Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on November 6th, 2025

Among the amusing anecdotes in Paul McCartney's new book Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run are that McCartney once sent baby poo to lying music journalist after bad review. Wings drummer Denny Seiwell recalled how the band got their fair share of negative reviews over the years, including one from a journalist who lied about watching one of their shows. Seiwell said that band were briefly joined on tour by a writer in the early '70s who claimed he wouldn't be reviewing their show, but rather writing a story about how the members brought their families on tour, including the McCartneys' three children at the time, Heather, Mary and Stella. Discussing the time with the journalist, Seiwell said: "We take him along to the sound check. We let him backstage. We let him on the bus. We let him see how we live and all that. He didn't stay for the concert. He flew home." A week later, however, the members were surprised to see that the writer shared a "full-on review" of the show that he didn't attend. "And he slagged it. Everything about it! The way we lived. The way we travelled. The way we sounded," the drummer said, adding that Paul and Linda came up with an unconventional way to get back at him. "Stella was a baby at the time. So Paul and Linda took one of those little plastic soap dishes from the hotel we were in and they got one of Stella's turds, put it in the soap dish, wrapped it up and sent it to him," he claimed. "You heard that from me. I don't care if they want it to be known or not. I thought it was the perfect response to a crude British pressman." Released on Nov. 4, the book is co-authored by Ted Widmer and contains around 150 photographs, as well as diary entries and handwritten lyrics, and anecdotes from the likes of Stella McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, George Martin, Sean Ono Lennon, Chrissie Hynde, Dustin Hoffman, Twiggy, and all the members of Wings. As part of their 50th anniversary celebration, on Nov. 7 the band will also release Wings Deluxe, a definitive self-titled anthology collection, personally overseen by McCartney. It will feature the all the band's hits and include an expanded 32-page booklet featuring photographs, artwork, paintings, trivia and information about the group. - New Musical Express, 11/5/25...... Blondie's Chris Stein has spoken out after arrests were made in connection to the drug-related deaths of his daughter and Robert De Niro's grandson. Back in 2023, Stein announced the news of his daughter Akira's death in a Facebook post, revealing that she died from a drug overdose in May that year aged 19. Stein's partner, Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry, also shared her own tribute too, saying she "will grieve for the rest of my life [& ] at our terrible loss." Harry also went to raise awareness for the risks, sharing: "Fentanyl is too dangerous, seductive and easy to get." Now, it has been confirmed that five arrests have been made in relation to Akira's overdose, as well as in relation to the death of Robert De Niro's actor grandson, Leandro, who died from an overdose in 2023. He was also 19. In a recent post on Instagram, Stein shared: "Arrests have been made and announced today in Akira's case. The DEA, US Attorney folks from the NYC Southern District and NYPD have been very sympathetic and respectful all through this process and I can't thank them enough for this hope of some justice for her. Please be careful." The suspects are charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute. Prosecutors allege that the five of them used social media and encrypted messaging apps to sell thousands of fentanyl-laced pills in the city between the period of January and July 2023. - NME, 11/5/25...... As the 2025 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony nears on Nov. 8, Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers says he won't be able to attend a reunion with the other surviving member of the English rock supergroup -- drummer Simon Kirke (who also drummed in Rodgers' former band Free) -- due to his current ill health situation. "My hope was to be at the Rock & Rock Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and to perform for the fans, but at this time I have to prioritize my health," Rodgers, 75, said in a statement on Instagram without providing any additional information on his condition. "I have no problem singing, it's the stress of everything else. Thanks for understanding. Simon along with some outstanding musicians will be stepping in for me - guaranteed to rock." Rodgers, Kirke, late guitarist Mick Ralphs and late bassist Boz Burrell will be inducted into the RRHOF for their roles in the 1970s rock juggernaut whose biggest hits include "Bad Company" and "Can't Get Enough" (1974), "Feel Like Makin' Love" and "Shooting Star" (1975) and "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" (1979) among others. Bad Company originally split in 1982 and have reunited several times over the years in a variety of configurations to tour and record albums, last performing together in 2019. But in 2023, Kirke said the band was likely done due to a variety of health issues suffered by Rodgers over the past few years, with the singer revealing to CBS Mornings that year that he'd suffered two major strokes -- one in 2016 and another in 2019 -- as