Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on April 25th, 2026

A judge has denied Cher's bid to have a conservator placed in charge of the finances of her son, 49-year-old Elijah Blue Allman. Earlier in April, Cher submitted an application to Los Angeles Superior Court to file for conservatorship, with the case stating that Allman "has significantly deteriorated" since 2023. "The proposed conservatee is currently in custody in the State of New Hampshire in a locked psychiatric hospital in an attempt to restore him to competency to face criminal charges in two cases," the filing stated. Now, a Los Angeles County judge has denied the request on Apr. 24, saying she did not see the urgency of the claim and confirming she would reconsider the matter at a second hearing in June. "I certainly understand the concerns of Mr. Allman's friends and family regarding his behaviour," Judge Jessica A. Uzcategui said. "But those concerns do not necessarily equate to a finding that the proposed conservatee lacks capacity or that a probate conservatorship is appropriate. I am going to deny the temporary conservatorship without prejudice." Allman appeared at the hearing remotely from his New Hampshire hospital, speaking only to ask for his attorney to represent him and to thank the judge for her ruling. Allman was reportedly arrested for causing a disturbance at a private school on March 1, while two days later he was arrested again after allegedly breaking into a home in Windham, New Hampshire. Elijah Blue's father, Gregg Allman died in 2017 and Elijah reportedly receives an annual allowance of $120,000 per year from his trust. Cher has in the past claimed that the money is spent primarily on "drugs, expensive hotels and limousine transportation." Elijah Blue later filed an objection to his mother's request, stating that he was not in need of a conservatorship and claiming that Cher would be "unfit to serve." The family then reached a private settlement in 2024, having paused court proceedings to attempt to resolve the matter privately. - New Musical Express, 4/25/26...... An authorized Ramones exhibit will open at the Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas on July 4, and Rhino Records has announed a series of reissues and remastered, upscaled Ramones videos. To mark the group's 50th anniversary, the Ramones and Rhino Records are launching a year-long celebration that will include the only authorized exhibition dedicated to the seminal punk band. The show organized and curated by the Punk Foundation in collaboration with late guitarist Johnny Ramone's wife Linda Ramone and Ramones Production Inc., will feature the band's music, memorabilia, along with public and member's only performances, artist conversations, interactive experiences, artist-led tours and other events. The museum will also host a 4th of July bash featuring the Ramones tribute band Mama's Boy. In addition, between now and the end of 2026, the band and Rhino will announced a series of physical reissues and releases, as well as tribute performances and newly remastered, upscaled videos for such classics as "I Wanna Be Sedated," "Psycho Therapy," "Rock N' Roll High School," "Sheena is a Punk Rocker," "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)," "We Want the Airwaves," "Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio?" and others. - Billboard, 4/24/26...... In other '70s punk news, the 2026 edition of the CBGB Festival in NYC will feature a mix of classic and contemporary punk and new wave acts, topped by former Smiths singer and solo performer Morrissey, as well as punk godmother Patti Smith, Interpol and the Sex Pistols, featuring charter members guitarist Steve Jones, bassist Glen Matlock and drummer Paul Cook, with singer Frank Carter subbing in for original vocalist Johnny Rotten/John Lydon. The event honoring the legendary punk club in New York's East Village that beginning in 1973 was the launching pad for the first wave of American punk acts such as the Ramones, Smiths, Television, Blondie and the Talking Heads, among many others, will take place on Sept. 26 at Under the K Bridge Park in Brooklyn. Also on this year's bill, classic acts Buzzcocks, Bikini Kill, Agnostic Front, Circle Jerks and Haywire, as well as contemporary acts keeping the flame alive such as Upchuck, Militarie Gun, High Vis, Bad Nerves and Panic Shack. A CBGB Festival poster can be viewed on Instagram. - Billboard, 4/22/26...... A legal battle concerning Black Sabbath's early demos has been resolved, with all four original members regaining ownership of the songs they recorded as Earth in 1969. In 2025, it was announced that a compilation of demos recorded by Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward in 1969, when they still went by the name Earth, was to be released under the title Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes. The tracks were recorded in Zella Studios in Birmingham, with a new release said to be overseen by Jim Simpson, the band's manager at the time, with an initial release date of July last year. That release did not materialize, and Sharon Osbourne spoke out against the project at the time, issuing a lengthy