Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on December 12th, 2021

As ABBA have recently been nominated for their first ever Grammy (in the Record of the Year category for "I Still Have Faith In You"), the group have joked that a new Grammy category should be made especially for groups like themselves who have been away for a long time. "A Grammy should be mandatory for those who dare leave 40 years between album releases. We suggest a new category. ABBA - Agnetha, Bjrn, Benny, Anni-Frid," the group's Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid (Frida) Lyngstad told Variety. Meanwhile, ABBA's new album Voyage has already gone Platinum within just the first month of its release. Voyage debuted at number one on album charts in 18 countries and broke multiple chart records, selling over one million copies during its first week and receiving over 275 million combined streams to date. "We are so happy that our fans seem to have enjoyed our new album as much as we enjoyed making it! We are absolutely over the moon to have an album at the top of the charts again," the group said of the new album's early success. ABBA recently released the YouTube video for their first-ever Christmas song, "Little Things," and in 2022 the Swedish pop icons will showcase their new music at a string of "revolutionary" concerts at London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. - New Musical Express, 12/12/21...... In a new interview with Classic Rock magazine, Queen drummer Roger Taylor questioned the acting ability of Sacha Baron Cohen, who was once considered for the role of Freddie Mercury in the hit Queen/Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, speculating that the Borat star would have been "shit" in that role. "I think he would have been utter shit. Sacha is pushy, if nothing else," Taylor said, adding that Cohen was "also six inches too tall." "But I watched his last five films and came to the conclusion he's not a very good actor," Taylor added. "I might be wrong there. I thought he was an utterly brilliant subversive comedian, that's what he's great at. Anyway, I think Rami [Malek] did a brilliant job in an almost impossible role." The role of Mercury eventually went to Malek, who won an Oscar for his performance. The film was criticized for altering the timeline of events for dramatic effect, including changing the date Mercury told his bandmates he was HIV positive. However, Taylor argued that the film "didn't fictionalize the real story, only in detail" and that it simply "messed with the timeline." "When you're making a movie, which is approximately a hundred minutes long, you have to mess with the timeline to make it work," Taylor explained. "The movie has to work, that's priority one." - NME, 12/8/21...... Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi has left open the door to more Sabbath shows following the heavy metal icons' farewell tour in 2017. "You can never say never, can you? We've known in this band you can never say, 'That's never gonna happen again,' because every time we said that, it has," Iommi said in a new interview. "We never thought we'd get back with Ozzy [Osbourne] after the early years. We never thought we'd get back with [Ronnie James] Dio again; we did. So you just can't say it's never gonna happen," he added. Iommi elaborated that "it's just the major touring that has come to a stop." "I wouldn't wanna do 18-month tours again but that doesn't say we wouldn't do any one-off stuff," he said. However, in Sept. 2021 Osbourne revealed that he didn't have the "slightest interest" in a return for Black Sabbath. "It's done," the frontman said, while bassist Geezer Butler backed up Osbourne two months later, saying "there will definitely be no more Sabbath." Osbourne is expected to release his next solo album "over the next six months," according to a recent financial statement issued by his label Sony Records. - NME, 12/11/21...... Cher's legal battle with Mary Bono, the second wife of Cher's late first husband Sonny Bono, by arguing that Sonny should not be allowed to claim that her divorce agreement trumps important provisions of federal copyright law. In November, Cher sued Mary Bono, seeking to block her from taking control of Sonny's music. The case is one of several closely-watched music lawsuits over copyright law's "termination right" -- a provision that allows creators or their heirs to win back control of rights they signed away decades prior. On Dec. 9, Mary Bono filed papers to dismiss the case, arguing that Cher's lawsuit was essentially trying to argue that her divorce agreement with Sonny was more powerful than a law passed by the U.S. Congress. "Cher's position would subvert Congress' intent in enacting the copyright termination provisions: to ensure that authors and authors' heirs, not grantees or ex-spouses, would benefit from the extended term of copyright," Bono's attorneys wrote. Cher's case is one of several pending industry fights over terminations. Two pending class actions filed by artists are seeking to regain control of masters owned by Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. KC & the Sunshine Band and 2 Live Crew are