Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on October 6th, 2014

Paul Revere, the longtime leader and organist of the popular mid '60s/early '70s pop group Paul Revere & the Raiders, died at his home in Idaho on Oct. 4 of undisclosed causes. He was 76. The news was revealed in a lengthy on the band's official website and no cause of death was given, however Revere had been battling cancer over the past year and posted about his health issues on his Facebook page this past July. Revere, born Paul Revere Dick in Harvard, Nebr., on Jan. 7, 1938, was known for his Revolutionary War-style clothing that helped earn him the title of "the madman of rock n' roll" and refused to slow down despite his illness. "Even though I've had some health issues, nothing can stop the old man. I'm like the Energizer Bunny! I jump on my tour bus and go from city to city, packing a trunk full of great Raider songs, tight pants and bad jokes -- all against doctor's orders, by the way!" he posted on Facebook. Formed in 1960 in Portland, Ore., Paul Revere & the Raiders began their career a year earlier as The Downbeats, a raunchy rock & roll band. They emerged from the Northwest to become a national pop success with ponytailed Mark Lindsay, who worked as a delivery boy at Revere's drive-in restaurant, fronting the band and having enormous teenybopper appeal. In mid-1962, they changed their name and started wearing pseudo-Revolutionary War costumes. Columbia signed the group after hearing an unsolicited tape, and in mid-1963 their cover of Richard Berry's "Louie, Louie" was released. Although popular in the Northwest, their version was beaten out across America by The Kingsmen's hit. In early 1965 they relocated to California and began to focus on a cleaner, more pop-oriented sound, and went on to release four Top 10 singles in the 1960s with with "Kicks," "Hungry," "Good Thing" and "Him or Me, What's It Gonna Be." The group had their biggest hit in 1971 with their No. 1 U.S. smash "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)." In 1976, they capitalized on America's bicentennial with a tour and album. While Lindsay forged a successful career singing commercials, Paul Revere and his band toured some 250 nights a year, until Revere announced his retirement in Aug. 2014 due to a serious health issue, which was rumored to be brain cancer. - Billboard/Rollings Stone, 10/5/14.

Roger Waters posted an angry message on his Facebook page on Oct. 1 concerning his lack of involvement in the new Pink Floyd album, The Endless River. "Some people have been asking Laurie, my wife, about a new album I have coming out in November. Errhh? I don't have an album coming out, they are probably confused. David Gilmour and Nick Mason have an album coming out. It's called 'Endless River'. David and Nick constitute the group Pink Floyd. I on the other hand, am not part of Pink Floyd. I left Pink Floyd in 1985, that's 29 years ago. I had nothing to do with either of the Pink Floyd studio albums, Momentary Lapse Of Reason and The Division Bell, nor the Pink Floyd tours of 1987 and 1994, and I have nothing to do with Endless River. Phew! This is not rocket science people, get a grip." The Endless River, which will include music recorded with late Pink Floyd multi-instrumentalist Richard Wright, is due on Nov. 10. Mason said in 2013 that he would be interested in a full band reunion with Waters, but doubted it would ever happen. - New Musical Express, 10/2/14...... A deluxe 45th anniversary release of the Velvet Underground' third, self-titled 1969 album will drop on Nov. 24. The release will include a previously unreleased LP, which was recorded with the intention of getting the band free from their MGM contract. The first disc will feature an album stereo mix of the record, the second a 1969 pressing called the "The Closet Mix" and the third is a promotional mono mix. The entire release will be made up of 65 songs and feature liner notes written by Rolling Stone's David Fricke. - New Musical Express, 10/1/14.

A post by Ted Nugent on the conservative website WorldNetDaily.com on Oct. 1 contained a lengthy diatribe by the controversial Classic Rocker in which he slammed "Ferguson thugs" and the "plague of Black violence." "Our national propaganda ministry reported ad nauseum the detailed description and race of Michael Brown and that of the police officer who killed him," Nugent wrote. "Based on crime stats in Ferguson and elsewhere, it would be a safe bet to assume the two thugs the police are looking for are black males between the age of 15 and 25... a safe bet the two thugs being searched for were raised by a single parent, have criminal records, are high school dropouts, don't have jobs and are very likely to be members of a gang," he added. Nugent then turned to liberalism as the culprit behind the struggles that have "decimated and destroyed so many black families and their communities." "It is deaf, dumb and blind liberalism that has shoveled over $20 trillion into Fedzilla's welfare crack programs over the past 50 years," he added, closing with "The road to peace and prosperity in America is to reject the big liberal lie and all those who endorse it. Liberalism is a lie. Liberalism is a scam. Liberalism is a killer." Nugent made headlines earlier in 2014 with another rant in which he referred to Pres. Barack Obama as a "subhuman mongrel." - The Huffington Post, 10/2/14.

