Already honored by the Guinness Book of World Records for such accomplishments as "Most decades with a top 20 hit on the U.S. Hot Country Songs" (6) and "Most No. 1 hits on the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart by a female artist" (25), Dolly Parton added three more Guinness accolades to her record during a recent presentation. She now holds the record for "Most studio albums released by a female country singer" (65, from 1967 through 2022); Most top 10 entries on the Top Country Albums chart as a female artist" (48 entries), and "Female artist with the longest span of No. 1 hits on the Top Country Albums chart" (43 years, 156 days). Celebrating the longevity and success of Dolly Parton's remarkable career with three more Guinness World Records titles was incredible," said Michael Empric of Guinness via a statement. "Dolly isn't just a legend ... she is officially amazing!" adjudicator Michael Empric said via a statement." "I am humbled every time I receive a new Guinness World Records title. I share these three new honors with my fans, who have allowed me to enjoy such a long career," Dolly responded in her own statement. With the addition of the latest three accolades, Parton now has a total of 10 Guinness world records. - Billboard, 5/31/23...... 
A spokesperson for Disney Music Group is denying reports that the corporation is considering selling Queen's music catalog for $1 billion, which would easily surpass the current record of $500 million paid for the purchase of Bruce Springsteen's catalogue in 2021. Earlier, an industry source familiar with the alleged music acquisition told CNN that discussions are "well underway" for Universal Music Group to acquire the legendary band's entire back catalog from DMG. CNN reported that Queen's sale figure would be so high because the band received a resurgence in popularity following the release of the 2018 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody which told the story of the band's inception with a focus on late frontman Freddie Mercury. Guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, who co-founded the band along with Mercury, continue to perform as Queen with Adam Lambert as their lead vocalist. Meanwhile, a new exhibition capturing the history of Queen through May's own stereoscopic (3-D) camera lenses are being shared for the first time to the public in an extensive exhibition. From an early age, Brian travelled with a 3-D camera in hand, so on Queen tours and during recordings he was able to capture rare behind-the-scenes moments of the legendary art-rock band. Some of the pictures were taken on stage; others behind the scenes, including informal shots taken on the road and during leisure time, giving close-up glimpses of the band as never seen before. The exhibition also includes stereoscopic photos taken by fans of modern day Queen with its lead vocalist Adam Lambert, and captures the wonders of the recent hit Queen musical "We Will Rock You." "Queen Will Rock You in 3-D" will be brought to life in three dimension with an ingenious OWL Stereoscopic Viewer designed by Brian himself. Curated by Proud Galleries and May, it runs in London from June 2 through Sept. 23. A companion book by May is also available at Proud Galleries. Queen + Adam Lambert kicks off a U.S. tour on Oct. 5 in Baltimore and runs through Nov. 12 in Los Angeles. - Music-News.com, 5/31/23...... In a new interview with BBC London, Elton John confessed he is "a little intimidated" by England's legendary Glastonbury music festival. Sir Elton, 76, is set to headline the world-famous music festival for the first time in his six-decade-spanning career on June 2, and says he has no idea what to expect when he steps out on the Pyramid Stage at Worthy Farm in Somerset. "I'm a little, not frightened, but I'm a little intimidated by it because I haven't played there, I haven't been there," John told BBC Radio 2. "It's the first time I've been asked... it's come at the right time, I'm a great believer in serendipity and fate and it's the most wonderful way to sign off in England," the "Tiny Dancer" singer added. John says concertgoers can expect mystery guests during his headline set. "I've got guests and I can't tell you who they are," he said. His most recent collaborations include the likes of Dua Lipa, Miley Cyrus and Stevie Nicks. Elton -- who has children Zachary, 11, and Elijah, nine, with his husband and manager David Furnish -- says he has no set plans after his "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" tour ends. "Everything is up in the air... boys go back to school... piano won't go away forever... it'll be very sporadic, I really don't want to tour again... I'm not going back to Vegas." - Music-News.com, 5/31/23...... 
Eric Clapton, Aerosmith's Joe Perry, Metallica's Kirk Hammett, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Rod Stewart and Johnny Depp were among the musicians who came together to pay tribute to the late Jeff Beck at two special concerts held at London's Royal Albert Hall on May 22 and 23. The musicians performed material and covers that Beck himself played throughout his lifetime. Among the highlights were a cover of John Lennon's "Isolation" performed by Hammett, Depp and Gibbons, in tribute to Beck and Depp's take on the song that was released in 2022. In addition, Stewart played a four-song medley with Clapton, and Gibbons and Depp took on ZZ Top's "Rough Boy," a song Beck and Gibbons used to play together. Clapton also played an extended set on both nights which featured some of Beck's originals like "Beck's Bolero," as well as songs from their time in the Yardbirds and blues standards by Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters. Other notable performers across the two nights included Ronnie Wood, John McLaughlin, Derek Trucks and members of the Jeff Beck Band: Rhonda Smith, Anika Nillesand Robert Stevenson. Fan-filmed footage of the shows has been shared on YouTube. Beck rose to fame with the Yardbirds, whom he joined in 1965, replacing Clapton in the band's line-up. The two musicians went on to tour together as soloists in their later years. Clapton paid tribute to Beck on social media in the wake of the guitarist's death earlier in 2023. "'Always and ever'," he captioned a photograph of the late artist. - New Musical Express, 5/29/23...... Bruce Springsteen is taking in stride a recent onstage accident during a concert in Amsterdam when he took a tumble as he and the E Street Band launched into their 2020 hit "Ghosts." In a clip that has been uploaded to Twitter, TikTok and other social media (generating more than 10,000 comments), the Boss was filmed tripping and falling as he walked up a small set of steps onstage. But the 73-year-old "Born to Run" singer was all smiles after the mishap, quickly springing back up with a grin as his bandmates rushed to his aid. "Good night everybody!" he joked, before launching into another song. Springsteen's current world tour is seeing the rocker play to European crowds until the end of July. In August, he returns to North America for eight dates across Canada -- including two nights at Toronto's Scotiabank Arena -- this November. New Musical Express, 5/31/23...... Organizers of the ABBA Voyage virtual concert series have marked the one-year anniversary of the production on May 25 by releasing new production images from Voyage. The show, which takes place at a purpose-built venue in London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and has welcomed more than one million fans since it launched in 2022, sees the Swedish pop outfit perform their many hits as digital avatars. The show has been critically acclaimed, and described as a "feel-good sensory overload" where "digital sorcery meets pure pop bangers." The ABBA Voyage virtual concert series is currently set to run in London into May 2024, with plans reported for the experience to be taken on a world tour. - NME, 5/26/23...... 
