Posted by Administrator on January 29th, 2015
A source close to Paul McCartney says rumours that the former Beatle will be co-producing Kayne West's new album are "not true" after a second collaboration between Sir Paul and West, "FourFiveSeconds," was unveiled over the fourth weekend of January. Numerous reports that McCartney will work on West's Yeezus follow-up emerged on social media, citing comments made by West's longtime friend and barber Ibn Jasper on Instagram. McCartney also contributed backing vocals to a previously released collaboration with West, "Only One." In other McCartney news, Paul's ex-wife Heather Mills tells Britain's Event magazine in a new interview that her divorce from the rock legend was "a more traumatic experience than losing her leg in a motorcycle accident." The British model-turning-professional skier was married to McCartney for four years before their acrimonious split in 2006 and they subsequently faced off against each other in a bitter and highly-publicized divorce trial. Mills was awarded a $38.9 million settlement in 2008, and now seven years later, says she is still struggling to bounce back from the divorce drama. "It's very hard to be married to a Beatle. (McCartney's first wife) Linda had it tough, Yoko (Ono) had it tough and what happened to me after the divorce... losing my leg was easier to cope with... I felt I lost everything. I spent my whole life raising money for charities and I was asked to leave every charity because I became poison... Everything I had been was taken away." Mills, who has an 11-year-old daughter named Beatrice with Paul, says the experience has turned her against marriage in the future. "Never, never, never... I'm single, I want to have fun but I don't want to be married. It's one thing I'm absolutely sure about." She lost her left leg below the knee in a motorcycle crash in 1993. - NME/WENN.com, 1/26/15...... 
Two of the '70s most famous singer/songwriters, James Taylor and Paul Simon, paid tribute to late jazz great Michael Brecker on Jan. 20 in New York City with performances and kind words at a cancer benefit for their friend who died in 2007. Taylor, who Brecker's widow said had the flu, performed "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" -- the first song he played with the jazz saxophonist -- while Simon performed "Still Crazy After All These Years" and "The Boxer," songs he said he "closely associates" with Brecker. "I miss him all the time," Taylor said after the performance. "Michael saved my life and probably a lot of other people. He led me to freedom, really from addiction, and showed a number of us the way." Taylor joined forces with Simon, Dianne Reeves and Bobby McFerrin to close the 90-minute show with "Shower the People." Brecker, who died of a form of bone marrow cancer at age 57, won more than a dozen Grammy Awards and played with a number of iconic artists, including Simon, Taylor, Elton John and Joni Mitchell. - AP, 1/21/15...... Jazz greats Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea, who last toured together 37 years ago when Pres. Jimmy Carter was in the White House, have announced a 19-city world tour of duo piano concerts that will launch in Seattle on Mar. 14. Corea and Hancock, who both were members of Miles Davis' bands of the 1960s and contributed to his groundbreaking jazz-fusion albums In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew, will also hit such cities as Vancouver, Denver, San Diego, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago before wrapping the North American leg in Carmel, Indiana, on Apr. 18. After a break, the duo will perform in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. - AP, 1/23/15...... 
Walter Becker, the guitarist/songwriter and cofounder of Steely Dan, died on Sept. 3 of an unspecified illness. He was 67. His passing was confirmed by a post on his 
The album sold well and was hailed by critics, but Becker, Fagen and Katz were put off by a singles-oriented audience, and the followup, 1973's 
He also released two solo albums, 11 Tracks of Whack (1994) and Circus Money (2008). Steely Dan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, taking the opportunity at the ceremony to take questions from the audience. Becker overcame substance-abuse problems in the 1980s after his girlfriend died from an overdose, with her mother claiming he fostered the young woman's drug problem and attempting to sue him. Becker was absent at both of Steely Dan's performances during the July 2017 Classic West and Classic East concerts due to an unspecified illness. In August, Fagen said in an interview that his longtime collaborator was "recovering from a procedure," but didn't elaborate further. In a statement published on RollingStone.com, Donald Fagen paid tribute to his dear friend and bandmate in a thoughtful lengthy post, which included: "Walter Becker was my friend, my writing partner and my bandmate since we met as students at Bard College in 1967... He was smart as a whip, an excellent guitarist and a great songwriter. He was cynical about human nature, including his own, and hysterically funny... His habits got the best of him by the end of the seventies, and we lost touch for a while. In the eighties, when I was putting together the NY Rock and Soul Review with [my wife] Libby, we hooked up again, revived the Steely Dan concept and developed another terrific band. I intend to keep the music we created together alive as long as I can with the Steely Dan band." - Billboard/Rolling Stone, 9/3/17.
