As ABBA have recently been nominated for their first ever Grammy (in the Record of the Year category for "I Still Have Faith In You"), the group have joked that a new Grammy category should be made especially for groups like themselves who have been away for a long time. "A Grammy should be mandatory for those who dare leave 40 years between album releases. We suggest a new category. ABBA - Agnetha, Bjrn, Benny, Anni-Frid," the group's Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid (Frida) Lyngstad told Variety. Meanwhile, ABBA's new album Voyage has already gone Platinum within just the first month of its release. Voyage debuted at number one on album charts in 18 countries and broke multiple chart records, selling over one million copies during its first week and receiving over 275 million combined streams to date. "We are so happy that our fans seem to have enjoyed our new album as much as we enjoyed making it! We are absolutely over the moon to have an album at the top of the charts again," the group said of the new album's early success. ABBA recently released the YouTube video for their first-ever Christmas song, "Little Things," and in 2022 the Swedish pop icons will showcase their new music at a string of "revolutionary" concerts at London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. - New Musical Express, 12/12/21...... 
In a new interview with Classic Rock magazine, Queen drummer Roger Taylor questioned the acting ability of Sacha Baron Cohen, who was once considered for the role of Freddie Mercury in the hit Queen/Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, speculating that the Borat star would have been "shit" in that role. "I think he would have been utter shit. Sacha is pushy, if nothing else," Taylor said, adding that Cohen was "also six inches too tall." "But I watched his last five films and came to the conclusion he's not a very good actor," Taylor added. "I might be wrong there. I thought he was an utterly brilliant subversive comedian, that's what he's great at. Anyway, I think Rami [Malek] did a brilliant job in an almost impossible role." The role of Mercury eventually went to Malek, who won an Oscar for his performance. The film was criticized for altering the timeline of events for dramatic effect, including changing the date Mercury told his bandmates he was HIV positive. However, Taylor argued that the film "didn't fictionalize the real story, only in detail" and that it simply "messed with the timeline." "When you're making a movie, which is approximately a hundred minutes long, you have to mess with the timeline to make it work," Taylor explained. "The movie has to work, that's priority one." - NME, 12/8/21...... Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi has left open the door to more Sabbath shows following the heavy metal icons' farewell tour in 2017. "You can never say never, can you? We've known in this band you can never say, 'That's never gonna happen again,' because every time we said that, it has," Iommi said in a new interview. "We never thought we'd get back with Ozzy [Osbourne] after the early years. We never thought we'd get back with [Ronnie James] Dio again; we did. So you just can't say it's never gonna happen," he added. Iommi elaborated that "it's just the major touring that has come to a stop." "I wouldn't wanna do 18-month tours again but that doesn't say we wouldn't do any one-off stuff," he said. However, in Sept. 2021 Osbourne revealed that he didn't have the "slightest interest" in a return for Black Sabbath. "It's done," the frontman said, while bassist Geezer Butler backed up Osbourne two months later, saying "there will definitely be no more Sabbath." Osbourne is expected to release his next solo album "over the next six months," according to a recent financial statement issued by his label Sony Records. - NME, 12/11/21...... Cher's legal battle with Mary Bono, the second wife of Cher's late first husband Sonny Bono, by arguing that Sonny should not be allowed to claim that her divorce agreement trumps important provisions of federal copyright law. In November, Cher sued Mary Bono, seeking to block her from taking control of Sonny's music. The case is one of several closely-watched music lawsuits over copyright law's "termination right" -- a provision that allows creators or their heirs to win back control of rights they signed away decades prior. On Dec. 9, Mary Bono filed papers to dismiss the case, arguing that Cher's lawsuit was essentially trying to argue that her divorce agreement with Sonny was more powerful than a law passed by the U.S. Congress. "Cher's position would subvert Congress' intent in enacting the copyright termination provisions: to ensure that authors and authors' heirs, not grantees or ex-spouses, would benefit from the extended term of copyright," Bono's attorneys wrote. Cher's case is one of several pending industry fights over terminations. Two pending class actions filed by artists are seeking to regain control of masters owned by Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. KC & the Sunshine Band and 2 Live Crew are fighting similar cases, too. A formal response filing from Cher is due in several weeks. - Billboard, 12/9/21...... Recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Foo Fighters brought KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons onstage during a recent show at Park MGM's Dolby Live theatre in Las Vegas. After spotting a fan who bore a striking resemblance to Simmons, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl then invited the real Gene Simmons to come out from the side of the stage. As he left the stage Grohl said: "Can we just hear it one more time for Gene F---ING Simmons," before he told the crowd he had posters of the KISS legend on his wall as a child. Footage of the incident has been shared on YouTube. Following the show Grohl and Greg Kurstin wrapped up their second-annual "Hanukkah Sessions" with a cover of the KISS classic "Rock And Roll All Nite." The pair spent eight days covering songs by Jewish artists -- one for each day of the Festival Of Lights. - NME, 12/9/21...... Bonnie Raitt will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy, the organization behind the Grammy Awards, when the awards are belatedly presented in a ceremony at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles on Jan. 30, 2022, the night before the 64th annual Grammy Awards. Raitt will join the Recording Academy's 2021 class of Special Merit Award recipients, first announced in Dec. 2020, which include Lifetime Achievement Awards (for performers), Trustees Awards (for non-performers), the Technical Grammy Award and the Music Educator Award. Raitt was approached about a lifetime achievement award in 2021, but declined because of Covid-19 concerns. Because of the pandemic, the 2021 Special Merit Award honorees were unable to attend the 63rd annual Grammy Awards. They were briefly acknowledged during the telecast. Raitt is a 10-time Grammy winner, including Album of The Year for Nick of Time at the 32nd annual Grammy Awards in Feb. 1990. - Billboard, 12/9/21...... The deluxe special edition reissue of The Beatles' 1970 No. 1 LP Let It Be has vaulted from No. 10 to No. 1 on Billboard's Top Rock Albums chart following the Nov. 25 premiere of the new Beatles documentary The Beatles: Get Back, which chronicles the album's recording, on the Disney+ channel. In the chart dated Dec. 2, Let It Be earned 27,000 equivalent album units, up 124%, according to MRC Data. Of that sum, 18,000 units are from album sales (up 115%), and the set also surges 21-6 on the Top Album Sales chart. The Beatles now boast five No. 1's on Top Rock Albums, which began in 2006, as Let It Be follows Love (2007), On Air: Live at the BBC Volume 2 (2013), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road, the latter two reigning following anniversary reissues in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Meanwhile, other albums by the Fab Four have also gained amid interest in the band's catalog. Abbey Road jumped from 9-3 (20,000 units, up 59%), the best-of set 1 ranks at No. 26 (9,000, up 8%) and The Beatles ("The White Album") re-enters at No. 45 (7,000, up 32%). - Billboard, 12/8/21...... 