Rod Stewart has backed out of a potential catalog sale to Hipgnosis after two years worth of negotiations with the company after he reportedly decided that it "was not the right company." On May 29, Stewart released a statement saying he wanted to retain ownership of his catalog, which "represents my life's work." "And it's become abundantly clear after much time and due diligence that this was not the right company to manage my song catalog, career or legacy." Further details about the potential catalog sale are not known, including whether Stewart intended to sell his full catalog or just a smaller piece or royalty stream. Neither Hipgnosis nor Stewart's team would comment further when asked for specifics. Two music asset buyers independently noted to Billboard that Stewart's public statement might be a "great way to drum up business for the catalog" and "to generate calls from potential suitors," but another source noted it seems that a star of this magnitude would not need to speak out publicly in order to gain the attention of other buyers. The Hipgnosis Songs Fund, which has amassed a catalog of over 65,000 songs and records, has struggled since last summer, with its share price declining by 27% from a year ago to 81.85 pence. - Billboard, 5/30/23...... As is normal when an artist of the stature of Tina Turner dies, the legendary performer is on the verge of landing four album titles in the U.K.'s national albums chart, led by her The Platinum Collection hits LP. Turner's career retrospective could crack the top 10 for the first time, reentering at No. 8 on the midweek chart, the Official Charts Company reports. The Platinum Collection originally peaked at No. 14 following its release in 2009. Another hits compilation, 1994's The Collected Recordings, is poised for a No. 12 return, while the singer's Private Dancer set from 1984, one of the greatest comebacks of the 20th century, could vault to No. 31, having originally peaked at No. 2. All will be revealed when the Official U.K. Albums Chart is published on June 2. During her lifetime, Turner landed nine top 10 albums in the U.K., including two No. 1's (Foreign Affair and the soundtrack to What's Love Got To Do With It). Turner died "of natural causes" according to her rep on May 24 after a long illness in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland. - Billboard, 5/30/23...... A local musicians' union in New York City is objecting to the lack of a live band in former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne's upcoming Broadway show "Here Lies Love," calling it an "existential threat" to the art form. "Here Lies Love," originally conceived by Byrne 17 years ago, has played an Off-Broadway run, in addition other engagements. It has previously been performed to a pre-recorded track, since it was inspired by the karaoke genre and the use of "track acts" in a club, which allow audience members to keep dancing, according to a representative for the production. The disco-pop musical is based on a concept album by Byrne and Fatboy Slim and follows the story of Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines. The Alex Timbers-directed musical is scheduled to begin previews at the Broadway Theatre on June 17. The theater has been completely remodeled to accommodate a dance floor and other immersive levels for audience members. The production has requested a "special situation" stipulation, which would allow the show to proceed with less than the required number of musicians. The union notes that while the show is almost entirely performed to a pre-recorded soundtrack, there is a moment where a handful of actors play instruments. "A show with no live music and just pre-recorded tracks is absolutely an existential threat to Broadway- and is a cultural threat to musical theater worldwide," said Local 802 president and Executive Director Tino Gagliardi. - Billboard, 5/30/23...... 
Tom Waits is reportedly "writing again" according to a new memoir by his longtime Irish music agent, Paul Charles. In his book, Adventures in Wonderland, Charles discusses his transition into being one of the most important agents in the music industry, as well as his time working with artists including Van Morrison, Dire Straits, The Kinks, U2 and more. In one section of the book Charles discusses his longtime relationship with Waits and includes a discussion of the last performance the troubadour did back in 2008 -- in a tent venue in Dublin named the Rat Cellar. "We all hope he will tour again," Charles writes. "After he did the three nights in the Rat Cellar, he went home. He enjoyed the tour a lot, and the idea was to start writing. He did a bit of recording, and then he basically got distracted by the movie world for a while. The news is that he's started writing again. We've all got our fingers crossed for another return visit." Waits released his last studio album, Bad As Me, in 2011 and, more recently, his 1973 debut album, Closing Time, celebrated its 50th anniversary with a new vinyl reissue. - NME, 5/24/23...... Several Jewish groups, politicians and an alliance of civil society groups gathered for a memorial ceremony and a protest rally against a concert by Roger Waters in Frankfurt, Germany on May 28. They accuse the Pink Floyd co-founder of antisemitism -- an allegation he denies. Waters has also drawn their ire for his support of the BDS movement, which calls for boycotts and sanctions against Israel. Frankfurt authorities had initially tried to prevent the concert taking place, but Waters successfully challenged the move in a local court. The concert is taking place in the city's Festhalle, where in Nov. 1938 more than 3,000 Jews were rounded up by the Nazis, beaten and abused, and later deported to concentration camps. "[Waters'] words and imagery spread Jew-hatred and are part of a trend: to normalize Israel-hatred under the protection of freedom of speech or art," Elio Adler, the head of the Jewish group WerteInitiative which supports the protest, said. Earlier in May, police in Berlin said they had opened an investigation of Waters on suspicion of incitement over a costume the musician wore when he performed in the German capital in May. - Billboard, 5/28/23...... 
That '70s Show star Danny Masterson was convicted of two counts of rape in a Los Angeles courtroom on May 31 and faces a 30 years to life sentence after a jury found him guilty on two of three counts of rape at his second trial, in which the Church of Scientology played a central role. The 47-year-old actor's wife, actress and model Bijou Phillips, gasped when the verdict was read and wept as he was taken into custody, while a group of family and friends who sat stone-faced behind him throughout both trials. The jury of seven women and five men reached the verdict after deliberating for seven days spread over two weeks. They could not reach a verdict on the third count, that alleged Masterson raped a longtime girlfriend. They had voted 8-4 in favor of conviction. Masterson will be held without bail until he is sentenced. No sentencing date has yet been set, but the judge told Masterson and his lawyers to return to court Aug. 4 for a hearing. "I am experiencing a complex array of emotions -- relief, exhaustion, strength, sadness -- knowing that my abuser, Danny Masterson, will face accountability for his criminal behavior," one of the women, whom Masterson knew as a fellow member of the church and was convicted of raping at his home in 2003, said in a statement. A second woman, a former girlfriend, whose count left the jury deadlocked, said in the statement: "While I'm encouraged that Danny Masterson will face some criminal punishment, I am devastated that he has dodged criminal accountability for his heinous conduct against me." A spokesperson for Masterson declined comment, but his attorneys will almost certainly appeal. After a deadlocked jury led to a mistrial in December, prosecutors retried Masterson, saying he forcibly raped three women in his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003. They told jurors he drugged the women's drinks so he could rape them. They said he used his prominence in the church -- where all three women were also members at the time -- to avoid consequences for decades. The two women whose testimony led to Masterson's conviction said that in 2003, he gave them drinks and that they then became woozy or passed out before he violently raped them. He knew both from social circles in the church. Masterson was not charged with any counts of drugging the victims, and there is no toxicology evidence to back up the assertion from the prosecution. His attorney asked for a mistrial over the issue's inclusion. The motion was denied, but the issue is likely to be a major factor in any potential appeal. The charges date to a period when Masterson was at the height of his fame, starring from 1998 until 2006 as Steven Hyde on Fox's That '70s Show -- the show that made stars of Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Topher Grace. Masterson had reunited with Kutcher on the 2016 Netflix comedy The Ranch, but was written off the show when an LAPD investigation was revealed in Dec. 2017. - AP, 5/31/23.
The lead single from Dolly Parton's upcoming rock-influenced album has soared to No. 1 on Billboard's Rock Digital Song Sales chart dated May 27. In the May 12-18 tracking week, "World on Fire" sold 6,000 downloads in the United States, according to Luminate. That's after it moved 1,000 downloads in its first day of release, May 11, sparking its No. 13 debut on the May 20-dated survey (reflecting sales May 5-11). At the time, it became Parton' s first appearance on a Billboard rock chart. "World on Fire" was also bolstered by Parton' s performance of it on the Academy of Country Music Awards late on May 11, with that live video uploaded to Parton' s YouTube page May 12. The track concurrently opens at No. 3 on the Country Digital Song Sales chart, Parton's best rank since her Kenny Rogers duet "Islands in the Stream" hit No. 2 in Apr. 2020 after Rogers' death. "World on Fire is the first taste of Dolly's new album Rockstar, which will drop Nov. 17. The 30-song set features a score of collaborators, including Joan Jett, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Steven Tyler and more. - Billboard, 5/25/23...... 
