Post Malone was recently turned away from a bar in Australia because of his facial tattoos.
Posty was reportedly denied access to QT Perth's rooftop bar because his ink did not meet the venue's dress code.
He told The West Australian, "They turned me away for my tattoos. I've never really experienced anything like that."
According to Billboard, the venue's dress code prohibits, "face, neck and offensive tattoos."
Reports say that Rihanna hid her pregnancy throughout her SuperBowl rehearsals by wearing baggy clothing. Sources told TMZ that the most of the singer's dancers had no idea that RiRi was pregnant before she hit the stage.
Sources say that the singer was wearing baggy clothing on both Saturday and Sunday before the performance.
In related news, RiRi's Halftime performance bought in 118.7 million viewes during the broadcast, earning her the status of the most-watched Super Bowl Halftime show since Katy Perry's Halftime Show in 2015. She is also the second most watched Super Bowl Halftime performance on record. Immediately after her 13-minute set, Rih's concurrent listeners on Apple Music spiked by a whopping 331%.
Stephen Stills and Neil Young will team up on April 22nd for the 2023 "Light Up The Night" benefit at L.A.'s Greek Theater. As of now, the show will mark the pair's first concert appearance since the recent death of bandmate David Crosby.
Joining the pair is Willie Nelson's son and Neil Young collaborator, Lukas Nelson, Stills' sons Chris and Oliver Stills, and David Crosby's son and longtime solo and Crosby, Stills, & Nash keyboardist James Raymond. Also appearing are three autistic artists -- rapper Rio "Soulshocka" Wyles, opera singer Amanda Anderson, and singer and guitarist Will Breman. More artists will be announced soon.
Stills and wife Kristen launched the charity gig back in 2013 to benefit and support Autism Speaks. The organization is near and dear to Stills' heart with his adult son Henry on the autism spectrum.
Buyer pre-sale begins Wednesday, February 15th at 10 a.m. PST, local pre-sale begins Thursday, February 16th at 10 a.m. PST, and public on-sale starts Friday, February 17th at 10 a.m. PST via TicketMaster.com.
Stephen Stills and Neil Young's musical connection goes back to the heady Sunset Strip days. Stills told us that Buffalo Springfield self-destructed after only three albums, because they were simply too hot to last: "It was so laden with talent, this bunch, that we just hit the track going so fast that we went into the wall with no skid marks. Y'know, we spun out, but we spun out because we didn't realize how hot the car was."
Taylor Swift was the highest paid female entertainer of 2022.
According to Forbes, the "Anti-Hero" singer took in a whopping $92 million last year.
She is the ninth highest paid entertainer overall, following Genesis, Sting, Tyler Perry, Trey Parker & Matt Stone, James L. Brooks & Matt Groening, Brad Pitt, Rolling Stones, and James Cameron.
Bruce Springsteen has written a new song for the indie movie, She Came To Me. The film premieres at the Berlin Film Festival this weekend and co-stars Peter Dinklage, Marisa Tomei, and Anne Hathaway.
The new Springsteen track, "Addicted To Romance," features longtime Springsteen producer Ron Aniello behind the boards with the film's primary composer and orchestrator Bryce Dessner, along with backing vocals by Patti Scialfa, Benjamin Lanz on trombone, and Kyle Resnick on trumpet.
Director Rebecca Miller shed light on how she snagged "The Boss" to contribute the song to her film: "I really love Bruce's music. For the end of She Came To Me, we wanted an original song. I had a secret wish it might be Bruce, but I was reluctant to ask because I felt it was so unlikely, and frankly I was a bit shy. . . I approached him. Bruce and (his wife Patti Scialfa) ended up watching the film, and, to my delight, they both loved it! Bruce said he'd take a few days to see if anything came to him for a song. Miraculously, 'Addicted To Romance' was the result. He says he was inspired by the film, which is a great honor for me."
It's probably no coincidence that Bruce Springsteen was drawn to a film, in which psychotherapy plays a significant role. Springsteen has been open about how therapy has centered him as depression has continued to lay him pretty low with seemingly no notice: "It lasted for a long time. In my 60's it would last for a year, then it would slip away, then it would come back for a year-and-a-half. It sneaks up on you. It's like this thing that engulfs you. I got to where I didn't want to get out of bed, and you're not behaving very well at home, and you're tough on everybody -- hopefully not the kids. I always tried to hide it from the kids, but, y'know, Patti really had to work with me through it. And her strength and the love she had was very important, y'know, as far as guiding me through it. She said, 'Well, you're going to be okay -- maybe not today' (laughs) '. . . or tomorrow, but it's gonna be alright."
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band perform tonight (February 14th) at Houston's Toyota Center.
BTS' Jimin is getting ready to unleash his solo album next month.
Billboard reports that the K-pop superstar revealed his plans on WeVerse Friday (February 10th).
