Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on May 21st, 2021

As Cher celebrated her milestone 75th birthday on May 19, the superstar diva announced a new biopic about her life is in the works the same day. Cher took to Twitter to announced Universal Studios is working on the project with Mamma Mia! producers Judy Craymer and Gary Goetzman onboard with a script by Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth. Craymer and Goetzman worked with Cher previously on 2018's Mamma Mia! sequel, Here We Go Again. Craymer confirmed the news in a statement to Deadline.com and said the biopic will cover Cher's remarkable decades-long career. "Gary and I are thrilled to be working with Cher again and this time bringing her empowering and true life odyssey to the big screen," Craymer was quoted as saying. "One cannot help but be drawn to and inspired by Cher's larger than life talent, fortitude, unique wit, warmth and vision. Her unparalleled success in music film and TV have inspired generations. We could not be happier to tell her story to cinema audiences," she added. Cher also previously worked with Eric Roth on the 1987 film Suspect, which he penned. Casting and plot of the biopic currently remains under wraps, however according to Deadline it will not be a break-into-song musical like Mamma Mia!. It's also not clear whether the film will attempt to cover the pop star's entire life, or focus on a particular era. - Music-News.com, 5/21/21...... In an e-mail message to Italian architect and music mogul (and anti-lockdown activist) Robin Monotti Graziadei, Eric Clapton hits out at what he terms "propaganda" over vaccine safety and says he suffered alarming side-effects after both his first and second vaccinations of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. Clapton, a lockdown skeptic, said his hands and feet became "useless" prompting fears he would never play again. "I took the first jab of AZ [AstraZeneca] and straight away had severe reactions which lasted ten days," the legendary guitarist said in his message to Grazaidei, adding he "recovered eventually" but suffered further "disastrous reactions" six weeks later after the second shot. "My hands and feet were either frozen, numb or burning, and pretty much useless for two weeks, I feared I would never play again... I should never have gone near the needle. But the propaganda said the vaccine was safe for everyone," he added. Clapton, who suffers from emphysema, ended his e-mail to Grazaidei, which was shared on Telegram and verified by Rolling Stone, by saying: "I've been a rebel all my life, against tyranny and arrogant authority, which is what we have now." Clapton criticized the UK government earlier in 2021 in an anti-lockdown song called "Stand And Deliver." The song was in collaboration with Van Morrison, who is also a critic of pandemic restrictions. It has been well-documented that possible side-effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine can potentially include fatigue, chills, fever, nausea, headaches or "generally feeling unwell". It can also cause "excessive sweating, itchy skin or rash," though this is less common. Many people have taken to social media to point out how their experiences with the AZ vaccine were much more mild or symptom-free in comparison to Clapton's. Music and entertainment celebrities who have received Covid vaccinations and encouraged others to do so include Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Elton John, WIllie Nelson, Roger Taylor, Rob Halford and Dolly Parton. - DailyMail.co.uk, 5/16/21...... The second part of music mogul Clive Davis's annual Grammy-related gala took place on May 15, with Davis virtually interviewing the likes of Elton John, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor, Dionne Warwick, Barry Manilow and Santana. The second edition, benefitting the Grammy Museum, had been slated to take place on Mar. 13 -- the night before the rescheduled Grammy Awards show -- but Davis contracted Bell's palsy and postponed the event until May 15. "I've always been drawn to miserable lyrics," joked Elton as Davis talked to him about writing the music for "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me." "I love that song so much, its always a favorite part of my repertoire. The song is about redemption, about hope and coming through the end of something sad," John added. In a rare appearance, Joni Mitchell talked to Davis about her hit, "Both Sides Now," a song she says she "grew into," as well as her musical path. Looking and sounding great following her 2015 brain aneurysm, Mitchell said she had her piano teacher to thank for her piano style. "When I was seven, I wrote an instrumental called 'Robin Walk.'" When Mitchell played it for her piano teacher, "she hit me across the knuckles with a ruler and said, 'Why would you want to play by ear when you have the masters to learn from?'" Mitchell quit and from then on was self-taught. "My style is unorthodox because I am uninfluenced by the masters." The first edition of Davis's pre-Grammys gala was held on Jan. 30 and included Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen and Barry Gibb, among others. - Billboard, 5/16/21...... The Who's frontman Roger Daltrey announced on May 21 he'll kick off a solo tour of the US on Aug. 21 at the Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena at Harveys in Stateline, Nev. Daltrey, 77, will tour with members of the Who's touring band for his "Live and Kicking Tour" for a few rare dates without his longtime bandmate Pete Townshend. "Roger Daltrey is delighted to announce that he and members of The Who touring band will be on the road late summer 2021, performing some Who hits, a few rarities and some solo hits," reads a message on the official Who website. "So far, three dates have been announced with several more to follow," with the other two dates to include the Northern Quest Resort & Casino in Spokane, Wash. on Sept. 1 and the Washington State Fair in Puyallup on Sept. 3. The Who were due to perform 11 dates in the UK and Ireland in March and April 2020, but they had to be were postponed due to the global coronavirus pandemic, the concerts are yet to be rescheduled but Daltrey has told fans they will "definitely happen." Daltrey and Townshend have been focused on reissues of the Who's back catalogue during the coronavirus lockdown, including a "super-deluxe" edition of 1967's The Who Sell Out and, this June, a double-LP version of 1981's Face Dances as part of Record Store Day to mark the album's 40th anniversary. - Music-News.com, 5/21/21...... Former Sex Pistols frontman John "Johnny Rotten" Lydon was reportedly snubbed from director Danny Boyle's 6-part Sex Pistols TV series Pistol for being "too difficult to work with." Jordan Mooney, a former muse of the band, claims Lydon was not included in the development of Boyle's biopic over his attitude. "[John] would just be a saboteur and he wouldn't bring much to the table," Mooney said in an interview with the UK paper The Sun. "John argues for the sake of arguing. He's a difficult person and I can't say that part of him has changed at all." She continued: "As he's got older, he's only got more difficult -- he's contrary... John has got a few issues about his importance in the world so him not being involved is the best thing that can happen." Lydon recently spoke out about the show, calling it "the most disrespectful shit I've ever had to endure" and says he will be seeking legal action as the show did not request his participation of consent. "I think that's the most disrespectful shit I've ever had to endure," Lydon said in an interview with London's The Sunday Times, reacting to recent publicity shots promoting the series. "I mean, they went to the point to hire an actor to play me but what's the actor working on? Certainly not my character. It can't go anywhere else [but court]." Pistol began shooting in April with Anson Boon starring as Lydon, and Louis Partridge as guitarist Sid Vicious. - New Musical Express, 5/20/21...... A new trailer for the forthcoming Aretha Franklin biopic Respect has been shared on YouTube, which covers the inception of the "Queen of Soul"'s classic song and the film's namesake. Respect will cover the life of Franklin, played by Jennifer Hudson, from her childhood days as a gospel singer to her rise to stardom as the most popular female soul singer of her time. Respect has been delayed several times due to the coronavirus pandemic, but is currently set to premiere in the US on Aug. 13 and in the UK on Sept. 10. Starring alongside Hudson will be a cast that includes Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans and Mary J. Blige. - NME, 5/20/21...... In a new interview with the New York Times, Irish singer Sinaéd O'Connor claims that she was once attacked by late pop/funk icon Prince at his Hollywood home. O'Connor said the incident occurred when Prince invited her to his Hollywood mansion after the 1991 cover of Prince's song "Nothing Compares 2 U" became a huge hit. According to O'Connor, Prince "chastised her for swearing in interviews, harangued his butler to serve her soup though she repeatedly refused it, and sweetly suggested a pillow fight only to thump her with something hard he'd slipped into his pillowcase." After allegedly escaping the house on foot in the middle of the night, Prince is said to have "stalked her with his car, leapt out and chased her around the highway." "You've got to be crazy to be a musician, but there's a difference between being crazy and being a violent abuser of women," said O'Connor, who gave a similar account of the experience with the UK paper The Mirror in 2007. She repeated similar claims of the singer trying to "beat her up" on Good Morning Britain in 2019. In 2018, Prince's ex-wife Mayte Garcia -- who was married to the singer from 1996-2000 -- spoke out in the star's defense, telling TMZ that he was never violent towards her or witnessed him being violent towards anyone. O'Connor was speaking ahead of the release of new memoir Rememberings, and also is planning to release her first album in seven years later in 2021. - NME, 5/19/21...... The new John Lennon and Yoko Ono "mini-documentary" 24 Hours: The World of John and Yoko is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video US. The 30-minute film is available to watch in full for the first time since its initial release on the BBC back in 1969 through the Coda Collection on Amazon. "Last seen more than 50 years ago, and having aired just once on TV, this intimate documentary -- captured over a five-day period -- shows a day in the life of John and Yoko while Lennon was still a member of the Beatles, controversies raged and activism became a central concern in the couple's everyday reality," an official description reads. 