Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on May 30th, 2026

For the past decade, Sting has been mounting versions of his Tony-nominated musical, "The Last Ship," all around the world, even stepping in to play the titular role of Jackie White in several productions and tours. Announcing that the show will return to London's West End this fall in a new interview with The Guardian, the former The Police frontman suggested that the loss of physically demanding jobs in which men use their hands has helped drive up the prevalence of "toxic masculinity" in our modern society. "I work with my hands every day as a musician, and I'm lucky. It's a rare thing for modern men to actually use their hands and use their strengths to do anything. We've lost something there," said the 74-year-old musician, who earlier in May praised his adult children's "extraordinary work ethic" in confirming that he doesn't plan to hand over his considerable fortune to them. "I don't have any answers, but maybe the toxicity in society at the moment is [a result of the fact] that we've lost that direction for our energy, that male strength. It's rare we have to use it." The Last Ship debuted in Chicago in 2014 before moving on to Broadway, the U.K./Ireland, Toronto and then North American and world tours. It tells the story of the men who toil at a shipyard similar to the Swan Hunter's yard at Wallsend, near where Sting grew up, before deindustrialization in the 1970s and 80s led to their closure. The show, kicks off a run at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London in September, features a mostly original score written by Sting, along with four previously released songs from his solo catalog, "Island of Souls," "All This Time," "When We Dance" and "Ghost Story." Sting is currently on the road with his "3.0 Tour" solo band, who will begin a run of nine shows at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York on June 9. - Billboard, 5/29/26...... Speaking to Rolling Stone, Roger Daltrey claims that The Who "were the first heavy metal band" and paved the way for the genre in the 1960s. "We were just different than everybody else," the singer said, noting that the British quartet demonstrated multiple sounds, live performance tricks and more that would go on to be synonymous with heavy metal. "[Americans] generally "don't really know The Who from the early '60s, if they were to look back, they'd see that their style back then had elements reminiscent of what would later be considered metal. As the drummer of Deep Purple [Ian Paice] said recently: 'The Who started it all.' We were the first heavy metal band," Daltrey said. "Jim Marshall invented the 412 [speaker cabinet], 100-watt stack for [Who guitarist] Pete Townshend... All the guitar smashing that Jimi Hendrix became famous for, in his style, was basically copied from Pete Townshend," Daltrey continued. And the first rock opera, of course, we elevated rock to be maybe up its own ass in a way, you could say it," he added. "We were doing it before anyone, but it's not important in the long run." The rock icon's comments come as he recently announced a solo tour across the US later in 2026. The Who played their final-ever live shows in 2025, however, earlier this year Townshend hinted that there could be more to come from the band. "We are always trying to come up with something special, and God willing will continue to do that, hoping one day we can astound you the way we used to," the guitarist said. It isn't clear what exactly The Who may have planned, although the hopes of more Who news has been circulating since Townshend told fans at the final show of the farewell tour that he was "sure we'll get up to all kinds of mischief" and continue to "do stuff together." - New Musical Express, 5/29/26...... Barry Manilow has given an update on his lung cancer battle in a new interview with Good Morning America, telling interviewer Chris Connelly that he also fought life-threatening pneumonia for a week. "It took longer than I thought it was going to take to get past this lung cancer thing," Manilow said. "I didn't know about pneumonia. I was in [the] ICU for seven days because they couldn't grasp this pneumonia that was just about killing me," he added. Manilow, 82, subsequently pushed back his planned February Las Vegas residency dates, then his February, March and April arena shows on doctor's advice that he needed more time to recover. His Vegas residency at Westgate is scheduled to run through Dec. 2026, and his farewell arena tour -- dubbed "The Last Concerts" -- has rescheduled a number of dates in the wake of his illness. The star also confirmed that he plans to be ready for his June arena shows in the U.K. In March, the singer's new single, "Once Before I Go," became a top 10 hit on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart, making himthe only artist in history to score an A/C hit in six consecutive decades during a run that has stretched from the 1970s through the 2020s. His first new album in 15 years, What a Time, will be his first collection of nearly all-original material in almost 15 years and will