Leslie West, the singer and guitarist for Mountain who were among the acts to play the legendary Woodstock festival in 1969, died on Dec. 23 after a brief illness. He was 75. West's brother Larry West Weinstein had shared news of his brother's rapidly declining health in a Facebook post on Dec. 20. "I am asking for all your prayers. Jenni [Leslie's wife] is by his side in Florida but it's not looking good. Thanks Jenni, he wouldn't have made it this far without you. His heart gave out and he's on a ventilator. May not make it through the night," Weinstein posted. West reportedly entered cardiac arrest on Dec. 21 and was rushed to a hospital near his home in Daytona, Fla. He reportedly did not regain consciousness. Born Leslie Weinstein in Queens, N.Y., on Oct. 22, 1945, West founded Mountain in 1969, alongside Cream associate and producer Felix Pappalardi, N.D. Smart and Steve Knight. Mountain are perhaps best known for their Southern-rock hit "Mississippi Queen," co-written by West, which appeared on Mountain's 1970 debut album, Climbing!. The song was the group's biggest chart hit in the U.S., peaking at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100. More recently "Mississippi Queen" was covered by Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin as part of their "Hanukkah Cover Song Series," which celebrated the religious holiday by paying tribute to Jewish artists. Mountain also had the distinguished honour of performing at Woodstock in 1969. In one of their earliest appearances as a band, the group joined a legendary lineup which featured Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin and more. "Woodstock was just our third job, and it was quite a thrill," West once told Rolling Stone magazine. "Mountain got on the show because our booking agent also handled Jimi Hendrix... I think I had the most amplifiers of anybody there. It was paralyzing because that stage, that setting, was some kind of natural amphitheater. The sound was so loud and shocking that I got scared. But once I started playing, I just kept going because I was afraid to stop." 
Although Mountain's 11-song set went unrepresented in the original film documentary and soundtrack album, it did figure into the Woodstock II album and the extended home-video cut of the movie. Mountain disbanded for the first time in 1972, before reforming periodically in the years that followed. During one of Mountain's hiatuses, West formed a supergroup with Cream bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Corky Laing called West, Bruce and Laing. West was often cited as one of the all-time great rock guitarists, but he downplayed his ability in a 1987 interview with Guitar World magazine. "I'm no great guitarist technically," he said. "I only play with these two fingers [index and ring]. But you wanna know why people remember me? If you take a hundred players and put them in a room, 98 or 99 of 'em are gonna sound the same; the one who plays different, has some of his own, that's the one you're gonna remember." West had appeared almost unrecognizably thin in recent years, after being big enough at the outset of Mountain's career that the band was said to have been named after his hefty size. He even named his second solo album in 1975 The Great Fatsby. In 2011, he had part of his right leg amputated as a result of complications from type II diabetes. "I lost my leg, but at least it wasn't one of my arms," West said in a 2016 interview. "Otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation right now." The last studio album under the Mountain name, Masters of War, which consisted of Bob Dylan covers, was released in 2007. West continued doing live shows under his own name as recently as the fall of 2019, and also became known to new generations via his appearances on Howard Stern's radio show. Paul Stanley, Tom Morello, Slash and Twisted Sister's Dee Snider are among those to have paid tribute to West following news of his passing. "So very sad. Leslie's tone could stop a rhino in a full charge. Mountain sound was massive. Leslie was a warm and lovely guy. Sad," Paul Stanley tweeted. - Variety.com/Billboard/NME, 12/23/20.
Iggy Pop is kissing off a worldly disastrous 2020 with a track called "Dirty Little Virus," an ode to the rapidly spreading pandemic. The song, which can be streamed on YouTube, features lyrics like "Grandfather's dead/Got Trump instead," and "She's only 19, but she can kill you/ She ain't my type/ But it is what it is." Iggy also explained what motivated him to write "Dirty Little Virus": "I was moved to write a direct lyric, not something too emotional or deep, more like journalism. If there was still a Man of the Year, it would be the virus, so I wrote the lyric," he said. - Billboard, 12/21/20...... In related news, Van Morrison is continuing his campaign against what he feels are harsh Covid restrictions with a new song called "Stand & Deliver," and has recruited Eric Clapton to contribute. "Do you wanna wear these chains/ Until you're lying in the grave?," Morrison and Clapton sing on the track released on Dec. 18. The song supports Morrison's Save Live Music campaign, and all proceeds will benefit the Celtic crooner's Lockdown Financial Hardship Fund, which aims to assist musicians who are struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic. Morrison has also shared "Stand And Deliver" on YouTube. - Billboard, 12/18/20...... 
