Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on January 16th, 2022

Elton John has made a second showing in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart as his "Cold Heart (Pnau Remix)" with Dua Lipa jumped to No. 7 on the tally dated Jan. 15. While it's Sir Elton's first top 10 on the chart in nearly 24 years, it's also a return to the tier for his July 1972 hit "Rocket Man," whose chorus Lipa updates in the mash-up. John, in fact, has become particularly adept at having his songs reach the top 10 twice, in various forms: "Your Song," the singer's first Hot 100 top 10, rose to No. 8 in Jan. 1971; then in 2014, Aloe Blacc's "The Man," which revives the original's "you can tell everybody" lyrical hook, also hit No. 8. "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," a No. 2 hit on the Hot 100 in July 1974, did even better in Feb. 1992 when a charity live duet by Elton and George Michael shone at No. 1. A live version of his 1973 song "Candle In The Wind" rose to No. 6 in Jan. 1988, then revived in 1997 as a tribute to the late Princess Diana, reigning at the top of the chart for 14 weeks from Oct. 1997 to Jan. 1998. Elton recently reflected on the huge success of "Cold Heart": "A lot of it is, of course, due to Dua Lipa's popularity and the brilliant Pnau remix, but I feel very, very content and happy that I'm relevant." Meanwhile, Pearl Jam vocalist Eddie Vedder's upcoming solo album Earthling will feature duets from the likes of John, Ringo Starr and Stevie Wonder. Earthling will drop Feb. 11 via Seattle Surf/Republic Records. - Billboard, 1/14/22...... In a new interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, Steely Dan producer Gary Katz revealed that Eagles principle Don Henley was once fired from contributing backing vocals to Steely Dan's 1977 hit "Peg" because Steely Dan frontman Donald Fagen decided his contributions were "no good." As Steely Dan were putting the track together, Katz says he and Fagen discussed how they "both liked Henley's singing" and decided to bring him in with Linda Ronstadt to track some vocals for the song. Since Ronstadt wasn't feeling well, Nicolette Larson came in her place to sing background with Henley. Not long after Henley and Larson added vocals for a second time, Fagen signaled for bandmate Walter Becker to "go get a sandwich" with him, and as the pair left the studio, Katz said Fagen told him to fire Henley and Larson. "It left me with my finger up my ass having to fire Henley. Which I did -- and have heard about for 35 years since, in various ways," Katz said. "It was a difficult day at the office, because, like [Fagen and Becker], I was part of that inner-circle crowd. We were all in the same little area. We lived in the same place and had the same manager. It was always Eagles and Steely Dan for a long time in L.A.," he added. - Billboard, 1/14/22...... In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Elvis Costello revealed that he doesn't like much modern rock music because "the beat is so square." "I don't like much rock music," the 67-year-old Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame member said. "I like rock & roll. I think if you lose the roll part, a lot of the fun goes out of it." He then went on to say that "when people ask me, 'What's your favourite record?', I usually don't name any electric-guitar records made in the last 30 years because the beat is so square. I like things that float a bit or swing a bit, whether it's rock & roll or actual jazz that swings. You listen to these records out of Nashville, they couldn't float if you filled them full of water. They just don't; they're square and they sound like bad rock records from the nineties. To my ear, they just do. But somebody likes them." Elvis added that his grandfather "was a trumpet player [who] never used to criticize other musicians... I'm trying to live by his example a little better these times and not be so critical of everybody else. But you can't like everything." Costello and his backing band The Imposters released their new album, The Boy Named If [And Other Children's Stories] on Jan. 14, ahead of a summer 13-date summer 2022 UK tour. - New Musical Express, 1/16/22...... Former The Commodores member and '80s solo superstar Lionel Richie will be honored with the prestigious Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, the Library of Congress announced on Jan. 13. Richie is the 12th recipient of the award, and the third who rose to fame at Berry Gordy's Motown Records, following Stevie Wonder in 2009 and Smokey Robinson in 2016. These are also the only Black composers to receive the honor. "This is truly an honor of a lifetime, and I am so grateful to be receiving the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song," Richie said in a statement. "I am proud to be joining all the other previous artists, who I also admire and am a fan of their music," he added. Richie has received six Grammy nominations for Song of the Year, which puts him in a tie with Paul McCartney for the most by any songwriter in Grammy history. McCartney received the Gershwin Prize in 2010. Richie has also received three Oscar nods for best original song, for "Endless Love" from the film of the same name (1981), "Miss Celie's Blues (Sister)" from The Color Purple (1985) and "Say You Say Me" from White Nights (also 1985). He won for the latter song. - Billboard, 1/13/22...... The 2021 Beatles documentary The Beatles: Get Back is coming to Blu-ray and DVD on Feb. 8, and is currently available for pre-order at Amazon.com, Target, Walmart and Best Buy. The triple-disc collection ($27.99) features nearly eight hours fully restored, archival footage with Dolby Atmos sound, while a special collector's edition Blu-ray gift set, which comes complete with collectible cards, will also drop on Feb. 8. The Blu-ray set is available for pre-order at Walmart, Target and Best Buy while supplies last. Director Peter Jackson's 6-hour documentary premiered on Disney+ in Nov. 2021 over Thanksgiving weekend. The film takes audiences inside the band's recording of the band's 1970 album Let It Be and compiles over 60 hours of unseen footage with more than 150 hours of