According to a translation, he said, "I think the album I've been working on is going to drop in around March. I'm currently preparing lots of things that I can do together with you guys around that time. I'm planning lots of different kinds of things we can do to have fun together and enjoy ourselves, so I think you can safely look forward to it."
To date, Jimin has released the solo songs "Lie,", "Intro: Serendipity," "Filter," and his 2022 collaboration with Ha Sung-woon on the Our Blues soundtrack song, "With You."
Miley Cyrus took to her Instagram Stories Monday (February 13th) to celebrate the one month anniversary of "Flowers" as it leads the Billboard Hot 100 for the fourth week.
She wrote, "Happy 1 month anniversary of ‘Flowers.' To still be celebrating #1 on the hot 100 & around the world is phenomenal. With Valentine's Day coming up tomorrow this song feels even more meaningful to me. I hope this holiday is filled with the joy of honoring love in all of its forms. It's human nature to want to give & receive it. Sharing your love is special but it's always important to save enough of that love for yourself.
"You are enough anything more is just extra. Thank you for another incredible week. I love you."
Bon Jovi's co-founding guitarist Richie Sambora was revealed as "The Masked Potato" on Britain's talent show, The Masked Singer. Loudwire reported, "Over the course of his run, Sambora had performed Elvis Presley's 'Viva Las Vegas,' Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah,' Fleetwood Mac's 'Go Your Own Way' and John Newman's "Love Me Again."
During the performance of 'Go Your Own Way' he even played guitar while in costume, which took a bit of doing. Sambora appeared on England's Sunday Brunch on Channel Four and explained: "They cut my gloves off and matched (my) fingers to gloves" -- and admitted he couldn't see the instrument while playing it.
During a recent chat with Yahoo Entertainment, Slash admitted that Guns N' Roses' behavior back in the 1980's would've gotten them "cancelled" today.
Although taken to task back in the day for their at times gluttonous behavior -- along with material that was often deemed misogynistic and homophobic -- Slash says there's no way the band would've survived unscathed in these more PC-centric times: "Everything that we did (laughs) would've gotten us cancelled in this day and age. We would not have fared well in this environment, for sure. I mean, on so many levels -- right? But that's just, y'know. . . I mean, a lot of things from back then would be what you considered, uh, 'acceptable' at this moment in time. I can't put my thing on a specific thing because, 'cause it's pretty much all of it."
Guns N' Roses will next perform on June 30th at London's Hyde Park.
Today (February 14th) marks the 53rd anniversary of the recording of the Who's legendary 1970 gig at England's Leeds University Refectory -- the concert which eventually became their first live set, Live At Leeds.
The original 1970 release only featured six tracks, including elongated versions of "My Generation" and "Magic Bus" along with show stoppers such as Mose Allison's "Young Man Blues," their 1966 single "Substitute," and covers of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues," and Johnny Kidd and the Pirates' "Shakin' All Over."
Roger Daltrey told us that although he loves the Live At Leeds album, he isn't wild about his particular performance that night: "I always felt under pressure when anything was knowingly being recorded. I didn't mind if people were kind of surreptitiously doing it. Personally, it wasn't one of my best gigs, but the individual in the band never sees the band in the audience's perspective. It's a great album. I love that album because it captures a moment in time."
The original expanded two-disc version of Live At Leeds features such Who standards as "I Can't Explain," "Tattoo," "Happy Jack," "I'm A Boy," "A Quick One While He's Away," and a complete performance of the rock opera Tommy -- including live staples as "Pinball Wizard," "The Acid Queen," "Christmas," "Cousin Kevin," "Sparks," "I'm Free," "We're Not Gonna Take It,' and "See Me, Feel Me."
The "Super-Deluxe 40th Anniversary Collectors' Edition" of Live At Leeds included the band's 1970 Hull's City Hall concert taped two nights after the Leeds show, on February 16th, 1970. The Live At Hull collection was reissued separately in 2012.
Daltrey, who makes it a point to never dwell on the band's past or delve into its massive archive, feels that Hull had a slight edge over the Leeds show in terms of the band's performance: "I mean, it's a great album. It does capture the energy of the period. My recollection of the two nights was that I've always felt that Hull was a better performance. I haven't heard the record, so I might be wrong on that, but it always felt that it was to me."
Pete Townshend says that no matter what genre of music the Who tackled, their musical shorthand was able to carry them through uncharted waters: "The chemistry of the Who originally, the instrumentalists, Keith Moon, John Entwistle, Pete Townshend, and I talk about myself as another creature here, y'know. I wrote the songs and then I would give the songs to this trio. They would do something to the chemistry that was very, very chaotic but very, very internalized, and it was chemistry. We didn't understand how it worked, we couldn't explain how it worked, it just worked."
The latest version of the set, which marks the third time the 1970 classic has been expanded and reissued, is now housed in a hard-back box with cover artwork reproducing the original black stamped vinyl first UK pressing.