well as 11 minor strokes. Bad Company are slated to be inducted at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles alongside Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, OutKast, Soundgarden and The White Stripes in the Performer category and Salt-N-Pepa and Warren Zevon for Musical Influence. The ceremony will stream live coast-to-coast on Disney+ on Nov. 8, at 8 p.m. ET, and will be available to stream following the ceremony. ABC will also air a primetime special with performance highlights and standout moments on Jan. 1, at 8 p.m. ET, available the next day on Hulu. - Billboard, 11/4/25...... In other awards news, Bob Dylan has accepted an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College Of Music in Boston, marking the first time the legendary singer-songwriter has been given such an honor from a US college or university since 1970. Berklee cited Dylan's "extraordinary influence on modern music" as well as his "lifelong commitment to creative exploration" by awarding him the honorary Doctor Of Music degree. "Bob Dylan's music has shaped how the world hears itself. He's an artist who has never stopped evolving, who keeps chasing truth through sound and language. That's the spirit we try to cultivate here every day," Berklee president Jim Lucchese explained. In a statement, Dylan said: "Thank you, Berklee College of Music, for bestowing on me this prestigious honour. What a pleasant surprise. Who knows what path my career might have taken if I'd been fortunate enough to learn from some of the great musicians who taught at Berklee. It's something to think about." Dylan is not set to attend any ceremony or event at Berklee, but the college is hosting a concert in his honor on Nov. 5. The tribute show will celebrate the musician's "immeasurable impact on popular culture with performances from students, faculty, alumni, and visiting artists that highlight his deep knowledge and nuanced appreciation of roots and Americana music." In 1970, Princeton University in New Jersey awarded Dylan a similar honor, and the musician attended the ceremony along with David Crosby, with the event taking place while cicadas were swarming the campus. This inspired his 1970 track "Day Of The Locusts" from his album New Morning. Dylan will launch a run of UK and Ireland shows in early November for his continuing "Rough and Rowdy Ways" tour. - NME, 11/5/25...... James Taylor took to Instagram on Nov. 4 to announce a tour of the UK and Europe in the summer of 2026, including a huge London show. The "Fire and Rain" singer will perform in Edinburgh (7/14), Halifax (7/16), Amsterdam (7/21), and London's O2 Arena (7/23), before wrapping at Scarborough's Open Air Theatre on July 25. Taylor concluded a North American tour in September, and released his 20th and latest studio album, American Standard in early 2020. It went on to win the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album award at the 2021 Grammys. - NME, 11/4/25...... During a recent appearance on CBS Mornings, Cher shared some insights into her 40-year age gap romance with 39-year-old music exec Alexander "AE" Edwards with interviewer Gayle King. During the conversation, the 79-year-old diva opened up about her three-year relationship with Edwards. "We laugh all the time, you know? I just love him," she gushed about her current beau. "I think he's beautiful. He's really talented. He's one of the most talented persons I've ever met." When asked about the critics of the May to December relationship, the singer retorted, "Whatever. They're not living my life. Nobody knows what goes on between us, but we just have a blast." The "Believe" singer also shared that she enjoys spending time with Edwards' six-year-old son, whom he shares with ex-girlfriend, model and TV personality Amber Rose. She described the youngster as "smart, funny" and "a delight." "I used to say, 'God, give me a toddler and a man,'" she revealed before saying she got "exactly" what she asked for. - Music-News.com, 11/5/25...... On Nov. 3 AC/DC announced 21 additional dates for their 2026 "Power Up" tour, which will see the band playing in some of the biggest stadiums in North America. The new dates for the nearly two-year-old tour by the legendary Aussie hard rockers will kick off on Feb. 24 at Estdio do MorumBIS in So Paulo, Brazil and include stops in Santiago, Chile (3/11) and Buenos Aires, Argentina (3/23) before winding down on Apr. 7 in Mexico City at Estadio GNP Seguros. The band will then take the spring off and be back on the road beginning July 11 in Charlotte, N.C., followed by shows in Columbus, Ohio, Madison, Wi., San Antonio, Denver, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Edmonton, Alberta, Vancouver, Atlanta, Houston, South Bend, Ind., St. Louis, Montreal, Toronto and East Rutherford, N.J. before winding down on Sept. 29 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. AC/DC kicked off the tour named for their 17th studio album in May 2024. The band's next scheduled date is on Nov. 12 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia. - Billboard, 11/3/25...... Ozzy Osbourne's daughter Kelly Osbourne has shared a video of her two-year-old son Sidney biting the head off a toy bat in a Halloween tribute to his grandpa. Oct. 31 was the first Halloween since Ozzy died in July at age 76, and in a touching tribute video shared on Kelly's Instagram and TikTok, she showed Sidney clutching a stuffed