fighting similar cases, too. A formal response filing from Cher is due in several weeks. - Billboard, 12/9/21...... Recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Foo Fighters brought KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons onstage during a recent show at Park MGM's Dolby Live theatre in Las Vegas. After spotting a fan who bore a striking resemblance to Simmons, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl then invited the real Gene Simmons to come out from the side of the stage. As he left the stage Grohl said: "Can we just hear it one more time for Gene F---ING Simmons," before he told the crowd he had posters of the KISS legend on his wall as a child. Footage of the incident has been shared on YouTube. Following the show Grohl and Greg Kurstin wrapped up their second-annual "Hanukkah Sessions" with a cover of the KISS classic "Rock And Roll All Nite." The pair spent eight days covering songs by Jewish artists -- one for each day of the Festival Of Lights. - NME, 12/9/21...... Bonnie Raitt will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy, the organization behind the Grammy Awards, when the awards are belatedly presented in a ceremony at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles on Jan. 30, 2022, the night before the 64th annual Grammy Awards. Raitt will join the Recording Academy's 2021 class of Special Merit Award recipients, first announced in Dec. 2020, which include Lifetime Achievement Awards (for performers), Trustees Awards (for non-performers), the Technical Grammy Award and the Music Educator Award. Raitt was approached about a lifetime achievement award in 2021, but declined because of Covid-19 concerns. Because of the pandemic, the 2021 Special Merit Award honorees were unable to attend the 63rd annual Grammy Awards. They were briefly acknowledged during the telecast. Raitt is a 10-time Grammy winner, including Album of The Year for Nick of Time at the 32nd annual Grammy Awards in Feb. 1990. - Billboard, 12/9/21...... The deluxe special edition reissue of The Beatles' 1970 No. 1 LP Let It Be has vaulted from No. 10 to No. 1 on Billboard's Top Rock Albums chart following the Nov. 25 premiere of the new Beatles documentary The Beatles: Get Back, which chronicles the album's recording, on the Disney+ channel. In the chart dated Dec. 2, Let It Be earned 27,000 equivalent album units, up 124%, according to MRC Data. Of that sum, 18,000 units are from album sales (up 115%), and the set also surges 21-6 on the Top Album Sales chart. The Beatles now boast five No. 1's on Top Rock Albums, which began in 2006, as Let It Be follows Love (2007), On Air: Live at the BBC Volume 2 (2013), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road, the latter two reigning following anniversary reissues in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Meanwhile, other albums by the Fab Four have also gained amid interest in the band's catalog. Abbey Road jumped from 9-3 (20,000 units, up 59%), the best-of set 1 ranks at No. 26 (9,000, up 8%) and The Beatles ("The White Album") re-enters at No. 45 (7,000, up 32%). - Billboard, 12/8/21...... A previously unseen video by The Police for their No. 1 UK hit "Don't Stand So Close To Me" has been unearthed from the band's archives after 41 years and shared on YouTube in time for Christmas 2021. Filmed in Grey Rock, Quebec, Canada (the same location as their "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" music video), the clip was shot during the winter of 1980 as the Grammy-winning trio were on tour through Canada and the U.S. promoting their new LP Zenyatta Mondatta. The Police were due to perform a concert at Montreal's Centre Sportif on the day the video was filmed, but the performance was rescheduled to Jan. 7, 1981. Police frontman Sting recently released his latest solo album, The Bridge, which has received widespread acclaim. - Music-News.com, 12/9/21...... A livestream concert marking what would have been David Bowie's 75th birthday on Jan. 8, 2022, has been announced. The concert will feature several longtime members of Bowie's band, along with appearances from the likes of Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon and John Taylor, Def Leppard, Living Colour as well as actor Gary Oldman and comedian/actor Ricky Gervais. "It's an honour to be able to continue to share David Bowie's music with the world," Bowie's longtime keyboardist Mike Garson told Rolling Stone magazine. "I'm excited for everyone to be able to experience this very special show we've got in store in celebration of what would have been David's 75th birthday with the bandmates he recorded and performed with, plus a great group of guest artists who he was such an influence to," he added. The estate of Bowie, who died on Jan. 10, 2016, announced in October that the 75th anniversary celebration of his birth will include two limited-time pop-up shop experiences in New York and London beginning Oct. 25 that will kick-off a year-long celebration of all things Bowie. A new box set of Bowie's material from 1992-2001, David Bowie 5: Brilliant Adventure, hit stores on Nov. 26. - NME, 12/8/21...... The Beach Boys have announced a huge