A previously unseen video by The Police for their No. 1 UK hit "Don't Stand So Close To Me" has been unearthed from the band's archives after 41 years and shared on YouTube in time for Christmas 2021. Filmed in Grey Rock, Quebec, Canada (the same location as their "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" music video), the clip was shot during the winter of 1980 as the Grammy-winning trio were on tour through Canada and the U.S. promoting their new LP Zenyatta Mondatta. The Police were due to perform a concert at Montreal's Centre Sportif on the day the video was filmed, but the performance was rescheduled to Jan. 7, 1981. Police frontman Sting recently released his latest solo album, The Bridge, which has received widespread acclaim. - Music-News.com, 12/9/21...... A livestream concert marking what would have been David Bowie's 75th birthday on Jan. 8, 2022, has been announced. The concert will feature several longtime members of Bowie's band, along with appearances from the likes of Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon and John Taylor, Def Leppard, Living Colour as well as actor Gary Oldman and comedian/actor Ricky Gervais. "It's an honour to be able to continue to share David Bowie's music with the world," Bowie's longtime keyboardist Mike Garson told Rolling Stone magazine. "I'm excited for everyone to be able to experience this very special show we've got in store in celebration of what would have been David's 75th birthday with the bandmates he recorded and performed with, plus a great group of guest artists who he was such an influence to," he added. The estate of Bowie, who died on Jan. 10, 2016, announced in October that the 75th anniversary celebration of his birth will include two limited-time pop-up shop experiences in New York and London beginning Oct. 25 that will kick-off a year-long celebration of all things Bowie. A new box set of Bowie's material from 1992-2001, David Bowie 5: Brilliant Adventure, hit stores on Nov. 26. - NME, 12/8/21...... The Beach Boys have announced a huge summer show in London in 2022, at the Royal Albert Hall as part of their "Sixty Years of the Sounds of Summer" tour. The current lineup of the legendary American band is led by BB co-founder Mike Love alongside longtime member Bruce Johnston. Two other original members, Brian Wilson and Al Jardine are not involved with the "Sixty Years of the Sounds of Summer" tour, and recently announced a co-headline US tour with Chicago for next summer, after postponing UK dates due to Covid-related complications. In August, the band released Feel Flows - The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions 1969-1971, a reissue of their critically acclaimed LP's Sunflower and Surf's Up. - NME, 12/8/21...... On Dec. 6, The Rolling Stones played an intimate London show in celebration of their late bandmate Charlie Watts. Frontman Mick Jagger, guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, as well as former Stones bassist Bill Wyman were all in attendance at Ronnie Scott's in Soho, along with a number of Watts' family and friends. The event was moderated by Jools Holland who led a house band featuring Dave Green (Watt's childhood friend and a frequent collaborator in his jazz bands), Ben Waters and Axel Zwingenberger. Members of the Stones' touring band also performed, and the evening ended with an impromptu jam session by Watts' bandmates Jagger, Wood and Richards performing the rhythm and blues standards "Shame Shame Shame" and "Down the Road Apiece." - NME, 12/7/21...... 
Ralph Tavares, the eldest of the five brothers in the Grammy-winning R&B singing group Tavares whose hits included "It Only Takes a Minute and "Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel," died of as yet undisclosed causes at his home in South Dartmouth, Mass., on Dec. 8, two days before his 80th birthday. The Tavares brothers, sons of immigrants from Cape Verde who were based in New Bedford, Mass., began performing together in 1959, settling on the name Tavares in 1973, the same year they had their first hit, "Check It Out." The group hit their chart peaks with 19752 s "It Only Takes a Minute, which reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Hot Soul Singles chart, and 19762 s "Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel," which got to No. 15 on the Hot 100 and No. 3 on Hot Soul Singles. Tavares' cover of the Bee Gees' "More Than a Woman" appeared on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in 1977 along with the original. The soundtrack won a Grammy for album of the year and was a massive hit, giving the brothers wider fame and leaving them associated with disco, though their music was an amalgam of styles include R&B, funk and soul. Tavares and all of the artists on the soundtrack received Grammys for Album of the Year. Tavares was also nominated for a Grammy in 1982 for the single "A Penny for Your Thoughts. Ralph Tavares left the group in 1984 and worked for about 30 years as an officer in the Massachusetts state courts, working in the courtroom for the 2015 murder trial of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez. Ralph Tavares reunited with the group in 2014 and continued performing with his brothers until his death. According to the group's manager, the group had a show booked for Dec. 11 in the Poconos. - Billboard, 12/10/21...... American musician/songwriter/singer David Lasely, a prized backup singer for the likes of Neil Diamond, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Luther Vandross and Burt Bacharach, passed away on Dec. 9 at the age of 75. Lasley co-wrote Bonnie Raitt's "I Ain't Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again and "Got You On My Mind." Raitt took to social media with fond words about Lasley, stating, "I am so sorry to hear of the passing of yet another beautiful friend and bright light in our music world, golden voiced David Lasley." Lasley's four octave vocal range made him a coveted backup singer, especially with his falsetto voice. Over the course of his career, he also worked behind James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Bette Midler and Ringo Starr. In the early 1980s, Lasley was signed to Geffen Records but bought his way out of his contract when he became dissatisfied with the label asking him to "copy other artists, according to the Los Angeles Times interview. Between 1981 and 2006, Lasley released eight solo albums and served as a co-writer on countless singles for Raitt, LaBelle, Arnold McCuller, Whitney Houston, Dusty Springfield, Anita Baker and more. Tributes to the late singer poured in after the news of his passing, with Desmond Child, James Taylor and more expressing their condolences online and sharing his music. - Billboard, 12/10/21...... Jamaican musician Robbie Shakespeare, one half of the duo Sly and Robbie, has passed away at age 68. Shakespeare had reportedly recently undergone surgery related to his kidneys and was hospitalized in Florida. The iconic bassist formed Sly and Robbie with drummer Sly Dunbar in the mid-70s after having both worked separately in other bands. After bonding over an affinity for reggae production, they went to work producing for other artists, with their breakout credit being the Mighty Diamonds' 1976 album Right Time. Sly and Robbie's production work led them to work with a myriad of acts throughout the decades, including multiple albums for Bob Dylan and Grace Jones. They also helped produce and remix tracks by Bob Marley, Madonna, Britney Spears and Mick Jagger, while also helming production on No Doubt's 2001 smash hit "Hey Baby." Throughout their career, Sly and Robbie also went on to release several albums of their own, the last of which was 2019's The Final Battle: Sly & Robbie vs. Roots Radicswhich was nominated for Best Reggae Album at the 2019 Grammys. - NME, 12/9/21...... 
Michael Nesmith, one of the stars of The Monkees, a 1960s TV comedy series about a rock quartet modeled after The Beatles, died on Dec. 10 of natural causes, his family announced in a statement on his website. He was 78. "With infinite love we announce that Michael Nesmith has passed away this morning in his home, surrounded by family, peacefully and of natural causes. We thank you for the love and light that all of you have shown him and us," the family said. Known for his trademark wool watch cap and quiet demeanour, Nesmith was a singer, guitarist and songwriter for the band, a made-for-television ensemble that would form the cast of the NBC series. Born in Houston on Dec. Dec. 30, 1942, Nesmith was 24 and an up-and-coming musician getting noticed for penning such tunes as "Different Drum" -- which would be recorded in 1967 by the Linda Ronstadt-led Stone Poneys -- when he was cast from nearly 450 aspiring actor-musican applicants as one of the four carefree youngsters living in a California beach house looking to make it in the music world on The Monkees. The brainchild of producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, the comedy was designed to cash in on the popularity of The Beatles by mirroring the zaniness of Help! and A Hard Day's Night. An immediate hit upon its Sept. 1966 debut, it won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series after its first season and became a pop culture phenomenon. The TV series, which ran until Aug. 1968 and introduced by its catchy theme, "Hey, Hey, We're the Monkees," was an immediate ratings hit weeks after the group's first single, "Last Train to Clarksville," had topped the pop charts in the autumn of 1966. 
The group collaborated early with some of the major songwriters and top session musicians of the day, including Neil Diamond, Carole King, Glen Campbell and Hal Blaine. Nesmith was the group's guitarist, and also one of its songwriters, penning the likes of "The Girl I Knew Somewhere," "Listen to the Band" and "Mary, Mary." After the series was canceled, Nesmith branched out with the First National Band, a country-rock band that produced several critically acclaimed albums, including Loose Salute, in the early 1970s. He also wrote hits for country stars Linda Ronstadt and Lynn Anderson. He then founded Pacific Arts Corp, a multimedia firm and won the first-ever Grammy Award for a music video, "Elephant Parts," in 1982. In 1996-97 Nesmith rejoined band members Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz to tour Britain, make a reunion album and a TV special. Jones died in 2012, and Tork died in 2019. Nesmith's final show was less than a month ago, when he and Micky Dolenz ended a farewell tour at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on Nov. 14. "I'm heartbroken. I've lost a dear friend and partner. I'm so grateful that we could spend the last couple of months together doing what we loved best - singing, laughing, and doing shtick," Dolenz said in a post on Twitter. One famous bit of trivia concerning Nesmith was that his mother, Bette Nesmith, worked as a secretary, which led to her developing the typewriter correction fluid known as Liquid Paper. Nesmith was married and divorced three times. Survivors include his children, Christian, Jonathan, Jason and Jessica. - Reuters/The Hollywood Reporter, 12/10/21.