Roger Waters has shared a statement on social media in which he calls the recent controversy over his concert in Berlin, Germany a "smear" aiming to "silence" him. On May 26, police in the German capital announced they had opened an investigation of Waters on suspicion of incitement over a costume the Pink Floyd co-founder wore when he performed in the German capital earlier in May. Images on social media showed the musician firing an imitation machine gun while dressed in a long black coat with a red armband. The Berlin gig came after Waters provoked a backlash after he made reference to Anne Frank at one of his earlier concerts in Germany, in which he wore an outfit that some deemed as having connotations to the Second World War. This particular segment of the show revolved around a character from Pink Floyd's The Wall LP, who imagines himself as a fictional fascist dictator during a hallucination. When playing the character, Waters donned a black trench coat and wore a red armband featuring two crossed hammers. Police confirmed that an investigation was opened over suspicions that the context of the costume could constitute a "glorification, justification or approval of Nazi rule" and therefore a disturbance of the public peace. Once the police investigation is concluded, police said, the case will be handed to Berlin prosecutors, who would decide whether to pursue any charges. After a Berlin police spokesperson announced that "an investigation has been opened over the costume displayed at the concerts on 17 and 18 May," Waters shared a statement on his Twitter account on May 27 hitting back at the criticism and investigations. Discussing how the gigs had "attracted bad faith attacks from those who want to smear and silence me because they disagree with my political views," Waters said that anyone considering the gigs' message to be anything but anti-fascist is "disingenuous and politically motivated." He added: "The elements of my performance that have been questioned are quite clearly a statement in opposition to fascism, injustice, and bigotry in all its forms," he said. "The depiction of an unhinged fascist demagogue has been a feature of my shows since Pink Floyd's The Wall in 1980. I have spent my entire life speaking out against authoritarianism and oppression where I set it & My parents fought the Nazis in World War II, with my father paying the ultimate price. Regardless of the consequences of the attacks against me, I will continue to condemn injustice and all those who perpetrate it." The show was part of the ongoing leg of Waters' "This Is Not A Drill" farewell tour, and was one of the two shows that were originally cancelled in the country following controversy regarding comments which many viewed as anti-semitic. Both shows were initially cancelled by the municipal government due to the musician' s views on Israel, before the decision was overturned. - New Musical Express/AP, 5/27/23...... Tributes to Tina Turner are flowing in since the "Queen of Rock N' Roll" died on May 24 at her home in Switzerland after a long illness. Speaking to host Ari Melber on MSNBC's The Beat via phone a few hours after the news broke, Cher revealed that she and other friends of Tina's started paying visits to her recently "because I thought, 'I need to put this time into our friendship, so she knows we haven't forgotten her." "So we all took turns going and spending time with her and it made her happy." She noted that a friend said it was always a scene when they were together because they would crack each other up and laugh their "distinct" laughs. Cher said that Turner had "her dialysis machine in her house," hinting that the singer may have been employing the device typically used by people with kidney failure or end-stage renal disease. Turner was known to suffer from kidney issues and got a kidney transplant from her husband, Erwin Bach, in 2017. "She fought this sickness for such a long time and she was so strong as you think she would be, but I know towards the end, she told me once, she said, 'I'm really ready. I just don't want to put up with this anymore,'" said Cher, whose interview has been shared on MSNBC's Twitter page. Posting on Instagram, Mick Jagger said he was "so saddened by the passing of my wonderful friend Tina Turner," and captioned a series of photos of him performing with the late icon from decades past. "She was truly an enormously talented performer and singer. She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her." Turner's What's Love Got to Do with It doppelgänger, actress Angela Bassett, also took to Instagram to share a heartbreaking tribute to the musical icon. "How do we say farewell to a woman who owned her pain and trauma and used it as a means to help change the world?," Bassett wrote. "Through her courage in telling her story, her commitment to stay the course in her life, no matter the sacrifice, and her determination to carve out a space in rock and roll for herself and for others who look like her, Tina Turner showed others who lived in fear what a beautiful future filled with love, compassion, and freedom should look like," the actress added alongside a photo of the duo laughing. R&B icon Beyoncé posted a touching tribute to Tina on her Twitter account, paying her respects and thanking her for the ways that she shaped her as an artist: "My beloved queen. I love you endlessly. I'm so grateful for your inspiration, and all the ways you have paved the way. You are strength and resilience. You are the epitome of power and passion." Other tributes to Turner came from the likes of Blondie's Debbie Harry, Dolly Parton, Ronnie Wood, Bryan Adams, Ringo Starr, Jennifer Hudson, Nicki Minaj, Chaka Khan, former president Barack Obama, and Pres. Joe Biden. Meanwhile, the cause of death of the "Simply the Best" icon has been announced. On May 25 her representative said she had passed away from "natural causes," after previously only saying she had been battling a "long illness" without specifying a cause of death. Tina admitted two months before her death that she was in "great danger" due to her battle with kidney disease. Two years before her death she also revealed in the Tina feature-length documentary she had been dealing with a string of physical and mental health ailments for decades. She said she had been diagnosed with a form of post-traumatic stress disorder from the domestic abuse she suffered throughout her marriage with her first husband and music partner, Ike Turner, who died in 2007 aged 76. Tina added: "I had an abusive life, there's no other way to tell the story. It's a reality. It's a truth. That's what you've got, so you have to accept it." A spokesperson for Tina told the U.K. paper The Sun that Turner will be laid to rest at "a private funeral ceremony attended by close friends and family." Since her death, a flood of fans have gathered outside her $76 million home in Switzerland, with devotees leaving candles, flowers and messages around the 10-building waterfront estate in the municipality of Staefa, on the northern shores of Lake Zurich, where Tina died. - NME/Bang Showbiz, 5/25/23...... 
Stevie Nicks is paying tribute to the young victims whose lives were taken in the Robb Elementary School shooting, which took place exactly one year ago on May 24, 2022 in her home state of Texas. The Fleetwood Mac singer/songwriter marked the Uvalde massacre's one-year anniversary with a heartfelt letter on Twitter titled "THE LOST FUTURES OF UVALDE." Reminiscing on growing up and discovering her passions for music and dance as a child in El Paso, Nicks mourned the fact that 19 fourth-graders from a city just a few hours away from her hometown will never get the chance to do the same following last spring' s tragedy, which remains one of the deadliest school shootings on record. "As we ponder the one-year anniversary of Uvalde, and the myriad of shootings that have happened since that fateful day, I can' t help but ask myself, what if I had been shot and killed by a man with a gun while in my ballet class in third grade?" she wrote. "And I can' t help but think of all those little lost futures." Since Uvalde, which resulted in a total of 21 deaths and 18 injuries, BBC News reports that at least 600 more mass shootings have taken place across the U.S. Texas, meanwhile, has moved to widen access to firearms in the last year. "My arms go around each one of those little hearts like a ring of angels that will always be missing," Nicks concluded her message. "I will never be able to let this go. If anything, I will do all I can to keep this story alive." The "Edge of Seventeen" singer also spoke out last year shortly after the shooting transpired, with a similar letter posted to her Twitter. "No one is trying to take away guns from people who get them for a good reason," she wrote at the time. "Guns are not toys. Background checks are not that hard." - Billboard, 5/24/23...... Interviewed by the British paper The Times, Paul Simon revealed that he's dealing with a ravage of time that is totally expected at his age of 81, but could seriously impact how he records and performs in the future. Simon said that he began to experience hearing loss in his left ear while recording his just-released continuous seven-song musical suite, Seven Psalms. "Quite suddenly, I lost most of the hearing in my left ear, and nobody has an explanation for it," he said. "So everything became more difficult." And while he described being frustrated and annoyed at first, Simon said he didn't get angry because, "I thought it would pass and it would repair itself." The quintessential New Yorker -- who now lives on a ranch in wife Edie Brickell's home state of Texas -- said his hearing has not yet returned, which means he may be unable to tour again. The only upside, according to the two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, is that he may be spared playing songs from his catalog that he's grown weary of. "Sometimes there are songs that I like and then at a certain point in a tour, I' ll say, 'What the f are you doing, Paul?'" he told the paper. "The songs of mine that I don't want to sing live, I don't sing them," he said. "Quite often that would come during [1986 hit] 'You Can Call Me Al.' I' d think, 'What are you doing? You're like a Paul Simon cover band. You should get off the road, go home.'" Seven Psalms is the follow-up to his 2018 rarities collection, In the Blue Light. The album, intended to be listened to as an extended piece, is predominantly performed by Simon on unplugged instruments and also features British vocal ensemble VOCES8 as well as Brickell. - Billboard, 5/24/23...... ABBA have responded to rumours that they could be reuniting for the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest in their native Sweden, which helped skyrocket the quartet to international fame. After latest victor Loreen won the competition with her song "Tattoo" earlier in May, rumour spread online that it was all part of a plan to have ABBA reform to mark 50 years of their own Eurovision win as the contest returns to their home country as the 2024 host nation. Now, they have shot down the chances of it happening -- even just for one evening. "I don't want to," Benny Andersson told the BBC, "and if I don't want to, the others won't. It's the same for all four of us -- someone says, 'no' -- it's a no." His bandmate Björn Ulvaeus added: "We can celebrate 50 years of ABBA without us being on stage." Ulvaeus also shot down the chances of the ABBA-tars appearing at the UK's Glastonbury festival too, telling New Musical Express: "I don't think that's possible, yet. It might be in the future. As it is, it's too complicated because the lighting, the sound, the visuals, everything is integrated and it's so complicated." The ABBA Voyage virtual concert series is currently set to run in London until the end of January 2024, with plans reported for the experience to be taken on a world tour. Asked about what the future of the show involves, Ulvaeus replied: "We hope to stay in this venue for as long as we can. We hope they'll have us for many years, and we might build other replicas of this in other places: Asia, Australia, North America. There are lots and promoters and cities that we're talking to at the moment about that." Meanwhile, ABBA's Anni-Frid Lyngstad told The Sun on May 25 that she struggles to grasp it isn't really her singing as an avatar. "It's hard to fully grasp that it isn't me and yet it is me. I can certainly see myself in the digital figure, the gestures, the facial expressions, the eyes that express all sorts of feelings. It's absurd but it's real," the 77-year-old singer said. - NME/Music-News.com, 5/25/23...... Diana Ross announced on May 23 that she's adding to "once-in-a-lifetime" London shows to her upcoming "The Music Legacy Tour." In March, Ross announced a 12-stop North American tour, which will start in California on June 9. In an Instagram post, she urged fans to "come join the love fest" as she delivers all her greatest hits for her adoring fans. The news comes nearly a year after the Motown legend performed at the Glastonbury festival in the coveted Sunday Legends slot. The 78-year-old broke records on the stage by attracting the largest assembled audience ever at Glasto, and the biggest home viewership in the history of BBC broadcasting the festival. - NME, 5/23/23...... 
