Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on August 3rd, 2026

Patti Smith has revealed she was giddy and almost at a loss for words after being granted an audience with Pope Leo XIV on July 31. "Hi," she said softly as she sat down across from Pope Leo at his desk in the Apostolic Palace. After the meeting, Smith took to Instagram to say "This is a moment that shall forever produce a smile." Wearing a crucifix necklace and hair in her trademark braids, Smith has become an increasingly visible presence at the Vatican thanks to her friendship with the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, undersecretary in the Vatican's culture ministry. She has said that while she is not Catholic, she was drawn in particular to Leo's predecessor Pope Francis and his "gentle, open, and steadfast sense of humanity." She also had a thing for the revered Pope John Paul I: Her 1979 tune "Wave" is about a make-believe conversation with the pope who had just died after a 33-day papacy. It begins "Hi. Hi," uttered in the same breathy voice Smith used with Leo on July 31. The pope clearly was familiar with the tune. "That was marvelous," he said. - Billboard, 8/1/26...... Roger Waters has shared a "reimagined" version of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" in hopes it will be seen as "prophetic." The new nine-minute "Comfortably Numb" version transforms the song from 1979's The Wall into a tribute to the Palestinian people, featuring new English and Arabic lyrics and a video with footage filmed in war torn Gaza. Waters, along with Palestinian singer Mona Miari, have transformed original refrain of "I have become comfortably numb" has been adapted by Waters and Miari into: "I will never become comfortably numb." A new section written by Miari, titled "Hind's Lullaby," has also been added, inspired by the story of Hind Rajab, the six-year-old Palestinian girl killed alongside members of her family in Gaza in Jan. 2024. In an interview with Wired.com, Waters said he hopes that people hearing the song would resonate a decade from now. "I hope they'll hear that it was prophetic -- there is a right and a wrong," he said. "This is not complicated, and this song is on the right side of history." Miari added: "I hope 10 years from now, whoever listens to 'Comfortably Numb Re-Imagined' could also experience a free Palestine and look back at it as a testament about the truth and what happened, and just cherish that sense of resistance and urgency for freedom." Waters also addressed the accusations of anti-Semitism that have surrounded him in recent years. "I don't have an anti-Semitic bone in my body," he said. "I never did and I never will have. I couldn't give a shit what your religion is, frankly. I'm not interested in it." Waters has repeatedly denied accusations of anti-Semitism, arguing that his criticism is directed at the Israeli government and Zionism rather than the Jewish people. In 2023, Berlin police investigated the musician after he wore a Nazi-style uniform during a concert. He said the performance was "quite clearly a statement in opposition to fascism, injustice and bigotry." That same year, the Campaign Against Antisemitism released the documentary The Dark Side Of Roger Waters, which included allegations about his past conduct. He dismissed the film as a flimsy, unapologetic piece of propaganda. "Comfortably Numb Re-Imagined" can be viewed on YouTube. - New Musical Express, 8/2/26...... Speaking on the BBC Radio 2 program Tracks of My Years, Phil Collins recalled being "blown away" by Taylor Swift before her rise to international pop superstardom. Collins to interviewer Vernon Kay that he recalled meeting Swift at a Songwriters Hall of Fame event years ago, before she reached her current level of fame, and watching her perform her song "White Horse." "This very nice lady then got up on stage with a guitar and sang 'White Horse,' and it blew me away completely," he said. "Not only was the song great, and the sentiment of the song really got me, but she sang it beautifully. And it was just so simple, you know, her on a guitar." Collins added he has "always had a soft spot" for the track since. "I'm so pleased that she's the hugest thing in the world now because she kind of feels like she deserves it," he said. "I mean it's easy to knock someone that's got so much success, but I think she really deserves it." Elsewhere in the interview, Collins revealed that his signature solo hit "In the Air Tonight" was largely improvised. "A lot of my lyrics are kind of improvised. The classic example of that would be 'In the Air Tonight,' which was pretty much 80% improvised," he said, explaining that the song's atmospheric sound came from a Prophet-5 keyboard and that he "certainly didn't labor on it." He described the result as "the scenario of luck and good fortune" rather than craft. Collins is set to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in 2026 -- 16 years after entering as a member of Genesis. Across his solo career he scored seven No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 during the 1980s, including "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)," "One More Night," "Sussudio" and "Groovy Kind of Love." "In the Air Tonight," the 1981 debut solo single he referenced, reached No. 19 on the Hot 100 but became one of the most enduring recordings of his career, later finding new life through film, television and a viral 2020 reaction video. - Billboard, 8/2/26...... Rod Stewart helped raise $1.7M for Stevie Van Zandt's TeachRock Education nonprofit during a fundraiser in Southampton, N.Y., on July 30. The intimate private concert for 200 guests at the home of philanthropists Bob and Lauren Day Roberts raised $1.7 million in support of TeachRock's mission to bring arts education to classrooms across the country. According to a release, one of the highlights of the night was when E Street Band member and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Van Zandt joined Stewart on stage for performances of Sam Cooke's "Having a Party" and The Faces' "Stay With Me." "Playing alongside the legend that is Stevie Van Zandt for TeachRock -- what a night," Stewart said in a statement about the event. "Music changed my life, and TeachRock is making sure it can change theirs too." "Rod didn't just give us an unforgettable performance this evening, he gave our mission a tremendous boost," Van Zandt said later. "Every dollar raised helps us put free arts education into more classrooms, and that's something worth celebrating." TeachRock's mission includes supplying educators with free, stardards-aligned curriculum that uses the history of popular music to engage students across subjects including history, social studies, language arts and science. The organization currently reaches more than one million students nationwide. - Billboard, 7/31/26...... Elton John marked 36 years of sobriety on July 31 by raising a glass of his sparkling non-alcoholic Elton John Zero Blanc de Blancs champagne. "36 years sober today," a smiling Sir Elton, wearing a patterned shirt and oversized square-framed glasses, captioned a celebratory photo on Instagram. "Raising a 0% glass to life. Grateful for every single day." He later shared the same image via Instagram Stories with his 1983 hit single and ode to perseverance, "I'm Still Standing," playing in the background. John opened up about his struggles with addiction in his 2019 memoir, Me, detailing his dependencies on cocaine and alcohol at the height of his fame. "You block it out until the problem of the thing you're facing becomes such a monumental thing that you explode with rage, and that's the way I handled confrontation," he told NPR in an interview that October. "I hated my addiction. I hated the way I behaved. I hated how I treated people. I hated what I'd become." John and his husband, David Furnish, announced their venture into the lucrative non-alcoholic drinks market in January this year. "What drew us to this product is the fact that it's the first one of its kind and that it's made differently," Furnish shared of the cuvée at the time. "All the non-alcoholic drinks we've all tried and haven't really enjoyed very much are made with alcohol and then de-alcoholised, whereas with this product, the grapes are fermented with good cultures and that creates all of the properties of a beautiful blanc de blancs." Elton's longtime collaborator, Bernie Taupin, recently told Rolling Stone that he thinks John may release a new album in 2026, though nothing is concrete yet. "Well, he's got a record coming out, I think, at the beginning of next year that I contributed to," Taupin said. "But I literally don't know when that is. He did it with [producer]Andrew Watt again. And he wrote it in a completely different way simply because of his eyesight problem." Elton's eye issues began in the summer of 2024, when an infection left him blind in his right eye. The new record will follow his 2025 joint LP with Brandi Carlile, Who Believes in Angels?. - Music-News.com, 7/31/26...... A year after his passing, the life and crazy times of late heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne will be the subject of the new Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness haunted house at Universal Studios theme parks during this year's annual "Halloween Horror Nights" event. "Ozzy Osbourne's shocking image was as haunting as his heavy metal hits. Now you'll enter the Prince of Darkness's kingdom where music and mayhem collide -- and everything's gone off the rails," according to a press release announcing the attraction. "Veer through a decaying world ripped straight from Ozzy's lyrics in this haunted house inspired by one of rock 'n' roll's greatest legends. Let the madness begin!" The new attraction will join the raft of other haunted houses at this year's Halloween Horror Nights, including ones dedicated to other Universal produced projects including Evil Dead Burn, Hellraiser and season five of Stranger Things and Sinners. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Osbourne's widow and longtime manager, Sharon Osbourne, said the experience that's part of HHN's 35th anniversary edition will tell the rocker's story from his working class childhood in Birmingham, England to his run as the frontman of Black Sabbath. "His music throughout every room is at the heart of it all," Sharon told the outlet. "Fans will also see scenes inspired by Ozzy's journey, from his early days as a little boy growing up in Birmingham, England, riding the train to and from London, to the iconic imagery and characters from across his career." The promo preview video for Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness haunted house can be viewed on YouTube. - Billboard, 7/29/26...... In other Black Sabbath-related news, guitarist Tony Iommi has announced his first solo album in over two decades, From the Dark. Set to arrive on Oct. 23 via BMG, the new album marks the first solo release from Iommi since he released his third solo project Fused back in 2001 alongside vocalist Glenn Hughes. It also marks his first new music since the death of his late Black Sabbath bandmate Ozzy Osbourne in July 2025. The first preview of the album is out now in the form of blistering lead single "World Alone" -- which received its premiere on July 30 at a special global streaming event in Iommi's hometown of Birmingham. The preview took place close to where the famous Black Sabbath Bridge is located, which was opened as a civic tribute to the iconic band in 2019. From The Dark will be available in several deluxe vinyl and CD formats, and the deluxe CD version will contain two bonus tracks called "Scent Of Dark" and "Defied." A limited edition 7" single of "World Alone," backed exclusively with an instrumental version, will be out on Sept. 4. - NME, 7/30/26...... The Beatles' official website announced on July 29 that a Super Deluxe edition of the band's seminal 1965 album Rubber Soul will be released by UMG and Apple Corps Ltd later in 2026 with a bevy of new mixes, never-before-heard home demos and an 88-page book with an introduction by Paul McCartney. Newly mixed by producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell, the definitive version of the album will be released on Oct. 2 via Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe and be packaged in a 4CD/5LP edition featuring new stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes alongside the original mono mix and the original Capitol U.S. album version. The new stereo mix was sourced directly from the original four-track master tapes and the audio enhanced with the help of cutting-edge "de-mixing" technology developed by the team at director Peter Jackson's WingNut Films Productions Ltd. for Jackson's Get Back documentary. The Super Deluxe editions will feature 24 early session recordings, including 20 previously unreleased takes and three previously unheard John Lennon demos, including early versions of "Day Tripper," "We Can Work It Out" and "Little Girl," a previously unheard John Lennon song outline that has never been released before. There will also be 2CD and 2LP versions with a curated selection of session highlights, demos and the album version of the double A-side lead single, "We Can Work It Out"/"Day Tripper." Originally released on Dec. 3, 1965, the Fab Four's sixth studio album was fronted by the double A-side single and was recorded over four weeks beginning in October of that year. The LP expanded the group's pop sound with the addition of the sitar and harmonium, helping to pave the way for the psychedelic rock revolution of the late 1960s, while expanding the parameters of what was possible on a cohesive pop album. It contains such classics as the frenetic "Drive My Car," the meditative "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," as well as "Nowhere Man," "Michelle," "Girl" and the introspective "In My Life." The long-awaited Rubber Soul revamp comes after similar treatments for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (2017), The Beatles (White Album) (2018), Abbey Road (2019), Let It Be (2021), Revolver (2022) and Anthology (2025). A taste of the new release, "Michelle (Take 1)," has been shared on YouTube. - Billboard, 7/29/26...... In other Beatles news, Paul McCartney is among a dozen artists nominated for a prestigious 2026 Mercury Prize, which is awarded annually and recognizes artistic achievement in albums across a range of genres. Sir Paul is nominated for his 20th solo studio album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, the first time McCartney has been nominated for the prize in his storied career. Albums released between Aug. 30 2025 and July 17, 2026 were eligible for consideration this year. The 12 shortlisted albums were chosen by an independent judging panel chaired by Jeff Smith, head of music, BBC 6 Music & Radio 2. The prize will be awarded at a ceremony at Newcastle's Utilita Arena on Oct. 22. Fans can purchase tickets for the ceremony, which will include a number of performances by the nominated artists, at the Mercury Prize awards' official website. - Billboard, 7/30/26...