A San Diego-based indie brewing company named Duckfoot Brewery Co. has teamed up with the estate of Frank Zappa to create a new tribute beer, hilariously named "Why Does It Hurt When IPA?," a play on the 1979 Zappa Joe's Garage track "Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?" Described as containing "notes of passion fruit, spice and the rocker's favorite, grapefruit," Why Does It Hurt When IPA? features never-before-published photos of Frank on the cans and was launched on Dec. 21 to mark Zappa's birthday. Duckfoot's co-founder, Matt DelVecchio, says he's a Zappa fan from childhood and also a longtime friend of a member of the Zappa Plays Zappa touring band fronted by Frank's son, Ahmet Zappa. "Stay home, be safe and enjoy Why Does It Hurt When IPA? responsibly," Ahmet said in a press release. "All the Zappa Trust proceeds from this batch will go to support the music community in need. Music is the Best!," he added. U.S. residents can purchase the beer at ZappaBrew.com. - Billboard, 12/21/20...... As he embarks on a promotional campaign for his new album McCartney III, Paul McCartney appeared on the CBS show Sunday Morning on Dec. 20 and reminisced about the lasting legacy of the Beatles and whether the Fab Four might've eventually set aside their differences and reunited. "[John Lennon] was showing no signs of slowing up. You know, he was still making great music," McCartney said of Lennon's newly re-energized solo career. "The question is: Would we have ever got back together again? I don't know. We don't know." McCartney also discussed how he recorded McCartney III in isolation at his Sussex studio earlier in 2020. "It's not like working with the band, because I know what I want to hear, and I don't even have to tell anyone," he said. "I just said, 'Let's do some drums.' I'll sit on the drums and I'll think, 'OK, I wanted doo doo doo ... doo doo dah.' So, it's all in my head," he added. The full interview can be viewed on YouTube. Meanwhile, Macca has just shared a video for "Find My Way," a track from McCartney III, on YouTube. Directed by Roman Coppola, the video shows Paul playing every instrument on the song -- including guitar, drums and piano -- in a collage of footage taken by a staggering 46 cameras. Much like 1970's McCartney and 1980's McCartney II, the former Beatle is at the helm of every instrument on every one of McCartney III's songs. - Billboard/New Musical Express, 12/20/20...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, director Peter Jackson has shared a preview clip of his upcoming documentary The Beatles: Get Back on YouTube. Announced on the Beatles' official Twitter account, the film aims to "take audiences back in time to The Beatles' intimate recording sessions during a pivotal moment in music history" and has already had its release date moved from 2020 to August 27, 2021 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Jackson says that he and the producers "wanted to give the fans of The Beatles all over the world a holiday treat, so we put together this five-minute sneak peek at our upcoming theatrical film The Beatles: Get Back... We hope it will bring a smile to everyone's faces and some much-needed joy at this difficult time." - NME, 12/21/20...... Neil Young returned to his hometown of Omemee, Ont. recently for a new performance of his classic "Comes a Time" in an empty theatre. "Coronation Hall in Omemee, Ontario, is a wonderful old theater," Young wrote on his Neil Young Archives website. "It holds memories of my family, all together in that little town. My dad played Coronation Hall once in a local show as my mother, my brother, and I sat in the audience... I know this time of year is going to be hard for a lot of us as we long to be with our loved ones. Our hearts go out to all of you. We send much love and a Coronation Hall quarantine 'Comes a Time'," he added. The "Comes a Time" performance, one of a host of new and archived footage of Young on his website that's free to watch until the end of the year, can be watched on his Archives site. - NME, 12/22/20...... Eddie Van Halen has been posthumously honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the U.K.'s National GUITAR Museum. "Several of the people we've honoured over the past decade have left us in the years since we presented them with the award," a statement reads from the museum, which has previously honoured the likes of B.B. King, Tony Iommi and Glen Campbell. "In this case, however, the sadness of Eddie Van Halen's passing is somehow harder to accept. Several of the people we've honoured over the past decade have left us in the years since we presented them with the award. In this case, however, the sadness of Eddie Van Halen's passing is somehow harder to accept. Thanks, Eddie. We only wish we could deliver this in person," it added. Meanwhile, Eddie's son Wolfgang Van Halen has said the iconic hard rock VH band will never return without his father, who passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer in October. Replying to a since-deleted Tweet on Dec. 17 from one of many people asking whether he would reform the band, Wolfgang said: "I can confidently say I will NEVER replace my father in Van Halen and tour around the world disrespecting my father's memory. No EVH = No VH. Get the f--- over it, but if you can't, just quit bothering me about it and demanding I do it when I've made it very clear how I feel." - Music-News.com/NME, 12/21/20...... 