The expanded Live At Leeds was reissued twice on CD -- in 1995 and 2001 -- each time featuring more songs from the Leeds show from February 14th, 1970 -- with the 2001 version including the Who's full performance of Tommy.
Thanks to digital technology, the newly added Hull concert utilizes John Entwistle's bass parts from the Leeds show to cover the missing bass amp feed, which rendered the Hull show unsuitable for release back in the day.
Live At Leeds was released on May 16th, 1970 and peaked at Number Four on the Billboard Pop Albums chart and reaching Number Three in Britain.
The only single taken off the set, a cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" became a radio staple peaking at Number 27 and 38 in America and Britain, respectively.
The Who returned to perform at Leeds University twice after the legendary show -- on November 21st, 1970 and June 17th, 2006. The band most recently performed in Leeds on December 2nd, 2014 at First Direct Arena.
In 2020 -- 50 years to the day of the original 1970 Leeds show -- the Who commemorated the anniversary with a pair of acoustic shows at Pryzm in Kingston-Upon-Thames, England. Highlights from the night were released as a bonus disc on the expanded version of 2019's WHO as Live As Kingston.
It was 56 years ago today (February 14th, 1967) that the late, great Aretha Franklin recorded her cover version of Otis Redding's "Respect." Redding had originally recorded the song in 1965 and scored only a moderate hit when it peaked at Number 35. Redding's arrangement was slightly more upbeat and consisted of only verses with no chorus or bridge.
Aretha recorded the song in New York City's Atlantic Studios, playing piano on the track and using the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section -- a group of four session musicians who mainly played sessions in Nashville and Muscle Shoals, Alabama, before later starting their own Muscle Shoals Sound Studios. It was Aretha's idea to use the tape of King Curtis's sax solo from Sam & Dave's "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby" -- which was recorded the night before at Memphis' Stax Studios -- to create a new bridge to the song.
The song's producer Tom Dowd recalled the session: "Aretha said she liked the song, and started running (through it), although Aretha's sister Carolyn (Franklin) was instrumental in the tempo aspect of it, the way they did it with (the) 'R-E-S-P-E-C-T' lines . . . It just went by very easily."
Not long before her 2018 death, we asked Aretha if she was aware at the time that she was recording one of the most iconic records in all of rock, pop and soul history: "At the time, no. It was just good and funky, and I liked it, and my sister and I put the 'sock it to me' phrase to it. And of course, a little later it became a mantra for civil rights groups and various other people."
Aretha's version of "Respect" debuted in the Billboard Top 40 on May 6th, 1967, and hit Number One on June 3rd, holding down the top spot for two weeks.
Apart from being a radio staple since its release, the song has been featured in movies like Platoon, Forrest Gump, Mystic Pizza, and Back To School -- as well as having been used prominently on Candace Bergen's hit TV show Murphy Brown.
Dave Grohl played a rare private gig on February 10th at Phoenix, Arizona's Crescent Ballroom for Crown Royal whiskey. Grohl, who was featured in a Super Bowl ad for the famed Canadian Whisky, performed a four-song set at the invitation-only event, "which was meant to celebrate the hospitality and military communities while working with two of the brand's long-standing charity partners, CreatiVets and Packages From Home."
Grohl's mini-set consisted of acoustic run-throughs of "Times Like These," "My Hero," "Best Of You," and "Everlong."
Blabbermouth transcribed some of Grohl's comments to the crowd regarding his and Foo Fighters' connection to Crown Royal, stating, "If you're wondering why I'm here. I've had a long and fruitful relationship with Crown Royal. This goes back a long, long time. I'm talking, like, late-'90s, maybe mid-'90s. We went and we hung out with this band called Pantera a long time. If you've ever had a night with Pantera, you won't remember it. But Pantera loved the Crown Royal. And they got us hooked on that Crown Royal."
Grohl went on to recall, "It got to the point where we started getting the Crown Royal backstage. Then it got to the point where we started bringing that f***ing Crown Royal on the stage with us. Then it got to the point where our audience knew that we loved Crown Royal loved so much that our fans actually f***ing made a cape of the purple bags and sent it to us. So when we were. . . That record -- our fourth record -- has the song 'All My Life' and a bunch of s**t on it. I was wearing that f***ing cape while we were mixing that record. Prized possession."
Harry Styles won big at the Brit Awards Saturday (February 11th) night.
The former One Direction bandmember took home the awards for Pop/R&B Act, Song of the Year, Artist of the Year and Mastercard Album of the Year.
The “Watermelon Sugar” singer seemingly attempted to correct the misstep he made at the Grammys when he said during his Album of the Year speech, “This doesn't happen to people like me very often.“
When he collected his ‘Artist of the Year’ award Saturday, he said, “I’m very aware of my privilege up here tonight. So this is for Rina [Sawayama], Charli [XCX], Florence [+ the Machine], Mabel and Becky [Hill].”
Styles also thanked his mother for signing him up for The X Factor and extended his gratitude to his former 1D bandmates, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, and Liam Payne.
