Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on January 13th, 2023

Singer/songwriter Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of Elvis Presley, died in the early evening of Jan. 12 in a Los Angeles hospital after suffering full cardiac arrest earlier in the day. She was 54. Lisa Marie's mother, Priscilla Presley asked fans to "keep her and our family in your prayers" in a social media message on Jan. 12 before confirming she had passed away in a subsequent message: "It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us. She was the most passionate, strong and loving woman I have ever known." A spokesperson for the LAPD said police were called to Presley's home in Calabasas, Calif., about 50 kilometres northwest of downtown Los Angeles, in the morning of Jan. 12 and found paramedics working on Presley who was experiencing cardiac arrest. The spokesperson confirmed that paramedics performed CPR on Presley and were able to help her regain a pulse before she was taken to a nearby hospital, where she flatlined several times and was eventually pronounced dead. Lisa Marie's health emergency came just two days after she attended the Golden Globe Awards to watch Austin Butler win the award for Best Performance in a Motion Picture (Drama) for his role in director Baz Luhrmann's ELVIS biopic, and appeared "unsteady" during interviews on the red carpet. Just days before that, she was in Memphis, Tenn., at Graceland -- the mansion where Elvis lived -- to celebrate what would have been her father's 88th birthday on Jan. 8. Presley released three rock albums in the 2000s and appeared on stage with artists like Pat Benatar and Richard Hawley during her musical career. She also formed direct musical ties with her father, joining her voice to such Elvis recordings as "Don't Cry Daddy," a mournful ballad which had reminded him of the early death of his mother -- and Lisa Marie's grandmother -- Gladys Presley. Born on Feb. 1, 1968, Lisa Marie was nine years old when Elvis died at the age of 42 in August 1977, and she became the sole heir of the Elvis Presley Trust. Along with Elvis Presley Enterprises, the trust managed Graceland and other assets until she sold her majority interest in 2005. She retained ownership of Graceland Mansion itself, the 13 acres around it and the Elvis memorabilia items inside the home. Her son is buried there, along with her father and other members of the Presley family. Lisa Marie and Priscilla would often make regular trips to Graceland during huge fan celebrations on the anniversaries of Elvis's death and birthday. One of the two airplanes at Graceland is also named Lisa Marie. She would later make headlines of her own through struggles with drugs and some very public marriages. Her four husbands included pop superstar Michael Jackson and actor Nicolas Cage. She also became involved in numerous humanitarian causes, from anti-poverty programs administered through the Elvis Presley Charitable Foundation to relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina. She would receive formal citations from New Orleans and Memphis for her work. Presley had recently penned an essay published in People magazine about "the horrific reality" of her grief following her son Benjamin Keough's death by suicide in 2020. "I've dealt with death, grief and loss since the age of 9 years old. I've had more than anyone's fair share of it in my lifetime and somehow, I've made it this far," she wrote in August. Presley is also the mother of actress Riley Keough, 33, and twin 14-year-old daughters Harper and Finley, whose father is Lisa Marie's fourth husband, Michael Lockwood. A spokesman for the Presley family said Lisa Marie will be buried at the Graceland mansion alongside her father, son, and other members of the Presley family. - AP, 1/13/22.

Jeff Beck, a former member of the Yardbirds and founder of the Jeff Beck Group who is hailed as one of the most influential guitarists of all time, died on Jan. 10 after contracting bacterial meningitis. He was 78 years old. The news of his death was confirmed in a statement released by his family the following day. "It is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of Jeff Beck's passing," the statement reads. "After suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis, he peacefully passed away yesterday. His family ask for privacy while they process this tremendous loss," the statement added. One of the most influential lead guitarists in rock, Beck helped shape several genres including blues rock, psychedelia and heavy metal, and only the likes of Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix can truly be said to have surpassed him for imagination, excitement, technique and sheer power. Born in Surrey, England on June 24, 1944, Beck attended Wimbledon Art College in London and backed Lord Sutch before replacing Eric Clapton in the Yardbirds. He established himself with a two-year stint with that band, but left in late 1966. The next year he had a U.K. solo hit single with the out-of-character "Hi Ho Silver Lining" (reissued and a hit the second time around in 1972). He followed that with the even more bizarre "Love Is Blue," played deliberately out of tune because he hated the song. Later in 1967 he formed the Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart on vocals, Ronnie Wood on bass, Mickey Waller on drums, and later Nicky Hopkins on piano. The Jeff Beck Group's reworkings of blues-based material laid the groundwork for Seventies heavy metal, and they enhanced their already considerable reputation with a series of rowdy, outrageous gigs -- mostly in the U.S. -- and two patchily excellent albums, Truth (1968) and Beck-Ola (1969). The teaming of Beck and Stewart was like nothing heard in rock before -- even if privately the two were frequently at each others' throats -- until Jimmy Page squared off to Robert Plant in Led Zeppelin. Clashing temperaments broke up the JBG in 1969, with Wood and Stewart joining the Faces. Beck made attempts to form a new band with Vanilla Fudge members Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice, but the project fell through when he was injured in a car crash which fractured his skull and kept him sidelined for 18 months. In 1971, he assembled a new Jeff Beck Group and released two albums of Memphis funk laced with heavy metal. In late 1972, Beck and Bogert and Appice -- the latter two who had been playing with Cactus -- formed Beck, Bogert and Appice, but weak vocals hampered the band, and it broke up in 1974. Beck went into another period of hibernation but reemerged in 1975 in an all-instrumental format, playing jazzy tunes, on such successful albums as Blow By Blow and Wired. During the late '70s he reportedly spent most of his time on his 70-acre estate outside London, and worked wih former Mahavishnu Orchestra keyboardist Jan Hammer on the 1980 album There and Back. In 1981, he appeared at Amnesty International's Secret Policeman's Ball, and in 1985 toured Japan, but his live performances became less and less frequent. In 1985 he released Flash, which included his sole charting single, a cover of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready" (#48), with Stewart on vocals, and the Grammy-winning "Escape" written by Hammer, peaked at #39. Through the Eighties he turned up on recordings by such artists as Mick Jagger, Malcolm McLaren and Roger Waters. Over the course of his career, Beck won eight Grammys out of 17 total nominations and was inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice -- as a member of the Yardbirds in 1992 and as a solo performer in 2009. His last and most recent of his 11 solo LPs was 18, a collaborative full-length set with actor/musician Johnny Depp in July 2022. Posting on Instagram, Rod Stewart remembered Beck as "the greatest, my man" who was "on another planet." Posting a picture of the pair together, Stewart writes that Beck "took me and Ronnie Wood to the USA in the late 60s in his band the Jeff Beck Group and we haven't looked back since. He was one of the few guitarists that when playing live would actually listen to me sing and respond. Jeff, you were the greatest, my man. Thank you for everything. RIP." Others who flocked to social media to remember the guitar great include Ronnie Wood, Gene Simmons, Jimmy Page, Dave Davies, Paul Stanley, Toni Iommi, Mick Jagger, Stevie Van Zant, David Gilmour, Donny Osmond, Joe Perry, Billy Gibbons, Brian Wilson, Sammy Hagar, Ozzy Osbourne, and Experience Hendrix. - Billboard/The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock, 1/12/23.