summer show in London in 2022, at the Royal Albert Hall as part of their "Sixty Years of the Sounds of Summer" tour. The current lineup of the legendary American band is led by BB co-founder Mike Love alongside longtime member Bruce Johnston. Two other original members, Brian Wilson and Al Jardine are not involved with the "Sixty Years of the Sounds of Summer" tour, and recently announced a co-headline US tour with Chicago for next summer, after postponing UK dates due to Covid-related complications. In August, the band released Feel Flows - The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions 1969-1971, a reissue of their critically acclaimed LP's Sunflower and Surf's Up. - NME, 12/8/21...... On Dec. 6, The Rolling Stones played an intimate London show in celebration of their late bandmate Charlie Watts. Frontman Mick Jagger, guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, as well as former Stones bassist Bill Wyman were all in attendance at Ronnie Scott's in Soho, along with a number of Watts' family and friends. The event was moderated by Jools Holland who led a house band featuring Dave Green (Watt's childhood friend and a frequent collaborator in his jazz bands), Ben Waters and Axel Zwingenberger. Members of the Stones' touring band also performed, and the evening ended with an impromptu jam session by Watts' bandmates Jagger, Wood and Richards performing the rhythm and blues standards "Shame Shame Shame" and "Down the Road Apiece." - NME, 12/7/21...... Ralph Tavares, the eldest of the five brothers in the Grammy-winning R&B singing group Tavares whose hits included "It Only Takes a Minute and "Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel," died of as yet undisclosed causes at his home in South Dartmouth, Mass., on Dec. 8, two days before his 80th birthday. The Tavares brothers, sons of immigrants from Cape Verde who were based in New Bedford, Mass., began performing together in 1959, settling on the name Tavares in 1973, the same year they had their first hit, "Check It Out." The group hit their chart peaks with 19752 s "It Only Takes a Minute, which reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Hot Soul Singles chart, and 19762 s "Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel," which got to No. 15 on the Hot 100 and No. 3 on Hot Soul Singles. Tavares' cover of the Bee Gees' "More Than a Woman" appeared on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in 1977 along with the original. The soundtrack won a Grammy for album of the year and was a massive hit, giving the brothers wider fame and leaving them associated with disco, though their music was an amalgam of styles include R&B, funk and soul. Tavares and all of the artists on the soundtrack received Grammys for Album of the Year. Tavares was also nominated for a Grammy in 1982 for the single "A Penny for Your Thoughts. Ralph Tavares left the group in 1984 and worked for about 30 years as an officer in the Massachusetts state courts, working in the courtroom for the 2015 murder trial of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez. Ralph Tavares reunited with the group in 2014 and continued performing with his brothers until his death. According to the group's manager, the group had a show booked for Dec. 11 in the Poconos. - Billboard, 12/10/21...... American musician/songwriter/singer David Lasely, a prized backup singer for the likes of Neil Diamond, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Luther Vandross and Burt Bacharach, passed away on Dec. 9 at the age of 75. Lasley co-wrote Bonnie Raitt's "I Ain't Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again and "Got You On My Mind." Raitt took to social media with fond words about Lasley, stating, "I am so sorry to hear of the passing of yet another beautiful friend and bright light in our music world, golden voiced David Lasley." Lasley's four octave vocal range made him a coveted backup singer, especially with his falsetto voice. Over the course of his career, he also worked behind James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Bette Midler and Ringo Starr. In the early 1980s, Lasley was signed to Geffen Records but bought his way out of his contract when he became dissatisfied with the label asking him to "copy other artists, according to the Los Angeles Times interview. Between 1981 and 2006, Lasley released eight solo albums and served as a co-writer on countless singles for Raitt, LaBelle, Arnold McCuller, Whitney Houston, Dusty Springfield, Anita Baker and more. Tributes to the late singer poured in after the news of his passing, with Desmond Child, James Taylor and more expressing their condolences online and sharing his music. - Billboard, 12/10/21...... Jamaican musician Robbie Shakespeare, one half of the duo Sly and Robbie, has passed away at age 68. Shakespeare had reportedly recently undergone surgery related to his kidneys and was hospitalized in Florida. The iconic bassist formed Sly and Robbie with drummer Sly Dunbar in the mid-70s after having both worked separately in other bands. After bonding over an affinity for reggae production, they went to work producing for other artists, with their breakout