bat and ripping its head off with his teeth. "Learned from the greatest, Papa!" she captioned the post, which was soundtracked by Ozzy's 1980 solo hit "Crazy Train." Ozzy famously bit off the head of a real bat at a show in Des Moines, Iowa in 1982. The animal was thrown onto the stage by a fan and Ozzy picked it up believing it was made of rubber, before realizing that it was the real thing. He was later given a series of rabies shots, which he said "ain't fun." Nevertheless, he remained associated with bat imagery for the rest of his life, and in 2022, it was reported that he wanted to install bat boxes in his Buckinghamshire home in an effort to protect the species. Kelly got engaged to her partner, Slipknot's Sid Wilson, backstage at the final Black Sabbath show in July, with Ozzy joking during the proposal, "F--- off! You're not marrying my daughter." In October, Kelly accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of Ozzy at the Birmingham Awards. "I know that my dad was shining down on us from heaven with pride because being a #Brummy meant more to him than anything," she said. "He loved the city and he loved the people." - NME, 11/1/25...... Wolfgang Van Halen, the son of legendary axman Eddie Van Halen and actress Valerie Bertinell, has told Metal Hammer magazine it's "unfair" to brand every offspring of celebrities "nepo babies." "I'm one to talk, but I think the term 'nepo baby' is a bit unfair. I think it takes the individuality of the person away," the 34-year-old rocker said, insisting he has carved out his own path in the music business and deserves to take credit for it. "I'm not going to name names, but in some cases, it does apply: the idea of people getting a leg up when they have no artistic merit or talent. All I'm trying to do is be myself and have my own artistic integrity and my own voice. I hope that people can see that." Wolfgang performs all the instruments and vocals in his solo project Mammoth, and said he would love to emulate his father's success by selling out the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. "I'd be like, 'You know what? We made it' if we're able to sell out a show at the Hollywood Bowl, because that was the last place I ever played with my dad," Wolfgang said. "If Mammoth are ever able to sell out a show at the Hollywood Bowl, I could die the next day and be like, 'Job well done!'" - Music-News.com, 11/2/25...... Co-founding KISS drummer Peter Criss is stepping back into the spotlight only weeks after the sudden death of his former KISS bandmate, guitarist Ace Frehley. Criss has announced a brand-new self-titled solo album to be released on Dec. 19, his first in 18 years. "Peter Criss represents the Catman's return to form, and his most rock driven solo album ever, and it includes appearances by John 5, Billy Sheehan, and Paul Shaffer," said a statement on Criss's official Bandcamp page. The 11-track album is available for pre-order on black, silver, and white vinyl as well as CDs and a digital download. Criss announced the record earlier in 2025 in a short video message. "I have an announcement. I have my new rock and roll album to you, Kiss Army guys, coming out in the fall," he said. "And I really hope you like it, man. And I wanna say God bless to each and every one of you." After suffering injuries resulting from a car accident, Criss took a hiatus from KISS that turned into a full-on departure after a falling out with Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. He rejoined the band in 1996, as did Frehley, who'd also spent years feuding with the other two members. Both Criss and Frehley left KISS once again in 2002, but Criss returned in 2003. Only a year later, Criss left the band, this time for good. To date, Criss has released five solo albums, and his forthcoming eponymous LP will be his sixth. Meanwhile, KISS fans have launched a campaign to make Frehley an honorary astronaut after his Oct. 16 death at the age of 74. Fans have started a Change.org petition in an effort to convince NASA to honor the late musician, who created the "Spaceman" persona, and also had the nickname "Space Ace," as an honorary astronaut. Since its launch by a KISS fan named Kathryn, the petition has received 621 signatures at the time of publishing and has gone viral. "On October 16, 2025, the world lost not just a legend, not just a rock icon, but also a good man," the campaign description begins. "Paul Daniel 'Ace' Frehley, at the tender age of 21, was brave enough to take one small orange step and one small red step, and make the giant leap into the global phenomenon that we all now know as KISS. And while MOST of his dreams ended up coming true, at least ONE did NOT." It continues: "When he suddenly passed away from a brain bleed following a head injury at 74, he was still only merely PLAYING the character of a Space Cadet. He NEVER got to be one for REAL." The campaign page concludes: In honor of his memory, all the lives directly and indirectly impacted by him, and his one last remaining unfulfilled wish, NASA should posthumously make Ace Frehley an honorary astronaut with the rank of 'Captain', because a celestial being of his caliber doesn't deserve anything less of a send-off than this. His last countdown should be his absolute BEST!" - Parade, 11/2/25...... Former Grateful Dead vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay died in a hospice facility in Nashville on Nov. 2 