Blues guitar legend B.B. King has canceled the remaining eight shows on his current tour after falling ill on Oct. 3 during a performance at the House of Blues in Chicago. King, 89, was evaluated by a doctor and diagnosed with dehydration and exhaustion. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame who has released over 50 albums, King had shows scheduled at his own B.B. King Blues Club and Grill in New York in mid-October. Earlier in 2014, King issued a public apology to fans after an erratic performance in St. Louis led to audience catcalls and early departures. His publicists called it "a bad night for one of America's living blues legends." - AP, 10/5/14...... Director John Landis, who helmed the original 14-minute music video of Michael Jackson's "Thriller," has announed that the video will be getting the 3D treatment in 2015. "It is going to reappear in a highly polished and three-dimensional way that is very exciting on the big screen," Landis told New York Daily News. Landis says his lengthy legal battle with Jackson's estate kept the idea of a revamped "Thriller" in limbo for years, but now that the dispute is over, he wants to bring it to theaters and Blu-ray in the near future. There are also hopes that a short 3D Francis Ford Coppola-directed film that Jackson starred in back in 1986, Captain EO, will also be coming to Blu-ray soon as well. - Billboard, 10/3/14...... Fleetwood Mac played their first full show with original band member Christine McVie since 1997 on Sept. 30 when they kicked off their "On With The Show" tour at the Target Center in Minneapolis. The career-spanning, 24-song set included the Stevie Nicks-penned hits "The Chain" and "Gold Dust Woman," and McVie was introduced by the band who said "our songbird has returned," after which she performed such hits as "You Make Loving Fun" and "Songbird." The band previously reunited without McVie, who left in 1998, for a large-scale tour including several dates at London O2 Arena in Sept. 2013. At one O2 performance, however, McVie joined the band on stage for a rendition of "Don't Stop." The tour will continue across North America thorughout the remainder of 2014, and their are rumours they could headline the UK's Glastonbury Festival in 2015. - New Musical Express, 10/2/14...... A Gretsch 6120 guitar that John Lennon used to co-write and record the Beatles' hit "Paperback Writer" is expected to fetch around £600,000 at auction conducted in at the Le Meridien Hotel in London later in October. Lennon gave the guitar to his cousin David Birch in 1967, and according to Birch he asked Lennon for "one of his spare guitars" during a visit to his Weybridge, Surrey, home after he told his famous relative that he was looking to start a band of his own. "I had my eye on a blue Fender Stratocaster that was lying in the studio but John suggested the Gretsch and gave it to me as we were talking," says Birch, whose mother Harriet was the younger sister of Lennon's mother Julia. Lennon most notably used the Gretsch 6120 on "Paperback Writer," which was recorded in April 1966 at Abbey Road Studios for the album Revolver. Meanwhile, a rare vinyl LP of the Beatles' 1963 debut Please Please Me signed by all four members of the band recently fetched $36,655 at auction on eBay. The item received 39 bids throughout the auction and was eventually sold to an undisclosed bidder in the U.S. - New Musical Express, 10/6/14...... In related news, thousands of items from late country music star Wayon Jennings' estate went on the auction block on Oct. 5 online and at the Music Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Ariz. Among the items for sale are a red Ariel Cyclone motorcycle given to him as a birthday gift by members of Buddy Holly's band The Crickets. Jennings, who was a close friend of Holly's and was supposed to have been in the same plane that claimed Holly's life in 1959, kept the motorcycle in his living room until he died in 2002. Also included in the sale is a pair of Willie Nelson's braids, which where snipped off and presented in 1983 as a gift to celebrate Jennings' sobriety at a party thrown by Johnny Cash. Jennings died in 2002 at age 64 of diabetes-related health problems, and some auction proceeds will benefit Phoenix Children's Hospital per the wishes of Jennings' widow, Jessi Colter. - AP, 10/4/14...... Todd Rundgren is the latest musical contributor to the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim show Squidbillies. Squidbillies has a history of getting well-known artists to lend their voices to the animated show's theme song, which follows the Cuyler family of squids living in Georgia. Previous seasons benefitted from contributions by George Jones, Alabama Shakes, Dwight Yoakum, Lucinda Williams and Billy Joe Shaver. Squidbillies, featuring a demented, glitched-up treatment of its theme song by Rundgren, airs Sundays at 11:45 pm. - Billboard, 10/3/14...... Convicted child-sex offender Gary Glitter's '70s hit "Rock and Roll Part 2" is quietly fading from play at sports arenas across the U.S. after Glitter's fall from grace in the late 1990s, the most recent example being the National Hockey League's Nashville Predators. Previously, each time the team scored a goal, Glitter's "Rock and Roll Part 2," a.k.a. "The Hey Song," was played, but fan complaints led to the team's management to decide to stop playing the song. Glitter's version of the song was banned by the National Football League after his conviction in 2006 of sex offenses with girls aged 10 and 11, but a cover version was widely aired and even adopted as the New England Patriots' touchdown anthem. The league asked teams to avoid the song in 2012, however "Rock and Roll Part 2" -- which Glitter co-wrote with producer Mike Leander -- still generates about $250,000 in annual performance royalties. Fred Traub, founder of Pro Sports Marketing, says Glitter's play has dropped noticeably since the NFL ban, but added that newer songs like The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" are pushing aside many decades-old favorites. "Music moves on and people try to capture the zeitgiest," he says. - Billboard, 10/3/14...... Actor Barry Williams, who played eldest son Greg Brady on the iconic '70s sitcom The Brady Bunch, will star in the Great American Country TV network's new original series A Very Barry Branson. The six-episode, half-hour series, which will premiere in early 2015, will follow Williams as trades Hollywood for America's heartland in Branson, Mo., as he launches his own '70s-era musical variety show. The series, which will premiere in early 2015, will follow Williams as he works to create and promote his stage show, gets to know the locals and attempts to make Branson his home. Along the way, he'll take cues from other Branson entertainers, including family band The Haygoods, host former Brady Bunch co-stars, and do anything he can to build an audience. - The Hollywood Reporter, 10/2/14.

During a listening event for the new Led Zeppelin remasters of Led Zeppelin IV and Houses of the Holy at Olympic Studios in London on Sept. 30, Jimmy Page ruled out any chance of the band playing together ever again and said he is planning to start his own, career-spanning band. "I don't think it looks as though that's a possibility or on the cards, so there's not much more I can say about that," Page told the New Musical Express. "I'm not going to give a detail-by-detail account of what one person says or another person says. All I can say is it doesn't look likely, does it?" When pressed on whether this was down to frontman Robert Plant, Page added: "I've just said it doesn't look very likely." His comments come after Plant recently said that he felt "disappointed and baffled" after Page dropped repeated hints about wanting to play with the band again. The guitarist also said that he was "fed up" with his bandmate for delaying his plans. Led Zeppelin last played together in 2007 for a one-off tribute to Atlantic Records' Ahmet Ertegun at London's O2 Arena. Page went on to confirm that he is likely to form his own band and play live material right across his whole career, including his Zeppelin work, in the near future. "If I was to play again it would be with musicians that would be some of the names might be new to you. I haven't put them together yet but I'm going to do that next year. If I went out to play, I would play material that spanned everything from my recording career right back to my very, very early days with The Yardbirds. There would certainly be some new material in there as well." Page previewed tracks from the latest Zep reissues in a theatre against a backdrop of old tour posters and photos of the band in its prime. The two reissues are due on Oct. 27 and follow a reissue campaign earlier in 2014 of the band's first three albums. - New Musical Express, 9/30/14.

A restored one-room schoolhouse in Tennessee where Tina Turner once attended classes opened on Sept. 26 as a museum honoring the singer's career and recalling her childhood in the small West Tennessee town of Brownsville. More than 100 people attended an opening ceremony, ribbon cutting and tour of the Tina Turner Museum at Flagg Grove School, located on the grounds of the West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center in Brownsville. The museum features gold-and-platinum records and glittering outfits and dresses worn during performances by Turner, whose Grammy-winning singing career includes hit songs "Nutbush City Limits," ''Proud Mary" and "What's Love Got To Do With it." Turner, who lives in Zurich, Switzerland, did not attend the ceremony, but she recorded a video that was played for those in attendance. Turner said she did not attend because she has problems with flying long distances ."My spirit is with you," Turner said in the video as she thanked those involved with the project. "Have a wonderful day. Ciao." Turner, whose given name is Anna Mae Bullock, attended the Flagg Grove School while growing up in nearby Nutbush, located about 50 miles northeast of Memphis. Local officials hope that travelers interested in cultural and music tourism who fly into Memphis, known for its blues and rock and roll bloodlines, will make the 50-minute car ride eastbound on Interstate 40 and spend money in their hamlet. - AP, 9/26/14.

Music producer Phil Spector, who has been imprisoned since 2009, has reportedly not spoken in nine months as he battles illness in prison, where he is serving a 19-year sentence for the murder of B-movie actress Lana Clarkson. Spector's lawyer Chuck Sevilla described Spector's situation as "very dangerous" and that Spector can't speak "due to polyps in his throat which they keep telling him they're going to perform surgery on, which they have not done." Sevilla, who communicates with his client through handwritten letters, expressed his concern for Spector's safety in his current condition: "The prison won't give information about his medical condition. We are trying to get his needs attended to. I will be writing the warden today to try and get that done. Can you imagine being in a prison and you need help and you can't speak? It's very dangerous." A spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation had no comment when approached for a statement. Spector made his name with his "wall of sound" production technique and produced the Beatles album Let It Be in 1970. - New Musical Express, 9/28/14.

