Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on March 31st, 2026

Rush's Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson opened Canada's Juno Awards on Mar. 29 with their first live performance alongside their new drummer, Anika Niles. In the spirit of new beginnings, Rush performed the song "Finding My Way," the first track on their 1974 debut Rush, which featured John Rutsey on drums in the studio, rather than the late Neil Peart, who didn't join the band until afterwards. The performance at Ontario's TD Coliseum marked the first time Lee and Lifeson have played as Rush since they wrapped their career-spanning "R40" farewell tour in 2015, playing 35 headline shows across North America, having formed over four decades prior. Throughout their performance, vintage footage of Rush with Peart, who died from brain cancer in early 2020, showed on screen. Anika Nilles, a German drummer, composer, and producer, has performed as Jeff Beck's drummer and has released four solo albums. Handling keyboard duties during the performance was The Who's Loren Gold. Rush has announced that they will be touring across the UK, Europe and South America in 2027, kicking off in Buenos Aires in January. So far, 24 shows in 13 countries have been confirmed, marking the first time the band has played in Europe since 2013, as well as 17 years since visiting South America. They are pegged as an '"Evening with Rush" event, and will see the band play two sets each night. Before that, Rush will be returning to the stage in North America for a "Fifty Something" tour with shows kicking off in June. A full list of 2027 dates can be viewed on Instagram. Meanwhile, Canada's favorite daughter Joni Mitchell reflected on how she built a new life "like a phoenix" in a poignant speech at the Junos on the same night. After Mitchell, 82, was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on behalf of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS), the previously LA-based singer-songwriter noted she was "so glad" to be back in her homeland after living in the U.S. for "many, many years." Addressing PM Carney, the "The Circle Game" singer noted, "We are so lucky... We are so fortunate to have him... I'm living in the States, and you know what's happening there." Then she went on to reference her past health issues. I had a (brain) aneurysm, which changed my life - oddly, for the better," the 82-year-old continued. "I went into a coma, which helped me to quit smoking. And my house filled up with the most wonderful nurses. I was on the road with men for years and years; now I live with a house full of women... So, my life has changed for the better out of a catastrophe like a phoenix. Thank you very much for this honour." After receiving the prestigious prize, Mitchell joined fellow native Canadians Sarah McLachlan and Allison Russell for a rendition of her 1970 hit, "Big Yellow Taxi," amid a tribute medley. The Grammy Award-winning artist has made only a few public appearances since suffering a brain aneurysm rupture in March 2015. - New Musical Express/Music-News.com, 3/30/26...... The estate of Bob Marley has filed a lawsuit against the global cannabis company Tilray over what it claims are unpaid licensing fees for the deceased Jamaican music icon's official marijuana brand, Marley Natural. The suit, filed in Maryland on Mar. 27, alleges Tilray owes nearly $11.3 million for the use of Marley's name, image, likeness, signature and trademarks on Marley Natural cannabis products. Marley's estate accuses Tilray and its partners of "elaborate efforts to avoid paying" and a "scheme to defraud." The complaint seeks $11.3 million from Tilray for fraud and breach of contract, which they contend accounts for the $13 million in missing licensing fees, minus a $1.7 million settlement that Marley's heirs already obtained from a related subsidiary. Marley's estate, helmed by the late singer's daughter Cedella Marley, has been diligently working for decades to expand and market his legacy. The family's profile of businesses includes the Tuff Gong record label, music tech company House of Marley and Marley Coffee. - Billboard, 3/30/26...... As promised, Bruce Springsteen performed "Streets of Minneapolis" at the flagship No Kings rally in St. Paul, Minn., outside the State Capitol building on Mar. 28. Springsteen addressed an estimated crowd of more than 200,000 and delivered the third live performance of the protest anthem since its January release. Introduced to the stage by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, The Boss spoke at length before playing the song, honouring the state's resistance to Pres. Donald Trump's administration's Operation Metro Surge immigration enforcement campaign. "This past winter, federal troops brought death and terror to the streets of Minneapolis, but they picked the wrong city," he told the crowd. "The power and the solidarity of the people of Minneapolis and Minnesota was an inspiration to the entire country. Your strength and your commitment told us that this is still America, and this reactionary nightmare -- and these invasions of American cities -- will not stand. You gave us hope, you gave us courage." He went on to name the two Minneapolis residents, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, killed by ICE agents during the operation. The crowd then chanted "ICE out now" as Springsteen launched into the song. Springsteen wrote and recorded "Streets of Minneapolis" in the immediate aftermath of the shootings, releasing it within days. He debuted the song live on January 30 at a benefit concert at Minneapolis' First Avenue, and performed it a second time