Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on April 6th, 2025

Lexi Jones, the daughter of David Bowie and his widow Inman, quietly released her debut album, Xandri, on Apr. 2. The LP, which can be previewed on Spotify.com, followed weeks of Lexi sharing snippets of various tracks on her Instagram account, such as "Standing Alone," Moving On," and "Through All The Time," alongside video clips from her childhood. Xandri's 12 tracks incorporates elements of pop, electronic and indie rock, with 24-year-old Jones' vocals at the forefront. Bowie passed away on Jan. 10, 2016 after privately battling with cancer for 18 months. The artist had released his 26th and final studio album, Blackstar, on his 69th birthday just two days prior (January 8). - New Musical Express, 4/6/25...... Bruce Springsteen announced on Apr. 3 that he's really throwing open the vaults for a new release of seven previously unheard full length albums this summer. Even more sprawling than his 1998 four-disc odds and sods Tracks collection, the sprawling new Tracks II: The Lost Albums box set will boast 83 tracks on 9 discs and, according to Sony Records, "fill in rich chapters of Springsteen's expansive career timeline -- while offering invaluable insight into his life and work as an artist." In a statement, Springsteen said, "The Lost Albums were full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released. I've played this music to myself and often close friends for years now. I'm glad you'll get a chance to finally hear them. I hope you enjoy them." The box will include the lo-fi LA Garage Sessions '83, described as a "crucial link" between the bare-bones Nebraska and the full-throated Born in the U.S.A., as well as the drum loop and synthesizer experimentation for the Streets of Philadelphia Sessions. The project covering the years 1983-2018 is a peek into 35 years of home recording and songwriting that the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer said provides insight into work that no one has heard before. "The ability to record at home whenever I wanted allowed me to go into a wide variety of different musical directions," Springsteen said. Some of that includes the "sonic experimentation" on "Faithless," a film soundtrack he wrote for a movie that was never made, as well as the country-leaning, pedal steel-fueled sound of Somewhere North of Nashville, featuring songs such as "Repo Man," "Tiger Rose," "Silver Mountain," "Janey Don't Lose Your Heart" and the title track. The Lost Albums will come in limited-edition 9-LP, 7-CD and digital formats, with distinctive packaging for each previously unreleased record, as well as a 100-page cloth-bound hardcover book with rare archival photos, liner notes on each album from essayist Erik Flannigan and a personal introduction from Springsteen. A 20-track compilation entitled Lost and Found: Selections From The Lost Albums will be released on June 27 on two LPs and one CD, with the full box set arriving the next day. Springsteen previewed the album on Apr. 3 with the muscular, devastating "Rain in the River," which can be streamed on Spotify.com, from the Perfect World album. - Billboard, 4/3/25...... Meanwhile, the Boss has paid tribute to Joe DePugh, the New Jersey baseball pitcher who inspired his hit song "Glory Days," following news of DePugh's death in late March at the age of 75. "Just a moment to mark the passing of Freehold native and ballplayer Joe DePugh," Springsteen wrote in an Instagram post on Mar. 30. "He was a good friend when I needed one. 'He could throw that speedball by you, make you look like a fool' & . Glory Days my friend." DePugh and Springsteen grew up together in Freehold, N.J., and played baseball in the same youth league. Their now-legendary chance encounter at a bar in 1973 served as the real-life basis for one of the most iconic verses on Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. album. "Glory Days" reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985, and DePugh told the Palm Beach Post that he was "tickled pink I would even get into the song." "When I first heard the song, I thought the song said 'and all we kept talking about was glory days,' " said DePugh. "And years later, I finally saw the lyrics and saw 'all he kept talking about was glory days.' And I thought, 'Huh, (he) took a little shot at me!' DePugh and Springsteen remained friends throughout their lives, occasionally crossing paths in Palm Beach County, where Springsteen owns a home and DePugh lived in Lake Worth. - Billboard, 4/2/25...... In an interview with The Times of London published Apr. 4, Elton John revealed even more details about his eyesight problems, which the 78-year-old rock legend first leaked during a Good Morning America interview in late 2024. "I can see you, but I can't see TV, I can't read," Sir Elton told The Times. "I can't see my boys playing rugby and soccer, and it has been a very stressful time because I'm used to soaking it all up." John, who shares sons Zachary, 14, and Elijah, 12, with his husband, David Furnish, described the situation as "distressing." "You get emotional, but you have to get used to it because I'm lucky to have the life I have," he said. "I still have my wonderful family, and I can still see something out of [my left eye]. So you say to yourself, 'Just get on with it.'" In the GMA interview, the singer revealed that he contracted the eye infection while in the South of France. "It's been four months since I haven't been able to see, and my left eye's not the greatest. I'm, kind of, stuck in the moment," he said at the time. Despite his eyesight struggles, John teamed up with Brandi Carlile for a new collaborative album, Who Believes In Angels?, which dropped on Apr. 4, and which Elton has described as "my best album since the early '70s." The pair appeared as musical guests on Saturday Night Live on Apr. 5, and on Apr. 6 host a one-hour concert special on CBS at 8:00 p.m. EDT. - Billboard, 4/5/25...... '70s glam-rocker Gary Glitter has been declared bankrupt after failing to pay more than £500,000 to a victim he was convicted of sexually abusing, when she was 12. The disgraced glam-rocker (real name Paul Gadd) was convicted in 2015 of abusing the woman between 1975 and 1980, as well as two other young people, and was last year ordered to pay the victim damages of £508,800. The sum also included £381,000 in lost earnings and £7,800 for future therapy and treatment. Richard Scorer, head of abuse law at Slater and Gordon, the law firm representing the woman, confirmed 80-year-old Gadd had been made bankrupt, adding he had refused to co-operate and "continues to treat his victims with contempt," reports BBC News. In a statement, he added: "We hope and trust that the parole board will take his behaviour into account in any future parole applications, as it clearly demonstrates that he has never changed, shows no remorse and remains a serious risk to the public." Gadd's sentence for the 2015 convictions is set to expire in Feb. 2031. - NME, 