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, The Kinks' Dave Davies has revisited the band's old rivalry with The Fab Four, saying George Harrison was the only member he "really liked." Davies made the comments at the launch of the band's new art exhibition, "The Kinks: Brothers," at Gibson Garage London. "John Lennon didn't like The Kinks, he really didn't," Davies said, via The Mirror. Laughing, he continued: "In fact, John Lennon didn't really like anybody! George Harrison was the only one I really liked. He was the nicest guy. Paul McCartney wrote a few decent songs, yeah." Davies has previously recalled Lennon being fiercely protective of The Beatles' equipment when the two groups played together. "He wouldn't let us touch anything," he said. "'Don't you dare touch those!' He was a paranoid guy, but funny." After reports of his latest comments were published, however, Davies clarified that he remained a fan of the Liverpool band on X/Twitter. "I like the Beatles and I do appreciate all the kind words Paul McCartney has said about the Kinks," he wrote. The rivalry between the groups dates back to the early stages of The Kinks' career, when they appeared below The Beatles at Bournemouth's Gaumont Cinema on Aug. 2, 1964. The show came two days before the release of The Kinks' breakthrough single "You Really Got Me," which went on to give them their first UK Number One. Kinks frontman Ray Davies later recalled Lennon making a dismissive remark about The Kinks being there solely to warm up the audience, only for their performance of "You Really Got Me" to receive an ecstatic response. "The Kinks: Brothers" exhibition reimagines a 1968 passport photobooth picture of the siblings taken in East Finchley, North London, through a series of mixed-media works on paper and canvas. The exhibition will run at Gibson Garage London until Sept. 6. - NME, 7/27/26...... Willie Nelson has weighed in on the current controversy of the profusion of AI data centers being proposed across America. Posting an open letter on X/Twitter on July 28, the country icon addressed his post to "whom it may concern and to everyone else as well," in which he lamented that potential plans to build one of the energy- and water-hogging plants could change the nature of Abbott, Tex., where he owns a home and farm. "I grew up in Abbott, and I still have a home there with farmed land where I can still see stars at night," Nelson, 93, wrote. "And now our community, like many others, needs to fight against data centers invading our land. The last thing we need is a loud, water thieving, light polluting, data center anywhere near our town (or any others for that matter)." Nelson -- who has spent more than four decades raising money and awareness about the plight of small American farms via his co-founded annual concert Farm Aid -- wrote that the strength of rural America has never come from "big industrial footprints," but rather from "generations of people, open spaces, local businesses, and a connection to the land. All of America deserves thoughtful stewardship that doesn't steal farmland (where our essential shared-food is grown) and small family farmers' livelihoods, and not data centers that only destroy the environment around them." Like many local, state and federal authorities, Texas politicians are in a heated battle about the building of massive data centers to support the AI boom. After previously calling the Lone Star State the global "epicenter of AI development," Republican Gov. Greg Abbott recently pushed for a ban on AI centers in rural neighborhoods and stricter regulations on utility and water usage to protect the state's power grid and save his constituents from rapidly rising electricity rates. It is not clear if Nelson's letter was targeting a specific data center near Abbott, which is about an hour south of Dallas. But a May Gallup Poll reported that seven in 10 Americans oppose local construction of AI data centers, with 48 percent strongly opposed and just seven percent strongly in favor. Nelson ended his letter with a stark warning: ""Whoever controls food and water, controls the masses. Let's not allow our own demise or give up control over necessary resources in the U.S. and especially in Abbott." - Billboard, 7/29/26...... Tom Waits has released the full version of his sardonic spoken-word track "The Fly." The track serves as the B-side to "Boots On The Ground," Waits' politically charged collaboration with Massive Attack, which was released online in April and marked the singer-songwriter's first new original music since his 2011 album Bad As Me. A tease of "The Fly" was released several months ago, but now the entire track has been shared, and it sees Waits offer a begrudging tribute to the brief and unloved life of the common housefly. "You have no house, well you have mine / You have no real friends, stay away from the wine. House fly go to sleep, say goodbye / No one will weep when you die," he recites. The lyric video, illustrated by the artist's son Casey Waits, can be viewed on Instagram. - NME, 8/1/26...... Arlene Smith, one of the co-founders and lead vocalists of the pioneering 1950s girl group The Chantels, died of a heart attack at a New York City hospital on July 29. She was 84. The Chantels were formed in early 1950s by a group of