The Studio City, Calif. home made famous by The Brady Bunch and decades later became the center of a high-profile bidding war in 2018 is on the market for $5.5 million, with a portion of proceeds from the sale benefitting a charity working to end childhood hunger in the U.S. The iconic home made famous by the beloved TV show about a blended family in the 1970s spans 5,140 sq. ft. across two floors with five bedrooms and five bathrooms. There's no mistaking the Brady home's floating staircase, burnt orange-and-avocado green kitchen, and Jack-n-Jill bathroom between the kids' bedrooms. It was in July 2018 when the house came up for sale for the first time in nearly a half-century and sparked a high-profile bidding war that involved singer Lance Bass of 'Nsync fame, but which home improvement cable channel HGTV ultimately won. The network paid $3.5 million for the property in Aug. 2018, 86% more than the initial $1.8 million asking price. At that time, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who oversees HGTV, announced plans to "restore the Brady Bunch home to its 1970s glory." As part of the renovation, HGTV invested $1.9 million and added 2,000 square feet to the property's original footprint, including a second floor which the original home didn't have, which only fed into the Bradymania. More than 28 million viewers tuned in to the series A Very Brady Renovation to watch the actors who played the six Brady kids, including Maureen McCormick and Barry Williams, reunite and transform the home into a replica of the original set design. They returned later to the renovated house for a holiday special. "We did everything we dreamed of doing with the house and delighted a lot of Brady Bunch fans in the process, but it's time for us to let it be loved and enjoyed by someone else," HGTV said in a press release. A portion of the proceeds from the home sale will go to "Turn Up! Fight Hunger," a partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery and No Kid Hungry to end childhood hunger in the U.S. - Los Angeles Daily News, 5/24/23...... He's movin' out! Billy Joel has put his sprawling 26 acre Long Island estate -- which boasts a hair salon, wine cellar, bowling alley and three guesthouses -- on the market for $49 million. The 20,000 sq. ft. main home features 5 bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms, and six fireplaces. His many framed gold records currently adorn the walls of the bowling alley, and the Piano Man put his instrument of choice -- a baby grand piano -- in his music room. Joel bought the property, which has its own helipad, in 2002 for $22.5 million. - People, 6/5/23...... Charles "Chas" Newby, a bassist for the Beatles in their early days who filled in for then-bassist Stuart Sutcliffe for a number of live shows in 1960, has died of as yet undisclosed causes. He was 81. The news was first announced via The Cavern Club Liverpool's Facebook page -- where the Beatles rose to prominence -- on May 23, followed by Roag Best, the brother of former Beatles drummer Pete Best. The Cavern Club Liverpool wrote on Facebook: "It's with great sadness to hear about the passing of Chas Newby. Chas stepped in for The Beatles for a few dates when Stuart Sutcliffe stayed in Hamburg and latterly he played for The Quarrymen. Interestingly, he was also the first left-handed bass guitarist in The Beatles. RIP Chas Newby thoughts and well wishes from everybody at The Cavern Club." Roag Best wrote: "Both Pete and I and the whole Best family absolutely devasted to hear the very sad news with regards to one of the families closest friends Chas Newby passing last night. Many of you will know him for playing bass guitar for both The Beatles and The Quarrymen, but to us he was laid back Chas with the big smile. We'll truly miss him. Forever in our thoughts. God bless you Chas." Newby performed bass with the Beatles for a short span of live shows in late 1960, when then-bassist Stuart Sutcliffe was unable to perform with the band. Sutcliffe later resumed operations with the Beatles until his exit in July the following year. Newby was also the band's first left-handed bassist, followed by guitarist-turned-bassist Paul McCartney. Newby also played in the reformed The Quarrymen between 2016 and 2022. Since the news of his passing, Newby has received a handful of tributes including Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, who wrote on Twitter: "RIP Chas Newby, fill-in Beatle and fair chap. He deputised for Stuart on a few dates when the Beatles returned from Hamburg the first time, end-1960, including the momentous Litherland date. Latterly he's been one of the Quarry Men too. A charming man, always a pleasure to meet." - NME, 5/24/23...... 