4/1/25...... Lou Gramm's issues with his former band Foreigner -- especially with band founder Mick Jones -- have been well-documented over the years, especially after Gramm's final departure in early 2003. But in the wake of Foreigner's "life-changing" induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last October, Gramm has a new attitude. "Ever since (the induction) it felt like, personally, I had to find a way to let go of some of the things I've been holding onto for years -- and, like the song says, let it be," Gramm says. Gramm, who was Foreigner's original singer in 1976 and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame with Jones in 2013, has been making occasional guest appearances with Foreigner since 2017. After singing a pair of encore songs with the band on Mar. 15 in Clearwater, Fla., it was announced that Gramm will be joining the group for an eight-date Historic Farewell Tour run through Mexico and South America that starts Apr. 28 and includes shows in Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Brazil. Kelly Hansen, Foreigner's frontman since 2005, will not be part of those concerts, with guitarist Luis Maldonado taking his place and planning to sing some of the repertoire in Spanish. "It's a hackneyed sentiment, but it's true -- life's too short," Gramm says of his latest return to the fold. "And a lot of the things that are blown up and made big deals about are easy enough to get over and humble yourself and reach out a little bit, 'cause what you've been mad about for the past 20 years is not a monumental thing." Gramm, for his part, says he's up for joining Foreigner for more of its 2025 dates in North America and certainly plans to be part of the 2026 activities, which will also mark the 45th anniversary of 1981's 6x platinum 4 album. "I don't think there's any contrivance or people questioning the reason why I would be up there with that band," he says, noting that the current edition, active since the mid-2000s, "is something Mick wanted to do after we parted company, and he did a great job and they've done a great job over the last two decades of keeping the name up there and flying the flag. They deserve a lot of credit." Foreigner is also setting up an Australian tour in addition to next year's 50th anniversary shows. A documentary project is in the works to commemorate the landmark. The band's "Juke Box Hero" musical, which has been previewed in Alberta and Toronto, is slated to go into production during 2026 as well. - Billboard, 4/1/25...... Attending a launch event in London for a new Buddy Holly tribute book, Words Of Love, on Apr. 4, Roger Daltrey said the "essence" of music is being lost due to the increasing use of technology. Daltrey, who participated in the Q&A alongside The Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood (who created the Words Of Love cover art) alongside rising British singer Youngblud, expressed his concerns over the growing reliance on tech, such as AI, in creating music. "We were throwing shit at the wall and some of it stuck," Daltrey explained. "There's something about the technology I feel personally, we're losing the essence of the heartbeat. Maybe it's because I'm older, but there's not much new music." Wood, 77, added: "I think rock music has been so convoluted because we got to be forced and twisted for a mainstream audience to turn the guitar down. Modern music's been in a strange place, but it's exciting because it's really, I feel it's very democratic again." - NME/Music-News.com, 4/4/25...... Queen guitarist Brian May has explained to Britain's MOJO magazine why Queen would let an unnamed "gangster rapper" sample one of the band's songs in their music. May said the reason was it didn't align with Queen's beliefs: "We have stopped them being used to promote violence or abuse, during the heyday of gangster rap when someone wanted to sample it in a song, we thought was abusive to women," he said, while not identifying who the musician was. "But otherwise, our songs are for everyone. All art is theft." Later in the interview, May said he originally disliked the 1979 Queen Jazz track "Don't Stop Me Now" due to its perceived glorification of frontman Freddie Mercury's hedonistic lifestyle. "At the time, I didn't feel comfortable about 'Don't Stop Me Now', probably for all the right reasons and the wrong reasons," he said. "I think I resisted realising why people liked it for a long time. Now, I think people love it because it contains all their dark dreams of hedonism -- and that's fine," he continued. "I hear it all the time, though. People say to me, ''Who Wants to Live Forever' feels like it was written for me, or my mum or my dad'. It's in people's hearts and minds and becomes personal to them. That's what makes a song live on." - NME, 4/4/25...... The L.A.-based pop duo Sparks will release their latest album, Mad!, on May 2 via their new label home, Transgressive Records. Brothers Russell and Ron Mael have announced a set of North American dates to tour the album starting on Sept. 5 at Atlanta's Tabernacle, also hitting such cities as Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Boston, Brooklyn, Columbus, Oh., Cleveland, Oh., Toronto, Vancouver, BC, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and El Cajon, Cal. until they conclude their leg at LA's Greek Theatre on Sept. 30. News of the North American leg follows shortly after Sparks' announcement of more dates on their UK/Ireland tour. From late June to early July, Sparks will stop by London's Royal Albert Hall, Manchester's O2 Academy, Dublin's National Stadium and more. They're also set to tour Europe and Japan, having recently been announced to play Bilbao BBK. Sparks has shared a song from the new album, "Drowned In A Sea Of Tears," on YouTube. - NME, 4/3/25...... A federal judge ruled on Apr. 2 that Pres. Donald Trump must face a copyright lawsuit filed by the estate of Isaac Hayes over the president's alleged use of the 1966 song "Hold On, I'm Coming" on the campaign trail. Judge Thomas Thrash Jr. denied a motion by Trump's attorneys to dismiss the case over "Hold On," which Hayes co-wrote before it was performed and released by the duo Sam & Dave. Seeking the end of the case, attorneys for Trump had argued that the estate of the late soul legend had failed to show that "they even own the rights they claim have been infringed" by the campaign: "They have no copyright, much less a copyright claim." But at the hearingJudge Thrash said the Hayes estate had done just enough to avoid having the case tossed at the outset: "I think that the second amended complaint -- in spite of all its problems, and there are quite a few -- adequately alleges ownership of the work." An attorney for the Trump campaign declined to comment. Brittney Dobbins, an attorney for the estate, said: "We are pleased with today's ruling. The judge made the right decision. Now, we are looking forward, and are prepared to litigate this case on the merits." Hayes' estate sued Trump last summer, accusing the