24 Hours... was directed by Paul Morrison and delves into Lennon and Ono's creative process, with filming having taken place at London's Abbey Road Studios, Lennon's Tittenhurst Park estate and the London headquarters of Apple Records. - NME, 5/18/21...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, Paul McCartney has teamed up with music producer Rick Rubin for a new documentary series on the Hulu streaming platform. McCartney 3, 2, 1 will explore McCartney's musical history as a former Beatle, for a rare one-on-one interview with Rubin. The six-episode series will span McCartney's work with the Beatles and Wings as well as his 50 plus years as a solo artist. It is set to debut on Hulu on July 16. "Never before have fans had the opportunity to hear Paul McCartney share, in such expansive, celebratory detail, the experience of creating his life's work - more than 50 years of culture-defining music," said Hulu exec Craig Erwich in a statement. McCartney 3, 2, 1 was directed by Zachary Heinzerling, while both McCartney and Rubin are among the executive producers on the project. Meanwhile, Sir Paul has topped London's Sunday Times' 2021 list of the most wealthy British musicians with an estimated fortune of £820m. Also making the Top 10 of the richest music people in Britain were Elton John (#4, £375m), Mick Jagger (#5, £310m), Keith Richards (#6, £295m), Olivia and Dhani Harrison (#7, £290m) and Ringo Starr (#8, £280m). - NME, 5/17/21...... American metal icons Motley Crue and English rockers Def Leppard have once again rescheduled their co-headline US tour, pushing the dates back to 2022. The two bands were originally set to hit the road over summer 2020, which was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Motley Crue shared on social media on May 14 that they would be pushing their rescheduled 2021 dates back another year, due to ongoing Covid restrictions and touring logistics. "To all our loyal fans, we wanted to let you know that we learned today that the tour is getting moved to 2022," they wrote on Facebook. "This is the only way to ensure that we can play ALL of the dates for ALL of you who have purchased tickets. We appreciate you hanging in there and can't wait to get back on stage and bring The Stadium Tour to all of our fans." Motley Crue and Def Leppard will still be joined by Poison and Joan Jett for the new run of shows, which kick off in June 2022. One final rescheduled date for Glendale, Ariz. is still to be announced. - NME, 5/16/21...... Actor Charles Grodin, best known for his roles in such films as 1992's Beethoven and 1972's The Heartbreak Kid as well as numerous television appearances, died of bone marrow cancer on May 18 at his home in Wilton, Conn. He was 86. With a great sense of deadpan comedy and the kind of Everyman good looks that lend themselves to playing businessmen or curmudgeonly fathers, Mr. Grodin found plenty of work as a supporting player and the occasional lead. He also had his own talk show for a time in the 1990s and was a frequent guest on the talk shows of others, making 36 appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and more than 40 on David Letterman's NBC and CBS shows combined. Mr. Grodin was a writer as well, with a number of plays and books to his credit. Though he never won a prestige acting award, he did win a writing Emmy for a 1977 Paul Simon television special, sharing it with Mr. Simon and six others. Born on April 21, 1935, in Pittsburgh, Mr. Grodin, who dropped out of the University of Miami to pursue acting, had managed to land a smattering of stage and television roles when, in 1962, he received his first big break, landing a part in a Broadway comedy called "Tchin-Tchin," which starred Anthony Quinn and Margaret Leighton. In 1975 came a breakthrough Broadway role opposite Ellen Burstyn in Bernard Slade's "Same Time, Next Year," a durable two-hander about a man and woman, each married to someone else, who meet once a year in the same inn room. The show ran for three and a half years, with an ever-changing cast; the two original stars left after seven months. Mr. Grodin by that point was in demand in Hollywood. (Burstyn reprised the role in a 1978 film adaptation, but this time opposite Alan Alda in the Grodin role.) Mr. Grodin had already appeared in Mike Nichols's Catch-22 in 1970 and had turned in one of his better-known film performances in the 1972 comic romance The Heartbreak Kid, in which he played a self-absorbed sporting goods salesman who marries in haste, immediately loses interest in his bride (Jeannie Berlin), and falls in love with another woman (Cybill Shepherd) on his