drop June 5. Meanwhile, Barry recently revealed to the Los Angeles Times that he's only ever had one facelift, and "after that it's just been a little here, a little there," slamming rumours of constant Botox procedures. "I look fantastic, but I'm a hundred years old, right?" he quipped in the interview published May 27. "I don't know how that happened, by the way -- I don't get Botox or anything." - Billboard, 5/29/26...... Barry Gibb is alive and well, despite a recent viral social media post claiming that The Bee Gees legend had passed away. Rumours of the "How Deep Is Your Love" singer's death gained traction on May 24 when a Facebook page titled "R.I.P. Barry Gibb" racked up nearly one million likes. The page, which now appears to have been taken down, featured a detailed false account claiming that the 79-year-old British hitmaker had died earlier that day. Although the page was deleted, the rumours had already spread across social media and online message boards, with multiple Facebook posts reporting the false news alongside AI-created images of Gibb. However, family sources have confirmed to TMZ.com that Barry "is healthy, happy, and living life at his Miami-area home" despite the false death reports. He is the last surviving member of the iconic singing trio, with Maurice Gibb dying in 2003 at the age of 53 and Robin Gibb passing away in 2012 at the age of 62. Gibb is the latest celebrity to be subjected to an online viral death hoax, following in the footsteps of stars including Justin Bieber, Morgan Freeman, Tom Hanks and Michael J. Fox. - Music-News.com, 5/28/26...... Bruce Springsteen is continuing to call out his longtime nemesis Pres. Donald J. Trump on stage, this time declaring Trump's recently announced "anti-weaponization fund" an "American outrage." Performing at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. on May 27, the Boss tore into the Trump DOJ's new plan to set aside nearly $1.8 billion for those who have "suffered weaponization and lawfare," language that detractors have speculated refers to people who faced legal repercussions for their involvement in the riots that followed shortly after Trump's loss in the 2020 election. "We have a president who wants to create a $1.8 billion fund to compensate and reward people who attacked our nation's capitol," Springsteen lamented between songs. "Attacked our democracy. Assaulted our police officers on Jan. 6. This is an American outrage, and this is happening now. This American tragedy can only be stopped by the American people. There is no one coming to save us. We've got to do it ourselves. Let them hear you at the f-king White House!," he added. The DOJ first published its intention to establish a $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization fund" on May 18. It comes as part of the settlement agreement in Trump's now-dismissed lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury Department over the leak of his tax returns in 2019, and it will offer monetary relief to applicants who feel they've been mistreated by law enforcement, potentially including those convicted of assaulting Capitol Police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot. Springsteen's "Land of Hope & Dreams Tour" is scheduled to wrap on May 30 in Philadelphia. Elsewhere, Springsteen's current tour partner Tom Morello has announced plans to rage against the machine later in 2026 with a special, all-star festival. On May 28, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and activist announced that a "Power to the People Festival" will be a one-day event featuring Springsteen and Foo Fighters, among many others. Set for Oct. 3 at Merriweather Post Pavilion In Columbia, MD, Power to the People is conceived as "a celebration of peace, justice, solidarity, music, and community action." Other artists confirmed include Dave Matthews, Joan Baez, Brittany Howard, Dropkick Murphys and a band fronted by Jack Black featuring Roman Morello, Revel Ian, Yoyoka Soma and Hugo Weiss. Additional special guests will be announced in the weeks ahead. A poster for the show can be viewed on Instagram. - Billboard, 5/28/26...... Carlos Santana and rising singer Becky G have released a new collaboration, "Mi Gran Amor," to benefit families impacted by the US Dept. of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement program (ICE). The pan-Latin rock track -- written and produced by Edgar Barrera -- was released on May 28 and pairs an urgent narrative with Santana's searing guitar work and Becky's emotionally grounded vocal. The song brings together three Mexican and Mexican-American artists from different generations and corners of Latin music. It also marks Santana's third single tied to his forthcoming album, following recent team-ups with Grupo Frontera ("Me Retiro") and Carn Len ("Velas"). For Santana, "Mi Gran Amor" was an opportunity to make his playing communicate something bigger than the lyrics alone. "As always, I want my guitar, the melodies, to sound and feel like a universal hug," the guitarist told Billboard in Detroit before heading on stage. "Now more than ever in this planet, we need