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Ex-Judas Priest vocalist Tim Ripper Owens says that he never got a call from his former bandmates about them finally getting inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.

He told Rolling Stone: "It's a shame that the hall can't bring in members that were in the band almost 10 years and had a Grammy nomination, two studio records, two live records, and a DVD.

He went on to say "What gets me more than anything is that I haven't even gotten a call from Judas Priest on it. There's never been a call saying, 'You were a big part of this. Here's the reasons you're not being inducted, but you were a big part of us and you're a big part of the family.' There wasn't even a phone call."

Owens joined the band in 1996 to replace Rob Halford, who has since rejoined.

According to the Hall of Fame, the members that will get inducted include current members Halford, Ian Hill (bass),Glenn Tipton (guitar) and Scott Travis (drums),along with former members K.K. Downing (guitar),Les Binks (drums) and late drummer Dave Holland.

The ceremony will be held on November 5, in Los Angeles and will air on HBO.

TL;DR:

• Ex-Judas Priest vocalist Tim Ripper Owens says that he never got a call from his former bandmates about them finally getting inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.
• Owens joined the band in 1996 to replace Rob Halford, who has since rejoined.
• The ceremony will be held on November 5, in Los Angeles and will air on HBO.

Lady Gaga kicked off her Chromatica Ball tour in Germany Sunday (July 17th) night, revealing the set list for the highly anticipated tour.

According to Vulture, she includes classic hits like "Bad Romance," Shallow," "Monster" and "Rain on Me" but omits tracks from her 2013 album Artpop and her 2016 album Joanne.

The tour was originally planned for June 2020 but was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

She wrote on Twitter Friday (July 15th), "There was a time I thought I'd never be on stage again. I was so sad I couldn't even dream anything but a painful nightmare. I've overcome my nightmare with love, support, trust, truth, bravery, talent and dedication. I am so grateful. I'll see you in BABYLON."

The first trailer for In The Soop: Friendcation dropped Monday (July 18th).

The clip shows BTS' V having a family-style dinner with rapper Peakboy, Parasite star Choi Woo-shik, and actors Park Hyung-sik, and Park Seo-joon.

The docuseries, which follows the group as they connect and spend time together in the woods, will have a total of four episodes.

In The Soop: Friendcation will first air on Korean TV networks on July 22nd, and will later arrive on Disney+ in select areas.

Billie Eilish wants her fans to vote in the midterm elections.

The star told Rolling Stone that she is partnering with the non-profit voter registration organization HeadCount.

She said in a statement to the outlet, "I'm working with HeadCount to encourage everyone to show up at the polls and use their voice during these midterm elections. With what is going on in our country, we need to get out to the polls and vote for what we believe in. Not showing up is not an option."

Fans who check their voter registration status through HeadCount can also win a chance to travel to New Zealand and Australia to see Eilish perform.

Halsey's makeup brand ‘af94' will launch next week.

The singer announced on Instagram Monday (July 18th) that the "cute bratty younger sibling" of their about-face beauty brand will be available at Walmart and Walmart.com starting July 25th.

According to Halsey, the line is full of "fun, easy and accessible products." They added, "I promise, you're going to want them all."

Each item in the clean, vegan and cruelty-free collection is under $10.

Journey will be back on the road early next year to promote its new, critically acclaimed studio set, Freedom. The band is currently on tour in support of the new album, which marks their first new music in 11 years.

Journey's Freedom has made quite a showing on the assorted Billboard charts: #2 Current Digital Albums; #3 Current Album Sales; #3 Internet Albums; and #88 Billboard 200.

Keyboardist and songwriter Jonathan Cain shed light on what next year will bring for the band: "We'll be out early next year. We'll be out in February. We're gonna tour the secondary markets, y'know, the Savannah, Georgia's and stuff -- and that'll be interesting , 'cause there have been places we haven't been in a long time. And playin' the arenas has been fun. I think we're a pretty good arena band."

Pink takes on The Supreme Court in the new video for her single "Irrelevant".

In the visual, released on Monday (July 18th), the singer blends self-filmed clips of her recording sessions along with images of protests from the Civil Rights Movement and videos of marches in support of #MeToo, LGBTQIA+ rights, Black Lives Matter, and calls for an end to gun violence.

