Singer/guitarist/songwriter/producer Ric Ocasek, the frontman of the legendary New Wave band The Cars, died on Sept. 15 after being discovered unconscious and unresponsive in his Manhattan townhouse at around 4:14 p.m. EDT by his estranged supermodel wife, Paulina Porizkova. He was 75 and the primary cause of death is not yet known. Born Richard Otcasek on Mar. 23, 1949, in Baltimore, Md., Ocasek took up guitar at age 10 and immediately began to write songs. After dropping out of Antioch College and Bowling Green State University, he began making a living as a musician. He met future Cars bassist Benjamin Orr (who died in 2000) in Cleveland, Oh., where Orr worked as a studio producer and session musician. After working in various bands in the northeast, the pair settled in Cambridge, Mass., in the late Seventies. After recruiting guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes, and drummer David Robinson, the quintet had intensive rehearsals in Ocasek's basement and made some demo tapes, including "Just What I Needed," which became popular with locals after it was played on Boston radio station WBCN. The band was signed by Elektra Records and released their self-named debut album in 1978, and it became a milestone in the burgeoning New Wave scene. Recorded in just two weeks and immaculately produced by Roy Thomas Baker, the album spawned three hit singles -- "Just What I Needed" (#27, 1978), "My Best Friend's Girl" (#35, 1978) and "Good Times Roll" (#41, 1979) -- and went platinum, becoming such a persistent chart presence that the release of the band's second album, Candy-O, was delayed even though it was recorded in early 1979. Driven by Ocasek's artful pop songs, The Cars were the fastest, most consistently successful of all New Wave bands, with their first and second albums selling more than six million copies worldwide. After Candy-O, Ocasek then turned his attention to producing other artists, including Suicide's Alan Vega, Romeo Void and Bebe Buell. 
The Cars' 1981 album, Shake It Up, went platinum on the strength of the No. 4 title track and another hit, "Since You're Gone." In 1983, Ocasek released the first of his seven solo albums, Beatitude, and around this time also did production for Bad Brains. In 1984, The Cars staged a major comeback on the charts with their Heartbeat City LP, which launched four hit singles that year: "You Might Think" (#7), "Magic" (#12), "Drive" (#3) and "Hello Again" (#20). The video for the song starred model Porizkova, whom Ocasek would wed in 1989. The Cars would chart two more Top 20 hits in the Eighties -- "Tonight She Comes" (#7, 1985) and "You Are The Girl" (#17, 1987) -- however by the time of 1987's Door To Door album, the band began to unravel due to personal conflicts and called it quits. Ocasek would have a #15 solo hit, "Emotions In Motion," in 1986, but found his biggest post-Cars success as a producer, helming Weezer's landmark self-titled debut ("the Blue Album"). The proper lineup of The Cars (after once touring with Todd Rundgren fronting the band) would reunite for 2011's well-received Move Like This album. Ocasek released a book of poetry, Negative Theatre, in 1992, and in 2017 revealed he was working on an album that would compile "the best picks of the solo albums" as well as "another 10 or 15 songs that nobody's ever heard. Some are finished, some are demos. It's stuff I've always liked but never put it on things." Several of Ocasek's contemporaries, including Peter Frampton, Billy Idol and Bryan Adams, paid tribute to the late musician on Twitter upon learning of his death. "So sad. Such a great writer, singer, player, producer. My thoughts are with his family. Rest in peace," Frampton wrote. The band Weezer posted: "The Weezer family is devastated by the loss of our friend and mentor Ric Ocasek." - Billboard, The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock, 9/16/19.
On Sept. 9 Bob Dylan announced an ambitious new string of 28 fall U.S. tour dates that will take him across the country, beginning on Oct. 11 at the UC Irvine Bren Events Center in Irvine, Calif., and keeping him on the road through a Nov. 21 gig at the Met Philadelphia. He'll be visiting such major markets as Denver (10/17), Kansas City, Mo. (10/20), St. Louis (10/22), Milwaukee (10/26), Chicago (10/30) and Baltimore (11/12), also visiting several university auditoriums in college cities. Tickets for his fall tour went on sale Sept. 13. - Billboard,...... Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth has announced he'll kick off a Las Vegas mini-residency in 2020 at the House of Blues in the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. He'll be performing Jan. 8, Jan. 10-11 and March 18, March 20-21, March 25 and March 27-28. "A weekend with me is interactive way beyond just music. It starts with the best food on Earth. The fellas smoke their three cigarettes for the year and we all stay up way past our bedtime!," Roth said in a statement. Roth will be joining a long list of artists with Vegas residencies that curently includes Aerosmith, Britney Spears, Bruno Mars, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and Jennifer Lopez. - AP, 9/9/19...... 
To help celebrate Motown's 60th anniversary, on Sept. 13 the Detroit-based label released a video of Marvin Gaye performing his classic 1971 track "What's Going On," interweaved with vignettes of modern-day issues, such as the Flint water crisis, racial struggles with police, mass shootings, and lack of affordable insurance. "We wanted a place that resonates with the song and the history of Motown, while also remaining relevant to the sociopolitical issues in the music video," Leaf said of filming the clip in Flint, Mich. "It was very important for us to find real people that resonated with the stories, rather than casting actors." The 2019 "What's Going On" was directed by Savanah Leaf and is the first video from Universal Music Group's "Never Made" project, a series that creates content for songs that, surprisingly, never had a music video, which until now had included Gaye's early '70s observation on society's injustices. - Billboard, 9/13/19...... In other Motown-related news, Gladys Knight says in a new interview that her favorite Motown memory is "the sense of family as we became friends in the early days." "We had so much fun... Most of us lived in the same neighborhood, so on a Saturday we'd be barefootin' in our basement," she says. "Then we'd go to Martha [Reeves]'s house [of The Vandellas] down the street and start dancing again. Tammi Terrell; Eddie Kendricks, David Ruffin and all of The Temptations lived right in back of us [laughs] We'd sing together and act crazy. It was family." Knight is currently touring the US, playing the Hollywood Bowl, Memphis and Cincinnati during the second week of September and will next visit Kansas City, Mo., San Antonio and Atlanta before wrapping in Brooklyn on Nov. 23 and Morristown, N.J. on Nov. 24. Her setlist includes salutes to her late dear friends Aretha Franklin ("A Natural Woman") and James Ingram ("One Hundred Ways"). - Billboard, 9/10/19...... Bruce Springsteen has once again signed on to be a major headliner at the upcoming 13th annual Stand Up For Heroes celebration at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden. The Boss will be welcomed to the stage alongside comedians Jon Stewart, John Oliver, Ronny Chieng and Hasan Minhaj. The special event coincides with the nation's largest comedy festival (Nov. 4-10), with more than 200 comedians performing at 100 shows across New York. - Billboard, 9/9/19...... The estate of Prince and Warner Records announced on Sept. 10 that Prince's classic 1982 double-LP 1999 has been remastered for the very first time and expanded with 35 previously unreleased tracks for an upcoming 1999 Super Deluxe reissue. Released on Oct. 27, 1982, 1999 was Prince's first true crossover success, peaking at No. 7 on the the Billboard Hot 200 and featuring a raft of hit singles including "Little Red Corvette," "Delirious" and the title track. Both the CD and vinyl set will hit stores on Nov. 29. - Billboard, 9/10/19...... It's a "highway to hell": police in Montana have indulged in a creative way to move a bison blocking the road -- by blasting out AC/DC music. On Sept. 11, the Gallatin County Montana Sheriff's Office shared a picture of the road-blocking bison on their Facebook page, stating: "Being a deputy around West Yellowstone comes with unusual duties, including herding bison off the highway so no one gets hurt. When deputies respond to a bison on the road, they turn on lights and siren and encourage the animal to leave the road with an air horn. With a reluctant bison, they've been known to play AC/DC's 'Hell's Bells' over the speakers -- that usually seems to work." AC/DC recently marked the 40th anniversary of their classic 1979 album Highway to Hell on social media. - New Musical Express, 9/11/19...... 