As expected, U2 is headed to Las Vegas. The band officially announced the "Sin City" run via a Super Bowl Sunday (February 12th) ad, which stated the "U2: UV Actung Baby Live At The Sphere'" would take place shows this fall at the new globe-shaped arena. The MSG Sphere shows will mark the band's first without drummer Larry Mullen, Jr., who is recovering from back surgery, and will feature stand-in Bram van den Berg for the 2023 concerts. No official dates have been announced for U2's Vegas stand.
According to the announcement, "The Sphere show has been in the works for a long time. We don’t want to let people down, least of all our audience. . . The truth is we miss them as much as they appear to miss us. . . our audience was always the fifth member of the band. Bottom line, U2 hasn’t played live since December 2019 and we need to get back on stage and see the faces of our fans again. And what a unique stage they’re building for us out there in the desert. . . We’re the right band, Actung Baby the right album, and the Sphere the right venue to take the live experience of music to the next level. That’s what U2’s been trying to do all along with our satellite stages and video installations, most memorably on the Zoo TV Tour, which ended in Tokyo 30 years ago this fall. The Sphere is more than just a venue, it’s a gallery and U2’s music is going to be all over the walls."
Bono, The Edge, and Adam Clayton touched upon performing with a new drummer for the first time in their career, explaining, "It’s going to take all we’ve got to approach the Sphere without our bandmate in the drum seat, but Larry has joined us in welcoming Bram van den Berg who is a force in his own right."
Over the years, Bono has been no stranger to self-promotion, and admits that he has no problem doing that, since he sees it as a necessary part of the music business: ["I come from a long line of traveling salespeople on my mother's side. I mean, I will sell my wares, and I believe in them. Rock bands get all shy and don't like to discuss the filthy lucre and pretend that their songs exist entire to themselves, which we all know is not true. You've got to get them on the radio. You've got to get people to take them seriously. I mean, it's, y'know. . . the job is not over when you finish the song, sadly."] SOUNDCUE (:23 OC: . . . the song, sadly)
U2's new album, Songs Of Surrender, drops on March 17th. The set will be available as a full 40-track digital set; a limited edition 40-track double CD with hardback deluxe book; and a limited edition 40-track four-vinyl collection.
Lewis Capaldi is already sick of hearing his forthcoming record, Broken by Desire to be Heavenly Sent.
He told NME on the red carpet for the BRIT Awards, “It’s f***ing s**t, honestly, don’t even bother with it. I’m f***ing sick of hearing it at this stage already, so do not bother getting it. It’s a total piece of flaming shite. That’s all I have to say on it.”
The album is set to be released in May.
Britney Spears is reportedly facing “complex” medical issues.
Sources who have worked closely with spears told Page Six Friday (February 10th), “Nobody outside the very small conservatorship circle knows what Britney’s medical status really is. If people knew Britney’s actual medical status, I think it would reveal that her mental problems are far more severe than people realize.”
The insider added, “Regardless of her mental condition, it isn’t necessarily appropriate for her to be under a conservatorship. There are less harsh ways to handle it.”
DALTREY CUTS SOLO GIG SHORT
Roger Daltrey was forced to cut short his solo concert on Saturday night (February 11th) in Clearwater, Florida. The Who frontman finally gave up during a rendition of the band's 1970 deep cut "Naked Eye" and told the crowd: "I'm going to do myself some serious damage here and I'm not going to do it because I'll never sing again. I'm sorry. I am not a robot. I'm definitely not a robot. I'm not doing this to myself anymore. Thank you so much for coming." (ABC Action News)
Roger Daltrey told us that he belongs to the old-school breed of rockers, who believe that the only way you end up keeping in shape for rock is by actually performing it: ["You can do all the exercises in the world, but it doesn't keep it road-fit. It's like a boxer training. Y'know, a boxer can train, train, train, train -- 'doesn't get him ring-fit."] SOUNDCUE (:08 OC: . . . him ring-fit)
TOWNSHEND PREPPING SOLO SINGLE
Pete Townshend's wife, musician/orchestrator Rachel Fuller, revealed on her Facebook page that Townshend is prepping his first new solo single in 29 years. The acoustic-based track, titled, "Can't Outrun The Truth," was written by Fuller, produced by Charlie Pepper, and engineered by Townshend's brother-in-law, Jon Astley. The track originally appeared in the 2020 Jude Law film, The Hat. All proceeds will benefit the Teenage Cancer Trust. No street date has been announced.
During a chat at The New York Public Library, Pete Townshend revealed a new, key component about how he approaches his life and art: ["And I think I have learned some stuff about myself. I think all kinds of things. I think the main revelation was to realize that at some point, probably quite recently -- maybe as recently as 15 years ago -- I made the decision to be happy. And that has been very, very difficult for me to do, because I never felt that it was a very serious occupation (laughter)."] SOUNDCUE (:26 OC: . . . very serious occupation (laughter))
THE WHO DROPS LIVE 'BABA O'RILEY' VIDEO
The Who has just posted the first teaser from its latest live set, The Who With Orchestra Live At Wembley, which drops on March 31st. The collection will be issued as a two-CD/Blu-ray or three-LP set.
