Pioneering African-American actor Sidney Poitier, who broke through racial barriers to become the first Black winner of the Oscar and inspired a generation during the civil rights movement, died on Jan. 7. He was 94. Born in Miami on Feb. 20, 1927, and raised on a tomato farm in the Bahamas, Mr. Poitier had just one year of formal schooling. He moved to New York at 16, lying about his age to sign up for a short stint in the Army and then working at odd jobs, including dishwasher, while taking acting lessons. He got his first break when he met the casting director of the American Negro Theater and became the understudy of Harry Belafonte, taking over when Belafonte fell ill. Mr. Poitier went on to success on Broadway in "Anna Lucasta" in 1948 and, two years later, got his first movie role in No Way Out with Richard Widmark. Mr. Poitier won a Best Actor Oscar in 1963 for his role in Lilies of the Field, and created a distinguished film legacy four years later when segregation prevailed in much of the United States. In Lilies of the Field, he played a handyman who helps German nuns build a chapel in the desert. Five years before that the actor had been the first Black man nominated for a lead actor Oscar for his role in The Defiant Ones. In 1967's Guess Who's Coming to Dinner he played a Black man with a white fianceé and In the Heat of the Night he was Virgil Tibbs, a Black police officer confronting racism during a murder investigation. He also played a teacher in a tough London school that year in To Sir, With Love. His Virgil Tibbs character from In the Heat of the Night was immortalized in two sequels -- They Call Me Mr. Tibbs! in 1970 and The Organization in 1971 -- and became the basis of the television series In the Heat of the Night starring Carroll O'Connor and Howard Rollins. He picked his roles with care, burying the old Hollywood idea that Black actors could appear only in demeaning contexts as shoeshine boys, train conductors and maids. In all, he acted in more than 50 films and directed nine, starting in 1972 with Buck and the Preacher in which he co-starred with Belafonte. In 1992, Mr. Poitier was given the Life Achievement Award by the American Film Institute, the most prestigious honor after the Oscar, and in 2002, an honorary Oscar recognized "his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being." Mr. Poitier was knighted by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in 1974 and served as the Bahamian ambassador to Japan and to UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency. He also sat on Walt Disney Co's board of directors from 1994 to 2003. In 2009, he was awarded the highest U.S. civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, by Pres. Barack Obama. The 2014 Academy Awards ceremony marked the 50th anniversary of Mr. Poitier's historic Oscar and he was there to present the award for Best Director. Tributes to Mr. Poiter on Twitter included posts by Whoopi Goldberg, who quoted the chorus from Lulu's 1967 hit "To Sir, With Love," and his fellow Oscar winner Viola Davis, who tweeted, "The dignity, normalcy, strength, excellence and sheer electricity you brought to your roles showed us that we, as Black folks, mattered!!!" - Reuters, 1/7/22...... 
Oscar-nominated director Peter Bogdanovich, the director and screenwriter of the acclaimed 1971 film The Last Picture Show, died on Jan. 6 at his home in Los Angeles of natural causes. He was 82. With a career in Hollywood spanning more than 50 years. Mr. Bogdanovich is best known for his beloved run of comedies and dramas in the late '60s and '70s, including Last Picture Show, the 1972 screwball hit What's Up Doc? with Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal and Madeline Kahn, and 1973's Depression-era comedy Paper Moon, when he reunited with O'Neal and also starring O'Neal's daughter Tatum O'Neal who at age 10 became the youngest person in history to win a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Mr. Bogdanovich was nominated for Best Director and Adapted Screenplay Oscars for The Last Picture Show, a coming-of-age drama set in small-town 1950s Texas. The black-and-white film starred Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges and Ellen Burstyn and picked up eight Oscar nods including Best Picture, winning two for Best Supporting Actor (Ben Johnson) and Supporting Actress (Cloris Leachman). In 1998, the movie was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress for its historic and cultural significance. In addition to directing, Mr. Bogdanovich had a prolific career as an author, film historian, journalist and actor. Fans of HBO's The Sopranos will remember his recurring role in the early 2000s as the concerned Dr. Elliot Kupferberg, therapist to Tony Soprano's psychiatrist Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco). More recently, he made a meta cameo in the 2019 horror film It: Chapter Two, playing a film director. Born in Kingston, N.Y. in 1939, Mr. Bogdanovich got his start as a film critic and programmer, working at New York's Museum of Modern Art in the early 1960s. Inspired by the likes of Orson Welles, Howard Hawks and John Ford, he transitioned to directing in 1968, winning mostly positive reviews for his shocking lone shooter thriller Targets. His personal life was filled with as much intrigue as his movies. He had a well-publicized affair with Cybil Shepherd, then a 21-year-old model, during the making of Last Picture Show, which led to his divorce from his first wife, collaborator Polly Platt. During production of 1981's They All Laughed, he struck up a relationship with Playboy Playmate-turned-actress Dorothy Stratten, who was murdered by her estranged husband shortly after filming completed. Mr. Bogdanovich married Stratten's younger sister, Louise, in 1988, but the couple divorced in 2001. He is survived by his two daughters, Sashy and Antonia, from his marriage to Platt. After his death, Shepherd, who had her first film role in The Last Picture Show, described him as her first acting teacher, "a blessing of enormous proportion." "There are simply no words to express my feelings over this deepest of losses," she told Deadline.com in a statement. "May Peter live long in all our memories." - USA Today, 1/6/22.
A major publishing acquisition has been announced only three days into the new year, with Warner Chappell, the publishing arm of Warner Music Group, announcing that it has acquired the rights to David Bowie's song catalog from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member's estate. The deal reportedly includes every song written by Bowie for his own solo albums, plus those he wrote for his band Tin Machine and various soundtrack projects. Warner Chappell co-chair and CEO Guy Moot says his company is "immensely proud that the David Bowie estate has chosen us to be the caretakers of one of the most groundbreaking, influential, and enduring catalogs in music history" that Bowie's songs "are not only extraordinary songs, but milestones that have changed the course of modern music forever." After signing some bad deals early in his career before he shot to fame in the early 1970s, Bowie became savvy about monetizing the rights to both his songs and his recordings, to which he was able to get back the rights. In 1997, he signed a 15-year deal to license his catalog to EMI Music and financialized some of his future royalties as "Bowie bonds," which raised $55 million some of which he used to buy his former manager's share of his back catalog. Warner Music Group had alredy acquired some rights to Bowie's catalog when it bought Parlophone Label Group from Universal Music Group, which had to sell some assets as a condition of its purchase of EMI. In 2021, Warner signed a global deal to license Bowie's recorded music catalog, starting in 2023, and it already has most of those rights now. That means the company is now home to both Bowie's recording and publishing rights. - Billboard, 1/3/22...... 
