Former Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship vocalist Marty Balin died on Sept. 27 of as yet undisclosed causes. He was 76. Born Martyn Jerel Buchwald in San Francisco on Jan. 30, 1943, Balin's tenor voice provided hits for the '60s psychedelic band and its more mellow '70s spin-off band, the Jefferson Starship. His songwriting credits for the Airplane included "It's No Secret," "Today," "Comin' Back To Me," "Plastic Fantastic Lover," "Share a Little Joke," and "Volunteers" -- the latter sung at the iconic 1969 Woodstock festival. During their Airplane concerts, Balin and vocalist Grace Slick traded vocals in battles that became increasingly feverish, giving the band a volatile sound. After the Jefferson Airplane unofficially retired in 1972, Slick and Airplane guitarist Paul Kantner formed the Jefferson Starship in 1974, and Balin tentatively rejoined the band in 1975. The group's big breakthrough came with Red Octopus, their first No. 1 LP, which hit the top position several times during that year and sold four million copies, helped by Balin's ballad "Miracles" which was a No. 3 single. The band was more popular than ever, but in Slick's opinion the music had become bland and corporate, and her rivalry with Balin had not diminished. 
Their followup LP, 1976's Spitfire, became their first platinum album. After another platinum album, Earth, both Balin and Slick left. Kantner then left that band and formed the simply named Starship, which enjoyed even greater commercial success. In 1981, Balin released a solo LP of MOR love songs and in 1981 he had a hit single with "Hearts," which went to No. 8. In 1989, Kanter, Slick, Balin, and original Jefferson Airplane members Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen revived the early Jefferson Airplane lineup, and released the eponymous LP Jefferson Airplane, although it only reached the No. 85 position. The Jefferson Starship was then reformed by Kantner in 1991, and Balin rejoined that group the following year. It toured as "Jefferson Starship - The Next Generation" in the early '90s to positive reviews. Balin's wife, Susan Joy, was by his side when he died. In a statement released on Sept. 28, his family said: "Marty's fans describe him as having had a substantial impact for the better of the world: 'One of the greatest voices of all time, a writer of songs that will never fade, and founder of the quintessential San Francisco band of the sixties.' His music is known for being the soundtrack to all of life's monumental moments." - CNN/The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock, 9/28/18.
The Nile Rodgers-fronted group Chic released It's About Time, its first album in over 25 years, on Sept. 28. Rodgers says that It's About Time, which features contributions from the likes of Elton John, Lady Gaga, Hailee Steinfeld, Stefflon Don, Emeli Sande and Craig David, "is the most self-indulgent album I've ever done in my life." "I don't normally make records like this because I don't have the power to say 'this is how it's gonna go and I'm gonna tell this really big story.' So now that I do, I can do it my way and this is happening my way exactly," says the 66-years old Rodgers. "And I just hope people get it and like it and understand it. It's a geeky record, and a very idealistic record." Rodgers notes that It's About Time is the first album in a two-part collection of new Chic music, with the second part tentatively due in February 2019. - Billboard, 9/28/18...... 
The official website of the upcoming Elton John movie Rocketman shared the first official photo from the movie on Sept. 28. Welsh actor Taron Egerton, who portrays Sir Elton in the movie, is shown dressed in a gold bomber jacket and blue, red and gold winged boots. He is also seen sporting some glittery sunglasses and John's red hair. "TaronEgerton stars in #Rocketman, an epic musical fantasy about the uncensored human story of Sir Elton John's breakthrough years. Experience it in theatres Summer 2019. pic.twitter.com/fwMMoGxSnb," reads a tweet on the site. Rocketman, first announced in 2011, is billed as a "larger than life movie musical spectacle that tells the story of a child prodigy turned music legend." Dexter Fletcher, who worked on the Eddie The Eagle biopic with Tom Egerton, will be directing. John will serve as an executive producer on the project and is planning to "re-record many of his iconic hits to parallel the emotional beats of the film." In other Elton-related news, the singer has just added 25 more North American dates to his "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" tour, in September, October and November of 2019. John kicked off the tour on Sept. 8 in Allentown, Pa. On the tour, fans will get a unique glimpse into the personal meaning behind many of the Rocket Man's hits, with never-before-seen photos and videos displayed throughout the show to commemorate his 50-year career. The tour is currently scheduled to wrap on Nov. 16, 2019, in Long Island, N.Y. - NME/Billboard, 9/28/18...... The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has overturned a 2016 jury verdict that found that Led Zeppelin did not steal any original music from "Taurus," an obscure 1968 instrumental by the Los Angeles band Spirit. "Taurus" was written by the late Spirit guitarist Randy Wolfe, better known as Randy California, whose trust brought the copyright infringement lawsuit. A trustee for Wolfe's estate claims Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant was inspired to write "Stairway to Heaven" after hearing Spirit perform "Taurus" while the bands toured together in 1968 and 1969, and that Wolfe never got any credit. The jury in the 2016 trial found that the two songs were not substantially similar, and supported the defendants' claim that Wolfe was a songwriter for hire who did not have a copyright claim, and that the opening of "Stairway" -- a descending chromatic four-chord progression -- is a common musical convention that did not deserve copyright protection. Now the federal appeals court panel that overturned the 2016 ruling held that parts of the jury instructions in that trial were erroneous and prejudicial, and that the first trial abused its discretion