'70s soul singer Gloria Gaynor has rewritten the lyrics to her inspirational 1979 No. 1 smash 
A Chuck Berry tribute concert planned for the 2017 LouFest in the pioneering rock & roller's hometown of St. Louis will be headlined by artists including Dave Matthews Band, Cage the Elephant, members of The Roots, and Britt Daniel of Spoon. Dubbed "Hail! Hail! Chuck Berry!," the all-star tribute will take place Sept. 9 at 8 p.m. on the festival's Bud Light Stage. The concert has the blessing of Berry's family, which is using the occasion to announce the formation of the Chuck Berry Foundation, which will focus causes in the arts and music education. Concert organizers say the Berry tribute will "ultimately become an everlasting piece of the festival for years to come." Berry died on March 18 at the age of 90. The LouFest 2017 is set for Forest Park at a new event space adjacent to the historic Muny Amphitheater. - Billboard, 9/1/17...... Several artists who recorded for the legendary Stax Records participated in a 50th anniversary tribute to the famed 1960's Stax/Volt Records tour, which took the U.K. and Europe by storm in 1967, as part of the 2017 BBC Proms season at London's Royal Albert Hall on Sept. 1. From that tour, Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Eddie Floyd and Sam Moore all took part in the concert, along with Stax labelmate William Bell. The concert took place as Stax continues the year-long Stax 60 commemoration of the company's 1957 inception. "It was a family at Stax," Cropper noted before the concert. "We were like brothers and sisters, and we worked together for the same purpose, to get hit records for everybody." - Billboard, 9/1/17...... Bruce Springsteen has added 10 weeks to his upcoming Broadway residency at the Walter Kerr Theatre, which is set to get officially underway on Oct. 12. Springsteen announced on Aug. 31 he will perform five shows a week beginning Oct. 3, and his run is now scheduled through Feb. 3. The extension announcement was made on Aug. 30, the same day tickets for "Springsteen on Broadway" went on sale exclusively through Ticketmaster Verified Fan, a new technology that aims to combat bots and get tickets into the hands of real fans who intend to go to the event. The entire initial 10-week run sold out within the day, with tickets hitting the secondary market shortly afterward -- some offered at up to nearly $10,000 a seat. "I wanted to do some shows that were as personal and as intimate as possible," stated Springsteen when he officially announced the run. "I chose Broadway for this project because it has the beautiful old theaters which seemed like the right setting for what I have in mind." - The Hollywood Reporter, 8/31/17...... 
On Aug. 31, Elton John remembered the 20th anniversary of the untimely death of Princess Diana, who perished in 1997 after being involved in a car crash in a Paris tunnel. "20 years ago today, the world lost an angel #RIP," Sir Elton posted on Instagram, including a photo of the pair together. John, who was good friends with Diana, 
Author Jimmy McDonough, who previously penned the bestselling Neil Young biography Shakey, released an Al Green biography entitled 
Skip Prokop, drummer/vocalist with seminal Canadian rock/jazz ensemble Lighthouse, died on Aug. 30 from heart complications. He was 73. Formerly with The Paupers, Hamilton, Ont. native Prokop went on to be the band leader with Lighthouse in 1968 along with keyboardist Paul Hoffert and guitarist Ralph Cole. Known as Canada's answer to Chicago, Lighthouse launched as a 13-piece, rock/funk/jazz group making their debut at Toronto's Rockpile on May 14, 1969. One of their first gigs was at New York's Carnegie Hall and they also played Bill Graham's Fillmore East and Filmore West during that first year. They won the Juno Award for Top Canadian Group three consecutive years in 1972-73 and 74. After three relatively unsuccessful albums on RCA, Lighthouse finally clicked as a recording group when, after enlisting Bob McBride as lead vocalist, they recorded 
Ringo Starr was inducted into the 
"[We] were on the front line singing, and now behind us we had this guy we'd never played with before, and I remember the moment when he started to play -- I think it was Ray Charles, 'What'd I Say', and most of the drummers couldn't nail the drum part. It was a little difficult to do, but Ringo nailed it." John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, also on hand to honor Ringo, spoke breifly backstage: "It's just sad John and George [Harrison] aren't here." Bill Withers, who was introduced by John Legend with a performance of Withers' "Use Me" backed by Stevie Wonder, called being inducted by Wonder "A lion holding the door for a kitty cat." The trio then jammed on a rendition of Withers' smash "Lean on Me." 