credit being the Mighty Diamonds' 1976 album Right Time. Sly and Robbie's production work led them to work with a myriad of acts throughout the decades, including multiple albums for Bob Dylan and Grace Jones. They also helped produce and remix tracks by Bob Marley, Madonna, Britney Spears and Mick Jagger, while also helming production on No Doubt's 2001 smash hit "Hey Baby." Throughout their career, Sly and Robbie also went on to release several albums of their own, the last of which was 2019's The Final Battle: Sly & Robbie vs. Roots Radicswhich was nominated for Best Reggae Album at the 2019 Grammys. - NME, 12/9/21...... Michael Nesmith, one of the stars of The Monkees, a 1960s TV comedy series about a rock quartet modeled after The Beatles, died on Dec. 10 of natural causes, his family announced in a statement on his website. He was 78. "With infinite love we announce that Michael Nesmith has passed away this morning in his home, surrounded by family, peacefully and of natural causes. We thank you for the love and light that all of you have shown him and us," the family said. Known for his trademark wool watch cap and quiet demeanour, Nesmith was a singer, guitarist and songwriter for the band, a made-for-television ensemble that would form the cast of the NBC series. Born in Houston on Dec. Dec. 30, 1942, Nesmith was 24 and an up-and-coming musician getting noticed for penning such tunes as "Different Drum" -- which would be recorded in 1967 by the Linda Ronstadt-led Stone Poneys -- when he was cast from nearly 450 aspiring actor-musican applicants as one of the four carefree youngsters living in a California beach house looking to make it in the music world on The Monkees. The brainchild of producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, the comedy was designed to cash in on the popularity of The Beatles by mirroring the zaniness of Help! and A Hard Day's Night. An immediate hit upon its Sept. 1966 debut, it won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series after its first season and became a pop culture phenomenon. The TV series, which ran until Aug. 1968 and introduced by its catchy theme, "Hey, Hey, We're the Monkees," was an immediate ratings hit weeks after the group's first single, "Last Train to Clarksville," had topped the pop charts in the autumn of 1966. The group collaborated early with some of the major songwriters and top session musicians of the day, including Neil Diamond, Carole King, Glen Campbell and Hal Blaine. Nesmith was the group's guitarist, and also one of its songwriters, penning the likes of "The Girl I Knew Somewhere," "Listen to the Band" and "Mary, Mary." After the series was canceled, Nesmith branched out with the First National Band, a country-rock band that produced several critically acclaimed albums, including Loose Salute, in the early 1970s. He also wrote hits for country stars Linda Ronstadt and Lynn Anderson. He then founded Pacific Arts Corp, a multimedia firm and won the first-ever Grammy Award for a music video, "Elephant Parts," in 1982. In 1996-97 Nesmith rejoined band members Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz to tour Britain, make a reunion album and a TV special. Jones died in 2012, and Tork died in 2019. Nesmith's final show was less than a month ago, when he and Micky Dolenz ended a farewell tour at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on Nov. 14. "I'm heartbroken. I've lost a dear friend and partner. I'm so grateful that we could spend the last couple of months together doing what we loved best - singing, laughing, and doing shtick," Dolenz said in a post on Twitter. One famous bit of trivia concerning Nesmith was that his mother, Bette Nesmith, worked as a secretary, which led to her developing the typewriter correction fluid known as Liquid Paper. Nesmith was married and divorced three times. Survivors include his children, Christian, Jonathan, Jason and Jessica. - Reuters/The Hollywood Reporter, 12/10/21.

Elvis Costello announced on Twitter on Dec. 6 that he and his band The Imposters will mount a 13-city UK tour in the summer of 2022, kicking off at Brighton Dome on June 5, 2022 before wrapping up at London's Hammersmith Eventim Apollo on June 23. Other cities on the itinerary include Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Birmingham, and Leicester. Costello and The Imposters' upcoming album, The Boy Named If [And Other Children's Stories], hits stores on Jan. 14. "'IF' is a nickname for your imaginary friend; your secret self, the one who knows everything you deny, the one you blame for the shattered crockery and the hearts you break, even your own," Costello said about the album's title in a press release. - New Musical Express, 12/7/21...... '70s artists Joni Mitchell and Bette Midler were among the honorees at the prestigious 44th annual Kennedy Center Honors in the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 5. Also receiving the honor were Motown visionary Berry Gordy Jr., renowned bass/baritone singer Justino Diaz, and Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels. Also in attendance were Pres. Joe Biden, Paul Simon, Smokey Robinson, Ellie Goulding and Brittany