Although she's been writing her own songs since 1967, folk-rock icon Judy Collins has never put out an album comprised solely of her own compositions -- until now. Spellbound, due Feb. 25, will mark the 82-year-old singer's first release on which she composed every song herself. Collins explains that "things happen when something shifts in your life and you put another discipline in, which leads you to dig out things that might never have happened." "The pandemic gave me a chance to actually sit with things that were cooking and get them cooked so they were well enough to go into the studio and record them," she says of the Spellbound project, which she formally began work on in 2019. Collins has dedicated Spellbound's 12 songs to early influences like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. "So Alive" paints a lyrical picture of Greenwich Village during the 1960s folk explosion, while her sometimes wayward youth informs tracks such as "Grand Canyon," "Hell on Wheels," "Arizona" and "When I Was a Girl in Colorado," which was written just before Spellbound's final recording session. Collins has shared "When I Was a Girl in Colorado" on YouTube. Collins -- who returned to live performing in 2021 and has shows scheduled throughout 2022 -- also says she has "hundreds of starts for a new book," though she's not sure what direction her next one will take. Collins also shared her thoughts about the recent death of composer Stephen Sondheim, whose "Send in the Clowns," originally from the 1973 musical "A Little Night Music", became a Top 20 hit for her in 1977 and won Sondheim a Grammy Award in 1976 for Song of the Year. "He was wonderful and funny and delicious and amusing, always -- and so, so, so smart... If I did anything that could be seen as helping Stephen Sondheim, that's a true honor," she says. - Billboard, 1/6/22...... The U.K.'s Official Charts Company has verified that ABBA's 2021 comeback LP Voyage was the best-selling vinyl album in the country for 2021. The OCC says Voyage shifted over 40,000 vinyl units since its release on Nov. 5, when it bowed at No. 1 on the Official Albums Chart, with physical sales accounting for 90% of its first week tally. The Swedish pop foursome's hits compilation Gold is already the only album in history to log 1,000 weeks on the Official Albums Chart (it's now up to 1,026 weeks, and counting). And prior to its release, Voyage set a new mark for its label with more than 80,000 pre-orders in the U.K. in just three days. ABBA is set to appear in virtual form for a residency this spring in London, featuring their latest and greatest tunes. - Billboard, 1/6/22...... The Disney+ streaming service announced on Jan. 5 that The Beatles' full 1969 Apple Corps rooftop concert highlighted in director Peter Jackson's acclaimed three-part documentary The Beatles: Get Back is getting a limited theatrical release in IMAX. The famed 60-minute farewell performance will premiere on Jan. 30, on the 53rd anniversary of the public performance in London. Following the concert film, Jackson will participate in a Q&A session that is set to broadcast to all participating IMAX theaters. "The Rooftop Concert" will then get another limited theatrical release from Feb. 11 through 13. Premiering in November, The Beatles: Get Back showcased the Fab Four's fascinating songwriting process, friendship and struggles during the recording of their Let It Be LP, which was released in 1970. The Beatles: Get Back will be released on Blu-ray and DVD in the United States on Feb. 8. - Billboard, 1/5/21...... 
An infectious pop ditty by the early '70s one-hit wonder group Edison Lighthouse has become the latest song to explode on the TikTok social media platform. "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)," a bubblegum smash that reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart in March 1970, has seen an explosion in its streaming consumption after the song started getting adapted into a TikTok meme of users posting clips and photos of themselves to accompany the song's lyrics -- usually the opening lines, "She ain't got no money/ Her clothes are kinda funny/ Her hair is kinda wild and free/ Oh but love grows where my Rosemary goes..." (one sample can be viewed on YouTube). Over the 10-day period from Dec. 25 to Jan. 3, "Love Grows" received a combined 2.705 million on-demand audio streams, according to MRC Data. That number is up from a mere 170,000 on-demand audio streams from the prior 10-day period (Dec. 15-24), a staggering growth of 1,490%. The song has also moved onto Spotify's daily US top 200 chart, just outside the top 100 as of its Jan. 4 listing. "Love Grows" marked one of just two Hot 100 appearances for the British pop/rock quartet Edison Lighthouse -- the other coming in early 1971 with the No. 72-peaking "It's Up to You Petula." But the group's frontman, Tony Burrows, was perhaps the most prolific bubblegum singer of his era, becoming known as "The Man of 1,000 Voices." His vocals can also be heard on other top 20 hits, including "My Baby Loves Lovin'" by White Plains (No. 13, 1970), "United We Stand" by Brotherhood of Man (No. 13, 1970), "Gimme Dat Ding" by The Pipkins (No. 9, 1970), and "Beach Baby" by First Class (No. 4, 1974). Burrows also provided backing vocals on Elton John's "Levon" and "Tiny Dancer." "Love Grows" follows the viral success of Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" on TikTok in 2020, after user doggface208 posted a massively popular video on the platform. "Dreams" then re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart in Oct. 2020, eventually climbing back as high as No. 12. - Billboard, 1/5/22...... A woman who accused Bob Dylan of sexually abusing her as a child last summer has amended the time frame in which the alleged incident took place. In the initial lawsuit, filed back in August, an anonymous claimant identified in documents as "J.C." alleged that over the course of six weeks between April and May of 1965, Dylan (then in his mid-20s) "befriended and established an emotional connection" with the girl, aged 12 at the time, before abusing her both physically and emotionally. J.C. alleged that she "sustained physical and psychological injuries, including but not limited to, severe emotion and psychological distress, humiliation, fright, dissociation, anger, depression, anxiety, personal turmoil and loss of faith, a severe shock to her nervous system, physical pain and mental anguish, and emotional and psychological damage." After a representative for Dylan dismissed the allegations, calling them a "56-year-old claim [that] is untrue and will be vigorously defended," Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin began to question the woman's claim, citing her timeline of events. "Dylan was touring England during that time," Heylin told The Huffington Post, "and was in Los Angeles for two of those weeks, plus a day or two at Woodstock. The tour was 10 days, but Bob flew into London on April 26 and arrived back in New York on June 3. If Dylan was in New York in mid-April, it was for no more than a day or two. Woodstock was where he spent most of his time when not touring." In response, the accuser's lawyer, Daniel Isaacs, said that he and his client "stand by the pleading". The New York Post's Page Six column reports that Isaacs has now altered the wording in his client's lawsuit, amending the allegations to claim that her and Dylan's encounters spanned "a period of several months in the spring of 1965." n response to the updated filing, a representative for Dylan said: "The amended complaint recycles the same fabricated claims as the original complaint filed in August. They were as false then as they are now. We will pursue all legal options, including pursuing sanctions against the attorneys behind this shameful, defamatory and opportunistic case." J.C. is seeking unspecified damages and a jury trial. - NME, 1/5/22...... A Tennessee medical examiner has ruled that late country singer/songwriter Tom T. Hall died by suicide. Hall, the composer of such huge country and pop hits as Jeannie C. Riley's "Harper Valley P.T.A." and his own "I Love," died Aug. 20, 2021 in Franklin, Tenn., at age 85. According to the medical examiner's report, Hall "sustained an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound." During his career, Hall earned seven CMA Awards nominations, including an Entertainer of the Year nomination in 1973. He earned three song of the year nominations, for his work on "Harper Valley P.T.A.," "The Year Clayton Delaney Died" and "(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine." He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1978 and into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008. - Billboard, 1/5/22...... 