unheard audio showcasing the creative genius of the Fab Four. The film also shows footage of The Beatles' legendary 1969 rooftop concert at London's Saville Row, which marked the band's last live show as a group. Fans will get a chance to relive that unforgettable concert in IMAX theaters beginning Jan. 30. The release date coincides with the 53rd anniversary of the original performance. The Beatles: Get Back - The Rooftop Performance Concert will screen in IMAX at the Apple Corps headquarters in London and various theaters around the U.S. Jackson will attend the London showing and participate in a Q&A that will be broadcast simultaneously in participating theaters. The 60-minute film will return to IMAX screens for a short theatrical run from Feb. 11-13. - Billboard, 1/13/22...... OneOf -- a green non-fungible token (NFT) platform tailored to the music business -- has partnered with the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards to auction off the guitarist's first-ever NFT for the MusiCares Charity Relief Auction. The Richards NFT sale will comprise of a signed Gibson ES-335 guitar and a one-of-a-kind four-second video of the signing, minted as an NFT. Bidding begins Jan. 13 and will continue until 4 p.m. ET on Jan. 30. Other items included in the upcoming MusiCares charity auction include pieces from Paul McCartney, Dolly Parton, BTS, Katy Perry and Bono. Proceeds from these sales go back to MusiCares, a nonprofit organization founded by the Recording Academy in 1989 to provide relief to musicians and music industry professionals with a spectrum of needs, including physical and mental health, addiction recovery, unforeseen personal emergencies and disaster relief. - Billboard, 1/13/22...... Concert promoter Live Nation announced on Jan. 13 that Rod Stewart's scheduled tour of Australia has been canceled due to the wave of Covid-19 cases currently spreading the country. Stewart had been booked to perform nine concerts down under throughout March and Apr. 2022, however due to the "ongoing surge of COVID in Australia and the reimposition of entertainment venue capacity limits in several states" [the tour] "regrettably, been cancelled," reads a statement issued by Live Nation. Stewart was scheduled to play a mix of arenas, and outdoor wineries, for Roundhouse Entertainment's A Day on the Green series. "My dear friends, once again I feel we've all been cheated by this evil disease, so it is with great regret that I announce my shows for 2022 have had to be canceled," Stewart says in the statement. "My thoughts are with all your families at this difficult time as we come out of the joyous and hopefully safe holiday season and I look forward to returning to Australia as soon as the health situation permit," he added. - Billboard, 1/13/22...... The Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn., which is finally back after its 2020 edition was scrapped due to Hurricane Ida-related flooding and Covid-19 caused its 2021 edition to be called off, has revealed its 2022 lineup. Stevie Nicks and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss will be among the '70s-related headliners for the festival, which runs from June 16-19. Plant and Krauss will perform on the Friday (6/17) show, while Nicks will headline the Sunday (6/19) event. Tickets went on sale on Jan. 13 at the Bonnaroo site. Other headliners among the approximately 113 band lineup include Tool, J. Cole, The Chicks, Flume, 21 Savage, Billy Strings, Gryffin, Machine Gun Kelly and Roddy Ricch. - Billboard, 1/11/22...... The music publishing and talent management company Primary Wave has acquired the song publishing catalog of Seventies popsters America, as well as a stake in the publishing royalties of former Free and Bad Company singer/songwriter Paul Rodgers, along with Rodgers' master recording income streams from both bands. Terms of the deals, which were first reported by The Wall Street Journal, were not announced but were described as multi-million dollar acquisitions. America, a soft-rock band with a penchant for naming their albums with words that begin with the letter "H," scored a string of top 10 hits in the 1970s including "Horse With No Name," "Sister Golden Hair," "Venture Highway" and "Tin Man." All three original America members wrote the band's songs, but Primary Wave is buying the publishing of Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley, not the songs owned by the late Dan Peek, nor his share of co-written songs. "We are pleased that our catalogue is now in the able hands of the good folks at Primary Wave, where the music we have created over the last 50 years will be given new attention and exposure," America's Bunnell said in a statement. "We are proud of the music we produced across these decades, and look forward to watching the catalogue continue to enhance listeners' lives for generations to come through the vision and actions of Primary Wave. Meanwhile, we continue to actively pursue our careers as songwriters and performers into the 21st Century," he added. Meanwhile, Paul Rodgers fronted a string of blues rock/hard rock bands but had his biggest commercial success with Bad Company and Free. The latter band's biggest hit was "All Right Now," but a share in that song's publishing was already purchased through Primary Wave's acquisition of a stake in Chris Blackwell's Blue Mountain publishing company back in 2018. The current deal brings in another share of that song's publishing and other Free songs, as well as hit Bad Company singles like "Can't Get Enough Of Your Love," "Feel Like Makin' Love" and "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy." Other well-known songs by the band, like "Bad Company" and "Shooting Star," were not released as singles but have garnered plenty of FM airplay. Rodgers will also head a new label imprint for Primary Wave distributed by Sun Records, which Primary Wave acquired in Jan. 2021. Besides having the ability to co-sign new artists, Rodgers will also curate compilations for Sun Records. The WSJ reported that sources placed the America deal at about $40 million, and the Rodgers deal at about $20 million. - Billboard, 1/12/22..... In related news, The Round Hill Music Royalty Fund has acquired a bundle of music rights from David Coverdale, the Whitesnake frontman and former lead singer of Deep Purple. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to the announcement, the acquisition includes his music publishing and master recording royalties and from Coverdale's three-album stint in the mid-1970s with Deep Purple -- Burn, Come Taste The Band, and Stormbringer - and from his entire Whitesnake catalog including the band s multi-platinum 1987 self-titled album. Also, as part of the deal Round Hill apparently has acquired some Whitesnake master recordings that Coverdale owned. Round Hill CEO Josh Gruss said in a statement that Coverdale "has blazed a trail since the early '70s, and his legacy and influence on the generations of artist that followed him cannot be understated. To have been entrusted with David"s work is a proud day for Round Hill." - Billboard, 1/14/22...... Doo-wop singer Fred Parris, the frontman of The Five Satins whose smash 1956 ballad "In the Still of the Night" became an enduring standard and was prominently used in movies including Dirty Dancing and The Irishman, died on Jan. 13 after a brief illness. He was 85. Born in New Haven, Conn., Parris grew up listening to big-band star Glenn Miller on the radio before discovering R&B music through family members' records. He delivered newspapers as a teenager and, in high school, joined a group called the Scarlets, for which he wrote a regional hit called "Dear One." On Feb. 19, 1956, Parris and one of his bandmates, Al Denby, were at home on military leave in New Haven when they recorded "In the Still of the Night," produced by Marty Kugell, in the St. Bernadette Catholic Church basement. "Doo-wop was what you had back then when young kids were singing on street corners... it was just honest street music," Jim Freeman, a former Parris bandmate, said in 2019 after The Irishman movie came out. The song was interpolated in Ronnie Milsap's "Lost In The Fifties Tonight (In The Still Of The Night)," a No. 1 hit on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart in 1985. That genre-crossing update brought Parris and co-writers Mike Reid and Troy Seals a 1985 Grammy nomination for Best Country Song. Later, Parris sang in other groups, including Fred Parris and the Restless Hearts ("Bring It Home to Daddy") in the '60s and Black Satin in the '70s. Of "In the Still of the Night," Parris said in a 2013 interview with WJCT of Jacksonville, Fla.: "Because we did it at the church, I think the song was blessed. And so was I. It lasted a long, long time." - Billboard, 1/14/22...... Ralph Emery, a longtime country music broadcaster and a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, died on Nov. 15 of as yet undisclosed causes. He was 88. Born in 1933 in McEwen, Tenn., Mr. Emery a successful career in the country music industry for more than 50 years, working in radio before shifting to television. Known as the dean of country music broadcasters, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame in 1989. He notably interviewed a number of country music stars as the host of the Nashville Network talk show Nashville Now over the course of a decade, from 1983 to 1993. Throughout the years, he also hosted the syndicated TV series Pop Goes the Country (1974-1980) and the live show Nashville Alive on WTBS (1981-1983). From 2007 to 2015, he hosted the weekly program Ralph Emery Live on satellite and cable television channel RFD-TV. In 1961, he charted with a song that he recorded. "Hello Fool" peaked at No. 4 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. It was an answer song to Faron Young's country classic "Hello Walls" (an early hit for songwriter Willie Nelson). Loretta Lynn, T. Graham Brown, The Bellamy Brothers and The Oak Ridge Boys are among the country stars who paid tribute to Mr. Emery on social media. - Billboard, 1/15/22...... Legendary '60s girl group singer Ronnie Spector, the leader of The Ronettes, died on Jan. 12 after a brief battle with cancer according to a statement on her official website. She was 78. Born Veronica Bennett in the Spanish Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan on Aug. 10, 1943 to an Irish-American father and a mother of African-American and Cherokee descent, Spector sang from an early age, joining a family group with sister Estelle Bennett and cousin Nedra Talley in 1957. Initially known as the Darling Sisters, the group first rebranded as Ronnie and the Relatives, and then ultimately The Ronettes. While they achieved some success as live performers in the early '60s and developed a striking image of wildly teased hair and heavy eye makeup, the group s initial run of singles on New York-based Colpix records went nowhere. In 1963, however, they auditioned for Philles Records -- and legendary producer and music biz impresario Phil Spector -- and quickly found their proper home. Spector was ecstatic over Bennett's voice, and initially tried to sign her as a solo act, which the sisters mother shot down. The group officially moved over to Philles, and after some abortive attempts at a first single, connected in 1963 with "Be My Baby." Co-written by Spector with venerated Brill Building duo Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, "Be My Baby" was captivating from its famous (and oft-copied) opening Hal Blaine drum beat, with the lush pop arrangement that followed serving as arguably the definitive example of Spector's famous "Wall of Sound" production technique. The song shot to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart, and a 2021 Rolling Stone industry poll voted it the 22nd greatest song of all time. They followed it up with "Baby, I Love You," while they also appeared on the label's compilation album A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector. The group only released one studio album in their career, 1964's Presenting The Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica. They continued to release singles sporadically until they broke up in 1967, following a tour supporting The Beatles. Spector decided to reform the group in 1974 after divorcing her husband, replacing Bennett and