by not allowing recordings of "Taurus" to be played during the proceedings. Meanwhile, Led Zeppelin continues the celebration of its 50th anniversary in 2018 with the release of a new 50th Anniversary Interviews album, which is currently available for streaming on Spotify.com. The release is comprised of 34 new interview clips from the band's surviving members, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones who reflect on their career, as well as specific songs and albums. The band has also digitally released their recent Record Store Day single, which featured unreleased versions of both "Rock And Roll" and "Friends." - NBCNews.com/New Musical Express, 9/28/18...... Rod Stewart's 30th studio album, Blood Red Roses, hit stores on Sept. 28, and unlike his contemporaries Elton John, Bob Seger and Paul Simon, the 73-year-old Stewart says that he's "not even thinking" about retiring from live performing. "We have a concert in Budapest next week, and it can't come around quick enough. I'm anxious. I love it," Stewart told Billboard. "Elton, he's doing 300 shows and he'll still do the odd show here and there. All good things must end. Not for me, not yet. I'm not even thinking about it," he added. Rod says he's also started work on his next album, and "it will be totally different from the last three." - Billboard, 9/27/18...... 
Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, the Beatles announced on Sept. 24 that they are releasing new versions of The Beatles (White Album) on Nov. 9 -- adding new 2018 mixes and a wealth of unreleased demos from the vaults to celebrate the original two-disc album's 50th anniversary of release in November, 1968. The mixes for the new packages were done by producer Giles Martin and mix engineer Sam Okell. The packages include a 3 CD edition, a 6 CD + Blu-ray deluxe edition, and a 4-LP vinyl edition. The Beatles, which was the first to be released on the Beatles' Apple label, was issued in stereo and mono in the U.K., but only stereo in the U.S., and had long been seen as the first glimpses of the Beatles as solo artists. - Billboard, 9/24/18...... In a short video posted on publisher Puffin Books' YouTube account on Sept. 27, Paul McCartney announced that he has written his first illustrated children's book, titled Hey Grandude. The book follows the adventures of a magical man named Grandude and his four grandchildren, who he calls "Chillers." McCartney says he originally got the idea for the book after one of his eight grandchildren began to refer to him as "Grandude," and the nickname stuck. "I wanted to write it for grandparents everywhere, so it gives them something to read to the grandkids at bedtime," he said. Hey Grandude, illustrated by Kathryn Durst, will be published by Puffin Books in Sept. 2019. Although the famous former Beatle co-wrote the 2005 children's book High in the Clouds with Philip Ardagh, Hey Grandude will be his first solo literary venture. - Billboard, 9/27/18...... Prince was posthumously awarded an honorary degree by the University of Minnesota on Sept. 26 to recognize his influence on music and his role in shaping his hometown of Minneapolis. A special ceremony on the campus featuring Prince music performed by the university's School of Music was held to award the degree. The university had been preparing to present it to Prince himself before his death in 2016. - AP, 9/26/18...... Barbara Streisand released her first song since 2005, "Don't Lie to Me," on Sept. 27. Inspired by the Donald Trump administration and today's political climate, its chorus says "How do you sleep and the world keeps turning? All that we built has come undone." The 76-year-old singer said she initially aimed to include "very subtle" references to Trump, but confessed "I just went ballistic" in writing the lyrics. "I just can't stand what's going on," Streisand says. "His assault on our democracy, our institutions, our founders -- I think we're in a fight... We're in a war for the soul of America," she added. "Don't Lie to Me," along with other politically-themed songs including "Imagine" and "What the World Needs Now," will be featured on Streisand's new 11-track album, Walls, which drops Nov. 2. - DailyMail.co.uk, 9/27/18...... The Eagles announced on Sept. 26 they'll release a new Legacy box set on Nov. 2 that will include all seven of the band's studio albums, three live albums, and a compilation of singles and B-sides. The 12-disc set also includes their Hell Freezes Over and Farewell Melbourne concert videos on DVD and Blu-ray, respectively. Another box set, a 15-LP vinyl package, will also be released including everything but the concert videos from the CD set. Both box sets -- which include a hard-cover book of photos, memorabilia and artwork too -- are set for release Nov. 2 via Rhino Entertainment, with the CD set available for $179.98 and the vinyl set for $349.98. Meanwhile, the Eagles are in the midst of a 2019 tour with co-founder Don Henley and longtime members Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit joined by country star Vince Gill and Glenn Frey's son Deacon Frey. It will wrap on Dec. 7 in Honolulu. The band has also announced a massive 2019 world tour that's set to kick off on May 26 in Antwerp, Belgium before heading across Europe. It will include six stops in the UK in June. - Billboard/NME, 9/26/18...... The 33rd FarmAid benefit concert was held on Sept. 22 in Hartford, Conn. Neil Young, one of the co-founders of the annual show, spoke about supporting family farms and independent small businesses between songs. "When you see a farmer's market, just stop and go in and get to know them and buy something. Buy something good. Don't buy the shit you get at Safeway. Buy something that's really safe. All the crap you get in these big stores is not good. It's got a lot of chemicals in it and it kills the earth," Young said. Young, a self-described Libertarian, said that he's "been called a lot of things by this dickhead in the White House, but I am a Canadian, and I love America. There's nothing here that needs to be made 'great again." Young founded Farm Aid in 1985 with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp. - Billboard, 9/25/18...... 
Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason returned to London's Roundhouse venue on Sept. 24 for a gig with his new band Saucerful of Secrets, over a half century since he first played there with Pink Floyd. Mason's group kicked off the set with "Interstellar Overdrive" and "Astronomy Domine," both from the band's 1967 debut The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. Mason said that his new live project Saucerful of Secrets, named after Pink Floyd's 1968 album, was born after he had "finally given up waiting for that phone call from Roger [Waters] or David [Gilmour]," adding that he was "thrilled to be back at The Roundhouse." Other highlights included a searing "Lucifer Sam" and the visceral white noise rush of "Set The Controls For The Heart of the Sun," while early singles "See Emily Play" and "Arnold Layne" were reborn with a fresh intensity and power. Pink Floyd famously opened the venue on Oct. 15, 1966, performing alongside The Soft Machine at an "All Night Rave" to launch the underground newspaper International Times. It was attended by a who's who of countercultere '60s London, including Paul McCartney, Marianne Faithfull and Blow Up director Michelangelo Antonioni. Acid-laced sugar cubes were said to have been handed out at the door. - Billboard, 9/25/18...... Former Deep Purple bassist/singer Glenn Hughes will kick off his "Glenn Hughes Performs Classic Deep Purple Live" tour of Ireland and the UK on Sept. 29 in Belfast. It will be the first time ever that Hughes performs Deep Purple material in Ireland. After a Sept. 30 show in Dublin, Hughes then will continue on to the UK on Oct. 2 in Bristol with special guest Laurence Jones. Hughes' eleven-date tour will also visit Leamington (10/3), Southampton (10/5), Cardiff (10/6), Leeds (10/9), Newcastle (10/10), Glasgow (10/12) and Manchester (10/13) before wrapping at London's Electric Ballroom on Oct. 15. - Noble PR, 9/27/18...... The estate of late teen idol and country/rock singer Rick Nelson filed a class action lawsuit against Sony Music Entertainment on Sept. 25 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging the label violates contractual agreements with its artists by assessing an intercompany charge on international streaming revenue that deprives artists of accurate royalties from foreign sales. The suit alleges that Sony underreports revenue generated by artists abroad by adding a charge on revenues collected by region-specific subsidiaries such as Sony Music UK and Sony Music Australia. The lawsuit asks the court for a jury trial with hopes to compel Sony to remove the intercompany charge for international sales and include 100 percent of income in the accounting. Nelson signed with CBS/Epic in 1976, four years after his last big hit -- the country rock classic "Garden Party." A year after signing with Epic he released Intakes, which sold poorly. A followup for the label was recorded in 1978, though the tracks were shelved until after his death in 1985. - Billboard, 9/26/18...... Adam Cohen, the son and producer of late Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Leonard Cohen, revealed on Sept. 28 that he's working to complete some of his dad's unfinished songs for a new album to be released sometime in 2019. "I was tasked with finishing a few more songs of his that we started together on the last album, so his voice is literally still in my life," Adam said in an interview with CBC q's Tom Power. "To make a long story short, I believe that there are some really beautiful new songs of Leonard Cohen that no one's heard that are at some point going to come out," he added. Adam Cohen will also be releasing The Flame, a book of Leonard Cohen's unpublished poems, on Oct. 2. Leonard Cohen passed away in 2016 at the age of 82. - Billboard, 9/28/18...... 