Joan Jett, who was inducted by Miley Cyrus, joined her band the Blackhearts and Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl for a mini-set of her rockers including "Bad Reputation," the Runaways' "Cherry Bomb" and "Crimson and Clover," the Tommy James & the Shondelles cover that Jett took to No. 1. Lou Reed was paid a moving tribute by his friend Patti Smith and Reed's widow, musician Laurie Anderson, who shared the three rules for life that they came up with: "One: don't be afraid of anyone; Two: get a really good bullshit detector and learn how to use it; Three: be really, really tender." The ceremony closed with a rousing version of the Lennon-McCartney-penned "I Want to Be Your Man," with all the inductees and presenters participating. - Billboard, 4/19/15.
Wisconsin-based outdoor apparel retailer Duluth Trading Co. has settled a lawsuit from founding Eagles member Don Henley alleging trademark infringement. Henley filed suit in federal court in October after the company used the pun "Don a Henley and Take it easy" in an ad selling a shirt style known as a "henley" -- a play on Henley's name and a title of a popular song by the classic rock band. The Belleville, Wisc.-based company agreed to never again use or imply Henley's name when selling the style of shirt. Duluth Trading Co. also issued an apology to Henley on its website, saying it was inappropriate to use his name and the song title. It also made an undisclosed contribution to a nonprofit Henley founded. - AP, 4/17/15...... Paul Simon has scored his first U.K. number one album in 25 years with his new U.K. greatest hits compilation, 
Former Rolling Stones bassist has announced he'll release his first solo album in 33 years on June 23. Titled 
The Grateful Dead's three-night "farewell" concert run set for Chicago's Soldier Field on July 3, 4 and 5 will be simulcast live in select theaters across the U.S. Nightly five-hour screenings of Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead will start at 8 p.m. EDT/7 p.m. CDT/6 p.m. MDT/5 p.m. PDT. The Grateful Dead performances, featuring surviving founding members Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir and Bill Kreutzmann, are taking place nearly 20 years to the day of the last Dead concert with late frontman Jerry Garcia. Trey Anastasio, Bruce Horrnsby and Weir associate Jeff Chimenti will be joining the band for the three shows. - Billboard, 4/16/15...... "And now for something completely different" -- Professor Stephen Hawking has covered Monty Python's "Galaxy Song" for Record Store Day on Apr. 18. The track, a facts-and-figures journey through the cosmos, was originally written by Eric Idle and John Du Prez and performed by Idle in the1983 comedy Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life. For the special elease "Stephen Hawking Sings Monty Python... Galaxy Song," the Cambridge University professor narrates the Python classic in his familiar synthesized tones (he lost his ability to speak in 1985 due to degenerative motor neuron disease). The track has been released as a limited edition 7" single for Record Store Day, and must surely rank as one of the unusual exclusives in the eight-year history of the event. - Billboard, 4/16/15...... Actor Ben Powers, known for his role in the 1970s CBS television sitcom 
After a 22-year absence on the Billboard charts, the Nile Rodgers-led Chic has returned with its new single, "I'll Be There." The song debuted at No. 40 on the Dance Club Songs chart for the week ending Apr. 25. It marks Chic's first visit to any of Billboard's US charts since Oct. 3, 1992, when "Your Love" last charted on the Dance Club Songs chart. Credited to "Chic featuring Nile Rodgers," "I'll Be There" is the first single from Chic's forthcoming studio LP, It's About Time, which is due in June via Warner Bros. - Billboard, 4/13/15...... A benefit concert in Chicago on May 14 will feature Pete Townshend of The Who performing with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder on vocals. The musicians, which also include The Who's touring musicians Simon Townshend, Zak Starkey, Pino Palladino and John Corey, will run through The Who's back catalogue at the Rosemont Theatre on behalf of Teen Cancer America -- the US equivalent of the Teenage Cancer Trust which was founded in 2012 Townshend and The Who frontman Roger Daltrey. The Who is currently in the midst of their "The Who Hits 50" anniversary jaunt, which stretches throughout 2015, and in March played Teenage Cancer Trust benefit gigs at London's Royal Albert Hall. - New Musical Express, 4/14/15...... Cher, who has often been outspoken when it comes to national politics, is endorsing a candidate closer to home -- a contender for the West Hollywood City Council named Heidi Shink. "West Hollywood has a very special place in my heart. I began my career here, playing at places like the Whisky a Go Go and the Troubadour, and I have many friends and fans who call West Hollywood home... It is so crucial to me who is on the West Hollywood City Council and that's why this June election is so vital. I urge everyone to vote for Heidi," the singer-actress said in a recent interview. Cher also will be hosting a fundraiser for Shink on the evening of Apr. 18, and her son, Chaz, also has voiced his support for Shink. - The Hollywood Reporter, 4/14/15...... 