Rolling Loud founder Tariq Cherif has spoken out about Kanye West pulling out of Rolling Loud Miami. Cherif took to social media to reveal that he "tried to convince Ye to stay." Cherif added, "He wasn't having it." When followers bought up Travis Scott, Cherif said, "Venue won't allow Travis because of astroworld deaths." He later told TMZ that he deleted the tweets about Travis Scott because "it simply was not accurate.

Rolling Loud reportedly asked Scott to headline the event but unfortunately, the timing didn't work out. TMZ reported that "Tariq's comment on Instagram appears to have been made out of frustration from negative posts from festival-goers demanding Travis."

Just published is the first-ever standalone biography of the late-Andy Gibb. The unauthorized Arrow Through The Heart: The Biography Of Andy Gibb by author Matthew Hild features new and exclusive interview with friends and colleagues shedding new and important light on the doomed pop sensation. Gibb, the kid brother of the Bee Gees, died only five days after his 30th birthday from an inflammatory heart virus exacerbated by years of substance abuse.

Andy Gibb, who was almost a decade younger than his brothers, had desperately wanted to become part of the group, but because of his age he missed out on the Bee Gees' first era of success in the late-'60s. By the time he was 19, he had emigrated from Australia to be with his brothers, who helped him sign with Robert Stigwood, who managed the group and owned their record label, RSO.

Success for Andy came fast, with his brother Barry's songwriting and producing help. He racked up three Number One hits -- "I Just Want To Be Your Everything" in 1977, and "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water" and "Shadow Dancing" in 1978 -- all before his 21st birthday.

In the mid-'80s, after the hits had dried up, Andy was able to take a long hard look at what his brothers had famously termed "First Fame": "It certainly made me very spoiled. I thought that it was always going to be that way and there would always be those Number One hit records and stuff. Also, I mean, y'know, I'd be foolish to deny it -- you suddenly do get an ego and you've got to come back down to Earth and control that. It was a pretty wild roller coaster ride for those two or three years."

Eldest brother, Barry Gibb recalled his last heartbreaking conversation with his baby brother: "The last thing that happened between me and Andy was an argument, which is devastating for me, because I have to live with that all my life. And there was a phone call between him and me and I was, sort of, saying, 'Yeah, you've really gotta get your act together. . .' and '. . . this is no good.' Instead of being gentle about it -- I was angry, because someone had said to me at one point -- 'Tough love is the answer,' y'know? So, for me, it wasn't, because that was the last conversation we had. That's my regret. That's what I live with."

Andy Gibb was survived by his daughter, his brothers, his sister Leslie, and his late-parents Barbara and Hugh.

It was 42 years ago today that Billy Joel scored his first Number One single when "It's Still Rock And Roll To Me" hit the top spot for the first of two weeks. The song, which was the second single pulled from his multi-platinum, six-week chart-topping Glass Houses album, followed the set's lead single, "You May Be Right" -- a major hit that peaked at Number Seven.

Prior to "It's Still Rock And Roll To Me," the closest Billy had gotten to Number One were a pair Top Three hits -- 1978's "My Life" and the previous year's "Just The Way You Are" -- which did hit Number One on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. In the following years, although Billy Joel scored 16 more Top 20 singles, he only returned to Number One twice more -- first with 1983's "Tell Her About It" and 1989's "We Didn't Start The Fire."

In 1979 when Billy Joel was composing the songs for the following year's Glass Houses collection, he made a concerted effort to write and record more "arena friendly" material: "We had now had about two, three years of playing in arenas and coliseums. And I recognized that need to write bigger music. Songs like 'Just The Way You Are,' 'Honesty' -- ballads -- they don't always fly that well in an arena. You need big sound. So I started writing harder-edged songs; more guitar-based songs -- 'Sometimes A Fantasy,' 'It's Still Rock And Roll To Me,' 'You May Be Right,' 'Close To The Borderline,' 'All For Leyna.' The band loved playing it, audiences loved the material that was on the recording, and we were on a roll."