Eddie Van Halen's ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli has shared the late iconic guitarist and bandleader's final words to her and their song Wolfgang Van Halen in her new memoir, Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today. An excerpt from the book in the latest People magazine recalls Bertinelli weepily telling her first husband, "Maybe next time. Maybe next time, we'll get it right as Van Halen, 65, lay dying from cancer. "I loved Ed more than I know how to explain... I loved his soul," Bertinelli, 61, told the mag. The couple were married in 1981, and welcomed their son, Wolfgang, 10 years later. Through the ups and downs which led to a divorce in 2007, Bertinelli said she always considered Eddie her "soulmate. "We were portrayed as a mismatch, she writes in the book of the couple's early years," she said. "The bad boy rock star and America's sweetheart but privately, Ed wasn't the person people thought he was and neither was I," she added. Though both remarried after their split, Bertinelli writes that as Eddie's cancer spread and his situation deteriorated, they got closer again. She describes a Thanksgiving 2019 visit from Eddie to her home where he asked if they could chat in private. It was then that Van Halen handed his ex-wife a small bag with a pendant-sized gold bar he'd bought while getting cancer treatments in Germany. "I hope you don't think it's weird, you know, that I bought my ex-wife this gift and didn't get my wife anything," he told her tearily. "I just love you." Bertinelli writes that Van Halen wanted her to know that he'd "messed up during their marriage," admitting that she was sorry for contributing to their troubles as well. Bertinelli writes "'I love you' are the last words Ed says to Wolfie and me & and they are the last words we say to him before he stops breathing," as she, Wolfie, and other family members visited him in the hospital every day. Bertinelli's memoir is due out on Jan. 18. - Billboard, 1/5/22...... In other Van Halen-related news, former VH singer David Lee Roth has apparently taken an early retirement, canceling the remaining dates on his residency at Las Vegas' House of Blues at Mandalay Bay. Roth, 66, had been scheduled to cap his long career with a string of five shows at the venue in January after canceling his planned New Year's Eve and New Year's Day shows at the venue due to the rapid spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant. Now a rep for the House of Blues says that Roth's entire run has been canceled, putting on ice shows booked for Jan. 5, 7 and 8, as well as Jan. 14-15 and Jan. 21-22. In October 2021, Roth announced he would end his musical career after the Vegas residency, announcing, "I am throwing in the shoes. I'm retiring This is the first, and only, official announcement. You've got the news. Share it with the world... these are my last five shows." Roth also did not appear to have confirmed the news, though on Jan. 3 he posted a cryptic watercolor image on Twitter of a city seen from above with the message, "a funny thing happened on the way to Las Vegas." - Billboard, 1/4/22...... Drummer Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead spin-off band Dead & Company took to Twitter on Jan. 3 to tell fans that he has to sit out the band's upcoming "Playing In the Sand" vacation shows in Mexico due to health complications. "Playing in the Sand has become my favorite tour stop in recent years and there's so much about it that's just so great. And thus, it is with a heavy and still recovering heart that I have to relay a note that I received from my doctor this morning ordering me to sit this one out," Kreutzmann tweeted. "As many of you know, I had some health issues this past fall. After a lifetime of playing special beats, it's almost no wonder that my heart came up with its own idea of rhythm," he quipped, then added: "All jokes aside, my doctor has ordered me to take it easy (and stay safe) through the end of January so that I can continue to drum and play for you for many tours to come. I have a lot of music left in me and there's no stopping me from playing it. I've never been one to obey orders or play by the rules but in the interest of longevity, I hope you'll understand." Before signing off, he gave a special shout-out to his bandmates and fans, asking everyone to "stay safe out there so that we can do it all again." Meanwhile, Dead & Company member John Mayer has tested positive for Covid and will no longer perform as part of the Playing In The Sand event. Dead & Company are due to kick off the first leg of their destination festival at the Moon Palace resort in Cancun, Mexico on Jan. 7. A second run will take place the following weekend (Jan. 13-16). - Billboard, 1/4/22...... Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford has told a Spanish media outlet how he's managed to achieve 36 years of sobriety. "I think about it all the time," he told Spain's Mariskal Rock. "It's an addiction. When I'm watching the Phoenix Cardinals play on TV the other day, there's constantly adverts for beer and for alcohol and stuff. And I know it's there. And it's a temptation. So you have to have all of the mental tools ready to get you through that instance. 'Cause it's all about instances." "I've lived one day at a time for 35 years now," Halford continued. "And that's all that matters. It's the moment. You live in the moment -- not yesterday, not tomorrow; it's now. And you have to be ready for when that little beer devil comes on your shoulder and goes, 'Come on, Rob. Have a little drink of beer.' 'F--- off.' [Laughs] Because I don't wanna feel that way again, man." Halford will celebrate the 36th anniversary of getting sober on Jan. 6. - NME, 1/3/22...... Ted Nugent took to YouTube on Dec. 30 to deliver his latest gripe -- this time about Joan Jett being included in a 2010 Rolling Stone magazine list of the "Top 100 Greatest Guitarists." "When you see the Rolling Stone magazine list of greatest guitar players, they list Joan Jett but not Tommy Shaw [of Styx]," Nugent huffed. "How do you list the top 100 guitar players and not list Derek St. Holmes? How do you do that? You do that by lying. The same way you get Grandmaster Flash in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You do that by lying. You have to be a liar. You have to have shit for brains, and you have to be a soulless, soulless prick to put Joan Jett...," he added. He then stressed that his gripe with Jett being on the list has nothing to do with her sexuality. "[I] love Joan. Some of my greatest memories include lesbians. I love the lesbians; it's a cocktail of wonderment," he said. - NME, 1/3/22...... 