A representative for Billy Joel said on Apr. 14 that the 65-year-old singer-songwriter and his 33-year-old girlfriend Alexis Roderick are expecting their first child. Joel, also the father of budding musician Alexa Ray Joel from his first marriage to Christie Brinkley, has been dating Roderick since 2009. The statement from Joel's representative said the couple "opted to keep any further details of her pregnancy under wraps until their new addition makes an official debut." Joel is currently completing a month-to-month residency at Madison Square Garden in New York City, with his next show scheduled for May 28. - AP, 4/14/15...... Iconic musician-composer Quincy Jones participated in Loyola Marymount University's Hollywood Masters lecture series on Apr. 8, and told students that he "freaked out" when he learned of Michael Jackson's death in June 2009. Jones said he was in London and had just learned that two other stars had died -- Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon -- when he was told about Jackson. "I freaked out," he said. "You know, I couldn't believe it. No, it was heavy. Really heavy. Because, boy, the relationship with a producer and an artist is really special. And there's no room for BS at all. It's got to be pure." Jones, 79, also said he listened to 800 songs before choosing the ones for Jackson's 1982 pop masterpiece 
Speaking in Brighton, UK on Apr. 13, Queen guitarist Brian May urged his fellow citizens to vote "colourblind" at the General Election on May 7. "It's politics without colour. It's colour-blind politics. What we are saying is do not assume that your vote will be wasted, get up off your ass and vote," said May, who runs the Common Decency project and campaign. "I think this is a very crucial election. I think it's different to anyone that's been before because for the first time the internet is all-powerful. It's much harder for politicians to get away with the deceits that they used to get away with," he added. May is a staunch animal rights campaigner, having protested against the badger cull, as well as the Tories' attempts to bring back fox hunting. - NME, 4/14/15...... Meanwhile another animal rights advocate, Paul McCartney, has marked the opening of Canada's seal hunting season by urging officials to make this the last year of the annual cull. Sir Paul has written an open letter opposing Canada's bloodiest bloodsport. "Canada's brutal commercial seal hunt has begun, and once again thousands of baby seals will be shot and bludgeoned to make fur products that nobody wants or needs," wrote Paul, who joined activists at Humane Society International (HSI) on the ice in 2006 to protest the slaughter, and is doing it again this year. The European Union's trade ban on commercial seal hunt products has already helped save more than one million baby seals from a horrible fate, but we need to ensure the EU keeps this strong ban intact. That's why my friends at Humane Society International are once again setting out for the ice flows for the grim task of catching this horror on film," he added. He went on to say that "videos of the bloody seal slaughter provide the only vital evidence to demonstrate year after year that these seals are dying a horrible death for their fur" and said that he wishes them well and "hopes that this will be the last year that Canada's ice turns red." - WENN.com, 4/13/15...... Organizers of the Rewind 80's Festivals in the UK have announced that three festivals are scheduled for 2015: Rewind Scotland will return for its fifth year at Scone Palace, Perth on July 24-26 and feature headline performances from Thompson Twins' Tom Bailey and performances from Bananarama, Howard Jones, Kim Wilde, Sister Sledge, Nik Kershaw and Belinda Carlisle. Rewind North returns to the North of England at Capesthorne Hall, Cheshire from Aug. 7-9. Headline performances include Human League, plus appearances from The Boomtown Rats, Heather Small, The Sugarhill Gang and ABC. Rewind South at Temple Island Meadows, Henley-on-Thames returns for its seventh year on Aug. 21-23 with headliners OMD and Human League, plus 80s stars Billy Ocean, T'Pau, Midge Ure, Kim Wilde, Hot Chocolate, Belinda Carlisle, Dave Edmunds and Slim Jim Phantom from The Stray Cats. Tickets for all three festivals are on sale now via the official website rewindfestival.com. - Noble PR, 4/14/15...... Dave Ball, a former member of Procul Harum, died on Apr. 1 in Australia after a battle with bowel cancer. He was 65. Ball joined Procul Harum, best known for the song "A Whiter Shade of Pale," in 1971, and played on one of its most successful tracks -- "Conquistador." He left the band in 1972 to join the army and left the world of rock and roll behind him. He later took on jobs in banking and computer software before, in 2000, he decided to return to his passion of making music and writing. After living around the world, he returned to the UK in 2010 and continued to write and sing. He continued to play music live but it was in 2012 when he noticed that he might be ill. Procul Harum frontman Gary Brooker said he was sad to hear that Ball had "moved on": "As a Procolite he made a great contribution during the early 70s and the band today, with the Geoffs, Matt, Josh and Chris, have spent happy days with him whenever and wherever he came to see us, which was often."...... 