Glass Houses hit Number One on June 14th, 1980, ending Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band's own six-week run with Against The Wind. Billy was knocked out of the top spot by the Rolling Stones' then-new album, Emotional Rescue -- which bested both Billy and Seger by holding down the Number One position for seven straight weeks. All told, Glass Houses stayed in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 for 25 weeks.

Two more singles were pulled from Glass Houses -- "Don't Ask Me Why," which peaked at Number 19 -- but was a two-week chart-topper on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart; and the album's final single -- "Sometimes A Fantasy," which barely squeaked into the Top 40, stalling at Number 39. In the UK "All For Leyna" was released as a single and also underperformed, stalling at Number 39.

In 1981, Glass Houses snagged the Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance - Male. He had been nominated for the coveted Album Of The Year prize, but lost out to Christopher Cross' self-titled debut. In 1981, Glass Houses won the American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Album.

It was 68 years ago today (July 19th, 1954) that Sun Records released the first Elvis Presley single, "That's All Right" backed with "Blue Moon Of Kentucky." The songs, which both scored on the country charts, featured Presley on acoustic guitar and vocals, Bill Black on double bass, and Scotty Moore on lead guitar. The single broke new ground, mixing R&B, country, and rockabilly, and is widely regarded as the first rock n' roll single.

"That's All Right" was originally written and recorded by one of Presley's main inspirations, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, with "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" already on its way to becoming a bluegrass classic by Bill Monroe & his Blue Grass Boys.

Paul McCartney, who has covered the song several times over the years, with the Beatles, as a solo artist, and with Scotty Moore, and DJ Fontana, says that the birth of rock n' roll not only changed his life but the world at large: "It was America reawakening the world 'cause, y'know, we were into sort of other stuff then, and suddenly Elvis, Little Richard came screaming out of across the Atlantic, y'know, and it was just so exciting for us all. That is a very exciting time, so to remember it was very exciting, but also being a teenager at that time was a very exciting, interesting time."

Jerry Schilling -- proud member of Elvis' "Memphis Mafia" -- and producer of the recent HBO documentary Elvis Presley: The Searcher, recalled to us first hearing the song on DJ Dewey Phillips' radio show back in Memphis: "I'm listening to the show -- it came on at nine o'clock and went until midnight. And he plays this record from a boy from Humes High School, which my cousins were going to right then, my mother had gone to Humes. I could literally see from my grade school Humes High -- and vice versa. So when he said that, I was really listening. And not only that -- it was a great record."

"That's All Right" was one of the few songs Sun-era songs that Presley continued to perform throughout his career. Before the song "C.C. Rider" became his official opening number in 1970, the majority of Presley's' 1969 "comeback" concerts in Las Vegas opened with either "Blue Suede Shoes" or "That's All Right."

Back on February 25th, 1970 during a rare press conference in Houston, Elvis spoke about his deepest musical influences: "I like all different types of music when I was a child. Of course, the Grand Ole Opry was the first thing I ever heard, probably. But, I like the blues and I liked the gospel music. Gospel quartets and all that."

During his 2012 keynote address at Austin's South By Southwest music festival, Bruce Springsteen broke down the cultural importance of Elvis Presley's early career: "Elvis was the first modern, 20th century man. He was a precursor of the sexual revolution, of the civil rights revolution, drawn from the same Memphis as Martin Luther King, creating fundamental outsider art that would be embraced by a mainstream popular culture."

Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa are first time grandparents with the recent birth of granddaughter Lily Harper Springsteen. Scialfa posted a shot of the couple's youngest son, 28-year-old New Jersey firefighter Sam Springsteen and his fiancee with the caption "Walking the baby" alongside another more traditional shot of the family's newest addition.

The post elicited congratulations from both Tom Morello and Eddie Vedder's wife, Jill.

Last August, the Springsteen's middle child, daughter Jessica, earned a silver medal in the team jumping final at Equestrian Park at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The couple's eldest child, Evan is a musician as well as working at SiriusXM Radio as a program director and festival producer.

Back in 2007, when Patti Scialfa was heading out on the road with the E Street Band in support of "The Boss'" Magic album, we asked if her and Bruce's kids were used to having parents whose "office" is out on the road: "Yeah, of course. We've been touring since they were young, and when they were born they were always out on the road, now they have a pretty big life of their own and school -- so they don't like to leave school now. And sometimes I can drag them out on a weekend. They don't want to be on the road right now. In the summer they like the road, 'cause they can bring a friend and they're free. But usually they miss a lot of schoolwork and they don't like that. And then they have their own lives and their own friends. So, we're home every three days."