Earth, Wind & Fire will release its first ever Christmas album, Holiday, on Oct. 21 via Sony Legacy. The 13-track set, EWF's 21st studio album and second for Legacy, is comprised of such seasonal fare as "Winter Wonderland," "Sleigh Ride," "Joy to the World" and "Jingle Bell Rock," as well as "December," a song inspired by their 1978 hit "September" and featuring EWF lead singer/co-founder Philip Bailey dueting with the original master vocals of fellow co-founder Maurice White. Holiday is the followup to 2013's Then & Forever, the group's first LP of new music since 2005. In related news, Kenny Rogers has announced a Christmas-themed 25-date tour of North America that will launch on Nov. 12 in Niagara Falls, Ontario. "The Gambler" singer's trek will visit mostly mid-sized markets and wrap Dec. 23 at Westbury, N.Y. Special guest Linda Davis will join the country legend on his "Christmas & Hits Through The Years" trek, his 33rd Christmas tour. Rogers, who has sold more than one hundred million records worldwide, was formally inducted as a new member of the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville in October 2013 and has received three Grammys, 11 People's Choice Awards, 18 American Music Awards, eight Academy of Country Music awards and six CMA awards. - Billboard, 10/1/14...... A South Carolina man named Stephen Coronel who was a contributor to several KISS songs and a former guitarist in the pre-KISS band Wicked Lester was arrested on Sept. 26 and charged with uploading child pornograpy. Coronel, 63, was charged with five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor following a police search of his apartment. When officers entered his apartment with a warrant, Coronel was reportedly found to have four videos playing or uploading depicting children between 3-12 engaged in sexual acts. In 1970 and 1971, Coronel was a member of the New York-based rock band Wicked Lester with KISS principals Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley that was signed to Epic Records but never released a record. He later co-wrote KISS' "Goin' Blind" from 1974's Hotter Than Hell and "She" from 1975's Dressed to Kill with Simmons. - Billboard, 9/29/14...... Judas Priest kicked off a major U.S. 40th anniversary tour on Oct. 1, after having described its Epitaph World Tour in 2010 as a "farewell" run. Lead singer Rob Halford says the group was so energized by the sessions for its latest album Redeemer of Souls -- especially after the departure of group co-founder K.K. Downing in 2011 -- that he's already "ready to jump into the next Judas Priest record." "Maybe we're chasing the elusive finale, but right now I feel like it's amazing to think what might come next from Priest," Halford says. With a catalog of 17 studio albums that have sold more than 45 million copies worldwide, and such heavy metal anthems as "Living After Midnight," "Breaking the Law," "Screaming for Vengeance" and "You've Got Another Thing Comin'," Priest also enjoys a legacy as one of heavy metal's most influential groups. 2014 marks the 40th anniversary of the band's debut album, Rocka Rolla, which was released five years after the group formed in Birmingham, England. - Billboard, 9/29/14...... Ozzy Osbourne stated in a new interview that Black Sabbath will begin working on a new studio album -- which Ozzy says will be Sabbath's last -- in early 2015 with producer Rick Rubin. "The whole Sabbath experience this time around was great. We all made friends, we didn't f--- around, we all knew that we had a job to do, and we did it. It was a lot of fun. So we're going to do one more album, and a final tour," Ozzy told the publication Metal Hammer. As for when the album and tour will materialize, Osbourne says it will be "sooner rather than later" and hinge on the health of guitarist Tony Iommi. "(Tony)'s obviously got his cancer treatment, but we'll get onto it next year. I don't know if we'll be writing in England or L.A., but I'll fly to the f---ing moon for it if I have to!," Ozzy said. The 2013 Black Sabbath reunion album 13 earned the band its first No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 155,000 copies in its first week of release. - Billboard, 9/29/14...... On Sept. 30 the family of AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young confirmed to People magazine that Young is suffering from dementia. "Malcolm is suffering from dementia and the family thanks you for respecting their privacy," Young's relatives said in a statement to the magazine, confirming rumours that the illness caused the band to announce his departure the previous week. Malcolm is currently beaing cared for in a Sydney nursing home, and Stevie Young, Malcolm and Angus Young's nephew, played guitar on the band's last album and will join them on next year's world tour. The band will release its next album, Rock or Bust, on Dec. 2. - Billboard, 9/30/14...... Neil Diamond returned to his old high school on Sept. 29 for his first-ever show in his native Brooklyn. Diamond, 73, took the stage to loud applause and noted that the setting, Erasmus Hall, had an enormous impact on his life, recalling that it was in this very room that, during an hour-long stint in detention, he heard a classmate practicing the piano, and decided to take up the instrument. "This is a meaningful places," he said. "My mind changed in this place." After performing such hits as "Kentucky Woman," "Brooklyn Roads," "Forever in Blue Jeans," Cracklin' Rosie" and "Sweet Caroline," the 73-year-old Diamond thanked the audience and the school for a special night, and invited everyone to come back and see him on his upcoming Melody Road Tour in the spring of 2015 at Brooklyn's new Barclays Center. Diamond will release Melody Road on Oct. 21 via Capitol Records. - Billboard, 9/30/14...... A trial date of March 9, 2015 has been set for the "Midnight Rider" trial for filmmakers of the beleaguered Gregg Allman biopic, almost one year after a camera assistant on the project, Sarah Jones, was stuck and killed by a train in Feb. 2014 on the set of the film. On Sept. 30, the film's first assistant director Hillary Schwartz, director Randall Miller and producers Jody Savin and Jay Sedrish were re-indicted, with Schwartz, who was just charged with involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespass earlier this month, added to the indictment. All four defendants pleaded not guilty. Involuntary manslaughter carries a potential sentence of 10 years in prison under Georgia law; criminal trespass is a misdemeanor and carries a potential sentence of 12 months. Several civil suits have also been filed against Miller, Savin, Sedrish and other individuals and entities associated with the film, the production of which has since been suspended, with star William Hurt, who was on set when Jones was killed, pulling out of the project. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/30/14...... A film production company named The Record Company filed a lawsuit against Glen Campbell on Sept. 29, claiming Campbell's upcoming documentary I'll Be Me violates an agreement it made in June 2011 to develop a project about the country music icon with him and director/producer James Keach, whose credits include producing the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line. The studio is suing Campbell and Glen Campbell Enterprises for breach of contract, claiming Campbell is excluding it from any credit, ownership and revenue for the I'll Be Me documentary. The company is also claiming breach of fiduciary duty and demanding an accounting of Campbell's earnings from the film. Campbell, who has won five Grammys and a Lifetime Achievement Award, and is an inductee of the Country Music Hall of Fame, announced his diagnosis with early stage Alzheimer's in 2011. The 78-year-old singer was moved into an assisted care facility earlier in 2014 as his health deteriorated. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/30/14...... Aretha Franklin performed the Adele hit "Rolling in the Deep," the lead single from her upcoming diva covers album Great Diva Classics, on CBS's The Late Show with David Letterman on Sept. 29. Franklin's new 10-song LP, which arrives on Oct. 21, also features such classic and contemporary hits as Barbra Streisand's "People," Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," Alicia Keys' "No One," Etta James' "At Last" and Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U." Great Diva Classics, co-produced by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmunds and Andre 3000, among others, reunites the 72-year-old "Queen of Soul" with longtime collaborator Clive Davis. "I mean, it is great," Davis said in an interview. "For her to do all these songs, it's very exciting." - Billboard, 9/30/14...... A host of musicians including Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys paid tribute to the late George Harrison at a special tribute concert at L.A.'s El Rey Theatre on Sept. 28. "George Fest: A Night To Honour The Music of George Harrison" also featured cover versions of the former Beatle's hits from the likes of Weird Al Yankovic and TV host Conan O'Brien. O'Brien hosted a week of tribute performances on his TV show Conan in late September, with artists including Norah Jones, Beck, and Harrison's son Dhani Harrison. A comprehensive box-set compiling Harrison's first six records entitled The Apple Years 1968-75. also has been released. - New Musical Express, 9/29/14...... She took "selfies" before selfies were cool. As Stevie Nicks prepares the release her new LP 24 Karat Gold - Songs From the Vault on Oct. 7, a number of her own self-portraits taken with a Polaroid camera from 1975-1987 will be displayed in an exhibition titled "24 Karat Gold" at New York City's Morrison Hotel Gallery at 201 Mulberry Street on Oct. 10 and 11. "I used to stay up half the night when I was on tour, because I wanted to learn to be a great photographer," Nicks recalls. But because of her schedule, she was usually the subject of her pictures. "I couldn't find anyone to model for me, because I worked so late at night," she adds. "I was a ridiculous, obsessive photographer." On the day of her album's release, Nicks will play New York's Madison Square Garden with Fleetwood Mac, the fifth date of the band's On With the Show North American concerts, which continues through December -- the first leg of a planned world trek. - Billboard, 9/29/14...... A 62-year-old divorced dad named Paul Anton has revealed he is the NYC subway-riding Rod Stewart look-a-like in photos that have appeared all over the Internet in recent weeks, but he insists he has never attempted to dupe anyone into believing he is the British rocker. "I have never pretended to be Rod Stewart," Anton told the New York Post on Sept. 29. "I am a respected businessman with children, I have never asked for free drinks. I pay my own way. People do mistake me for Rod, but I always say I'm not him. I would like to shake Rod's hand and say I am not an imposter. I love his music, but I wouldn't pretend to be him." Stewart's manager Arnold Steifel also confirmed that Anton is not the "Maggie Mae" singer. "That's not Rod, he's in California... The real Rod has seen the picture, and he thought it was funny, but he said, 'Please let people know it isn't me'... This has been going on for years," Steifel said. - WENN.com, 9/30/14...... Outkast's Andre 3000, who stars as Jimi Hendrix in the new Hendrix biopic Jimi: All Is By My Side, as revealed concerns that he was "too old" to play the legendary axman. "I didn't know if I was too old to play the part. But John [Ridley, writer/director] was really persistent, and he kept at it. So I just kind of said, 'All right, let's do it,'" says Andre, whose real name is Andr Benjamin. Covering a defining year in the life of Hendrix, All Is By My Side follows the young musician as he lands in London in 1966. The film, however, will not feature any songs recorded or composed by Hendrix himself, as the late guitarist's estate refused to give filmmakers the necessary permission. Instead, songs by the Beatles and Muddy Waters, that Hendrix himself covered in the '60s, will be featured. Andre played guitar for six hours a day in preparation for the Hendrix role. While Benjamin prepared to perform as Hendrix on-screen, guitarist Waddy Wachtel took on the job of re-recording songs for the film's soundtrack. All Is By My Side is in current release in the U.S., and hits screens in the U.K. on Oct. 24. - New Musical Express, 9/26/14...... Queen have revealed a slowed down version of the Freddie Mercury single "Love Kills," recorded before the frontman's death, which will appear on the band's upcoming November release Queen Forever. The album features three previously unreleased tracks with Mercury on vocals, including a collaboration with Michael Jackson and this new version of "Love Kills." Meanwhile, Queen are set to tour the UK with American vocalist Adam Lambert in Jan. 2015 as part of a wider European tour. The 7-date tour gets underway on Jan. 13 in Newcastle and wraps Jan. 24 in Nottingham. - NME, 9/30/14...... StarVista Entertainment/Time Life released Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, a deluxe box set of the iconic 1983 Motown TV special, on Sept. 30. The formats include in a single-disc package, a 3-DVD set and a deluxe 6-DVD set, the latter two featuring several hours of bonus, unreleased performances and documentary features from the making of the special. The Motown 25 DVDs also offer insights into the show via interviews with its production principals, including director/producer Don Mischer and head writer Buz Kohan, as well as Motown artists and executives. - Billboard, 9/26/14...... Family and famous industry friends of the late Robin Williams' gathered to celebrate his legendary life on Sept. 28 in San Francisco. The private tribute -- held at the Curran Theatre -- drew hundreds of guests and included music and video tributes as well as emotional speeches from Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Bobcat Goldthwait, Bonnie Hunt, Eric Idle, and Williams' three children, Cody, Zelda and Zak and his wife, Susan. Williams was found dead inside his home in Tiburon, Calif., on Aug. 11 as a result of suicide. He was 63. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/28/14.

Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on September 26th, 2014

AC/DC issued a statement on Sept. 24 announcing that guitarist Malcolm Young "will not be returning to the band" due to "the nature of his condition." No further details were provide, however Young is reportedly in full-time care in a nursing home facility in Sydney, Australia specializing in dementia. According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, a source connected to the Young family says the 61-year-old is receiving care in a residential home specializing in the treatment of dementia, believed to be Lulworth House in Sydney's Elizabeth Bay. In April, the band announced that Young, a co-founding member of AC/DC, was "taking a break to focus on his health." AC/DC, which includes lead guitarist Angus Young, vocalist Brian Johnson, drummer Phil Rudd and bassist Cliff Williams, will release their new album Rock or Bust on Dec. 2, and will launch a world tour behind the new LP in 2015. Stevie Young, nephew of founding members Malcolm and Angus Young and who played guitar on the band's new album, will join them on the tour. The 11-track Rock or Bust is the group's first new album in six years, following 2008's Black Ice. It was recorded in Spring 2014 at Warehouse Studio in Vancouver with producer Brendan O'Brien and mixed by Mike Fraser. "Play Ball," the first single from the album, will be heard as part of Turner Sports' Major League Baseball Postseason coverage from Sept. 27. - AP/New Musical Express, 9/24/14.