Talley with Chip Fields and Denise Edwards. They released one single -- 1974's "I Wish I Never Saw The Sun Shine -- before the outfit folded once again. Spector went on to launch her own solo career, releasing four solo albums between 1980 and 2016, plus three EPs. Prior to making full-length records, she also put out seven singles, including 1964's "So Young" and 1976's "Paradise." On her 2006 solo record Last Of The Rock Stars she collaborated with the likes of Patti Smith, The Raconteurs, Yeah Yeah Yeahs Nick Zinner and more, while in 2017 she shared a track called "Love Power" under the name Ronnie Spector And The Ronettes. With The Ronettes, Spector has been inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 1999 for "Be My Baby," the Vocal Group Hall Of Fame in 2004 and the People s Hall Of Rock And Roll Legends in 2010. In 1986, AOR rocker Eddie Money invited Spector to feature on a new single, "Take Me Home Tonight," which allowed Spector to recreate her epochal"Be My Baby" hook on the chorus (following Money's vocal lead-in, "Listen, honey, just like Ronnie sang... ). The song was an enormous hit, peaking at No. 4 on the Hot 100 the highest-charting single of Money's career, and Spector's highest since the original "Be My Baby" and giving her career a second wind. Spector would never have another hit single, however, she continued to record and perform, with future generations of rock and pop stars citing her as a key inspiration -- including Joey Ramone, who co-produced her 1999 EP "She Talks to Rainbows," and Amy Winehouse, whose throwback image and sound in the mid-2000s suggested nothing so much as a more streetwise and tougher-luck Ronnie Spector. "Ronnie lived her life with a twinkle in her eye, a spunky attitude, a wicked sense of humour and a smile on her face," according to the statement by Spector's family. "She was filled with love and gratitude. Her joyful sound, playful nature and magical presence will live on in all who knew, heard or saw her." Ronnie was married to Phil Spector from 1968 until 1974 and shared three adopted sons with him, and in 1982 she married manager Jonathan Greenfield, with whom she shared two sons, in 1982. Tributes to Spector that began to flow in after news of her death broke include those by Brian Wilson, Stevie Van Zandt and Darlene Love. - Billboard/NME, 1/12/22.

A "mustachioed" cat that bears a resemblance to late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury has gone viral on Instagram after its owners and other Queen fans pointed out that the feline appears to sport a 'tache similar to that of Mercury's -- resulting in cat puns aplenty in the photos' comments sections ("Don't stop me-owww" and "Freddie Purrcury", to name just a couple). Named Mostaccioli -- which means "moustaches" in Italian -- the cat is a female British Shorthair from California whose Instagram page has attracted almost 11,000 followers. The black-and-white cat shares the social media page with her sister Izanami, who is a Scottish Fold. According to iHeart, the profile is managed by their owner Natalie, a veterinarian officer worker. It's said that Natalie discovered a litter of stray kittens in the summer of 2020, and decided to adopt Mostaccioli herself. Through Mostaccioli and Izanami's Instagram page, the owner is raising money for Cats Of San Bernardino -- a non-profit organisation that is "dedicated to saving the lives of cats and kittens in the city of San Bernardino, CA." Natalie has raised $10,000 (£7,365) in donations to date thanks to the online fame and surrounding press coverage of her cats. Freddie Mercury was himself a big cat person, according to his late partner Jim Hutton. "He treated [his] cats like his own children," said Hutton, who died in 2010, in a 2010 BBC 2 documentary. "He would constantly fuss over them, and if any of them came to any harm when Freddie was away, heaven help us. During the day, the cats had the run of the house and grounds, and at night, one of us would round them up and bring them inside," Hutton added. - New Musical Express, 1/11/22...... Britain's Royal Mail has honored The Rolling Stones with a set of 12 special stamps. Available on the Royal Mail's website, the series' main set of eight stamps feature the rock icons performing at various global venues throughout their illustrious career, such as London's Hyde Park in July 1969, Dsseldorf, Germany, in Oct. 2017, and Tokyo, Japan, in Mar. 1995. One of the eight stamps features late Stones drummer Charlie Watts performing in Düsseldorf, Germany, in Oct. 2017. An additional four stamps, presented in a miniature sheet, feature two shots of the band and two promotional posters used on worldwide tours over the years. "Few bands in the history of rock have managed to carve out a career as rich and expansive as that of The Rolling Stones. They have created some of modern music's most iconic and inspirational albums, with ground-breaking live performances to match," Royal Mail Director of Public Affairs & Policy David Gold said in a statement. The Rolling Stones become the fourth iconic rock group to be honoured by the Royal Mail, following The Beatles in 2007, Pink Floyd in 2016, and Queen in 2020. The stamps, as well as a wide range of collectors items featuring the special images, are available to pre-order beginning Jan. 11 and will go on general sale on Jan. 20 via Royal Mail. - New Musical Express, 1/11/22...... In other Rolling Stones news, previously unseen footage from the band's infamous headlining gig at the 1969 Altamont Speedway Free Festival in northern California has been released by the Library of Congress. While footage from the Dec. 6, 1969 day of the festival has previously been shown in the Maysles Brothers' documentary Gimme Shelter, the Library of Congress has now shared a home movie on its government site that has never been seen before. The video, which comes without audio, shows Rolling Stones, Gram Parsons, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and more performing and hanging out in the crowd. The footage was acquired by archivist Rick Prelinger in 1996, whose 200,000-reel collection was given to the LOC in 2022. The Library's head of the Moving