On Sept. 13 Ringo Starr announced details of his 20th studio album, What's My Name, and posted a video of the album's title track on YouTube. Set for release on Oct. 25, What's My Name sees Starr working with a host of collaborators including Paul McCartney on a cover of the John Lennon-penned "Grow Old With Me" which originally appeared on his and Yoko Ono's Milk and Honey album. With Starr on vocals and McCartney on bass and backing vocals, the song was written by Lennon just a few years before his death. Ringo says the inspiration to record the song came to him when he ran into producer Jack Douglas, who produced Lennon and Ono's Double Fantasy album, among other classic recordings. "Jack asked if I ever heard 'The Bermuda Tapes', John's demos from that time, and I had never heard all this," Ringo says. "The idea that John was talking about me in that time before he died, well, I'm an emotional person. And I just loved this song. I sang it the best that I could. I do well up when I think of John this deeply. And I've done my best. We've done our best. The other good thing is that I really wanted Paul to play on it, and he said yes. Paul came over and he played bass and sings a little bit on this with me. So John's on it in a way. I'm on it and Paul's on it. It's not a publicity stunt. This is just what I wanted." - New Musical Express, 9/13/19...... In other Beatles-related news, renowned Beatleologist Mark Lewisohn recently gave the UK paper The Guardian access to a tape of a meeting held 50 years ago this September, which seemingly shows the Fab Four at loggerheads as John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison met at Apple headquarters in Savile Row. "It's a revelation," Lewisohn told the paper. "The books have always told us that they knew Abbey Road was their last album and they wanted to go out on an artistic high. But no -- they're discussing the next album. And you think that John is the one who wanted to break them up but, when you hear this, he isn't. Doesn't that rewrite pretty much everything we thought we knew?" The new revelation, including one in which McCartney criticizes Harrison's songwriting, will feature in "Hornsey Road," a new musical from Lewisohn which tracks the creation and recording of Abbey Road. - NME, 9/13/19...... Elswhere on the Fab Four front, the inspiration for the band's famous 1967 song "Strawberry Field Forever" is set to open as a tourist attraction. The song was inspired by a garden of a Salvation Army children's home in Liverpool, where John Lennon used to play growing up. Until now, fans were forced to look through red metal gates at the garden, without being able to access the location. But now Strawberry Field has announced that beginnign Sept. 14 the garden will be open to the public for the first time. According to the website, the site is now "home to an interactive visitor exhibition, community cafe, shop, calm garden spaces for spiritual reflection and -- at its heart -- a Steps to Work programme for young adults with learning disabilities and other barriers to employment." The Victorian house on the site was torn down in 1973, and replaced by a new building that was shut down in 2005. - NME, 9/11/19...... 
Fred Schneider of the B-52's has confirmed that his band is "scheduled to do two more songs" soon to accompany "a deluxe package of all our records" that's expected out sometime during 2020. They're releasing deluxe this, deluxe that every year," Schneider says, "so we're planning to record two more songs." Schneider adds that Keith Strickland, who's retired from touring with the B-52's, will be writing the music for the songs, with Schneider, Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson adding lyrics. The B-52's are currently on a North American tour (with opening acts OMD and Berlin) celebrating the 40th anniversary of their first eponymous album. "We won't be doing any major tours anymore, but we'll be doing gigs and festivals and things like that," Schneider explains. The group does have a one-off show booked for Nov. 16 in Mexico City and will be part of the "80s Cruise" setting sail next March 8 from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Schneider says the B-52's "still kick ass" and "it's 40 years of friendship -- more, really -- and still going strong. We didn't know what we were doing back when we started and it just kind of snowballed. I'm ready to relax, a little, but we're not going to just stop cold." - Billboard, 9/10/19...... ABCKO Records announced on Sept. 11 that they will release a massive 50th anniversary Rolling Stones Let It Bleed box set on Nov. 1. The album has been remastered in stereo and mono on both super audio CD and vinyl, and the deluxe release will include a double A-side "Honky Tonk Women"/"You Can't Always Get What You Want" picture sleeve vinyl 7" mono single. Also included in the deluxe edition are three 12" x 12" hand-numbered replica-signed lithographs printed on embossed archival paper, and a full-color 23" x 23" poster with restored art from the original 1969 Decca Records package along with an 80-page hardcover book that includes an essay by Rolling Stone journalist David Fricke and never-before-seen photos by the band's tour photographer Ethan Russell. The label is also releasing the remastered stereo version of Let It Bleed as a stand-alone CD, vinyl LP, and digitally. - New Musical Express, 9/11/19...... Appearing on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live on Sept. 11, Ozzy Osbourne's wife Sharon Osbourne shared an update on her husband's health. "He's getting a lot better but it's been a very, very hard road," she told host Jimmy Kimmel. Ozzy had been forced to delay his farewell tour due to the flu (which led to pneumonia) as well as a fall that resulted in spinal surgery and two other major operations. Even so, Sharon says they're both keeping in good spirits about it. After she explained that Ozzy showed her an X-ray of his rod- and bolt-filled body, she joked, "No wonder they call him Iron Man, because I tell you -- he's got so much metal in his body, it's frightening." - Billboard, 9/12/19...... 
