Tributes continue to pour in after the music world lost the legendary "Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin on Aug. 16 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Singers, actors and countless other celebrities took to social media to thank and say rest in peace to the inspirational singer who had such an impact on artists of all genres across several decades. "I'm sitting in prayer for the wonderful golden spirit Aretha Franklin," Diana Ross posted on Aug. 16, while Paul McCartney wrote, "She will be missed but the memory of her greatness as a musician and a fine human being will live with us forever." "The loss of @ArethaFranklin is a blow for everybody who loves real music: Music from the heart, the soul and the Church. Her voice was unique, her piano playing underrated... she was one of my favourite pianists," posted Elton John, while Carole King tweeted "What a life. What a legacy! So much love, respect and gratitude." 
Barbra Streisand posted "Not only was she a uniquely brilliant singer, but her commitment to civil rights made an indelible impact on the world," while music exec Clive Davis wrote, "I'm absolutely devastated by Aretha's passing. She was truly one of a kind. She was more than the Queen of Soul. She was a national treasure to be cherished by every generation throughout the world. Apart from our long professional relationship, Aretha was my friend. Her loss is deeply profound and my heart is full of sadness." Meanwhile, following her death sales of the Aretha Franklin music catalog have grown tremendously in the U.S., according to figures from Nielsen Music. Aretha's combined album and digital song sales increased by 1,568 percent on Aug. 16, as compared to Aug. 15. On the day of her passing, the legendary diva sold 134,000 combined albums and digital song downloads, up from 8,000 the previous day. Her top 10 selling songs on Aug. 16 were: "Respect" (16,000), "A Natural Woman (You Make Me Feel Like)" (13,000), "I Say a Little Prayer" (10,000), "Chain of Fools" (8,000), "Think" (8,000), "Freeway of Love" (4,000), "Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" (4,000), "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me), with George Michael (4,000), "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" (3,000), and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (3,000). The late singer has also tallied her highest-charting LP on the Billboard Hot 200 Album Chart in 46 years, as her 30 Greatest Hits re-entered the roundup at No. 7 for the week ending Aug. 16 following her death. The album is Franklin's highest-charting album since 1972, when her landmark gospel release Amazing Grace peaked at No. 7 on the July 22, 1972-dated tally. Aretha's funeral will be held on Aug. 31 in her hometown of Detroit, it was announced by her publicist on Aug. 17. The funeral, to be held at Greater Grace Temple, is limited to the late singer's family and friends. Public viewings will take place Aug. 28-29 at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. She will be entombed at Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit, along with her father Rev. C.L. Franklin; sisters Carolyn Franklin and Erma Franklin; brother Cecil Franklin; and nephew Thomas Garrett. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 8/17/18...... Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks conducts an interview with Michael Jackson's daughter Paris Jackson in the latest issue of Carine Roitfeld's CR Fashion Book, which hits newsstands Sept. 13. On her use of social media, Jackson admits to Nicks, who is one of her idols, "Honestly, the less I use my social media, the happier I am, and I've been using it less and less, but when I do use it I make sure to keep it very real and honest and true to myself." Paris also revealed that her current projects include a movie about the '90s rock and roll scene on the Sunset Strip, modeling, and making new music with her band, the Soundflowers. "We have enough material for an album, so I think we are going to get that done by fall," she said. - Billboard, 8/20/18...... 
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced on Aug. 20 that the Eagles' 1976 album Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 has been certified 38x platinum (which means sales and streams of the album have reached 38 million copies), and is has now surpassed Michael Jackson's Thriller as the highest certified album of all time. Thriller, which is 33x platinum, has been pushed to second place, while the Eagles 1977 studio LP Hotel California is now 26x platinum and makes it the third best-selling album of all-time. The last time RIAA tallied sales for the Eagles'< cite>Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 was in 2006, when it said it was 29x platinum. Sales and streams for Thriller were last updated in 2017. "We are grateful for our families, our management, our crew, the people at radio and, most of all, the loyal fans who have stuck with us through the ups and downs of 46 years. It's been quite a ride," co-founding Eagles member Don Henley said in a statement. After breaking up in 1980, the Eagles reunited in 1994 with Henley and Glenn Frey emaining original members. Frey died in 2016, but the Grammy-winning band continues to tour. The Eagles were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and received the Kennedy Center Honor in 2016. - AP, 8/20/18...... The summer co-headlining tour by Journey and Def Leppard has topped the Billboard Hot Tours roundup. The second leg of their six-month trek spanned July 1 to 28 and ranged from 8,500-seat arenas to 45,000-capacity baseball parks, the largest of which was the sold-out show at Denver's Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies, on July 21. Their 17 gigs had a total gross of $30,384,259. The two bands were joined in Minneapolis by openers Cheap Trick and in Denver, Atlanta, Chicago, and Detroit by the Pretenders. - Billboard, 8/17/18...... Promoting their upcoming Las Vegas residency which takes place next year, Aerosmith were the musical guests on NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Aug. 17. The Boston-based rockers began their set with a knockout rendition of their 1973 hit "Mama Kin," followed by their 1975 hit "Big Ten Inch Record" for a web exclusive. The tongue-in-cheek song had the crowd dancing and in the middle of the performance, Tyler broke out his harmonica, adding that extra bit of flair to the already-bold performance. Aerosmith will launch their headlining "Deuces Are Wild" residency in April 2019 at the Park Theater at the new Park MGM on the Vegas strip. The band will perform until early July. The previous day, Aerosmith performed a set on the Today show, and footage has emerged of frontman Steven Tyler shoving away a fan for attempting to take a selfie with him. The clips shows the rock icon walking into Today's studio, when an overzealous fan bursts through the security barrier and grabs him while holding his phone for a photo. Visibly agitated, Tyler angrily and immediately pushes him away. Tyler then responded to the footage on Twitter, telling followers: "No time, bro-this is LIVE TELEVISION! Come to the show if you want an intimate experience." - Billboard/New Musical Express, 8/17/18...... 
Eric Clapton announced on Aug. 17 that he will release his first full-length Christmas album, Happy Xmas, on Oct. 12 via Bushbranch Records/Surfdog Records. The album's 14 tracks are a mix of yuletide standards -- including "White Christmas," "Silent Night," and "Away in a Manger" -- and lesser known holiday tunes. An original new track, "For Love On Christmas Day," will also be featured. Co-produced by Clapton and his longtime music producer Simon Climie, Happy Xmas, is the legendary singer/guitarist's 24th studio album and his first since 2016's I Still Do. - Billboard, 8/17/18...... Over 20 albums recorded by Prince from 1995 to 2010 are now available for streaming across digital music platforms. The 23 albums now available represent a first wave of digital catalog releases, including rare and out-of-print recordings, that include The Gold Experience (from 1995), Emancipation (1996), Musicology (2004) and more. Anthology, which was assembled and curated with the Prince estate and comprises tracks from the era, is also available for streaming. The posthumous reissue campaign comes after Prince's estate and Sony Music Entertainment announced in June an exclusive distribution agreement that covers 35 of the icon's previously-released efforts. Other titles from 1978-2015 will be re-issued in years to come. - Billboard, 8/17/18...... Neil Diamond says he's "doing pretty well" after his announcement in January that he was retiring from the road due to being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. "I take my meds. I do my workouts. I'm in pretty good shape. I'm feeling good. I want to stay productive. I still have my voice. I just can't do the traveling that I once did, but I have my wife there supporting me (and) friends," he told The Associated Press on Aug. 16. "It does have its challenges, but I'm feeling good and I feel very positive about. I'm feeling better every day," the 77-year-old added. "Just dealing with it as best I can, and just keep the music coming." On Aug. 17, Diamond released Hot August Night III a live concert 2 CD/DVD set chronicling his return to the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles in Aug. 2012. The 2-hour+ performance featuring 33 songs celebrated the 40th anniversary of his original Hot August Night live album, also recorded at the Greek in August 1972. "It brings back memories -- very deep, loving and warm memories," he said of his performance. "Playing there and doing music relating to the audience, it was special. It's a special experience for me," Diamond says. He adds he re-watched the 2012 footage recently as it was edited for the new release, and he calls it "one of the best live performances that I've done and I'm proud of it." Diamond says he's not sure he can perform more than one song at the moment "but I think I can and I will give it a try at some point." "I'm glad to still be around," he says. "The fact that I'm still singing well is a bonus and I hope to continue doing it, but in a format that I can handle." - AP, 8/16/17...... Elvis Presley fans held their annual silent vigil in Memphis, Tenn., during Elvis Week during the third week of August. During the candlelight vigil on Aug. 15-16, solemn mourners moved slowly past his resting place in the Meditation Garden at his former home, Graceland, to remember the King of Rock and Roll on the 41st anniversary of his death. Attendance at the vigil was lighter than during last year's 40th anniversary vigil, but security remained tight. Presley died Aug. 16, 1977. Graceland now draws about 500,000 visitors annually. - AP, 8/15/18...... 