Soul singer Al Green has just released his first new recording in a decade, a cover of Freddy Fender's 1975 hit "Before the Next Teardrop Falls". Green recorded the song with Matt Ross-Spang in 2018, a decade after his last LP release, 2008's Lay It Down. "As a lifelong Memphian, I've always been a massive fan of Al Green and his Producer Willie Mitchell," Ross-Spang said at the time. "Together they created some of the most enduring soul music. Sonically speaking, Willie and Al also really invented a distinct sound that separated them from Stax or Motown." The cover was released in 2018 as part of Amazon Music's "Produced By" series, and two years on, is now available on other music platforms. Green's cover of "Teardrop" can be heard at YouTube. Although Green is currently on an extended hiatus, he has kept up an active presence on social media, regularly posting on Twitter and Facebook. - NME, 12/21/20...... Bruce Springsteen has announced on Instagram the details of a mammoth new 24-disc box set from his Darkness on the Edge of Town era. "Eight of the finest performances from Bruce Springsteen's 1978 tour are now available in a limited, collectible box set," the announcement aid of the new release, which is due on Feb. 1, 2021. "This 24-CD set contains all five of the legendary radio broadcasts on the Darkness tour: The Roxy in L.A., The Agora in Cleveland, The Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ, Fox Theatre in Atlanta and Winterland in San Francisco. Rounding out the collection are the second shows in Passaic and San Francisco, plus the December 8 show in Houston, Texas. A limited number of empty boxes are also available to hold previously purchased CDs," it added. - NME, 12/19/20...... Bob Dylan has announced a new box set of material recorded in 1970 with George Harrison to celebrate its 50 year anniversary. 1970 (50th Anniversary Collection), a 3-disc set, is due on Feb. 26, 2021 via Columbia/Legacy and features outtakes from Dylan's sessions for studio albums New Morning and Self Portrait, as well as his infamous 1970 studio session with Harrison. Artwork and a full tracklisting can be viewed on Instagram. - NME, 12/19/20...... Appearing on cable news channel CNN on Dec. 17, Cher candidly discussed the difficulty surrounding her son Chaz Bono's transition from female to male in 2009. Cher, 74, remembered the extremely difficult moment when she called his answering machine and heard his old voice. She also looked back on the light-bulb moment when she realised she hadn't "lost" her only child -- previously known as Chastity -- but that he had simply changed "shape." "It was very unlike me to, in the beginning, have a problem with Chaz being gay, and it disappeared like that, Cher said of her initial struggle to accept Chaz's transition. "But it wasn't easy. I remember calling, and the old [voicemail] message was on the phone, and that was very difficult," she added. Chaz, a successful writer and actor, was also the first transgender star to appear on Dancing With The Stars in 2011. He is currently in a relationship with former child star, Shara Blue Mathes, and is "unbelievably happy," according to his mom. Cher is now a staunch supporter of transgender rights and recently spoke out following a report that Pres. Donald Trump's administration is considering implementing a policy which would eliminate the recognition of transgender individuals. - Music-News.com, 12/19/20...... Former Talking Heads frontman has told England's New Musical Express that he is hopeful about an America after the presidency of Donald Trump, though he adds its "too early to celebrate. "For me Trump was not so much a shock; we knew who he is," Byrne told NME. "He was around New York before that, in the reality show [The Apprentice], we knew what kind of character he was. What shocked me was how quickly the Republican party all fell into line behind him, behind this guy who's obviously a racist, misogynist liar and everything else. But it's kind of encouraging -- although it's taken four years and with some it's only with the prospect of him being gone -- that quite a few have been breaking ranks. There are some possibilities of bridge building being held out." Byrne then warned that it is "too early to celebrate" following Trump's loss to former vice-president Joe Biden the election, discussing the current Republican control of the Senate. "[This] is what happened with [Pres.] Obama..." Byrne said. "I want to see real change happen," and added that "climate change absolutely needs to be a priority." - NME, 12/21/20...... 
As Keith Richards celebrated his 77th birthday on Dec. 18, the Rolling Stones frontman has been honoured with a cockroach named after. Officials at the Children's Museum in West Hartford, Conn. have decided to name a Madagascar hissing cockroach after the Rolling Stones icon -- and have even given the insect its very own custom miniature guitar to crawl all over. The news was revealed to acknowledge the fact that both Keith Richards and cockroaches have great survival rates, according to the celebrity gossip site TMZ. "Keith the Cockroach" has been adopted by Denver, Colorado's classic rock radio station 103.5 The Fox, although it will permanently remain at the museum's wildlife sanctuary -- not far from the town of Weston, where Richards has a home -- and it will be cared for by staff at the museum, noting that "all of his rider demands will be met" thanks to a generous contribution from 103.5 The Fox. "It is said the only two things to survive a nuclear war would be cockroaches and Keith Richards," the museum wrote in a press release. "Chances are the real Keith will outlive the newly named, oval-shaped invertebrate whose life span is two to five years," it added. The museum said it was inspired to name the nightcrawler after Richards, who himself has notoriously cheated death on several occasions, including when he fell out of a coconut tree in 2006, and in 1978, when someone laced his dope with strychnine, which landed him in a coma. Stones fans can visit Keith the Cockroach by getting tickets on the website of the Children's Museum in West Hartford. Admission is $8 for both adults and children. - The New York Post, 12/18/20...... Ozzy Osbourne is reportedly "about halfway through" his next studio album, according to producer/guitarist Andrew Watt, and it includes contributions from members of Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica. The new band, Watt explained in a new interview, features Ozzy on vocals, himself on guitar, Metallica's Robert Trujillo on bass, and Taylor Hawkins and Chad Smith sharing drumming duties. "There's a bunch of people involved," Watt told Guitar World magazine. "I can't say for sure until the end, but I started doing a bunch of basic tracks with Chad and Robert Trujillo, who used to play in Ozzy's band. Osbourne released his well-received last studio album, Ordinary Man, earlier in 2020, just before the pandemic hit. - NME, 12/18/20...... John Prine has been honoured posthumously with an Artist of the Year prize at the 19th annual Americana Honors and Awards. Prine, a 2003 Americana Lifetime Achievement Award winner, becomes the first artist in Honors & Awards history to be posthumously nominated in this category. There will be no in-person awards ceremony this year due to the COVID crisis and the winners were announced via social media on Dec. 15. Prine lost his battle with the coronavirus in April. - WENN/Canoe.com, 12/15/20...... Actor Jeremy Bulloch, best known for playing Boba Fett in the original Star Wars trilogy, died on Dec. 17 from health complications after living with Parkinson's disease for many years, according to his agent. He was 75. Bulloch played bounty hunter Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and the character has since featured in the second season of Star Wars spin-off series, The Mandalorian. Bulloch also appeared in James Bond film Octopussy in 1983, and the BBC TV series Doctor Who in the 1970s. Born in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, Bulloch's first major role was in the musical film Summer Holiday in 1963, aged 17, when he starred alongside pop star Sir Cliff Richard. His death follows the passing of fellow Star Wars actor David Prowse, the actor behind the menacing black mask of Darth Vader, on Nov. 29. - BBC.com, 12/18/20...... 