unity, harmony and oneness. That's a universal hug." On the track, Becky sings, "Migra, mi gran amor se fue por culpa de la migra" ("Migra, my great love is gone because of la migra") using the colloquial Spanish term often used to refer to U.S. immigration authorities such as ICE. "As someone who was born here in the States, I will never truly understand what it is to walk those steps," Becky added. Instead, she says, she approached the song by "allowing myself to be just a vessel for those voices that can't speak up right now." Santana, who is set to carry that same spirit onto the road with his ongoing "Oneness Tour" with the Doobie Brothers, returns to the message he hears inside the song itself: connection over division. Later this year, he'll also bring it to Las Vegas for his An Intimate Evening With Santana: Greatest Hits Live run. "Anybody who comes to a concert, they're going to be validated and celebrated," says the legendary guitarist. "Santana is a force that speaks way beyond politics or religion. It's a unifying frequency." A teaser of "Mi Gran Amor" can be heard on TikTok. - Billboard, 5/28/26...... Legal experts are saying that Billy Joel's fight against a recently announced unauthorized biopic about the "Uptown Girl" singer could be an uphill battle. Joel's spokesperson, Claire Mercuri, recently told Billboard that "any attempt to move forward without it would be both legally and professionally misguided," and though Joel could theoretically sue the filmmakers of Billy & Me in New York or California under state-level laws that protect that right of publicity, right of publicity laws have been invoked in many previous celebrity biopic lawsuits -- including Frank Sinatra and Olivia de Havilland -- and have ended typically without success. "The legal rule is no one has a monopoly on historical facts," says Elizabeth Seidlin-Bernstein, a media lawyer at the firm Ballard Spahr. "No one has veto power over the making of a biopic about them. The First Amendment protects that kind of expression." While a right of publicity lawsuit would thus face long odds for Joel, there is another type of legal action that could also be available to him after the movie comes out: a defamation lawsuit. "If there are significant mischaracterizations or untruths that potentially harm the reputation of a subject of a film, there could potentially be defamation claims," says Tal Dickstein, an entertainment litigator at Loeb & Loeb. In a statement to Billboard, Joel spokesperson Mercuri said, "At no time has Billy Joel even suggested that he would seek to enjoin this proposed film. Instead, he has made clear that his music will not be licensed and he has not authorized those associated with the proposed film to depict him visually or vocally and he reserves his rights to protect his valuable state law rights." - Billboard, 5/28/26...... Former Sex Pistols member Glen Matlockhas responded to the band's former frontman John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) describing the current iteration of Sex Pistols as a "tribute act." Lydon has criticized the recent Pistols reunion multiple times in the past, describing it as "karaoke" and "almost malicious in its intent," and Matlock has said if Lydon ever wanted to rejoin the band, "it's just not gonna happen." The discussion from the bassist comes as he is the subject of a new documentary called I Was a Teenage Sex Pistol. Directed by Andre Relis (Randy Rhoads: Reflections of a Guitar Icon) and Nick Mead (Who Do I Think I Am?), the film is out now on Apple TV and Prime Video, and is based on his 1996 memoir of the same title. Featuring guest appearances from Matlock alongside his close friends and peers -- including Billy Idol and members of Blondie -- the film explores Matlock's place in the punk scene and the impact he had on Sex Pistols. The bassist co-wrote 10 of the 12 songs on their 1977 album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, before leaving the group later that year. His time and contributions to the band have also been somewhat overlooked over the years too, with the infamous image and reputation of Sid Vicious, who replaced Matlock in the band, often taking the spotlight. Matlock has always insisted that he chose to leave the group, while other band members have said that he was fired, and after departing the line-up Matlock formed Rich Kids with Midge Ure, and also worked with Blondie, The Damned, Iggy Pop and Faces. The Sex Pistols and vocalist Frank Carter will be going on tour later in 2026 to celebrate their 50th anniversary -- shows include multiple festival appearances and US dates kick off in September, before heading to the UK in December. - NME, 5/27/26...... An appeals court has ruled that George Clinton must face a trial to determine whether a portion of the Parliament-Funkadelic catalog is co-owned by the heirs of late keyboardist Bernie Worrell. In September, a federal judge in Detroit threw out the lawsuit brought by Worrell's widow after determining that the statute of limitations had long expired. But the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that dismissal on May 27, holding