Elvis Costello announced on Twitter on Dec. 6 that he and his band The Imposters will mount a 13-city UK tour in the summer of 2022, kicking off at Brighton Dome on June 5, 2022 before wrapping up at London's Hammersmith Eventim Apollo on June 23. Other cities on the itinerary include Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Birmingham, and Leicester. Costello and The Imposters' upcoming album, The Boy Named If [And Other Children's Stories], hits stores on Jan. 14. "'IF' is a nickname for your imaginary friend; your secret self, the one who knows everything you deny, the one you blame for the shattered crockery and the hearts you break, even your own," Costello said about the album's title in a press release. - New Musical Express, 12/7/21...... 
'70s artists Joni Mitchell and Bette Midler were among the honorees at the prestigious 44th annual Kennedy Center Honors in the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 5. Also receiving the honor were Motown visionary Berry Gordy Jr., renowned bass/baritone singer Justino Diaz, and Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels. Also in attendance were Pres. Joe Biden, Paul Simon, Smokey Robinson, Ellie Goulding and Brittany Howard. To mark the celebrations, Stevie Wonder gave a mini concert of Motown hits including "You Are the Sunshine of My Life," "Superstition" and a custom "I Just Called To Say I Love You." Joni Mitchell, who suffered a brain aneurysm in 2015 that left her temporarily unable to walk or talk, addressed her ongoing health issues during her acceptance, saying "I always think that polio was a rehearsal for the rest of my life," referring to the disease she suffered aged nine. "I've had to come back several times from things. And this last one was a real whopper. But, you know, I'm hobbling along but I'm doing all right!," she added. Mitchell will also be at the center of a tribute concert held by MusiCares, the charity arm of The Recording Academy which hosts the annual Grammy awards, on Jan. 29, 2022 during Grammy week in Los Angeles. - Billboard/NME, 12/6/21...... ABBA filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court on Dec. 3 against a British tribute band called "Abba Mania" for trademark infringement, calling the act's behavior "parasitic and bad-faith." Tribute bands -- acts that exclusively cover the music of a particular band -- often adopt names that refer or allude to the original, but they can typically avoid legal issues by clearly stating that they are not affiliated with the original, often appending "A [Band] Tribute after their name. In its suit ABBA maintains that "Abba Mania" "includes the term 'official' and 'original' in many of their marketing materials, website pages, and social media handles, which gives consumers the impression that there is some kind of association, affiliation, or sponsorship between ABBA and ABBA MANIA." ABBA says they gave "Abba Mania" an opportunity to "properly use the phrase "ABBA Tribute' in a non-confusing manner" and not include "ABBA" in its title, however "they refused to comply." Meanwhile in other ABBA-related news, the band has released their first ever Christmas single, "Little Things," and shared its video on YouTube. "Little Things" is described as a simple song and gentle reflection on the joy of Christmas morning and family time around the holidays. The ballad has specific holiday references, including "As a brand-new day is dawning/ It's a lovely Christmas morning." And "Oh, what joy Santa brings/ Thanks old friend for packing Christmas stockings full of nice little things." "Little Things" is the third single from the iconic Swedish group's latest album Voyage, following "I Still Have Faith in You" (which received a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year) and "Just a Notion." Proceeds from the sale of "Little Things" will go to UNICEF to support the Global Child Protection Fund. "We support UNICEF in protecting girls from sexual violence and empowering them through the Global Child Protection Fund," ABBA said in a statement." We have done so for many years with our song 'Chiquitita' and now we have decided to give UNICEF a Christmas gift in the form of a second song," they added. - Billboard, 12/6/21...... The Rolling Stones have topped the Billboard Touring Chart's year end tally as their "No Filter" tour becomes the most popular tour of 2021. The Stones kicked off the U.S. 2021 leg of the tour in St. Louis, Mo., on Sept. 26 with a $7.2 million night. In just eight stadium shows during the annual tracking period, the tour grossed $72.3 million and sold 340,000 tickets, becoming the No. 1 tour of the year. Those earnings break down to $16.3 million from two shows in September and $56 million from six shows in October, enough to be the top-grossing tour of that month. No Filter's $72.3 million finish averages out to $9.04 million per show, and the band also grabs the highest average per-night attendance with 42,549 tickets sold. - Billboard, 12/2/21...... 
The late rocker Tom Petty, who in 2002 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with his band The Heartbreakers, has been honored once again, this time with an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Florida. UF's board of trustees unanimously voted to award Thomas Earl Petty a posthumous doctoral degree in music during a Dec. 3 meeting. Born and raised in the UF headquarters of Gainesville, Petty once worked as a groundskeeper at the college as he tried to make it in the music industry, but he was never enrolled. Petty passed away from an accidental drug overdose in October 2017. Days later during a UF home football game, his hit "I Won't Back Down" was played at the stadium as a memorial to the musician. The song has since become a regular feature at Florida Gators games. - Billboard, 12/4/21...... Several artists who recorded for A&M Records during their careers including Sting, Burt Bacharach, Merry Clayton, Sergio Mendes and Herb Alpert are set to perform at "Live at The Music Center: Concerts Celebrating Jerry Moss, Co-Founder of A&M Records." The events honoring A&M co-founder Jerry Moss will take place at the The Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles on Feb. 11-12, 2022. 2022 will mark the 60th anniversary of A&M Records, the legendary label that Moss and Herb Alpert co-founded on a handshake and an investment of $200 from both men. Over 25 years, A&M grew into the world's largest independent record label, signing such iconic stars as The Police, Carpenters, Janet Jackson, Joe Cocker, Peter Frampton and Carole King (on Lou Adler's Ode subsidiary). Moss won a Grammy for co-producing (with Alpert) Alpert & The Tijuana Brass' sleek instrumental "A Taste of Honey," the 1965 winner for Record of the Year. Alpert and Moss received trustees awards from the Recording Academy in 1997. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, receiving the Ahmet Ertegun Award for non-performers. After selling A&M Records to Polygram in 1989, Moss and Alpert formed Almo Sounds. Moss serves as chairman of both Almo Sounds and Rondor Music Inc., a music publishing company. - Billboard, 12/2/21...... Speaking of Sting, the British Grammy winner thinks his latest album The Bridge will be "overshadowed" by the likes of Adele and Ed Sheeran's latest efforts. "I'm not in a pit with Ed or Adele," Sting told the UK's The Sun paper. "I think they're great. This is the best time to release a record, even if it is overshadowed," he added. Sting says the pandemic was a direct source of inspiration for new music and admitted that the album came about as a bit of a surprise following the shut down of his musical "The Last Ship." "[The new music] helped save my mental health. We were doing a month in San Francisco and, during the second week, I was down on the dock watching the cruise ship come in. It was an omen. That day, we did the matine and the mayor shut the city down. So, I got myself back to England and thought, 'Now what?' It was a bit of a shock but look at the advantages. I was in the same bed with my lovely wife (Trudie Styler) and my dog was very happy," he said. - Music-News.com, 12/3/21...... The new Beatles docuseries The Beatles: Get Back has prompted tracks from the film to top the LyricFind US tally, whose Global and LyricFind U.S. charts rank the fastest momentum-gaining tracks in lyric-search queries and usages globally and in the U.S., respectively. According to LyricFind, lyric usages and searches of Get Back saw a 1,965% increase in the U.S. following Get Back's Nov. 26 premiere on the Disney+ streaming channel. In other Beatles news, rare interviews with each member of the band have been made into NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and are now up for auction. The online auction for The Beatles Collection began on Dec. 6 through the Voices Of Classic Rock Archive, which hosts 650 historic interviews and radio shows featuring major rock artists recorded between 1964 and 2008. Four separate snippets from conversations with Paul McCartney (on Chaos And Creation In The Backyard), John Lennon (on "A Day In The Life"), George Harrison (on Abbey Road) and Ringo Starr (on "His Lost Medallion") are available on the site. Meanwhile, the family of longtime Beatles roadie/manager/friend Mal Evans, who features prominently in the Get Back docuseries -- have announced the publication of an authorised biography set to cover his life and career. HarperCollins' Dey Street Books imprint will publish it in 2023, with Evans' estate working closely with author and Beatles scholar Kenneth Womack to tell Evans' story in resounding detail. The biography, as yet untitled, will be followed in 2024 with a sprawling compendium of Evans' personal archives, which will feature diaries, manuscripts and more. Having obtained the Beatles' blessing, Evans planned to published those manuscripts himself before his death at age 40 in Jan. 1976. - Billboard/NME, 12/7/21...... 