British '60s pop singer Chad Stuart, one half of '60s hitmaking folk-pop duo Chad & Jeremy, has died at age 79, according to a post on the duo's Facebook page on Dec. 20. Born David Stuart Chadwick, Stuart met Jeremy Clyde at London's Central School For Speech and Drama, and the pair started performing together as a folk duo in the early '60s. After briefly attempting a side rock band and separating after graduation, they reassembled as Chad & Jeremy -- both members singing and playing guitar -- and released their debut single, the upbeat-but-melancholy "Yesterday's Gone," in 1963. The song became a No. 37 hit in their home country, but was more successful on U.S. shores, where it peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, as part of a growing wave of popular post-Beatles U.K. acts collectively known as the British Invasion. The group would score two more Stateside hits off their eventual 1964 album, also titled Yesterday's Gone: "A Summer Song" (No. 7) and "Willow Weep For Me" (No. 15). Stuart continued to find work in entertainment after Chad & Jeremy's split in 1968, becoming the musical director for The Smothers Brothers' variety TV show, and later working as a staff producer for A&M Records. Chad & Jeremy informally reunited in the late '70s, and eventually began to record and tour again, releasing the Chad Stuart & Jeremy Clyde album in 1983. They separated again from 1987 to 2002, but resumed touring for much of the 21st century, playing at a number of '60s and British Invasion-themed gigs and on such package tours, before Stuart officially retired to Sun Valley, Idaho in the late '10s. "He just loves being at home and puttering about," Clyde said about Stuart in 2019. "He has a shed and he does all sorts of woodwork, and feeds the birds and watches and identifies them, and has a lovely time." According to the Facebook post, Stuart contracted pneumonia in the fall, after having been admitted to the hospital for non-COVID-related reasons. "The family would like to thank his fans from around the world for the outpouring of birthday wishes and gifts he received every year," his family noted. "Chad took the time to read each and every card. The world has lost a legend today, but his voice will continue to touch our lives through his music," they added. - Billboard, 12/21/20...... Country star K.T. Oslin, a three-time Grammy-winning country singer and songwriter, died on Dec. 21 after battling Parkinson's Disease and being diagnosed with COVID-19 the previous week. She was 78. The Crosssett, Ark., native won a trio of Grammys in the late 1980s for her songs "80s Ladies" and "Hold Me." She took home best country vocal performance by a female for "80s Ladies" in 1988, then won the same award and best country song for "Hold Me" in 1989. The singer-songwriter also topped the charts with her 1990 song "Come Next Monday." At the Country Music Association awards, Oslin was named the 1988 female vocalist of the year, and "80s Ladies" earned the song of the year award. It was the first time a female songwriter took home the prestigious honour. Oslin would go on to influence several of today's songwriters, including Grammy-nominated country music singer Brandy Clark, who remembered her in a Twitter thread as "Larger than life, smart, funny, elegant, beautiful...the list could go on and on." - Variety.com, 12/21/20.
Jack Bruce, an acclaimed British bass musician best known as a member of Cream, died of liver disease on Oct. 25 at his home in Suffolk, England. He was 71. Born to musical parents in Glasgow, Scotland, on May 14, 1943, Bruce attended 14 different schools and finished his formal education at Bellahouston Academy and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, to which he won a scholarship for cello and composition. He left Scotland at the age of 16 and in 1962 joined his first important band, the influential Alexis Korner's Blues Inc., which also included future Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, in London. Cream, which also included guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker, was the prototypical blues-rock power trio, and in a three-year period sold 15 million records, played to SRO crowds throughout the U.S. and Europe, and redefined the instrumentalist's role in rock. It was formed in 1966 when Baker left Graham Bond's Organisation, Bruce (who had also played in Bond's band) left Manfred Mann, and Clapton, already a famous guitarist in the U.K., left John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Bruce wrote and sang most of Cream's songs, including "I Feel Free", "White Room," "Politician" and "Sunshine Of Your Love." But tension in the band led to a quick breakup, and the band gave its farewell concert, which was filmed as Goodbye Cream, on Nov. 26, 1968, at London's Royal Albert Hall. Clapton and Baker subsequently formed Blind Faith, and Bruce went solo. After a string of solo LP's, Bruce put together another power trio with Mountain's Leslie West and Corky Laing, and West, Bruce and Laing released albums in 1972, '73, and '74. He appeared on Frank Zappa's Apostrophe in 1974, and in 1975 he fronted the Jack Bruce Band, which mounted a tour of Europe, but did not record. Bruce continued to release solo albums through 1994, and he returned to the studio around 2000 to record his Shadows in the Air, which hit number five on the British jazz and blues chart. His most recent release in 2014, titled Silver Rails. In 1993, Cream was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with the three members reuniting to perform three songs at the ceremonies. A statement released by Bruce's family on Oct. 25 said "the world of music will be a poorer place without him but he lives on in his music and forever in our hearts." "It is with great sadness that we, Jack's family, announce the passing of our beloved Jack: husband, father, granddad, and all round legend," the statement said. "He was a great musician and composer, and a tremendous inspiration to me," Eric Clapton said on his Facebook page. Clapton also shared a lengthy biographical piece about Bruce on his website. - AP/Billboard/Rolling Stone, 10/26/14.