Howard. To mark the celebrations, Stevie Wonder gave a mini concert of Motown hits including "You Are the Sunshine of My Life," "Superstition" and a custom "I Just Called To Say I Love You." Joni Mitchell, who suffered a brain aneurysm in 2015 that left her temporarily unable to walk or talk, addressed her ongoing health issues during her acceptance, saying "I always think that polio was a rehearsal for the rest of my life," referring to the disease she suffered aged nine. "I've had to come back several times from things. And this last one was a real whopper. But, you know, I'm hobbling along but I'm doing all right!," she added. Mitchell will also be at the center of a tribute concert held by MusiCares, the charity arm of The Recording Academy which hosts the annual Grammy awards, on Jan. 29, 2022 during Grammy week in Los Angeles. - Billboard/NME, 12/6/21...... ABBA filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court on Dec. 3 against a British tribute band called "Abba Mania" for trademark infringement, calling the act's behavior "parasitic and bad-faith." Tribute bands -- acts that exclusively cover the music of a particular band -- often adopt names that refer or allude to the original, but they can typically avoid legal issues by clearly stating that they are not affiliated with the original, often appending "A [Band] Tribute after their name. In its suit ABBA maintains that "Abba Mania" "includes the term 'official' and 'original' in many of their marketing materials, website pages, and social media handles, which gives consumers the impression that there is some kind of association, affiliation, or sponsorship between ABBA and ABBA MANIA." ABBA says they gave "Abba Mania" an opportunity to "properly use the phrase "ABBA Tribute' in a non-confusing manner" and not include "ABBA" in its title, however "they refused to comply." Meanwhile in other ABBA-related news, the band has released their first ever Christmas single, "Little Things," and shared its video on YouTube. "Little Things" is described as a simple song and gentle reflection on the joy of Christmas morning and family time around the holidays. The ballad has specific holiday references, including "As a brand-new day is dawning/ It's a lovely Christmas morning." And "Oh, what joy Santa brings/ Thanks old friend for packing Christmas stockings full of nice little things." "Little Things" is the third single from the iconic Swedish group's latest album Voyage, following "I Still Have Faith in You" (which received a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year) and "Just a Notion." Proceeds from the sale of "Little Things" will go to UNICEF to support the Global Child Protection Fund. "We support UNICEF in protecting girls from sexual violence and empowering them through the Global Child Protection Fund," ABBA said in a statement." We have done so for many years with our song 'Chiquitita' and now we have decided to give UNICEF a Christmas gift in the form of a second song," they added. - Billboard, 12/6/21...... The Rolling Stones have topped the Billboard Touring Chart's year end tally as their "No Filter" tour becomes the most popular tour of 2021. The Stones kicked off the U.S. 2021 leg of the tour in St. Louis, Mo., on Sept. 26 with a $7.2 million night. In just eight stadium shows during the annual tracking period, the tour grossed $72.3 million and sold 340,000 tickets, becoming the No. 1 tour of the year. Those earnings break down to $16.3 million from two shows in September and $56 million from six shows in October, enough to be the top-grossing tour of that month. No Filter's $72.3 million finish averages out to $9.04 million per show, and the band also grabs the highest average per-night attendance with 42,549 tickets sold. - Billboard, 12/2/21...... The late rocker Tom Petty, who in 2002 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with his band The Heartbreakers, has been honored once again, this time with an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Florida. UF's board of trustees unanimously voted to award Thomas Earl Petty a posthumous doctoral degree in music during a Dec. 3 meeting. Born and raised in the UF headquarters of Gainesville, Petty once worked as a groundskeeper at the college as he tried to make it in the music industry, but he was never enrolled. Petty passed away from an accidental drug overdose in October 2017. Days later during a UF home football game, his hit "I Won't Back Down" was played at the stadium as a memorial to the musician. The song has since become a regular feature at Florida Gators games. - Billboard, 12/4/21...... Several artists who recorded for A&M Records during their careers including Sting, Burt Bacharach, Merry Clayton, Sergio Mendes and Herb Alpert are set to perform at "Live at The Music Center: Concerts Celebrating Jerry Moss, Co-Founder of A&M Records." The events honoring A&M co-founder Jerry Moss will take place at the The Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles on Feb. 11-12, 2022. 