Image Section, Mike Mashon, wrote in a blog that a technician had recently come across "two reels of silent 8mm reversal positive -- a common home movie format" which was accompanied by a handwritten note that read "Stones in the Park." Attended by approximately 300,000 people and also featuring performances by the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane, the concert was infamously a scene of severe violence when 18-year-old Meridith Hunter was fatally stabbed by members of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, who were serving as security at the festival. - NME, 1/9/22...... Drummer Brandon Toews, author of the book The Drummer's Toolbox, has paid tribute to Rush drummer Neil Peart on the second anniversary of Peart's death by playing an epic, 24-minute mash-up featuring snippets of every single Rush song. Shared by Toews on Instagram, the mega-mix featuring 175 tracks shows Toews blitzing through the songs on an appropriately massive drum kit, beginning, in chronological order, with "You Can't Fight It" from the band's 1974 self-titled debut, and bashing along to all the original album tracks from the Canadian prog rock trio through their final studio album, 2012's Clockwork Angels. "Today marks two years since Neil Peart's passing. Neil was one of my biggest influences growing up -- I remember spending hours upon hours trying to learn @rush songs like 'Tom Sawyer' and 'La Villa Strangiato,' and watching all of the Rush concert DVDs over and over to study Neil's playing," Toews posted on Instagram on Jan. 8. - Billboard, 1/10/22...... '70s classic rocker Edgar Winter has honored his late brother Johnny Winter with Brother Johnny, a new 17-track record featuring covers of Johnny's songs by the likes of himself, Ringo Starr, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins, and others. To go alongside the announcement of Brother Johnny, Edgar has released a cover of Chuck Berry's iconic rock anthem "Johnny B Goode" with Eagles member Joe Walsh and shared it on YouTube. "To this day, when I think of rock 'n' roll, I think of Chuck Berry and 'Johnny B. Goode'. It's not only Johnny's story, but also every kid's story who ever picked up a guitar, coming from humble beginnings with the idea of making it big someday. So of course, it has to be on this album," explained Edgar. Brother Johnny will drop on Apr. 15 via Quarto Valley Records. - NME, 1/10/22...... Paul McCartney has paid tribute to his late friend and BBC DJ Janice Long, who died on Christmas Day at her home at age 66 after battling a short illness. "I was very sad to hear that my old Liverpudlian friend Janice Long has passed away," Sir Paul posted on Twitter on Jan. 7. "Janice was a fun-loving lady who always had a twinkle in her eye. She was very knowledgeable about the music scene and whenever we met it was a pleasure and we had a great laugh... My sympathies go out to her family and friends. We have all lost a great Scouse girl, but I will always have very fond memories of her and of the times we spent together. Paul x," he added. In her career, the beloved broadcaster and champion of new music also became the first woman to regularly host Top Of The Pops, fronting the TV show for five years, and later had a long-running show on BBC Radio 2 until 2017. She also worked for the likes of BBC Radio London, BBC 6 Music, BBC WM, BBC Radio Wales, Greatest Hits Radio and Radio X, and set up her own station Crash FM in Liverpool in 1995. - NME, 1/7/22...... David Bowie fans flocked to social media on Jan. 8, what would have been the late rock icon's 75th birthday, to pay tribute to the highly influential musician who died following an 18-month battle with cancer in 2016. Bowie's widow Iman Abdulmajid paid tribute to her late husband by sharing a quote from Canadian poet and novelist Margaret Atwood: "I exist in two places, here and where you are," while Lenny Kravitz posted a photo of he and Bowie, accompanied by the caption: "Happy Birthday to The Thin White Duke." The official John Lennon Twitter account posted Bowie's performance of "Fame" with the Beatles legend on the Cher show in 1975, writing: "Happy Birthday David Bowie." Meanwhile, the Madame Tussauds exhibit in London announced they will celebrate Bowie's 75th birthday by unveiling a new figure of David -- their second to feature at the Baker Street attraction -- later in 2022. Madame Tussauds have also released new images taken during Bowie's 1983 sitting with their artists for his original figure. Also, a 50th anniversary picture disc vinyl reissue of Bowie's fourth album, Hunky Dory, was released on Jan. 7 featuring a poster with annotated back cover art. ISO Records/Parlophone Records is also celebrating the milestone birthday by sharing two previously unreleased versions of Bowie's "Shadow Man," from 2000 and 1970. The songs feature on the late artist's "lost" Toy album, which includes re-recorded and revamped versions of some of Bowie's earliest tracks. Bowie's Toy album also features in the David Bowie 5: Brilliant Adventure (1992-2001) box set, which was released back in November. - NME, 1/8/22...... A U.S. District Judge in Manhattan has ruled an ex-member of The Rascals cannot block his former bandmates from using the name for a reunion tour. Eddie Brigati accused two of his former bandmates -- Felix Cavaliere and Gene Cornish -- of breaching contracts and infringing trademarks by using the "Rascals" name as part of a 2018 tour, but Judge John G. Koeltl dismissed those accusations in a ruling on Jan. 6. The current lawsuit was filed by Cavaliere and Cornish through their entity Beata Music LLC in 2018, seeking judicial approval to use "Rascals" in a reunion tour after Brigati declined to participate and objected to their use of the name. Brigati later filed counterclaims, accusing Cavaliere and Cornish of wrongdoing by using and seeking to register the trademark. The judge also rejected Brigati's claim that Cavaliere and Cornish violated trademark law, saying there was no chance consumers would be confused when they read the carefully worded tour name: "Felix Cavaliere and Gene Cornish's Rascals." He also said Brigati simply waited far too long to file