Blondie announced on Sept. 24 that they'll be playing two nights in Cuba next March as part of a four-day cultural exchange program. Blondie will play two concerts during their March 14-18 visit in Havana, which will also feature Cuban musicians Alain Perez, David Torrens and Sintesis. The program, in which fans can also come along, will also include visits to Cuban museums and cultural institutions, studios and galleries and photography and architecture tours. Pricing for the trip, which includes a hotel reservation, ranges from $2,700 to $5,600. Blondie drummer Clem Burke says the band has been experimenting with Caribbean sounds for years on songs like, "Rapture" and "The Tide Is High" and they've always loved Cuban music. - AP, 9/24/18...... Ventura County, Calif. detectives were called to the Malibu mansion of Cher on Sept. 27 to execute a search warrant a man related to a recent drug overdose that occurred in Thousand Oaks, Calif. The man is reportedly 23-year-old Donovan Ruiz, who is Cher's assistant's son. Ruiz was reportedly arrested for a felony for supplying narcotics to someone who died. Cher was not home during the incident, as she is in the midst of her international tour. Her next show is scheduled for Brisbane, Australia on Sept. 28. Meanwhile, during a recent appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, Cher revealed that she would like to collaborate with Adele and Pink, but "not Madonna." Cher has expressed her disdain for Madonna since the 1990s, saying that while she respected Madonna's music and business-savvy approach to the industry, she found her to be "mean," "spoiled" and "a bitch." - Billboard, 9/27/18...... Appearing on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on Sept. 27, former Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson was asked about her brief love triangle with Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley. "Billy and I were living together in Central Park West, we were friendly. I think he was dating Christie at the time, just starting to. I got ousted," Macpherson said. Host Andy Cohen also questioned Elle over the rumour that Joel's 1983 song "Uptown Girl" was about her. But the blonde beauty insisted that the hit tune was inspired by a variety of women. "I think it's (about) all the uptown girls, put it that way. I don't need to take any ownership over that. He liked tall girls," the 54-year-old Macpherson mused. Joel and his second wife Brinkley were married from 1985 until 1994, with the pop star currently wed to his fourth wife, Alexis Roderick. - WENN/Canoe.com, 9/28/18...... 
Actor/comic Bill Cosby was sentenced to three to 10 years in state prison on Sept. 25 for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia home in 2004. Cosby, 81, was sentenced to "total confinement" by Judge Steven O'Neill, five months after his conviction in the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era. Ahead of the sentencing, O'Neill ruled that Cosby is a "sexually violent predator." The classification means that Cosby must undergo monthly counseling for the rest of his life and report quarterly to authorities. His name will appear on a sex-offender registry sent to neighbors, schools and victims. Cosby, who was once known as "America's Dad" for his role as Dr. Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show, was facing anywhere from probation to 10 years in prison after being convicted in April. His lawyers had asked for house arrest, saying 81-year-old Cosby -- who is legally blind -- is too old and helpless to do time in prison. Prosecutors asked for five to 10 years behind bars, saying the TV icon could still be a threat to women. Cosby's publicist, Andrew Wyatt, denounced the outcome in a statement outside court, calling it "the most racist and sexist trial in the history of the United States." Cosby became the first black actor to star in a primetime TV show, I Spy, in 1965. He remained a Hollywood A-lister for much of the next half-century. - AP, 9/25/18...... Film producer Gary Kurtz, one of the major forces in the creation of the Star Wars movies, has passed away at age 78 from cancer. Kurtz was a hands-on producer for 1977's Star Wars, shepherding George Lucas' pet project from Flash Gordon-knockoff to problematic production to unprecedented sci-fi phenomenon. The film went on to become the highest-grossing movie of all-time, and set the pace for many of the studio blockbusters that followed. Kurtz was also involved to a greater extent in the follow up, 1980's The Empire Strikes Back, serving as both producer and second unit director under director Irvin Kershner in the absence of Lucas, who was busy building up his Lucasfilm empire. Kurtz and Lucas first partnered on 1973's seminal teen comedy American Graffiti, which revolutionized the use of music and cross-cutting of stories in film, and helped launch the acting careers of Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard and Harrison Ford. Kurtz also produced Monte Hellman's 1971 cult classic racing movie Two-Lane Blacktop, starring singer James Taylor. - ComingSoon.net, 9/25/18...... Actress Laurie Mitchell, who portrayed the villainess who faces off against Zsa Zsa Gabor on the planet Venus in the campy 1958 sci-fi classic Queen of Outer Space, died on Sept. 20 of natural causes at a long-term care facility in Perris, Calif. She was 90. Ms. Mitchell played a man-hating queen whose face is hidden by a glittery mask in Queen of Outer Space, which became a fan favorite at film festivals, and she participated in autograph shows for the movie for the rest of her life. Ms. Mitchell also worked alongside Marilyn Monroe as a member of Sweet Sue's band in Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot, (1959), which, she once said was "the most thrilling experience of my show business career." - The Hollywood Reporter, 9/24/18.