Carlos Santana announced on Twitter on Dec. 1 that he has successfully undergone an "unscheduled heart procedure" but has been forced to cancel several Las Vegas shows planned for December. Santana said he asked his wife to take him to the hospital on Nov. 27 because of an issue with his chest. "I'm going to be taking time off for a little bit to make sure that I replenish and rest," he said. The 10-time Grammy winner's heart procedure and recovery prompted the cancellation of his concerts at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino through the end of the year. He's set to resume performances in January, his management said. "Carlos is doing fantastic and is anxious to be back on stage soon. He profoundly regrets that this 'speed bump' necessitated the cancellation of his upcoming performances," his management said in a statement. In October, Santana released his latest album Blessings And Miracles which includes collaborations with Rob Thomas, Chris Stapleton and more. - Billboard, 12/1/21...... Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's previously unreleased The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts has made a top 10 debut across Billboard's Top Album Sales, Top Rock Albums, Tastemaker Albums and Top Current Album Sales charts for the week ending Dec. 4. No Nukes sold 19,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 25, according to MRC Data, across all of its formats combined (including editions containing a video of the same 13 songs in a concert film, such as a two CD/one DVD set and a two CD/one blu-ray package). The album also debuted at No. 6 on Top Album Sales, No. 4 on Top Rock Albums, No. 4 on Tastemaker Albums and No. 6 on Top Current Album Sales. No Nukes was recorded in Sept. of 1979 at the Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE) concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The set, released on Nov. 19, includes songs recorded over two nights -- including "Thunder Road," "Born to Run" and "The River." - Billboard, 12/3/21...... Elton John released his latest single, a Christmas collaboration with rising star Ed Sheeran called "Merry Christmas," on Dec. 3. The British pop stars recently teamed up to write a handful of holiday-themed songs, and "Merry Christmas" is currently on its way to the top of the pops in the UK, according to the Official Charts Company. The company reports the song has accumulated more than double the chart sales of its closest competitor during its first week of release, Adele's reigning champ, "Easy On Me." If it keeps its momentum, "Merry Christmas" will give Elton his ninth UK No. 1, and second in 2021. A video of "Merry Christmas" has been shared on YouTube. The video features the pair doing Christmas-ey things -- the tree is up, and decorated -- and as Elton belts it out on a grand piano, Ed takes flight with a snowman, and there's a big finale with an army of Santa's little helpers. Proceeds from the single will go to the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation. - Billboard, 12/6/21...... During a new interview with the UK's Clash magazine, former Fleetwood Mac member Lindsey Buckingham reflected on the unique "synergy" within Fleetwood Mac, "where the whole became more than the sum of its parts." "What happens is that you begin to understand that, and accept it as a gift. Early on, soon after joining Fleetwood Mac, I realised that we were the kind of group who didn't 'on paper'belong in the same group together. But yet that was the very thing that made us so effective," Buckingham noted. Elsewhere, Buckingham described his former band as a "big machine." "Within Fleetwood Mac, politics have essentially dictated that we haven t made any new music in a while. But as a solo artist, I don't have to push back against that. I've always done what I've wanted to do, basically, and I think the realisation I had to come to was being willing to lose some of the huge audience Fleetwood Mac have in order to pursue that. It's just a trade-off you have to be willing to make in order to do things on your own terms," he said. Buckingham released his new self-titled album in September. - NME, 12/2/21...... 
Sylvester Stallone has pushed back against some followers of the QAnon conspiracy movement after some of hits adherents believed the iconic Rocky actor was signalling the fringe group when he posted a photo of himself sporting a cap with the letter "Q" alongside the caption: "Heading into the Storm..." "For those incredibly inquisitive individuals, let me state unequivocally that the Q on this hat stands for Quantum of Solace, the name of the boat I was on, not anything else, OK?," Stallone wrote on Instagram. "Relax... So folks, the moral of the story is... enjoy your lives and let other people enjoy theirs... So keep punching," he added. One of the central beliefs of the followers of the anonymous prophet named "Q" is that a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic pedophiles operate a global child sex trafficking ring and conspired against former president Donald Trump during his term in office. Believers in the conspiracy have been accused of helping lead the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. - Canoe.com, 12/6/21...... British rock musician John Miles, best known for the ballad "Music" which peaked at number three in the UK charts in 1976, has passed away after, according to his family, "a short illness." A statement from Miles' family on his Facebook page read: "We are devastated to have to announce that 'Mr Music' John Miles sadly passed away peacefully after a very short illness. He was a loving Husband, Father and Grandfather and we will all miss him more than any words could ever express. We kindly ask you to respect our privacy at this extremely difficult time. He will live on forever in our hearts and with the wonderful musical legacy he has left behind. You were our first love and will be our last. Our Husband, Father , Grandfather and hero. We Love you. Xxx." Miles released ten albums during his career, and he also received an outstanding contribution gong at the Progressive Rock awards in 2017. Miles -- who worked with the likes of Jimmy Page and Tina Turner -- said as he accepted the award: "I think I made a contribution but that was way back in the 70s. suppose it has endured though. And the song 'Music' has endured as well, and that was the biggest hit worldwide. I'm a man of few words and there are eight lines of lyrics in that song. I get to work with orchestras these days too, which is fantastic." Miles is survived by his wife Eileen, their two children and his grandchildren. - Music-News.com, 12/7/21...... Denis O'Brien, who served as George Harrison's manager for much of the former Beatle's solo career and with Harrison co-founded the production company that backed such hits as the classic Monty Python's Life of Brian, died on Dec. 3 in Britain at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon after being admitted for severe abdominal pains. He was 80. Mr. O'Brien was a St. Louis native who moved to Europe after receiving a law degree from Washington University and had a long record of successes, along with setbacks and legal battles. Through the actor Peter Sellers, whose career he had helped revive, he met Harrison in 1973 and quickly formed a personal and professional bond. Harrison hired him as his manager after parting with Allen Klein, who had become The Beatles' manager in 1969 but eventually fell out with the group, which broke up a year after signing with Klein. In 1978, Harrison and O'Brien co-founded HandMade Films, a top independent company over the next decade. Their initial project was Life of Brian, Monty Python's controversial religious parody which they financed after EMI Films dropped out at the last minute. HandMade went out of business in 1991 and the partnership between Harrison and Mr. O'Brien ended in court. Mr. O'Brien was ordered by a California judge in 1996 to pay Harrison damages of $11 million for alleged mismanagement of the company's finances. In August 2001, three months before Harrison's death, a judge rejected the musician's effort to stop Mr. O'Brien from declaring bankruptcy. - Billboard, 12/6/21...... 
Country music star and longtime Grand Ole Opry member Stonewall Jackson passed away on Dec. 4 following a battle with vascular dementia. He was 89. Mr. Jackson was known for his classic country singles that charted on the Billboard Hot Country charts, including the country No. 1s "Waterloo" (1959) and "B.J. the D.J." (1963), as well as songs like "Life to Go" (1958) and "Don't Be Angry" (1964). Born in Tabor City, N.C., Mr. Jackson was then raised in Georgia before heading to Nashville. He joined the Grand Ole Opry on Nov. 3, 1956, longer ago than any other current member. In an interview with Music Charts Magazine, Mr. Jackson recalled the excitement of being offered a five-year contract with the Grand Ole Opry on his first invitation to play there in 1956, after Wesley Rose heard his music and set him up with an audition. Mr. Jackson became a member of the Opry without having a record deal at the time. In a statement after Stonewall's passing, Nancy Jones, wife of the late George Jones, wrote, "Stonewall's breakout hit 'Life to Go' was written by George [Jones] and they both became members of the Grand Ole Opry in 1956. They held a special friendship over the years and although Stonewall was retired, he participated in the final George Jones "No Show" tribute event after he passed. I will always have a special place in my heart for Stonewall. May he rest in Peace!" A performance at the Grand Ole Opry on Dec. 4 was dedicated to Mr. Jackson. - Billboard, 12/4/21...... Former U.S. Senator and 1996 Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole died in his sleep on Dec. 5, according to an announcement from the Elizabeth Dole Foundation. He was 98. Sen. Dole had announced earlier in 2021 that he was battling advanced lung cancer. A native Kansan, Sen. Dole as a young adult was briefly a student-athlete on the University of Kansas' football, basketball and track teams when in December 1941, he heard over the radio that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. A year later, he enlisted in the U.S. Army's Reserve Corps, leaving for active duty in June 1943. Sen. Dole deployed to Italy during World War II as a second lieutenant in the Army's 10th Mountain Division in late 1944, but just a few months into that deployment he led an assault on Hill 913 north of Castel D'Aiano, with the soldiers taking heavy artillery and aerial fire. When he saw a fellow soldier go down, Sen. Dole went to help pull him into a manhole, and as he scrambled out, he felt a sharp sting in his shoulder. Sen. Dole collapsed onto the battlefield, and it was nine hours before medics could evacuate him to a field hospital. He would spend the next two and a half years at the Percy Jones Army Medical Center in Battle Creek, Mich., in a head-to-hip plaster cast, having lost a kidney and full use of his right arm. For his sacrifices, Sen. Dole received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster. Those experiences hardened Sen. Dole, and they were experiences he never hid but instead used in relating to disadvantaged Americans as a longtime U.S. senator and as the Republican nominee in the 1996 U.S. presidential race. During that failed campaign for president, Sen. Dole told the New York Times that he hoped to serve as an inspiration to people with disabilities and to help make the world a more accessible place. He also in 1983 created the Dole Foundation to help provide for and support programs for those with disabilities, and the foundation played a large role in securing passage of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. Asked once how he'd like to be remembered, he said, "As somebody who had a sense of humor, who got along well with people and who kept his word." - The Topeka Capital-Journal, 12/5/21.