Speaking to People magazine as she discussed beauty risks, tips and tricks on the heels of her M.A.C. Cosmetics' "Challenge Accepted" campaign with Saweetie, Cher revealed that she'll "never go gray." Though many stars have been rocking a more natural style due to the pandemic, Cher says she's not into the gray-haired trend. "[Going gray] is fine for other girls. I'm just not doing it!," she said. Something she is into, however, is being unapologetically creative. That's why M.A.C. Cosmetics chose the 75-year-old diva for their new beauty campaign, which encourages fans to share their best M.A.C. makeup looks with the hashtag #macchallengeaccepted. "It's all about having fun," Cher added about beauty. "I just think that people who worry about the way someone puts on their makeup should get a life." A video of Cher accepting the M.A.C. challenge has been shared on YouTube. - Billboard, 1/4/22...... A collection of rare Lou Reed demos were released over the holiday period and then quickly withdrawn in an apparent copyright dump. According to Variety, RCA/Sony Music uploaded a 17-track album of Lou Reed demos to iTunes in Europe on Dec. 23 titled I'm So Free: The 1971 RCA Demos. It was then removed a couple of days later. The reason for the brief release looks to be an apparent copyright dump to extend RCA/Sony Music's ownership of the recordings. Copyright-extension releases have become commonplace in recent years. Sound recordings are protected for 50 years after they are published, and can be extended to 70 years as long as they are "lawfully communicated to the public" within the first 50 years. Reed died of liver disease on Oct. 27, 2013. - NME, 1/3/22...... Stephen J. Lawrence, a Daytime-Emmy-winning composer for Sesame Street, died on Dec. 30 at Clara Maas Medical Center in Belleville, N.J., of as yet undislcosed causes. He was 82. Mr. Lawrence served as a composer, music director, arranger and conductor on the longtime children's TV series Sesame Street for more than 30 years, composing over 300 songs and scores for the program, including "Fuzzy and Blue (and Orange)," co-written with David Axelrod. He received three Daytime Emmy awards for outstanding achievement in music direction and composition for his work on the show. With an interest in children's education, Mr. Lawrence also collaborated with The Jim Henson Company when composing the score for The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss. He later co-founded the nonprofit Quill Entertainment Company with Granville Burgess in 1998. In addition to Sesame Street, Mr. Lawrence is also recognized as the musical director and co-music producer on the 1972 gold album Free to Be You and Me in which he composed the title song, as well as "When We Grow Up" and "Sisters and Brothers." Other composer credits include the 1973 Robert DeNiro-starrer Bang the Drum Slowly, One Summer Love (1976), the cult horror film Alice, Sweet Alice (1976), the live-action musical "Red Riding Hood" and the 1991 HBO animated musical The Tale of Peter Rabbit, starring Carol Burnett. He is survived by his wife, Cantor Cathy Lawrence; brother Robert; daughter Hannah Jones Anderson; son-in-law Seth Anderson; grandson Arthur, and stepsons Sam and Nick Kline. - The Hollywood Reporter, 1/2/22.
In other Elton John-related news, it has been revealed that the Rocket Man was nearly denied permission to perform a modified rendition of his 1973 song "Candle In The Wind" at the Sept. 6, 1997 funeral of Princess Diana at Westminster Abbey in London. While the song is largely considered to be one of Elton's greatest performances, a set of newly released government papers from Britain's National Archives eveals that Buckingham Palace did not want John to perform his updated version of the song. According to the report, the royal household was concerned that the song was "too sentimental for the event, with Westminster Abbey even going as far as to have a solo saxophonist on standby to perform a rendition of the song as a "very second best shot." However, the Dean of Westminster at the time, The Very Reverend Dr. Wesley Carr, is said to have appealed to the royals, urging them to allow John to perform the song as a show of goodwill to the public. Dr. Carr argued that the performance would provide an "imaginative and generous gesture to the grieving public," adding that the song was "all the time on the radio." "Candle In the Wind 1997," alternatively known as "Goodbye England's Rose," went on to become one of Elton John's biggest hits, peaking at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the chart dated Oct. 10, 1997, where it stayed for 14 weeks, making it the singer's longest running No. 1 on the chart. John and Ed Sheeran currently have the No. 1 song on Billboard's Adult Contemporary radio airplay chart for the week ending Dec. 26 for their holiday single, "Merry Christmas." The song gives Elton a record-extending 17th AC No. 1, ahead of The Carpenters (15) and Barry Manilow (13). - Billboard, 12/30/2021...... In a new interview with Los Angeles heavy metal FM radio station KNAC, Ted Nugent lashed out at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for inducting the likes of Grandmaster Flash, Madonna and ABBA, calling the Cleveland-based organization's operators "dishonest" and "rotten." "Why am I not in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame? That has a lot to do with the fact that you can't always explain why people are rotten. Why do some people violate other people and commit vicious crimes and lie?," asked Nugent, who has been eligible to be inducted into the Rock Hall as a solo artist since 2000. Nugent, who has been criticized for his outspoken and often controversial right-wing opinions, said that he doesn't take the snub "personal" and added that he wasn't "offended" by the fact that he hasn't yet been inducted, but he did question the inclusion of a number of artists already in the Hall. "Why isn't a band like Triumph in there, but Grandmaster Flash is?! That's just dishonest," he said. "Why are Patti Smith, ABBA and Madonna in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, but not Styx?! Are you kidding me?! You can only explain that is that the people who made those decisions are just plain rotten people. The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame should genuflect to Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, the Motown Funk Brothers. Are you kidding me?! How dare you put Grandmaster Flash, ABBA and Madonna in that?!" Nugent went on to give his opinion on what he thinks artists need to do to get inducted -- "you get 'high' with the board" -- but insisted "I don't get high with anybody because I have campfires and I have the healing power of nature.... I call on God. I call on the good earth to help cleanse my soul and to help stimulate my very spirit." - New Musical Express, 12/30/21...... The Grateful Dead spin-off band Dead & Company announced on Dec. 29 it will go ahead with its