Rolf Harris, a disgraced Australian entertainer who, prior to his downfall, enjoyed hits in the U.K., the U.S. ("Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963) and his homeland, Australia -- and who was once commissioned to paint Queen Elizabeth II -- has died at the age of 93. Born March 30, 1930 in Perth, Australia, Harris' life and career will be remembered in two halves. At the peak of his celebrity, following a relocation to the U.K., Mr. Harris enjoyed A-list status on both sides of the globe, a star of TV and popular music, an enthusiast for the wobble board and didgeridoo who had a string of hit singles, and collaborations with The Wiggles and others. He enjoyed a string of U.K. chart hits including "Two Little Boys" (Columbia), which has the distinction of being the very last No. 1 in Britain in the 1960s. "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" reached No. 9 in Britain back in 1960, and he had a No. 3 hit with "Sun Arise" in 1962. He enjoyed another U.K. top 10 in 1993, when his cover of "Stairway to Heaven," a spin-off from the Australian TV show Money or the Gun, reached No. 7. The Guinness World Records book of British Hit Singles had summed-up Harris as a "lovable Australian musician, artist and presenter." Along the way, he was elevated into the highest circles, by being named as Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). His spectacular fall from grace began in 2013, when he was questioned and arrested police under Operation Yewtree, the investigation into sexual abuse among members of the English media elite, including the late Jimmy Savile. Following a trial in 2014, Mr. Harris was found guilty of various indecent assaults on women and young girls between 1968 and 1986, and was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison. He was released in 2017, but denied any wrongdoing and never issued an apology to his victims. According to the BBC, Harris passed May 10, and has already been buried, though details have been kept under lock and key until now. His death certificate, the Corporation reports, notes that he died from neck cancer and "frailty of old age" at his home in Bray, Berkshire. A statement from his family reads: "This is to confirm that Rolf Harris recently died peacefully surrounded by family and friends and has now been laid to rest. They ask that you respect their privacy. No further comment will be made." - Billboard, 5/23/23...... Former Earth, Wind & Fire member Sheldon Reynolds died on Mar. 23 at the age of 63. Born Sept. 13, 1959 in Cincinnati, Oh., Reynolds displayed a gift for the guitar at an early age. He went on to tour with singer Millie Jackson, and later joined Sun, recording three albums with the R&B act. In 1983, he joined The Commodores. During a four-year spell with the band, he performed on the 1985 LP Nightshift and the following year's album release United. He then joined EW&F as lead guitarist and co-vocalist, playing on the soul band' s LPs Touch The World (1987), Heritage (1990), Millennium (1993) and In The Name of Love (1997). The midtempo Millennium hit "Sunday Morning" earned a Grammy Award nomination in the category of best R&B vocal performance by a duo or group. Thanks in part to Reynolds' contributions, the band was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame's class of 2000, and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, awarded in 1995. Reynolds went on to work on solo projects with Bailey and EW&F's late band leader Maurice White, who died in 2016. His passing closely follows the death of former EW&F drummer Fred White in January, at the age of 67. - Billboard, 5/26/23...... Joy McKean, the Australian singer, songwriter and country music scene builder who, along with her husband, the late Slim Dusty, formed one of Oz's great creative partnerships, died on May 25 following a battle with cancer. She was 93. "Joy passed away peacefully last night with family by her side," reads a message from her family on May 26. A trailblazer in the Aussie country scene, Ms. McKean enjoyed a career spanning more than 70 years, and composed some of the genre s most celebrated songs, from "The Biggest Disappointment" to "Ringer from the Top End," "Walk a Country Mile," "Indian Pacific" and "Lights on the Hill," an award-winning hit for her husband Slim Dusty, whom she married in 1951. Many others have covered the song, including Keith Urban. Lauded as the "grand lady" of Australian country, Ms. McKean made cut her teeth in the 1940s and '50s, working alongside her sister Heather -- as the McKean Sisters. After teaming up with Dusty, Australian country music had its golden couple. Ms. McKean wrote many of Dusty's iconic songs, managed him for half a century, and the pair toured relentlessly in regional and remote Australia, at a time when the perceived role of women was that of home-maker. With Ms. McKean as his support, muse and collaborator, Dusty released more than 100 albums and sold over eight million copies. Dusty died in 2003, aged 76. She is survived by her two children, four grandchildren, and six great grandchilden. "She will be remembered as a pioneer in Australian music," reads the statement from her family. - Billboard, 5/26/23...... 
Veteran show business actor and singer Ed Ames, perhaps best known as Cherokee Indian Mingo on the Fess Parker 1960s NBC-TV vehicle, Daniel Boone, died on May 21 in Los Angeles. He was 95, and no cause of death was given. Mr. Ames began his career in the 1950s as part of the singing The Ames Brothers quartet, joining with his brothers Vic, Joe and Gene. The group had a hit with "Rag Mop" in 1950, and totaled 49 chart hits before ending their association in 1963. The group also had a syndicated TV program, The Ames Brothers Show. Mr. Ames also branched off into a solo career, hitting the charts with "My Cup Runneth Over," "Who Will Answer?" and "Try to Remember." He then switched gears and did stage tours in the off-Broadway shows "The Crucible" and "The Fantasticks," and then scored a starring role on Broadway in "Carnival!" He later starred with Kirk Douglas, Gene Wilder and William Daniels in the Broadway production of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Then television came calling, and Mr. Ames -- though of Russian-Jewish heritage -- was tabbed to play a regular supporting role in Daniel Boone. During his TV career, he accidentally became a The Tonight Show legend when he demonstrated how to throw a tomahawk for host Johnny Carson. Aiming at a wood panel outline of a cowboy, Ames's throw landed squarely in the groin of the drawing. Carson quipped, "I didn't even know you were Jewish!" and then, "Welcome to Frontier Bris." The audience roared for a reported four minutes. Mr. Ames later made guest appearances in such shows as The Rifleman, McCloud, It's Garry Shandling's Show, Jake and the Fatman and Murder She Wrote. Mr. Ames was born in Massachusetts as the youngest of nine children, and received a B.A. in theater and cinema arts from UCLA in 1975. He is survived by his wife, Jeanne; two children, Ronald and Sonya; seven grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and stepson Stephen Saviano. Another daughter, Marcella, predeceased him. - Deadline.com, 5/26/23.
Tina Turner, one of the most flamboyant, overtly sexual performers in rock in the 1960s and 1970s who went on to make one of the biggest comebacks in show business history in the 1980s, "died peacefully" on May 24 after a long illness in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland, according to a statement from her family. She was 83. "With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model," her family said. Ms. Turner's influence on rock, R&B and soul singing and performance was immeasurable -- both with her ex-husband Ike Turner and during her own solo career -- as she influenced everyone from Mick Jagger to Mary J. Blige to Janet Jackson to Beyoncé. Born Anna Mae Bullock on Nov. 26, 1939, Ms. Turner grew up in Nutbush, Tenn., a rural and unincorporated area in Haywood County in western Tennessee chronicled in her song 
In 1966, producer Phil Spector produced what proved to be his last "Wall of Sound" single that was recorded by the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, "River Deep, Mountain High." It went to #3 in England, but did so poorly in the U.S. that Spector did not produce again until 1969. Ike and Tina continued to make pop hits into the late '60s, opening for the Rolling Stones on their 1969 tour. They were especially successful into the early '70s with steamy cover songs like "Come Together" (#57 pop, #21 R&B), "I Want To Take You Higher" (#34 pop, #25 R&B), and "Proud Mary" (#4 pop, #5 R&B). In 1973 "Nutbush City Limits," written by Tina, hit #4 in England and #13 R&B and #22 pop in the U.S. Two years later, she got her first movie role, playing the Acid Queen in one of the most memorable scenes of 
She went on to win additional Grammys, for "Better Be Good to Me," a live album, and for her participation in Herbie Hancock's 2007 Joni Mitchell tribute album, River: The Joni Letters, on which Tina sang Mitchell's "Edith and the Kingpin. In 1999, Tina released what would be her final album, Twenty Four Seven, partly produced by the same team who worked on Cher's "Believe." The album didn't achieve the commercial success of the records that preceded it, but the accolades and recognition continued. In 2005, Ms. Turner was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor by then-president George W. Bush, with Beyoncé celebrating Ms. Turner with a rendition of "Proud Mary." Between 2008 and 2009, she embarked on a 50th anniversary tour. "Tina," a musical based on her life, premiered in London in 2018 and on Broadway the following year. In 1986, Ms. Turner met German music executive Erwin Bach, and the two became a couple soon after. The couple first lived in Germany before moving to Switzerland. In recent years, she suffered a stroke three weeks after their wedding in 2013, then developed intestinal cancer. In light of possible kidney failure, Bach donated a kidney to his wife in 2017. "I wondered if anyone would think that Erwin's living donation was transactional in some way," she wrote in her 2018 memoir My Love Story. "Incredibly, considering how long we had been together, there were still people who wanted to believe that Erwin married me for my money and fame." Reflecting on how she connected to an audience, Turner said to Rolling Stone in 1986, "My songs are a little bit of everybody's lives who are watching me. You gotta sing what they can relate to..." - Rolling Stone, 5/24/23.