John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, the co-stars of the 1978 film version of the smash musical Grease, reunited on Aug. 15 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, Calif. for a special 40th anniversary screening and Q&A celebrating the film sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science. Newton-John, wearing a pink shirt, matching sneakers and a white suit for the landmark occasion, was all smiles at the event, while Travolta, dressed in jeans and a black blazer, couldn't resist busting out some dance moves on the red carpet. They were joined by movie's director, Randal Kleiser, and costars Didi Conn, who played "Beauty School Dropout" Frenchie, and Barry Pearl, who played fellow T-Bird Doody. - Billboard, 8/17/18...... A new biography of late Beatles producer George Martin claims that Sir George was "frozen out" when the iconic rock quartet recorded their 1968 double-LP The Beatles (aka "The White Album"). Author Kenneth Womack claims a "cold war" broke out between Martin and the band with Martin speaking "only if he was called on by The Beatles." Gathering accounts from sound engineers and tape operators who worked on the White Album sessions, the biography also claims that Martin would turn up to the sessions with "a large stack of newspapers and a giant bar of chocolate," sitting at the back of the studio. Womack argues that the reasons behind the "freezing out" of Martin, known as the "fifth Beatle" due to his significant influence in producing all of the Beatles albums, were two-fold: the uncertainty caused by the death of Beatles manager Brian Epstein and an article in Time magazine which credited Martin as the mastermind behind the Beatles' seminal album, Sgt. Peppers. "They didn't take very well to that and let him knowI do think this was the beginning of the struggle over 'who's the genius behind the Beatles?'," Womack writes. The biography, Sound Pictures: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, the Later Years, 1966-2016, hits stores Sept. 4. - New Musical Express, 8/19/18...... Tom Waits made a rare public appearance at a Jack White concert in San Francisco on Aug. 16. "Tom waits came to Jack White's performance in San Francisco and made all the musicians in the band confirm and pay testament to their love of the religion of music," a post on White's @officaljackwhitelive Twitter account says. "He also stole jacks watch. A million thanks and tributes to Saint Tom from Jack and the band." It was the first public apparance by Waits since he duetted with Mavis Staples in Sept. 2017. Prior to that, Waits appeared on David Letterman's late night talk show in 2015, shortly before the long-running show came to an end. - New Musical Express, 8/19/18.
Aretha Franklin, the definitive female soul singer of the 1960s whose influence on popular music in the latter half of the 20th century cannot be overstated, died on Aug. 16 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 76. "It is with deep and profound sadness that we announce the passing of Aretha Louise Franklin, the Queen of Soul," her longtime publicist Gwendolyn Quinn said in a statement. "(She) passed away on Thursday morning, August 16 at 9:50 a.m. at her home in Detroit, MI, surrounded by family and loved ones.... (her) official cause of death was due to advance pancreatic cancer of the neuroendocrine type, which was confirmed by Franklin's Oncologist, Dr. Philip Phillips of Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, MI." The statement continues: "In one of the darkest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our heart. We have lost the matriarch and rock of our family... Thank you for your compassion and prayers. We have felt your love for Aretha and it brings us comfort to know that her legacy will live on. As we grieve, we ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time." Born on March 25, 1942, in Detroit, Aretha was one of five children of Rev. C.L. Franklin, himself a well-known figure in gospel music, having released over 70 regularly-selling albums of recorded sermons on the Chess Records label. As a child she sang with her brothers and sisters in the choir of her father's New Bethal Baptist Church, and upon turning 14 joined her dad on his evangelistic tours, gaining a reputation as a remarkable soloist with his choir. After turning 18, Aretha was encouraged to broaden her musical horizons by adding blues songs to her repertoire, and moved to the East coast to try the pop market. Aretha was auditioned by John Hammond of Columbia Records, who signed her to a contract but the label seemed not to know how to produce her, or what type of material she was best equipped to handle. In the winter of 1966 Aretha left Columbia for Atlantic Records, which had a better track record of producing blues and soul artists, and Atlantic head Jerry Wexler immediately took her to the legendary Muscle Shoals studios where he produced her first hit, "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Loved You)" (#9 pop, #1 R&B), a song that unleashed the incredible fire and passion of her voice and became a gold record. That song almost single-handedly changed the course of soul music, and Aretha was dubbed "Lady Soul," a title that has never been contested. Her string of hits in the closing years of the 1960s included "Respect" (#1 pop, #1 R&B), "Baby I Love You" (#4 pop, #1 R&B) and "I Say a Little Prayer" (#10 pop, #3 R&B), and her albums sold consistently. 
Overseas, she was never quite able to equal her success in America, however her 1968 European tour was considered a complete triumph, and produced the live LP Aretha in Paris. In 1968, "Think" (#7 pop, #1 R&B) became her first self-composed million-seller, and she began to start writing and helping to produce her own material, though the main production duties continued to be trusted veteran Atlantic poducers Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin. As the '70s arrived, Aretha's personal problems (in 1968 she was arrested for reckless driving and again in 1969 for disorderly conduct, also around this time she was rumored to be drinking heavily) forced her into semi-retirement, and for about 18 months her apparently lukewarm interest in her career was an open secret. However she was coaxed back into regular recording and touring, though rarely outside the U.S. Her hits continued, giving her more million-sellers than any other woman in recording history until her record was recently broken by rapper/singer Nicki Minaj. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (#6 pop, #1 R&B), "Spanish Harlem" (#2 pop, #1 R&B), "Rock Steady" (#9 pop, #2 R&B), and "Day Dreaming" (#5 pop, # 1 R&B), became huge hits at the start of the decade, and during that time she gave birth to her fourth son, Kecalf, and married actor Glynn Turman in 1978. Although she appeared to be searching, sometimes aimlessly, during this time, she nevertheless had high points with the acclaimed albums Spirit in the Dark (1970), Live at Fillmore West (1971), and Young, Gifted and Black (1972). Her next effort, the pure gospel Amazing Grace (1972), would be her last with Wexler at the helm (and became one of the best-selling gospel albums of all time). In the late '70s, a bad experience while flying resulted in a phobia that curtailed her touring, and her upredictability would begin to dog her career. In 1980, she left Atlantic for Arista Records, and her first two albums for that label were produced by Arif Mardin, and each included an old soul standard as well as glossier MOR material. 