back-to-back concert weekends in Riviera Cancun, Mexico, on Jan. 7-10 and 13-16, but any ticket holders who no longer wish to attend the outdoor beach concerts as the omicron variant drives a surge in Covid-19 cases around the world are now eligible to receive refunds. The "Playing In The Sand" event requires guests to provide proof of full Covid-19 vaccination before departure for the event, as well as negative COVID-19 PCR test or any NAAT lab or technician-certified test no more than two days prior to event check-in. Guests must also provide a negative antigen test administered at check-in and an additional negative antigen test for departure from Mexico no more than 1 day before your flight home per CDC order. Dead & Company had one of 2021's biggest tours with a hybrid of amphitheater-stadium shows that started in August and continued through October, grossing $53.7 million and sellling 593,000 tickets across 31 shows durng the year. - Billboard, 12/29/21...... In related news, Alice Cooper has revealed that he set funds aside for his touring crew to be able to make ends meet in early 2020 when the pandemic first began to impact live shows. Speaking to Forbes magazine, the shock-rocker said he foresaw the pandemic outlasting any government assistance his crew would be entitled to. "We could see that it was... something. So we put money aside as a backup for them. Because we knew that their unemployment would run out, you know? And then they'd have something to go to. I think all responsible bands did that. Hopefully," Cooper said. The rocker continued: "The guys that run the stage are as important as the guys that play guitar. So we made sure that everybody was covered. And that was really important. Hey, we thought this thing was gonna last a month! 18 months?! Unreal." Cooper himself ended up contracting Covid-19 in 2021. Noting that he wasn't vaccinated at the time -- but did wind up getting the jab back in February -- he said that, "For three weeks, I felt like I went 12 rounds with [boxing legend] Roberto Duran; I was just beat up." Cooper released his latest album, 
KISS guitarist/singer Paul Stanley revealed on Dec. 26 that he's been stricken by the Covid-19 virus for the second time in six months -- but this time he caught the highly contagious Omicron variant that has been causing a massive, global spike in new cases over the past few weeks. "My Omicron face! Yup. My entire family has it. I'm tired and have sniffles," Stanley wrote in an 
Canadian prog-rock heroes Rush have announced they're releasing their own pinball machine in conjunction with the Stern Pinball company. It's the latest in a series of rock 'n' roll pinball machines from the manufacturer, including games based on AC/DC, KISS, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Iron Maiden and Metallica. While teaser for the new machine posted on 
Beloved American actress and comedienne Betty White, who capped a career of more than 80 years by becoming America's geriatric sweetheart after Emmy-winning roles on the TV sitcoms 
Playing on her eminent likability, Ms. White was still starring in a TV sitcom, Hot in Cleveland, at age 92 until it was canceled in late 2014. Film credits include Otto Preminger's Advise & Consent (1962), Lake Placid (1999), The Proposal (2009), and Hard Rain. Ms. White won another Emmy and attracted 12 million viewers for hosting Saturday Night Live in 2010 at age 88 after a fan-based Facebook campaign; starred in a clever Snickers Super Bowl commercial with Abe Vigoda; and netted noms from 2012-14 (giving her a career total of 21) as host of the NBC reality show Off Their Rockers. In 1988, she was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame and received the Screen Actors Guild's Life Achievement Award in 2010. Ms. White also worked on many charitable projections involving animal disease research, and served for three years as the president of the Morris Animal Foundation and served on the board of trustees for the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn. Ms. White, who had no children, was married to game show host Allen Ludden, her third husband, from 1963 until his death from cancer in 1981. "Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever," said Ms. White's agent, Jeff Witjas. No cause of death was cited. Tributes to Ms. White from her fellow celebrities have poured in on social media since her passing, including ones by 
Neil Young presented fans of his "Archives" project with a special gift on Christmas Day, dropping an 8-track archival album called Summer Songs on his 
Joni Mitchell shared the first official music video for her classic 1971 track "River" on 
Director/screenwriter Todd Haynes' documentary about the cult '60s/'70s band The Velvet Underground is among the 15 nominees for a Best Documentary Feature Oscar at the 94th annual Academy Awards on Mar. 27. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences released shortlists in 10 categories on Dec. 21) Members of the documentary branch voted to determine the shortlist for documentary feature, which was drawn from 138 eligible films. They will vote again to determine the five nominees in the category, which will be announced on Feb. 8. All Academy voters will vote to determine the winner, which will be announced at the Oscars ceremony on March 27. Todd Haynes wrote and directed The Velvet Underground, about the legendary Lou Reed-led underground New York rock band. This would be the first nomination for Haynes, 60, who has directed such acclaimed features as Far From Heaven and Carol. Also nominated for a Best Documentary Feature Oscar -- as well as a Best Music Film statuette -- is Questlove's directorial debut, Summer of Soul, about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which featured performances by Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight & The Pips, The Fifth Dimension, Sly and The Family Stone, Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples, B.B. King, and many other top artists of the era. That film won both the U.S. grand jury prize and the audience award for documentary at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Meanwhile, Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson got mixed results in the shortlists. Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road was passed over for the documentary feature shortlist, but a song from the rock-doc, "Right Where I Belong," is shortlisted for "Best Original Song." - Billboard, 12/21/21...... A new Carole King and James Taylor documentary, Carole King & James Taylor: Just Call Out My Name, will premiere on Jan. 2 at 9:00 pm EST in the US (2:00 am GMT) on cable channel CNN, also being livestreamed via the CNNgo app. The documentary will feature setlist highlights from King and Taylor's 2010 "Troubadour" reunion tour, including "You've Got A Friend," "It's Too Late," and "Sweet Baby James." Directed by Frank Marshall and commissioned by CNN Films and HBO Max, the program also includes footage of the pair being interviewed in July 2021 at the Southern New Hampshire University Arena in Manchester. The documentary explores the story behind King and Taylor's friendship, as well as detailing a number of song stories, including "You've Got a Friend." The trailer for Just Call Out My Name can be viewed on 