campaign of using "Hold On" at rallies and in video recordings of those events. The case accused the campaign of infringing copyrights, but also of violating federal trademark law -- essentially claiming that the campaign's use of the song made it appear that Hayes or his heirs had endorsed Trump's bid to return to the White House. The Hayes estate joined many other artists who spoke out against Trump using their music on the campaign trail during the 2024 election. Beyoncé, Celine Dion, the Foo Fighters, ABBA and Sinead O'Connor's estate all voiced opposition -- some merely with social media posts and others with cease-and-desist letters from their lawyers. - Billboard, 4/2/25...... In related news, outspoken Trump critic Neil Young has said he fears a U.S. blacklisting over expressing his disappointment with the president over the years. Young -- who is a dual citizen of Canada and the U.S. -- has gone so far as to call Trump "a disgrace to my country," and most recently, claim that "the US has lost its standing" on the world stage under the President's leadership. However, with an upcoming European tour set to be followed by a run of dates in the U.S., Young has taken to his Archives website to ruminate on the notion that he too may be barred from entering the country for sharing his critical thoughts on Trump. "When I go to play music in Europe, if I talk about Donald J. Trump, I may be one of those returning to America who is barred or put in jail to sleep on a cement floor with an aluminum blanket," Young posted on Apr. 1. "If I come back from Europe and am barred, can't play my USA tour, all of the folks who bought tickets will not be able to come to a concert by me. If the fact that I think Donald Trump is the worst president in the history of our great country could stop me from coming back, what does that say for Freedom? I love America and its people and its music and its culture." Young is currently scheduled to launch his forthcoming tour with the Chrome Hearts in Rättvik, Sweden on June 18, with North American dates set to begin in Charlotte, NC on Aug. 8. The rocker's previously-announced plans for a free concert in Ukraine to launch the tour were recently cancelled, with Young citing safety concerns as the reason for the decision. On Apr. 12, Young will join his fellow folk rock legend Joan Baez along with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for a "Fighting Oligarchy" event at LA's Grand Park. The quartet will be joined by a line-up of other musicians including Maggie Rogers, Indigo de Souza, Jeff Rosenstock, the Red Pears and Raise Gospel Choir. Admission to the event is free, and you can sign up at https://act.berniesanders.com/signup/rsvp-oligarchy-LA/. - Billboard/NME, 4/1/25...... Billy Joel has joined Paul McCartney in urging the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to induct late powerhouse rock vocalist Joe Cocker into the Cleveland-based hall and museum in 2025. On Apr. 1, Joel posted a video on YouTube in which he reads a letter he wrote in 2014 to the RRHOF's induction committee -- at a time when Cocker's health was in decline -- imploring the Rock Hall to finally enshrine Cocker in its ring of honor. "As a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of fame since 1999, it has been one of my finest hopes to see Joe Cocker into it as well," Joel said in a never-before-released clip recorded in 2016 in which he notes that he was "stunned" that he was inducted before Cocker. "When I first heard him in 1969 I was very inspired by the sound of his incredibly raw and soulful vocal style." In February, Cocker -- who died in Dec. 2014 at 70 from lung cancer, just months after Joel penned the letter -- was nominated for the RRHOF for the first time after 36 years of eligibility. He's vying for a spot for the Rock Hall's Class of 2025 alongside 13 other musical greats. In March, McCartney wrote his own letter to the Rock Hall also calling for Cocker's induction. "Joe was a great man and a fine singer whose unique style made for some fantastic performances," he wrote. "He sang one of our songs 'With a Little Help From My Friends,' a [1968] version produced by Denny Cordell which was very imaginative," the former Beatle added. - Billboard, 4/1/25...... Speaking of the Beatles, fans have been voicing their opinions about the new cast of the upcoming biopics of Beatles members directed by Sam Mendes being shared. After months of speculation about Mendes' forthcoming film about the Fab Four, a series of announcements were made by the director at the end of Sony's CinemaCon on Mar. 31. For the most part, many fans are pleased with the new announcements, praising the cast for their acting ability and sharing their confidence that the help of the hair and makeup will help them resemble the original four. "This might be one of the greatest things I've ever seen," one user on X/Twitter responded to the news, while another added: "The Beatles, reimagined with this cast? I'm already in line for tickets." Others, however, were less convinced about the line-up for the films and took to social media to criticise the cast as looking too different from the real Fab Four. "In what world do you think that group looks like the Beatles, great talent, bad casting," one wrote. Another added: "Four famous men who look nothing like the Beatles star in the Beatles films!! Okay.." while a third chimed in: "The way none of them look like the ppl they r playing& . these r just four mid white guys trying to play four mid white guys." While some took an issue with the cast not resembling the original band members generally, some had more specific issues with the bill. This included a complaint at Sony for opting to "cast whatever popular actor is trending at the time and hope for the best", and a handful of comments about Harris Dickinson potentially being "too tall" to play John Lennon. "Harry Dickinson is too tall. Casting error," one stated, while someone else questioned why the actor chosen is less of a household name than his three castmates: "It's funny that they chose the least known actor to be John Lennon," they wrote. - NME, 4/1/25...... The Grateful Dead's Bobby Weir has announced his first show in London in over two decades, set to take place at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. Set to take place on June 21, the show will mark Weir's first appearance in London in 22 years. He will be joined by Wolf Bros bandmates Don Was and Dead & Company bandmates Jeff Chimenti and Jay Lane. The orchestral night will feature two full sets of music, including reimagined Grateful Dead classics and hits from Weir's own catalogue. This will be the first time it is performed in London, with a full 68-piece orchestra. See the announcement on X. - NME, 4/1/25...... The Wonder of Stevie, a podcast about Motown legend Stevie Wonder, has won best entertainment podcast at the fifth annual Awards for Excellence in Audio (The Ambies). The awards were presented on Mar. 31 at McCormick Convention Center in Chicago, with