Aretha appeared in The Blues Brothers movie, singing "Respect" and "Think," and her version of Sam and Dave's "Hold On, I'm Comin'" earned her a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female. However another series of personal tragedies, which included an attack on her father during a robbery which later resulted in his death, would halt her commercial comeback. In 1982, she moved back to the Detroit area where she remained for the rest of her life, and in 1985 she came back into the public eye with the hit album Who's Zoomin' Who, which spun off three hit singles -- the title track, "Freeway of Love" and "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves." Her newfound pop crossover success continued with 1986's Aretha, which included the Top 30 "Jimmy Lee" and a version of the Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash" produced by and featuring Keith Richards. In 1987, she scored another No. 1 hit, "I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me)," a duet with George Michael. Subsequent albums were less popular, though her 1987 LP One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism was a critically acclaimed and Grammy-winning effort featuring Mavis Staples and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Though the title track of 1989's Through the Storm was a hit duet with Elton John, the album peaked at No. 55 on the Billboard Hot 200. 1991's What You See Is What You Sweat would be the lowest chart debut of any album of her career. 
In 1987, Aretha became the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 1993 she starred in her own television special, Duets, which featured collaborations with a number of current pop stars, including Bonnie Raitt, Elton John, Smokey Robinson, George Michael and Rod Stewart. Subsequent honors include the famed Apollo Theater's hall of fame and the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame. A Kennedy Center honoree in 1994, Aretha was bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. Aretha charted 73 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, the most of any female artist and ninth-most of all artists. Dealing with health issues in recent years, Aretha denied she was suffering from rumored pancreatic cancer when she underwent surgery in 2010 for an undisclosed illness. In 2017 she canceled a series of concerts citing "doctor's orders," and her last public performance was on Nov. 2, 2017 for the Elton John AIDS Foundation in New York. The mother of four sons, Franklin was married twice: to her former manager Ted White and actor Glynn Turman. "I'm absolutely devastated by Aretha's passing," said Clive Davis, who signed Aretha to his Arista Records in 1980, on Twitter. "She was truly one of a kind. She was more than the Queen of Soul. She was a national treasure to be cherished by every generation throughout the world. Apart from our long professional relationship, Aretha was my friend. Her loss is deeply profound and my heart is full of sadness." Funeral arrangements will be announced in the coming days. - Billboard/The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock, 8/16/18.
Burt Reynolds, the rugged leading man of such films as Deliverance, Smokey and the Bandit, The Longest Yard and Boogie Nights, died on Sept. 6 of cardiac arrest at his estate in Martin County, Fla., according to his agent Todd Eisner. He was 82. Mr. Reynolds ruled the box office in the 1970s and early 1980s with good 'ole boy movies like Smokey and the Bandit and Gator, later earning the critical praise he so badly desired with Starting Over and Boogie Nights. An iconic Hollywood sex symbol in front of the camera, his mustached handsome looks and easy-going charm made him Hollywood's No. 1 male movie star from 1978 to 1982, after launching his early career in 1972 with director John Boorman's 1972 film 
By 1974, he had hit it big and starred as an ex-football player who landed in prison in the film 
Years later, he suffered from health issues that led to open heart surgery. Mr. Reynolds checked into a drug rehab clinic in 2009, saying he wanted to "regain control of his life" after becoming addicted to painkillers prescribed following back surgery. He then fell into financial trouble amid private ventures in an Atlanta restaurant and a professional sports team, though he continued to make cameo appearances and teach acting classes. "I worked as an actor for 60 years, I must have something I can give," he said. In recent years, he began appearing in numerous films and TV shows and was cast in the upcoming Quentin Tarantino-directed film about the infamous 1969 Charles Manson family murders, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. That movie is scheduled for release in 2019, and Mr. Reynolds had not yet started shooting his appearance in the film. He had heart surgery in 2010 and then in 2014, he auctioned off memorabilia, including a Smokey and the Bandit-era Trans Am, and his Golden Globe for Boogie Nights. He also put his Florida mansion on the block, but flatly insisted he was "not broke." In May 2015, a frail-looking Mr. Reynolds, cane in hand, made a rare public appearance at a pop-culture convention in Philadelphia. He told the local paper his absence from public life was due to his work on his tell-all memoir, But Enough About Me. "Quinton and I are extremely touched by the tremendous outpouring of love and support from friends and family throughout the world," Loni Anderson wrote in a statement. "Burt was a wonderful director and actor. He was a big part of my life for 12 years and Quinton's life for 30 years. We will miss him and his great laugh." His Smokey and the Bandit co-star and former girlfriend Sally Field released a statement that included "...My years with Burt never leave my mind. He will be in my history and my heart, for as long as I live. Rest, Buddy." - CNN/Yahoo.com, 9/6/18.
Dozens of famous musicians and celebrities paid emotional tributes to the late Aretha Franklin during her funeral service on Aug. 31 at Detroit's Greater Grace Temple. "We will have never known a queen like this," Stevie Wonder said, as he paid tribute to the "Queen of Soul" in his eulogy to Franklin, who died of pancreatic cancer on Aug. 16 at age 76. Between performances of "The Lord's Prayer" and "As," the Motown icon said the world needed to "make love great again" as a fitting tribute to "what Aretha said throughout her life." "What needs to happen today, not only in this nation but throughout the world, is that we need to make love great again because black lives do matter," Wonder said. "Because all lives do matter that is what Aretha said throughout her life. Though the pain, she gave us the joy, and said, 'Let's make love great again'," he added. Other tributes at the service included performances by Jennifer Hudson, Chaka Khan, Ariana Grande and Gladys Knight. The 7-plus-hour service was both reflective and celebrity, focusing on Franklin's gospel roots in the Motor City where she was a member of the New Bethel Baptist choir, and also dedicated much to her illustrious career and her part in American's civil rights movement. Smokey Robinson, another longtime friend of Franklin's, also delivered a eulogy to the star before singing a short a cappella dedication to her. "I'm going to miss our talks, we used to talk for hours about anything we wanted, or nothing at allYou will be a featured voice in the choir of Angels," he said. Further tributes were paid by former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama (Franklin had sang at both of their presidential inaugurations), as well as civil rights leaders including the Rev. Al Sharpton. "She gave us pride and she gave us a regal bar to reach. And that's why we're all here. We don't all agree on everything but we agree on Aretha," Rev. Sharpton said. The night before the funeral, than 30 acts gathered in Detroit for a special Aretha Franklin tribute concert. "A People's Tribute to the Queen" at the city's riverfront Chene Park Amphitheatre was a four-hour and 45-minute marathon that touched on every aspect of Franklin's music, starting with opera and finishing with an epic, full-cast romp through "Respect," and hitting on gospel, jazz, blues, soul and pop in between. Tickets for the free show were snapped up in minutes earlier in the week, and those without set up lawn chairs outside the venue to take it all in. Among those participating were Tyler Perry, actresses Erica Peeples and Jennifer Lewis, reality TV star Judge Greg Mathis, and Motown great Martha Reeves. - New Musical Express/Billboard, 9/1/18...... Meanwhile, Aretha Franklin's family issued a statement on Sept. 3 saying it found Atlanta pastor Jasper Willliams Jr.'s eulogy delivered at the Queen of Soul's funeral to be "offensive and very distasteful." Rev. Williams' eulogy was criticized by the family for including political musings that described children being in a home without a father as "abortion after birth," and said "black lives do not matter unless blacks stop killing each other." "He spoke for 50 minutes and at no time did he properly eulogize her," said Vaughn Franklin, the late singer's nephew, who said he was delivering a statement for the family. Franklin said that his aunt never asked Williams to eulogize her, since she didn't talk about plans for her own funeral. The family said they selected Williams because he has spoken at other family memorials in the past, most prominently at the funeral for Aretha Franklin's father, minister and civil rights activist C.L. Franklin, 34 years ago. Rev. Williams reacted by saying although he respects and understands the family's opinion, he is not backing down from any of his comments. Besides a social media uproar, Rev. Williams heard resistance at the funeral itself, with Stevie Wonder yelling out "black lives matter" after the pastor said, "No, black lives do not matter" during his eulogy. Williams had minimized the Black Lives Matter movement because of black-on-black crime. "Black lives must not matter until black people start respecting black lives and stop killing ourselves," he said. - AP, 9/3/18...... A rep for Gladys Knight has issued a clarification of a statement made by the "Midnight Train to Georgia Singer" during a radio interview in which she said that she and Aretha Franklin had "the same disease." "The last time I talked to her, we were at the same hotel and we didn't know it," Knight recalled. "I know her crew and family. She knows my crew and family. I went down. I said, 'ReRe, what you doing out here?' And we just got to talking and everything and at that time we shared that fact that we had the same disease." After Knight's comments started a media firestorm, she issued the following statement: "I'd like to clarify that Aretha and I discussed both of us having cancer, mine was stage 1 breast cancer and hers was pancreatic. Due to early detection, I am cancer free and grateful for that." - The Hollywood Reporter/TheBlast.com, 9/1/18...... 