honeymoon. (Elaine May, Nichols's longtime comedy partner and Ms. Berlin's mother, directed.) In 1978 he had a supporting role in the Warren Beatty vehicle Heaven Can Wait. Another signature role was in the action comedy Midnight Run in 1988, in which Mr. Grodin played an accountant who has embezzled a fortune from the mob and is being pursued by a bounty hunter, played by Robert De Niro. Mr. Grodin showed a different side in the mid-1990s when he hosted The Charles Grodin Show on the cable channel CNBC. After his talk show ended in 1998, Mr. Grodin largely stepped away from show business for a dozen years. Then he began to take roles again, including a recurring one on Louie, the comedian Louis C.K.'s series. Mr. Grodin is survived by his second wife, Elissa Durwood, and a son from his second marriage and a daughter from his first marriage, the comedian Marion Grodin, and a granddaughter. - The New York Times, 5/18/21.

"Retrospectrum," a comprehensive visual exhibition of Bob Dylan's artwork, will show in the U.S. for the first time in November when it opens at Florida International University's Frost Museum. Described as the "most expansive and detailed" exhibition of Dylan's artwork ever seen on U.S. soil," the show will open on Nov. 30 at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum on the FIU campus, and will span six decades of Dylan's drawing, painting and sculpture." According to a press release, "The exhibition's curation has been designed to showcase the development and diversity in Dylan's visual practice, while immersive and interactive displays will simultaneously illuminate the context of that development in tandem with that of his musical and literary canon." The exhibition will open at the same time as FIU's humanities and arts hub, The Wolfsonian Public Humanities Lab (WPHL), which will present a Dylan symposium that "explores the myriad facets of Bob Dylan's career and cultural influence." Both will be timed with Miami Art Week, with further programming and event information to be announced soon. - Billboard, 5/10/21...... On May 12 the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced the class of 2021 inductees into the Cleveland, Oh.-based hall and museum, with '70s stars Carole King, Tina Turner and Todd Rundgren making the cut, along with alt-rock veterans Foo Fighters, '80s new wave pioneers The Go-Go's, and East Coast hip-hop icon Jay-Z. Of the 2021 performer inductees, Turner, King and Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl are already in the RRHOF: King as part of the songwriting duo Goffin/King, making her the first person in the Rock Hall as a performer and non-performer; Turner for her incendiary work in the R&B duo Ike & Tina Turner; and Grohl as drummer of grunge legends Nirvana. Early rap pioneer LL Cool J, keyboard master Billy Preston and hard rock guitar ace Randy Rhoads are also joining the Rock Hall with the "award for musical excellence" (which was originally titled the "sidemen" category when it debuted). And under the "early influence award" category, electronic trailblazers Kraftwerk, spoken-word poet Gil Scott-Heron and Father of the Delta Blues Charley Patton are joining the RRHOF. Music impresario Clarence Avant is the recipient of the Ahmet Ertegun award. The Rock Hall hailed the Class of 2021 as "the most diverse list of Inductees in the history of the organization," with 2021 being the first year in the Hall's 36-year history that three all-female acts will be inducted in the performers category at the same time. Nominated this year, but not inducted, were Kate Bush, Rage Against The Machine, Iron Maiden, New York Dolls, Mary J. Blige, Devo, Chaka Khan, Fela Kuti and Dionne Warwick. This year's nominees will be inducted at the 2021 ceremony on Oct. 30 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Oh., with a radio simulcast on SiriusXM's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame radio channel. The 36th annual RRHOF induction ceremony will broadcast on HBO and stream on HBO Max at a later date. - Billboard, 5/12/21...... Bruce Springsteen revealed that "we have a record coming out soon that's set largely in the West" during an acceptance speech for the Woody Guthrie Prize in New York on May 14. "I've always said that Bob Dylan was the father of my country, but [Woody Guthrie] was the grandfather of my country," the New Jersey rocker said as he became the eighth recipient of the prize. Guthrie's daughter Nora inducted Springsteen saying, "First, you attracted us, then you magnetized us... You spoke for us and to us and to top it off, entertained us... The troubadour's job is to express that flow of what is happening in the people's lives and that's mirrored in everything you do.... The greatness of your work lies in the fact that you continue to remain in this flow. You never abandoned it." Springsteen said he was 28 when he began searching for some sense of salvation--ultimately finding it in Guthrie's music. "I was going through a period in my life when I felt strangely hopeless," he said. He has written and released the bleak masterpiece, 1978's Darkness on the Edge of Town, which, he