It was "Tuesday Knight Fever" for the Bee Gees' Barry Gibb on June 26 as the music legend received a knighthood from Prince Charles during investitures at Buckingham Palace. "If it was not for my brothers, I would not be here," said the new Sir Barry, adding he hopes his late brothers Robin and Maurice Gibb, who passed away in 2012 and 2003 respectively, are proud of him. "If I had spent my whole life writing songs on my own, it would have meant something else altogether. I hope and pray that they are aware of what has happened and that they are proud. I believe in that," he said. The 71-year-old singer/songwriter, who was honoured for his services to music and charity, added that the honor was "a bit surreal" and that "it is a high award that your culture can give you and that is something I am enormously proud of." During his time with the Bee Gees, Barry Gibb helped the band become one of the most successful acts in pop music history, with a slew of global hits including "Night Fever," "Stayin Alive," "How Deep Is Your Love," "Tragedy" and "Words." - AP, 6/26/18...... Cher snuck into the Oriental Theatre in Chicago over the fourth weekend in June to catch a preview of the Broadway-bound musical "The Cher Show," and the diva has shared some opinions about its progress. Cher told the Chicago Tribune that while she really enjoyed the show overall, there were parts of the show that could have been better. "It needs work," she said. "I'm not supposed to say that, but I don't care." Though the 72-year-old pop icon admitted the show was "much, much better than I thought it would be," she felt that some parts of the show dragged a little bit more than she would have liked. "Sometimes, my mind was wandering... I think those are the parts that are going to get better." Cher says she thinks the show could be improved by making it feel like more of a spectacle, saying that one specific idea for a concert-style ending to the show could really work for the best. "I am pushing them to do three dance songs in a concert-style way at the end, a bit like they do in [the hit ABBA-based musical] 'Mamma Mia,'" she said. "I think the audience would like that." But she said was nevertheless still impressed: "I am the most critical person who ever drew breath. If they can impress me, they're doing good." "The Cher Show" is set to open June 28 at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago, before making it's Broadway opening at the Neil Simon Theater on Dec. 3. - Billboard, 6/26/18...... 
In an interview with the UK paper The Telegraph on June 25, the Kinks frontman Ray Davies revealed the Kinks are getting back together to record a new album, and may even play some live shows. "I think it's kind of an appropriate time to do it," Davies said, adding he had been working in the studio with his brother Dave Davies and band mate Mick Avory, which has led to the pair making amends. "The trouble is, the two remaining members -- my brother Dave and Mick -- never got along very well," Davies explained in a recent interview with Britain's Channel 4. "But I've made that work in the studio and it's fired me up to make them play harder, and with fire." The Davies siblings haven't performed together since 1996, as the band split up in the '90s due to rising tensions between band members. A new Kinks LP would be the followup to 1994's To The Bone, and feature songs Ray wrote during the split. Ray says he was inspired to get the band back together after seeing the Rolling Stones' recent successful UK tour. While he praised the Stones' "well-organized" comeback, he quipped that "the Kinks will probably be playing the local bar." - New Musical Express/Billboard, 6/26/18...... Country star Chris Stapleton has just been added to the lineup of 33rd Annual Farm Aid Concert, which in 2018 will take place for the first time at the Xfinity Theatre in Hartford, Conn., on Sept. 22. Stapleton -- who won Grammy Awards in February for best country album (From a Room: Volume 1), best country solo performance ("Either Way") and best country song ("Broken Halos") -- will share the bill with Stapleton -- who won Grammy Awards in February for best country album (From a Room: Volume 1), best country solo performance ("Either Way") and best country song ("Broken Halos") -- will share the bill with Farm Aid's guiding foursome of Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews, who will perform an acoustic set with Tim Reynolds. Tickets for Farm Aid 2018 will go on sale June 29 at 10 a.m. ET through Live Nation. Farm Aid, through its annual concerts, has raised more than $53 million for grants to help family farmers and to advocate on their behalf. - Billboard, 6/25/18...... The Beach Boys have scored their first ever No. 1 on the Billboard Classical Albums Chart with their new foray into orchestral music, 
'70s artists Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris are among the recording, television, film and theater stars set to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2019, it was announced on June 26. Other recipents set to be honored in 2019 include The Lettermen, Michael Buble, Faith Hill and P!nk, and actors Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway. The Hollywood Walk of Fame receives hundreds of submissions each year for a personal star on Hollywood Boulevard, however only a few of those submissions are granted their own star as it is estimated that the construction and ceremony production costs exceed $30,000. The dates for the 2019 star ceremonies have yet to be announced. - Billboard, 6/26/18...... The Monkees have announced they are canceling the remaining four dates of their 20-city "The Monkees Present: The Mike & Micky Show Tour" due to a health issue for Mike Nesmith, starting with a June 21 scheduled show at the Keswick Thater in Philadelphia. "Michael Nesmith had a minor health issue today in advance of his tour date in Philadelphia tonight," the band said in a statement issued on June 21. "He visited a local medical facility and, although the issue was not serious, was advised to rest for the next week, so unfortunately the remaining four dates on The Monkees Present: The Mike & Micky Show tour have been postponed until a later date... Nesmith has been dismissed from the hospital and is traveling back to his home in Carmel Valley. He is in good spirits and thanks all the fans for their support and understanding. He looks forward to getting back on the stage again soon." The shows, which feature the duo of Nesmith and Micky Dolenz performing a mixture of well-known and "deep tracks" from the Monkees' catalog, will be rescheduled for January. - Billboard, 6/21/18...... Jackson family patriarch Joe Jackson, the father of Michael Jackson and the other famous Jackson siblings, is reportedly "on his deathbed" in a Las Vegas hospital as he battles terminal cancer at the age of 89. The music manager's family claims that their father "does not have long" left to live, but he has banned them from visiting after his condition took a nosedive earlier in June. "He's very very frail, he doesn't have long. The family needs to be by his bedside -- that's our only intention in his final days," Jermaine Jackson told the UK paper The Daily Mail. Although Jackson has battled illness for a lengthy period, he reportedly gave verbal instructions in recent days to stop his family from accessing his medical records or visiting him. Despite the request, he was eventually visited at the hospital by wife Katherine Jackson, daughters Rebbie and Joh'Vonnie, and granddaughter Yashi Brown. In 2017, Jackson was hospitalized after a car he was riding in was involved in an accident on the Las Vegas Strip. He was also hospitalized in 2015 after suffering a stroke while visiting Brazil. - NME, 6/22/18...... 