social media post in which she outlined the Black Sabbath legal position, which disputes the legal ownership of the recordings. "We settled with Jim Simpson and the band now have their demos back," Sharon said in a new interview. "And all four of them own it, which is where it should be. All of that stuff should be theirs. So it all ended well. So, yeah, they own them." Meanwhile, rapper Yungblud celebrated Ozzy and Black Sabbath at a show in Birmingham, UK on Apr. 23. Yungblud treated the crowd in Birmingham to a particularly poignant rendition of his cover of Sabbath's "Changes." In the intro, the video screen showed some fans holding up a sign that read: "Ozzy would be proud." The audience also chanted Osbourne's name. Yungblud performed at Sabbath's final-ever show, held in Birmingham last summer, where he gifted Osbourne a custom-made gold cross. His Birmingham performance of "Changes" can be streamed on YouTube. - NME, 4/25/26...... On Apr. 23 a Los Angeles judge dismissed Smokey Robinson's defamation counterclaims against former employees suing the Motown legend for sexual abuse. Judge Kevin C. Brazile ruled there isn't sufficient evidence to hold Robinson's former anonymous housekeepers and their lawyers liable for calling the singer a rapist at a press conference in 2025. However the decision is not a ruling on the veracity of the women's underlying sexual assault allegations; it's focused only on the defamation claims, which are subject to a higher pleading standard due to free speech laws. Robinson still has separate counterclaims pending against the housekeepers for allegedly deleting evidence and stealing from his family. Those claims are moving forward through discovery alongside the women's core sexual assault allegations, with a trial scheduled for 2027. A lawyer for the accusers, John Harris, said in a statement that the ruling "stands as a powerful and unequivocal victory for our clients and for survivors everywhere who refuse to be silenced." The legal battle began in May 2025, when the four unnamed women filed a $50 million lawsuit alleging the 85-year-old artist had sexually abused them between 2007 and 2024. Later on, another female housekeeper and a male car mechanic joined the lawsuit anonymously with additional assault claims. obinson vehemently denied all wrongdoing, saying the "vile, false allegations" were merely "an ugly method of trying to extract money." He countersued the accusers within weeks. The plaintiffs also filed police reports after they sued Robinson, leading the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to open a criminal investigation. No charges have been brought to date. - Billboard, 4/23/26...... Bob Dylan has added a dozen dates to his summer "Rough and Rowdy Ways" 2026 US tour in support of his 39th studio album of the same name on the meandering tour that originally kicked off in Nov. 2021. Among the new cities on the routing for this summer are stops in Cincinnati (7/10), Pittsburgh (7/12), Philadelphia (7/14), Boston (7/16), Gilford, N.H. (7/18), Bridgeport, Conn. (7/19), Queens, N.Y. (7/21) and Richmond, Va. (7/23), as well as Raleigh (7/28) and Wilmington, N.C (7/29)., Atlanta (7/31) and Nashville (8/1). The new shows announced will include opening acts Lucinda Williams and Jimmie Vaughn on most of the dates, with country singer Brittney Spencer and X singer/bassist John Doe's John Doe Folk Trio also joining on select dates. Pre-sale for the new shows is open now on ticketmaster.com/bob-dylan-tickets/. - Billboard, 4/22/26...... A 5-bedroom home in Benton, Ill., where a young George Harrison visited in Sept. 1963 just before he shot to worldwide fame with the Beatles, is up for sale. Harrison made his unassuming trip, when he shopped for records and bought a guitar from local shops, to visit his sister Louise Harrison Caldwell's home at 113 McCann St., about 100 miles southeast of St. Louis, and the house had a date with the wrecking ball in 1995. However a group of activists including Louise, who moved away in the late 1960s, stepped in to save it. In the mid-1990s, a state agency bought the five-bedroom bungalow built in 1935 from a subsequent owner with plans to flatten it for parking. Beatles mega-fan Robert Bartel of Springfield, a Beatles author and documentarian, alerted the media and Fab Four loyalists. Local investors repurchased it from the state and opened the "Hard Day's Nite Bed and Breakfast," featuring the couch Harrison traded guitar licks on and stacks of other loaned Beatles memorabilia, including a bevy from Bartel. The bed-and-breakfast closed in 2010. Benton resident Grady Adams has since operated it as regular bed-and-bath apartments but now wants to sell, listing it for $105,000. Brian Calcaterra, Benton's director of economic development, suggested the city draft an ordinance to protect the house from demolition by a new owner, but Benton Mayor Lee Messersmith said the city council has not discussed the matter. Harrison never returned to Benton, though, dying in 2001 at 58. Caldwell was 91 when she died in 2023. Meanwhile, Harrison's ex-wife Pattie Boyd has wondered aloud who will play her in the upcoming Beatles biopics directed by Sam