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band kick of their 2023 tour dates on February 1st at Tampa, Florida's Amalie Arena.

Fans are excited to see Britney Spears back in action. On Friday, she sang an a cappella, deeper and slower version of her 1998 classic, "Baby One More Time."

She captioned her IG post: "I haven't shared my voice in an extremely long time … maybe too long … and here's me playing at my house with a different version of ‘Baby.'"

Spears added: "Well I have asked for what I wanted for 14 years … a different version of ‘Baby' but have the producers actually work for me and put it together … a start …"

"I love your natural voice but I love more seeing you comfortable showing it to the world," one fan commented.

Another fan added, "Your deep natural voice is the best."

"Hit me with those vocals queen," another wrote.

On Friday night (July 15th) at Vienna, Austria's Ernst Happel Stadium, the Rolling Stones welcomed a pair of Ukrainian children's choirs to back them on their 1969 standard, "You Can't Always Get What You Want." Rolling Stone reported, "The Dzvinochok Boys Choir and Vognyk Girls Choir traveled from Kyiv despite the ongoing war with Russia" -- with Mick Jagger explaining to the crowd about the 15-hour trek the singers took to perform: "They came long way to be here tonight. They drove all the way."

Mick Jagger has had 60 years of experience playing every type of show -- from the unannounced to the spectacle, from the club gig to the Super Bowl. He maintains that no two types of shows are alike -- nor should they be: "On later tours, I've noticed you don't want to do the same ones and if you do it tends not to work quite so well. It's hard to do. . . Y'know, you go from the Fox Theatre, Atlanta to, y'know, a 90,000-seat stadium, it's very different. And your attitude towards the audience is different. You go into the Fox Theatre doing what you do at Anaheim, it looks absolutely stupid, and you have to really pull back so the audience can see your eyes and you can see their eyes (laughs). It's a completely different feeling."

Axl Rose took to Twitter to thank Guns N' Roses fans as the band wrapped their European tour. Blabbermouth reported, in addition to thanking the tour's special guest Carrie Underwood, Rose saluted late-Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins and dedicated the leg to him. He also used the opportunity to publicly slam Russian President Vladimir Putin calling him, "a callous, lying, murderous, little man."

Axl Rose's tweet, which was posted in several parts, reads in full:

I'd like to thank everyone that came out to r shows in Europe!! U were AMAZING!! We hope u had fun n' hope to see u again sooner than later!! I also want to thank everyone in London for being so understanding of r challenges and apologize again to r fans in Scotland for having to postpone r performance there. Rescheduling or being forced to cancel rn't things that r done lightly especially with r fans, the size of the endeavor and everyone from the fans, the cities, the venue's, the promoters, the crews n' everyone involved taken very seriously into consideration.

I'd like to thank Carrie Underwood and her team for coming all the way to the UK for r shows at Tottingham (sic)!! YEAH!!! She's AMAZING!! AND in this case a REAL lifesaver!! At least someone could sing!!

It's just a simple gesture n' it's awkward dealing with the gravity of something like this but in an effort to pay r respects we'd like to dedicate this tour to our friend Taylor Hawkins. Taylor was a really great guy and it was always great to see him! He was a great n' always welcome part of touring these last few years! This is such a horrible thing and r hearts go out to his family, friends, band mates and everyone who love him.

I'd also like to thank everyone for showing such love and support during the tour for the people of Ukraine and their noble and horrifying fight for freedom against an increasingly totalitarian regime ran by a callous, lying, murderous, little man with outdated ambitions and no regard for human life.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in South America!! See you SOON!!!

Guns N' Roses kicks off their South American tour on September 1st in Manaus, Brazil at Arena da Amazonia.

Drake took to Instagram to confirm that he did have an encounter with police in Sweden. As previously reported, last week, rumors hit that Drake was arrested for having marijuana in Sweden. After the rap superstar starting trending, his team released a statement, saying that he was never arrested and that he had been asleep during the time that he was trending on social media.