After performing a surprise 4-song set on the sixth story rooftop at the Pace Gallery's massive new Chelsea headquarters in New York City on Sept. 12, The Who announced they'll release their first album in 13 years in November. WHO (for those keeping track, this is the fifth Who studio album with 'who' in the title) will be released on Nov. 22 and according to an interview with frontman Roger Daltrey in July, "it's typical [Pete] Townshend." "He's still got the bite and that knack of creating songs with the earworm that climbs into you. How it fits in the modern market I don't know, but I don't care. I know inside me it's good stuff." WHO will include a studio version of "Ball and Chain," a classic Who rocker in the vein of Quadrophenia that references the U.S.'s controversial detention camp in Cuba: "Down in Guantanamo / we still got the ball and chain," Daltrey growls. "There's a long road to travel for justice to make its claim / so let's bring down the gavel / let the prisoner say his name." Daltrey and Townshend are joined on the album by drummer Zak Starkey and bassist Pino Palladino. The Who/Pace connection wasn't entirely random -- within the new gallery was the cover art to the band's new LP, courtesy of Sir Peter Blake, the renowned U.K. artist best known for crafting the cover imagery for the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band with then-wife Jann Haworth. - Billboard, 9/13/19...... Neil Young and Crazy Horse shared a new song called "Rainbow of Colors" on Sept. 13 that will appear on their upcoming album Colorado "Rainbow of Colors" is a song about the USA and the whole world," Young says. "The idea of this song is that we all belong together. Separating us into races and colors is an old idea whose time has passed." Colorado will drop on Oct. 25 via Reprise Records. - NME, 9/14/19...... Sting has topped Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart for the week ending Sept. 14 with his "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free 2019." It is one of six songs produced by Dave Aude for Sting's My Songs release, which hit stores on May 24. "When Sting asked me to produce for My Songs, I asked if I could work on 'If You Love Somebody Set Them Free,' as it's one of my all-time favorite Sting songs," Aude says. "It's the only one that I totally flipped on its head, and the result is pure dancefloor magic. I'm beyond proud." - Billboard, 9/12/19...... Blues guitar legend Joe Bonamassa will participate in the second annual "Keeping the Blues Alive at Sea Mediterranean II" cruise, which sets sail on Aug. 14 aboard the Norwegian Jade from Barcelona, Spain to Genoa, Italy and Cannes, France. The 6-day cruise will feature music across multiple stages, meet and Greets with artists from the lineup, and one-of-a-kind collaborative sets from blues legends. The specially curated schedule of events offers a variety of music-centric activities including an activity with Bonamassa. Tickets can be booked at BluesAliveAtSeaEurope.com. - Noble PR, 9/10/19...... 
Having decided to do a "tip of the hat" to his hometown of Detroit, Alice Cooper has recorded a new vinyl EP of Detroit songs with some of the Motor City's most famous players including Bob Seger. Cooper's Breadcrumbs EP is a six-song set of mostly covers with a highlight being a high-octane rendition of Seger's 1966 single "East Side Story," a video of which has been shared on YouTube. "When people say, 'Well, what is your music?' I say it's Detroit rock -- we just put a different slant on it," says the shock rocker, a Detroit native who moved with his family to Phoenix when he was an adolescent. "At the bottom of it, all Alice Cooper records are Detroit, Chuck Berry, hard rock and then twisting it up into what we are lyrically and performance-wise. But you take the bottom of all those songs and they're all guitar-driven rock n' roll songs, which is what I associate as the Detroit sound. I wanted to use all Detroit players and songs either about Detroit or written by (Detroit musicians)." Cooper confessed that he wasn't familiar with Seger's version of "East Side Story," a regional hit for Seger and his band, but his producer Bob Ezrin saw a video of Seger performing it and went, "We could jazz that song up a little bit and turn it into something else.' It has a great story and I love the chord structure and everything to it. We just treated it a little more hard rock." Alice says he got a chance to tell Seger about the recording when he caught him in Arizona on his current Farewell tour. "I said, 'We're gonna do one of your songs,' and he probably thought I wanted to do one of the hits," Cooper recalls. "I told him 'East Side Story,' and he goes, 'What?!' I said, 'Yeah, we're gonna do that one.' I hope he likes it. I'm glad we gave it a second life." Cooper's Breadcrumbs EP, out Sept. 13, also includes covers of the MC5's "Sister Anne," Suzi Quatro's "Your Mama Won't Like Me" and Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels' "Devil With a Blue Dress On," as well as the new song "Go Man Go" and "Detroit City 2020," a remake of the track from his 2003 album The Eyes of Alice Cooper. The EP will also serve as an introduction to Cooper's next album, which will be all original but, he says, feature the Detroit flavor showcased on Breadcrumbs. "We knew we couldn't get to this new album until 2020, so (the EP) is kind of 'let's throw them some bread crumbs' and give everybody a feel of what it's going to be," explains Cooper, who's currently on tour in Europe. - Billboard, 9/9/19...... TV/movie legend Ed Asner will celebrate his upcoming 90th birthday by letting his famous friends rip into him at a celebrity roast and birthday party set for Nov. 3 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles. The evening will benefit the new Ed Asner Family Center, dedicated to promoting mental health and serving special needs children and their families. Cloris Leachman, Mark Hamill, Lily Tomlin and Brad Garrett will be among the celebrities roasting Asner, with Nancy Sinatra and Steve Lukather of Toto set to perform. From his work as an actor, to fighting social injustice, to his fight for union workers everywhere, to making sure the underdog gets a fair shot and finally to his dedication to helping differently abled individuals and their families be the amazing people they are, my father has been there for everyone," said Asner's son Matthew Asner, who also serves as president of The Ed Asner Family Center. - WENN/Canoe.com, 9/14/19.