Jeff Lynne's Electric Light Orchestra will be headlining the final night of the 2016 Glastonbury Music Festival, which is set for June 22-26 at Eavis' Worthy Farm in Somerset, England. In 2015, the band released its first album of new music in 15 years, 
Rod Stewart has announced he'll kick off a 7-city tour of the UK this fall at Liverpool's Echo Arena on Nov. 12. Stewart's "From Gasoline Alley to Another Country Hits Tour" will also visit London's O2 (11/22), Sheffield (11/29), Birmingham (12/2), Leeds, (12/6) and Manchester (12/8) before wrapping at Glasgow's SSE Hydro on Dec. 13. Stewart is touring behind his 2015 album, 
Singer Chaka Khan, who is releasing a new single, "I Love Myself," on Feb. 19 is inviting fans to submit a one-minute video clip of themselves lip-synching to the song's chorus by Feb. 19. The winning clips will then be featured in the song's accompanying music video. "It is important that in these troubled times we honor our own self-respect," says the "Tell Me Something Good" singer in announcing the "I Love Myself" video contest. "Beauty knows no boundaries and is accepting of us all whether black, white, gay, straight, physically or mentally challenged." A percentage of the new single's net proceeds will benefit two charitable organizations that assist victims of domestic violence and discrimination, and be distributed through The Chaka Khan Foundation. More details can be found at 
Actors Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw, the stars of the smash 1970 tearjerker 
Guitarist/vocalist Paul Kantner, a founding member of the pioneering Bay Area psychedelic band the Jefferson Airplane as well as the 1970s JA spinoff band Jefferson Starship, died on Jan. 28 of multiple organ failure, following a heart attack earlier in the week. He was 74. Kantner and Marty Balin formed Jefferson Airplane in 1965 after meeting at the San Francisco club The Drinking Gourd. The band, which first played folk-rock material, were rounded out by guitarist/vocalist Jorma Kaukonen, drummer Skip Spence, vocalist Signe Anderson, and bassist Bob Harvey, though Harvey was soon replaced by Jack Casady. The Airplane played their first major show on Aug. 13 of that year at the new Matrix Club, which later became an outlet for new Bay Area bands, and they became one of the first bookings for promoter Bill Graham -- who managed them for a short period -- at his legendary Fillmore Auditorium. Before the end of the year, they were signed by RCA Records, and their debut album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, was released in Sept. 1966 and went gold. Just before that LP came out, Anderson left the group to have a baby and was replaced by former model and former Great Society vocalist Grace Slick. With Slick's stronger and more expressive vocals, the band defined what became known as the "San Francisco sound," and not only epitomized the burgeoning Haight-Ashbury counterculture but also provided its soundtrack with Top 10 hits like "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit," a song which developed Lewis Carroll's "Alice Through the Looking Glass" with its acid connotations (and was banned in some areas of the U.S. as a drug song). Jefferson Airplane Takes Off climbed to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart, sold half a million copies, and became the first of five of their seven albums to go gold. After releasing Surrealistic Pillow in 1967, which featured the two aforementioned singles plus two more killer cuts called "Plastic Fantastic Lover" and "Today," the band released After Bathing at Baxter's the same year, which featured a nine-minute psychedelic jam-collage called "Spayre Change." In 1968 came their magnum opus, Crown of Creation, which included Slick's "Lather" and the David Crosby-penned "Triad," a song about a ménage à trois that had been rejected by Crosby's group The Byrds. 
After a string of arduous U.S. tours and free festivals -- including the horrendous nerve-shattering event at Altamont in 1969 -- schisms in the band began to appear, precipitated primarily by Slick's pregnancy with Kantner's child. In 1970, Kantner and Slick recorded Blows Against the Empire, an LP that also featured Crosby, Jerry Garcia, Graham Nash and other friends, and became the first musical work nominated for the science-fiction writers' Hugo Award. Also in 1970, the band released a greatest hits package, 
In related news, Carole King has released an updated version of "One Small Voice," a song she first released more than three decades ago in support of the recent Women's March on Washington, D.C., in protest of Pres. Trump. In an essay on HuffingtonPost.com, King said: "It will take the strength and persistence of many small voices to overcome the lies of the loudest voice with our message of truth, dignity, and decency." "One Small Voice" tells the story of the Hans Christian Anderson classic "The Emperor's Clothes," and includes the lyrics "One small voice speaking with the values/ we were taught as children." King participated in her own women's march the same day in her small hometown of Stanely, Idaho. - Billboard, 1/26/17...... The Jacksons have announced they'll play a one-off UK show on June 18 at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, on June 18 as part of the venue's Nocturne concert series. The current Jacksons lineup is comprised of four founding members -- Jermain, Tito, Jackie and Marlon Jackson -- and the show will be the group's only UK headline performance in 2017. Kool and the Gang will be the opening act. - New Musical Express, 1/30/17...... In related news, Michael Jackson's 18-year-old daughter Paris Jackson will make her acting debut in 2017 on Fox's drama series Star, the network announced on Jan. 30. Star is set in the music industry and features Queen Latifah as a surrogate mom to aspiring young singers. A date for the episode with Paris Jackson wasn't announced. - AP, 1/30/17...... It is rumored that Prince's music will be widely released to streaming services by Grammy Night on Feb. 12 after a series of purple ads bearing the Spotify logo -- and only the Spotify logo -- appeared in New York's Union Square subway station on Jan. 30. While much of Prince's post-Warner Music catalog remains in varying degrees of legal limbo, the Warner catalog, as well as his music publishing, are reportedly on solid footing to be streamed in the near future. Reps for Spotify, Apple Music, Warner Music and the Prince estate have not confirmed the rumor. - Billboard, 1/30/17...... "Star Dust," a spellbinding David Bowie-inspired modern ballet, made its debut in New York at the Joyce Theater on Jan. 25 after debuting in Detroit in 2016. The production pairs familiar Bowie songs such as "Space Oddity" and "Rock N' Roll Suicide with modern dance. The program also includes the troupe of around 15 dancers in the Complexions Contemporary Ballet performing to "Changes," "Life on Mars?," "1984," "Modern Love" and "Young Americans," with an encore of "Let's Dance. The show is scheduled run through Feb. 5, 2017. - Billboard, 1/26/17...... 