comedian Tig Notaro serving as host. The awards are voted on by members of The Podcast Academy. - Billboard, 3/31/25...... Priscilla Presley has won the first round in an elder abuse lawsuit she filed against her old business associates. On Apr. 3, a Los Angeles County judge sided with the former wife of Elvis Presley and ruled that California was the best venue to hear the lawsuit, which claims her ex-associates had conned her out of over $1 million. The complaint, filed last July, accused Florida-based memorabilia auctioneer Brigitte Kruse as well as Kevin Fialko, Vahe Sislyan and Lynn Walker Wright of crookedly convincing her to give them power over her and then abusing that control in efforts to steal her money. The case will now proceed with its next hearing in a few weeks. Presley is seeking at least $1 million in general damages as well as punitive damages and attorney's fees. She also seeks to have the "fraudulently-induced agreements" with the defendants rescinded in effort to regain control of her accounts. "What Presley cannot accomplish through this action, however, is the rehabilitation of her personal friendships and relationships that were disrupted and/or materially harmed by the selfish, fraudulent acts of defendants, which could take years to accomplish, if at all," stated the filing. - NME, 4/5/25...... As the new Janis Ian documentary Breaking Silence is currently in US theaters, the "At Seventeen" singer says she was initially reticent to participate in it, but was eventually persuaded by the persistence of the film's director, Varda Bar-Kar. "I had just walked away from a potentially lucrative [movie] deal with another entity," Ian says of her reticence to participate. "I firmly did not want a puff piece." But after viewing a 20-minute proof of concept from Bar-Kar, the Grammy-winning singer says she felt like she could trust the director with her time and story. "I wanted something that reflected the times," Ian says of her dream for the project -- and Bar-Kar's engrossing, informative documentary does that superbly, incorporating the turmoil of the Civil Rights era of the 1960s which inspired a 14-year-old girl from a farm town in New Jersey to write "Society's Child," a song about an interracial romance smothered by external prejudices. Some hailed her as an astonishing, bold voice, pushing the single to No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967; others hurled racial slurs at her during concerts, reducing the teenage singer to tears for daring to suggest love could go beyond racial boundaries. That song wouldn't be the last time that Ian -- who publicly came out as a lesbian in 1993 -- would find herself alternately celebrated and pilloried by audiences and industry players. Named after the album that came out when she did, the film uses Ian's unusually insightful music, her memories and fresh interviews with Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Lily Tomlin, Laurie Metcalf, Jean Smart, the late Brooks Arthur and others to tell the story of her impact and importance. - Billboard, 4/3/25...... Folk music legend Michael Hurley, a pioneer of the outsider folk and freak folk movements in the 1960s, has died at age 83. Mr. Hurley honed his eccentric perspective in folk music in the 1960s, releasing his debut album First Songs in 1964. Among his other celebrated works were the albums Armchair Boogie, Hi Fi Snock Uptown and the 1976 classic Have Moicy!, the latter of which went on to become and underground cult favourite. Mr. Hurley released over 30 albums in his lifetime, and his biggest hits were songs like "The Werewolf," "O My Stars," "Twilight Zone," "Hog of the Forsaken," "It Must Be Gelatine," "Slurf Song," "You Got To Find Me," and more. Besides his unique take on folk music, Michael Hurley was also known for his creative hand-illustrated album artwork. His last album was 2021's The Time of the Foxgloves, but continued to write and perform in recent years. Just days before his death, Mr. Hurley performed at the Big Ears festival in Tennessee. - NME, 4/4/25...... Actress Patty Maloney, best known for her recurring role on Little House on the Prairie, died on Mar. 89. She was 89. In addition to appearing on episodes of Little House, Ms. Maloney is remembered for playing Chewbacca's son Lumpy on the Star Wars Holiday Special and as Honk on the Sid & Marty Krofft family show Far Out Space Nuts. Her diverse resume also included the TV-movies Don't Be Afraid of the Dark and Punch and Jody and films like Ernest Saves Christmas, The Ice Pirates and Swing Shift. In addition to appearing on The Brady Bunch Variety Hour, Ms. Maloney appeared on shows like Charlie's Angels, The Love Boat, Married... with Children and My Name Is Earl. Maloney first began experiencing health issues in 2010 when she was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). She was in hospice care in Winter Park, Fla., after experiencing "several" strokes over the years. Less than two weeks before her death, another Little House alum, Jack Lilley, died at 91. He played a variety of roles in the beloved series, and series star Melissa Gilbert honored him with an Instagram tribute. - People, 4/1/25...... Singer Johnny Tillotson, the Grammy-nominated country and pop singer behind the iconic hit "Poetry In Motion," died on Apr. 1. He was 86. Born in 1939 in Jacksonville, Fla., Mr. Tillotson was a talented singer since his childhood. He signed to Cadence Records, and issued his first single, "Dreamy Eyes" / "Well I'm Your Man" in Sept. 1958 at just 19 years old. After releasing a string of singles, Mr. Tillotson quickly became a major teen idol. His biggest hit came just two years later in the form of 1960's "Poetry in Motion," which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. His first Grammy nomination was for his 1962 track, "It Keeps Right on A-Hurtin'," which was inspired by the terminal illness of his father. The song was nominated for best country and western recording, and has since been covered by several other artists including Elvis Presley, Margaret Whiting, Slim Whitman and Wanda Jackson. The track peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 and No. 4 on the Hot Country Songs chart. His second Grammy nomination was for his 1965 track, "Heartaches by the Number," which received a nod for Best Contemporary (Rock and Roll) vocal Performance. The song peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and No. 35 on the Hot 100. Overall, Mr. Tillotson achieved 25 entries and four top 10s on the Hot 100; five hits on Hot Country Songs; two hits on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and nine entries on Adult Contemporary. "It is with a broken heart that I write to let you know that the sweetest, kindest man I ever met Johnny Tillotson, left earth for Heaven yesterday," she wrote alongside a sweet photo of the duo laughing together," Mr. Tillotson's wife, Nancy, posted on Facebook. "Johnny will be missed every single day for the rest of my life. He was simply the best. With all the love I have in my heart for a wonderful man gone too soon from this world." In addition to Nancy, he is survived by his brother Dan, his son John and stepdaughter Genevieve as well as his grandchildren, nieces and nephews. - Billboard, 4/2/25...... Actor Val Kilmer, a wide-ranging leading may who played everyone from Jim Morrison to Batman, died on Apr. 1 in Los Angeles. He was 65. The cause was pneumonia, said his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer. Mr. Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and later recovered, she said. Tall and handsome in a rock-star sort of way, Mr. Kilmer was in fact cast as a rocker a handful of times early in his career, when he seemed destined for blockbuster success. He made his feature debut in a slapstick Cold War spy-movie spoof, "Top Secret!" (1984), in which he starred as a crowd-pleasing, hip-shaking American singer in Berlin unwittingly involved in an East German plot to reunify the country. He gave a vividly stylized performance as Morrison, the emblem of psychedelic sensuality, in Oliver Stone's The Doors (1991), and he played the cameo role of Mentor -- an advice-giving Elvis Presley as imagined by the film's antiheroic protagonist, played by Christian Slater -- in True Romance (1993), a violent drug-chase caper written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott. He had top billing (ahead of Sam Shepard) in Thunderheart (1992), playing an unseasoned F.B.I. agent investigating a murder on a South Dakota Indian reservation, and in The Saint(1997), a thriller about a debonair, resourceful thief playing cat-and-mouse with the Russian mob. Most famously, perhaps, between Michael Keaton and George Clooney, he inhabited the title role (and the batsuit) in Batman Forever (1995), doing battle in Gotham City with Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) and the Riddler (Jim Carrey), though neither Mr. Kilmer nor the film were viewed as stellar representatives of the Batman franchise. In 1986, Tony Scott cast him in his first big-budget film, Top Gun (1986), the testosterone-fueled adventure drama about Navy fighter pilots in training, in which Mr. Kilmer played the cool, cocky rival to the film's star, Tom Cruise. It was a role that set a precedent for several of Mr. Kilmer's other prominent appearances as a co-star or a member of a starry ensemble. Val Edward Kilmer was born in Los Angeles on Dec. 31, 1959, and grew up in the Chatsworth neighborhood in the far northwest part of the city. He applied to the Juilliard School in New York and at 17 became one of the youngest students ever admitted to the acting program there. He made his Broadway debut in 1983 in "The Slab Boys," a drama by John Byrne about young workers in a Scottish carpet factory that also featured Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon. He later played Hamlet at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in Boulder in 1988 and the male lead, Giovanni, opposite Jeanne Tripplehorn in a Public Theater production of the lurid Jacobean tragedy "'Tis Pity She's a Whore" in 1992. He also appeared as Mark Twain in a 2014 film adaptation of Twain's work, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, and he planned to direct and star in a film he wrote about Twain. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2012, Mr. Kilmer spoke about his absence from mainstream Hollywood for a decade or more and acknowledged that his career arc had been unusual. He had other interests, he said; he wanted to hang out with his kids. "I don't have any regrets," he said, adding: It's an adage but it's kind of true: Once you're a star, you're always a star. It's just, At what level?" - The New York Times, 1/4/25.

The Sex Pistols and their current collaborator Frank Carter have announced a North American tour that will kick off at the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas, Tex. in September, then visiting cities including Washington D.C., Philadephia, Brooklyn, Montreal, Toronto, Denver, and San Francisco before the final date at Los Angeles' Hollywood Palladium on Oct. 16. The "God Save the Queen" rockers haven't performed in the US at all since 2008 and last toured there in 2003, but now guitarist Steve Jones, bassist Glen Matlock and drummer Paul Cook have announced on Instagram that "we're comin to the USA and Canada." The irreverent rockers reformed in 2024 for a UK tour with the Gallows frontman Carter as vocalist in place of John Lydon, and Jones revealed Carter was the only singer they tried working with. "Frank was the first singer we [tried], because me, Cookie and Glen wanted to play. It just worked straight away," said Jones, 69. "He's a lot younger than us. He's 40, so he has all that energy and us old farts can just jam at the back! It was so much fun and people loved it, and I loved looking at people loving it." - Music-News.com, 3/28/25...... At the end of a Sony Pictures CinemaCon presentation on Mar. 31 in Los Angeles, it was revealed that the "Fab Four" in the studio's upcoming Beatles series of films -- one each dedicated to John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr -- will be Harris Dickinson (as Lennon), Paul Mescal (as McCartney), Joseph Quinn (as Harrison), and Barry Keoghan (as Starr). In another blockbuster announcement, project director Sam Mendes revealed that all four films will arrive in Apr. 2028, though not at the same time. Sony Pictures head Tom Rothman added that the franchise will be titled The Beatles - A Four-Film Cinematic Event, and that the films will mark the first "bingeable moment in cinema." Mendes, who has not confirmed the order in which the four films will be released, confirmed that filming all four films will take over a year, but is confident for an Apr. 2028 launch. Mendes says he toyed with the idea of a Beatles mini-series but ultimately decided that "the story was too huge to fit into a single movie." Each of the four films will be told from the perspective of one of the four Beatles. It is also the first-ever film to be granted music rights to the Beatles' discography. The films were first announced back in Feb. 2024. Sony Pictures has also posted on X announcing the full cast. - New Musical Express, 4/1/25...... In other Beatles-related news, a YouTuber named Ian Hartley has uploaded a rare studio recording of the '70s prog rock band Yes covering the Fab Four's "Eleanor Rigby" to YouTube. The intense cover of the 1966 Beatles classic is said to have been recorded by Yes and producer John Anthony at London's Polydor Studios in Feb. 1969. "This particular recording has never been publicly released before," Hartley noted. "Here is the first (failed) take of the ER run-throughs as recorded in raw form at the time. Apart from some speed correction, no remastering was done to the master tapes." The uploader added: "Depending on reactions to this, further such things might follow." There are three known takes of Yes recording "Eleanor Rigby" in the studio, according to the Yes Fans