Part of the reason for Pete Townshend's eagerness to play out with the Who over the past two decades is his connection with their drummer of the past 27 years -- Zak Starkey: ["He studied at the feet of Keith Moon. He was eight years old when I first met him, his dad is Ringo Starr, but Keith Moon bought him his first drum kit. He was a big Who fan as a kid. So when John (Entwistle) passed away, suddenly there was Zak and I -- and then what I realized is that he and I have this extraordinary chemistry. And it's innate. It's a chemistry that's based on the fact that whatever I do, he's already doing it."] SOUNDCUE (:23 OC: . . . already doing it)
Machine Gun Kelly revealed on Instagram that he was electrocuted while performing Friday (February 10th) during a Waste Management Phoenix Open performance at Coors Light Birds Nest in Scottsdale, Ariz.
In his stories, he wrote, “YOOO 🤯 I GOT ELECTRICUTED (sic) AND MY HAIR STOOD UP ⚡️🤣⚡️.”
The Rolling Stones Chronicles has begun airing on series on ABKCO's Vevo-hosted YouTube channel. The series, which is co-produced by BBC Motion Gallery and the label, consists of six documentary shorts, each featuring a different, classic 1960's-era hit song by band.
According to the announcement, "The music is combined with thematically relevant interview clips from the band and contemporaneous historical figures, interspersed with historical documentary footage of related world events." Each episode will be released one week apart (through) March 16th, with Episode 1 - The Last Time airing now.
We asked Lindsey Buckingham what that classic early-era means to him as a Stones fan: ["The peak for Brian Jones, before he kind of started to slide downhill. . . Y'know those albums, I mean, the singles -- everything -- have a kind of European influence. But, y'know, the fact that Brian Jones as a bandmember could articulate that it in a different way and was more of a multi-musician and could bring in colors and influence the band in what I thought was a very positive way. Those albums are some of my favorite Stones albums."] SOUNDCUE (:29 OC: . . . favorite Stones albums)
The Rolling Stones Chronicles release schedule:
February 9 - The Rolling Stones Chronicles - The Last Time (EP1)
February 16 - The Rolling Stones Chronicles - (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (EP2)
February 23 - The Rolling Stones Chronicles - She’s A Rainbow (EP3)
March 2 - The Rolling Stones Chronicles - Street Fighting Man (EP4)
March 9 - The Rolling Stones Chronicles - Jumpin’ Jack Flash (EP5)
March 16 - The Rolling Stones Chronicles - Gimme Shelter (EP6)
It was 56 years ago Sunday (February 13th, 1967) that the Beatles released their double A-sided single of "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane." The single contained two of the first three songs recorded for the group's upcoming Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. (The other song, "When I'm 64," was saved for the album.) The songs broke the group's then unprecedented six-month stretch since their last single, "Yellow Submarine" backed by "Eleanor Rigby."
The new songs, which touched upon the group's Liverpool upbringing, were a study in contrasts, with Paul McCartney's more literal "Penny Lane" borrowing heavily from the sound of the Beach Boys' then-recent Pet Sounds album, and John Lennon's introspective "Strawberry Fields Forever" breaking new ground in both record production and song structure.
In a classic example of less being more, late-Beatles producer George Martin told us that the limited technology of the 1960's in no way held back the Beatles from recording timeless classics: ["And I think in fact, if I had more than four tracks recording Sgt. Pepper, I don't think it would've been any better than it turned out. The music itself was so good, that no matter what you did with it -- provided you did it reasonably, technically well -- it would've survived."] SOUNDCUE (:14 OC: . . . it would've survived)
We asked Elvis Costello about what many consider among the Beatles and George Martin's finest hours, the 1967 double-A-side single release of "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane": ["Obviously, as I got older and understood what was going on musically on the record a little bit, and got to work with Geoff Emerick and got some understanding of, like, what they went through to create those records technically, y'know, what was involved in the engineering and the recording process and the layering of it. You realize what a great work of imagination it was -- unprecedented, really, in popular music at that point. And, like a lot of great things, it probably invited a lot of bad imitation, but it's an indelible record. I would say, the best single. . . The best Double A-sided single in pop music."] SOUNDCUE (:32 OC: . . . in pop music)
At a dinner party at manager Brian Epstein's house with the Beatles and their significant others, Pete Townshend and Eric Clapton were the first two outside musicians to be played the new tracks. Upon Townshend's recollection, when asked what they two thought about what they just heard, the Who leader was left speechless -- Clapton, on the other hand responded, "Could we please hear it again?"