his case. Judge Koeltl rejected the argument that Cavaliere and Cornish breached contracts by using the name, ruling that various agreements among the bandmembers either did not apply to the current situation or that Brigati had not been a party to them. The Rascals, originally The Young Rascals, were a New Jersey rock act that released a trio chart-toppers in the late 1960s: "Good Lovin'", "Groovin'" and "People Got to Be Free." The band -- Brigati, Cavaliere, Cornish and Dino Danelli -- disbanded in 1972 but has toured occasionally and was later inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. - Billboard, 1/7/22...... Saturday Night Fever and Grease star John Travolta took to Instagram on Jan. 7 to share his "dizziness" that his 21-year-old daughter Ella Travolta is making her official foray into music. "I'm so excited for Ella! Her song 'Dizzy' is out right now! The link is in my stories and bio!," the 67-year old proud dad wrote, sharing on Instagram a video with multiple cuts of Ella singing and playing the piano while softly singing the track. Ella shared that she was just as excited as her father in her own post about her music debut. "So happy and excited to say that my first single 'Dizzy' is out now!!!," she captioned the same video on her Instagram account. "It's been a long time coming but I'm still that 14 year old weird girl at heart and I love it," she added. John Travolta was 22, a year older than his daughter is now, in July 1976 when his debut single, the ballad "Let Her In," reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. He returned to the Top 10 two years later with a pair of duets with his Grease co-star Olivia Newton-John: "You're the One That I Want" and "Summer Nights." Ella first teased the arrival of a music project, which is currently untitled, on Nov. 27 in an Instagram post. "There is something I've been working on for the past year that is very dear to my heart," she said. "I wanted to share a part of a song that I wrote that will be on my EP coming out next year. Very excited (and nervous). Hope you like it!," she added. The father and daughter previously collaborated in 2009 for Disney's ensemble comedy film Old Dogs -- in which Ella starred alongside her dad in the movie as Emily Greer -- on the track "Every Little Step I Take." - Billboard, 1/7/22...... Bob Dylan has asked a New York appeals court to reject efforts to revive a lawsuit that sought a cut from his huge catalog sale to Universal Music Publishing Group, calling it an "opportunistic attempt" at an "unjustified windfall." Filed in 2021 by the widow of a songwriter Jacques Levy -- the co-writer of "Hurricane" and nine other songs on Dylan's 1976 album Desire -- the lawsuit sought a portion of the estimated $300 million sale. But a judge ruled in August that Levy had signed away any ownership rights to the songs when they were written. With Levy's estate currently appealing that ruling, attorneys for Dylan filed his formal response on Jan. 5, calling it an "opportunistic attempt to rewrite a 45-year-old employment contract to obtain a windfall payment that the contract does not allow." The case was filed in Jan. 2021 by Levy's widow, Claudia Levy, a month after news broke that Dylan had sold his entire songwriting catalog of more than 600 songs to UMPG, and dismissed a few months later, with the judge saying that Levy was entitled only to his ongoing royalty payments, not a cut of the rights sale. - Billboard, 1/6/22...... In a new interview with the UK paper The Telegraph, Elvis Costello called on radio stations to stop playing his controversial 1979 single "Oliver's Army." The track, which is taken from his third studio album Armed Forces, has attracted criticism over the years for using the "N-word," in the lyrics. Now Costello says he doesn't want radio stations to play the track at all. "On the last tour, I wrote a new verse about censorship, but what's the point of that? So I've decided I'm not going to play it. [Bleeping the word out] is a mistake. They're making it worse by bleeping it for sure. Because they're highlighting it then. Just don't play the record!" he told the paper. "You know what. It [not playing it] would do me a favour. Because when I fall under a bus, they'll play 'She', 'Good Year For The Roses' and 'Oliver's Army'," he added. "I'll die, and they will celebrate my death with two songs I didn't write. What does that tell you?" Costello and his band The Imposters will release their latest album, The Boy Named If [And Other Children's Stories] on Jan. 14. They'll kick off a UK tour in support of the set at the Brighton Dome on June 5, 2022, before wrapping up at London's Hammersmith Eventim Apollo on June 23. - NME, 1/10/22...... On Jan. 5 Billy Joel took to Twitter to announced that his Jan. 14 show at New York's Madison Square Garden will now be taking place on Aug. 24, making it the second postponement for the event. "Nothing is more important to me than the safety and well-being of my band, crew, and the fans; so due to unfortunate COVID-related circumstances, we made the decision to reschedule the January 14th concert at MSG," Joel wrote, along with a picture with further information regarding the postponement. "Please be advised that the upcoming Billy Joel concert originally scheduled to take place at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, May 2, 2020 that was postponed to Friday, January 14, 2022 has now been rescheduled to Wednesday, August 24, 2022," the text in the image read. "Your tickets will be valid for the new rescheduled show date on Wednesday, August 24, 2022 and will not need to be exchanged." Joel, 72, has a string of shows scheduled in the upcoming weeks: He's due to perform at Hard Rock Live in Florida on Jan. 28 and will return to Madison Square Garden on Feb. 12 and March 24. In November, Madison Square Garden added an 80th show to Joel's monthly residency slated for May 14, 2022 (though subject to change in the event of a playoff game conflict). Prior to the new postponement, the show marked Joel's 126th performance at the Garden. - Billboard, 1/6/22...... On Jan. 6 The Eagles added a string of new dates to the US leg of their upcoming "Hotel California" tour. New stops on the tour, which kicks off on Feb. 19 in Savannah, Ga., include Cleveland (3/17), Chicago (3/19), Indianapolis (3/22), Detroit (3/24), Pittsburgh (3/26), Philadelphia (3/28), Columbus, Oh. (4/19), Buffalo, NY (4/21), Belmont Park, NY (4/23), Nashville (4/28), Houston (5/14), Tulsa (5/16) and Salt Lake City (5/25). In November, The Eagles announced they would be heading out on the road in celebration of their 1976 LP Hotel California. Each stop will feature a choir and an orchestra accompanying the veteran rockers for a run through of the iconic album before an interval followed by a set of the band's greatest hits. In October, the California country rockers confirmed huge shows across the UK and Europe as part of their "Fifty Years" tour. They will also be joining Elton John, Pearl Jam and Duran Duran and more at the BST Hyde Park 2022 festival. - NME, 1/7/22...... Ozzy Osbourne's wife/manager Sharon Osbourne has shared a preview video for Ozzy's new "CryptoBatz" non-fungible tokens (NFTs) collection on Twitter. "[Ozzy] started thinking, he started working," she said. "He was locked away in his library for weeks working on something big. He teamed up with a company called Sutter Systems. Their mission was to create an NFT project that wasn't another celebrity rug pull. They wanted to build something wonderful, something full of utility, something unique. They've called them... CryptoBatz," she adds. As Sharon narrates the preview, Ozzy is seen rummaging around his workspace, making phone calls and rifling through paper copies of various bat designs. The upcoming 'CryptoBatz' range will be comprised of 9,666 unique NFT bats in reference to one of the most infamous moments in Ozzy's career. Back in 1982, the musician bit the head off a bat on stage while performing in Des Moines, Iowa. The collection will mark an innovative first in the NFT scene, which grew rapidly over 2021. Each CryptoBat will have the ability to "bite" another NFT in a user's digital wallet and mutate with it to create another token. - NME, 1/11/22...... The US novelty terracotta planter company Chia Pet has announced that Willie Nelson will be honored with his own Chia Pet planter. Nelson's Chia Pet invites its owner to grow chia seeds in the grooved sections of the planter, with the desired end result -- which is achieved in a couple of weeks -- being the green chia sprouts resembling Nelson's long hair. An image of Nelson's Chia Pet can be seen on the Chia Pet site. "Love mine so much! The only thing that would make it better is if it came with cannabis seeds," posted one fan on Instagram. - NME, 1/7/22...... Dead & Company announced on Jan. 7 the outright cancellation of their destination festival, "Playing In The Sand," less than 24 hours before gates were set to open. The event -- which takes place annually along Mexico's Riviera Cancun -- was initially scheduled to run over two weekends, with the first starting on Jan. 7 nd running through to Jan. 10. The second leg of the stint would have kicked off on Jan. 13 and run until Jan. 14. Now the band has shared an Instagram post saying: "With much sadness and after great consideration of every possible scenario, [both weekends of the festival] have now been canceled by CID Presents due to the spiking COVID-19 cases." The band said they and the promoters had "tried everything possible to bring normalcy and to deliver a great experience and amazing music, but with each day it became increasingly clear that canceling is the correct thing to do for the fans and for our crew." Ticketholders will be sent an email outlining their options for refunds. - NME, 1/7/22...... A rare promo cassette tape of Prince's The Black Album is up for sale. The album was originally intended for release in 1987, and Prince requested that it be pulled days before its release because he thought it was "evil," and it was subsequently replaced with the pop record, Lovesexy. RR Auction house says the cassette is "quite possibly" one of only two cassette copies in existence, and so far 17 bids have been made with the price currently set at $3,384. Bidding ends on Jan. 13. Three vinyl copies of the record previously sold for upwards of $20,000 (£15,000) each. - Music-News.com, 1/7/22...... TMZ.com is reporting that the cause of actress Betty White's death on New Year's Eve, at age 99, was a stroke she had suffered nearly a week earlier, according to a death certificate they obtained. According to the document, issued by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, the stroke occurred six days prior to White's death. The health agency and the county Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's office, where vital records are kept, both declined to comment. Jeff Witjas, White's longtime agent, said in a statement: "Betty passed in her sleep peacefully without pain. To me this is the most important thing and brings me comfort as her dear friend. Anything else is private to Betty." TMZ cited unnamed sources as saying White had remained alert and coherent following her stroke, before dying in her sleep at home. - Reuters, 1/10/22...... Michael Lang, the legendary co-creater of the 1969 Woodstock Music & Art Fair, died on Jan. 8 from a rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York City. He was 77. Lang worked alongside partners Joel Rosenman, Capitol Records' Artie Kornfeld and John P. Roberts for the 1969 festival held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, NY. The three-day lineup included icons such as Richie Havens, Santana, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Sly and the Family Stone and The Who, among others. After Woodstock, he started a record company in 1971 called Just Sunshine Records, which first signed Karen Dalton followed by Billy Joel. He later went into management, primarily working with Joe Cocker for about 15 years. In 1994, he helped promote Woodstock's 25th anniversary with Woodstock '94. In 2019, Lang planned to host "Woodstock 50," with a lineup including Miley Cyrus, Dead & Company, Jay-Z and others. The event was ultimately cancelled following a variety of permit and production issues, venue relocations and