However, yesterday (July 17th), Drake took to Instagram and posted a recep of his trip, along with a letter with the Swedish National Police Board's logo on the top left corner. The sheet was titled, "Information for Those Suspected of a Crime and Subsequently Obtained."

The letter was laid out into two parts: the rights and the consequences. Under the "You have the right to" column, a few of the options were, "...know what it is you are suspected of and why you are being obtained; ... receive food and rest as needed; ... receive the assistance of an interpreter during interrogations, as needed."

Below the "What is going to happen?" portion, it read, "... An interrogation will be held with you as soon as possible; ...If the prosecutor requests a court trial, you will be notified of this at once."

Ricky Martin's lawyer is responding to reports that he could face decades in prison over domestic violence charges filed by his nephew, People reports.

"Unfortunately, the person who made this claim is struggling with deep mental health challenges. Ricky Martin has, of course, never been — and would never be — involved in any kind of sexual or romantic relationship with his nephew," Marty Singer, attorney for the singer told the mag.

He continued, "The idea is not only untrue, it is disgusting. We all hope that this man gets the help he so urgently needs. But, most of all, we look forward to this awful case being dismissed as soon as a judge gets to look at the facts."

This came after his ex-manager Rebecca Drucker sued Martin for more than $3 million in what she said were unpaid commissions.

Gwen Stefani is getting blowback on social media for her appearance in Sean Paul's new "Light My Fire" video. In the video, the No Doubt singer dons dreadlocks and the colors of the Jamaican flag.

"Ahhhh Gwen Stefani went back to her Jamaican roots. Nature is really healing," wrote one critic.

Kanye West is no longer headlining the first night of Rolling Loud Miami 2022. The festival announced the news in a statement, saying "Due to circumstances outside of our control, Ye will no longer be performing at Rolling Loud Miami 2022." Kid Cudi will replace Ye as the headliner. Rolling Loud: Miami is going down July 22nd-July 24th.

AMBER ROSE WAS NOT SUPRISED THAT KANYE AND KIM KARDASHIAN DIVORCED

In other news, during an interview with the It's Tricky with Raquel Harper Show, Amber Rose revealed that she wasn't surprised when Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from her ex Kanye West. She said, "I don't have any feelings about it. Of course. I mean I always hope for the best, for people to be happy. I have my own issues and feelings about how I feel our relationship was." She continued, "I never really had any ill feelings like, ‘I hope they get divorced!' or ‘He gon' get his day!' I was kinda just happy in my marriage at the time with Wiz, or even after just doing my thing, so I never really thought about them much."

Paul McCartney's 1991 concert film Get Back will finally be released on Blu-ray on August 17th. The film, which saw theatrical release back in the day also be reissued on DVD, and according Noise11.com will not feature any bonus features. The movie was directed by Richard Lester, best known for his work with the Beatles on their first two movies -- 1964's A Hard Day's Night, 1965's Help!, and John Lennon's 1967 film, How I Won The War.

Get Back features performances from Paul McCartney's 1989/1990 world tour, which marked his first concert dates in a decade.

The '89/'90 tour saw Paul McCartney fully embracing his Beatles past -- performing many songs the "Fab Four" never performed live. After such a long time away from the concert stage, McCartney explained how he came about figuring out the 1989 setlist: "What I did was I just sat down and kind of asked myself what I would like to see 'him' play, y'know, if I was just somebody just coming to the show, what I thought I'd like to see the band play. The interesting thing about some of the Beatles stuff was I've never actually performed it onstage before -- and we never got to do it with the Beatles, 'cause we stopped touring at that time. I got up on stage and said 'I've never done this one before.' So that's nice, 'cause they're fresh."

The songlist to Paul McCartney's Get Back concert film:

"Band On The Run"
"Got To Get You Into My Life"
"Rough Ride"
"The Long And Winding Road"
"The Fool On The Hill"
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
"Good Day Sunshine"
"I Saw Her Standing There"
"Put It There"
"Eleanor Rigby"
"Back In The U.S.S.R."
"This One"
"Can't Buy Me Love"
"Coming Up"
"Let It Be"
"Live And Let Die"
"Hey Jude"
"Yesterday"
"Get Back"
"Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End"
"Birthday" - audio only

Taylor Swift's relationship with longtime love Joe Alwyn has always been under wraps. Neither star chooses to comment on their relationship, and they rarely make appearances together.