Bob Seger first full-length LP in eight years, Ride Out, drops on Oct. 14 and features rockers like "Detroit Made," about the auto industry. Ride Out's 10 tracks include covers of John Hiatt's "Detroit Made" and the Wilco/Billy Bragg/Woody Guthrie collaboration "California Stars," Steve Earle's "The Devil's Right Hand" and "Adam and Eve" by Australian singer/songwriters Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson. The 10-song standard edition will be filled out with the Seger originals "Hey Gypsy," "Ride Out," "It's Your World," "All of the Roads," "You Take Me In" and "Gates of Eden," while the deluxe edition will include "Listen" with guest Vince Gill, "The Fireman's Talkin'" and "Let the Rivers Run." Seger and his Silver Bullet Band have announced they'll kick off their Ride Out Tour 2014/2015 on Nov. 19 in Saginaw, Mich., also playing Bangor, Me. (11/22), Halifax, N.S. (11/24), St. John, N.B. (11/26) and Boston (11/29) in November. Future dates on the the 22-city North American leg include Cleveland, Oh. (12/4), Chicago (12/11), St. Louis (12/13), New York City (12/19), Toronto (1/24), Atlanta (1/31), Tampa (2/5), Dallas (2/12), Houston (2/14) and Phoenix (2/19) before wrapping in Los Angeles on Feb. 27. While on the road during 2013, Seger -- who turns 70 in May 2015 -- has said this may be his final album and tour. - Billboard, 9/25/14.

Barbra Streisand has become the only recording artist to release No. 1 albums in six consecutive decades as her latest album Partners debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart in the third week of September. The Columbia Records effort sold 196,000 copies in the week ending Sept. 21 according to Nielsen SoundScan, and also marks Streisand's 10th No. 1 album. The larger-than-expected sales launch of Partners can be attributed to publicity Streisand generated during its first week of release (which included rare TV appearances by the diva on The Tonight Show, Good Morning America and The View) , an attractive $7.99 price for the set at iTunes and Amazon MP3, and the album's all-star guest list, which includes Josh Groban, Blake Shelton, Michael Buble and Billy Joel. With a 10th No. 1, she ties for the fourth-most No. 1's in history with Elvis Presley (who is also featured on Partners), behind the Beatles (19), Jay Z (13) and Bruce Springsteen (11). Streisand's first No. 1 album came almost exactly 50 years ago when People hit No. 1 on the chart dated Oct. 31, 1964. She last hit the top with 2009's Love Is the Answer. - Billboard, 9/24/14.

Led Zeppelin fans continue to clamor for a reunion after the band's one-off show in London a few years ago, but it's easy to understand Robert Plant's resistance. Reinventing himself on his 2007 Alison Krauss collab, Raising Sand, and on projects with ex-girlfriend Patty Griffin, the singer made some of his best work ever. His latest, Lullaby and...The Ceaseless Roar, returns to the world-music fusion of 2005's Mighty Rearranger with his Strange Sensation band (now reconfigured as the Sensational Space Shifters). It lacks the focused grace of his country experiements, but it's Plant's hardest-rocking set in a decade, and as he comes home to something like progressive rock it's hard not to think of his other band. Keep hope alive, Zep fans. Lullaby dropped via Nonesuch Records on Sept. 9...... The title track on Standing in the Breach, Jackson Browne's first studio album in six years, started as a song about the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti -- but came to encompass much more than that. "It has to do with where our world is broken," Browne says. "It became a song about poverty everywhere. The entire album is about relationships in the light of what's happening in the world right now." Recorded in L.A. with his longtime touring band, the disc takes on everything from our moribund political system to the pollution of our oceans. But it kicks off with a new recording of "The Birds of St. Marks," a tune Jackson wrote in 1967. "I always thought it would work as a Byrds song," he says. "But I got sick of waiting for them to re-form, so I did it myself." Standing in the Breach drops via Inside Recordings on Oct. 7....... Stevie Nicks' new album 24 Karat Gold - Songs From the Vault, also hits stores Oct. 7 and is a labor of love: a journey through her past in tunes dating back to 1969. These are stray songs she wrote over the years bu tnever recorded until now. "I used to give my songs away," Nicks says. "I'd write a new one, put it on a cassettte, than someone would say, 'Hey, can I have a copy?'" Some of the tunes are so personal, not even the rest of Fleetwood Mac have ever heard them. "'Lady' was the first piano song I ever wrote," Nicks says. "It was a song I never played for anybody. Nobody but Lindsey [Buckingham] had ever heard it." She put the album together quickly, with a crew of session players in Nashville. "We had three five-day weeks to get the tracks," Nicks says. "These are union people -- they don't mess around. So I had to get up at 9:00 in the morning, which for me is just ridiculous....... Columbia Records will release Pink Floyd's first official release in two decades , The Endless River, on Nov. 10. It finds David Gilmour pulling together a disc of "mainly ambient and instrumental music" that draws from 20 hours of material recorded during sessions for 1994's The Division Bell. The 18-song double-album features band members Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright, who died in 2008. Roger Waters, who left the group in 1985, isn't involved. Gilmour says in the release that the band "added new parts, rerecorded others and generally harnessed studio technology to make a 21st-century Pink Floyd album," and Mason says it's "a tribute to Rick...it really brought home to me what a special player he was." The LP's lone non-instrumental track, "Louder Than Words," features lyrics written by Gilmour's wife, Polly Samson. - Rolling Stone/AP..... Just in time for Halloween (Oct. 27) comes The Killer's latest effort -- Jerry Lee Lewis's new album Rock & Roll Time is a covers album of such chestnuts as "Little Queenie" and "Folsom Prison Blues" with help from friends like Keith Richards. - Rolling Stone, 9/25/14...... Bob Dylan obsessives have clamored for the complete Basement Tapes ever since word of the sessoins leaked 46 years ago. They're finally getting their wish on Nov. 11 when Columbia releases The Basement Tapes Complete: Bootleg Series Vol. 11, easily the fall's most exciting archival release. It contains 138 songs Dylan and the Band cut in upstate New York in 1968 -- 30 of which have never surfaced, including the Dylan-penned "Wild Wolf." "They were experimenting, fooling around trying to find a new voice," says author Greil Marcus. "It wasn't just a session. This was a whole body of work." Meanwhile, Dylan has just been chosen as the 2015 MusiCares' Person of the Year by the Recording Academy, the sponsor of the Grammy Awards. Dylan will be honored at the 25th annual benefit gala dinner and concert, set to be held Friday, Feb. 6, two days before the 57th Grammy Awards ceremony, which will air live on CBS from L.A.'s Staples Center on Feb. 8. - Rolling Stone/The Hollywood Reporter