Meanwhile another 70-year-old rocker, Alice Cooper, told New York's Q103 radio station on May 4 that he'll only consider retiring "If we do a tour and nobody shows up, then I'm retired... That's never happened." Cooper continued: "In fact, we're doing better business now than we've ever done. More people are coming to the show now, and I've never felt better, so I don't see any reason to retire at all. I know a lot of guys are quitting, but a lot of guys still smoke and drink. They're probably tired. I'm not tired. People always say, 'Well, you could just play golf every day,' and I say, 'I play golf every day anyway!'" Cooper is currently involved in a range of projects, including the "supergroup" Hollywood Vampires, and there are rumours he may also open for KISS on their 2019 tour. He released his most recent album, Paranormal, in July 2017. - New Musical Express, 5/5/18...... AC/DC's classic 1980 album Back in Black has re-entered the Billboard Hot 200 album chart at No. 152, thanks in part to sales generated from a limited-edition cassette reissue of the album for Record Store Day. Its cassette has been out of print since 2006. Of the album's 6,000 units, 3,000 were in traditional album sales, with cassettes accounting for 45% of the set's total sales for the week ending May 5. Meanwhile, Sting has added another No. 1 to his impressive array of genre chart leaders as his new collaboration with reggae superstar Shaggy, 
NBC announced on May 4 that an ambitious, star-studded two-hour special dedicated to Sweden's ABBA, Thank You for the Music, An All-Star Tribute, will air in December. The network says the special will be broadcast around the world, with the BBC handling international distribution, and feature a variety of "specially invited artists" performing ABBA hits like 
Paul McCartney was made a Companion of Honor by the Royal Family on May 4 during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. King George V founded the Order of the Companions Honour in 1917, which is given as a reward for outstanding achievements to citizens of the Commonwealth realms. Sir Paul receives the honor 20 years after he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. "Congratulations Sir @PaulMcCartney who has been made a #CompanionofHonour at Buckingham Palace today for his lasting contribution to music in the UK and Worldwide," read the caption of the Royal Family's official Twitter account. McCartney was accompanied by his wife, Nancy Shevell, during the ceremony. - Billboard, 5/4/18...... In other Beatles-related news, Julien's Auctions announced on May 3 that Geroge Harrison's first first electric guitar will be auctioned at New York's Hard Rock Cafe on May 19. Harrison played the Hoffner Club 40 electric model when the Beatles played around Liverpool, England, as The Quarrymen. He traded his acoustic guitar for the electric model with Ray Ennis, who was a member of The Swinging Blue Jeans. Julien's estimates the guitar will sell for between $200,000 and $300,000. A 1965 Fender Telecaster owned by The Band's Robbie Robertson played by Harrison, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan is also on the block and estimated to sell between $400,000 and $600,000. - AP, 5/3/18...... Neil Young and Crazy Horse reunited for a concert at Fresno, California's Warnors Theatre on May 1, their first show since 2014. Their completely unrehearsed gig was the first of a three-night stint that Young said "will be the beginning of another beautiful chapter" in the band's nearly 50-year history. The 15-song setlist included covers of such Young solo material as "Winterlong," "World on a String," "Too Far Gone," "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," "Walk On," "Like a Hurricane" and the encore, "Roll Another Number (For the Road)." When recently asked about the future of Crazy Horse, Young said: "Well, we have an incredible album that's in the can that's a recent album. Alchemy. Then we have a 2001 album, Toast. We have a 1969/70 album, early days, which is a lot of stuff nobody's heard." - New Musical Express, 5/2/18............ 
Brian Wilson announced on Twitter on May 1 that he has been forced to cancel his May Pet Sounds performances due to a back problem requiring a medical procedure. Wilson, who underwent back surgery at least once before in 2012, said his condition "runs in the family... [brother] Carl had back problems as well," and apologized to his fans. The nine dates affected include shows in Washington, D.C., Nashville, Tenn., Richmond, Va., Augusta, Ga., Clearwater, Fla., Viera, Fla. and Pampano Beach, Fla. The canceled shows are expected to be rescheduled. Meanwhile, Wilson's former Beach Boys bandmate Mike Love posted a photo of the two performing together on his Facebook page, and wished Brian well: "I hope one day we'll be able to do this again," he said, adding that he was "looking forward to perhaps one day throwing some hoops." - Billboard, 5/1/18...... Paul McCartney and Metallica will be among the headliners at the 2018 Austin City Music Festival, set for the city's Zilker Park over the weekends of Oct. 5-7 and Oct. 12-14. The event will serve as McCartney and Metallica's sole North American festival dates for 2018, and other headlining acts include David Byrne, Shawn Mendes, Childish Gambino, Arctic Monkeys and Travis Scott. - Billboard, 5/1/18...... Speaking of David Byrne, the former Talking Heads frontman made his first appearance ever at the 2018 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on Apr. 29. Actor and part-time New Orleanian John Goodman cheered Byrne on from side stage during his minimalist set, with no amplifier or monitor visible. Goodman's an old pal of Byrne's going back to the 1986 cult favorite True Stories, starring Goodman, which Byrne directed, co-wrote and narrated. Byrne's setlist was largely focused on his new American Utopia LP, however he also performed crowd-pleasing Heads classics including "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)," "Once In A Lifetime" and "Burning Down the House." - Billboard, 4/30/18...... 
The committee responsible for the Tony Awards announced on May 1 that Bruce Springsteen will receive a special award for his blockbuster solo show "Springsteen on Broadway," which has become the top-grossing new production of the 2017-18 season. The honor, which had been widely anticipated in the theater community, was announced along with nominations in the competitive categories of the 72nd Annual Tony Awards. "Springsteen on Broadway" opened officially on Oct. 12 to rave reviews from both theater and music press, and was initially was scheduled to run through Nov. 26, but has been extended multiple times. The show, with average ticket prices around $500 (higher than "Hamilton"), is now scheduled to run through Dec. 15, 2018. The 72nd Annual Tony Awards are scheduled for June 10, and Springsteen will likely perform live on the CBS telecast before receiving his honor. - Billboard, 5/1/18...... In other Springsteen-related news, a red vinyl edition of the Boss' Greatest Hits LP helped the 11th annual Record Store Day on Apr. 21 become the biggest one yet. 580,000 vinyl albums were sold at independent retailers -- the single largest week for the format at the retail sector in Nielsen Music history. Holding the No. 2 position was David Bowie's live set Welcome to the Blackout (Live London '78), followed by Neil Young's Tonight's the Night Live at the Roxy. Bob Dylan & The Grateful Dead's Dylan & The Dead came in at No. 5, followed by a mono version of Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Total album sales were up by 23 percent at independent record stores, as compared to Record Store Day week last year (799,000 vs. 649,000). - Billboard, 4/30/18...... The Who's Roger Daltrey was honored at the We Are Family Foundation gala at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom during a nostalgia-filled concert that also featured Chic's Nile Rodgers and LL Cool J. Named after Sister Sledge's 1979 classic "We Are Family" -- which was written and produced by Rodgers -- the non-profit We Are Family Foundation was launched following the 9/11 tragedy that struck New York in 2001 and creates programs for youth that encourages cultural diversity. Daltrey was awarded the Mattie J.T Stepanek Peacemaker Award for his organization, Teen Cancer America, and other charitable efforts. - Billboard, 4/28/18...... 