forum, but none have been released officially. The exact origins of the Hartley's Yes audio are not known. Back in 2009, however, Bonhams auction house in London listed a tape recorded with John Anthony on Feb. 14, 1969. This included three other songs: Yes' cover of Stephen Stills' "Everydays," their take on Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's "Something's Coming," and Yes' own composition "Dear Father." Yes released their self-titled debut album later in 1969 via Atlantic. None of the tracks known to have been recorded with Anthony made the final tracklist. However, versions of "Everydays," "Something's Coming" and "Dear Father" were featured as B-sides of Yes' first three single releases. At the time of writing, the Yes's "Eleanor Rigby" cover has been streamed on YouTube over 8,000 times. - NME, 3/31/25...... On Mar. 30 a teenage American Idol contestant -- and aspiring preacher -- caused one of the talent show's judges, Lionel Richie, to have a religious experience during a soulful rendition of Earnest Pugh's "I Need Your Glory." Seventeen-year-old Dallas native Canaan James Hill's pitch-perfect, run-filled version of the gospel track prompted Richie to jump out of his seat while Bryan mimed getting the chills during his performance. "Would you do that again?" Richie said, marching straight up to Hill after the song was over and putting a hand on his shoulder. "You are so blessed. That was something so spectacular, I just can't even describe what I heard." Not only did Richie and the other judges give Hill a unanimous "yes" for his audition, but Richie also presented him with the final platinum ticket of the season, meaning the hopeful gets to skip straight past the first Hollywood round. Hill's glorious Idol audition can be viewed on YouTube. - Billboard, 3/31/25...... Roger Daltrey shocked The Who's fans during the first of two Who shows at London's Royal Albert Hall on Mar. 27 when he opened up about his current medical condition. "The problem with this job is that you go deaf," he said from the stage. "And now I've been told that I am going blind." Referencing the band's 1969 rock opera title character, he added: "Thank God I've still got my voice. If I lost that I'll go full Tommy." The Who played another hits-packed show at the Royal Albert Hall the following night, with proceeds going to the charity concerts that Daltrey founded in 2000. Daltrey, who turned 81 in early March, announced in 2024 that he was stepping down as the TCT concerts curator, allowing The Cure's Robert Smith to take the reins. "I have to be realistic about my age... I'm on the way out," he told the London Times in 2024. "The average life expectancy is 83 and with a bit of luck I'll make that, but we need someone else to drive things," he said about the decision to step down from the curator role, instead opting to "work in the back room... talking to the government, rattling cages." During the Mar. 27 show, The Who performed their Who's Next track "Love Ain't For Keepin'" for the first time in 21 years. They also broke out classic tracks like "Pinball Wizard," "The Seeker," "My Generation" and "Behind Blue Eyes." Fan-shot footage of several performances can be streamed on YouTube. - NME, 3/29/25...... Longtime REO Speedwagon vocalist Kevin Cronin has taken to Facebook to share his thoughts on his lack of inclusion in an upcoming one-off REO reunion event. Cronin, who has been touring with his own Kevin Cronin Band, addressed a fan on Facebook who noted the singer's absence from REO's forthcoming concert in Champaign, Ill. on June 14, responding that organizers of the event could have picked a date when many of the band's former members were readily available to attend. "Instead they chose June 14, 2025, a date where it was public knowledge that I was previously committed to perform with Styx and Kevin Cronin Band in Bend, Oregon," Cronin wrote. "Bottom line, I am being asked to participate in an event on a date when I can't possibly be there in-person. And then being falsely accused of turning down the invitation. I am deeply disturbed and hurt by all of this. After all I have done to help build the legacy of REO Speedwagon, I feel I have earned and deserve to be included in any event honoring that legacy. Instead, I have been knowingly excluded." Cronin joined REO Speedwagon in early 1972, taking over from Terry Luttrell who reportedly left due to personal issues with guitarist Gary Richrath. Though Cronin was himself briefly replaced by Mike Murphy the following year, he returned in 1976 and remained in the band until their end, performing on tracks such as their two Billboard chart-toppers "Keep On Loving You" and "Can't Fight This Feeling." In late 2024, REO Speedwagon announced that they would cease touring as of Jan. 1, 2025. In a note shared to fans, the group explained that bassist Bruce Hall had not recovered sufficiently from previous back surgery and his inability to tour led to "irreconcilable differences" between Hall and Cronin. REO Speedwagon played their final live performance on Dec. 21 at The Venetian Theatre in Las Vegas, but in March announced they would be playing a special one-off show at the State Farm Center in their hometown of Champaign, Ill. on June 14. Officially titled as an event "Honoring the Legacy of REO Speedwagon," the show is described as a "concert retrospective featuring special guests & former members." Two former REO members (Luttrell and Murphy) are confirmed to attend, and a special tribute will be held to late members Richrath and Gregg Philbin. - Billboard, 3/30/25...... David Bowie's old childhood home in Bromley, Greater London, has been put on the market for £449,500. The late rock icon moved with his family into the two-bedroom terraced house for a year, before they moved to the East End section of London, where they settled at 4 Plaistow Grove. According to a property listing for the house, it has "two double bedrooms, one bathroom, a dining room, living room, small kitchen and moderate back garden." "Possibly the least eye-catching house I have featured architecturally, but interesting because this is David Bowie's childhood home in Bromley, Greater London, which is now up for sale," realtor WowHauser posted on X on Mar. 28. He building is also affectionately described as a "charming two-bedroom period terraced house, located in a quiet residential position close to the heart of Bickley on the borders of Bromley... This Victorian property exudes a sense of peace and tranquillity, making it the perfect place to call home." Meanwhile, Bowie is set to be one of the featured artists in London's brand new Live Odyssey immersive experience that's set to kick off in May 25 in Camden, UK. The attraction -- which combines a show, an exhibition museum and live experience together -- will take attendees through six decades of music via a two-and-a-half-hour adventure that captures the evolution of British music, from the early anthems of the '60s and '70s to the Britpop explosion of the '90s and today's