A Broadway adaptation of the hit book and movie The Devil Wears Prada will feature music scored by Elton John and be written by legendary playwright Paul Rudnick. "Re-imagining The Devil Wears Prada for the musical theater is super exciting," Elton John said in a statement. "I'm a huge fan of both the book and the feature film, and a huge aficionado of the fashion world. I can't wait to sink my musical teeth into this hunk of popular culture." The Devil Wears Prada follows new graduate and aspiring journalist Andrea, as she tries to make her way working for an iconic fashion magazine under a cutthroat boss while maintaining her iconoclast identity. The blockbuster movie starred Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt. - Billboard, 1/26/17...... The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced on Jan. 27 that Neil Young will be inducting his frequent collaborator Pearl Jam into the Cleveland-based hall and museum during the 2017 RRHOF ceremony in New York on Apr. 7. Young and Pearl Jam memorably joined forces to play Young's "Rockin' in the Free World" at MTV's Video Music Awards in 1993, and Pearl Jam regularly covers the song on tour. Presenters for the other inductees, which include ELO, Journey, Tupac Shakur and Nile Rodgers, have yet to be announced. - AP, 1/27/17...... The headliners for the 2017 New Orleans Jazz Fest set for the Crescent City on Apr. 28-30 and May 4-7 will include Stevie Wonder, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Maroon 5 and Dave Matthews, organizers announced on Jan. 27. Also included in the more than 500 bands that will be performing are Kings of Leon, Alabama Shakes, Widespread Panic and Pitbull. - AP, 1/27/17...... Blondie have been added to the 2016 British Summer Time line-up, with the New York-based quartet supporting Phil Collins at the London show in Hyde Park on June 30. Also performing the same day will be Mike and the Mechanics and Starsailor. "The reaction from the British public has been overwhelming," said Phil Collins previously about the headline date. "I can't wait to play Hyde Park and see everyone there. I will be playing all of the songs that people love." - NME, 1/30/17...... Bob Dylan will be among the headliners and the fan-curated Firefly Festival this summer, which is set for Dover, Delaware on June 15-18. Weezer, Mars, The Shins and Kesha are also on the bill for the festival, which bills itself as the first to be "curated" by fans. - NME, 1/27/17...... Willie Nelson cancelled two shows at The Venetian resort in Las Vegas on Jan. 28 and 29 due to a "bad cold," according to his publicist. Nelson is still scheduled to play the remaining three shows, on Feb. 1, 3 and 4. The canceled shows have not been rescheduled. - AP, 1/26/17...... In a new interview with the London Times, Ozzy Osboure denied that he is a sex addict, despite a statement from a representative for Black Sabbath in 2016 that Osbourne was undergoing "intense therapy" for sex addiction. "I'm in a f---ing rock band, aren't I? There have always been groupies," Ozzy said. "I just got caught, didn't I? I don't think I'm a f---ing sex addict." The statement from Black Sabbath's rep was released following intense media speculation over Osbourne's 33-year marriage to Sharon Osbourne when the pair separated in May 2016. However, Osbourne later said that their marriage was "back on track again." - New Musical Express, 1/30/17...... 