Bob Dylan has announced that he's starting his own whiskey company, dubbed "Heaven's Door" after his famous 1973 track. Including a straight rye, a Tennessee bourbon, and a double barrel whiskey, the collection represents a partnership with Marc Bushala -- co-founder of Angel's Envy bourbon. "I've been traveling for decades and I've been able to try some of the best spirits that the world of whiskey has to offer. This is great whiskey," Dylan said in an interview with the New York Times. - Spin.com, 4/28/18...... On Apr. 30 a spokesman for ABBA squashed rumours that the quartet could headline the 2019 Glastonbury Festival in the UK, and also dismissed chances of a renunion tour. "No, - definitely not. We should remember them how they were in the 1970s, and listen to how they sing today," ABBA spokeswoman and manager Gorel Hanser told the UK paper The Mirror. In late April, ABBA announced that they'd be releasing their first new material in 35 years, having recorded two new songs together. The band is currently plotting a "virtual" tour for 2019 using hologram technology, and UK bookies began offering 33/1 odds that the pop icons could headline Glasto in 2019. - New Musical Express, 4/30/18...... Alternative rock faves Foo Fighters were joined by Grease star John Travolta on stage for a cover of the 1978 movie's tune 
On Apr. 30 a California court denied parole for former Derek and the Dominos drummer Jim Gordon, who is serving a life sentence for killing his mother in 1983. The California Board of Parole determined that the 72-year-old Gordon could be a risk of violence if released from the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, where Gordon is jailed. Gordon, who played on such iconic 1960's and 1970's tracks as Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'," Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" and, most famously, "Layla," as a member of Eric Clapton's band Derek and the Dominos, was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the height of his career. Beginning in 1978, he sought medical treatment at least 15 times, court records show, but he could not escape his mother's voice, which he claimed had tormented him for years. To confront the voices, Gordon drove to his mother's house, where he struck her head with a hammer and also stabbed her. In 1984 he was sentenced to 16 years to life, and "remains an unreasonable risk of threat to public safety," according to the parole board's decision. Today he reportedly refuses contact with lawyers and declines to attend parole hearings. He is said to rarely leave his cell, and often resists medication. A 2005 document shows he was collecting $4,000 a month in royalties at that time, and was disciplined for giving some of that money to fellow inmates. Gordon has served 34 years of his life term, has been denied parole 10 times now and will next be eligible for parole in 2021. - Billboard, 4/30/18...... A Massachusetts church building that was immortalized in Arlo Guthrie's classic 1967 track 
Funk icon George Clinton has announced he will retire from touring in May 2019. "This has been coming a long time," Clinton says in a statement announcing his retirement. "Anyone who has been to the shows over the past couple of years has noticed that I've been out front less and less." The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Parliament/Funkadelic frontman/producer, who turns 77 in July, recently underwent pacemaker surgery, but says that the procedure wasn't a factor in his decision. "Truth be told, it's never really been about me," Clinton says. "It's always been about the music and the band. That's the real P-Funk legacy. They'll still be funkin' long after I stop." Clinton and P-Funk have 50 dates scheduled through the end of 2018, including performances in Europe and Japan. He released a new single, "I'm Gon Make You Sick O'Me," in January featuring Scarface. - Billboard, 4/27/18...... Actress and painter Kris Nelson, the ex-wife of Ricky Nelson and mother of actress Tracy Nelson, musicians Matthew and Gunnar Nelson ,and Sam Nelson, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Apr. 26. She was 72. She was the daughter of football star Tom Harmon and the sister of actor Mark Harmon and actress-model Kelly Harmon. Kris had a recurring role on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1963-66) and Adam-12 (1975), and with Ricky headlined the film Love and Kisses (1965). "My mother, Kristin Harmon Nelson, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly last night," Tracy Nelson posted on her Facebook page on Apr. 27. "Love and light are welcome." - 4/28/18.