Queen and Adam Lambert kicked of their three-week residency in Las Vegas on Sept. 1 with a setlist packed with past Queen classics -- including "Somebody To Love," "Killer Queen," "Another One Bites the Dust," "Crazy Love" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" -- and even a cover of late Vegas icon Elvis Presley' 1956 hit "Heartbreak Hotel." Titled "Crown Jewels," the show opened appropriately enough with an image of an imposing metal vault bearing Queen's insignia, torn open by the giant robot from Queen's iconic 1977 News of the World album cover and lifted up to reveal the band who launched their way into a fast version of "We Will Rock You." For the encore, Queen were introduced by a projection of their original frontman Freddie Mercury's famous vocal improvisation at Wembley Stadium in 1986, before the traditional, slower version of "We Will Rock You" and an anthemic "We Are The Champions." The day before the opening, Queen guitarist Brian May said in an inteview that Mercury would both "love and hate" the new Queen singer Adam Lambert. "Freddie would love and hate him, because Adam has a real gift from God," May said. "It's a voice in a billion, nobody has that range, nobody that I've ever worked with, not just the range but the quality throughout the range. I've seen Adam develop just like I watched Freddie develop." In other Queen news, Amazon.com is featuring an animated video of Queen's "Somebody to Love" for the new marketing campaign for their streaming service. The video, naturally, features Mercury's trademark mustache and imperfect teeth, as a cartoon mouth belts out the track's second verse and chorus to a roaring stadium audience. The commercial is rolling out digitally as well as with radio, television and out-of-home billboard advertisements in select U.S. cities and internationally in the U.K. and Germany throughout 2019. - NME/Billboard, 9/3/18...... Ozzy Osbourne announced on Sept. 3 that the UK leg of his upcoming "No More Tours 2" in February 2019 will be his "last ever" UK tour. Osbourne will be playing Nottingham (2/1), Manchester (2/3), Newcastle (2/5), Glasgow (2/7), Birmingham (2/9) and London (2/11), where he will also be joined by opening act Judas Priest on all dates. "I've been extremely blessed to have had two successful music careers," said Osbourne. "I'm looking at this final tour as being a huge celebration for my fans and anyone who has enjoyed my music over the past five decades." Ozzy's world tour will continue into 2020, before he steps back from long tours. "This will be my final world tour, but I can't say I won't do some shows here and there," he said. - NME, 9/3/18...... The estate of Michael Jackson and IMAX are partnering to digitally remaster Michael Jackson's Thriller 3D into IMAX 3D. The partnership was announced on Aug. 29, which would have been the singer's 60th birthday. It will be released in IMAX theaters across the U.S. for one week, beginning Sept. 21. The estate's co-executors say Jackson loved to give his fans the "latest and greatest in technology and entertainment experiences." The 14-minute short film, directed by John Landis, premiered in Los Angeles in 1983. The 3D version was first shown at the 74th Venice Film Festival in 2017. In other Michael Jackson news, The Simpsons ceater Matt Groenig has cleared up the rumors surrounding the King of Pop's cameo on the long running comedy. In an interview with The Weekly on Aug. 29, Groening was asked if they had "Michael Jackson" and the comedy writer confirmed that The Simpsons didn't just have a "Michael Jackson" cameo using an impersonator, they had the real Michael Jackson. "You don't have to put it in quotes," Groening said. "We really did have him." Groening explained that the singer called him one day out of the blue, asking to be featured in the show, and at first, he didn't even believe it was really Jackson. "I was sitting in the office late at night, the phone rings and I pick it up," he said. When the voice on the other end replied, "'Hi, this is Michael Jackson," he assumed it was a prank call because the singer has "a voice that sounds like somebody doing a Michael Jackson bit." Jackson called again and insisted that it really was him, and "he said that he loved Bart and wanted to be on the show," Groening explained. In still more Jackson news, fashion house Hugo Boss has that it will mark what would have been Jackson's 60th birthday by reissuing the iconic suit worn on the cover of Thriller. Although remaining faithful to the original design, the new suit boasts a narrower silhouette and retains two pleats on the trousers. It also features buttons on the jacket cuffs. But fashion aficionados will have to act fast -- only 100 are being made; each suit is numbered and will sell for $1,195. Hugo Boss has also announced the addition of white T-shirts that are modelled on the design of the original suit. It's yet to be announced when the design will go on sale. - AP/Billboard/NME, 8/30/18...... 