Iconic R&B group The Spinners have donated some of their stage costumes to the Motown Museum in Detroit, the studio-turned-museum where they got their first big break. It "was a long time ago," Spinners co-founder Henry Farmbrough told reporters when he toured Motown's Studio A on May 19 as part of a ceremony that included the donation of 375 outfits worn by the group during performances over their long career. "I used to dream about this place," Farmbrough added, saying that he had to convince his wife that the studio was where he was going for 3 a.m. rehearsals and recording sessions with other members of the group. The Spinners' first big hit for Motown was "It's A Shame" in 1970, which peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. The Spinners would later sign with Atlantic Records and turn out a string of hits that included "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love," "Then Came You," "The Rubberband Man" and "Mighty Love." "Then Came You," which featured singer Dionne Warwick, reached No. 1 in 1974 on the Hot 100. Spinners songs have received six Grammy Award nominations, and they've earned 18 Platinum and Gold Albums, according to their official website. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame recently announced that The Spinners are among its class of 2023 inductees. Along with Fambrough, Billy Henderson, Pervis Jackson, Bobby Smith, Philipp Wynne and John Edwards are listed as inductees. Originally called The Domingoes, the group was formed in 1954 just north of Detroit in Ferndale, and in 1964, the group was recruited by Motown Records. The Motown Museum has announced it is currently expanding to a 50,000-square-foot (4,645-square-meter) entertainment and tourist destination called Hitsville NEXT. - Billboard, 5/20/23...... Citing "travel, equipment and logistical complications," organizers of KISS upcoming summer UK tour announced on May 22 that the band has cancelled the opening show of the tour. KISS had been set to begin the trek at the Home Park stadium in Plymouth on June 3, however a statement on the venue's website has now confirmed that the gig has been shelved. "Sadly, KISS and Robomagic, the show's promoter, have today announced that they are having to cancel the opening night of the upcoming KISS UK tour," it read. "Tickets can be refunded or exchanged for other UK shows. Fans have been directed to contact their point of purchase for further information," the statement added. A spokesperson for the venue said: "We are really sorry to hear that KISS can no longer perform at Home Park Stadium this summer." The UK leg of KISS' "End Of The Road" tour now comprises five dates, including a June 5 show at Birmingham's Resorts World Arena, a June 6 gig at Newcastle's Utilia Arena, and dates in London (7/5), Manchester (7/7) and Glasgow (7/8). - New Musical Express, 5/22/23...... Organizers of the 1980's-themed Cruel World Festival at Brookside at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., were forced to cancel sets by Iggy Pop and Siouxsie on May 20 due to severe weather conditions. Pop's set was cut short because of a surprise thunderstorm, and it would have been Siouxsie's first U.S. performance in 15 years. Both artists were rescheduled to perform on the next day of the festival. - Billboard, 5/21/23...... As the new Donna Summer documentary Love to Love You premeired on May 20 on premium TV channel HBO, an official trailer for the film has been shared on 
Cher marked her 77th birthday on May 20 by posing a rhetorical question to her 3.9 million Twitter followers. "OK, will someone please tell me... when will I feel old? This is ridiculous," the "Believe" singer wrote, before adding, "I keep hearing these numbers, but honestly, I can't understand them. What's the deal?" Cher then confessed: "I'm dyslexic, numbers are hard for me," before closing out by showing gratitude to her fans: "Thank you for staying, I know it's been hard, got to go work out." The post was Cher's first presence on Twitter since she split with her 37-year-old boyfriend, Universal executive Alexander Edwards, in March. The pair had reportedly been dating since Nov. 2022 and had sparked rumours of an engagement before separating. "On paper, it's kind of ridiculous," the "Gypsy, Tramps and Thieves" diva admitted of her relationship during a previous appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show. "But in real life, we get along great. He's fabulous. And I don't give men qualities that they don't deserve." - Music-News.com, 5/21/23...... Esteemed British actor Benedict Cumberbatch has been confirmed to be playing folk singer and Bob Dylan mentor Pete Seeger in the upcoming Dylan biopic, Complete Unknown. Deadline.com confirmed the news following a screening of Complete Unknown director James Mangold's latest film, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, at the Cannes Film Festival. Mangold also told Deadline that Elle Fanning is also set to star in the film. Seeger, who died in 2014, had a significant impact on Dylan's musical upbringing, from the perspectives of both music and activism. In turn, Seeger was an early supporter of Dylan, helping to facilitate his debut album with Columbia Records, and he also invited Dylan to play at Newport Folk Festival (where Seeger served as a board member). Complete Unknown is set to chronicle Dylan's early career until his arrival in New York City. Timothée Chalamet has been tapped for the lead role and is set to do all his own singing, while Monica Barbaro has also signed on to play Joan Baez, one of the first major artists to record his songs in the early 1960s. Mangold has previously worked on the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line in 2004. In 2007's Dylan dramatization I'm Not There, the rock bard was portrayed by the likes of Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and the late Heath Ledger. - NME, 5/20/23...... The original album cover artwork for the Rolling Stones' 1974 album 
Holding a press conference on May 17 ahead of his upcoming North American tour with his All Starr Band, Ringo Starr says he's "ready to rock." Sir Ringo, 82, is finally set to embark on his delayed 22-date jaunt, which he cancelled due to coming down with Covid-19 for a second time in 2022. The legendary former Beatles drummer has insisted he has never found touring or performing live to be "gruelling." "It's not gruelling playing. It's never been gruelling. I love to play. I love to play with these guys," he said. On his stamina, he continued: "I didn't think of it. I was just doing it. Yeah, it's been a long time ... I mean, 34 years with a couple of years' break because of the pandemic, but it's what I do. I love to play and I love to play with great musicians and I love to play great songs, and I get all of that from these guys." Starr kicked off the tour on May 19 in Temecula, Calif., and says he also has a country EP in the works with T-Bone Burnett, one of three new EP's he's working on. "[I said] if he's got any time and wants to do it... Well, he did want to do it, and he sent me, I promise you, one of the most beautiful country songs, tracks, I've heard in a long time. It's very old school country. It's beautiful. So I thought, 'Hey, I'm gonna make a country EP!'" One of the other EPs is a collaboration with legendary singer-songwriter Linda Perry, who has penned hits for Christina Aguilera and Gwen Stefani. "I just felt EPs, you could sort of look at it in a serious way and you can do it in a month. An album does take longer, so (EPs are) what I've been doing," Starr added. His 20-date tour is set to wrap on Sept. 23 in Kansas City. - Music-News.com, 5/18/23...... In other Beatles-related news, a rare first pressing of the Fab Four's classic 1968 The Beatles album (aka "the White Album") has been donated to charity. The British Heart Foundation said on May 17 that the 1968 album, which included the original inserts and a fold-out poster, was given to its Sutton Coldfield branch. It is thought to be particularly rare as it contains a misprint unique to the first version of the record, of which there are only 10,000 copies. The charity has listed it on eBay, with bids starting at £999.99. Fans will be able to bid until the auction closes on May 22. "Our music and vinyl experts were thrilled when this valuable piece of music history was donated to the BHF," Richard Pallier, from the charity, told BBC. He also confirmed that the album was in "good condition" despite being over 50 years old. - NME, 5/17/23...... The Sex Pistols announced on their official site on May 20 that they'll be releasing a new 7" replica single of their iconic debut "Anarchy in the UK" on June 9. "A 7" replica of UK single but in coloured vinyl officially for the first time. Red vinyl No. limited edition of 4576 copies," the announcement read. The site said the record, being released via the UMR label, would also feature a B-side of "I Wanna Be Me." Singer John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, 67, guitarist Steve Jones, also 67, drummer Paul Cook and bassist Glen Matlock, both 66, kicked off their punk careers with the 1976 anthem. It will be the first ever release of the single on coloured vinyl. The Sex Pistols reunited in 1996 for two years, and again between 2002 and 2003, before going their separates after another year's reunion between 2007 and 2008. To this day, the irreverent rockers have been embroiled in legal wrangles, with Lydon recently taking his ex- bandmates to court over the use of the group's music in Danny Boyle's miniseries on the band titled Pistol. - Music-News.com, 5/21/23...... Former Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young member Graham Nash has released a new 