said, was a "dark examination of what I felt my community of people that I come from and that I was speaking to, who were under siege." Springsteen looked toward pop and country music in pursuit of hope, saying to Nora, "It wasn't until I came across your father's work that I found that hope." A new album from Springsteen will follow 2019's Western Stars, which also celebrated the American West, and 2020's Letter to You. - Billboard, 5/14/21...... Alice Cooper is auctioning an artwork by renowned pop artist Andy Warhol that could become the highest selling artwork ever in his home state of Arizona. Warhol's "Little Electric Chair," a red acrylic and silkscreen canvas was part of the late Warhol's "Death and Disaster" series between 1964 and 1965 that was gifted to Cooper in the 1970s by a girlfriend who was friends with Warhol. Cooper says he plans to make the canvas available for public viewing before it's auctioned by the Larsen Gallery in Scottsdale on Oct. 23. The gallery estimates it could fetch anywhere from $2.5 million to $4.5 million, and gallery owners say they will donate part of any commission to Cooper's nonprofit, Solid Rock, which works to bring music, dance and other forms of art to teens. Meanwhile, Cooper is set to headline the 2022 "Monsters of Rock" cruise in February 2022, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary next year. Those aboard the Royal Caribbean's Freedom Of The Seas will visit two ports in CocoCay, Bahamas and Labadee, Haiti, and watch performances from over 35 artists, which in addition to Alice will include the likes of Queensryche, Skid Row, L.A. Guns, Great White, Pat Travers, Y&T, Lillian Axe and Faster Pussycat. "Interactive events" between artists and fans during the Feb. 9-14 cruise, according to a press release, will include "Artist/Cruiser Q&A sessions, Gong Show Karaoke, 'So You Think You Can Shred,' Cooking with Rock Stars, Painting With Rock Stars, Rock Stars vs Average Joe Basketball, and Beach Volleyball, with more to be announced." Cooper, who recently told the New York Post's "Page Six" column that he's a devout Christian who prays daily, reads the Bible and credits his faith with helping him stay sober, also recently partnered with Cooper Tire to find the most talented garage band in the US. The Ohio-based band South of Eden won, and as the grand prize, the band opened for Evanescence in a special livestreamed concert on May 13.- AP/New Musical Express, 5/14/21...... Guitars from Eddie Van Halen, Eric Clapton and Aerosmith as well as autographed memorabilia from the Beatles and even strands of hair from Nirvana's Kurt Cobain are some of the highlights of an online rock 'n' roll auction that well end over the third weekend in May. The item with the highest minimum bid is a collarless, dark blue jacket custom made for Paul McCartney that starts at $25,000. It was worn onstage over a six-night stand at Bournemouth, England's Gaumont Theatre in 1963. There's also a copy of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band signed by McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, and a sheet of handwritten "Blowin' in the Wind" lyrics signed by Bob Dylan. Other treasures include band-signed copies of Led Zeppelin II, Queen's self-titled debut, and Pink Floyd's Animals. Among the 70 or so guitars is one signed by Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne from Black Sabbath and starts at $500. A portion of proceeds will benefit Crew Nation, a relief fund for live music touring and venue crews who are facing hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic. - AP, 5/13/21...... Speaking of Paul McCartney, the former Beatles says practicing eye yoga has helped preserve his eyesight over the years. Sir Paul spoke about the practice during a guest appearance on the latest episode of the Jessie Ware-hosted Table Manners podcast. McCartney's daughter Mary McCartney, who also featured on the podcast, brought up her father's eye yoga routine which, he claims, has helped maintain his eyesight without the need for glasses. "I learned [it] off some yogi in India," McCartney then explained about the practice. "He explained that your eyes are muscles whereas your ears aren't, so you can't exercise your ears. But your eyes, you can." He then talked the listeners through the practice: "So, head still, and then you look up as far as you can, one, two, three, go back to the middle, then down, one, two, three, then back to the middle. You do three lots of that, then go to the left and the right. Now you've got a cross, up and down, and sideways, now you do the diagonals." McCartney said that he believed that regularly doing eye yoga over the years has ensured that he hasn't ever needed to get glasses. "It's pretty good stuff. It makes sense, though, doesn't it? It makes sense if they [eyes] are muscles," he said, adding later: "I don't know if it means that that's why I don't need glasses when I'm reading a newspaper. It makes sense, you know? It's a good idea." - NME, 5/13/21...... Jimmy Buffett kicked off a four-night stand (May 13-14, 17-18) at The Pavilion at Old School Square in Delray Beach, Fla., not far