New David Bowie subway cards have just been introduced in New York City's massive subway system. Bowie MetroCards are now available at Broadway-Lafayette station, just a few blocks from where the late rock legend used to live in SoHo for a portion of his life. The entire Broadway-Lafayette station has been transformed into something of a tribute to Bowie, too Advertisements for the "David Bowie Is" exhibition -- currently in progress at the Brooklyn Museum -- decorate the station, and outside, there's another giant Bowie mural. Costing $6.50, the new MetroCards reportedly have a two ride minimum. Meanwhile, Bowie's former collaborators are bringing Bowie's musical "Lazarus" back to life in New York City. "Lazarus" will be returning to the Big Apple for the first time since Bowie's death, in a one-night performance on May 2 at Kings Theater in Brooklyn. The new iteration is a screening of a previously filmed London performance accompanied by a live band. Dexter's Michael C. Hall will return to his leading role, with the original band performing 20 of Bowie's songs as they were arranged by the artist and band leader Henry Hey. The one night performance boasts a team of Bowie's peers behind the scenes, who joined the new project in order to preserve the artist's original vision. "I would like people to know that David Bowie really was -- far above being an incredible artist and an incredible performer -- he was, most importantly, an amazing human being," Hey said. - New Musical Express/Billboard, 4/17/18...... James Taylor and Bonnie Raiit are gearing up for a 17-date co-headlining summer tour that's set to kick off May 8 in Jacksonville, Fla. "We're a good 30 percent ahead of where we were last time," says Taylor's manager, Sam Feldman, of ticket sales for the upcoming arena road trip. The tour will cover 30-plus markets between the U.S. and Europe, where the pair will join fellow legend Paul Simon's farewell tour for two shows in Dublin and London. - Billboard, 4/13/18...... Doors from rooms where such iconic rockers as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Joni Mitchell once stayed at the Chelsea Hotel in New York have been sold at auction, selling for thousands of dollars each. Dylan's door went for a whopping $100,000 alone, while the door to a room occupied by Cohen and Joplin during an affair that is rumoured to have inspired Cohen's track "Chelsea Hotel No. 22" went for $85,000. Jimi Hendrix and Madonna's doors went for $13,000 each. The doors were reportedly rescued by Jim Georgiou, a former tenant, who saw them being thrown away and arranged to take possession of them. - New Musical Express, 4/13/18...... Director Milos Forman, who earned Oscars for his movie masterpieces 
British pop singer Cliff Richard has begun his High Court battle against the BBC, after the corporation broadcast a police raid on his Berkshire home in 2014. Richard, 77, is seeking "very substantial" damages after the BBC acted on a tip-off from South Yorkshire Police and offered live coverage of a raid on his apartment in Sunningdale, Berkshire, as part of an investigation into a historical child sex abuse allegation. Sir Cliff was previously questioned over the allegation, but he has constantly maintained his innocence and has never faced charges. The BBC has confirmed that they will "defend ourselves rigorously," and argued in court that South Yorkshire Police attempted to "shoot its messenger." The public broadcaster also claims that it was in the public interest to broadcast the raid, and insists that their reporting "fully respected the presumption of innocence" of the popular singer. The BBC previously offered an apology to the singer in 2016. - NME, 4/13/18...... Character actor Tim O'Connor, best known for portraying Elliot Carson, Mia Farrow's father and Dorothy Malone's husband on more than 400 episodes of the 1960s ABC primetime soap Peyton Place, has died. He was 90. Mr. O'Connor also starred as Dr. Elias Huer on the 1979-81 NBC sci-fi series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, starring Gil Gerard, and on a memorable 1975 episode of All in the Family, he guest-starred as a former sweetheart of Edith's (Jean Stapleton) from Scranton, Pennsylvania, who's interested in rekindling their childhood romance. - The Hollywood Reporter, 4/12/18...... Actor R. Lee Emery, best known for his Golden Globe-nominated portrayal of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, has died after complications from pneumonia. He was 74. Ermey had several other mostly authority figure roles to his credit, including Sheriff Hoyt in 2003's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, a police captain in Se7en, and the voice of the plastic army men's leader Sarge in Toy Story. - Variety.com, 4/16/18...... Sitcom actor Harry Anderson, who presided over the hit NBC comedy Night Court for nine seasons, was found dead at his home in Asheville, N.C., on Apr. 16. He was 65. No foul play was suspected, according to police. After his family moved to Los Angeles, the amiable Rhode Island native began performing magic on variety TV series like The Mike Douglas Show, The Late Show With David Letterman, and Saturday Night Live; the latter led to his role as con artist Harry "The Hat" Gittes on Cheers, which in turn led to a starring role as Judge Harry Stone on Night Court. - Variety.com, 4/16/18.
Fleetwood Mac released a statement on Apr. 9 announcing that Lindsey Buckingham will be replaced on the band's upcoming tour by both Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Neil Finn of Crowded House. A disagreement with Buckingham over the tour was apparently the reason for his firing, and the band said it "wishes Lindsey all the best." There was no comment regarding his future plans with the group. The band's Facebook page was also updated on Apr. 9 to an illustrated image, notably scrubbing Buckingham's image from its profile (although band images including Buckingham still remain on the page). The news initially broke in the first week of April after former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Billy Burnette posted -- then deleted -- a tweet declaring Buckingham out. The band added that it is "thrilled to welcome the musical talents of the caliber of Mike Campbell and Neil Finn into the Mac family... With Mike and Neil, we'll be performing all the hits that the fans love, plus we'll be surprising our audiences with some racks from our historic catalogue of songs... Fleetwood Mac has always been a creative evolution... We look forward to honoring that spirit on this upcoming tour." Buckingham, responsible for such hits as "Tusk" and "Go Your Own Way," joined Fleetwood Mac along with his then-girlfriend Stevie Nicks in 1974 and has been with them on an intermittent basis since then, taking time away to record six solo albums. Although Fleetwood Mac are yet to release specific details of their 2018 tour, it's believed that it will kick off in the US in the fall. - Rolling Stone/Billboard, 4/9/18...... An electronic treatment of Paul Simon's classic 1986 solo album Graceland is being prepped for a June 1 release. 
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of their 1978 trend-setting stoner film 
BMG Music announced on Apr. 10 that it has inked an exclusive worldwide publishing deal with Ringo Starr that will cover Starr's Beatles and solo catalog, spanning nearly 50 years, as well as future compositions. Among the over 150 titles included in the deal are his songwriting contributions with the Beatles' "What Goes On" from Rubber Soul, "Flying" from Magical Mystery Tour, "Don't Pass Me By" from the "White Album," "Octopus's Garden" from Abbey Road and "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae" from Let It Be, as well as other rarities. As a solo artist, Starr has released 19 studio albums, spanning from 1970's Sentimental Journey to last year's Give More Love. Starr has been awarded nine Grammy Awards and has twice been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame -- first as a Beatle and again as a solo artist. In March, he was honored with a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for services to music and his charity work. "I love making music and the song writing process -- and putting new music out there to play along side the old," Ringo said in a statement. "How great to be working with BMG who are excited to have my entire catalogue." Starr will be heading out on tour later this year with a new iteration of his All Starr Band. - Billboard, 4/10/18...... In other Beatles-related news, authorities in Toronto, Canada are working to identify a woman who allegedly stole an individual stone from a Yoko exhibit at the Gardiner Museum on Apr. 6. The rock, which has an appraised insurance value of $17,500, was part of a three-part interactive instillation from Ono called The Riverbed. One of these three parts is an interactive work called "Stone Piece," which "features a pile of river stones that have been honed and shaped by water over time," according to the museum's website. "Ono has inscribed some of the stones with words, such as dream, wish, and remember. Visitors are invited to pick up a stone and hold it, concentrating on the word, and then placing the stone upon the pile of other stones in the center of the room." - Spin.com, 4/9/18...... About 300 Merle Haggard fans turned up in the late country music icon's hometown of Bakersfield, Calif., on Apr. 7 to celebrate the naming of a United States Post Office in Haggard's honor. The event fell on the two-year anniversary of Haggard's death -- and what would have been his 81st birthday -- and was also attended by his sister. Norm Hamlet, who played in the "Okie From Muskogee" singer's band for nearly a half-century, told a local paper that Haggard would've been humbled by the honor. - AP, 4/8/18...... Soul songwriter Ron Dunbar, who co-wrote countless soul classics including Freda Payne's 
Gospel/pop singer Yvonne Staples, who rose to fame as one of the voices of powerhouse trio The Staple Singers, died at her home in Chicago's South Shore on Apr. 10. She was 80. Yvonne performed on the Staple Singers hits including "Respect Yourself," 
Ginger Baker, drummer and co-founder of 1960s blues-rock supergroup Cream, died on Oct. 6, his family confirms. He was 80. Baker's death follows a 2016 fall in his home and subsequent open heart surgery after being diagnosed with a heart condition, and the news follows recent posts on his social media channels that he was hospitalized in "critically ill" condition. Baker was one-third of the 1960s power trio with guitarist Eric Clapton and bassist Jack Bruce that mixed blues with sunshine-pop, hitting the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart with "Sunshine of Your Love" (No. 5) and "White Room" (No. 6) in 1968. The band split in 1968 and reunited in 2005 for a residency at the Royal Albert Hall, captured that year on the live album Royal Albert Hall London May 2-3-5-6, 2005. Despite existing for only two years, Cream sold over 35 million records over their lifespan. After Cream disbanded, Baker and Clapton started another blues-rock supergroup, Blind Faith, with bassist Ric Grech and Traffic guitarist Steve Winwood, in 1968. Blind Faith burned out even quicker than Cream, releasing a 1969 self-titled album and undergoing one tour before going their separate ways. In 1972, Baker released two solo albums, Ginger Baker at His Best and Stratavarious, in which he dabbled in jazz fusion and Afrobeat. 