John Denver was honored with a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Oct. 24, 17 years after his tragic death in a 1997 plane crash at age 53. The unveiling of the star, the 2,531st on the venerable sidewalk, coincided with the opening of a Hollywood exhibition of photos called "Sweet Sweet Life: The Photographic Works of John Denver." The photos will be on display at Hollywood's Substrate Gallery for the next month. On hand for the unveiling of the star were were Denver's son, Zak Deutschendorf, and daughter, Jesse Belle Denver. - AP, 10/25/14...... 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominee Joan Jett was honored as Rocker of the Year at the annual Little Kids Rock charity benefit on Oct. 23 at Manhattan's Hammerstein Ballroom. Among those performing her songs were Alice Cooper, Cheap Trick, Tommy James, Steven van Zandt and Billie Joe Armstrong. Cooper came out to trade verses on his slinkly "Be My Lover," a song Jett covered in 1990, while Cheap Trick tore through "I Hate Myself for Loving You," a Jett hit that the band says reminds them of their own material. The event ended up raising $1.5 million to provide free music education (and instruments) to more than 135,000 low-income public school children. - Billboard, 10/24/14...... Led Zeppelin has treated fans to an online preview of an alternate version of "Stairway to Heaven," which is featured on the upcoming 
Legendary jazz/rock keyboardist Herbie Hancock released his long-awaited memoir, 
Foreigner are set to release a new high-definition live recording from their most successful album of all time, Foreigner 4. The Best of Foreigner 4 & More will be released on Dec. 5 on CD and vinyl, accompanied by limited edition posters and remake t-shirts from their 1981-1982 tour. Foreigner recorded live high-definition versions of their most enduring anthems on Foreigner 4 at the Borgata Hotel's Music Box theatre in Atlantic City on Oct. 3 4, 2014. The album includes some of rock's best-known hits including "Feels Like The First Time," "Cold As Ice," "Hot Blooded" and Foreigner's iconic ballad, "I Want To Know What Love Is." Foreigner 4 spent more weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard charts than any artist in the history of Atlantic Records, including AC/DC, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, and went on to sell more than 9 million albums worldwide. "Our music has touched a lot of people worldwide" says Foreigner founder, lead guitarist, Mick Jones, who also serves serves as executive producer of the new album. - Noble PR, 10/22/14...... In other live release news, the Rolling Stones have announced details of their upcoming concert DVD L.A. Forum Live in 1975. Hitting stores on Nov. 17, the release is the second from the band's "From the Vaults" series of archive footage. The band's trip to America in 1975 was their first with then new recruit Ronnie Wood. The footage on the DVD was captured during their five night stint at the Los Angeles venue in July of that year. - New Musical Express, 10/25/14...... In a recent interview with Esquire magazine, Ozzy Osbourne said that he wants his fellow cofounding Black Sabbath member Bill Ward to rejoin Sabbath for the band's next, and supposedly final, album. "I hope Bill Ward can get his stuff together to do this," Osbourne said. "One of the biggest things I"m proud of in my life was that Black Sabbath wasn't a band that was created by some business mogul in London or New York. We were four guys who had a great idea." Earlier in 2014, before the band's headline set in London's Hyde Park, Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi had stated that the gig could be the band's last outing due to his ongoing health problems. However, the band will now reunite for what is expected to be their last ever record. Black Sabbath have released 13 studio albums since forming in 1968. The current line up of the band sees Iommi and Osbourne joined by third original member Geezer Butler on bass. - NME, 10/24/14...... Speaking to Mojo magazine, Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason compared his former bandmate Roger Waters to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, and claimed that the singer's departure from the band was like when the USSR lost their notorious autocratic leader. "It must have been the same when Stalin died. It took quite a while [to recover], it was a three or four year period," he said. "Roger thought we were all going to call it day, and David [Gilmour] and I thought Roger was going to call it a day and we were going to carry on," he added. "[But] the thing is, these slightly unbalanced people make great musicians. If we hadn't had the mad Syd [Barrett] and the mad Roger, we might have been doing 'Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep'." Waters, who left the prog-rock band in 1985, recently issued an angry statement about his lack of involvement in the upcoming Pink Floyd release 
British glam rocker Alvin Stardust, one of the biggest pop stars of his era in his native UK, died on Oct. 23 after battling metastatic prostate cancer. He was 72. Stardust, born Bernard Jewry on Sept. 27, 1942 in London, enjoyed a long line of top 10 hits in the '70s and early '80s, and topped the chart in his homeland with "Jealous Mind." He was once described by Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards as "the Godfather of British Rock 'n' Roll," and will be remembered for his tough-guy persona and rockabilly quiff. Stardust also helmed shows on BBC Radio 2 and Radio 5, and at one stage hosted a Sunday morning children's TV series It's Stardust on Britain's free-to-air ITV. He appeared in various U.K. TV series, including Hollyoaks. Before his death, Alvin completed his first studio album in 30 years, which is scheduled for release on Nov. 3 through Conehead Records. - Billboard, 10/24/14...... Alfred Wertheimer, the photographer whose portraits of Elvis Presley documented the birth of a music legend, died of natural causes on Oct. 19 at his New York apartment. He was 85. Mr. Wertheimer was 26 when he was assigned to photograph the then unknown 21-year-old singer Presley. He traveled with Elvis from New York to Memphis by train and produced a series of now famous black and white portraits that were the subject of exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution and the Grammy Museum. Among the most famous shots: "The Kiss," a photo of Elvis nuzzling a woman fan backstage. "There has been no other photographer that Elvis ever allowed to get as up close and personal in his life through photos as he did with Alfred," Presley's ex-wife Priscilla Presley said on Oct. 21. "I'm deeply saddened by the death of Alfred Wertheimer. He was a dear friend and special soul. I feel he was a gift for all who knew him especially, Elvis Presley." - AP, 10/22/14.