from his home in Palm Beach. The reduced seating due to coronavirus restrictions allows for around 850 people per show -- seated in fenced four-person pods. Tickets for all four shows at the open-air venue sold out in around 10 minutes. Buffett calls the concerts "spring training" for when his summer job resumes -- playing full-capacity shows, rescheduled from last year -- in July. Buffett played (and filmed) two shows at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, Calif. for an invited crowd of 40 people in April, but, otherwise, the Delray Beach concerts will be his first in 14 months, and the singer/songwriter says he's excited to perform live again. "The pandemic comes along and I'm gin-clear focused on the things that I actually can do, and the things that I can't do I can't whine about," Buffett says. "It's like you getting on a boat: If there's a storm, you can't go back to the hotel and order Eggs Benedict. You gotta get your a-- through the storm. So that's what it was kinda like." Buffett, who will reach his milestone 75th birthday on Christmas Day 2021, says he'd like to finish a rock & roll book he's working on. "It's based on when we went to Montserrat and did the [1979] Volcano album," Buffett says. "I'm making it fictitious, but it's based on that whole episode, which you can't believe the s--t that happened. I still can't. There are so many stories and I file them away. It's a funny book, but it's a real rock 'n roll book. It's not a miserable experience, let's just say." Buffett says he'd rather put another album out than doing "some 75th anniversary thing." "I've got five songs now. I like what I'm doing. It's a little more kind of down island -- authentic Creole and Trinidadian and Calypso kind of influences are in it," he says. - Billboard, 5/12/21...... Pervis Staples, a co-founding member of the iconic gospel group The Staple Singers best known for such hits as "Respect Yourself," the No. 1 "Let's Do It Again", and "I'll Take You There," died at his home in Dolton, Ill. on May 6, with no cause given. He was 85. Pervis' late father Roebuck "Pops" Staples founded the Staple Singers with his children Mavis, Pervis, Cleotha and Yvonne Staples in 1948. Their first performances were in churches around Chicago, singing predominantly gospel. The Staple Singers signed their first professional contract in 1952, recording early hits like "Uncloudy Day" -- a reported influence on Bob Dylan. It wasn't until signing to Epic that the group moved to the more mainstream soul and R&B that would bring them wider fame. Their biggest hits came in the 1970s while signed to Stax Records. The group also appeared with The Band in the Martin Scorsese-directed concert film The Last Waltz in 1978. Pervis Staples left the Staple Singers before their biggest successes, following the release of Soul Folks in Action in 1968. Pervis left the Staple Singers before their biggest successes, following the release of 'Soul Folks in Action' in 1968. Mavis Staples explained Pervis' departure as "wanting to prove himself outside his father's shadow." "He had been in the army, and he was standing up for himself as a man. Pervis just got tired of only being thought of as Daddy's son." Pervis was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame along with the Staple Singers in 1998, and the group received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005. Mavis Staples gave a statement on Pervis' death to Rolling Stone, calling him "one of a kind -- comical and downright fly." "He would want to be remembered as an upright man, always willing to help and encourage others. He was one of the good guys and will live on as a true Chicago legend." The group is now survived only by Mavis Staples, after Pops died in 2000, Cleotha in 2013, and most recently Yvonne in 2018. Pervis is survived by his six children, seven grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. - NME, 5/13/21...... Julie E. "Tawny" Kitaen, who famously appeared in several Whitesnake music videos and starred as Tom Hanks's fiance in Bachelor Party, died on May 7 in her Newport Beach, Calif., home. She was 59. The Orange County Coroner's Office confirmed her death via a press release, which listed her as Tawny Finley. Her cause of death has not yet been released. Born in San Diego, Kitaen began her journey as an '80s music video heartthrob by appearing on several albums for the heavy metal band RATT, as well as their "Back for More" video. She later appeared in a video for Whitesnake's 1987 smash hit "Here I Go Again," along with "Still of the Night," "Is This Love" and "The Deeper the Love." Kitaen was briefly married to Whitesnake lead singer David Coverdale from 1989-1991. Notable film and television roles include for Kitaen include Witchboard, White Hot, Dead Tides, Santa Barbara, Seinfeld and most recently Moms Anonymous. She also recently appeared in several reality shows, including The Surreal Life, Botched and Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew Pinsky. Kitaen was also married to baseball player Chuck Finley from 1997 to 2002. They had two daughters together. - The Hollywood Reporter, 5/8/21.