cutting-edge hits. - NME, 3/28/25...... Bachman-Turner Overdrive announced on Mar. 28 they are "takin' care of business" again with the release of "60 Years Ago," a new sentimental single that was penned by BTO frontman Randy Bachman and his son Tal Bachman during their pandemic YouTube show Bachman & Bachman Friday Night Train Wreck aspart of a father-son album that has not yet been released. But after hearing that a highway section in Randy's native Winnipeg was to be renamed the Bachman-Turner Overpass -- with the dedication on Apr. 18, the day before BTO plays the city -- inspired the Bachmans to revise the song and make the song public. "I thought, 'I'll go and get "60 Years Ago," and I'll give it back to Winnipeg as a thank-you,'" Randy Bachman says. "There was no great plan for this song, y'know. But maybe they'll play it on Winnipeg radio, and if you live in Winnipeg maybe you'll want to download it and drive around singing '60 years ago, so damn cold, so much snow' and that kind of stuff. And I have a million BTO fans, followers on Instagram and my web site, so maybe some of them will download it. I have a lot of people asking me, always, 'Is there anything new? Is there anything new?' So now yes, there is." With its remembrances of the Winnipeg music scene of the mid-'60s, Bachman further torqued up "60 Years Ago" with some appropriate guests - childhood friend and fellow Winnipegian Neil Young, whose guitar solo can be heard at the end, and BTO co-founder Fred Turner who, despite spates of bad health, contributed vocals to the song. Both men are name-checked in the lyrics, along with Bachman's The Guess Who partner Burton Cummings and, as Bachman notes, Winnipeg's frigid climate. "60 Years Ago" comes as BTO prepares to hit the road on Apr. 1 for an extensive 22-date Canadian tour, followed by summer dates in the U.S., both on its own and with the Marshall Tucker Band, Jefferson Starship and The Outlaws from July 18 through Aug. 22. He's also hoping that Takin' Care of Business, a documentary about finding his stolen Gretsch 6120 guitar while in the midst of a serious cancer battle a couple of years back, will see wider release after running on the film festival circuit. - Billboard, 3/28/25...... On Mar. 27, London's legendary Abbey Road Studios celebrated its recent extensive restoration with an event called Synergy In Motion, which combined contemporary dance and music in a unique event. The choreography was helmed by Royal Ballet choreographer Joseph Toonga and set to the film scores of composer Daniel Pemberton (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), remixed and arranged by Jordan Rakei, Abbey Road's Artist in Residence. The studio has now reopened and is in operation for recording sessions. Abbey Road Studio One is described by the northwest London studio as "world's largest purpose-built recording studio," and can comfortably host 100-piece orchestras. The room is primarily used for the recording of classical and movie scores, with the soundtracks to a number of blockbusters having been recorded in in the space, including much of John Williams' movie canon, such as Raiders of The Lost Ark, Star Wars: The Return of The Jedi, as well as the Harry Potter movies. The premises was first built as a residential townhouse in 1831, and was converted into a recording studio a century later, reopening as EMI Studios in 1931. A number of classical greats including Edward Elgar and Sergei Prokofiev recorded there; in 1958, Studio Two was opened, with a number of influential acts like The Beatles and Pink Floyd recording in the space. The studio is currently owned by Universal Music imprint Virgin Records. - Billboard, 3/27/25...... Carlos Santana says his latest effort, Sentient, is a metaphor for floral arrangements. "When I go to the lobby in hotels in Europe, they always have these incredible flower arrangements," Santana told Billboard. "They hire some people to come in and arrange the flowers in the lobby. That's how this album was made -- that's how I make all my albums. I feel like a florist who is trying to combine the right colors and textures and create a beautiful ornament. That's what Sentient is, an ornament of flower arrangements -- colors, passions, textures, emotions." The 11-track set, which dropped on Mar. 28 and is the follow-up to 2021's Blessings and Miracles, includes three previously unreleased tracks, while the rest are remastered songs drawn from various points in the musician's career, including collaborations with friends living (Smokey Robinson, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels and his wife Cindy Blackman Santana) and deceased (Michael Jackson, Miles Davis). After Sentient's release Santana will begin a nine-date Oneness Tour beginning April 16 in Highland, Calif., and wrapping May 1 at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. His next residency at the House of Blues Las Vegas runs May 14-25, and a European Oneness Tour leg begins June 9 in Poland and runs through Aug. 11 in Copenhagen. The original 1969 Woodstock veteran says he's also working on a multi-day, multi-act worldwide festival with the utopian perspective of Woodstock. "I want to create a global concert that goes around the world and (promotes) unity, harmony, oneness," he says. - Billboard, 3/27/25...... Iconic '80s hitmakers Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo are set to receive the 2025 ASCAP Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award at the annual Chapin Awards Gala on June 4 at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City. The 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees and longtime activists, who have been married since 1982, will become the second married couple to receive the award. R&B songwriting greats Nicholas Ashford and Valerie Simpson received it in 2010. The Chapin Awards Gala will include a cocktail reception, dinner, and live music, and additional honorees will be announced in coming weeks. The award's namesake, Harry Chapin, was an early music industry advocate for the world hunger movement. The "Cat's in the Cradle" singer co-founded WhyHunger, for which the ASCAP gala benefits, a full decade before music industry titans came together as USA for Africa to record "We Are the World" in 1985. Chapin gave tirelessly gave of his time and talents to perform at benefits and events in support of a range of social causes before his life was tragically cut short when he was killed in a car crash in 1981 at age 38. (On the afternoon he was killed, he was driving to a benefit, where he was slated to perform.) Previous ASCAP Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award recipients include the likes of John Mellencamp, Kenny Loggins, Yoko Ono, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, Judy Collins, Barbra Streisand and Peter, Paul & Mary. - Billboard, 3/27/25...... Late Alice star Linda Lavin, who died unexpectedly on Dec. 29 at age 87 due to complications from lung cancer that had been recently discovered, will