Kenney Jones, the former drummer of The Faces, has revealed details of a Faces comeback album that was first teased in the summer. News leaked that Jones, frontman Rod Stewart and guitarist Ronnie Wood were back in the studio laying down music, and the sticksman has explained that the record will be a "mixture of old and new," with certain pieces of music already familiar to their loyal supporters. Jones has now told the UK's Uncut magazine that "what we've decided to do is work on some of the original stuff that we didn't use, so the album is going to be a mixture of old and new." "The songs we've been revisiting are from right across the board. It's very difficult to go into specifics because many of them didn't even have titles," Jones says. "I think the fans may have heard certain things before and might recognise them. Ronnie and I, in particular, have been working on lots of the old stuff together and we've re-recorded a couple of those songs with more of a modern feel," he adds. However, Kenney also said work on the new LP has been stilted because of Rod's solo work and Ronnie's commitment to the Rolling Stones: "The new songs are coming along too We're definitely going in the right direction but work had to stop temporarily while Woody went back to his rescheduled gigs with the Stones. The same thing happened with Rod. I know that Rod, between things on tour, is working on lyrics to some of them. Woody is doing the same thing. So we'll return to those when we're able to get back together again." However, Kenney also said work on the new LP has been stilted because of Rod's solo work and Ronnie's commitment to the Rolling Stones: "The new songs are coming along too We're definitely going in the right direction but work had to stop temporarily while Woody went back to his rescheduled gigs with the Stones. The same thing happened with Rod. I know that Rod, between things on tour, is working on lyrics to some of them. Woody is doing the same thing. So we'll return to those when we're able to get back together again." Jones says can also expect some "special guests" on the record, but their identities are staying under wraps for now. "I don't want to give too much away at this point, but there will be some special guests on there with us," he said. Meanwhile, Rod Stewart has paid tribute to his "dear friend" Robin Le Mesurier, who passed away on Dec. 22 at age 68 after a battle with cancer. Le Mesuier's first band, The Reign, disbanded in 1973 and he then performed with novelty act the Wombles before becoming a session guitarist later in the decade and performing with the likes of Johnny Hallyday, Sir Elton John and Jeff Beck. In 1977, he toured with Rod Stewart's opening act Air Supply, and went on to join Stewart's backing band in 1980, playing on a number of his albums over the years. Rod shared a photo of himself on stage with Robin and wrote on Instagram: "A Rock & Roll soul, rest in peace my dear friend [prayer emoji] #robinlemesurier (sic)." Stewart's Faces bandmate Ronnie Wood also paid tribute to the guitarist, who had joined them when the pair, along with Kenney Jones, reunited in 2015. "Rest in peace Robin, I have so much respect for you ~ you will be missed," Wood tweeted. - Music-News.com, 12/24/21...... In a new interview with The i, Don McLean said that he probably would have "drank himself to death" if it weren't for having asthma as a child. McLean discussed the longevity of his 1971 classic 
British pop legend Cliff Richard has said he doesn't eat before gigs to avoid on-stage burping which has made him "uncomfortable" during his performances. "I don't eat anything before I go on stage because I discovered years ago that if I ate before a show I spent a lot of time burping," Richard, 81, told The Daily Star paper. "It's uncomfortable waiting to have that burp happen and trying to find a gap in the song to do it. So now I don't eat anything. I just have some soup maybe before the show starts, but I eat after the show." Richard then explained that once he has finished performing, he spends his time trying to find a restaurant that will stay open: "So it means sometimes running off to try to get to a restaurant that will stay open for you that long or that late." But despite having performed hundreds of concerts during his 60-year career, Cliff admitted that he is at his happiest in the recording studio due to the "pressure" that comes with playing to a crowd. He said: "In terms of my career the happiest I feel is when I'm recording. And the reason is very simple -- there is no pressure. I've done it in the past. I've phoned the producer and said, 'Look I've got a tickle in my throat'. He says, 'Take a couple of days off. I'll get the drummer in to do something then you can start singing again'." - Music-News.com, 12/20/21...... Star Trek actor William Shatner was involved in a car accident in Studio City, Calif., on Dec. 21. The 90-year-old actor appeared to be driving a black Mercedes SUV at the time of the collision, and his two dogs were in the vehicle. Photos from the scene of the accident show Shatner's Mercedes parked near a parking meter, with damage to the front end of the SUV. An unidentified woman's small silver car had front end damage as well, and appeared to have been driven up onto the curb. It is not clear who caused the accident. Shatner's car accident comes roughly two months after the actor became the oldest person to travel to space, on Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket. "I hope I never recover from this. I hope that I can maintain what I feel now. I don't want to lose it," he told reporters after the space trip. - Fox News, 12/23/21...... J.D. Crowe, an influential Grammy-winning bluegrass musician, died on Dec. 24 of undisclosed causes. He was 84. Born James Dee Crowe in 1937, Mr. Crowe's 50+ year career included stints with Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys, Mac Wiseman and his own band, the Kentucky Mountain Boys, which later became the New South. According to the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum, his path was set in 1949 when, at the age of 12, he heard Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys play at a barn dance in Lexington. Mr. Crowe won a Grammy award in 1983 for Best Country Instrumental Performance for his song "Fireball." "We just want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. As great of a musician as dad was, he was even better husband, father and friend," Mr. Crowe's son David said in a brief message. He is survived by his wife, Sheryl; his children, David and Stacey; and a granddaughter, Kylee. - Billboard, 12/26/21.