In an interview with a Las Vegas TV station after his June 25 performance at Bally's Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, Wayne Newton shared his thoughts about the string of burglaries that have taken place over the past few months at his Vegas home. Newton said his daughter ran into the alleged suspects of the second home invasion. "[My daughter] said 'Daddy, there's somebody in your dressing room,'" he explained. "So, I ran in to confront them." Newton's property, which is also home to his wife Kathleen and their daughter, was first broken into on June 3. Less than two weeks later, the house was robbed again when Newton and his family were coming home late at night. The intruders managed to escape the scene before the police arrived, according to the "Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast" singer: "I'm as angry as one could imagine, I have no doubt they will be caught because we have pictures." Police have released images of two suspects they believe to have been involved with the second robbery, but have not confirmed whether or not anything was stolen in that incident. - Billboard, 6/26/18...... Legendary hard rock drummer Vinnie Paul, who co-founded the metal band Pantera and also played with Damageplan and Hellyeah, died on the morning of June 23. He was 54. "Vincent Paul Abbott aka Vinnie Paul has passed away," reads a statement on the Pantera Facebook page. "Paul is best known for his work as the drummer in the bands Pantera and Hellyeah. No further details are available at this time. The family requests you please respect their privacy during this time." Along with his brother, "Dimebag" Darrell Paul, Paul (born Vincent Paul Abbott) formed Pantera in 1981. The group found mainstream success with second lead singer Phil Anselmo. Throughout its career, Pantera earned four Grammy nominations and charted nine albums on the Billboard Hot 200, including its 1994 album Far Beyond Driven, which debuted at No. 1 on the chart. Following Pantera's demise, the Texas-raised Abbott brothers formed Damageplan in 2003. The band was performing on Dec. 8, 2004, when Dimebag Darrell was shot and killed onstage during a concert in Columbus, Oh. Since 2006, Paul was the drummer for Hellyeah, a heavy metal supergroup that also includes vocalist Chad Gray and guitarist Tom Maxwell. Paul's passing was memorialized on Twitter by such rock stars as Paul Stanley, Alice Cooper, Zakk Wylde and Bret Michaels. - Billboard, 6/22/18.
Former Free and Bad Company frontman Paul Rodgers is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the formation of Free with a new live album and video, 
Promoting her new ABBA-inspired movie Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again! on CBS's The Late Late Show with James Corden on June 19, Cher joined host James Corden for a game of "Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts," in which guests are asked difficult questions or eat things that most people would never want on their plate. Asked if she "could say one nice thing about Pres. Donald Trump," Cher hesitated for a few seconds, then said "No, I can't think of a single nice thing to say about him." Then, Cher nibbled on a piece of a cow's tongue to fulfill her obligation. Meanwhile, the soundtrack for Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again has been given a release date of July 13, a week before the film hits theaters in the US. It features a duet of "Fernando" between Cher and Andy Garcia, as well as other stars including Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried and Pierce Brosnan singing such ABBA hits as "Waterloo" and "When I Kissed the Teacher." Cher will play a new character in the movie. - Billboard, 6/20/18...... In other ABBA-related news, the Swedish quartet has shared definitive proof that they are currently recording together after announcing in April that they'd recorded their first new material in 35 years. ABBA posted a pic on their #abbaofficial Twitter account showing Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad recording together with a caption "...in RMV Studio Stockholm, recording the two new songs! Release end of this year. ??" ABBA are set to reveal both songs -- "I Still Have Faith In You" and another new song - on a TV special in November, ahead of a "virtual" hologram ABBA tour in 2019. A spokesperson for the band has denied rumours of a Glastonbury set in 2019. - New Musical Express, 6/18/18...... The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced it will be teaming with NBC-based Wilshire Studios to develop a new documentary series that will explore the artistic and cultural significance of some of the world's greatest rock 'n' roll legends. The current plan will be to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame open its collection of archival materials and artifacts and invite an acclaimed director to explore the impact of their favorite rock artist on their work and the cultural landscape as a whole. "The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is such an amazing brand to be able to partner with," said BJ Levin, Senior VP of Development at Wilshire Studios. "Their wealth of untapped research material and resources will allow this series to stand among some of the great music doc series." While the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's annual induction ceremony has been televised on HBO, Amazon will stream this year's induction to international audiences beginning on July 1. - The Hollywood Reporter, 6/18/18...... 
After announcing a new double A-side single on Instagram on June 19, Paul McCartney issued a press release on June 20 announcing that his new album, called 
Elvis Costello announced on June 19 that he'll kick off a 20-date North American tour this fall on Nov. 2 in Bethlehem, Penn., in support of his new album with his backing band The Imposters. The tour, called "Look Now and Then... It's Elvis Costello & The Imposters," will also visit such major markets as Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, Memphis, St. Louis, Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, and wrap on Dec. 4 in Vancouver, B.C. While the new album's release date and official title have yet to be announced, details are "imminent," according to Concord Records. It will be Costello's first LP since 2010's National Ransom. - Billboard, 6/19/18...... Actor Peter Fonda apologized on June 20 for a late-night Twitter rant in which he suggested Pres. Donald Trump's 12-year-old son Barron Trump should be ripped from "his mother's arms and put in a cage with pedophiles" in reaction to Pres. Trump's new policy of separating migrant children from their parents on the U.S.-Mexico border. "I tweeted something highly inappropriate and vulgar about the president and his family in response to the devastating images I was seeing on television," Fonda said in the statement, released by both his manager and his publicist. "Like many Americans, I am very impassioned and distraught over the situation with children separated from their families at the border, but I went way too far. It was wrong and I should not have done it. I immediately regretted it and sincerely apologize to the family for what I said and any hurt my words have caused." In another tweet, the 
Archaeologists from Binghamton University's Public Archaeology Facility have recently conducted a five-day dig at the site of the original 1969 Woodstock music festival on Max Yasgur's old farm about 80 miles (128 kilometers) north of New York City, where The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker and Jimi Hendrix wowed the crowds 49 years ago. "The overall point of this investigation is to kind of define the stage space," said project director Josh Anderson, kneeling beside a hole that showed evidence of a fence that kept 400,000 fans from the stage area. "We can use this as a reference point," Anderson added. "People can stand on that and look up at the hill and say, 'Oh, this is where the performers were. Jimi Hendrix stood here and played his guitar at 8:30 in the morning.'" "This is a significant historic site in American culture, one of the few peaceful events that gets commemorated from the 1960s," added Wade Lawrence, director of The Museum at Bethel Woods. He said the archeologists' work will help the museum plan interpretive walking routes in time for the concert's 50th anniversary next year. The excavation revealed some non-mind blowing artifacts: parts of old aluminum can pull tabs, bits of broken bottle glass, and possibly the spot where a chain-link fence on the side of the stage area met the wooden "Peace Fence" that ran in front of the stage. Now they can match concert photos to a specific spot in the field. That could help them estimate where the corners of the stage were 49 years ago. "There's just something about this place that -- and I'm not the only one -- that draws people here," 67-year-old Woodstock veteran Charles Maloney said as he stood by the plaque. "I mean, this area here could have 200 people. And you can still hear the silence." - AP, 6/21/18...... John McElrath, a cofounder and former member of the '60s rock group The Swingin' Medallions, died on June 17, after a battle with Parkinson's disease. He was 77. McElrath was the group's keyboardist and one of the vocalists, and though he was no longer performing with the band, his two sons had joined the group over the years. The Swingin' Medallions' "Double Shot of My Baby's Love," released in 1966, climbed briefly into Top 10 on the Billboard charts, and it remains popular today. A memorable part about the record is the background "party noise" that duplicated the sound of fraternity parties the band would play on weekends while its members were still in college. The band made 2,000 copies of the song and sold them at parties. A copy found its way into the hands of a disc jockey in Birmingham, Ala., and when a national label picked it up, the band was on the brink of a natinal breakthrough. Some radio stations wouldn't play the record because of the phrase "worst hangover that I ever had" so another version was made. The announcement of McElrath's death came as the current incarnation of the group was scheduled to perform in Sandy Springs, Ga., on June 17.