be honored with a "brutally honest" episode of her new Hulu series Mid-Century Modern. "It was a directive actually from Linda... When she was diagnosed with [lung cancer], she was like, 'I don't know how I'm going to respond to this, but whatever it is, write it into the [Sybil Schneiderman] character," reveals cocreator David Kohan (Will & Grace). How fitting that TV's most iconic waitress knew just what to order. Mid-Century Modern launched its series premiere on Hulu on Mar. 28. - TV Guide, 3/24/25...... Bruce Glover, a prolific character actor known for playing icy villains and no-nonsense lawmen, including an assassin who goes after Sean Connery in the James Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever and a private dick who works with Jack Nicholson in the 1974 neo-noir classic Chinatown, died on Mar. 12 at a hospital in Los Angeles. He was 92. His son, actor and director Crispin Glover, announced the death but did not cite a specific cause. Mr. Glover, a streetwise Chicago native who said he spent years trying to get rid of his "dese, dems and dose" accent, appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, building his resume in the 1960s and '70s with roles on Perry Mason, Adam-12, Mod Squad and Gunsmoke," among other westerns and crime dramas. Although he dabbled in comedy, making a cameo as an eccentric wheelchair-user in Terry Zwigoff's 2001 film Ghost World, he was typically cast as crooks, cops and other assorted tough guys. He played a Tennessee sheriff's deputy in the hit crime movie Walking Tall (1973), reprising the part for two sequels, and was a mob boss trying to recoup a debt from a hustler in the boxing film Hard Times (1975), starring Charles Bronson and James Coburn. He remained best known for his villainous turn in Diamonds Are Forever (1971), the sixth Bond film to feature Connery as the suave secret agent. Mr. Glover played a deceptively polite henchman, Mr. Wint, who teams up with fellow assassin Mr. Kidd (played by the mustached jazz musician Putter Smith) to protect a smuggling operation run by the cat-loving supervillain Blofeld (Charles Gray). For years, Mr. Glover painted and taught acting when he wasn't performing on the stage or screen. His approach was instinctual -- practical, not theoretical -- and honed during his early years performing in summer-stock theatre, when he sometimes did a play a week. "No 12, no 25 steps," he said of his approach. "Think the thoughts of the character. Have a conversation. That's how simple it is." In addition to his son Crispin, survivors include a brother. - The Washington Post, 3/31/25...... Legendary actor Richard Chamberlain, the handsome leading man who thrilled women as the young star of Dr. Kildare and then centered the epic, melodramatic miniseries Shogun and The Thorn Birds, died on Mar. 29 in Waimanalo, Hawaii, of complications following a stroke, according to his publicist. He was 90. On the big screen, Mr. Chamberlain played Julie Christie's brutal husband in Richard Lester's Petulia (1968), the woman-loving Aramis in a trio of Three Musketeers films and the fortune hunter Allan Quatermain opposite Sharon Stone in King Solomon's Mines (1985) and Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1986). Mr. Chamberlain started off his miniseries career by starring as trapper Alexander McKeag in James Michener's 16 1/2-hour, 12-episode saga Centennial, which aired on NBC in 1978-79, and he was the first actor to portray Jason Bourne onscreen when he starred as the Robert Ludlum character in an ABC miniseries in 1988. Raised in Beverly Hills, Mr. Chamberlain was a rather inexperienced actor when he was hired to play James Kildare, an earnest intern with terrific bedside manner -- and the mentee of Dr. Leonard Gillespie (Raymond Massey) -- on Dr. Kildare. The NBC drama was based on popular MGM radio and film serials (Lew Ayres portrayed the character on the big screen). Female viewers quickly fell for the suave Mr. Chamberlain, and he received upward of 12,000 fan letters a week, more than anyone had ever received at MGM, even Clark Gable. The show aired for five seasons, from Sept. 1961 until Aug. 1966. "I went through life pretending to be perfect, and that helped me play Dr. Kildaire, because he was close to perfect," he once said. In the early 1980s, Mr. Chamberlain gained a reputation as the "king of the miniseries" for his starring roles in Shogun, The Thorn Birds and Wallenberg: A Hero's Story. He received Primetime Emmy nods for outstanding lead actor in a limited series or a special for all three productions. In the Australian-set The Thorn Birds based on Colleen McCullough's novel and which aired on ABC over four nights in Mar. 1983, he portrayed Father Ralph, a Catholic priest who is involved in a tortured romance with the ravishing young Meggie (Rachel Ward), who seeks solace from a ranch hand (Bryan Brown, her future real-life husband). James Clavell's Shogun was originally envisioned as a feature starring Robert Redford. NBC got the rights after those plans fell through and wanted Sean Connery to star as the tempestuous Englishman John Blackthorne. The network then cast Mr. Chamberlain, who had read the book and pushed for the part. He spent six months shooting the miniseries in Japan, and it aired for 12 hours over five nights in 1980. Shogun earned Mr. Chamberlain a best actor Golden Globe and Emmy nomination, and for The Thorn Birds, he took home another Globe for best actor in a miniseries or motion picture for TV. George Richard Chamberlain was born in Los Angeles on Mar. 31, 1934, the youngest of two sons and raised in Beverly Hills, but on the "wrong side of Wilshire Boulevard, the wrong side of Beverly Drive, in an extremely normal neighborhood," he noted. He attended Beverly Hills High School, where he appeared in such plays as "I Remember Mama." His film resume also included Twilight of Honor (1963), Joy in the Morning (1965), The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969), Julius Caesar (1970), The Music Lovers (1971), The Towering Inferno (1974), The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella (1976), Peter Weir's The Last Wave (1977) and The Swarm (1978). More recently, Mr. Chamberlain guest-starred on Nip/Tuck, playing a gay millionaire who forces his younger lover to have plastic surgery so as to resemble himself; recurred on Brothers & Sisters as a former love interest of Ron Rifkin's character; hilariously portrayed Craig Ferguson's mom, Maggie Wick, on The Drew Carey Show; and appeared on the Twin Peaks reboot. In his liberating 2003 autobiography Shattered Love, Mr. Chamberlain, then 69, came out as gay. "When you grow up in the '30s, '40s and '50s being gay, it not only ain't easy, it's just impossible," he told The New York Times in 2014. Mr. Chamberlain learned while growing up "that being gay was the worst thing you can possibly be. I assumed there was something terribly wrong with me. And even becoming famous and all that, it was still there." - The Hollywood Reporter, 3/30/25.