Soul singer Percy Sledge, whose signature song 
One of the more sensational rumors in rock music lore is that "Mama Cass" Elliot of The Mamas and the Papas died choking on a ham sandwich. Now a new Mama Cass biopic that aims to dispel that rumor and tell the "California Dreamin'" singer's story has cast its titular role. Baby Reindeer phenom Jessica Gunning is set to play Mama Cass in the movie which will be based on the memoir of Elliot's daughter, Owen Elliot-Kugell, called My Mama, Cass. According to a press release, the biopic "is not a Mamas & the Papas biopic" and will focus on Cass, who died in her sleep in 1974 in London at the age of 32, with the cause of her death being ruled as a heart attack. According to her autopsy, the singer died in her sleep after feeling unwell the previous evening, and there were no drugs in her system. "I can't believe we're still talking about the sandwich after all these years," Elliot-Kugell told Rolling Stone. "I started running my mom's estate when I was 18. One of the first things I remember thinking is, 'We've got to stop that ham sandwich rumor thing,' because it was so painful. It wasn't enough that we had lost her, to then be [made into] a joke." In the years before, the "California Dreamin'" singer's home in Laurel Canyon, Calif., became a hub for the talented and beautiful in the prelude to the storied 1967 "Summer of Love," welcoming guests from Joni Mitchell to Eric Clapton. Cass was a founding member of the Mamas and Papas vocal group and went on to embark on a solo career after they disbanded. She released her final album, the live album Don't Call Me Mama Anymore, and died a year later. The biopic hasn't yet got a director, although the screenplay is being written by Emma Forrest and is planned to use Cass's voice in songs. Jessica Gunning, who had previously starred on the Outlaws, shot to fame for her portrayal of Martha Scott, a woman obsessed with a struggling comedian, in Baby Reindeer. She's also set to appear in the upcoming The Magic Faraway Tree movie, out on Mar. 27. - The Daily Beast, 2/13/26...... In related news, actress Bijou Phillips, the daughter of Mamas and Papas members, the late John Phillips and Michelle Phillips, is still in urgent need of a kidney, even after receiving hundreds of donor offers from fans after posting about her search online. According to sources close to Phillips, the situation is "touch and go by the minute," and the offers have been "incredible outpouring of support," but "doctors haven't found a match yet," according to TMZ.com. Bijou is seeking kidney donors with blood types B negative, B positive, O negative, or O positive. The model/actress was born with underdeveloped kidneys and had to undergo a kidney transplant nine years ago to manage the medical issue. She has since suffered from serious complications following the initial surgery in 2017, including a serious case of the BK virus. Her original organ transplant failed, leaving her in the life-threatening state she is in now. Bijou is currently hospitalized at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. Phillips divorced That '70s Show star Danny Masteron in 2023, after the actor was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for two convictions of forcible rape from two separate 2003 incidents. - The Daily Beast, 2/12/26...... 