that it's up to a jury to decide whether the claims are timely or not. "The estate has successfully pointed to facts potentially rendering this the rare case in which a copyright-ownership claim may be brought a half-century after-the-fact," wrote a panel of three appellate judges in the ruling, obtained by Billboard. The dispute stems from a 1976 contract between Worrell and Clinton, in which the keyboardist released his ownership stake in the P-Funk masters in exchange for recorded royalties. This led to numerous court battles over the years about how to properly split these royalties, both during Worrell's life and after his death from lung cancer in 2016. Clinton is separately suing Universal Music Group (UMG) for freezing his royalties amid the Worrell litigation. That case remains pending. - Billboard, 5/27/26...... As he promotes his newly released LP The Boys of Dungeon Lane across multiple media outlets, Paul McCartney has finally admitted that The Beatles are probably "the greatest band ever," after years of dismissing the title. Speaking on a livestream Q&A with fans on TikTok, McCartney said: "I think The Beatles were the greatest band ever and I'm a fan." He also explained that neither he nor his bandmates ever expected their legacy to stick around as long as it has -- revealing that he thought their fame would only last a couple of years. "When we started out, we were just kids and rock 'n' roll was just really coming in," he said. "We thought, 'If we're lucky, we've got a couple of years. That's how long people normally lasted. We expected maybe five years max, and then that became 10, and we were kind of still going, and the scene's still there," he continued. "Then it became 20, then 30, and now it's right up there. It's great; it is a lovely feeling. People will come to me and say, 'My kids love your music' and that's something, because you can't indoctrinate kids. They just either like it or they don't." Sir Paul also recalled the "pinch yourself" moment he experienced after he and the other three Beatles met Elvis Presley ("He wasn't a disappointment at all"), and that fellow music legend Bob Dylan is the one artist he's "nervous to approach" (I was wowed when we met last at the 2016 Desert Trip festival"). Macca has also participated in a conversation with actor Paul Mescal, who is set to portray the "cute Beatle" in the upcoming The Beatles: A Four-Film Cinematic Event series of films, which can be viewed on Amazon.com. - NME, 5/29/26...... Speaking with podcaster Rick Beato on YouTube, Rush's Geddy Lee has said he did not want "Tom Sawyer" to be included on the 1981 Moving Pictures album as he was so "sick" of it. "It was a very difficult song to make [and] difficult song to mix," Lee said. "Every step of the recording was beset with problems. And at the end, I was so sick of that fucking song, I didn't want to put it on the record. "So, can you imagine how dumb that was?" he added. "Like, let's not put our most popular song on the record." "Tom Sawyer" went on to become one of the defining songs of the band's career, receiving heavy radio and MTV airplay, and eventually being inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Rush played their first show together since 2015 this past March, alongside their new drummer Anika Nilles. She has since been recruited to replace the legendary Neil Peart, who died from brain cancer in early 2020. The band played vintage footage from Peart on big screens behind them during the show at the Juno Awards in their native Canada. Rush have also announced that they will be touring across the UK, Europe and South America in 2027. 24 shows in 13 countries have been confirmed, marking the first time they will have played in Europe since 2013, and their first visit to South America in 17 years. - NME, 5/25/26...... Jack Osbourne is pushing back at criticism over the return of his father, Ozzy Osbourne, as an AI-powered avatar. Jack and his mother, Sharon Osbourne, made the announcement during a discussion about the future of Ozzy's brand at the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas on May 20, partnering with digital human tech company Hyperreal to create an Ozzy avatar with the ability to "have conversations with fans and move, speak, and respond as Ozzy would." The announcement has sparked a backlash online, with some fans criticizing the concept as disrespectful or overly commercial. The iconic Black Sabbath frontman passed away in July 2025 at the age of 76. "Poor dude's soul was literally floating away but was quickly lassoed by Sharon and then yanked back down to earth, where he'll be on digital life support and forced to continue dancing for every sad soul who wants to ask him a questionexcept it's not even him," one user wrote on X. Another added, "Wow! A year hasn't even passed since Ozzy's passing and they are already trying to commercialize and profit from his memory." "Can't just let his legacy speak for itself, this would be f--kin disgraceful," a third skeptic commented. But Jack pushed back against the criticism during a YouTube livestream. "Here's the thing, it's gonna be so tasteful