Paul McCartney says that above all the other emotions he has regarding having John Lennon as his best friend for a substantial part of his life, he's still in awe of their musical connection: ["I've got so many great memories, and I feel very privileged. Y'know, I'm the guy he wrote with -- that's pretty cool. And we wrote some great stuff and enjoyed it -- never really sweated it. We normally finished a song in about three hours, and can't ever remember coming away from a session without having a song."] SOUNDCUE (:17 OC: . . . having a song)
Author Christopher Sanford, who wrote the biography titled McCartney, says that even during the Beatles days, it was McCartney who was constantly pushing the group to find new sounds in the studio: ["Paul was the guy, I think, who was saying, 'Y'know, we can take this to a new direction. We can try these instruments that have never been tried. Let's get George Martin to have an orchestra playing out of tune!' And that was all McCartney."] SOUNDCUE (:13 OC: . . . was all McCartney)
The single was a global hit, with "Penny Lane" eventually topping the U.S. charts on March 18th, and "Strawberry Fields Forever" going on to peak at Number Eight.
In Britain, the single was kept from the top spot by Engelbert Humperdinck's "Release Me," marking the first time since their 1962 debut single "Love Me Do" that the Beatles failed to top the charts in their homeland.
The single, which was the Beatles' first after retiring from touring, featured the first of many Beatles songs the group never got to perform live.
In 1990, during McCartney's first performance in Liverpool since Lennon's death, he performed "Strawberry Fields Forever" in a medley with the Beatles' "Help!" and the Plastic Ono Band's "Give Peace A Chance" as a moving tribute to his fallen former partner.
Paul McCartney introduced "Penny Lane" into his live shows on his 1993 world tour.
Peter Gabriel -- Genesis co-founder and solo superstar -- turns 73 today (February 13th). Gabriel, along with Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, and Anthony Phillips, formed the band in 1967 when the musicians were still teens and attending the prestigious Charterhouse School, in Godalming, Surrey. Gabriel, who became the leading theatrical early-'70s live performer with his mastery of makeup and wardrobe, quit the band in 1975 following their 1974 double-album set, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway and its subsequent tour.
Back in November, Peter Gabriel announced a 22-date European tour to coincide with the still-to-be-revealed spring release of his latest album, titled I/O. The dates mark his first tour since his 2016 joint trek with Sting.
A North American itinerary and the release date of I/O will follow soon. Joining Gabriel on the road will be longtime bandmates bassist Tony Levin, guitarist David Rhodes, and drummer Manu Katché.
Beginning in 1977, Gabriel has received global acclaim as a solo artist, releasing nine studio albums, six live sets, and four soundtracks.
Peter Gabriel will forever be best known for his 1986 So album. So was released on May 19th, 1986 and remains his best-selling album to date. The album topped the British charts and peaked at Number Two, selling over five million units in the U.S. alone.
So spawned three Top 30 hits -- the chart-topping "Sledgehammer" -- which knocked his former Genesis bandmates out of the Number One spot with their "Invisible Touch" -- "In Your Eyes (#26), and "Big Time" (#8). "Sledgehammer" remains the most played video in MTV history.
2019 saw the release of Peter Gabriel's latest compilation, titled Rated PG. The 10-track collection spotlights Gabriel's songs written specifically for and/or featured in various big screen movie projects over the years. In the album's announcement, Gabriel said, "I have always loved film and any chance I have been offered to work with good film projects and good directors I have jumped at. This is a mixture of songs that have been written for specific films, and existing songs that found an appropriate place in a story. Consequently, there is a mix of different styles and moods."
Among the high profile movies to have featured Gabriel's music are Alan Parker's Birdy from 1985, Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation Of Christ from 1988, Philip Noyce’s 2002 film Rabbit-Proof Fence, Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers from 1994 -- along with the iconic use of "In Your Eyes" in Cameron Crowe's 1989 comedy Say Anything.
Also out now is Peter Gabriel's latest digital compilation album, titled Flotsam And Jetsam. The collection chronicles Gabriel's solo work broken into three eras -- 1976-1985; 1986-1993; and 1994-2016.
The 62-track digital comp spotlights various extended, single-only, dance, instrumental, remix, and live takes of such Gabriel favorites as "Solsbury Hill," "D.I.Y.," "I Don’t Remember," "Shock The Monkey," "I Have The Touch," "Sledgehammer," "In Your Eyes," "Biko," "Digging In The Dirt," among many others. The set opens with Gabriel's 1976 orchestral cover of the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" as featured in the movie, All This And World War II.
Peter Gabriel's iconic and often chameleon-like appearance was saluted in a 2019 photo book. Peter Gabriel: A Life In Vision features rare and never-before-seen shots of the musician from his early days co-founding and fronting Genesis, up through today.