Interviewed on the LegendsNLeaders podcast, KISS's Gene Simmons reiterated his belief that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame shouldn't induct hip-hop stars, saying the genre "doesn't speak [his] language." During the interview Simmons was explaining that he thinks critics and official musical institutions can't be trusted to determine a band or artist's relevance when he brought up the Rock Hall as an example. "The fact that, for instance, Iron Maiden is not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame when they can sell out stadiums, and Grandmaster Flash is," he began. "Ice Cube and I had a back and forth -- he's a bright guy, and I respect what he's done. [But] It's not my music. I don't come from the ghetto. It doesn't speak my language. I said in print many times: Hip-hop does not belong in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, nor does opera, symphony orchestras & -- it's called the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame." Simmons continued: "But [Ice] shot back and said, 'No, it's the spirit of rock n' roll.' OK, fine & I just want to know when Led Zeppelin's gonna be in the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame. Music has labels, because it describes an approach." KISS was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2014, two years after which Ice Cube earned a spot in the institution's hallowed halls as part of pioneering gangsta rap group N.W.A. The latter is one of several hip-hop stars the Hall has welcomed, along with rap icons such as Jay-Z, LL Cool J and Missy Elliott. In the same interview, Simmons also compared Taylor Swift's fame to the Beatles' heyday, calling it "almost cultish." The bassist spoke about how powerful it is as a musician to see fans connect with your music in real time -- something he says is more validating of an artist's dominance than anything else. "The only analogy I can point to is the Swifties of today," he said. "Yes, the songs are cool, and [Taylor's] wonderful, we know her, but it's more than that," he continued. "It's almost a gathering of the tribes & The Beatles had that. It was called Beatlemania. It's almost cultish. You're a member of that, and there's a connection." Simmons' full LegendsNLeaders interview can be viewed on 
Officials in New York City have announced plans to co-name the Greenwich Village's West 8th Street after guitar god Jimi Hendrix as part of a national education initiative. The ceremony, set for Feb. 24, will take place at the doorstep of Electric Lady Studios, the hallowed recording facility Hendrix founded in 1970 and which remains a premier, operational hub for musical innovation today. Led by District 2 Council Member Harvey Epstein, the street naming serves as the high-profile launch for a national education partnership between Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. and Stevie Van Zandt's TeachRock. This collaboration introduces a new multimedia curriculum, "Jimi Hendrix: Rock's Trailblazing Innovator and Influential Guitarist," designed for middle and high school students. The curriculum utilizes exclusive archival footage from Hendrix's iconic 1967 Monterey Pop performance. Through a partnership with NYU's MusEdLab, students can even use interactive digital tools to experiment with the guitar effects and sonic breakthroughs that defined Hendrix's signature sound. The event brings together Van Zandt, Janie Hendrix (President/CEO of Experience Hendrix), and local educators to bridge the gap between rock history and modern classrooms. "Jimi Hendrix wasn't just a legendary musician; he was a fierce advocate for peace, racial equity, and social justice," noted Epstein. Van Zandt added, Hendrix's story reminds young people that "creativity has no limits." The two add that by connecting one of rock's most historic landmarks to a national network of schools, "Jimi Hendrix Way" ensures that the artist's journey will continue to inspire the next generation of creative thinkers. - Music-News.com, 2/12/26...... A new immersive David Bowie show, "David Bowie: You're Not Alone," is coming to London in April, showcasing some of the iconic musician's most famous performances as well as rarely seen material. The show contains a mixture of rarely seen and never-before-exhibited material selected from thousands of hours of film from the David Bowie Archive in New York, from Space Oddity to "Heroes" to Blackstar. The 360 immersive experience is produced by Lightroom, which has previously collaborated with the likes of David Hockney and Tom Hanks, and written and designed by Mark Grimmer of 59, the creative director for the V&A's "David Bowie Is" exhibition, as well as Tom Wexler. Performance footage is combined with photography, drawings, lyrics, personal notes and audio recordings, with the film structured in thematic chapters in a looping presentation. Among the footage included is a somewhat awkward transatlantic TV interview with Russell Harty in 1975 and the reconstructed set of the "Diamond Dogs" tour. As with previous Lightroom exhibitions, the footage will be projected all around the cube-shaped room, placing visitors at the centre of his live performances. As for the music, each track has been newly reconfigured to work with Lightroom's specialised spatial audio system to guide guests through Bowie's illustrious career. One of Bowie's most famous songs, "Heroes," has seen a huge streaming surge in recent weeks after being featured in the final episode of Netflix's Stranger Things. According to Luminate data, the track saw a boost of almost 500% on streaming services. - NME, 2/10/26...... 