earlier this week at Democracy Now!'s 30th anniversary event in New York. The No Kings rally -- the third round of nationwide protests against the Trump administration -- drew millions of participants across more than 3,100 registered events in all 50 states. The St. Paul event served as the national flagship, with a bill that also included Joan Baez, Maggie Rogers, Jane Fonda, Tom Morello and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, among others. - Billboard, 3/29/26...... On Mar. 26 Paul McCartney announced a reflective new album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, inspired by his youth. McCartney's first release since 2020's McCartney III, the new album is his 18th studio effort and described in a press release as a look backward at the former Beatle's formative years, revisiting those youthful times that "shaped not only his life, but the very foundations of modern popular culture. In a career defined by timeless storytelling and unforgettable characters, Paul now tells the most personal story of all, his own. The Boys of Dungeon Lane is his most introspective album to date and takes the listener back to where it all began." "This is very much a memory song for me," Macca said in a statement. "The album title, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, comes from a lyric in this track. I was thinking just that, about the days I left behind and I do often wonder if I'm just writing about the past but then I think how can you write about anything else? It's just a lot of memories of Liverpool. It involves a bit in the middle about John and Forthlin Road which is the street I used to live in. Dungeon Lane is near there. I used to live in a place called Speke which is quite working class. We didn't have much at all but it didn't matter because all the people were great and you didn't notice you didn't have much." The LP was recorded with producer Andrew Watt (Elton John, Ozzy Osbourne) in bits in Los Angeles and Sussex, England between legs of McCartney's tours. In the spirit of his legendary 1970 debut solo album McCartney, Macca plays the majority of the instruments himself -- with the album credited entirely to himself. The Boys of Dungeon Lane is due out on May 29 through MPL/Capitol Records. McCartney has shared the new album's wistful first single, "Days We Left Behind," on YouTube. Two days after announcing the new LP, the legend played two intimate shows at LA's historic The Fonda venue in Hollywood on Mar. 28, with a second show VIP guest list that included Ringo Starr, Stevie Nicks, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Margot Robbie. For those who scored highly coveted tickets to the show at the cozy 1,200-person capacity theater, the music was a much-needed escape and salve. Playing a set heavy with Beatles and Wings classics, Sir Paul largely avoided politics aside from poking fun at Pres. Donald Trump's recent "Y.M.C.A." dance moves -- a moment that earned boos from the crowd, who had surrendered their phones before the show. McCartney's roster of Beatles classics included "Help!," "Something," "I've Just Seen a Face," and Fab Four political tracks "Revolution" -- a response to the fraught period of political protests in opposition of the Vietnam War -- and "Blackbird" -- a solemn acoustic track that McCartney wrote amid the 1960s civil rights movement in the US inspired by the Little Rock Nine. Many in the crowd -- which also included actors Steve Carrell, Laura Dern and Dakota Johnson among others -- sang and cried as McCartney played, particularly during "Hey Jude" and "Let It Be." Wings rockers during the two-hour set included "Band on the Run" and "Let Me Roll It," among many others. On Mar. 30, and perhaps due to the no-phone rule at the Fonda gig, McCartney's own Reddit account was banned. The thread in question has since been removed, although McCartney's Reddit account itself, thought to be run by his management team, has since been restored. - Billboard/CNN.com, 3/29/26...... Former Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm announced on Mar. 27 that he'll be playing selected dates in the US from May until October behind his third and latest solo LP, Released. After kicking off in Wabash, Ind., on May 9, the 2024 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee (as a member of Foreigner) will be co-headlining the Roanoke Festival in Virginia (5/22), then visit Stamford, Conn. (5/28), Lancaster, Penn. (5/30), Lexington, Ky. (6/6), St. Charles, Ill. (7/10), Layton, Ut. (8/13), Pine Bluff, Ariz. (8/28), and Carmel, Ind. (9/26) before wrapping in Missouri at the St. Charles Family Arena on Oct. 10. Gramm was a member of Foreigner during its key years between 1976 and 1990. He rejoined in 1992 but left again inn 2003, though he has made occasional appearances with the band. In addition to his work with Foreigner, the singer scored a top five hit in the U.S. in 1987 with his solo song, "Midnight Blue," followed in 1989 with "Just Between You and Me." - PennLive.com, 3/27/26..... U.K. hard-rock legends Deep Purple will be touring North America this summer and fall with opening acts Kansas and Jefferson Starship. Deep Purple are currently fronted by singer Ian Gillan, alongside bassist Roger Glover, drummer Ian Paice, keyboardist Don Airey and guitarist Simon McBride. In February, Deep Purple announced a hometown gig at the famed Royal Albert Hall venue in London on Nov. 25 of this year. The show is billed as a "one night only" event, following a concert at London's Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith the previous evening, Nov. 24. - Canoe.com, 3/30/26...... A new tribute album