school friends from St. Anthony of Padua in the Bronx and were one of the first Black girl groups to score national chart success. With a combination of flawless harmonies and emotion-packed lovesick ballads such as "The Plea" and "He's Gone," the group's mix of doo wop, soul and R&B swing helped distinguish them at a time when Black female pop acts were a rarity on the charts. Born on Oct. 5, 1941, Ms. Smith was a classically trained vocalist who got her break when as a 12-year-old she scored an audition alongside her childhood friends and future bandmates Sonia Gorin, Lois Harris, Jackie Landry and Rene Minus for record producer Richard Barrett (of the doo-wop group The Valentines) when the group's members were all in their teens, ranging from 14 to 17. They landed a recording contract in 1957 with End Records, future home to such groups as Little Anthony and the Imperials and The Miracles, and their debut single, the barbershop quartet-meets-soul lament "He's Gone" -- co-written by Smith and Barrett -- landed at No. 71 on the Billboard Top 100, the predecessor to the Hot 100 singles chart. That set the table for their breakthrough with the Barrett-penned "Maybe," the aforementioned boyfriend heartbreak ballad about trying to win back a lover who is "gone, gone, gone" that ran all the way up to No. 2 on the Most Played R&B by Jockeys chart and is considered one of the greatest girl group songs of all time. After receding from music in the 1970s, Ms. Smith got her master's degree in education and taught music at a Bronx elementary school until her retirement in the 2000s. The Chantels were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002 and made the final ballot for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 and 2009, but have so far not made the final cut. - Billboard, 7/31/26...... Original Foreigner vocalist Lou Gramm joined his old band for a song during a co-headlining concert by Foreigner and Lynyrd Skynyrd at Toronto's RBC Amphitheatre on July 30. Gramm, now 76 years old with his performing retirement coming this year, showed up to introduce the group, plug his first solo album in 17 years, Released, and later sang lead vocals on the last song of Foreigner's 90-minute set, "Hot Blooded." Even though all the original members of Foreigner are no longer on the road, the industry itself still accepts them as a group and certainly the thousands of fans who packed the amphitheatre from the seats right up to the lawns seemingly had no problems watching them, purists aside. The diminutive but powerful Mexican-born Luis Maldonado, who's performed with Foreigner since 2021 but moved to frontman at the end of 2025 when Kelly Hansen retired, otherwise sang lead vocals during the group's hits-heavy performance with such standouts as "Double Vision," "Cold as Ice," "Waiting For a Girl Like You," "Jukebox Hero," and "I Want To Know What Love Is," the latter accompanied by a youth choir from Guelph. Guitarist Mick Jones still serves as the official group leader for Foreigner even though he gave up touring in 2022 due to Parkinson's disease and is currently dealing with Alzheimer's. As for Lynyrd Skynyrd, who lost three band members in a 1977 plane crash, including lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, their southern rock went down smoother in some places than it did others. Led by Ronnie's brother, Johnny Van Zant -- who's been lead vocalist since the group reformed in 1987 -- the nine-member ensemble kicked their hour-and-40-minute set off strong with "Working For MCA," "What's Your Name," "That Smell," and "Saturday Night Special." "Canada! Skynyrd's in the house!" yelled Van Zant, with an American flag wrapped around his mic stand, to huge cheers. They wrapped their set with a one-two punch of "Sweet Home Alabama" (and its Neil Young-bashing verse) and encore signature song "Free Bird." - Canoe.com, 7/31/26...... Actor Vincent Pastore, who was best known for playing Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on HBO's The Sopranos, died of natural causes at his home on City Island in the Bronx on Aug. 1. He was 80. Mr. Pastore played a pivotal role during the first two seasons of The Sopranos as a close confidante of Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini). Once Tony learned that the FBI had managed to flip Salvatore and turn him into an informant, he was killed in the Season 2 finale. Salvatore continued to appear in later episodes either through flashbacks and archival footage. In addition to acting in films like Mickey Blue Eyes, Revolver and Shark Tale, Mr. Pastore also appeared in 1990's Goodfellas, 1993's Carlito's Way and A Bronx Tale. Elsewhere on TV, Mr. Pastore had roles in Law & Order, Blue Bloods, Bull, Hawaii Five-0 and also competed on seasons of Celebrity Apprentice and Dancing With the Stars. "He loved being an actor," his manager Robert Attermann told Fox News. "He was passionate about his craft and was always encouraging, respectful, and generous with young actors, taking the time to offer guidance and support whenever he could." He is survived by his daughter Renee. - Canoe.com, 8/2/26.