Mendes. Boyd, a model and photographer who was married to the guitarist between 1966 and 1977 before she married Eric Clapton (who wrote the song "Layla" for her), posted on X/Twitter earlier in April: "I wonder who will be cast to play me? That's assuming that I get to feature in any of the movies." Based on responses to Boyd's post, it seems as if one actor seems to be a favorite of many: White Lotus - Season 3 cast member Aimee Lee Wood. Mendes said all four Beatles biopics will be released in Apr. 2028, and that they'll be the "first binge-able theatrical experience." - Associated Press/HuffPost.com, 4/17/26...... In other Beatles-related news, Sean Ono Lennon has defended a famous photograph of his father and mother John Lennon and Yoko Ono with a maid, claiming it was not taken with ironic intent. Taking to X/Twitter on Apr. 22, Sean responded to an image of John and Yoko at one of their well-known "bed-ins," standing by a maid in the process of making their bed. The couple held this particular "bed-in" at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel in Mar. 1969 to protest the Vietnam War. In response to a tweet captioning the photo saying "the irony should not be lost," Sean replied: "There is zero irony in letting a maid do her job. Thinking otherwise is a very goofy take. They were not protesting maid service." He went on to say that "many people don't seem to know what irony is," adding: "Protesting a war while being in a honeymoon suite with maid service is not irony, it is absurdity, or comedy. To be ironic they would have to have protested the war while driving a tank. Now THAT would've been ironic. Thank you." When someone pointed out the irony of the "bed-in" itself being a "spoil of capitalism" -- ironic given John and Yoko's complaints of American capitalism pushing back against communism -- Lennon called the opinion a "boring kind of gotcha." "You could make this same kind of argument for anyone wearing jeans at a war protest. Like 'Omg isn't it ironic you used a sharpie marker to write that anti war sign?!'" he explained. - NME, 2/23/26...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, Ringo Starr, who released his 22nd solo album Long Long Road on Apr. 24, has told New Musical Express that he puts his longevity down to simply a "love" of music, and the need to collaborate -- especially with his ongoing supergroup, the All-Starr Band. "I'm a drummer, so you need a few guys around you," Ringo said. "I'd like to go on tour with just me and the drums! [At one point] I thought, 'Now I need all these other guys', and then I thought to put this All-Starr Band together [in 1989]. I had a phone book in those days, and everyone I phoned said yes. "I realized I had to close my book or otherwise there would be 40 people on stage! We got a good band together and I was a little nervous about it as it was the first time. Beyond me and Levon [Helm of The Band] as drummers, I had Jim Keltner, my favourite drummer, up there for security. We had three drummers." After his tour behind the new LP with All-Starrs wraps, Starr says he plans on sitting down with collaborator Bruce Sugar to "write a few more songs," just ahead of an increased spotlight on the Beatles legend thanks to Universal putting together a new "best of" Ringo album, and Sam Mendes' upcoming biopics about each of the Beatles (where Ringo will be played by Saltburn star Barry Keoghan). Starr will embark on a US tour from the end of May throughout the summer, before his annual "Peace & Love" birthday event on July 7. He also features on "Home To Us," a track from Paul McCartney's new album The Boys of Dungeon Lane, due on May 29. - NME, 4/24/26...... The first reviews for the new Michael Jackson biopic, Michael, starring his real-life nephew Jaafar Jackson, are in, and critics are apparently not thrilled with the big-screen story of the King of Pop. On Apr. 21, reviews of Michael were allowed to begin on rottentomatoes.com, and the film has a 32% critics score. A score of around 60% is generally considered to be a good rating. The UK critics in particular have not been so kind to the movie, with the BBC calling the film "a bland and barely competent daytime TV movie" and gave it one star, and The Guardian proclaiming that the "clichéd Jackson biopic is bland, bowdlerised and bad," while the Independent dubbed it a "risible biopic" that turns Jacko into "a 20th-century Jesus." But across the pond, the reception was somewhat more favorable, with The Hollywood Reporter writing: "If you're even remotely nostalgic for the time when his songs were ubiquitous on pop charts, at parties and on dance floors worldwide, the movie will be a warm rush of transporting pleasure," it gushed. Also complimentary is USA Today, sharing that, "Jaafar may share his late uncle's megawatt smile, lithe frame and Bambi eyelashes. But his liquid dance moves -- highlighted as he teaches gang members the footwork in the 'Beat It' video -- and soft-spoken cadence are studied to perfection." Meanwhile, Leaving Neverland MJ biopic director Dan Reed has criticized the new MJ biopic, claiming that the musician was "worse than Jeffrey Epstein' -- the notorious late millionaire alleged