John Fogerty is set to receive the Johnny Mercer Award, the Songwriters Hall of Fame's top honor, at the annual SHOF Induction and Awards Gala on June 11 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York. The Mercer Award is reserved for a songwriter or songwriting team who has already been inducted into the SHOF and whose body of work is of such high quality and impact that it upholds the high standards set by Johnny Mercer, the lyricist on such standards as "Moon River" and "The Days of Wine and Roses." Fogerty was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 and into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 as a member of Creedence Clearwater Revival. He's the 12th person to be inducted into the Rock Hall as a performer and also receive the Mercer Award from the SHOF. He follows Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Carole King, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Dolly Parton, Phil Collins (inducted into the Rock Hall as a member of Genesis), Elton John, Van Morrison, Lionel Richie and Neil Diamond. SHOF Chairman Nile Rodgers praised Fogerty as "one of those rare talents who is unmistakably himself." "His style of composition is rock and roll mastery," Rodgers said. "It's what I've always personally believed in, something I call 'The art of complex simplicity.' He's done what I believe all great songwriters do. He makes us feel. He deserves this award as much as anyone who's ever received it, or will receive it, in the future. I send my congratulations to John Fogerty." - Billboard, 2/10/26...... Catalog company ABKCO, owner of the Rolling Stones music catalog, says its recent court victory over unlicensed music in classic rock documentaries provides key clarity on the limits of "fair use," a hot-button issue in the AI-focused copyright conversation of 2026. On Feb. 4, a New York federal judge held filmmaker Robert Carruthers and his company Coda Publishing liable for infringing 80 songs owned by ABKCO and Universal Music Group (UMG) in documentaries about the Rolling Stones, ABBA, U2, Elton John, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Nirvana and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Carruthers had argued that the critical commentary included in the documentaries renders them fair use -- a tenet of copyright law that allows unlicensed works to repurposed for "transformative" creations. But Judge Katherine Polk Failla said simply getting a few critics to juxtapose "hot takes" next to reproduced videos does not "in any way transform the songs about which they are speaking." Fair use is a big deal in current copyright law ecause of artificial intelligence. Across dozens of lawsuits across the country, technology developers have argued that the "transformative" nature of AI makes it fair use for them to train models on existing work without paying for licenses. Now that the judge has rejected Carruthers' fair use defense and granted judgment in favor of ABKCO and UMPG further litigation will ensue to determine what kind of financial damages are owed. Judge Failla has ruled that Carruthers' infringement was willful, which could entitle the music companies to enhanced damages. - Billboard, 2/9/26...... 
In other Rolling Stones-related news, Mick Jagger's fiance Melanie Hamrick has been left "shaken" and "heartbroken" after being attacked outside a London club. The former ballerina revealed on her Instagram Stories on Feb. 10 that she was grabbed from behind outside the private members' club Annabel's in London's Mayfair district. "This is incredibly hard to share, but I was physically attacked at Annabels Mayfair tonight (sic)," Hamrick wrote in a since-deleted post. "I'm so thankful to my friends for protecting me. Two people grabbed me from behind and thank god for good people who stepped in to help me." Melanie added, "I'm shaken, sad and heartbroken that people can treat each other this way." According to The Sun, the attack was an opportunistic mugging attempt outside the upscale venue. Hamrick, 38, has been in a relationship with the Stones frontman since 2014. After two years of dating, they welcomed their first child together -- a son named Deveraux -- in 2016. The boy is Jagger's eighth child. Hamrick confirmed speculation that she and Jagger were engaged in an interview with Paris Match in Apr. 2025, revealing that she and the 82-year-old had been engaged "two or three years," but were in no rush to get married. "Maybe one day we'll marry, maybe not," she said. "We are so happy in our current life that I would be too afraid to change anything. We try to support each other, be there for each other, and make sure everyone is happy. That's all that matters to me and all I strive for." Jagger was previously married to Bianca Jagger from 1971 to 1978 and has been in long-term relationships with Marianne Faithfull, Jerry Hall and L'Wren Scott. - Music-News.com, 2/11/26...... A cassette recording of Ozzy Osbourne rehearsing in 1980 has been unearthed in an attic. Labelled "Ozzie Last Day," the cassette is an early listen at what would go on to become the heavy metal legend's first work with his solo band. The 12-minute bluesy jam session captures Ozzy alongside his beloved guitarist Randy Rhoads, as well as bassist Bob Daisley, ahead of the recording of the Blizzard of Ozz album. As reported by Sky News earlier in February, the recording was discovered in the attic of David Jolly, who befriended Ozzy after a turbulent period saw him fired by Black Sabbath and had started to put together his solo band. Daisley, now the only surviving member of that era, confirmed the authenticity of the tape to Sky News, telling them the recording took place prior to the trio aligning with drummer Lee Kerslake. "As soon as I heard it, I thought, 'Yes, that's us, that's Ozzy's voice,'" Kerslake said. "I don't know if we were auditioning a drummer and just loosening up a bit, or we're just clowning about but it wasn't a song we were working on because we had definite songs by then, we had several songs." In June 2025, it was announced that a compilation of demos that Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward recorded in 1969, back when they still went by the name Earth, was to be released under the title Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes. That release didn't wind up happening, and Ozzy's wife/manager Sharon Osbourne spoke out against the project in November, issuing a detailed social media post outlining Black Sabbath's legal position, which disputes the legal ownership of the recordings. The "Ozzie Last Day" cassette can be checked out on 