2022 will mark the 60th anniversary of A&M Records, the legendary label that Moss and Herb Alpert co-founded on a handshake and an investment of $200 from both men. Over 25 years, A&M grew into the world's largest independent record label, signing such iconic stars as The Police, Carpenters, Janet Jackson, Joe Cocker, Peter Frampton and Carole King (on Lou Adler's Ode subsidiary). Moss won a Grammy for co-producing (with Alpert) Alpert & The Tijuana Brass' sleek instrumental "A Taste of Honey," the 1965 winner for Record of the Year. Alpert and Moss received trustees awards from the Recording Academy in 1997. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, receiving the Ahmet Ertegun Award for non-performers. After selling A&M Records to Polygram in 1989, Moss and Alpert formed Almo Sounds. Moss serves as chairman of both Almo Sounds and Rondor Music Inc., a music publishing company. - Billboard, 12/2/21...... Speaking of Sting, the British Grammy winner thinks his latest album The Bridge will be "overshadowed" by the likes of Adele and Ed Sheeran's latest efforts. "I'm not in a pit with Ed or Adele," Sting told the UK's The Sun paper. "I think they're great. This is the best time to release a record, even if it is overshadowed," he added. Sting says the pandemic was a direct source of inspiration for new music and admitted that the album came about as a bit of a surprise following the shut down of his musical "The Last Ship." "[The new music] helped save my mental health. We were doing a month in San Francisco and, during the second week, I was down on the dock watching the cruise ship come in. It was an omen. That day, we did the matine and the mayor shut the city down. So, I got myself back to England and thought, 'Now what?' It was a bit of a shock but look at the advantages. I was in the same bed with my lovely wife (Trudie Styler) and my dog was very happy," he said. - Music-News.com, 12/3/21...... The new Beatles docuseries The Beatles: Get Back has prompted tracks from the film to top the LyricFind US tally, whose Global and LyricFind U.S. charts rank the fastest momentum-gaining tracks in lyric-search queries and usages globally and in the U.S., respectively. According to LyricFind, lyric usages and searches of Get Back saw a 1,965% increase in the U.S. following Get Back's Nov. 26 premiere on the Disney+ streaming channel. In other Beatles news, rare interviews with each member of the band have been made into NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and are now up for auction. The online auction for The Beatles Collection began on Dec. 6 through the Voices Of Classic Rock Archive, which hosts 650 historic interviews and radio shows featuring major rock artists recorded between 1964 and 2008. Four separate snippets from conversations with Paul McCartney (on Chaos And Creation In The Backyard), John Lennon (on "A Day In The Life"), George Harrison (on Abbey Road) and Ringo Starr (on "His Lost Medallion") are available on the site. Meanwhile, the family of longtime Beatles roadie/manager/friend Mal Evans, who features prominently in the Get Back docuseries -- have announced the publication of an authorised biography set to cover his life and career. HarperCollins' Dey Street Books imprint will publish it in 2023, with Evans' estate working closely with author and Beatles scholar Kenneth Womack to tell Evans' story in resounding detail. The biography, as yet untitled, will be followed in 2024 with a sprawling compendium of Evans' personal archives, which will feature diaries, manuscripts and more. Having obtained the Beatles' blessing, Evans planned to published those manuscripts himself before his death at age 40 in Jan. 1976. - Billboard/NME, 12/7/21...... Carlos Santana announced on Twitter on Dec. 1 that he has successfully undergone an "unscheduled heart procedure" but has been forced to cancel several Las Vegas shows planned for December. Santana said he asked his wife to take him to the hospital on Nov. 27 because of an issue with his chest. "I'm going to be taking time off for a little bit to make sure that I replenish and rest," he said. The 10-time Grammy winner's heart procedure and recovery prompted the cancellation of his concerts at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino through the end of the year. He's set to resume performances in January, his management said. "Carlos is doing fantastic and is anxious to be back on stage soon. He profoundly regrets that this 'speed bump' necessitated the cancellation of his upcoming performances," his management said in a statement. In October, Santana released his latest album Blessings And Miracles which includes collaborations with Rob Thomas, Chris Stapleton and more. - Billboard, 12/1/21...... Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's previously unreleased The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts has made a top 10 debut across Billboard's Top Album Sales, Top Rock Albums, Tastemaker Albums and Top Current Album Sales charts for the week ending Dec. 4. No Nukes sold 19,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 25, according to MRC Data, across all of its formats combined (including editions containing a video of the same 13 songs in a concert film, such as a two CD/one DVD set and a two CD/one blu-ray package). The album also debuted at No. 6 on Top Album Sales, No. 4 on Top Rock Albums, No. 4 on Tastemaker Albums and No. 6 on Top Current Album Sales. No Nukes was recorded in Sept. of 1979 at the Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE) concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The set, released on Nov. 19, includes songs recorded over two nights -- including "Thunder Road," "Born to Run" and "The River." - Billboard, 12/3/21...... Elton John released his latest single, a Christmas collaboration with rising star Ed Sheeran called "Merry Christmas," on Dec. 3. The British pop stars recently teamed up to write a handful of holiday-themed songs, and "Merry Christmas" is currently on its way to the top of the pops in the UK, according to the Official Charts Company. The company reports the song has accumulated more than double the chart sales of its closest competitor during its first week of release, Adele's reigning champ, "Easy On Me." If it keeps its momentum, "Merry Christmas" will give Elton his ninth UK No. 1, and second in 2021. A video of "Merry Christmas" has been shared on YouTube. The video features the pair doing Christmas-ey things -- the tree is up, and decorated -- and as Elton belts it out on a grand piano, Ed takes flight with a snowman, and there's a big finale with an army of Santa's little helpers. Proceeds from the single will go to the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation. - Billboard, 12/6/21...... During a new interview with the UK's Clash magazine, former Fleetwood Mac member Lindsey Buckingham reflected on the unique "synergy" within Fleetwood Mac, "where the whole became more than the sum of its parts." "What happens is that you begin to understand that, and accept it as a gift. Early on, soon after joining Fleetwood Mac, I realised that we were the kind of group who didn't 'on paper'belong in the same group together. But yet that was the very thing that made us so effective," Buckingham noted. Elsewhere, Buckingham described his former band as a "big machine." "Within Fleetwood Mac, politics have essentially dictated that we haven t made any new music in a while. But as a solo artist, I don't have to push back against that. I've always done what I've wanted to do, basically, and I think the realisation I had to come to was being willing to lose some of the huge audience Fleetwood Mac have in order to pursue that. It's just a trade-off you have to be willing to make in order to do things on your own terms," he said. Buckingham released his new self-titled album in September. - NME, 12/2/21...... Sylvester Stallone has pushed back against some followers of the QAnon conspiracy movement after some of hits adherents believed the iconic Rocky actor was signalling the fringe group when he posted a photo of himself sporting a cap with the letter "Q" alongside the caption: "Heading into the Storm..." "For those incredibly inquisitive individuals, let me state unequivocally that the Q on this hat stands for Quantum of Solace, the name of the boat I was on, not anything else, OK?," Stallone wrote on Instagram. "Relax... So folks, the moral of the story is... enjoy your lives and let other people enjoy theirs... So keep punching," he added. One of the central beliefs of the followers of the anonymous prophet named "Q" is that a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic pedophiles operate a global child sex trafficking ring and conspired against former president Donald Trump during his term in office. Believers in the conspiracy have been accused of helping lead the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. - Canoe.com, 12/6/21...... British rock musician John Miles, best known for the ballad "Music" which peaked at number three in the UK charts in 1976, has passed away after, according to his family, "a short illness." A statement from Miles' family on his Facebook page read: "We are devastated to have to announce that 'Mr Music' John Miles sadly passed away peacefully after a very short illness. He was a loving Husband, Father and Grandfather and we will all miss him more than any words could ever express. We kindly ask you to respect our privacy at this extremely difficult time. He will live on forever in our hearts and with the wonderful musical legacy he has left behind. You were our first love and will be our last. Our Husband, Father , Grandfather and hero. We Love you. Xxx." Miles released ten albums during his career, and he also received an outstanding contribution gong at the Progressive Rock awards in 2017. Miles -- who worked with the likes of Jimmy Page and Tina Turner -- said as he accepted the award: "I think I made a contribution but that was way back in the 70s. suppose it has endured though. And the song 'Music' has endured as well, and that was the biggest hit worldwide. I'm a man of few words and there are eight lines of lyrics in that song. I get to work with orchestras these days too, which is fantastic." Miles is survived by his wife Eileen, their two children and his grandchildren. - Music-News.com, 12/7/21...... Denis O'Brien, who served as George Harrison's manager for much of the former Beatle's solo career and with Harrison co-founded the