Aerosmith is promising some "surprises" for their upcoming final tour of the U.K. and Europe, after first announcing it in 2016 by saying it would be "one of the greatest rock n' roll shows ever seen." Guitarist Brad Whitford says the band would "like to do some more deep cuts" on their "Aerovederci Tour" and "we'll see how that goes, it's very hard to get everybody to agree on certain things. We've basically done the hit-parade our whole career, and there's a lot of really great deep tracks that have been neglected. It would be nice to bring some of that stuff out. I think people would appreciate that." The 17-city tour commences on May 17 in Tel Aviv, Israel, also hitting Moscow, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. It also includes a headline performance at the Download Festival in Donington, UK, on June 11. - NME, 1/30/17...... TV legend Mary Tyler Moore was laid to rest on Jan. 29 after a small, private ceremony in Connecticut, according to the local paper Connecticut Post. Ms. Moore, a resident of Greenwich, Conn., was buried at Oak Lawn Cemetery in Fairfield at around 11 a.m., and her service was attended by approximately 50 of her closest friends and family members. The only celebrity in the crowd was Bernadette Peters, her co-star in the 1990 TV movie The Last Best Year. Ms. Moore's gravesite is surrounded by 12 empty plots that the family reportedly purchased at $2,000 a pop to ensure her privacy. Outside the cemetery, a small tribute to Ms. Moore in the form of three homemade signs proclaiming "We Love You," "Mary!!!," and "Rest in Peace, Mary" hung on the main gate, along with a picture of the actress smiling. Ms. Moore passed away on Jan. 25 at age 80 after dealing with a series of health issues, including diabetes. - PageSix.com, 1/30/17...... Officials in Los Angeles say they have positively identified the man who raped and killed Karen Klaas, the ex-wife of Righteous Brothers singer Bill Medley in 1976. Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said on Jan. 30) that investigators blame Kenneth Eugene Troyer for the slaying. Karen Klaas was strangled with her pantyhose in her home in Jan. 1976 as she returned to her home in Hermosa Beach, and the 32-year-old died a few years later. McDonnell says investigators used a controversial DNA testing technique that allows investigators to search databases to identify likely relatives of suspects who may have committed the crime. A forensic sample collected at the crime scene found a familial match to identify a close male relative of Troyer's. - AP, 1/30/17...... Geoff Nicholls, a longtime keyboardist for Black Sabbath who joined the band in 1979 after the firing of Ozzy Osbourne, died on Jan. 28 following a battle with lung cancer. He was 68. Nicholls first appeared on Black Sabbath's 1980 album, Heaven and Hell, and five years later he was named an official member of the group. After appearing on nine Sabbath albums and touring regularly with the band, he left in 1996, after Osbourne returned. "I'm so saddened to hear the loss of one of my dearest and closest friends Geoff Nicholls," Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi wrote on Facebook on Jan. 28. "I will miss him dearly and he will live in my heart until we meet again. Rest in peace my dear friend." - Billboard, 1/28/17...... 
John Hurt, a legendary actor perhaps best known for his role in the 1978 film 
Great Britain's Royal Mail announced on Jan. 25 it will be commemorating David Bowie with a limited-edition run of 10 postage stamps featuring covers of Bowie's albums and images from his tours. The stamps will feature art from such landmark albums as Hunky Dory, Aladdin Sane, Heroes, Let's Dance, Earthling and Bowie's final work, 2016's Blackstar, as well as four of his tours. Royal Mail will issue the stamps on Mar. 14, and pre-orders are being accepted. Royal Mail previously has honored the Beatles in 2010 and Pink Floyd in 2015. - Billboard, 1/26/17...... In other Bowie news, Sting stunned a "Celebrating David Bowie" concert at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles on Jan. 24 by making a surprise appearance to perform two songs from Bowie's Blackstar -- the title track toward the end of the 3-hour, 25 minute show, and "Lazarus," as one of the 4-song encores. The show featured a massive band comprised largely of alumni of Bowie's touring units, with celebrity lead vocalists including Perry Farrell, Bush's Gavin Rossdale and Def Leppard's Joe Elliott. The concert was part of a very limited five-city international Bowie tribute mini-tour. - Billboard, 1/25/17...... Queen with guest vocalist Adam Lambert have announced a 25-city arena summer tour of North America that will get underway on June 23 in Phoenix, Ariz. June dates also include Las Vegas (6/24), Los Angeles (6/26) and San Jose, Calif. (6/29). Major cities in July include Seattle (7/1), Denver (7/6), Chicago (7/13), Montreal (7/17), Detroit (7/20), Boston (7/25), Brooklyn (7/28), Philadelphia (7/30), and Washington D.C. (7/31), before three final dates in August -- Nashville, Tenn. (8/2), Dallas (8/4) and Houston (8/5). Tickets for the tour go on sale Feb. 3. - Billboard, 1/26/17...... A planned Janis Joplin biopic starring 5-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams has been scrapped, according to director Jean-Marc Valle. Valle, who also directed Dallas Buyers Club, says he's committed instead to the upcoming HBO series Big Little Lies. The movie, to have been called Get It While You Can, is not to be confused with another Joplin biopic starring Michelle Williams that is currently in production. That movie, Janis, is based on the biography Love, Janis by Joplin's sister, Laura Joplin, and uses Joplin's letters to family and friends to tell her story. Janis Joplin died in 1970 at the age of 27 from a heroin overdose after releasing only three albums; a posthumously released album, Pearl, was released just months after her death and featured one of her last hits, "Me and Bobby McGee." - Billboard, 1/25/17...... Fleetwood Mac announced on Jan. 25 that they will reissue their 1987 album Tango In the Night in a 