Late in life, Baker often appeared in the press as a lovable, irascible grouch, living in South Africa with his Zimbabwean wife, Kudzai, while treating his emphysema and degenerative spine condition. During Cream's brief reunion in 2005, he sang his oddball interlude "Pressed Rat and Warthog" (from 1968's Wheels of Fire) with ill-fitting socks falling down his legs and fought bitterly with Jack Bruce onstage. "It's a knife-edge thing for me and Ginger," Bruce was quoted as saying in Rolling Stone. "Nowadays, we're happily co-existing in different continents, although I was thinking of asking him to move. He's still a bit too close." Baker also contributed to Public Image Ltd.'s 1986 album Album and in 2009 published an autobiography, Hellraiser: The Autobiography of the World's Greatest Drummer. He stayed behind the kit until heart issues forced him to retire from performing in 2016. Even as his health seriously declined, Baker opted to spit in the face of death. "[It] is the final great adventure!. When I die, put me in a lead coffin and throw me out to sea!," he once said. Baker's son, Kofi Baker, released a statement following his father's death on Oct. 6. "The other day I had a beautiful visit with my dad... we talked about memories and music and he's happy that I'm keeping his legacy alive." Kofi, who is a drummer in his own band, admitted in the past that the pair endured a rocky relationship, but added "our relationship was mended and he was in a peaceful place. Thank you all for the kind messages and thoughts. I love my dad and will miss him always." - Billboard, 10/6/19.
The UK's Daily Mail paper has obtained excerpts from Elton John's upcoming autobiography which include the Rocketman revealing that he was "24 hours from death" when he contracted an infection following surgery for prostate cancer in 2017. In the memoir, entitled 
Warner Bros.' new The Joker movie, already having stirred up a fair amount of controversy for its nihilistic R-rated storyline in the wake of a mass shooting in a Colorado theater during premiere week of a previous Batman franchise movie, has come under more fire for using a track by convicted pedophile and '70s glam rock artist Gary Glitter on its soundtrack. The critical and commercial hit uses Glitter's 1972 hit "Rock and Roll Part 2" in a lengthy and pivotal scene, in which star Joaquin Phoenix dances down a long flight of stairs and transforms into the iconic character. Much of the anger on social media has centered on the fact that Glitter could be receiving royalties from Warner Bros. for using his song. "Gary Glitter gets royalties for Joker. They're literally paying a paedophile to use his music in a movie about the consequences of child abuse. I'm off the fence -- this movie is immoral bullshit," tweeted one critic, while another said the track choice was the "most morally questionable" aspect of the film. Glitter, 75, whose real is name Paul Gadd, enjoyed huge success in the 1970s and 1980s as a star of Britain's glam rock scene, but fell dramatically from grace in the late 1990s after being arrested for downloading child pornography. In 2015, he was found guilty of attempted rape, four counts of indecent assault and one count of having sex with a girl under the age of 13, and sentenced to 16 years in prison. However, one Twitter user pointed out that Joker wasn't the first film to use a Glitter track, "Rock n Roll" having been played on 2004's Meet the Fockers. - The Hollywood Reporter, 10/7/19...... As a new biopic on screen legend Judy Garland hit U.S. theaters in late September, Barbra Streisand took to Twitter on Oct. 5 to pay tribute to the late star by posting YouTube clips of the pair singing 
Peter Frampton performed the finale of his 2019 farewell tour at The Forum in Los Angeles on Oct. 5. The 69-year-old Frampton announced in February that he's suffering from Inclusion-Body Myositis (IBM), a muscle disorder that causes inflammation, weakness and atrophy, and that he's retiring from live performing after his farewell tour. Billed as "Peter Frampton's Finale -- The Farewell Tour," the show saw Frampton making reference to his disease after night's final number, saying the "love and support of his fans would help him heal," but the show wasn't a bummer. Rather, it felt like a celebration with the singer/guitarist taking a joyful look back at his career, with several thousand people on hand to partake in the party. Dressed in jacket, T-shirt and jeans, Frampton looked lean and fit and it didn't appear that the disease has affected his ability to perform, as he was fine in voice and his guitar virtuosity remained intact for the two-hour set that opened with "Something's Happening" followed by such Frampton Comes Alive! tracks as "Lines on My Face," "Show Me the Way," "(I'll Give You) Money," "Baby, I Love Your Way" and "Do You Feel Like We Do." The show also included a mostly instrumental cover of Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" hit hard, following Frampton's intro that noted he once performed the song live with the late Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell on vocals. Encores included "Four Day Creep," "I Don't Need No Doctor" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." - Billboard, 10/6/19...... In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Ric Ocasek's widow Paulina Porizkova remembers her last moments with the late Cars frontman. Porizkova, who found Ocasek in his home after his death, said that his recent surgery was not at all the cause behind his death. "I don't know how much I want to say about the surgery, but it was successful. He was recuperating really well," she says. "So his passing was a f---ing shock." She also spoke of bringing cookies home for the singer on the night before his death. "He said, OK, thanks, hon. I had some terrible cookies because I was in the mood for cookies, but I'll have your gooey cookies tomorrow. I think I'm going to bed early since I m feeling a little sore.' And that was the last time I saw him alive." Ocasek died on Sept. 15 aged 75. Porizkova also stated that she was baffled by the New York medical examiner's autopsy on Ocasek, which stated that Ocasek died of atherosclerosis. - New Musical Express, 10/6/19...... Sting has announced he'll release a new live album dubbed My Songs: Live recorded during his "My Songs World