production company that backed such hits as the classic Monty Python's Life of Brian, died on Dec. 3 in Britain at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon after being admitted for severe abdominal pains. He was 80. Mr. O'Brien was a St. Louis native who moved to Europe after receiving a law degree from Washington University and had a long record of successes, along with setbacks and legal battles. Through the actor Peter Sellers, whose career he had helped revive, he met Harrison in 1973 and quickly formed a personal and professional bond. Harrison hired him as his manager after parting with Allen Klein, who had become The Beatles' manager in 1969 but eventually fell out with the group, which broke up a year after signing with Klein. In 1978, Harrison and O'Brien co-founded HandMade Films, a top independent company over the next decade. Their initial project was Life of Brian, Monty Python's controversial religious parody which they financed after EMI Films dropped out at the last minute. HandMade went out of business in 1991 and the partnership between Harrison and Mr. O'Brien ended in court. Mr. O'Brien was ordered by a California judge in 1996 to pay Harrison damages of $11 million for alleged mismanagement of the company's finances. In August 2001, three months before Harrison's death, a judge rejected the musician's effort to stop Mr. O'Brien from declaring bankruptcy. - Billboard, 12/6/21...... Country music star and longtime Grand Ole Opry member Stonewall Jackson passed away on Dec. 4 following a battle with vascular dementia. He was 89. Mr. Jackson was known for his classic country singles that charted on the Billboard Hot Country charts, including the country No. 1s "Waterloo" (1959) and "B.J. the D.J." (1963), as well as songs like "Life to Go" (1958) and "Don't Be Angry" (1964). Born in Tabor City, N.C., Mr. Jackson was then raised in Georgia before heading to Nashville. He joined the Grand Ole Opry on Nov. 3, 1956, longer ago than any other current member. In an interview with Music Charts Magazine, Mr. Jackson recalled the excitement of being offered a five-year contract with the Grand Ole Opry on his first invitation to play there in 1956, after Wesley Rose heard his music and set him up with an audition. Mr. Jackson became a member of the Opry without having a record deal at the time. In a statement after Stonewall's passing, Nancy Jones, wife of the late George Jones, wrote, "Stonewall's breakout hit 'Life to Go' was written by George [Jones] and they both became members of the Grand Ole Opry in 1956. They held a special friendship over the years and although Stonewall was retired, he participated in the final George Jones "No Show" tribute event after he passed. I will always have a special place in my heart for Stonewall. May he rest in Peace!" A performance at the Grand Ole Opry on Dec. 4 was dedicated to Mr. Jackson. - Billboard, 12/4/21...... Former U.S. Senator and 1996 Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole died in his sleep on Dec. 5, according to an announcement from the Elizabeth Dole Foundation. He was 98. Sen. Dole had announced earlier in 2021 that he was battling advanced lung cancer. A native Kansan, Sen. Dole as a young adult was briefly a student-athlete on the University of Kansas' football, basketball and track teams when in December 1941, he heard over the radio that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. A year later, he enlisted in the U.S. Army's Reserve Corps, leaving for active duty in June 1943. Sen. Dole deployed to Italy during World War II as a second lieutenant in the Army's 10th Mountain Division in late 1944, but just a few months into that deployment he led an assault on Hill 913 north of Castel D'Aiano, with the soldiers taking heavy artillery and aerial fire. When he saw a fellow soldier go down, Sen. Dole went to help pull him into a manhole, and as he scrambled out, he felt a sharp sting in his shoulder. Sen. Dole collapsed onto the battlefield, and it was nine hours before medics could evacuate him to a field hospital. He would spend the next two and a half years at the Percy Jones Army Medical Center in Battle Creek, Mich., in a head-to-hip plaster cast, having lost a kidney and full use of his right arm. For his sacrifices, Sen. Dole received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster. Those experiences hardened Sen. Dole, and they were experiences he never hid but instead used in relating to disadvantaged Americans as a longtime U.S. senator and as the Republican nominee in the 1996 U.S. presidential race. During that failed campaign for president, Sen. Dole told the New York Times that he hoped to serve as an inspiration to people with disabilities and to help make the world a more accessible place. He also in 1983 created the Dole Foundation to help provide for and support programs for those with disabilities, and the foundation played a large role in securing passage of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. Asked once how he'd like to be remembered, he said, "As somebody who had a sense of humor, who got along well with people and who kept his word." - The Topeka Capital-Journal, 12/5/21.