honoring the music of Tom Waits and his musician partner Kathleen Brennan, Where The Willow and the Dogwood Grow, was announced on Instagram on Mar. 27 and will feature contributions from the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Johnny Cash. Other artists from a wide variety of genres contributing include Marianne Faithfull (on "Strange Weather"), The Ramones ("I Don't Want To Grow Up"), Willie Nelson ("Picture In A Frame"), Alison Krauss and Robert Plant ("Trampled Rose"'), and Norah Jones ("The Long Way Home"). The LP opens with Springsteen and The E Street Band's 1981 live recording of "Jersey Girl" -- Waits' ode to Brennan from his 1980 album, Heartattack And Vine. Elsewhere on the tracklist is the late Cash's take on "Down There By The Train" from his acclaimed 1994 album, American Recordings. Folk legend Joan Baez's version of Waits and Brennan's anti-war track "Day After Tomorrow" -- from Waits' 2004 album Real Gone -- closes the new compilation. Created with the blessing, approval and involvement of Waits and Brennan, Where The Willow And The Dogwood Grow is due for release on May 29 via Ace Records. - NME, 3/27/26...... During a recent appearance on the Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware podcast, Chaka Khan said many of today's popstars are flaunting their bodies to overcompensate for a lack of talent. Khan, 73, was asked by the hosts about recent comments she made on The Breakfast Club podcast in which she said, "When we go on stage, we just sing. We don't need to do the bells and whistles. We don't need to show our bodies." "The game has changed because all bets are off," Khan told the Table Manners hosts. "These women are doing any and every dam thing on stage and trying to sing, too. And the ones who are doing the most physicalities, with their butts and stuff, and their body parts, are the ones that usually are compensating for what they don't have." Khan is currently touring the US with Patti LaBelle and Stephanie Mills. - Music-News.com, 3/28/26...... Ozzy Osbourne's daughter Kelly Osbourne has reportedly ended her engagement to Sid Wilson of the band Slipknot. Wilson proposed to Osbourne at Ozzy's final concert with Black Sabbath in Birmingham, England, last July, presenting her with a huge diamond ring. Kelly later revealed that she had "no clue" the moment was coming. Osbourne first met her now former partner 27 years ago. She was introduced to Sid when Slipknot toured with Ozzfest, the music festival founded by her parents. They welcomed their son, Sid, in 2022, and the family have since been living on a farm in Iowa in the US. Osbourne was last pictured with Wilson at the Grammy Awards in February and, since then, has only made public appearances with friends or her mother. - Music-News.com, 3/24/26...... Actress Eve Plumb, forever immortalized as the often-overlooked middle daughter Jan Brady on the classic 1969-1974 ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch, discussed her new memoir Happiness Included: Jan Brady and Beyond in an interview with Woman's World magazine. Plumb, 67, revealed that she enjoys keeping her private life out of the spotlight, and made it clear she has no desire to speak negatively about any of her castmates from The Brady Bunch, which has become a cultural touchstone and endures decades later through reruns and nostalgia, keeping its actors closely tied to their roles. "I wish more stuff had come up. I thought [writing the memoir] might bring some things back that I'd forgotten, but not a bit of it," said Plumb. "But the process itself was really wonderful. It was very gentle." Plumb, who was cast in the show at the tender age of 11, added, "As a public person, I've always wanted to keep certain things private. I didn't even want to tell people the name of my dog for a long time. You share so much of your life already." That sense of privacy shaped not only how she approached her personal life, but also how she chose to portray her time on set. Despite decades of curiosity about what really went on behind the scenes, Plumb resisted the temptation to revisit her past through a critical lens. "Part of this book was that I really didn't want to throw anybody under the bus not my castmates, not anyone. I had to tell the truth about a few things, but I was cloaking it, for their sake and for mine," she shared. "I think most of us realize there's no need," she said of the cast. "It doesn't look good on me to trash them in public, does it?" Instead, writing the book (with co-author Marcia Wilke) became an opportunity to reconnect with the positive moments that defined her experience as a young actor and beyond. "The process of writing the book offered something closer to reflection than revelation, like a therapy session where she didn't have to challenge me at all," she admitted. "I just got to talk about myself and the things that I remembered." Happiness Included: Jan Brady and Beyond is due Apr. 28. - People.com, 3/28/26...... Ross "The Boss" Friedman, a legendary rocker known for co-founding the proto-punk band The Dictators and later playing with the iconic metal band Manowar, died on Mar. 28 just weeks after he announced that he was battling ALS, which is commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease. He was 72. The Metal Hall of Fame issued a statement on Facebook announcing his passing. "It is with deep sadness that we confirm the passing of legendary guitarist, our dear friend, Metal Hall of Fame Inductee, and Global Metal Ambassador Ross "The Boss" Friedman." Ross was a pioneering force in both punk and heavy metal, best known as a founding member of The Dictators and Manowar. His