pedophile. Reed directed the HBO-produced, two-part Leaving Neverland back in 2019, which focused on interviews with Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who alleged that they were sexually abused as children by Jackson. In 2024, Reed slammed the then-upcoming biopic Michael as "startlingly disingenuous," claiming it discredits Robson and Safechuck's experiences with the singer. Now that the film has hit theaters, he's questioned why the new biopic failed to acknowledge the abuse allegations against Jackson. "It says that people don't care that he was a child molester. Literally, people just don't care," Reed said in a new interview with Hollywood Reporter. "I think a lot of people just love his music and turn a deaf ear. And short of having actual video evidence of Michael Jackson engaged in sexual intercourse with a seven-year-old child, I don't know what would be sufficient to change these people's minds. "How can you tell an authentic story about Michael Jackson without ever mentioning the fact that he was seriously accused of being a child molester?" he added. - Music-News.com/NME, 4/22/26...... Kraftwerk have lost one of the longest-running copyright cases in music history over a sample of their song "Metall Auf Metall." The dispute centres around a short excerpt of the 1977 track that was used in the 1997 song "Nur Mir" by German rapper Sabrina Setlur, produced by Moses Pelham and Martin Haas. It began as a domestic German copyright claim in the late '90s, and Kraftwerk members Ralf Hütter and the late Florian Schneider were initially successful in their case that the unlicensed use of their song constituted infringement. However, that ruling was subsequently appealed, overturned and referred on several occasions to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), resulting in a three-decade long legal battle over the regulation of sampling in Europe. A 2019 ruling held that sampling a recognisable section of a recorded song can amount to copyright infringement unless the sample is changed to the point that it becomes no longer identifiable. Now, a ruling on Apr. 14 in the CJEU's court in Luxembourg has ruled that a song can qualify as a "pastiche" if it evokes an existing recording in a recognizable but transformed form, but remains "notably different" from the original and engages in "artistic or creative dialogue" with the original. This represents a defeat for Kraftwerk, as it effectively confirms that Pelham and Haas' use of the sample falls within the "pastiche" category. Kraftwerk's "Multimedia"' UK and Ireland tour is set to kick off in Dublin on May 17 and will take in a total of 17 dates, including three in London's Royal Albert Hall on June 4, 5 and 6. It wraps in Edinburgh on June 9. - NME, 4/21/26...... Ronnie Wood has announced some UK and European headline shows for his 2026 solo tour. The Rolling Stones guitarist confirmed in March that he'd be taking to the stage at the legendary Paradiso in Amsterdam on Sept. 7. He later added a second night at the venue due to demand. Now, he's shared details of two extra gigs in the UK and Germany. Wood will play at the O2 Forum Kentish Town in London on Aug. 21, before heading to E-Werk in Cologne on Sept. 3. Imelda May is set to appear on stage with Wood and his band at the forthcoming concerts. "I'm looking forward to kickin' ass with my back catalogue and some new songs -- look out London!" Wood said in a statement. Wood will also support Eric Clapton at his huge show at the Sandringham Estate this summer. - NME, 4/21/26...... Alan Osmond, the eldest singing member of the '70s family singing group The Osmonds, died on Apr. 20 in the group's native state of Utah of as yet undisclosed causes. He was 76. The family revealed that Osmond died surrounded by his wife Suzanne and their eight sons. Osmond -- who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1987 -- and his nine siblings grew up as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ogden, Ut., getting their start in music singing in their church choir. At age nine, he started a barbershop quartet with brothers Wayne, Merrill and Jay Osmond in 1958, with the squeaky clean group quickly picking up gigs at Disneyland in L.A. and frequent guest spots NBC's The Andy Williams Show variety hour from 1962-1967. Alan, referred to as "No. 1" by his younger brothers, took up the mantle as the group's leader, with the family band originally forming as a way to raise money for hearing aids for their hearing impaired older brothers, Virl and Tom Osmond. In 1963, the brothers were joined by younger sibling and future break-out star Donny Osmond, then six-years-old, who made his debut on the Williams show, turning the quartet into a quintet. A few years later, their youngest brother, Jimmy Osmond, joined the band as well. The Osmonds, who were known as "one-take Osmonds" for their efficiency, precision and constant rehearsing, moved on to The Jerry Lewis Show from 1967-1969 and slowly morphed from a vocal group to a pop/rock group, signing to MGM Records and recording at the famed Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama. It was there they recorded their only