Interviewed on CBS Sunday Morning on Feb. 8, Eagles co-founder Don Henley said his Grammy-winning California rock band will disband after it completes its residency at the Sphere venue in Las Vegas at the end of February. Asked if the Eagles are finally going to quit, Henley said, "You know, I think this year will probably be it. And I've said things like that before, but I feel like we're getting toward the end... And that will be fine too." When asked if it's definitely the end for the band, which formed in 1971, he added: "I think so, yeah. And I'm OK with that." Henley went on to reveal he is hoping to spend more time with his family and tending to his garden as well as travelling when he no longer has to consider his responsibilities with the group. "I would like to spend more time with my family and I would like to spend more time growing vegetables and I'd like to... I've traveled all over the world, but I haven't seen much of it because we see the airports and the hotel room and the venue, and we don't get out much, you know," he said. "And so I'd like to go back to some of the same places I've been and see more of those places, you know, before it all disappears or it gets vaporized or whatever." The Eagles, who have been playing shows on their lengthy "The Long Goodbye" tour, recently became the first group with an album certified quadruple diamond platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for their 1976 hits collection 
Don McLean has marked his 10-year relationship with reality star Paris Dylan in an Instagram tribute of a photo of the couple together in May 2024 when they attended a state dinner at the White House. "Happy anniversary, Paris," McLean wrote in his caption. "We've been together for more than 10 years, and you are the love of my life." Dylan, who turns 32 in February, commented, "Love of my life," with a red heart emoji. The 80-year-old 
KISS has joined the elite club of a billion YouTube views with their hit "I Was Made For Lovin' You," hitting the 10-digit milestone with 
Appearing in London's High Court during his breach of privacy suit against the UK tabloid Daily Mail on Feb. 6, Elton John condemned what he called a "sickening" press intrusion into his family's private life. John, 78, described how the Daily Mail allegedly breached his family's privacy after the birth of his eldest son, Zachary, in 2010 and reported on his own health in a manner he found deeply distressing. Elton noted that 10 Daily Mail articles published between 2002 and 2015 were based on information obtained unlawfully, and said the intrusion was "truly sickening" and "outside even the most basic standards of human decency." The Rocketman added he felt "passionately" about "how wrong it is that such gross invasions could have been inflicted upon us and our family and friends without us ever knowing." During the hearing, Catrin Evans KC, representing Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers Limited, asked the singer whether he had complained at the time the articles were published, to which he responded, "I can't remember." "We did not know the extent of the seriousness of what had gone on," he continued. "When we knew the seriousness of what had gone on, we took action, because we were outraged." Elton told the court that while he accepts being in the public eye, that does not mean forfeiting his right to privacy, stating that "deeply personal things which I have a right to deal with in private are fair game." John's husband, David Furnish, testified the previous day and told the court that a 2010 article included details from their son Zachary's birth certificate before they had received it themselves. Lawyers for ANL have maintained that the article was sourced "entirely legitimately." - Music-News.com, 2/6/26...... Fred Smith, bass player for the New Wave bands Television and an original member of Blondie, died on Feb. 5 after battling an unspecified "illness long and hard these last few years," his bandmates revealed. He was 77. Smith got his start as the original bassist for Angel and the Snake, which would later become Blondie, in 1974. He left the band the following year to join Television, replacing frontman Richard Hell. He stayed with Television as a core member until their split in 1978, playing on 1977's seminal hit "Marquee Moon" from their 
LaMonte McLemore, a co-founder of the '60s/'70s Grammy-winning soul/pop group The 5th Dimension, died of natural causes on Feb. 3 at his home in Las Vegas. Mr. McLemore, who suffered a stroke several years ago, was 90. Born Sept. 17, 1935, in St. Louis, Mo., Mr. McLemore enlisted in the Navy early in life and worked as an aerial photographer. Before setting his sights on dual careers as a music artist and as a professional entertainment and sports photographer for Jet magazine and other publications, the multi-faceted Mr. McLemore sought a baseball career in the Los Angeles Dodgers' farm system. An author as well, Mr. McLemore co-authored the 2014 autobiography From Hobo Flats to The 5th Dimension: A Life Fulfilled in Baseball, Photography, and Music with Robert-Allan Arno. A popular crossover fixture in the late '60s and early '70s music scene, The 5th Dimension formed in Los Angeles and was originally comprised of McLemore, Billy Davis Jr., Florence LaRue, Marilyn McCoo and Ron Townson (who died in 2001). Known for its signature silky harmonies and sophisticated fusion of R&B, soul and pop, the group cemented its success through hits such as "Up, Up and Away," "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)," "Wedding Bell Blues," "Stoned Soul Picnic" and