powerful playing, unmistakable tone, and uncompromising spirit helped shape generations of musicians and fans around the world." The Hall of Fame added that Friedman, who first revealed his battle in Feb. 2026, battled his disease "with the same courage and honesty that defined his life and career." Friedman joined Manowar in 1980 and recorded six albums with them before leaving in 1988 after playing on Kings Of Metal. He had continued to play with The Dictators until recently. The band announced in November that it was cancelling a show because he had suffered a hand injury that was being evaluated. Friedman joined Manowar in 1980 and recorded six albums with them before leaving in 1988 after playing on Kings Of Metal. He had continued to play with The Dictators until recently. The band announced in November that it was cancelling a show because he had suffered a hand injury that was being evaluated. ALS is a nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, according to the Mayo Clinic. It causes loss of muscle control and gets worse over time, and it is not known what causes the disease. "It's difficult to know what lies ahead, and it crushes me not to be able to play guitar," Friedman said earlier this year. "But the outpouring of love has been so, so strong. I'm absolutely blown away by the love and support from family, friends and fans. I love you all." - PennLive.com, 3/28/26...... Actress Mary Beth Hurt, who was nominated for three Tonys and appeared in numerous films including Interiors and The World According to Garp, died on Mar. 29 from Alzheimer's. She was 79. Her death was confirmed via a joint Facebook post from her daughter, Molly Schrader, and her husband, writer-director Paul Schrader. "She was an actress, a wife, a sister, a mother, an aunt, a friend, and she took on all those roles with grace and kind ferocity," read the post. "Although we're all grieving there is some comfort in knowing she is no longer suffering and reunited with her sisters in peace." Hurt worked on stage, in films and in television and collaborated with her husband, Schrader, on Affliction and Light Sleeper. Born Mary Beth Supinger in Marshalltown, Iowa, she was married to Oscar-winning actor William Hurt from 1971 to 1982, after a four-year separation. She studied acting at the University of Iowa and then at NYU and made her debut on the New York stage in 1974. She was Tony-nominated for her performances in "Crimes of the Heart," for which she won an Obie, "Trelawny of the Wells" and "Benefactors." Woody Allen cast her in her first film role in the 1978 Interiors, in which she played one of the three sisters dealing with the breakdown of her family. She followed with The World According to Garp, playing Helen Holm Garp, Chilly Scenes of Winter, Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence and Six Degrees of Separation. Hurt rarely enjoyed top billing during her career, and that's the way she preferred it. "I've never been extremely comfortable playing the lead," she explained in a 2010 interview. "I don't like the responsibility; there's a feeling that I have to be good. Besides, I found secondary parts much more interesting, especially when I was younger and the ingnue roles were pretty bland." For television, she starred on the 1988-89 NBC drama Tattinger's and had a memorable guest-starring turn alongside Henry Winkler on a 2002 episode of Law & Order: SVU. Survivors also include her children, Molly and Sam. - Variety, 3/30/26...... Dash Crofts, one half of the '70s soft rock duo Seals and Crofts, died of heart failure on Mar. 26. He was 85 years old. The news was announced on Facebook by the duo's producer, Louie Shelton, shortly after which a member of Crofts' family confirmed it to TMZ.com. "Sad to hear our dear brother and partner in music has passed away today," Shelton wrote on Facebook. "Sending love and prayers to all his family and many fans. R.I.P. my brother..Dash Crofts." Born Darrell George Crofts on Aug. 14, 1940, in Cisco, Tex., Mr. Crofts met fellow Texan Jim Seals, who died in 2022 at age 80, while they were teenagers. Before their success as a duo, Seals and Crofts were members of the rock band The Champs, who were riding the success of their No. 1 Latin-rock instrumental hit "Tequila." Mr. Crofts combined with Seals to form Seals and Crofts in 1969 and the duo had some big hits. The biggest of those was 1972's "Summer Breeze" which made it to No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972, and the band followed that with another hit, "Diamond Girl" which also made it to No. 6 in 1973. The duo also had "Get Closer" featuring Carolyn Willis, which made it to No. 6 in 1976, "I'll Play for You," and "You're the Love." One of their most controversial tracks, "Unborn Child" -- an anti-abortion song released the year after the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court verdict in 1973 -- reached No. 66. The album of the same name was a critical and commercial flop, and prompted pro-choice demonstrations at many of their shows. The pair also had success on the Billboard Hot 200 albums chart. In 1972, Summer Breeze reached No. 7, after which Diamond Girl peaked at No. 4 in 1973. Seals and Crofts released the first of its 17 albums, Seals & Crofts, in 1969. After 1980's The Longest Road, the duo split up. That led to a 24 year gap before a brief reunion in 2004 when they released their final album, Traces. After living in Mexico, Australia and Nashville, Mr. Crofts returned to his home state late in life and raised horses. He is survived by his wife, Louise Crofts, three children and eight grandchildren. - Billboard/PennLive.com, 3/26/26.