Spain's film academy has selected the movie Vivir es Facil con los Ojos Cerrados [Living Is Easy (With Eyes Closed)], about a Spanish man's quest to meet John Lennon, as its entry for best foreign language film at the 2015 Oscars. Directed by David Trueba, the film tells the true story of an English-language teacher from Spain who traveled to the southern province of Almeria in 1966 to try to meet the late Beatles star, who was staying there. The movie takes its name from the lyrics of the Beatles song "Strawberry Fields Forever," which Lennon began writing in Almeria. The U.S. film academy will select finalists for the Oscars in January, with the awards announced a month later. Spain has won four Oscars for best foreign language film. In other Beatles-related news, Paul Simon performed the George Harrison-penned Beatles tune "Here Comes the Sun" on Sept. 23 as part of "George Harrison Week" on the TBS late night talk show Conan. Simon is no stranger to performing the hit, having sung the 1969 classic at various festivals and concerts over the years, most notably on Saturday Night Live in 1976, joined by Harrison himself. Meanwhile, a portion of the famous Ed Sullivan Show set displayed during the Beatles' US television debut is expected to command as much as $337,000 when it goes up for auction during the The Fest for Beatles Fans, which takes place in Los Angeles from Oct. 10-12. The set is signed by all four Beatles and is currently owned by Wayne Johnson, owner of Rockaway Records. Among the other items up for purchase includes a copy of the band's 11th US release Yesterday and Today featuring the rare "Butcher" cover, which is priced at $4,500, and the band's first US contract with Vee Jay Records, on sale for $100,000. The Fest for Beatles Fans was started in 1974 to mark the 10th anniversary of the band's first visit to the US. In its history, the event has accepted donated musical instruments from all four Beatles, which have been auctioned for charity. Earlier in September, a sculpture of Eleanor Rigby made of 1 million pounds' worth of used UK bank notes went on display in Liverpool. Created by Leonard Brown, the five foot two inch statue is made of thousands of shredded 5, 10 and 20 pound notes, which were supplied by the Bank Of England in the form of pellets. - AP/Billboard/New Musical Express, 9/24/14...... The Who have just revealed "Be Lucky," their first new song in eight years. "Be Lucky" references such bands as AC/DC and Daft Punk in its lyrics, with a robot style auto-tune effect used after the line about the French duo. The song appears on the forthcoming compilation album Who Hits 50 and is their first new material since 2006 album Endless Wire. The track was recorded with bassist Pino Pallodino, drummer Zak Starkey and keyboardist Mick Talbot. The Who has announced they'll launch a 9-date UK "Who Hits 50" anniversary tour in Glasgow on Nov. 30, also visiting Leeds (12/2), Nottingham (12/5), Birmingham (12/7), Newcastle (12/9), Liverpool (12/11), Manchester (12/13), Cardiff (12/15) and London (12/17). Pete Townshend says the band will play "hits, picks, mixes and misses" on the tour that date back to the band's early years when they were known as The High Numbers. - New Musical Express, 9/26/14...... Gospel legend Mavis Staples of the Staple Singers will celebrate her recent 75th birthday with a once-in-a-lifetime concert in her hometown of Chicago on Nov. 19. Staples will take the stage at the Chicago Auditorium Theatre for a star-studded concert featuring such diverse acts as Gregg Allman, Ryan Bingham, Eric Church, Patty Griffin, Glen Hansard, Taj Mahal, Michael McDonald, Buddy Miller, Aaron Neville, Widespread Panic, Grace Potter and Mary Stuart. Staples will come on stage to collaborate with a number of the guests throughout the evening. The Staple Singers topped the U.S. charts in June 1972 with their inspirational number "I'll Take You There." - Billboard, 9/25/14...... Cat Stevens, who is now known as Yusuf, is canceling his New York performance just weeks after announcing a six-city tour, blaming it on the Big Apple's ticket scalpers. Yusuf posted on his Facebook page on Sept. 24 that he would not keep the NYC engagement because its requirement for paper tickets has led to exorbitant resale prices. Yusuf says he is a longtime supporter of paperless tickets "and avoiding scalpers," and hopes to return to NYC in the future. Yusuf announced earlier in September that he planned a concert tour behind the blues album he's releasing on Oct. 27. The concerts are his first series of shows in North America since 1976. - AP, 9/24/14...... An audience member who suffered a broken nose as a result of being hit in the face by a soccer ball kicked by Rod Stewart during an Oct. 2012 concert at Ceasars Palace in Las Vegas filed a lawsuit against Stewart on Sept. 24 in Nevada's Clark County District Court. Mostafa Kashe's civil negligence complaint alleges that he didn't expect to be hit in the face by a ball kicked by the raspy-voiced rocker from the stage, and as a result of lingering injuries the 53-year-old electrical engineer from Diamond Bar, Calif., is seeking unspecified damages of at least $10,000 plus attorney fees. His attorney, Larry Weinsteen, said Kashe and his wife were big Stewart fans who traveled to Las Vegas primarily for the concert. The lawyer said his client was treated by a hotel medic and filed an injury report with Caesars before being left with "substantial" injuries including an impaired sense of smell. Representatives of Stewart, promoter AEG Live and Caesars Entertainment Corp. have yet to respond to the suit. Stewart, 69, is a longtime soccer fan and club league player and frequently kicks autographed balls into the audience at his shows. - AP, 9/24/14...... Bruce Springsteen's first seven albums are being remastered and reissued for a new deluxe box set that's set to drop Nov. 17. Bruce Springsteen: The Album Collection Vol. 1 1973-1984 starts with Greetings From Asbury Park and continues through Born in the U.S.A. Only Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town have already gotten the remaster treatment, which occurred on CD only. Engineer Bob Ludwig worked with Springsteen and longtime engineer Toby Scott to remaster the albums, which were transferred from the original analogue masters using the Plangent Process playback system. None of the seven albums have been remastered on vinyl before. The set will be available in both CD and vinyl. - Billboard, 9/24/14...... Phil Collins released a statement on Sept. 23 clarifying that he has no plans to return to the concert stage at this time, despite the fact that he will perform three to four songs at a charity event for the Little Dreams Foundation in Miami in December. Collins hasn't performed a show in four years, and the Dec. 6 event, he clarified, will not be a full-on Phil Collins show either. "I will be performing three or four songs semi-acoustically, and maybe one more with my 13 year old son Nicolas on drums, but that's all as I am not ready to return to the full concert stage at this time," Collins said in the statement. - Billboard, 9/23/14...... Whitesnake, featuring former Deep Purple vocalist David Coverdale, will release Live In '84 - Back To The Bone, a complete celebration of the group's classic line-up, on Nov. 7 in the UK and on Nov. 11 in North America. Culled from audio and video recordings and unheard demos from the private collection of Whitesnake leader and vocalist Coverdale, the release offers an ultra-rare collection of material, performed by the band's acclaimed 83-84 line-ups. Bonus content features legendary keyboardist Jon Lord performing his last show ever with Whitesnake on video and also the bonus CD. - Noble PR, 9/25/14...... Blondie members Debbie Harry and Chris Stein are celebrating the 40th anniversary of Blondie with "A Blondie Exhibition." Running though Sept. 29 at the Chelsea Hotel Storefront Gallery (222 West 23rd Street), the exhibit is free and open to the public, from 1-8 p.m. daily. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/24/14.

Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on September 21st, 2014

Paul McCartney has posted a video online asking members of the public to skip eating meat one day a week in order to help reduce their carbon footprint. Sir Paul is making the plea in conjunction with with the upcoming United Nations Global Summit, which is set for late September, and has launched a "Meat-Free Mondays" campaign in association with British Prime Minister David Cameron's climate advisor, Gregory Barker. More information can be found at MeatFreeMondays.com. Meanwhile, Macca is set to release an expanded edition of 2013's New. The new deluxe version includes two CDs and a DVD, and is presented as a hardback book. The second disc includes previously unreleased tracks "Hell To Pay" and "Demons Dance" as well as "Struggle," a song previously only available as a bonus track in Japan. Released in October 2013, New was McCartney's 16th solo studio album. In more McCartney news, a massive new McCartney tribute CD will include contributions from the likes of Bob Dylan ("Things We Said Today"), Billy Joel ("Maybe I'm Amazed," "Live and Let Die"), Willie Nelson ("Yesterday") and The Cure ("Hello Goodbye"), organizers announced on Sept. 9. Up to 42 songs will be featured in The Art of McCartney, and the release will be available in various formats including a two-CD package and box set. Due on Nov. 18, the CD is the brainchild of Los Angeles producer Ralph Sall. Sall says he's been working on the project since 2003, and on many of the cuts, the artists are backed by McCartney's current band. - New Musical Express/AP, 9/18/14..... In other Beatles-related news, Ringo Starr tells the UK's New Musical Express that he believes that bands will always be popular in music and that he has "never believed" that rock music is dying out. Starr says that he doesn't think the rock genre will disappear, and that bands will always "come through in the end." Speaking about his own tour, he added: "I'm always touring. I love to play -- that's why I do this. A lot of the bands wanna do it to be famous. But I wanna do it to play. That was all my dream was about, and then we became famous." - NME, 9/17/14.

A new Queen album entitled Queen Forever and featuring three previously unreleased tracks with Freddie Mercury on vocals -- including a collaboration with Michael Jackson -- will be released in November 2014. The Queen and Jackson duet, "There Must Be More To Life Than This," was written by Mercury during sessions for Queen's 1981 album Hot Space and the band recorded a backing track, but the song was never completed. Mercury later visited Jackson in Los Angeles, where Jackson's vocals were recorded but the song remained uncompleted. In 1984, Queen attempted to revive the track during sessions for their The Works album, but again it was not finished and Mercury's own version of the song surfaced on his debut solo album, 1985's Mr Bad Guy. This new production of the ballad uses Queen's original backing track and Mercury and Jackson's vocals, and was produced by William Orbit. Also featured on Queen Forever, which will be released both as a 20-track single CD and an extended 36-track, 2-CD set, will be previously unheard tracks "Let Me In Your Heart Again" and "Love Kills." Queen guitarist Brian May describes the rest of the album as "things that we have collected together that are representative of our growth rather than the big hits." - NME, 9/19/14...... In other Michael Jackson news, a federal judge in California has dismissed a lawsuit against Hologram USA owner Alki David, whose company produced a holographic re-creation of Jackson that was featured at the Billboard Music Awards. In court, David attacked those who had created the spectacle for allegedly infringing his patents rights. And through the media, he hyped the various applications for the projection technology. A day after the May 18 Billboard Music Awards, David gave an interview with CNN that aired with the caption, "Michael Jackson Hologram: How'd They Do It?" Pulse Entertainment then brought a $10 million lawsuit against David, charging that he "falsely claimed credit for creating and developing the visual effects spectacle in a nationally-televised interview on CNN." Now U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson notes that the allegation of misrepresentation is grounded in fraud and means that Pulse has the burden of specifying the statements it claims were false. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/19/14.

Longtime David Bowie producer Tony Visconti confirmed to CNN that David Bowie will be releasing more new music in the future. "There's gonna be another album, definitely soon," Visconti said in an interview on Sept. 19. In July 2014, Bowie put rumors that his 2012 comeback LP The Next Day was just a one-off affair by revealing he was working on another brand new album. But Bowie fans shouldn't hold their breath for the Thin White Duke's return to the stage. "I don't think he's gonna busk in the Tube... on the Underground. As far as a concert is concerned I have no idea," Visconti said. "He clearly didn't promote The Next Day with a concert and whether he does for the next one I don't know and I couldn't predict that -- it's up to him. It's whatever takes his fancy." While there is no word on when the new Bowie album might drop, a Bowie greatest hits compilation called Nothing Has Changed featuring a brand-new song produced by Visconti -- "Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)" -- will hit stores on Nov. 17. In other Bowie news, Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel has declared that Sept. 23 will be David Bowie Day in the Windy City, as the Bowie retrospective exhibition 'David Bowie Is...' begins its run at the Chicago Museum Of Contemporary Art. Emanuel noted that Bowie is hailed as "an undisputed global icon boasting a catalogue of 26 critically acclaimed studio albums," whose "remarkable half-century career has bridged cultures and faiths while both transcending and fortifying the music, art, fashion & design, and theatrical canons." - Billboard/NME, 9/19/14.

