read a card at the end of the sketch. "Your support today can help children in unsafe households, help protect and prepare doctors and health clinics in refugee camps and help support distance learning in the face of school closures." Jagger also participated in a 4-hour "iFor India" coronavirus relief concert on May 3, along with the likes of Bryan Adams, Nick Jonas and actor-musicians Jack Black and Will Smith. The concert was broadcast on Facebook and raised money for 100 groups providing food and other essential services in India. - New Musical Express/Billboard, 5/5/20...... In other Stones-related news, guitarist and accomplished artist Ronnie Wood has sent a poignant gift to St George's Hospital in Tooting, south London amidst the current coronavirus pandemic to praise all the NHS workers for their life saving work for the country. The 72-year-old rocker created a painting of a rainbow in the shape of a heart, with the NHS logo at its core. It was also adorned with a hand-painted thank you message. "The NHS are incredibly dedicated, and their commitment to giving support and saving lives is unbelievable. They deserve all the credit people can give them," Wood wrote. "This has all fallen into place since showing our thanks by clapping every Thursday, and our little twins love to see and paint rainbows. There's just so much appreciation from us ... Gratitude, Gratitude, Gratitude is the best prayer and messages for them all. THANK YOU," he added. - NME, 5/5/20...... The surviving members of the '70s cult hard rock band Motörhead are marking the 40th anniversary of their landmark album Ace of Spades with a special day of celebrations on May 8, including the worldwide premiere of a new lyric video of Ace of Spades' famous title track on their Motörhead Day Facebook page at 5:00 p.m. BST, a unique Facebook and Instagram filter to "Warpig your face," and the release of limited edition road crew merchandise, of which proceeds will go to Live Nation's Crew Nation Fund to provide financial support to touring crews affected by coronavirus. Fans can also raise a toast to the legendary rockers with the hashtag #8thofmay with their tipple of choice including late frontman Lemmy Kilmister's favorite drink, a Jack and coke. "We do hope you can join us as part of this celebration of all things Motrhead," surviving band members Mikkey Dee and Phil "Wizzo" Campbell said. "Lockdown may be going on all around us but the world is ours and we were born to raise hell! We look forward to celebrating 40 years of lawn killing, bastard rock'n'roll with you all." - NME, 5/4/20...... A $9.4 million judgement won by producer Quincy Jones in a 2017 royalty lawsuit against Michael Jackson's estate was reversed by a California appeals court on May 5. Jones originally sought $30 million for projects made after Jackson's death including remixes of hit songs as well as the licensing of masters for the This Is It movie. After a trial in 2017, the jury returned a verdict that Jones was entitled to nearly $1.6 million because he didn't get a right to participate in those remixes, an additional $5.3 million in joint venture profits, nearly $2 million more for This Is It and $180K for foreign public performance income. However the appeals court ruled that L.A. Superior Court Judge Michael Stern should never have even allowed the case to go to jury to begin with, and did not correctly interpret the meaning of Jones' contracts. The appeals court also concluded that the producers agreements did not entitle Jones to fees for remixing masters and, alternatively, the remix damages were too speculative. The case has been remanded to the trial judge, who will now need to sharply slash Jones' award based on the decision. - The Hollywood Reporter, 5/5/20...... In 2014, DJ Supermarkt (real name Marcus Liesenfeld) released Too Slow to Disco, a compilation of underappreciated dance floor gems of the '70s. Now DJ Supermarkt has released The Ladies of Too Slow to Disco 2, a 16-track assortment of tracks from 1974-82 that focuses on female musicians. "We released the first one, where there's more male-oriented stuff, and I just realized there's so much more to discover," the Berlin-based DJ Supermarkt says. "Most of the stuff that came to me after (the first one) was written by female musicians. I found that annoying about the situation at that time in L.A., that the recording industry was so macho. I thought it was really interesting to look into the (female) side of things," he adds. DJ Supermarkt estimates he spent four years gathering the tracks for The Ladies of Too Slow to Disco 2, making discoveries via YouTube, social media and fan recommendations. He says that the industry's chauvinism allowed many of the female performers to fly below the labels' radars, but it actually worked to their advantage since many were able to get the rights to their songs back from the major labels. "Maybe it's because they had to struggle so hard at the time, they knew how to fight and actually get their material back, so I could license directly from them," he says. DJ Supermarkt adds he is currently working on two more Too Slow to Disco compilations, though the themes, he says, "are still a secret... And I don't have enough songs yet... When I have them, I'll put (an album) out. It's really that simple." - Billboard, 5/5/20...... Legendary pro football coach Don Shula, the winningest coach in NFL history and the only one to lead a team to a perfect season, died at his South Florida home on May 4. He was 90. Though Mr. Shula spent several seasons in the NFL as a player -- for the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Colts and Washington Redskins -- and served as head coach of the Colts, he is best known for his quarter century at the helm of the Miami Dolphins. During his time coaching Miami, from 1970 to 1995, Mr. Shula won back-to-back Super Bowls in the 1970s. The first of those, after the 1972 season, set a bar that has yet to be reached by any other team. With the Dolphins' 14-7 win over the Redskins in Super Bowl VII, Shula's squad became the first and only team to go undefeated in a season. The Dolphins defended their title the following year, beating the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl VIII after finishing the regular season 12-2. Mr. Shula coached in six Super Bowls during his career. In addition to his two wins, his Colts lost Super Bowl III, while his Dolphins teams came up short in Super Bowls VI, XVII and XIX. Born in 1930 in Grand River, Oh., Mr. Shula played seven seasons in the NFL before beginning his pro coaching career as defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions. He was inducted by The Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997, and the Miami Dolphins have honored him with a bronze statue outside Hard Rock Stadium. "Don Shula was the patriarch of the Miami Dolphins for 50 years," the Dolphins said in a statement. "He brought the winning edge to our franchise and put the Dolphins and the city of Miami in the national sports scene." NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Mr. Shula's legacy will endure for generations: "He was a remarkable teacher and mentor who for decades inspired excellence and exemplified integrity." Mr. Shula had five children with is first wife, Dorothy, who died from breast cancer in 1991 at 57 years old. Mr. Shula established an eponymous foundation for breast cancer research that same year. - CNN.com, 5/4/20.