On Sept. 1, Paul McCartney announced a string of new dates in 2019 as part of his mammoth world tour in support of his upcoming album, 
Elton John is participating in a new "rap battle" ad campaign for the candy bar Snickers, with the Rocket Man taking on the role of rising rapper Boogie's "hungry" alter-ego. After Boogie's turn is announced in the battle, John unexpectedly appears and sings a snippet of his 1976 duet with Kiki Dee, 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart" -- much to the bemusement of party-goers. A Snickers is then presented to him, which helps John/Boogie turn back into his true self and the rap battle is then resumed. Elton reportedly took a hands-on role in casting the commercial, and viewed a number of auditions with director Andreas Nilsson before settling on Boogie. "In pairing Elton and his 50-plus years of multi-genre hits with Boogie, a hip-hop artist on the brink of stardom in today's most popular category, we can connect with our audiences over a shared love of music," said Snickers exec Dale Green. Meanwhile, Elton announced on Aug. 30 that he will be partnering with the global fan-to-fan ticket marketplace Twickets for his "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" tour. The aim of Twickets is to combat the secondary ticketing market, prevent the exploitation of Elton John fans and to eliminate price mark-up by ensuring that tickets are resold at face value. Elton's sold out "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" tour begins in Allentown, PA on Sept. 8, and will make 300 stops around the world before concluding in 2021. Fans that were unable to secure tickets before are now able to purchase tickets directly through the official John and Twickets partnership website, with dates in Los Angeles and Toronto currently available. - NME/Billboard, 8/30/18...... The groundbreaking and award-winning alternative New York City paper The Village Voice announced on Aug. 31 it is shutting down its online edition, one year after it ceased publishing in print. Village Voice owner Peter Barbey called it "a sad day for The Village Voice and millions of readers," and added the paper has been subject to "the increasingly harsh economic realities" facing those creating journalism. He said staff members have been working to ensure that the print archive of the Village Voice is made digitally accessible. The paper released its last print edition on Sept. 20, 2017, with Bob Dylan gracing its final cover. - AP, 8/31/18...... Former members of Dire Straits announced they'll embark on their first-ever U.S. tour in September under the moniker Dire Straits Legacy. The band, which includes former Dire Straits member Alan Clark along with percussionist Danny Cummings, guitarist Phil Palmer, former Yes member Trevor Horn, Steve Ferrone from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Marco Caviglia, Mel Collins, and Primiano DiBiase, grew out of Clark's previous project, The Straits, which formed after Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler broke up the band in 1992. "The DSL Dire Straits Legacy project was born from our love and respect for the music of Dire Straits, and to bring the music to fans who have been starved of hearing it played live by the musicians who made it, for far too long," the band shared in a statement. The 7-date tour also includes stops in Riverside, Calif. (9/28), St. Charles, Mo. (9/29), St. Charles, Ill. (10/2), Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (10/4) and St. Petersburg, Fla. (10/5) before wrapping in Westbury, N.Y. on Oct. 6. - Billboard, 8/20/18...... Billy Joel's former wife Katie Lee married her TV producer boyfriend Ryan Biegel on Sept. 1 in front of family and friends. Lee, who co-hosts the Food Network talk show The Kitchen, was previously married to Billy Joel from 2004 to 2010. The chef, 36, and Biegel vacationed in Capri, Italy before their wedding. The West Virginia native met Joel at the rooftop bar at The Peninsula hotel while visiting New York City for a weekend. They wed in 2004, but split in 2009. - People/RadarOnline.com, 9/2/18...... 
Restaurateurs in the UK have announced that a new cocktail bar dedicated to David Bowie will be opening in London's West End in September 2018. Named "Ziggy's" in honor of Bowie's much-loved persona Ziggy Stardust, the bar launches on Sept. 20 at the Hotel Caf Royal. It features a number of drinks inspired by the late icon's 1972 album 
Bruce Springsteen, who earlier in 2018 told fans he hopes to release a new solo album in 2019, has made recordings of his "No Nukes 1979" two-night stand concert at New York's Madison Square Garden available for the first time on the live music archive site Nugs.net. Held on Sept. 21 and 22 of 1979, the shows found Springsteen in between his fourth and fifth studio albums, Darkness on the Edge of Town and The River. Both nights open with a trio of songs from the former and feature then-unreleased songs from the latter, like "Sherry Darling" and "The River," which got its live debut at his No Nukes shows. Both concerts feature Springsteen and the E Street Band covering Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs' "Stay," a '60s doo-wop song that had been reworked by Jackson Browne in 1978 for his classic Running On Empty album. Browne (who helped organize the No Nukes benefit) joins alongside Rosemary Butler both nights, while Tom Petty comes along for the second show. Complete recordings of both nights are available in a variety of formats. $2 from every purchase will benefit MUSE (Musicians United For Safe Energy), the coalition formed by Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, John Hall and Harvey Wasserman in response to 1979's Three Mile Island nuclear disaster. Earlier in December, Nugs.net also shared Springsteen's 1975 Roxy concerts. - Billboard, 12/27/18...... Record producer Phil Spector, who is currently serving his sentence for the 2003 shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson, settled his divorce with his third wife, Rachelle Short, on Dec. 4 and secured several items of his celebrity memorabilia in the settlement. According to court documents, the many priceless celebrity treasures Spector was awarded include a John Lennon electric guitar with an accomanying handwritten note by Yoko Ono; Grammy Awards, including an "Album of the Year" award for 1972's The Concert for Bangladesh with George Harrison; a Best Original Song Score Oscar statue for the 1970 Beatles film Let It Be; and diamond cufflinks gifted to him by Elvis Presley. Spector's ex-wife Rachelle meanwhile got to keep many of her vehicles, including a 2009 Vespa GTS 250 and 2015 Aston Martin Vanquish, and a 2007 Columbia 400 airplane. The documents also state that Spector and Rachelle must sell his infamous residence, Pyrenees Castle, in Alhambra, Calif., where Clarkson was killed for a 50/50 split. The house will be listed for $5.5 million. Short and the "Wall of Sound" creator wed on Sept. 1, 2006, as Spector was awaiting trial. They split in 2016, with Spector claiming Rachelle was bleeding him dry by spending money on lavish items like planes and homes. - TheBlast.com, 12/24/18...... 
The federal judge presiding over pop singer Dionne Warwick years-long legal battle with the IRS has set a court date for Mar. 6, 2019 in New Jersey, it was revealed on Dec. 27. Warwick filed for bankruptcy in 2013, with assets totaling only $25,500 but liabilities in the amount of $10,727,429, which includes an almost $7 million tax debt to Uncle Sam. At the time she blamed a business manager for her finances being in a mess. The case has dragged on for years due to the singer suing the government over her issues with the tax division. Warwick was seeking a court order discharging her $7 million tax debt from 1990-2008 and for a judge to order the IRS not be allowed to seize her assets over the debts. The debt was discharged in her bankruptcy, but the feds maintain the wiping clean of her debt was not valid. The judge has reportedly cleared four days off the calendar when the two sides face off in March, in case it takes that long for both sides to present their case. - TheBlast.com, 12/27/18...... In related news, the attorney for Aretha Franklin's estate said on Dec. 27 that the estate has paid at least $3 million in back taxes to the IRS since the Queen of Soul's death in August. Franklin's estate is being audited by the IRS, which filed a claim earlier in December in a county probate court north of Franklin's hometown of Detroit. TMZ.com reported on Dec. 20 that legal documents it obtained showed the IRS claimed Franklin owes more than $6.3 million in back taxes from 2012 to 2018 and $1.5 million in penalties. "We have a tax attorney. All of her returns have been filed," the estate lawyer, David Bennett, told the AP. "We have disputes with the IRS regarding what they claim was income. We claim its double-dipping income because they don't understand how the business works." Bennett added that Franklin had a lot of expenses whenever she toured. Documents filed in an Oakland County court after Franklin's death did not mention the value of her estate, which could run into the tens of millions. Franklin's estate also has paid money to the state of Michigan and other jurisdictions "where she would have had some income," Bennett said. Franklin had been the target of a number of lawsuits by creditors during the late 1980s and 1990s, and The Detroit Free Press reported in 2008 that Franklin owed a total of $19,192 in back taxes on the property through 2007. - AP, 12/28/18...... Meanwhile in other Aretha Franklin news, The Grammy Awards' Recording Academy will pay tribute to the 18-time Grammy winner with an "Aretha! A Grammy Celebration for the Queen of Soul" tribute concert on Jan. 13. Among the artists performing songs from Franklin's legendary repertoire will be Kelly Clarkson, Celine Dion, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Patti LaBelle and John Legend. The live concert, hosted by actor/filmmaker Tyler Perry, will tape on Jan. 13, 2019, at 6:00 p.m. PT at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The special will be broadcast later in 2019 on the CBS Television Network. - AP, 12/27/18...... 