A Manhattan federal judge ruled on May 16 that a transatlantic legal battle between Jimi Hendrix's estate and his former bandmates is going to be fought primarily in London -- at least for now. The two dueling camps -- Hendrix's estate and Sony Music on one side and the estates of bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell on the other -- have each filed their own lawsuit on opposite sides of the Atlantic over control of the rights to music created by the trio's Jimi Hendrix Experience. After a year of jockeying over which case should take precedence, Judge Ronnie Abrams ruled that it should be Redding and Mitchell's U.K. lawsuit. "The litigation centers on estate matters in England, general release documents located in England, and copyright and intellectual property rights under English law," Abrams wrote. "It can thus hardly be said that the courts of England are not an adequate forum." Hendrix teamed up with Redding and Mitchell in 1966 to form the Experience, and the trio went on to release a number of now-iconic songs before Hendrix's death, including "All Along The Watchtower," which spent nine weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968 and peaked at No. 20. The current fight kicked off in 2021, when Redding and Mitchell's heirs sent a letter in the U.K. claiming they own a stake in Hendrix's music and arguing that they're owed millions in royalties. The Hendrix estate and Sony responded a month later by filing their own lawsuit in New York federal court, arguing that Redding and Mitchell signed away their rights shortly after the legendary rocker died in 1970, in exchange for "significant monetary consideration." But for over a year, the two sides have been duking it out over which case should proceed first. The Hendrix estate and Sony say the contractual releases, which will play a central role in the case, were all signed in New York as part of probate proceedings in that state. But Redding and Mitchell's heirs have claimed the estate is merely trying to "circumvent" English courts to win a friendly judge in America. In April, a London appeals court ruled that the U.K. case could proceed, regardless of what happened in New York. That ruling said that the New York releases might indeed end up being the "central aspect in the dispute," but that the British case also dealt with broader issues of English law. Following the ruling, an attorney for the Hendrix estate told Billboard: "We're going to pursue our rights in the U.K., and when the case in the UK is resolved, we're going to pursue our rights in the U.S." - Billboard, 5/19/23...... Ruling on a case that record labels and publishers called "critical to the American music industry," the U.S. Supreme Court said on May 18 that pop art icon Andy Warhol violated a photographer's copyrights when he used her images of late funk/rock legend Prince to create one of his distinctive screen prints. By a seven to two vote, the high court ruled that Warhol did not make legal "fair use" of photos of Prince snapped by Lynn Goldsmith, a trailblazing rock-and-roll photographer who also captured images of Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen. Attorneys for the late artist had warned that creators must be able to re-use earlier works and that a loss would "chill" creativity. But Justice Sonia Sotomayor said that Warhol had used the photo for largely the same commercial purpose as Goldsmith -- and had offered little compelling reason for doing so. "Lynn Goldsmith's original works, like those of other photographers, are entitled to copyright protection, even against famous artists," the justice wrote. The ruling is the first time in more than three decades the justices have ruled on how creative works are covered by fair use. The last time the court did so was a landmark 1991 decision upholding 2 Live Crew's bawdy parody of Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman." - Billboard, 5/18/23...... Sting and Jamaican born reggae singer Shaggy will launch a "One Fine Day" music festival in Philadelphia at The Mann in Fairmoutn Park on Sept. 9. Sting and Shaggy, whose joint album 44/876 won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album in 2019, have been fast friends and collaborators for the last several years. The duo will headline the main stage at the festival, performing their biggest hits, including "Every Breath You Take, "Message in a Bottle, "Boombastic" and "Angel," both together and trading off on songs. The Sept. 9 appearance marks the only time the two will perform together in 2023. The full lineup can be viewed on 
Pro football legend Jim Brown, arguably the greatest player in NFL history and a champion for social activism throughout and long after his football career ended with the Cleveland Browns, died peacefully on the evening of May 18 at his home in Hollywood Hills, Calif. He was 87, and his wife, Monique, confirmed the death the following day on Instagram. "To the world, he was an activist, actor and football star," Monique Brown wrote on Instagram. "To our family, he was a loving and wonderful husband, father and grandfather. Our hearts are broken." Mr. Brown, who led the Browns to the NFL championship in 1964, was undoubtedly one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century. Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971, Mr. Brown retired as the NFL's all-time leading rusher (12,312 yards) after earning eight unanimous first-team all-pro selections and nine Pro Bowl honors during nine NFL seasons. A four-time NFL MVP and eight-time rushing champ, he averaged 104.3 rushing yards per game -- and never missed a game. His impact as a social activist was also profound. In 1988, he founded Amer-I-Can, an organization that assisted former prison inmates in developing life skills that aided their transition after serving sentences. Among many social service endeavors, Mr. Brown was also committed to reducing violence by gang members and took a hands-on role with efforts to create a truce between rival gangs in Los Angeles. Born on Feb. 17, 1936 in San Simons Island, Ga., Mr. Brown was raised by his grandmother during his early years. At age 8, he moved to Manhasset, Long Island, where his mother was a domestic worker. The Cleveland Browns drafted Mr. Brown sixth overall in 1957. En route to NFL Rookie of the Year honors, Mr. Brown set a then-NFL single-game rushing record with 237 yards that also stood as the league's rookie record for 40 years. Decades later, Mr. Brown was still connected to the team that he starred for. Since 2008, he served as an executive advisor and special advisor to the Browns. He is also depicted in a statue outside the team's home stadium that was erected in 2016. "Jim was one of the reasons the Browns have such a tremendous fan base today," Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam said in a statement released by the team. "So many people grew up watching him just dominate every time he stepped onto the football field, but his countless accolades on the field only tell a small part of his story." - USA Today, 5/19/23.
Village People frontman Victor Willis has sent a cease and desist letter over a video of former US president Donald Trump and a Village People look-alike group dancing to the group's 1979 hit "Macho Man." The letter, from Willis and Village People manager (and Willis' wife) Karen Willis specifically calls out a recent video from Mar-a-Lago showing Trump dancing along to the Village People's "Macho Man" while a group of people -- dressed up just like the Village People -- dance behind him. Karen asserted that U.S. trademark law "protects against the unauthorized use of the Village People image and trade dress." "To be certain, the use of the group's image and likeness at Mar-a-Lago was unauthorized. Though my husband has tolerated your client's use of his Village People music, we cannot allow such use by him to cause public confusion as to endorsement," she added. The 45th president's use of Village People hits like 
In 1973, Kansas was signed to '60s hitmaker Don Kirshner's Kirshner Records and built a loyal following with its first three albums, released between Mar. 1974 and Sept. 1975, and nonstop touring before 1976's quadruple-platinum 
Elvis Presley's ex-wife Priscilla Presley and their actress granddaughter Riley Keough have reached a settlement over the estate of their daughter Lisa Marie Presley, who died on Jan. 12 at age 54 after suffering a heart attack. After her death, Priscilla disputed a 2016 amendment to Lisa Marie's will. The 77-year-old alleged she and former business manager Barry Siegel had been removed as co-trustees and had been replaced by Riley and Benjamin Keough without her knowledge. Lisa Marie's son Benjamin died at the age of 27 in 2020. But on May 16, lawyers acting for Priscilla and Riley announced the two parties had reached a settlement at a Los Angeles court. Details of the agreement remain under wraps. "They have reached a settlement. Families are happy. Everyone is happy. Unified and together and excited for the future," Priscilla's lawyer Ronson Shamoun told reporters, while Riley's attorney Justin Gold added: "(Riley) would not have agreed to the settlement if she was not happy with it." In a statement to People magazine, Priscilla insisted they had "resolved all confusion" related to the case. "As a family, we are pleased that we resolved this together," she said. "My family and I hope that everyone will grant us the privacy we have needed to properly grieve Lisa Marie and spend personal time together. We love and appreciate all of you and the Presley family is stronger than ever." One of the requests Priscilla reportedly wanted in the settlement was to be buried beside Elvis at the Graceland mansion when she dies, however since Elvis' mother and father are buried to his left and right, exhuming one of them to be buried elsewhere is not likely to happen. Both parties plan to file a motion to seal the settlement agreement. Meanwhile, Riley Keough paid tribute to Lisa Marie on the first Mother's Day since her death on May 14 by posting a message to 