Rod Stewart announced on Jan. 23 that he'll kick off a summer tour of mostly smaller cities in America with opener Cyndi Lauper on July 6 in Hollywood, Fla. Visiting such markets as Tampa, Tuscaloosa, Camden, Bangor, Wantagh, Bristow and Rochester, the tour also visits Cincinnati on Aug. 4 and Dallas on Aug. 11 before wrapping on Aug. 12 in Houston. Stewart released his last album, Another Country, in 2015, and is currently in the studio recording. Sir Rod was also present at the Scottish Cup Draw football match on Jan. 22, where he reportedly had a blast plucking a series of numbered balls out of a bin and participated in the time-honored tradition of setting up the match-ups for the fifth round of the tournament. - Billboard, 1/23/17...... Neil Diamond has announced a 50-song, three-disc career retrospective, 
Country/pop crossover singer Crystal Gayle was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville on Jan. 21, nearly 50 years after she first walked onto the stage to perform as a teenager. The honor was performed by Gayle's sister, country legend and longtime Opry member Loretta Lynn, at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. Gayle is best known for her 1977 hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue," which is noted on her official website as the song that "opened the world's eyes to Crystal Gayle." - AP, 1/21/17...... UK rockers Status Quo have announced a series of new tour dates following the December death of Status Quo singer/guitarist Rick Parfitt. Surviving members Francis Rossi, Andrew Bown, John 'Rhino' Edwards, Leon Cave and Richie Malone will perform four shows in support of their recent album Aquostic II: That's A Fact!, including a concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. Other dates include Inverness (6/20), York (6/21) and Norwich (6/25). Status Quo has released over 100 singles -- many of which were penned by Parfitt -- and have sold over 100 million albums worldwide. - NME, 1/23/17...... Two of Prince's relatives who are likely to receive a share of the late rock icon's multimillion-dollar estate have accused the estate's special entertainment advisers of mismanaging an October Prince tribute concert and holding on to profits the estate was guaranteed to receive. Veteran entertainment attorneys L. Londell McMillan and Charles Koppelman have been employed by the estate as experts to help monetize Prince's entertainment assets, and have entered a number of licensing agreements on behalf of the estate. At a recent hearing, the judge said the estate would likely be dived between the six people listed on the initial filing with the court: sister Tyka Nelson and half-siblings Sharon Nelson, Norrine Nelson, John Nelson, Omarr Baker, and Alfred Jackson. The Official Prince Tribute-A Celebration of Life and Music concert was held on Oct. 13, 2016 in St. Paul, Minn. - Billboard, 1/26/17...... Bassist Pete Overend Watts, a founding member of Mott the Hoople, passed away on Jan. 22 after a battle with cancer. He was 69. Born in Yardley, Birmingham on May 13, 1947, Watts met drummer Dale Griffin at Ross Grammar School, and the pair played in local bands before moving to London in 1969 where, having formed a band called The Shakedown Sound, they came to the attention of producer Guy Stevens, who also auditioned and appointed Ian Hunter as their lead singer. Renamed Mott the Hoople, the band was a popular glam-rock group in the early '70s, with hits including "All the Way from Memphis," "Roll Away the Stone" and "All the Young Dudes." After Mott the Hoople disbanded in 1974, Watts went on to form the bands Mott and British Lions. "Overend was a warm, funny, intelligent, talented and hugely charismatic person who always had an entertaining story to tell," Mott the Hoople keyboardist Verden Allen posted on Facebook. "There are no words to explain how much he will be missed, and by so many that he was an inspiration to." - New Musical Express, 1/23/17...... 
Butch Trucks, a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band who played drums alongside Jai "Jaimoe" Johnny Johanson throughout the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers' 46-year on-and-off history, died on Jan. 24 in West Palm Beach, Fla. He was 69. Born Claude Hudson Trucks in Jacksonville, Fla., Trucks first played in local bands and the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, as well as in ensembles at Florida State University, where he studied. In a 2016 interview, Trucks said he "was a good drummer and didn't know it" when the late Duane Allman approached him to be in the band in 1968. "I was about to head back to school and get a degree in math and teach... when Duane knocked on my door with Jaimoe, and then the Allman Brothers happened," Trucks recalled. "Duane decided he wanted two drummers -- he told Jaimoe, 'If James Brown can have two drummers, so can I!' -- and Jaimoe kept telling me, 'Butch is your guy. Butch is the guy!'" Trucks is the uncle of Derek Trucks, who also played drums in a later incarnation of the ABB, and another nephew, Duane Trucks, is a member of Widespread Panic and Hard Working Americans. Trucks becomes the third member of the original Allmans to pass away: Duane Allman died after a 1971 motorcycle crash at the age of 24, and bassist Berry Oakley was killed in a similar accident at the same age less than 13 months later. Trucks and the other ABB members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He is survived by his wife, Melinda, their four children and four grandchildren. "I'm heartbroken. I've lost another brother and it hurts beyond words. Butch and I knew each other since we were teenagers and we were bandmates for over 45 years," bandmate Gregg Allman said in a statement. "He was a great man and a great drummer and I'm going to miss him forever. Rest In Peace Brother Butch." - Billboard, 1/25/17...... Folk-rock singer-songwriter Maggie Roche, a member of the sister vocal trio The Roches, has died of cancer, according to an online statement posted by her sister Suzzy Roche on Jan. 21. She was 65. The Park Ridge, N.J. sisters caught the eye of Paul Simon while touring in the '70s, and Simon recruited them as backup singers for his hit 1973 album, There Goes Rhymin' Simon. The Roches released their debut album in 1975, also playing Greenwich Village folk venues, and in 1979 released their well-received album