Drummer Jason Bonham, son of late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, says he's hatching plans for his own Led Zep golden anniversary celebration during 2019. "Next year I feel is an even bigger year because [1969] was the first two albums, the first concerts, all of that," Bonham says. "So I've got a few more plans with how I'd like to do things. I'd love to play the Royal Albert Hall and do the set they played back in '69. That would be something I'd love to achieve. Bonham, who has been carrying the torch for Zep and his father with a tribute live show that he started during 2009 as Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience, continued: "And all of this, I think, will continue as the years go on, because each year coming up will be 50 years since Led Zeppelin III, whatever. I can imagine the celebrating of Led Zeppelin IV will be a big one. I just can't believe it was that long ago, and it still sounds so good and so timeless. People still love to hear this [music], and I'm happy to be able to go out and play it for them with some authenticity and a real connection to it all." Bonham -- who also plays in the all-star Black Country Communion and in Sammy Hagar's band The Circle -- took his "Led Zeppelin Evening" show on the road with Foreigner and Whitesnake this past summer, and played his own shows in the fall. - Billboard, 12/21/18...... Britain's Prince Charles has revealed some of his favourite music artists in a new interview with Radio 3's "Private Passions" program to mark the prince's 70th birthday. On the show, Prince Charles chose to play Leonard Cohen's "Take This Waltz," saying: "I've always loved Leonard Cohen's voice and his whole approach to the way he sang. He was obviously incredibly sophisticated in the way he sang, but also wrote." The prince continued: "I find it very moving, the words are so extraordinary, sort of Salvador Dali-like - they lead you into this remarkable Dali-like world." Charles' appearance on "Private Passions "is not the first time the prince has praised Cohen. He previously described him as a "remarkable man" and hailed his orchestration and lyrics as "fantastic." Elsewhere in the programme, he talked about 'Scylla et Glaucus', a rare 18th-century opera by Jean-Marie Leclair, the final movement of Beethoven's fifth symphony, and more. - New Musical Express, 12/27/18.
Drummer Carl Palmer, the sole surviving member of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, is hatching plans to commemorate the legendary prog-rock trio's 50th anniversary in 2020 with more catalog re-releases and a special live ELP tribute concert. "I'm looking right now at putting a show together, probably in America, with some A-listers," Palmer says. "I can't tell you who they are, but in principle as a project it looks like it's going to go through." Palmer also hopes to revisit a lengthy ELP documentary film that's been sitting on the sideline for some years. "When we were signed to Sanctuary, ELP released a documentary that was six hours long. That got lost in the wash, so we're going back and re-editing that and putting together another couple hours of documentary stuff that hasn't been seen," Palmer adds. ELP, which formed in 1970, played its first concert in August of that year, followed by a slot at the 1970 Isle of Wight festival six days later. The group released 10 studio albums during its two tenures (1970-79 and 1991-98) and last performed together to commemorate its 40th anniversary at the 2010 High Voltage Festival in London. Keith Emerson and Greg Lake both passed away during 2016. Palmer, who says he "wakes up every morning and says to myself, 'Thank God I'm here and I'm still playing'," noted that "you don't really live it as it's happening 'cause things are moving so fast... You only appreciate it afterwards. So now I'm appreciating what we did way back then." Meanwhile, Palmer has been carrying the ELP torch since 2001 with his Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy shows, leading a trio that substitutes guitar for Emerson's keyboards in order to pay tribute to the group's songs. Palmer was also a member of the 1980's prog-rock supergroup Asia, and says "there's nothing planned at the moment" for the band, which is curently on hiatus. "Depending on how meetings go, Asia might even be touring next summer," Palmer says. I'm going to link it and Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy into the same tour; I'm not sure how it's going to happen yet, but we'll make some proposals and see. I like the idea of doing some double-dipping." - Billboard, 12/21/18...... Neil Young announced on Dec. 20 that he'll launch a new paid subscription service and app for his vast, years-in-the-making Neil Young Archives (NYA). Young, in partnership with Warner Bros. Records, launched the NYA site in beta in 2017 for completists and hardcore fans. "If you want to hear my music and would like to have the option to listen to it with all the depth and glory of high resolution, it will be there," Young says. "All my new records can be heard there first, before they get released anywhere else. New, unreleased albums from the archives and old, unreleased albums from the archives will always be heard there first. Our machine is a monster." The NYA subscription service will cost $1.99 per month or $19.99 for a full year and includes unlimited access to Young's ever-expanding archives, including hi-resolution streams of all available recordings, plus a timeline filled materials related to his music, movies, videos, books, photographs, manuscripts and press notes. The new paid subscription service, accessible via his website and an iOS app (Android soon), includes other perks like first dibs on concert tickets, livestreams of other live shows, early access to new and unreleased music, and full access to Young's personal news outlet, the "NYA Times Contrarian." A free version of the subscription will let users peruse the timeline and includes access to a featured album and song of the day, both using Xstream by NYA. - Billboard, 12/20/18...... 
Speaking to the New York Times on Dec. 19 in his first full-length interview in nearly 10 years, Van Halen's David Lee Roth revealed he's moving into the celebrity skincare game with his surprising new line "Ink the Original," which is designed specifically for people with tattoos. Roth says the line includes products like an SPF stick, SPF spray, and a "tattoo-brightening balm," and was inspired by Roth's own tattoos, which he says he spent over 300 hours getting for $300 an hour. Diamond Dave says he wasn't only thinking of himself with his new cosmetics line though but also "power women": "Tina Fey can take this out of her bag at a full table of the most stellar, dynamic wits in the business. She takes this out of her bag, and the guys will want to borrow it." (Tina Fey has no visible tattoos.) - The New York Times/Jezebel.com, 12/19/18...... Despite naming his "farewell tour" the "No More Tours 2" tour, Ozzy Osbourne is assuring fans that he still plans to tour in the future -- just not as much. Osbourne, who turned 70 on Dec. 3, told the Pasedena Star-News on Dec. 22 that his upcoming shows aren't actually a farewell tour at all. "People have gotten that all wrong," he said. "The tour should have been the Ozzy Osbourne 'Slowing Down Tour'. What I'm actually doing is not going out on January 1 and coming back on December 31. I'll still tour, but not as extensively like I have been for the last 50 years. I mean, I have grandchildren now and I'm 70 years old and I don't want to be found dead in a hotel room somewhere. I'm going to do it at a more leisurely pace and do some shows in Vegas -- but I'll never stop. The whole lifestyle I have lived, it has all come down to the fact that there are people who want to hear me and as long as they want to hear me, I'm there." Meanwhile, Ozzy's former band Black Sabbath and '70s funk rockers George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic are among the artists set to receive the Lifetime Achievement award at the 2019 Grammys awards show. Dionne Warwick, Donny Hathaway, Julio Iglesias, soul duo Sam & Dave and late jazz singer Billy Eckstine will also be receiving the award during the ceremony set for May 11 in Los Angeles. The Grammys' non-performance Trustees Award will be presented to Lou Adler, Ashford & Simpson and Johnny Mandel. - New Musical Express, 12/22/18...... The first leg of Elton John's "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" has earned a total of $42 million, enough to handily top the Billboard Hot Tours recap for the week ending Dec. 22, 2018. John began the trek playing to 8,983 fans at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pa., on Sept. 8, 2018, and has played 41 arena dates across North America. In the new year, Elton will resume the FYBR tour in Boise, Idaho, on Jan. 11 and continue in North America through March 18 in Orlando. More European and North American dates are scheduled through the end of 2020, with even more to potentially be added. John has grossed $1.2 billion since Billboard Boxscore began tracking touring data in 1990. With approximately 250 dates left before the curtain closes, his final gross could climb past the $1.5 billion mark. - Billboard, 12/18/18...... 