Classic rock veteran Peter Frampton has revealed he's been diagnosed with a "rare and incurable" degenerative muscle disease called Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM), a condition which causes muscles to stop functioning. Believing that the disease will eventually spread to his fingers and stop him playing guitar, the British born singer/guitarist has announced a 40-date farewell tour in his adapted continent of North America in 2019, with one European date scheduled at the "Keeping The Blues Alive" blues festival in Barcelona on Aug. 16. "I'm a perfectionist, and I don't want to go out there and feel like 'Oh I can't, this isn't good.' That would be a nightmare for me," the musician told CBS This Morning on Feb. 24. Explaining his love of playing live, Frampton said: "I've been playing guitar for 60 years, it's my passion. I started when I was eight and now I'm 68. So I've had a very good run." He added he was first diagnosed with IBM several years ago but didn't begin to feel the symptoms beginning to progress until 2018. Frampton's 1976 concert LP 
In other Oscar-related news, Elton John and Welsh actor Taron Egerton, who is set to portray Elton in the upcoming biopic Rocketman, performed a duet of "Tiny Dancer" during the singer's famous AIDS Foundation Academy Award viewing party on Feb. 24 in West Hollywood, Calif. The rendition of the 1972 ballad was Egerton's first-ever live performance, made even better with John's added harmonies. John surprised Egerton by inviting him onto the stage for an impromptu performance of the track. As Egerton walked on stage, he turned towards the audience and said, "It's funny how life turns out, isn't it?" before belting out the song. Egerton, 29, has confirmed that he will be singing all of John's songs featured in the film himself. The movie is currently scheduled for a May 31 release. The producers of Rocketman released a 
Streams for Harry Nilsson's 1971 hit "Gotta Get Up" have surged 2,466% after the song was prominently featured in the new Netflix series Russian Doll, which premiered on Feb. 1. The show stars Natasha Lyonne as a New Yorker who gets stuck in a mysterious Groundhog Day-style loop and repeats the same day over and over. "Gotta Get Up" is the Russian Doll equivalent to Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe," repeated in Groundhog Day. In the tracking week ending Feb. 7, "Gotta Get Up" logged 216,000 on-demand U.S. streams, up 2,466% from the previous week, when it logged 8,000. The song also sold 1,000 downloads, up from a negligible figure. As the show has continued to draw buzz, the latest tracking week (ending Feb. 14) found "Gotta Get Up" up to 294,000 streams (up 36%), and another 1,000 downloads sold. If "Gotta Get Up" reaches a Billboard chart, it would mark Nilsson's first entry on a songs survey since 1974's "Daybreak," nearly 45 years ago. Nilsson last appeared on any ranking in 2013, with Nilsson: Sessions 1967-1975: Rarities From the RCA Albums Collection, which reached No. 13 on Vinyl Albums and No. 18 on Americana/Folk Albums. Nilsson, who died of a heart attack in 1994 at age 52, earned 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits in his career, including one No. 1: 
Kool & the Gang will be celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2019 with "a tour, a book, a documentary, a movie" and "a large box set" according to Khalis Bell, brother of the group's frontman Robert "Kool" Bell. They'll kick off the tour on Feb. 23 in Indio, Calif., also hitting cities including Detroit (3/8), Pittsburgh (3/9), Atlantic City, NJ (3/15) and Biloxi, Miss. (4/19) before wrapping in Tampa, Fla. on Apr. 27. Two dates in Japan and one in Italy are also scheduled. Robert says the film is "the story of our lives, our document. Going back to when my father would play albums in the house. He was a boxer and people like Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, back in the day, they would come to see us. The fighters and musicians would hang out, almost like today with Mike Tyson and Jay-Z and all those guys. There's a lot of different stories to tell." - Billboard, 2/21/19...... Country music producer and Country Music Hall of Fame member Fred Foster, who helmed many iconic country records including seminal albums from Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, Dolly Parton and Ray Stevens, died in his sleep Feb. 20 following a short illness. He was 87. The North Carolina native founded Monument Records in 1958 and also founded Combine Music, which published Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee" (co-written with Foster) and "Help Me Make It Through the Night," Orbison's "Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)" and Tony Joe White's "Polk Salad Annie." Mr. Foster was a member of the North Carolina Hall of Fame, the Musicians Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016. His last project was Dawn Landes' 2018 album, Meet Me at the River. "I am heartbroken that my friend Fred Foster has passed on," Dolly Parton said in a statement. "Fred was one of the very first people to believe in me and gave me chances no one else would or could. We've stayed friends through the years, and I will miss him. I will always love him." A memorial service will be planned in March with additional details announced in the coming days. - Billboard, 2/21/19...... Bluegrass legend and Country Music Hall of Fame member Mac Wiseman died on Feb. 24 of natural causes. He was 93. Known as "The Voice with a Heart," Mr. Wiseman was one of the founders of the CMA in 1958, also serving as the association's Board of Directors' first secretary. He left an indelible mark on the genre for over 60 years as a recording artist, radio DJ and record label executive. The Virginia native, recognized for his diverse high tenor and ability to interpret bluegrass standards, also worked with artists including Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs to help change the course of modern day bluegrass and country music. The final surviving member of Flatt & Scruggs' original Foggy Mountain Boys, Mr. Wiseman was also a member of Monroe's Bluegrass Boys and Molly O'Day's band, as well as an esteemed solo performer. - Billboard, 2/25/19...... Songwriter Earl Shuman, whose lyrics can be heard on dozens of songs recorded by the likes of Barbra Streisand, Ella Fitzgerald and Tom Jones, among others, and who nearly topped the Hot 100 in 1970 with the lush track "Hey There Lonely Girl," died on Feb. 13 at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. He was 95. In the early 1960s he and Leon Carr wrote "Hey There Lonely Boy," cut by Ruby and the Romantics, though it later found success as Eddie Holman's "Hey There Lonely Girl," reaching No. 2 on the Hot 100. Mr. Shuman also scored a Top 10 country hit in the 1950s with Bonnie Lou's version of "Seven Lonely Days," which was subsequently performed by Jean Shepard, Lynn Anderson and others. He also worked in publishing, and was instrumental in the success of Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell album. - Billboard, 2/21/19...... Mark Hollis, frontman of '80s hitmakers Talk Talk, died on Feb. 25 after a short illness at age 64. "Talk Talk," released as the lead single to Talk Talk's debut album The Party's Over, was a fiery synth-pop missive that hit No. 75 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982. The group's greatest commercial success would come with the anthemic title track to its second LP, It's My Life, hitting No. 31 on the Hot 100 in 1984 and enduring as one of the most iconic singles of the new wave era, also receiving a hit cover from '80s acolytes No Doubt in 2003. - Billboard, 2/26/19...... 
Peter Tork, the oldest original member of the '60s pop group The Monkees, died on Feb. 21 at age 77. It's unclear exactly how the musician died, but in 2009 he publicly revealed he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, adenoid cystic carcinoma. In 1966, Tork became the oldest member of The Monkees, joining Mickey Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Davy Jones as a fictitious band meant for an NBC TV sitcom created by producer/writers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider intended to capitalize on the success of the Beatles's A Hard Day's Night. Even though the TV show ended in 1968, the band maintained a cult following and continued performing for years after. Tork performed live with the group through 1971 and on various reunion tours aftewards. He mainly played bass and keyboard for The Monkees, but he also sang lead vocals on multiple tracks including "Auntie Grizelda," and contributed the memorable piano opening to their hit "Daydream Believer." Born Peter Halsten Thorkelsonin Washington, D.C., on Feb. 13, 1942, Tork showed early promise as a multi-instrumentalist moved to New York's after college, becoming enmeshed in the city's burgeoning Greenwich Village folk scene in the early 1960s. It was there that he befriended fellow folk singer Stephen Stills, who passed along a tip to his pal about a new musical variety show that was being developed that he might be interested in. Tork performed on a 1986 20th reunion Monkees anniversary tour and an accompanying album, Then and Now, as well as on a 1987 album, Pool It! and on a 2012 45th anniversary tour in tribute to late singer Davy Jones, who died in February of that year at age 66. He also performed with his various side projects, Shoe Suede Blues, The Dashboard Saints and The Peter Tork Project throughout the 1980, '90s and early 2000s. 