artists backing out. Lang is survived by his wife Tamara, their sons, Harry and Laszlo, and his daughters, LariAnn, Shala and Molly. - Billboard, 1/9/22...... Calvin Simon, a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, died on Jan. 8 of as yet undisclosed causes. He was 79. Born in 1942 in West Virginia, where he sang with his church choir, Simon relocated to New Jersey with his family as a teen. He worked as a barber, and by the late 1950s, Simon joined the group originally known as the Parliaments, first formed as a doo-wop quintet with fellow barbers George Clinton and Grady Thomas and customers Ray Davis and Fuzzy Haskins. Simon, who was drafted in 1967 to serve in Vietman, went on to sing with the group that later became known as Parliament-Funkadelic. He eventually parted ways with the group due to financial disputes.A long with other members of Parliament-Funkadelic, Simon was inducted by Prince into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Simon later released several gospel projects, and in 2019, he, Clinton, and the other members of Parliament-Funkadelic received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy. - Billboard, 1/8/22...... Lyricist Marilyn Bergman, who teamed with her husband, Alan Bergman, to win three Academy Awards as one of the most revered writing tandems in the annals of movie music history, died on Jan. 8 in her Los Angeles home, according to family rep Ken Sunshine. She was 93. The cause of death was respiratory failure (non-COVID related). Her husband, 96, survives her. Bergman, whose work includes such classics as "The Windmills of Your Mind," "Nice 'n' Easy," "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" and "The Way We Were," and her husband worked extensively for the movies, writing the lyrics for three of the five songs nominated for the best song Academy Award in 1983 -- "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" (from Best Friends), "If We Were in Love" (from Yes, Giorgio), and "It Might Be You" (from Tootsie). In all, the Bergmans received 16 Oscar nominations. During the period from 1969-74, they couple received one Academy Award nom each year, which they shared with their composing partners: "Windmills of Your Mind," "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" "Pieces of Dreams," "All His Children," "Marmalade, Molasses and Honey" and "The Way We Were." The Bergmans were voted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980. - Billboard, 1/8/22...... Burke Shelley, singer and bassist of the Welsh hard rock band Budgie, has died at the age of 71 of as yet undisclosed causes. Born in Canton, Cardiff, UK, in 1950, Shelley co-founded Budgie in 1967 with Tony Bourge (guitar/vocals) and Ray Phillips (drums). The group released 10 studio albums between 1971 and 1982. Budgie stopped touring in 1987 before reforming in the mid-1990s and 2000s. The band's 11th and final full-length record, You're All Living in Cuckooland, came out in 2006. The group influenced hard rock and metal acts such as Metallica, Iron Maiden and Megadeth, all of whom have covered Budgie previously. Lars Ulrich and co. offered up a live take on "Breadfan" at one of Metallica's 40th anniversary shows in San Francisco in December. Shelley had battled Stickler syndrome -- a genetic disorder -- in recent years, as well as suffering two aortic aneurysms. - NME, 1/11/22...... Actor Dwayne Hickman, who starred as the hopelessly in love high school kid on the popular CBS comedy series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, died on Jan. 9 at his Los Angeles home of complications from Parkinson's disease. He was 87. Dobie Gillis, which ran for 147 episodes from 1959-63, starred the fresh-faced, crew-cut Mr. Hickman (25 years old when the series began) as a student always looking to date the most beautiful, unattainable girls. Future Gilligan's Island star Bob Denver played his pal, beatnik Maynard G. Krebs. Dobie's quest for love often was capsized by his grocer father (played by Frank Faylen) or something goofy that Maynard had done. The show began with a Dobie monologue such as this: "My name is Dobie Gillis and I love girls. I'm not a wolf, mind you. A wolf wants lots of girls, I just want one." Mr. Hickman also performed in films, most notably as a con man in Cat Ballou (1965) opposite best actor Oscar winner Lee Marvin and Jane Fonda and in the 1965 beach party movies How to Stuff a Wild Bikini and Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine. During the rebellious 1960s and early '70s however, with the Vietnam protests and hippie movement in full force, Mr. Hickman's clean-cut persona was out of vogue, and his acting career faltered. Born on May 18, 1934, in Los Angeles, Mr. Hickman began his acting career at age 6, appearing as a youngster in such films as Heaven Only Knows (1947), The Boy With the Green Hair (1948) and Mighty Joe Young (1948). He earned a degree from Loyola Marymount University (Denver was a fellow classmate) and during college turned down a job at a utility company to play Cummings' nephew Chuck MacDonald in 150 episodes of The Bob Cummings Show, which ran for five seasons on NBC and CBS. It all led to Mr. Hickman's gig on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, which was based on a 1951 collection of short stories written by Max Shulman. His other TV credits include The Lone Ranger, The Loretta Young Show, Wagon Train, Ironside, The Flying Nun, The Mod Squad, Combat, Ellery Queen, Murder, She Wrote and Clueless. He had a role as a lighting emporium owner in the 1998 film A Night at the Roxbury. He wrote a 1994 autobiography, Forever Dobie: The Many Lives of Dwayne Hickman, and developed another talent, painting. He had a penchant for picturesque buildings and vibrant flowers. Mr. Hickman married to actress Joan Roberts, whom he met while she was co-starring in TV's Private Benjamin, in 1983. The couple had a son, Albert. He had another son, John, from a previous marriage to actress Carol Christensen. His older brother is Darryl Hickman, a former child actor who appeared in such films as The Grapes of Wrath and later became a program executive at CBS. - The Hollywood Reporter, 1/9/22.