Bette Midler has apologized to the residents of West Virginia after the longtime liberal diva took to 
Queen guitarist Brian May took to 
Rod Stewart and his son Sean Stewart have resolved an assault case stemming from a New Year's Eve 2019 altercation with a security guard at an exclusive Florida hotel. Court records released on Dec. 17 show that the Stewarts entered guilty pleas to misdemeanor charges of simple battery. The plea agreement, dated and signed Dec. 13, means that Stewart, 76, and 41-year-old Sean won't have to appear in court and formal adjudication of the charge was withheld. There will be no trial and neither will do any jail time or be required to pay fines and won't be placed on probation, according to Stewart's attorney Guy Fronstin. "No one was injured in the incident and a jury did not find Sir Rod Stewart guilty of the accusation," Fronstin said in a statement. "Instead, Sir Rod Stewart decided to enter a plea to avoid the inconvenience and unnecessary burden on the court and the public that a high profile proceeding would cause," Fronstin added. The Stewarts were accused of a physical altercation with security guard Jessie Dixon at the luxury Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach on Dec. 31, 2019. The dispute involved Dixon's refusal to allow them into a private New Year's Eve party at the hotel. Dixon said in court papers that Rod Stewart punched him in the rib cage with a closed fist and that Sean Stewart shoved him. A spokesperson for Palm Beach State Attorney Dave Aronberg, whose office prosecuted the case, said in an email that Dixon agreed with the outcome of the case. - Billboard, 12/18/21...... Stevie Wonder held his annual House Full of Toys Benefit in Los Angeles on Dec. 18. In addition to marking the charity benefit's 23rd anniversary, the holiday concert also celebrated its return after a three-year break owing to Wonder's successful kidney transplant in 2019, followed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Rocking a stylish black suit, Wonder stood before a sold-out audience at the Microsoft Theater and thanked those who attended. "A lot has happened in the world, my world and your own worlds. But the blessing is that we are all here to give to those less fortunate," said the 71-year-old Motown legend. Concert-goers were asked to bring an unwrapped toy or "unwrapped gift of joy," which were placed in bins outside the theater on behalf of Wonder's nonprofit We Are You Foundation. After briefly reminiscing about his mother's crying over learning her son's blindness when he was a youngster and recalling his career start at Motown ("Berry Gordy said, 'We've got to work on that voice -- but the harmonica playing is good'"), Wonder spent the next two-and-a-half hours delving into his deep catalog of hits, ripping through roof-raising audience singalongs to "Master Blaster (Jammin')," "Higher Ground" and "Don't You Worry Bout a Thing." Near the show's end, Wonder acknowledged the audience's latest in a string of standing ovations throughout the evening, saying, "I live to love you & all of my life." - Billboard, 12/19/21...... Don McLean announced on Dec. 19 that he'll launch an ambitious 68-city 2022 world tour celebrating 50 years of his iconic hit 
BMG Music and the American global investment company Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) announced on Dec. 21 they've acquired all of ZZ Top's publishing catalog and recorded music royalties in a deal that has an estimated $55 million valuation. In a joint statement, the two companies noted that since its formation in 1971 ZZ Top has sold over 50 million albums worldwide, earning one diamond album, and two multi-platinum albums along the way. The Texas trio's album catalog has averaged close to 300,000 album consumption units a year, according to MRC Data, and though the announcement doesn't disclose the acquisition price, the Wall Street Journal estimates the band's recorded masters catalog has averaged annually about $4.481 million in revenue over the last four years. Meanwhile, Billboard estimates that the band's publishing, which includes rock staples like "Legs" and "La Grange," comes out to about $1.262 million annually and the band's share of that is about $950,000. BMG has served as co-publisher and administrator publishing catalog for the band, which was the subject of the 2019 documentary ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas. ZZ Top was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 and has received three Grammy nominations, one of its founding members, bassist Dusty Hill, dying earlier in 2021 at the age of 72. - Billboard, 12/21/21...... Dolly Parton has added three new Guinness World Records awards to her already epic 2021. After contributing to the funding of the coronavirus vaccine, being included on the Time 100 and People of the Year honors, raising $700,000 for Tennessee flood relief, and dropping a new fragrance, Parton now holds the high-water mark for most decades on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart by a female artist (seven) and most No. 1 hits on that chart by a female artist (25) as well as breaking her own existing record for the most hits on the that chart by a female artist with a mind-blowing 109 hits. "Well, I feel like a bird that wants to fly away," Parton said in a Guinness video on 
Wanda Young, a member of the 1960s Motown group The Marvelettes who sang lead on such hits asd "I'll Keep Holding On" and "Don't Mess With Bill," died on Dec. 16. She was 78. "We are so saddened by the news of Wanda Young of the Marvelettes passing," the Motown Records official Twitter account wrote on Dec. 17. "What an impact she has had on the world of Classic Motown and the lives of so many. Her legacy will continue to live on," the statement added. Born in Inkster, Mich., a suburb of Detroit, Young joined The Marvelettes in 1961 after being brought in by her high school classmates Gladys Horton and Georgia Dobbins. Young served as a replacement for Dobbins, who left the group to take care of her ill mother and because her father didn't want her involved in the music industry. Her passing follows the death of Marvelettes co-founder Horton, who died in 2011 at the age of 66, and sang lead on several of the group's hits, including the Dec. 1961 Billboard No. 1 "Please Mr. Postman." Dobbins, a co-writer of the track, died in Sept. 2020. Young, who also performed under the name Wanda Rogers, can be heard singing backup vocals on "Postman," as well as other Marvelettes classics like "Playboy" and "Beechwood 4-5789." Young went on to marry The Miracles singer Bobby Rogers in 1963, taking on his last name. By the mid-'60s, she was singing lead vocals on Marvelettes songs "I'll Keep Holding On, "Don't Mess With Bill, "My Baby Must Be a Magician" and "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game." The Marvelettes officially split following the release of their Smokey Robinson-produced 1970 album, Return of the Marvelettes, which was originally planned as a solo release for Young. Soon after, she mostly stepped away from the music industry, but performed alongside a semi-reunited Marvelettes in 1989, according to Rolling Stone. - Billboard, 12/18/21.