School friend and Genesis bandmate Tony Banks feels that Peter Gabriel's early over-the-top theatrics played a crucial part in gaining the band the attention they otherwise never would've received: ["Well I think the Gabriel thing was very important in the early days, 'cause it gave us an identity and y'know, you kind of stand out from the crowd. There were a lot of other groups who were out there doing the circuit that we were doing. But I think when Peter came on with all his costumes and makeup and everything, it made people remember us, and he was a very important part of our thing. And I think we all enjoyed the sort of, the idea of trying to do more than just play music onstage. We were all conscious of the fact that none of us were what you would call typical rock n' roll performers -- we didn't. . . play with your teeth and everything, so it was a way of kind of getting around it."] SOUNDCUE (:30 OC: . . . getting around it)
We asked Phil Collins why over the years Peter Gabriel always stopping short of committing to a Genesis reunion. Collins said that Gabriel can sometimes take things too seriously: ["I think he's very sensitive -- far more sensitive than we are -- about what it means, y'know? This is just music, great fun to do, whereas Peter, since he left really, has been doing his 'thing,' albeit lots of different things under that umbrella, and I think he's just a little over-cautious sometimes about going back to doing something (that) basically, fundamentally, is just fun."] SOUNDCUE (:21 OC: . . . is just fun)
Peter Gabriel was asked when he realized that So was more going to be a bigger commercial success than his past efforts: ["I think about halfway through the album I started to realize that some of the songs would get through (to the public). Also I think the 'Sledgehammer,' which is a sort of '60s soul rip-off, is a language in which people speak in this country, so I think it's easier to get to."] SOUNDCUE (:14 OC: . . . to get to)
Peter Gabriel admitted that he’s always been in the right place at the right time to help further his craft: ["I just think I’m very fortunate because I’ve worked with extraordinarily people, great musicians. For me, it’s not about rock n’ roll or any label. I think it was (Count) Basie who said, ‘There’s only two kinds of music -- good and bad.’ And that’s what I subscribe to."] SOUNDCUE (:15 OC: . . . I subscribe to)
15-time Grammy winner, Alicia Keys released a stunning video for "Stay," her collaboration with Lucky Daye.
She's seen in a flowy white dress in a white sandy desert sitting at a black grand piano while Daye's performance is oceanside.
The song was purposefully dropped ahead of Valentine's Day and described through her press release as a celebration of "the power of true love."
The romantic song is featured on the deluxe edition of her double-album set, Keys II.
TL;DR:
Legendary songwriter Burt Bacharach, died at age 94 on February 8th, No cause of death was announced.
Burt Bacharach and his songwriting partner, the late-Hal David, met singer Dionne Warwick while they were working on a session for the Drifters, and she became their "go-to" singer for demos. Eventually, they wrote and produced 20 Top 40 hits for Warwick, seven of which hit the Top 10. Among their landmark songs were "I Say A Little Prayer," "Walk On By," and "I'll Never Fall In Love Again."
Other Bacharach-David hits include Herb Alpert's Number One "This Guy's In Love With You," Tom Jones' "What's New Pussycat," Gene Pitney's "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," Jackie DeShannon's "What The World Needs Now Is Love," B.J. Thomas's "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head," and Dusty Springfield's "The Look Of Love."
After his split with David, Bacharach scored songwriting hits with wife Carole Bayer Sager, including Christopher Cross's "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)," Neil Diamond's "Heartlight," Roberta Flack's "Making Love," Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald's "On My Own," and Dionne and Friends' "That's What Friends Are For."
Bacharach won three Oscars for the music he did for movies, and was nominated for three more, for films including Arthur, Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, Alfie, and Casino Royale.
At the time of his death Bacharach and Elvis Costello -- along with Emmy Award-nominated writer and Two And A Half Men creator Chuck Lorre -- were currently collaborating on a Broadway adaption of Bacharach and Costello's 1998 album, Painted From Memory, with an eye towards a Broadway run. No opening date or location has been announced. Bachrarach & Costello had recently released a collection of their collaborations, titled, Songs Of Bacharach & Costello.
In 2013, Bacharach was the subject of a PBS special Burt Bacharach's Music: My Best; published his autobiography, Anyone Who Had A Heart: My Life And Music; and released the career-spanning CD collection, The Art Of The Songwriter: Anyone Who Had A Heart - The Best Of Burt Bacharach.
Burt Bacharach was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and as a child moved to Queens, New York. By the age of 12, he had studied cello, drums, and piano -- although at the time he hated it. Bacharach hoped to play pro football, but was considered too small for the game.
As a teenager, Bacharach used a fake ID to sneak into New York clubs and watch jazz legends like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. While in the Army, he played piano at the officers club on Governor's Island in New York Harbor, and in concerts at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and later became the accompanist for the legendary Marlene Dietrich.
Burt Bacharach recently told us he was proud of the effort he put into writing his greatest songs: "The songs maybe were a little sophisticated, a little urban, y'know? I think the durability may be because I made the music a little more complicated, so it took a little longer to digest, and therefore it lasted a little bit longer. And it's still with us. I'm very grateful for it."