No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit, 1971's Jackson 5-esque bubblegum pop bop "One Bad Apple." The legendarily clean-cut, family-friendly band followed up with the more R&B-leaning, horn-spiked "Yo Yo" (1971, No. 3 on Hot 100), "Down By the Lazy River" (1972, No. 4), the lush ballad "Love Me For a Reason" (1974, No. 10) and the rocking "Crazy Horses" (1972, No. 14), which were among the 13 songs the group landed on the pop charts. Alan married Suzanne Pinegar, a BYU cheerleader, in 1974 and they had eight sons. In 1980, Alan and brother Merrill founded the Stadium of Fire in Provo, Ut., which now regularly hosts one of the biggest Fourth of July celebrations in the country. Alan, who in addition to singing and playing rhythm guitar was also a producer on the ABC variety program Donny & Marie (1976-1979) and a key songwriter and producer of the family band, retired from performing in 1987 following his MS diagnosis. The singer and his family were also key players behind the Children's Miracle Network Telethon, which raised more than $2 billion for children's hospitals in the U.S. He also helped found the One Heart Foundation, which provided support to orphans. Donny Osmond paid tribute to his brother in a loving Instagram post on Apr. 21 that featured one of the earliest black and white pictures of the pair as children. "Even back then, you can see that he had his arm around me, watching over me. That's who he was. My protector. My guide. The one who quietly carried so much responsibility so the rest of us could shine," Donny wrote. "Alan was our leader in every sense of the word. His tireless work helped build everything we became. I will always be grateful for the sacrifices he made and the love he showed -- not just to me, but to every member of our family. I owe him more than I can ever fully express. I love you, Alan. Thank you for always being there for me. Till we meet again." - Billboard, 4/21/26...... Dave Mason, the veteran singer-songwriter and guitarist with Traffic and brief Fleetwood Mac member as well as a successful '70s solo artist, died on Apr. 19 at home in Gardnerville, Nev. He was 79. The news was confirmed in a statement from his publicist, who said: "On behalf of his family, it is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of Dave Mason. On Sunday, April 19, the Rock & Rock Hall of Fame inductee, celebrated songwriter, musician, singer and author passed away peacefully at his home in Gardnerville, Nevada," the Instagram post reads. "Dave Mason lived a remarkable life devoted to the music and the people he loved," it added. From a prolific career that saw him play with an extensive range of musical legends, Mason is best remembered for his time with the British psych-rock band Traffic, writing and singing lead vocals on two of their biggest songs, "Hole In My Shoe" and "Feelin' Alright?," the latter becoming a hit for Joe Cocker. He was also behind the hit songs "Only You Know And I Know," which became associated with the band Delaney & Bonnie, and "We Just Disagree," a 1977 solo hit for Mason. During his career, Mason played alongside The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney and Wings, Michael Jackson and Fleetwood Mac. Born on May 10, 1946 in Worcester, UK, Mason began playing guitar aged 16, influenced by Buddy Holly, and became a roadie for the Spencer Davis Group in the mid-'60s, where he met Steve Winwood. When Winwood left the band in 1967 and formed Traffic, he hired Mason on guitar and they quickly scored multiple Top Ten hits in the UK. Mason was fired from Traffic in 1968, and he became an in-demand session player, contributing 12-string guitar on Hendrix's "All Along The Watchtower" and playing the Asian instrument the shehnai on the Stones' "Street Fighting Man." He was also a part of the sessions for Harrison's All Things Must Pass, and after relocating to the US, he toured with Clapton on the Delaney & Bonnie & Friends tour in the early '70s. Mason also released a string of solo albums in the '70s and '80s, including Alone Together, Headkeeper, and It's Like You Never Left as well as a full-length collaboration with the Mamas & The Papas' Cass Elliot, and he also played guitar on Paul McCartney and Wings' 1975 hit "Listen To What The Man Says," and teamed up with Michael Jackson on "Save Me" in 1980. He later joined Fleetwood Mac in 1993, playing on their album Time two years later, and he would rejoin Traffic a number of times, including for their induction into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. In late 2025, Mason announced his retirement from touring on Instagram, citing health challenges, and "closing the curtain on 60 remarkable years of rock n' roll and marking the end of a significant era in music history." "He retires from touring a happy man with a heart full of gratitude to his band members, business colleagues, and especially his legions of fans who made his life one of deep satisfaction and fulfilment," the statement read. "The immensity of his joy remains solid as he steps back from the stage." He is survived by his wife Winifed Wilson, his daughter Danielle, nephew John Leonard and niece Michelle Leonard. - NME, 4/22/26.