Ben Bradlee, the charismatic former Washington Post editor who oversaw the paper during the 
Led Zeppelin has lost the first round of a "Stairway to Heaven" plagarism lawsuit brought by the heirs of co-founding Spirit member Randy Craig Wolf. The heirs sued Led Zep's Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and their music companies in June 2014, claiming that the story Page has told over the years about holing himself up in a remote cottage in Wales in 1970 and creating the iconic Classic Rock staple is false. The plaintiffs allege hat the music really came from Spirit, which once toured with Led Zeppelin in the late 1960s. On Oct. 19, U.S. District Court Judge Juan Snchez denied a motion to dismiss or transfer without prejudice after the defendants challenged the jurisdiction of the suit, saying "the individual defendants are British citizens residing in England, own no property in Pennsylvania and have no contacts with Pennsylvania, let alone ties sufficient to render them essentially at home here." The judge's ruling means that the plaintiffs can still try to sue Page and Plant again. Meanwhile, Jimmy Page said in a recent interview that "My master plan is to be playing live next year." "I haven't got another 20-30 years left in me, so I really need to get out there and present myself the way that I like to present myself and to be seen and be heard," he said, adding that he "will definitely play Led Zeppelin music because I'm really proud of the music that I did and the instrumental side of it -- things like "Black Mountain Side," "White Summer" and "Dazed and Confused," which only has two verses when you play as an instrumental -- you can take into another sort of feel. So I would do all that stuff, but I would do it well. I wouldn't go out and make it look like a tribute band." - The Hollywood Reporter/Billboard, 10/20/14.
During a recent podcast, Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer said he's feeling great after a health scare that forced Aerosmith to cancel a California concert in August. As TMZ.com reported at the time that Kramer was facing "heart complications," the drummer clarified the gossip website's report that he "had heart issues in the past." "The likes of TMZ and some other [media outlets] out there said that I had previous problems, that I had existing heart problems from the past and it was something that I always had, which was just completely not true," Kramer said. "I've never had any problems in the past. It's just strictly a hereditary thing. There's a family history, and I was the victim. But no more." Kramer said he had gone to see his doctor after experiencing what he had thought was acid reflux but turned out to be more serious. He said he wound up needing an angioplasty with two stents inserted to fix the blockage. "It wasn't my time. It wasn't time for my ticket to be punched." he said on the Eddie Trunk Podcast. "And so I got fixed, and I'm back 150 percent, and everything is as good as it can possibly be." Meanwhile, Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler addressed eleven Maui Drug Court graduates and their families in Hawaii on Oct. 16 in 2nd Circuit Court. "I'm nervous here because I'm telling you all my truth," Tyler said. "I am also a drug addict and alcoholic and fighting it every day." As a guest speaker at the 49th Maui/Moloka'i Drug Court program graduation, Tyler encouraged graduates to continue in their recovery, in part by attending Alcoholics Anonymous and other support group meetings, as he does. "If you stop going to AA meetings, you're going to wind up using again," he said. "They're all over the island and they're all over the world. I express my joy all because of AA." - Billboard/Associated Press, 10/19/14.