Three backup dancers in Cher's "Dressed to Kill" tour have sued the singer, claiming they were wrongfully fired from her current tour and that Cher engaged in racial discrimination. Filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Sept. 18, the wrongful termination lawsuit alleges Cher remarked that there were "too many dark-skinned dancers on her tour" and instructed her choreographer to "hire a white dancer over a qualified black performer." The suit states the dancers were fired from the tour after informing managers that another dancer assaulted an unidentified woman in a hotel room while on tour. Two of the plaintiffs, who are black, say their race was a motivating factor in their dismissal. The third dancer cites age discrimination as a factor in her firing. Cher's publicist Liz Rosenberg denies the allegations and says there is no truth to them. - AP, 9/18/14...... Meanwhile another famous diva from the '60s and '70s, Aretha Franklin, is preparing to release a new album on Sept. 30, produced by Arista Records president Clive Davis. Davis has previously produced Franklin and says she has "always held a very special place in my heart...She's universally recognized to be the greatest singer of all time" and that the new LP shows Franklin "in absolutely peak form." Aretha's new album is purely and simply sensational," Davis says. "She's on fire and vocally in absolutely peak form. What a thrill to see this peerless artist still showing the way, still sending shivers up your spine, still demonstrating that all contemporary music needs right now is the voice. What a voice." The album's name has not yet been announced. - Billboard, 9/18/14...... Lawyers representing Led Zeppelin have filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the heirs of founding Spirit member Randy Craig Wolfe alleging that Led Zep used Wolfe's song "Taurus" as inspiration for "Stairway to Heaven." Led Zeppelin's attorneys are basing their request on the simple reason that the members of the band are all British. Wolfe's heirs filed their lawsuit in Pennsylvania, and Led Zep's legal team say that "the individual defendants are British citizens residing in England, own no property in Pennsylvania and have no contacts with Pennsylvania, let alone ties sufficient to render them essentially at home here. Under established case law, no good faith basis exists to argue the Court has general jurisdiction over them." In a separate motion to dismiss, "Stairway" publisher Warner/Chappell Music also mentions that the plaintiff is relying "on a California Trust and his allegations that its ownership of Taurus is based on the claimed invalidity of Wolfes 1967 songwriter and recording contracts." - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/18/14...... Ozzy Osbourne's wife Sharon Osbourne recently revealed on her daytime television series The Talk that as a 27-year-old young single woman she once cut her wrists in an effort to prove how much she loved (her then-boyfriend, now-husband) Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne. After telling Ozzy, "I'd do anything for you," Sharon said she decided to prove the depth of her commitment to Ozzy by grabbing a steak knife and slashing her wrists. "Unfortunately for me, I kind of went too deep and it wouldn't stop bleeding so I'm saying, 'Dear, I think we'd better call an ambulance.'" Sharon says she now laughs about the whole thing, though it doesn't seem particularly funny -- she was apprently admitted to a psychiatric hospital after the incident. - Billboard, 9/18/14...... Bruce Springsteen will be among the headliners for the eighth edition of Stand Up for Heroes, an annual music and comedy event honors returning service members, veterans and their families. Stand Up for Heroes is one of the centerpiece events of the 11th annual New York Comedy Festival, running Nov. 5-9 at venues throughout New York City with more than 200 comedians performing. The group has raised more than $21 million to help post-9/11 injured service members and their families. This year's event will also feature Louis C.K., John Oliver and Brian Williams. - Billboard, 9/16/14...... A pair of new books about soul legend James Brown by two of his children offer a disturbing look into the world of the Godfather of Soul, with graphic descriptions of abuse and unbelievable tales of family murders going back 40 years. In her new memoir Cold Sweat, Brown's daughter Yamma Brown graphically describes how the legendary singer beat his second wife, Dee Dee, and recounts her own abusive marriage. She writes the abuse from her dad sounded "like thunder rolling through the house" as her mom was thrown against walls. "After that, the house would go completely quiet. The sound of the silence was the worst because that's when Deanna and I would wonder if our mother were alive or dead and if we would be next." Meanwhile a book by Yamma's half-brother Daryl Brown, Inside the Godfather, makes wild claims about Brown's death, suggesting that the singer was murdered and that other family members were also murdered. "My father was murdered," alleges Daryl Brown. He suggests it might have been done by members of Brown's inner circle but offers no concrete evidence. Instead, he asserts, "I just have a gut feeling that he was killed." Yamma Brown's book has been called "a courageous and often unsettling look at the not-so-glamorous consequences of being the offspring of a major celebrity," while Daryl's Brown's work has been dismissed for its hyperbolic claims of murder and its obsession with settling scores with rivals in Brown's inner circle. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/17/14...... Saturday Night Fever and Grease star John Travolta has dismissed allegations suggesting he enjoyed a steamy gay affair with his former pilot, insisting all of his supposed former lovers are simply chasing a big pay day. Travolta is currently fighting legal action from Douglas Gotterba, who is seeking to write a tell-all book about an alleged romance with the actor, which he claims took place while he was working for the star's Alto aircraft company in the 1980s. The 60-year-old actor has long been subjected to speculation over his sexuality, despite being married to actress Kelly Preston since 1991, and he is convinced Gotterba's reasons for going public with his accusations are simply rooted in money -- just like his previous accusers. "This is every celebrity's Achilles heel. It's just about people wanting money. That's all. It happens on many levels," he told the website TheDailyBeast.com. He added that he "let all the media stuff go a long time ago because I can't control it... I think that's why it (gay rumours) persists, to some degree." - WENN.com, 9/17/14.

Grand Ole Opry star George Hamilton IV, best known for such country hits as "A Rose and a Baby Ruth" and "Abiline," passed away at a Nashville, Tenn., hospital on Sept. 17 at the age of 77. Hamilton is also remembered as one of the first Nashville-based artists to blend country with folk, recording many songs by up-and-coming songwriters as Gordon Lightfoot and Joni Mitchell. He also recorded many Gospel records which were well received by fans and critics alike. Born in Winston Salem, N.C., on July 19, 1937, Hamilton recorded the John D. Loudermilk-penned "A Rose and a Baby Ruth" for a small regional label named Colonial Records while still attending college, and it climbed to No. 6 on the Bilboard Hot 100 in 1956. The flip side of the single, "If You Dont Know," was very much in the rockabilly fashion. The record was acquired by ABC / Paramount, where Hamilton would remain through 1960. He would place nine more releases on the Billboard pop chart, with the biggest being 1958's "Why Don't They Understand," which hit No. 10. In 1959, Hamilton moved his family to Nashville, and became a member of the Grand Ole Opry soon after. His country hits continued throughout the decade, with the biggest being 1963's "Abilene," (also written by Loudermilk) which topped the country charts for four weeks and hit No. 15 on the charts. Hamilton also enjoyed worldwide popularity, and earned the moniker "The International Ambassador of Country Music." He also hosted a weekly syndicated show in Canada, and was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2010. His last album was 2011's In The Heart of Texas, recorded on the Heart of Texas label. He also recorded many Gospel records which were well received by fans and critics alike. - Billboard, 9/18/14...... Polly Bergen, a versatile Emmy-winning actress perhaps best known as the terrorized wife in the original Cape Fear movie as well as portraying the first woman president in Kisses for My President, died from natural causes in her Southbury, Conn., home on Sept. 20. She was 84. A brunette beauty with a warm, sultry singing voice, Ms. Bergen was a household name from her 20s onward. She made albums and played leading roles in films, stage musicals and TV dramas, including the 1983 epic The Winds of War, and during the 1950s she became a regular on the popular game show To Tell the Truth. She also hosted her own variety series and founded a thriving beauty products company that bore her name. In recent years, she played Felicity Huffman's mother on Desperate Housewives and the past mistress of Tony Soprano's late father on The Sopranos. Ms. Bergen won an Emmy in 1958 portraying the tragic singer Helen Morgan on the famed anthology series Playhouse 90, and was nominated for another Emmy in 1989 for best supporting actress in a miniseries or special for War and Remembrance. She also battled emphysema and other ailments in the late 1990s, a result of 50 years of smoking. She is survived by her children Peter Fields, Kathy Lander and Pamela Fields and three grandchildren. - AP, 9/20/14...... Johnny Rotella, an accomplished instrumentalist and songwriter who wrote the Frank Sinatra standard "Nothing but the Best" and recorded with such artists as Neil Diamond, Frank Zappa, Steely Dan and others, died peacefully in his sleep in Van Nuys, Calif., on Sept. 11. He was 93. Mr. Rotella, a master of the clarinet, saxophone and flute, played with Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman's big bands, was featured on the twin altos with the Billy Vaughn Orchestra and worked in many sessions with top-notch composer/arrangers Jimmie Haskell, Earle Hagen and Buddy Baker. He was a band regular on the 1970s CBS variety series The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour and contributed to TVs I Spy and the first two The Godfather films. He also played in the orchestra for Broadway shows and Los Angeles theater productions. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/18/14.