Former 
The estate Syd Barrett has partnered with their music publishing arm, Syd Barrett Music Ltd, to launch an official YouTube channel to launch a YouTube channel for the late Pink Floyd co-founder's solo work."The channel is a natural extension of Syd Barrett's existing online presence and will consist of artistic interpretations of his solo music, with accompanying music and lyrics," the estate said in a statement. "Together with the Swedish animator, Alex Teglbjaerg, known as The Artist on the Border, there will be new animated music videos released on an ongoing basis. It will initially focus on the solo songs which originally appeared on An Introduction To Syd Barrett (2010)." So far, Teglbjaerg has worked his magic on "Terrapin," "Dark Globe" and "Dominoes" from Barrett's '70s albums The Madcap Laughs and Barrett. "There isn't all that much filmed Syd Barrett out there," Peter Barrett said on behalf of the family. "You've already seen most of the material and the few bits that pop up are quickly placed in the digital public domain. We want to take his quirky and poetic lyrics and translate them into images." Barrett co-founded Pink Floyd with Roger Waters and Nick Mason in 1965 as a teen. He was slowly replaced by David Gilmour as he battled an addiction to psychedelic drugs, leaving the group officially in 1968. He died from pancreatic cancer in 2006 at age 60. A new Pink Floyd documentary, Have You Got It Yet? The Story Of Syd Barrett And Pink Floyd, will premiere in UK cinemas on May 15. - Music-News.com, 5/11/23...... After her well known nemesis Donald Trump was convicted of sexually assaulting and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll on May 9, Bette Midler took to 
Dolly Parton's long-awaited first ever album of rock songs, 
Former The Commodores member and '80s solo superstar Lionel Richie and current pop sensation Katy Perry were absent from their duties on the May 7 episode of American Idol for a good reason: the judges were busy performing at King Charles III's coronation concert at Windsor Castle in London a day after England's new monarch was seated in a ceremony rich with tradition and mega-charged pomp. Some 20,000 people gathered at the castle for the show that saw Richie performing "All Night Long" and the Commodores' "Easy" for the royals and their invited guests. The AP reported that Princess Charlotte and her mother, Kate, Princess of Wales sang along as Perry performed her hit "Roar" while decked out in a gold foil ball gown as drones formed into the shape of a lion to honor the new king's coat of arms. Perry closed out the show with "Firework," which she dedicated to the king, saying, "Thank you for bringing out the firework in so many young people." There was even a fly-by from Top Gun franchise actor Tom Cruise, who appeared in a video message saying, "Pilot to pilot. Your Majesty, you can be my wingman any time." A minor controversy from Richie's performance erupted on social media after some fans thought his voice sounded unusual, with some branding it as being "completely different" to their expectations. "Is someone disguised as Lionel Richie because that is not his voice! Sounds completely different," wrote one viewer. Another agreed, writing: "Lionel Richie's voice sounds totally different. I wouldn't recognise it!" A third also weighed in on the debate, saying: "What the hell has happened to Lionel Richie's voice? He sounds completely different and is terrible live!" Not all fans were convinced that the singer's voice was different to usual, however, with many also taking to Twitter to share their appreciation for the performance, which can be viewed on 
As Buddy Guy is announcing his retirement from the road, the 86-year-old legendary bluesman has revealed to Guitar Player magazine that the Rolling Stones once camped in a van to see him perform live. "After I became friends with them, they told me they'd slept in a van to watch me play," Guy told the magazine. I said, 'Man, y'all play better than me,' and they're like, 'No! We got it all from you! We didn't know it was possible to play the blues with a Strat until we saw you.'" According to legend, the Stones named themselves after Muddy Waters' 1950s blues classic "Rollin' Stone," and incorporated blues into their signature style. However frontman Mick Jagger was annoyed that some people had no idea who the black artists that they took inspiration from were. "America wasn't ready for Muddy, B.B. or anybody until the British had to come and tell White America who B.B. King and Muddy Waters were," Guy said in his interview. "There was an American television show called Shindig and they were trying to get the Rolling Stones. And Mick Jagger said, 'I'll do it if you let me bring on Muddy Waters.' White America said, 'Who the hell is that?' and he got offended. He said, 'We named ourselves after his most famous record!'" - Music-News.com, 5/6/23...... South American singer Rita Lee, known as the "Queen of Brazilian Rock" for hits like "Ovelha Negra," "Mania de Voc" and "Now Only Missing You," died on May 8 after a battle with lung cancer. She was 75. Known for her fusion of psicodelia with pop, MPB, bossa and new wave, the Latin Grammy Award-winning artist was one of Brazil's most successful singer-songwriters. Lee got her start with the group Os Mutantes before launching a fruitful solo career and in Nov. 2022, she was recognized with the Latin Grammy's Lifetime Achievement Award, but unfortunately could not attend to receive it at the ceremony in Las Vegas. Born on Dec. 31, 1947 in So Paulo, Lee began her career with the band Os Mutantes and recorded albums with the band Tutti Frutti, including 1975's Fruto Proibido. In 1979, she released the LP Rita Lee -- which included classics such as "Mania De Voc," "Lana Perfume" and "Caso Srio" -- in collaboration with her husband, the multi-instrumentalist Roberto de Carvalho, in an artistic partnership that continued into the 1980s with a long list of radio hits and massive concerts. In later decades she made acoustic recordings such as Aqui, Ali, em Qualquer Lugar, a collection based on songs by the Beatles. In 2015 she celebrated her career with a CD collection, and the following year she published an autobiography in which she described herself as a "rebel" and "hippie communist." A public wake was held at the So Pãulo planetarium on May 10, the family said in the statement, adding that according to Lee's wishes, her body had been cremated. Lee is survived by her husband and collaborator Roberto do Carvalho and three children. - Billboard, 5/9/23...... 
Daytime soap actress Jacklyn Zeman, who became one of the most recognizable actors on daytime television during 45 years of playing nurse Bobbie Spencer on ABC's General Hospital, died of cancer on May 10. She was 70. "I am heartbroken to announce the passing of our beloved Jackie Zeman," General Hospital producer Frank Valentini wrote on Twitter. "Just like her character, the legendary Bobbie Spencer, she was a bright light and a true professional that brought so much positive energy with her work." Zeman joined General Hospital in 1977 as Barbara Jean, who went by Bobbie, and was the feisty younger sister of Anthony Geary's Luke Spencer. Bobbie had worked as a teen prostitute and given up a baby for adoption but had managed to turn her life around and become a nurse at General Hospital. Zeman's portrayal of Spencer was a spirited, upbeat woman who was as sweet as pie but who also had a sense of self. She didn't suffer fools and had no problem revoking the niceties if warranted. Bobbie has been a fascinating person for me to play," she said in an interview in 1982. "I get to do & all the things that most women think about but wouldn't dare." Laura Wright, who plays Bobbie's daughter Carly Spencer, posted to Instagram that she was "so grateful to have shared so many years with this beautiful woman.... Jackie told the best stories -- she had an INCREDIBLE spirit and she lived such an amazing life & saying she will be missed is an understatement." Outside soap operas, Zeman worked as a Playboy Bunny to help pay for college and also acted in commercials. She had a role in 1982's National Lampoon's Class Reunion and appeared in a string of TV movies, including the ABC Afterschool Special "Montana Crossroads" in 1993. She also had a series regular role as Sofia Madison in the crime drama series The Bay, earning her a fifth Emmy Award. Her last appearance on General Hospital was in April for the wedding of her character's grandson. The same month, she also celebrated the show's 60th anniversary by posting a video on Instagram to fans. "A great, big heartfelt thank you to the very special people who have been watching us and supporting us and keeping us on the air all these years. We love you," she posted. Zeman was married and divorced three times, first to Glenn Gordon and later to Steve Gribbin and disc jockey Murray "Murray the K" Kaufman. Her survivors include two daughters, Cassidy and Lacey, from her marriage to Gordon. - AP, 5/11/23.