The Beach Boys singer Mike Love has teamed up with teen pop idols Hanson for a new Christmas video entitled "Finally It's Christmas," a track from his new yuletide LP 
Actress/director Penny Marshall, the nasally and good-natured Bronx native who starred on the popular ABC sitcom 
Aretha Franklin testified via speakerphone from Detroit during a trial in federal court in Denver to block the screening of Amazing Grace, a documentary a 1972 concert of hers, at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado without the Queen of Soul's written consent. Franklin says she objects to the screening of the film, which was scheduled to be shown at Telluride three times (with the first showing only a few hours before she testified) because of a technical mistake in the film. The film's director Sydney Pollack, who died in 2008, neglected to synchronize the sound and the music documentary ended up being a silent film. Hundreds of hours were fruitlessly spent trying to match the correct sound to the right piece of footage (with the choir director of the Watts church where the performance was recorded even being enlisted to read lips). Amazing Grace ended up languishing in the studio vaults for decades. "For him to show that film, for him to completely and blatantly ignore me would be terrible," she said of the film's producer, Alan Elliot, whom she sued in 2011 to prevent a prior showing of the movie. "For him to do that would encourage other people to do the same thing and have no respect for me." Attorneys representing Telluride complained that Franklin's move came at the last minute -- an agent who represents her had been told the film would appear two to three weeks earlier -- and that the screenings at a modest theater in a remote southwestern town would not harm her. They also contended that a recently unearthed 1968 recording contract Franklin signed gave away rights to the footage of her concerts. Judge John L. Kane said Franklin deserved the right to control how her image is used. "She would suffer immediate and irreparable damage by this showing," Kane said in issuing his order. The festival could appeal the ruling, but would have to reverse judgment before the last scheduled screening on Sept. 13. - AP, 9/5/15...... Pink Floyd principal David Gilmour has just released a "making of" video for the second single from his forthcoming album 
In a new interview with his hometown paper The Birmingham Mail, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi confirmed the upcoming Sabbath tour will be its last. "I still love gigging. It's all the travelling and the exhaustion that goes with it that's the problem," says Iommi, who was diagnosed with lymphoma in early 2012 and underwent successful treatment for the illness in Jan. 2013. "That side of things has a big impact on me. Yes, we may fly in luxury, stay in the very best hotels, ride in the most comfortable limos, but there's still a physical cost to touring. Even when we build in rest breaks, I have to have blood tests every six weeks. I find it tough going." The musician also said a followup to the band's last LP, 13, is far from a certainty. "I've been busy writing songs ever since the 13 sessions. At that point, we thought there might be another Sabbath album. But that's up in the air now so I don't know when or where they might appear. The tracks are ready, though." Black Sabbath announced in early September that their farewell tour, expected to last a year, would get underway in Nebraska in mid-January. Dates outside of America, Australia and New Zealand are yet to be announced. - NME, 9/6/15...... Rod Stewart hooked up with his mates from his old band the Faces on Sept. 5 in Surrey, England for a benefit concert for Prostate Cancer U.K. Stewart, guitarist Ronnie Wood and drummer Kenney Jones were backed by nine additional musicians who filled in for bassist Ronnie Lane (who passed away in 1997) and keyboardist Ian McLagan (who died in 2014). Other than a one-off gig at the 1993 Brit Awards, Stewart has not performed in public with the Faces since the band split up in 1975. After the show, Stewart tweeted the night's seven-song set list along with the message "A perfect rockin' evening with my mates": "A perfect rockin' evening with my mates @RonnieWood @KenneyJones! #FacesReunion pic.twitter.com/wgxEOFLSry - Rod Stewart (@rodstewart) September 6, 2015." - Billboard, 9/6/15...... Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler have an impromptu performance in Moscow, Russia on Sept. 2 when he joined a street performer to sing Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing." A 
Meanwhile, rock legends Ringo Starr and Robert Plant paid tribute to one of their early influences, '50s rock & roller Jerry Lee Lewis, on Sept. 5 for Lewis's upcoming 80th birthday which will occur on Sept. 29. A special gig in Lewis's honor took place at the London Palladium as part of his "farewell U.K. tour." Starr and Plant wheeled a birthday cake onto the stage and joined a host of other musicians and fans in singing "Happy Birthday" to the veteran musician. "Had a great time at the Jerry Lee Lewis show in London happy birthday Jerry peace and love," Ringo later tweeted. - New Musical Express, 9/7/15...... Paul McCartney, Jon Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, Fergie, Natasha Bedingfield and Sean Paul are among the 16 international artists who have lent their voices to "Love Song to the Earth," a song recorded to spur action on global climate change. "Love Song to the Earth" will be released exclusively on Sept. 11 through iTunes and Apple Music's Connect radio station. The artists, producers and directors of the "Love Song" project and Apple are donating their respective proceeds to Friends of the Earth U.S. and the United Nations Foundation. - Billboard, 9/3/15...... In more Beatles-related news, the Fab Four's first management contract will be sold at auction on Sept. 29 in London and could fetch as much as £250,000. Also signed by their manager Brian Epstein, the contract was famously agreed to by Epstein despite McCartney annoying the manager by attending a meeting late as he was taking a bath, and cosigned by some of the Beatles' parents because they were too young to sign legally themselves. Other items up for sale in the Sept. 29 auction include a copy of the Beatles' Please, Please Me LP signed by all four members of the band, and one of Eric Clapton's Fender Stratocasters. - NME, 9/5/15...... Queen guitarist Brian May led a funeral march protest in London on Sept. 8 to demonstrate against the government-sanctioned cull of badgers. May, a longtime animal rights activist, has been vocal about anti-badger cull issues and was accompanied by fellow protesters at the march organised by animal welfare group Team Badger. The demonstrators led a hearse with flowers bearing the number "2,263," the alleged number of badgers that were killed in the last badger cull in the U.K. between 2013 to 2014. In a recent guest editorial for The Mirror, May accused the U.K. government of "bone-headedly, doggedly pursuing a policy of murdering British badgers." - NME, 9/8/15...... Ska and reggae trombonist Rico Rodriguez, a member of the 2 Tone revival band the Specials since 1979, passed away in London on Sept. 4 at the age of 80. Mr. Rodriguez, who was born in Cuba but moved to Jamaica as a child, joined the Specials in 1979, appearing on their cover of Dandy Livingstone's "A Message To You Rudy." He was also a solo artist and released his 1977 LP Man From Wareika prior to joining the Specials. He also played with Jools Holland's Rhythm & Blues Orchestra and was awarded an MBE for services to music in 2007. - NME, 9/5/15...... Candida Royalle, a former actress in pornographic films who appeared in dozens of X-rated films since 1975, died on Sept. 7 after a battle with ovarian cancer. She was 64. Born Candice Vadala, she studied music and dance at Parsons The New School of Design in New York and went on to pursue a career in the porn industry. Through her Femme Productions firm, which was established in 1984, Vadala was considered a pioneer for making movies aimed more at pleasuring women and helping couples maintain a healthy sex life. She was also a board member of the Feminists for Free Expression movement and the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists. - WENN.com 9/8/15...... 