Pink Floyd delivered its legion of fans a surprise Christmas gift on Dec. 16 by releasing to streaming services a dozen live albums documenting some of their gigs from the early '70s. Added to the services with no prior announcement, the 12 LPs span the prog-rock icons' years of 1970 to 1972, covering the period in which the band released Atom Heart Mother (1970), Meddle (1971), and Obscured By Clouds (1972). The earliest recording, titled They Came In Peace, features performances from Leeds University on Feb. 28, 1970 and Washington University on Nov. 16, 1971, which features seven tracks and totals one hour 34 minutes in length. That concert, like the other 11 albums, can be streamed on 
A new documentary on The Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson will hit UK cinemas on Jan. 21, 2022, and ahead of the band's celebration of its milestone 60th anniversary. Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road is described as a a "rare and personal music documentary that explores the life and career of legendary songwriter Brian Wilson, through a literal and metaphorical road trip exploring Brian's hometown." The documentary presents a new original Brian Wilson song and incorporates several of his famous tracks including "God Only Know," "Good Vibrations" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice." The film features over 36 of the artist's most iconic hits, rare tracks, never-before-heard demos, and offers intimate access to his personal home movies and photo albums. Rolling Stone editor Jason Fine accompanies Brian throughout on his tour and gives special access to Brian and his band as they play at The Hollywood Bowl in L.A, The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and the Odeon in London. - Music-news.com, 12/17/21...... An all-star cast of celebrities from the worlds of music, TV, film and comedy have joined forces to honor George Harrison in the first-ever official music video for his 1970 song, "My Sweet Lord." Over 40 musicians, actors, comedian, directors, artists and other creatives make cameos in the Lance Bangs-directed clip, ranging from Harrison's friends and former Beatles band mate Ringo Starr and Traveling Wilburys bandmate Jeff Lynne to actors Mark Hamill, Darren Criss, Jon Hamm and Rosanna Arquette. Originally released on Nov. 23, 1970, in the US, the track featured on the late Beatle's third studio album, All Things Must Pass. The new video version boasts a fresh 2020 mix by Paul Hicks, released this past August on the 50th anniversary edition of All Things Must Pass. The new official video for "My Sweet Lord" has been shared on 
The Kinks' guitarist/vocalist Dave Davies announced on 
Ken Kragen, best known for organizing the iconic 1985 "We Are The World" humanitarian project which spawned the hit single of the same name, died on Dec. 14 of natural causes at his Brentwood home in Los Angeles. He was 85. Mr. Kragen also produced TV's The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the 1960s and managed the careers of Kenny Rogers and other top-notch entertainers including Lionel Richie, the Bee Gees, Olivia Newton-John, Burt Reynolds, The Smothers Brothers and Trisha Yearwood, among others. In 1985, after receiving a call from Harry Belafonte, Mr. Kragen was instrumental in rounding up the talent -- including Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Cyndi Lauper, Richie and Rogers -- that appeared on the fund-raising single and album "We Are the World," and he brought in Quincy Jones to produce the music. The project raised an estimated $64 million for poverty relief in Africa and the U.S. A year later, Mr. Kragen returned to organize "Hands Across America," a human chain that stretched across the U.S. and involved 6.5 million people. That raised millions to help the hungry and the homeless as well. He said that one of his proudest achievements was receiving the United Nations' Peace Medal in 1985 for the creation of "We Are the World"; he was one of only a handful of private citizens to receive the honor. Mr. Kragen was born on Nov. 24, 1936, in Alameda, Calif," and attended UC Berkeley before graduating from Harvard Business School. He joined The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour as a production coordinator in 1967, then served as executive producer during the controversial show's third and final season in 1968-69. He first met Rogers when his band, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, played on the show, and soon became his manager. Mr. Kragen also wrote the 1994 best-selling book, Life Is a Contact Sport: Ten Great Career Strategies That Work, and with Jones, he produced a portion of the 1992 presidential inauguration for Bill Clinton. Mr. Kragen received two Emmy nominations, two MTV Awards, an American Music Award and a Manager of the Year Award from the Conference of Personal Managers and was the only person elected president of both the Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music. He is survived by his sister, Robin; nieces and nephews; and brothers-in-law David and Mark and their families. A life tribute is being planned. - The Hollywood Reporter, 12/15/21...... Skeletal remains found nearly 40 years ago have been identified as those of a guitarist who once played with the R&B group The O'Jays and also co-wrote a few of their songs, investigators announced on Dec. 14. Authorities used DNA and genealogical research to identify the remains of Frank "Frankie" Little Jr., which were found in a garbage bag in a wooded area behind a business in Twinsburg in 1982, said Summit County Medical Examiner Lisa Kohler. Little's death has now been ruled a homicide, but who killed him remains unknown, she said. Little, who was born in Cleveland in 1943, played with the The O'Jays in the mid-1960s. He was not a founding member of the group that began in Canton, Ohio, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. He served in the U.S. Army for two years, including in the Vietnam War, but not much was known about his disappearance, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. Walter Williams, one of the original members of The O'Jays, said Little wrote songs with Eddie Levert, another one of the band's founders, according to Twinsburg detective Eric Hendershott, who helped revive the investigation into the remains. "Part of the mystery is over with, but we have no idea how he got there, how he disappeared or where he lived toward the end of his life," Hendershott said. - Billboard, 12/14/21...... 
Grammy-winning R&B singer Joe Simon, whose hits included 1969's "The Chokin' Kind" and 1972's "Power of Love," died on Dec. 13 his longtime hometown near Chicago. He was 85. Born on Sept. 2, 1943 in Simmesport, La., Mr. Simon hated picking cotton and moved to Los Angeles to make it as a singer, spending his early years there homeless and living in a chicken coop. With nothing to do at night, he wrote 20 to 30 songs daily and developed his voice to the point that a label owner paid him $1,100 to record four songs written by others. He brought in local musicians including future funk greats Sly Stone and Larry Graham to play on 1964's "My Adorable One," which became Mr. Simon's breakthrough hit. His career then moved quickly, as he landed three No. 1's and 14 Top 10's on what is now called Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and a Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male Grammy for "The Chokin' Kind." He collaborated with Philly Sound hitmakers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff for 1971's "Drowning In the Sea of Love," then created the theme to the 1973 "blaxploitation" flick Cleopatra Jones. Mr. Simon was known as "The Mouth of the South," and compared to Otis Redding, Sam Cooke and, perhaps most aptly, Jackie Wilson. "He had a very different and distinct voice," says his grandson, David Simon, a professional basketball player who toured with Simon toward the end of his R&B career in the '80s. "You can definitely pick his voice out of any crowd." Early in his touring career, Mr. Simon played New York's Apollo Theatre, where an employee told him he wouldn't amount to anything. "I went from the cotton field to the chicken coop to a superstar of rhythm and blues -- you can't tell me I ain't gonna be nothin'," Mr. Simon said in his 2016 documentary, Looking Back with Joe Simon. - Billboard, 12/14/21.