Although Bacharach was best known now for writing in the adult contemporary vein, he said that he's pretty much open to composing in all genres: "Some music I have difficulty with. I mean, I'm just partial to certain areas of music that I've always loved, Brazilian music, Cuban music. . . I mean you always just have to keep your ears open and your heart open and don't get bogged down into the way it was 20 years ago, y'know?"
Michael McDonald has been a lifelong fan of Bacharach's and covered "Walk On By" on his 2008 collection, Soul Speak. He told us that what Bacharach was creating musically back in the '60s is still advanced -- even by today's standards: "Burt Bacharach was a writer that probably, if you asked most A&R people before his great success, they would say, 'Oh, this guy is way too sophisticated for the pop radio audience.' His music verges on jazz and pulls on so many worldly elements that people in America don't understand: bossa nova, odd time signatures, y'know, things like that." ( :22 OC: . . things like that)
Unlike other artists who looked to Bob Dylan and the Beatles to define the 1960's for him, Barry Manilow credited Bacharach for inspiring him throughout his early years: "The '60s was the era where I actually got it. The '50s was really more my parents' era, y'know, I watched, I watched from afar. But the '60s was really more my era. Anything Bacharach did affected me more than anything else, because he's such a brilliant songwriter. He chooses melodies that don't belong, that shouldn't work. They should not work, and they work better than anything."
2006 was a bittersweet one for Bacharach. His latest album, titled At This Time, won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album. Then in December of that year, Bacharach's daughter Nikki, from his marriage to Angie Dickinson, committed suicide, after having suffered for years with Asperger Syndrome.
In 2009 Brian Wilson, who's idolized Bacharach work for over 40 years, finally got to collaborate with Bacharach on an original song -- something he told us was literally a dream come true: "'What Love Can Do' -- I found that to be very fun, I felt very honored to be in his presence, 'cause he's probably my favorite music maker of all time, and I just loved working with him. I wrote the verse, and he wrote the choruses."
Frequent Eagles collaborator, singer-songwriter J.D. Souther, recently told us that he'd been working on new material with Bacharach: "It's a little daunting, Y'know, I'm stepping into some big shoes as a lyricist. But it's great fun, he's a brilliant musician, and a great guy -- he's a teddy bear."
Shortly before his 2012 death, we asked Hal David what he believed his and Burt Bacharach's most successful collaboration was: "'I Say A Little Prayer' is tremendous, 'What The World Needs Now' has become now, just enormous. If I had to say which was our biggest, at this point, I'd say, 'The Look Of Love.'"
Graham Nash has broken his silence regarding the death of his estranged partner, David Crosby. "Croz" passed on last January 19th of undisclosed causes at the age of 81. Although the pair had not been on speaking terms for several years, in a new interview with AARP, Nash revealed that Crosby has recently reached out and was looking forward to hashing things out with the man he often referred to as his musical soulmate.
Nash explained that about a week-and-a-half prior to his death, Crosby had called him: "He had sent me a voicemail saying that he wanted to talk to apologize, and could we set up a time to talk. I emailed him back and said, 'Okay, call me at eleven o'clock tomorrow your time, which is two o'clock on the East Coast.' He never called, and then he was gone."
When pressed as to whether he believes that Crosby wanted to connect because he felt the end was near, Nash admitted, "Y'know, I've thought about that myself. He was a very intelligent man. I wouldn't put it past him to know that he was actually at the very end. The truth is, we've been expecting David to pass for 20 years."
Nash went on to say, "His death is like an earthquake: You know that you're in an earthquake, but subsequently, other smaller earthquakes happen afterwards. His death has been like that. It was only two or three days after he passed that I realized that he was actually gone."
Nash, like Crosby's fans, is still unsure of his friend's cause of death: "I'm still waiting to find out if there is a memorial or a service for David. Nobody quite knows exactly when he died or what he died of. I know he had COVID for a second time right after he was in rehearsals."
Regarding the fact that Crosby reached out to him just prior to his death after all had gone down between them provides solace from Nash: "It was very significant for me. It made David's death a little easier for me, because I realized that we were going to get together later in his life. Crosby was my dear friend, my best friend for over 50 years. I can only concentrate on the good stuff. . . if he was willing to call me and apologize for what he had done and how he had hurt me, it made his death a little easier for me to accept.
Back in 2019, while at the Sundance Film Festival promoting Remember My Name, Crosby spoke with TheWrap.com and was asked about what he would say to his estranged friend and partner, Graham Nash: "'Probably tell him that I love him, 'cause that's the highest of the emotions that I feel about it. That's the best that I got. We sing wonderfully together and we made incredibly good music together. All four of us in that band have been horrible to each other (laughs) many times. One of us has left another of us in the middle of a tour, just hangin' -- 'See ya, bye! Deal with it' We've done a lot of weird beep to each other. So, if I had a chance to talk to him, I'd sit down and say, 'Hey, y'know, I haven't changed, I'm still the same beep - beep you started with in the first place.'"
12 a.m.-5 a.m.