British actress and comedienne Judy Carne, best known to Americans as the popular "Sock It To Me" fall girl on the hit NBC comedy sketch series 
Meat Loaf says his upcoming album Braver Than We Are is "completely different from anything else" he or anyone else has done. "There are a couple of normal rock pieces but, for the most part, it's completely different. When you hear the opening track, your mouth's gonna hang open," says the Grammy-winning rocker. "The first song people will either love or despise, which is the way I like it. The opening number is pretty wild. It's not long; the second song is long, and the third song is really long, and the fourth song is kind of long, and then the fifth song goes into a 'down and out kind of guy,' and what's the sixth song? I can't remember pass that," he said of the LP, which reunites him with his longtime collaborator Jim Steinman. Meat Loaf is currently finishing up the album in Nashville for a likely March 2016 release, and kicks off his first tour in two years this fall on Oct. 23 in Temecula, Calif. Meat Loaf also shared some thoughts about his former Celebrity Apprentice boss and GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump: "Donald's very, very smart. I don't want to get myself in trouble here, but if anybody knows how to put people to work, it's Donald Trump. That I know." - Billboard, 9/3/15...... A public domain battle is brewing in Canada over early '60s recordings by such acts as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys which, alongside works like Ian Fleming's James Bond character have become subject to a lesser copyright term. A company called Stargrove Entertainment says it submitted royalty payments in order to sell CDs full of recordings in the public domain in the country at Walmart for five bucks each, and they became a hit. But music giants like Universal and Sony are now interfering with Stargrove's marketing of the budget albums, and the publishers (which also include ABKCO and Casablanca) allegedly sent out instructions to a Canadian agency charged with such license applications to stop issuing mechanical licenses to Stargrove, and their sales came to a grinding halt. In a complaint filed on Sept. 2 with the Canadian Competition Tribunal, Stargrove says it has lost out on opportunities, and that its sales are now zero. Sony/ATV declined to respond while Universal hasn't yet responded to a request for comment. In June, Canada extended the copyright term from 50 to 70 years for published sound recordings, meaning that late '60s recordings by the Beatles are no longer on the precipices of being in the public domain there. - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/2/15...... 
Black Sabbath posted a video on Sept. 3 announcing plans for their final farewell tour, promising fans "their most mesmerizing production ever." The heavy metal icons' "The End" tour will launch in Nebraska in January 2016 before wrapping in Australia and New Zealand in April. ''It's the beginning of the end," the video says. "It started nearly five decades ago with a crack of thunder, a distant bell ringing and then that monstrous riff that shook the earth. The heaviest rock sound ever heard. In that moment heavy metal was born, created by a young band from Birmingham, England barely out of their teens. Now it ends, the final tour by the greatest metal band of all time, Black Sabbath. Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler close the final chapter in the final volume of the incredible Black Sabbath story...When this tour concludes, it will truly be the end, the end of one of the most legendary bands in Rock 'n Roll history... Black Sabbath." It is not clear who will be playing drums on the tour after original stickman Bill Ward fell out with his bandmates, however Tommy Clueftos, who plays with Ozzy's solo group, played on the band's reunion album 13 and subsequent tours. - New Musical Express, 9/3/15...... Speaking of Black Sabbath, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, never one to mince words, described the band as "a joke" in a new interview with the New York Daily News. "Millions are in love with Metallica and Black Sabbath. I just thought they were great jokes," says Richards, who will release his first solo LP in 23 years, Crosseyed Heart, on Sept. 18. Richards wasn't any kinder to the hip-hop/rap genre: "'Rap' -- so many words, so little said. What rap did that was impressive was to show there are so many tone-deaf people out there. All they need is a drum beat and somebody yelling over it and they're happy. There's an enormous market for people who can't tell one note from another." Talking to Entertainment Weekly, Richards said that he'd like to get the Stones into he recording studio as soon as they have finished their scheduled tour dates in early 2016. "I'm trying to get the Stones into the studio, but I don't quite honestly see it happening this year," he said. - NME, 9/3/15...... '70s rock legends David Bowie and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith will be among the artists contributing to a new nautical-set musical based on the popular Nickelodeon animated series SpongeBob SquarePants. The Flaming Lips, John Legend, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper, Panic! at the Disco and They Might Be Giants will also be participating in the songwriting for the show, which will make its world premiere in Chicago's Oriental Theatre on June 7, 2016, running through July 3 before it eventually heads to Broadway. - The Hollywood Reporter, 8/31/15...... 
In his forthcoming memoir 
Less than a month after ending his longtime relationship with Miss Piggy, Kermit the Frog has reportedly moved on with an ABC exec named Denise, who's also a pig. "She's always stopping by the set of Up Late," a source tells People.com. "He calls her his girlfriend." But Miss Piggy apparently hasn't been sitting at home since splitting with Kermit. Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth has posted an Instagram photo of himself looking into Miss Piggy's eyes with the caption, "Spent Friday with the most beautiful girl in the world. Kermit, #SorryNotSorry. #TheMuppets #misspiggy." Kermit and Miss Piggy's high profile breakup could make things awkward for the execs of the new Muppets docuseries The Muppets, which will make its debut on Sept. 22. - WENN.com/Postmedia Network, 9/1/15...... Actor Dean Jones, best known for leading roles in several Walt Disney films of the 1960s and '70s including The Love Bug and That Darn Cat!, died on Sept. 1 from complications related to Parkinson's disease. He was 84. Born on January 23, 1931, in Decatur, Ala., Jones began acting after a stint in the Navy during the Korean War. Jones worked steadily throughout the 1950s and made his Broadway debut in 1960 opposite Jane Fonda in the brief run of "There Was A Little Girl." Later that year, he starred on the Main Stem in "Under The Yum Yum Tree," which ran for six months, and reprised his role for the 1963 feature. He already was a veteran presence on TV and in films when he was cast opposite Hayley Mills in 1965's That Darn Cat!, followed by starring roles in such family films as The Ugly Dachshund (1966), Monkeys, Go Home! (1967), Blackbeard's Ghost (1968) and The Love Bug, in which he portrayed a race car driver who works with a VW Beetle named Herbie that has a mind of its own. He reprised that role for a 1977 sequel -- the only one of several theatrical Herbie pics in which he appeared -- and a short-lived 1982 TV series. Earlier in his career, Jones appeared in such features as Tea And Sympathy, with Elvis Presley in Jailhouse Rock (1957), Handle With Care (1958) and Never So Few (1960). His TV credits in that era include Bonanza, Wagon Train and Ben Casey. - Deadline.com, 9/2/15...... 
Director Wes Craven, best known for helming the first Nightmare on Elm Street film as well as the first four Scream movies, died on Aug. 30 at his home in Los Angeles after a battle with brain cancer. He was 76. Born Aug. 2, 1939 in Cleveland, Craven briefly taught English at Westminster College and was a humanities professor at Clarkson College, where he served as a disc jockey for the campus radio station. Craven wrote and directed his first feature film, The Last House on the Left, which was a rape-revenge movie that appalled some viewers but generated big box office. Next came another film he wrote and helmed, The Hills Have Eyes (1977). In 1984, he re-invented the youth horror genre with the classic A Nightmare on Elm Street, which he also wrote and directed. His iconic Freddy Krueger character horrified viewers for years, and he later conceived and co-wrote sequels including Elm Street III as well. In 1999, in the midst of directing, he completed his first novel, The Fountain Society, published by Simon & Shuster, and in 2005 directed the psychological thriller Red Eye, another box office hit starring Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy. In 2009 he produced a remake of The Last House on the Left, and his most recent written and directed film, My Soul to Take, followed a year later. Survivors include his wife, producer and former Disney Studios vice president Iya Labunka.. - The Hollywood Reporter, 8/30/15.