"There are no words right now...heartbroken over the loss of my Monkee brother, Peter Tork," Mickey Dolenz posted on Facebook. It was only eight days ago, on Feb. 13, that Dolenz posted a 77th birthday wish on social media for Tork, saying "Happy Birthday to my Monkee brother, Peter Tork!" Michael Nesmith initially posted "I am heartbroken" on Facebook, then issued a longer statement: "Peter Tork died this AM. I am told he slipped away peacefully. Yet, as I write this my tears are awash, and my heart is broken. Even though I am clinging to the idea that we all continue, the pain that attends these passings has no cure. It's going to be a rough day.... I can only pray his songs reach the heights that can lift us and that our childhood lives forever -- that special sparkle that was the Monkees. I will miss him -- a brother in arms. Take flight my Brother." Following Tork's death, Monkees music saw an increase of 1,172%, according to initial reports from Nielsen Music. - Billboard, 2/21/19...... Actress Beverly Owen, best known as the "original Marilyn" on the '60s sitcom The Munsters, died on Feb. 21 at age 81. Ms. Owen appeared in the program's first 13 episodes, replaced midway through the first season by Pat Priest, who appeared in the rest of the series' 57 episodes. The Munsters originally aired on CBS from 1964 to 1966, and while the series was not a ratings hit during its first run, it has lived on in syndication for decades. The character of teenaged niece Marilyn was played by a stunning actress, juxtaposed by the ghoulish appearance of the rest of the family, who often referred to her, ironically, as "the plain one." Both Marilyns were blondes; Ms. Owen donned a wig for the role. The program ranked #18 for the 1964-1965 season, but ratings fell precipitously in January 1966 when ABC counter-programmed it with the live action series, Batman, and The Munsters was cancelled after its 1965-1966 season. Butch Patrick, who played young Eddie Munster in the series, posted a short tribute on his Facebook page on Feb. 24: "Beautiful Beverly (sic) Owen has left us. What a sweet soul. I had the biggest crush on her. RIP Bev and thanks for your 13 memorable Marilyn Munster episodes." Ms. Owen was born May 13, 1937 in Ottumwa, Iowa. She was 27 when she left The Munsters cast to marry Jon Stone, an original crew member on Sesame Street. The two were divorced in 1974. She leaves two daughters, Polly and Kate. Patrick and Priest are the series' only survivors. Fred Gwynne (Herman Munster) died in 1993 at age 66; Al Lewis (Grandpa Munster) died in 2006 at 82; and Yvonne De Carlo (Lily Munster) died in 2007 at 84. - 2/25/19.
Yoko Ono used the occasion of her 86th birthday on Feb. 18 to announce that her third collaborative LP with husband John Lennon will be reissued in March. 1969's 
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced via their Twitter account on Feb. 18 that Queen + Adam Lambert will be performing at the upcoming 2019 Oscars ceremony on Feb. 24 in Los Angeles, when the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody will be in the running for five Academy Awards, including Best Film, Best Actor (for Rami Malek's portrayal of Freddie Mercury), Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Film Editing. "Is this real life? Is this just fantasy?" the account quoted from the band's song "Bohemian Rhapsody." The announcement included a compilation of clips that showed the band and current lead singer Lambert performing as Queen's hit "We Will Rock You" played. Queen, who also shared the news on its Twitter account, will join previously announced performers Jennifer Hudson, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga and Bette Midler, who will all perform songs nominated in the best original song category. Midler announced on Feb. 16 that she will be performing "The Place Where Lost Things Go" from Mary Poppins Returns. "So, (drum roll) Ladies and Gentlemen, I will be chanteusing (that's singing) on the Oscars on Feb 24...the nominated song from "Mary Poppins.".."The Place Where Lost Things Go" ...so excited!!" Midler posted. The 2019 Oscars will take place Feb. 24 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, and will be broadcast live on ABC at 8 p.m. ET/PT. - The Hollywood Reporter, 2/18/19...... A new exhibit dedicated to Prince called "Prince from Minneapolis" will be opening at the MoPOP museum in Seattle, Wash., on April 6, the museum announced on Feb. 15. It will be part of the museum's general admission and will feature work from four photographers -- Allen Beaulieu, Nancy Bundt, Terry Gydesen and Robert Whitman -- all of whom shot the late funk/rock icon in his early career. The exhibit will display almost 50 artifacts, including photos, artwork, a Prince guitar and outfits from the Purple Rain Tour and film. - Billboard, 2/15/19...... Producer/engineer/musican Joe Hardy, who worked on many ZZ Top albums from 1985's After Burner to playing bass on guitarist Billy Gibbon's 2018 release The Big Bad Blues, died on at his home in Memphis, Tenn., on Feb. 12 after a brief illness. He was 66. Since beginning his career in the late 70s, Hardy went on to work with a range of artists, from engineering and mixing The Replacements' Pleased To Meet Me and Steve Earle's Copperhead Road to producing The Georgia Satellites' Another Chance and Steve Earle and The Dukes' The Hard Way. He also worked with a spate of Canadian acts, including Colin James, Jeff Healey, Kim Mitchell and Tom Cochrane, producing Cochrane's U.S. solo breakthrough Mad Mad World featuring the Billboard Top 10 single "Life Is a Highway." His long history with ZZ Top began with engineering work on 1985's After Burner, and continued with 1994's Antennae, 1996's Rhythmeen, 1999's XXX, 2003's Mescalero, and 2012's La Futura. He also co-produced Gibbons' solo debut, Perfectamundo. Born in Kentucky, Hardy relocated to Memphis in 1972 when he recorded at Ardent Studios as a member of the band The Voice of Cheese. He then chose a career behind the board instead, working out of Ardent as one of their in-house engineers/producers. Hardy moved to Texas, home of ZZ Top, at the start of the millennium. He last worked with them on 2016's live album, Greatest Hits from Around the World, which he helped mix. "Our friend Joe Hardy played a huge role in our lives," ZZ Top posted on its Facebook page. "He was a true innovator in a field where many just did it 'by the book.' He threw away 'the book' and wrote his own." - Billboard, 2/13/19...... 
His "Midnight Rambler" days are apparently over -- Mick Jagger is reportedly ready to settle down with his current girlfriend Melanie Hamrick. A friend of the "Satisfaction" singer reportedly told the UK paper The Mirror that they believe Jagger, 75, has been "tamed" by the 31-year-old ballet dancer, after initially suggesting that the pair would not be "exclusive." The news comes after Hamrick gave birth to their son, Deveraux, in 2017, making the Rolling Stones frontman a father for the eighth time at the ripe age of 73. Since becoming a mother, American Ballet Theatre dancer Hamrick is thought to have reined in the music star's renowned adulterous behavior, though in a June 2018 interview she insisted that she doesn't think of herself as a "baby mama" despite not being married to the singer. "In the technical sense, I'm not married to the father of my child," she admitted. "But I am in a great, wonderful relationship with him. So I don't see myself like that." Four months later, Hamrick described herself and Jagger as "fantastic co-parents," suggesting that she gets "more support from him than some of my married friends get from their husbands." She went on to dismiss rumors surrounding the rocker's promiscuous reputation, stressing that she feels "secure" with her partner. - WENN/Canoe.com, 2/18/19...... Iconic Chanel fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, whose accomplished designs as well as trademark white ponytail, high starched collars and dark enigmatic glasses dominated high fashion for the past 50 years, died on Feb. 19. He was around 85 years old. Though he spent virtually his entire career at luxury labels catering to the very wealthy -- including all of 20 years at Chloe -- Mr. Lagerfeld's designs quickly trickled down to low-end retailers, giving him an almost unprecedented impact on the entire fashion industry. At Chanel, he served up youthful designs that were always of the moment and sent out almost infinite variations on the house's classic skirt suit, ratcheting up the hemlines or smothering it in golden chains, stings of pearls or pricey accessories. They were always delivered with wit. "Each season, they tell me (the Chanel designs) look younger. One day we'll all turn up like babies," he once told The Associated Press. In 1982, he took over at over Chanel, which had been dormant since the death of its founder, Coco Chanel, more than a decade earlier. "When I took on Chanel, it was a sleeping beauty not even a beautiful one," he said in the 2007 documentary Lagerfeld Confidential. A photographer who shot ad campaigns for Chanel and his own eponymous label, Mr. Lagerfeld also collected art books and had a massive library and a bookstore as well as his own publishing house. Following his widely known relationship with a French aristocrat who died of AIDS in 1989, Mr. Lagerfeld led a solitary life. "I have to be alone to do what I do," he told the New York Times. "I like to be alone. I'm happy to be with people, but I'm sorry to say I like to be alone, because there's so much to do, to read, to think." - AP, 2/19/19.