following a long battle with cancer. She was 78. After a successful stint as a session singer at the famed Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama where she sang backup on No. 1 songs by Percy Sledge ("When a Man Loves a Woman") and Elvis Presley ("Suspicious Minds"), Godchaux-MacKay joined the Grateful Dead in San Francisco along with then-husband keyboardist Keith Godchaux, touring and performing with the band from 1971-1979. Her decades-long music career as a member of the band Southern Comfort before moving on to session work, also singing backup on sessions with Cher, Joe Tex, Duane Allman, Neil Diamond, Boz Scaggs and others before moving to the Bay Area and meeting Godchaux. The couple got married in 1970 and both joined the GD a year later, with Godchaux singing lead and backing vocals and Keith slipping into the spot formerly held by late band co-founder keyboardist/singer Ron "Pigpen" McKernan. The couple appeared on a string of the group's classic 1970s albums, including 1973's Wake of the Flood, 1974's From the Mars Hotel and 1975's Blues For Allah, on which Godchaux stepped up from the background to provide a co-lead vocal on "The Music Never Stopped" and the LP's title suite. In addition to playing with the band, Donna also released music with Keith during their tenure, including 1975's Keith & Donna duo effort, which in addition to their singing and playing features contributions from late Grateful Dead singer/guitarist Jerry Garcia on almost all the tracks. The couple also performed as part of Garcia's side project, the Jerry Garcia Band, from 1976-1978 and formed their own side project, The Ghosts (later the Heart of Gold Band). Keith Godchaux, 32, died from injuries in a car accident in July 1980 shortly after the couple's first concert together. She made what would be one of her final appearances with the GD at the Bonnaroo Festival on June 12, 2016, performing on the songs "Fire on the Mountain," "Berth," "Bird Song," "Playing in the Band," "Terrapin Station" and "Touch of Grey." She also sat in for two other shows that summer, at Citi Field in New York in late June and Fenway Park in Boston in July. - Billboard, 11/3/25...... Diane Ladd, a three-time Oscar-nominated actress for her roles in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, died on the morning of Nov. 3 at her residence in Ojai, Calif. She was 89. Ms. Ladd's career on stage and screen spanned decades. Her big break in film came as a waitress in the Martin Scorsese-directed Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore in 1974, which earned her an Oscar nomination. She went on to appear in dozens of films after that, including as recently as 2022, when she played a grandmother in the coming-of-age film Gigi & Nate, and also acted frequently on television shows. She was married to actor Bruce Dern from 1960 to 1969. The couple had two children, Oscar-winner Laura Dern and a baby girl, Diane Elizabeth Dern, who died in a tragic pool accident in 1962, when she was 18 months old. Ms. Ladd and Laura shared the screen many times, starring in David Lynch's Wild at Heart and later in the HBO series Enlightened, with Ladd playing her mother both times. They were also the first mother-daughter pair to be nominated for an Academy Award for the same movie, Rambling Rose, although neither won that year. "My amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother, Diane Ladd, passed with me beside her this morning," Laura Dern said in a statement. "She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created. We were blessed to have her." - BBC.com, 11/4/25...... Dick Cheney, who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under Pres. George W. Bush and was often called the most powerful vice presidency in American history, died on Nov. 3 from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family said in a statement. He was 84. A member of the Republican Party, Cheney previously served as White House chief of staff for Pres. Gerald Ford in the mid-'70s, the U.S. representative for Wyoming's at-large congressional district from 1979 to 1989, and as the 17th United States secretary of defense in the administration of Pres. George H. W. Bush. He was also considered by many to be the architect of the Iraq War. Mr. Cheney was, in effect, the chief operating officer of the younger Bush's presidency. He had a hand, often a commanding one, in implementing decisions most important to the president and some of surpassing interest to himself -- all while living with decades of heart disease and, post-administration, a heart transplant. Mr. Cheney consistently defended the extraordinary tools of surveillance, detention and inquisition employed in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. "History will remember him as among the finest public servants of his generation -- a patriot who brought integrity, high intelligence, and seriousness of purpose to every position he held," Pres. Bush said in a statement. Mr. Cheney was born in Lincoln, Neb., son of a longtime Agriculture Department worker. Senior class president and football co-captain in Casper, he went to Yale on a full scholarship for a year but failed out. He moved back to Wyoming, eventually enrolled at the University of Wyoming and renewed a relationship with high school sweetheart Lynne Anne Vincent, marrying her in 1964. He is survived by his wife and daughters. - AP, 11/4/25.