what we're doing. It's not gonna be f--king lame," he said. "It's really complex what we're doing. This isn't just like hooking up an image of my dad to ChatGPT. This is some high-level technology that we're gonna be working with, and it's gonna feel very real, and it's kind of wild how it will be utilized." Jack also said the idea had been discussed with his father before his death. "It's really cool, and it's something that I think my dad would be into," he said. "We actually talked about it before he passed, about doing something like this. So, yeah. I know he would be into this." Jack's full livestream has been shared on YouTube. - Billboard, 5/25/26...... David Gilmour has paid tribute to his longtime friend and Pink Floyd collaborator Dick Parry in the wake of the saxophonist's passing on May 22 at age 83. "My dear friend Dick Parry died," Gilmour began his post on social media, accompanied by a series of pictures of Mr. Parry playing the saxophone. "Since I was seventeen, I have played in bands with Dick on saxophone, including Pink Floyd. His feel and tone make his saxophone playing unmistakable, a signature of enormous beauty that is known to millions and is such a big part of songs such as Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Us and Them and Money." Gilmour continued, "He played in the last band I had that included Rick Wright for the On An Island Tour and at Live 8 with Pink Floyd." Mr. Parry played sax on several of Gilmour's solo albums, and toured with the band in the 1970s, returning for their 1994 world tour in support of their album The Division Bell. - Music-News.com, 5/25/26...... Speaking of great saxophonists, legendary tenor sax player Sonny Rollins, whose combination of technical mastery, melodic invention and raw improvisational power made him one of the most consequential figures in jazz history, died on May 25 at his home in Woodstock, N.Y., after a battle with pulmonary fibrosis. He was 95. Mr. Rollins' passing marks the end of a direct line to jazz's post-war golden age, with him coming of age alongside Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker -- and outlived them all, spending the decades after their deaths as a living link to that era's creative revolution. Born in New York City on Sept. 7, 1930, to parents who had emigrated from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Mr. Rollins grew up in Harlem and came to the saxophone in his early teens -- first the alto, then the tenor, which he adopted in his mid-teens and never abandoned. By the time he finished high school at Benjamin Franklin, he was already recording. His earliest sessions in 1949 included work alongside singer Babs Gonzalez and pianist Bud Powell, and he was performing with Monk before the age of 20. The decade that followed established him as one of the instrument's pre-eminent voices. His 1956 album Saxophone Colossus -- recorded for Prestige in a single session -- is considered one of the essential documents in all of jazz, and the track "St. Thomas," a calypso-inflected original, became one of the music's most enduring standards. In 1959, feeling he had reached a plateau, Mr. Rollins stepped away from performing -- seeking a place to practice alone, he found one on New York's Williamsburg Bridge, where he played through the night without fear of disturbing anyone. His 1962 return was marked by the album The Bridge, which announced not just a comeback but an artist who had been quietly, privately working to push further. In 1995, New York City Hall named a day in his honour. In 2011, he received the Kennedy Center Honors. In 2017, he donated his personal archives to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. His wife Lucille, his partner of nearly 40 years, died in 2004. - Billboard, 5/25/26...... John McClain, co-executor of Michael Jackson's estate and a longtime music executive, died on May 27 at the age of 71. Jackson co-executor John Branca confirmed the death of McClain, who had helped lead the King of Pop's estate since the star's death in 2009, to Billboard, saying he was "profoundly grieved at the loss of my partner and 'brother.'" "He brought a passion and sense of conviction to all that he did and was the most generous of friends," Branca said. "It is difficult to imagine a world without him." McClain was a longtime executive at A&M Records, where he helped launch Janet Jackson's career and executive produced her breakthrough 1986 album Control. He later did stints at Interscope Records and DreamWorks Records. When Michael died in 2009, McClain and Branca, a veteran music attorney, were named in his will as co-executors of his estate. Though the estate was reported to be nearly $500 million in debt at the time of his death and dogged by abuse allegations, it has since become a multi-billion business, including a $600 million deal to sell half his catalog to Sony Music and a smash hit biopic Michael earlier this year. A cause of death has not been given publicly for McClain. But TMZ, which first reported the news of his passing, reported that he had been "sick for several years" before his death. - Billboard, 5/27/26.