Appearing on NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Oct. 20, Neil Diamond said he once considered changing his name to "Ice Charry" or possibly "Noah Kaminsky" before the release of his debut album, The Feel of Neil Diamond, in 1966. "The names were brilliant and perfect," Diamond told host Jimmy Fallon. Kaminsky "was Biblical. It had depth, it had character." Diamond was unable to say why he though Ice Charry would have been a good option, only saying "something from Elvis or something?" Diamond, who also revealed he always wanted to play the accordion in a recent chat on Reddit, is promoting his latest album, 
Singer Paul Rodgers of Free and Bad Company fame played a sold-out performance and participated in a Q&A session at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles on Oct. 15. Rodgers told the Foundation that he's always been a soul singer at heart -- particularly on his new album covering R&B classics, 
Saxophone player Raphael Ravenscroft, the man behind the sax hook on Gerry Rafferty's 1978 smash 
After many years of speculation about who is the self-involved paramour sung about by Carly Simon in her No. 1 1972 hit single 
The pre-history of Van Halen, which began in 1973 in Pasadena, Calif., when a cover band called Mammoth started by two Dutch immigrant brothers hired a wealthy doctor's son to be their singer after they became tired of paying him $35 a show to use his PA system, is usually glossed over in accounts of the band. But in 
Although Rush may have performed their final major tour when their R40 tour wrapped earlier in 2015 due to ailments suffered by guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer Neil Pert, Lifeson says that speculation about the band's demise have been greatly exaggerated. "I don't think it is the end, and we never really said this is definitively our last tour. I think it's likely to be our last major tour, but we're still in contact, very close contact with each other, all three of us, and I don't think it's certainly the end of the band," he told Billboard on Nov. 16. "There are still lots of things we want to do. It's not to say that we wouldn't do something in the future on a smaller scale, and there's always the fun project of making a record, which we've all loved forever. Right now I think we're just kind of relaxing and taking it in and getting reconnected with our families and friends and more of a domestic life, and then we'll kinda sort of review it, I think, in the new year and see what we want to do," Lifeson added. As Rush is in hiatus, Peart is preparing for the Nov. 20 publication of Clockwork Lives, his second science-fiction novel co-written with Kevin Anderson, while Lifeson has been working on electronic music projects with his son and singer Tyler. - Billboard, 11/16/15...... Bruce Springsteen confirmed on Nov. 17 via Twitter that he and his E Street Band will take the Saturday Night Live stage for its Christmas episode, which will be broadcast on Dec. 19. "Mark your calendar... Bruce hits the @nbcsnl stage on December 19, hosted Tina Fey & Amy Poehler!," reads the post tweeted from his Twitter account. Also appearing on the Dec. 19 episode will be Chance the Rapper and Leon Bridges.- Billboard, 11/17/15...... Jimmy Buffett officially opened his new Margaritaville Beach Resort in Miami, Fla., on Nov. 14, a $150 million attraction that features nearly 350 rooms, eight bars and a spa. Buffett also treated his Parrotheads to a free concert at the city's iconic Bandshell later in the evening. The Bandshell, built in the 1970s, will feature local music several nights a week, but is now run by Margaritaville. The city of Miami contributed more than $20 million to the project and is hoping it will transform the area into a more sophisticated vacation escape with a Caribbean-themed vibe. - AP, 11/16/15...... David Bowie will premiere a 10-minute long single titled "?" (pronounced Blackstar) from his 
P.F. Sloan, an esteemed singer/songwriter who penned several hits in the '60s for such artists as The Turtles and Barry McGuire ("Eve of Destruction"), The Grass Roots ("Where Were You When I Needed You"), and Johnny Rivers ("Secret Agent Man"), succumbed to a battle with pancreatic cancer at his Los Angeles home on Nov. 15. He was 70. Sloan honed his talents during L.A.'s pop and rock explosion during the 1960s, and as a 12-year-old once asked Elvis Presley for a guitar lesson. Born Philip Gary Schlein, Sloan landed a deal at the tender age of 13 with Aladdin Records, and a year later released his debut single, "All I Want Is Loving." In 1965, his single "Sins of a Family" peaked at No. 87 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Sloan had recently published his memoir, What's Exactly The Matter With Me?, and his latest album was 2014's My Beethoven. - Billboard, 11/16/15...... Music promoter/producer/nightclub owner Gene Norman, best known for founding the record label GNP Crescendo and helping to bring some of the most renowned jazz artists of the 20th century to the West Coast, died on Nov. 2 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 93. Mr. Norman founded GNP Crescendo (its initials stand for "Gene Norman Presents"; Crescendo was the name of the nightclub Mr. Norman opened in Los Angeles) in 1954, and artists recorded by the label over the years include Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Max Roach, George Shearing and Art Tatum....... Carol Doda, a legendary stripper who helped introduce topless entertainment in the U.S. more than 50 years ago, died on Nov. 9 in San Francisco of complications related to kidney failure. She was 78. Doda went topless in 1964 at Frisco's Condor Club and soon changed every nightspot on busy Broadway. She left the club in 1985 and later owned a lingerie store. Doda, known for her augmented bust, rode onto stage atop a piano on an elevator platform, debuting the same day Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson drew half a million people in a visit to San Francisco. It wasn't long before the big news in town was "The Girl on the Piano." An illuminated sign on the club in Doda's likeness later became a landmark. - AP, 11/12/15.