Tour" earlier in 2019. "This is my life in songs," Sting writes in the live album's insightful song-by-song liner notes. "Some of them reconstructed, some of them refitted, some of them reframed, and all of them with a contemporary focus." Sting's 2019 My Songs studio album featured updated sonics, dynamics and arrangements based on the way his songs have evolved for him over the years. Meanwhile, Sting will be performing his musical "The Last Ship" in five cities in 2020 starting Jan. 14 at Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre followed by runs in San Francisco, Washington D.C., St. Paul, Minn. and Detroit. - Billboard, 10/4/19...... Sony Music and the Michael Jackson estate announced on Oct. 4 that Jackson's This Is It album is getting a limited-edition 10th anniversary box set reissue. Only 1,000 numbered copies will be made of the set that is available for pre-order at the Jackson online store and will be released on Dec. 11. Each will include four LPs on translucent-blue vinyl, a 3-D Blu-Ray disc of the film, a 60-page coffee table book with two dozen previously unpublished pictures and an authentic lenticular concert ticket for the July 24, 2009, concert at O2 Arena in London that was never held because Jackson died 18 days before his comeback series of shows were scheduled to begin. Jackson's This Is It soundtrack came from the movie that captured his final concert rehearsals before his 2009 death. The film was released in theaters that October and had the highest global box office gross of any concert documentary. - AP, 10/4/19...... 
As part of a promotion by AirBnB, KISS and eight KISS fans will set sail on separate boats off the coast of southern Australia on Nov. 18 to perform for great white sharks, with the fans separated from them by a small submarine. While KISS stays above board on one vessel, the fans will be lowered beneath the surface of the water from a second boat into the viewing sub in an area known for shark activity. Using underwater speakers, KISS will begin playing, and the sound will be audible to the submerged fans and the sharks. "I was a little taken aback by it, but they explained that sharks are attracted to low frequencies and so they're attracted to rock 'n' roll," KISS singer/guitarist Paul Stanley told The Associated Press. "Since we're going to be in Australia, it gives a whole new meaning to doing a concert down under." The event will take place in the Indian Ocean off Port Lincoln, South Australia. KISS will be in full makeup and costumes for the performance, which will be at least four songs. "I'm not sure how much of us the sharks can take," Stanley said. "I'm hoping they know 'Rock And Roll All Nite.'" Proceeds will go to charity, according to AirBnB. Reservations can be made starting at 6 p.m. EDT on airbnb.com/KISS on Oct. 14. - AP, 10/3/19...... In advance of the Oct. 11 release of Freddie Mercury's 
Pioneering African-American actress and singer Diahann Carroll, who made television history with her turns on Julia and Dynasty, died at her home in Los Angeles on Oct. 4 after a long bout with cancer. She was 84. Ms. Carroll was known as a Las Vegas and nightclub performer and for her performances on Broadway and in the Hollywood musicals "Carmen Jones" and "Porgy & Bess" when she was approached by an NBC executive to star as Julia Baker, a widowed nurse raising a young son, on the comedy Julia. Although Ms. Carroll initially didn't want to do the part because she "didn't think the show was going to work, "she eventually became the first African-American female to star in a non-stereotypical role in her own primetime network series. Julia, which premiered in September 1968, finished No. 7 in the ratings in the first of its three seasons, and Ms. Carroll received an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe for her work. After hosting a CBS summer replacement variety show in 1976, she retired from show business and moved to Oakland. Landing the role of Dominique, the half-sister of John Forsythe's Blake Carrington in Dynasty, in 1984 put her back on the map in Hollywood. More recently, Ms. Carroll had recurring roles on NBC's A Different World, ABC's Grey's Anatomy, and USA's White Collar. She also appeared in such films as Eve's Bayou (1997) and on stage as Norman Desmond in a musical version of Sunset Blvd. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2011. She was married four times, to Monte Kay, Freddie Glusman, Robert DeLeon and singer Vic Damone, from 1987 until their 1996 divorce. In addition to her daughter, producer-journalist Suzanne Kay, survivors include her grandchildren, August and Sydney. - The Hollywood Reporter, 10/4/19...... Comedian Rip Taylor, known for his extremely flamboyant and enthusiastic personality as well as his penchant for showering people with confetti, died on Oct. 6 of as yet undisclosed causes. He was 84. Born in Washington, D.C. in 1935, Taylor briefly worked as a congressional page. During the Korean War, he joined up with the special services and worked to entertain troops, where he came up with a comedy routine that made him famous, and by the '60s he had become a regular player in the Catskills. Taylor's comedy then became a recurring feature on the The Ed Sullivan Show, though Sullivan himself only referred to Taylor as "The Crying Comedian" when he couldn't remember his name. His frequent TV appearances made Taylor an in-demand comedian, landing him high-profile gigs in Las Vegas in the '70s opening for performers like Frank Sinatra, Debbie Reynolds, Judy Garland, and The Kingston Trio. The '70s also saw him transition to the world of television, regularly appearing on Hollywood Squares, The Gong Show, and as a guest host on The Match Game. He played a genit on Sigmund And The Sea Monsters, popped up on The Brady Bunch Hour, and hosted a weird pageant parody series called The $1.98 Beauty Show. Taylor also did voice work in projects like Scooby Goes Hollywood, The Emperor's New School and Tom And Jerry: The Movie. He appeared in movies like Wayne's World 2, Chatterbox and Indecent Proposal (making a rare appearance without his usual toupee). Taylor also somehow became a fixture of the Jackass movies and made a post-credits cameo in Johnny Knoxville's Dukes Of Hazzard. Taylor is survived by his longtime partner, Robert Fortney. - The Hollywood Reporter, 10/6/19.