Olivia Newton-John has earned her first No. 1 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs Chart for the week ending Nov. 21 with her new single "You Have to Believe." The track, which features contributions from Dave Aude and Newton-John's daughter Chloe, is a reinterpretation of Olivia's 1980 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 "Magic," from the film Xanadu, in which she starred. Newton-John's last hit came in 1992 with "I Need Love," which peaked at No. 44. - Billboard, 11/12/15...... The cable channel AMC has announced it will sponsor all-star concert celebrating the 75th anniversary of the birth of John Lennon on Dec. 5 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. With performances by such artists as Peter Frampton, Steven Tyler, Sheryl Crow, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Tom Morello and Eric Church, Imagine: The John Lennon 75th Birthday Concert will be taped and air exclusively on AMC on Dec. 19 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT. More artists are expected to be announced later. Meanwhile, a 1962 J-160E Gibson acoustic guitar that Lennon played on such early Beatles songs as "P.S. I Love You" and "Love Me Do" sold for $2.41 million on Nov. 8 at a Julien's auction in California. The guitar had for decades been in the possession of John McCaw, a novice musician who bought it in the late 1960s without knowing it had been stolen from the legendary Beatle several years before. Half of the proceeds from the sale of the guitar, which was stolen from Lennon at a December 1963 Christmas concert, will go toward the Spirit Foundation, a charitable organization that he and his widow, Yoko Ono, created, auctioneer Darren Julien said. Also selling at the same auction was the Beatles drum head that Ringo Starr played when the band made their historic appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. It sold for $2.1 million, Julien said. - NBC News, 11/8/15...... In more Beatles-related news, viewers of the U.K.'s ITV channel have voted "Hey Jude" as the U.K.'s favorite number one record by the Fab Four. On Nov. 11, the station broadcast The Nation's Favourite Beatles Number One, a rundown of results from a poll to determine which of the band's 17 Number One singles is the most loved. The top five songs on the list were "Hey Jude," "Yesterday," "Let It Be," "Eleanor Rigby," and "All You Need Is Love." - New Musical Express, 11/12/15...... Elvis Presley has topped the U.K. album chart for the second week in a row with his latest posthumous LP 
Former Mountain and West, Bruce and Laing frontman Leslie West has paid tribute to his late WBL bandmate, Jack Bruce, with a cover of the Willie Dixon classic "Spoonful," which will be included in his forthcoming new studio LP, 
Alice Cooper has released a "souped-up version" of the children's symphony classic "Peter and the Wolf." Cooper narrates the newfangled tale of the famed story by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev and gives voice to all of the characters, including Peter, now cast as a lonely Russian boy in Los Angeles who becomes a media celebrity after capturing a wolf that escapes from the zoo. He also plays Peter's grizzled grandfather, a laid back SoCal gardener who takes Peter in after he is orphaned in Russia. "I kept picturing Cheech and Chong," Cooper says of the grandfather character, which was his favorite to portray in the story. "You know, an old hippie. I kind of channeled Tommy Chong and gave him that voice: 'Hey man, cool.'" Cooper's 
New Orleans music legend Allen Toussaint, a songwriter, producer, and performer helped define the sound of soul and R&B in New Orleans and beyond, died following a performance in Madrid, Spain on Nov. 9. He was 77. Toussaint, who grew up in New Orleans, began his career producing for local talent like Ernie K-Doe, Irma Thomas, Art and Aaron Neville, and Lee Dorsey in the early 1960s. Adopting the second-line piano style of artists like Professor Longhair, he brought the New Orleans aesthetic to a national audience with hits like "Mother-In-Law," "Fortune Teller," "Ride Your Pony," and many more. By the 1970s, Toussaint had gone international, collaborating with everyone from Paul McCartney (he played on the Wings album Venus and Mars) to Solomon Burke to Paul Simon (with whom he had just announced a New Orleans benefit concert in early November). He also launched his solo career during this era with a trio of R&B albums for Warner Bros. Between his solo work and his writing for other artists, his songs have been covered by everyone from the Rolling Stones and Jerry Garcia to Bonnie Raitt and Glen Campbell. His production for seminal funk groups like The Meters has also found a second life as the backbone of some of hip-hop's most recognizable beats. He re-emerged as one of the musical voices of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, recording with Elvis Costello and Eric Clapton and touring widely. Already a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Toussaint's new solo work earned him six Grammy nominations through 2013 and 2014, as well as a National Medal of the Arts. Sorry to hear that Allen Toussaint died after a concert in Spain," Paul McCartney posted after learning of his death. "Having worked with him in New Orleans I know what a sweet and gentle guy he was and a massive songwriting talent with songs like 'Fortune Teller', Southern Nights', 'Working in the Coal Mine' and 'Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues)'. His songs will be cherished by people like me who will have fond memories of Allen forever. Deepest sympathies and love to his family from me and my family," McCartney added. - Billboard, 11/10/15...... Scottish drummer Andy White, a session musican who played drums on some of the Beatles' earliest tracks, passed away on Nov. 9 in New Jersey after suffering a stroke. He was 85. Mr. White appeared on the US release of the Beatles' 1962 recordings of "Love Me Do" and "PS I Love You," and is also thought to have played on the album version of "Please Please Me." As well as playing with the Beatles, Mr. White also provided drums for Tom Jones' 1965 single "It's Not Unusual" and Lulu's 1964 cover of "Shout." In 2009, White said in an interview with a New Jersey paper that he was paid a one-off fee of £5 for three hours work with the Beatles and received no further royalties from the recordings. "You could tell it was something different and very special," Mr. White said in 2012. "But I didn't know just how special it would become." - NME, 11/12/15...... 
Actor Gunnar Hansen, best known for portraying the Leatherface character in the classic 1974 horror flick