But that hardly stops the speculation. Recently, the pair were rumored to be engaged and Swift and Alwyn apparently set out to quash those rumors quietly by making an appearance in public together happy, but sans rings.

The pair were spotted in London drinking iced coffees and strolling together.

In was 53 years ago today (July 18th, 1969) that the Doors' released their fourth album -- the band's only extensively orchestrated collection,The Soft Parade.

The album, which originally peaked at Number Six on the Billboard 200 albums chart, featured four singles -- the Robby Krieger-written Top Three hit "Touch Me," which had been released the previous December; "Wishful Sinful," which stalled at Number 44 -- although it hit Number Three in Denmark; the album's lead cut "Tell All The People," which only reached Number 57; and "Runnin' Blue," which topped out at Number 64 on the Billboard Hot 100.

John Densmore told us that from the beginning to the end of the band, the Doors had a chemistry unparalleled: "Ray and I were completely synchronistic in our musical sensibilities. We just. . . intuitive stuff together and backed up Robby's soaring solos and Jim's vocal and. . . we were blessed. We gotta remember that was the muse coming in. Y'know, she just visits when she wants to. Yeah, even with Jim's self destruction, every time we made an album, when we were behind closed doors, there was a sacredness to the four of us."

Robbie Krieger says that looking back, the Doors' short time together was relatively free of ego problems or star trips: "It was really, like, the perfect group, y'know, as far as working together and stuff. There was no ego problems, y'know, and petty jealousies and stuff like that that a lot of groups go through."

Back in 2019, a 50th anniversary edition of The Soft Parade was issued as a triple-CD and one-LP set featuring nearly two hours of unreleased recordings -- including the premiere of the entire "Rock Is Dead" jam.

Happy Birthday to Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Dion DiMucci, who turns 83 today (July 18th)!!! Dion and his original backing group the Belmonts helped bring white doo-wop from the Bronx to the national charts with such hits as "I Wonder Why" and "A Teenager In Love." The group went on to tour nationally, and were co-headliners on the ill-fated "Winter Dance Party" tour that took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson on February 3rd, 1959. Dion went solo from the group in 1960, and immediately scored with hits such as "The Wanderer," "Runaround Sue," "Donna The Prima Donna," "Ruby Baby" -- and later in the decade with "Abraham, Martin, And John."

Dion's latest album, Stomping Ground ,was released on November 5th, 2021. Pete Townshend supplied the liner notes for the set, which includes contributions from such legends as Bruce Springsteen & Patti Scialfa, Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, Mark Knopfler, Bon Scaggs, Billy F. Gibbons, Rickie Lee Jones, Sonny Landreth, Joe Bonamassa, G.E. Smith, Keb' Mo', and many others.

Townshend wrote in the album's notes: "Dion, like a circling star that never fades, generates the energy and fire we need to pull ourselves up and start again. Dion is a star who knows well how to start again, how to keep shining. He looks at his watch every few years. Damn! Let's make a record. Take care. This one will blow those little white things in our ears right into your brain."

In 2020, Dion's album Blues With Friends, hit Number One on both the Billboard Blues Albums, and iTunes Blues Albums charts. The set has also topped the UK's Official Jazz & Blues Albums chart. Joining the Bronx legend for the set are such heavyweights as Bruce Springsteen & Patti Scialfa, Paul Simon, Jeff Beck, Van Morrison, Brian Setzer, Steve Van Zandt, Joe Bonamassa, and Billy F. Gibbons

Recently released is Dion's long lost 1965 collection, Kickin' Child, which was originally recorded for Columbia Records but left unreleased until now.

In 2016, Dion released his critically acclaimed album, New York Is My Home. The collection, which was produced by Conan bandleader Jimmy Vivino, features a duet with Paul Simon on the album's title track. Plans are currently in the works for a jukebox musical based on his life.

Dion told us that the deeper he got into discovering music as a kid, the more similarities he found there to be among various genres: "Country music, it's American music. Blues people must've heard country, country heard blues and putting those two together, that's what we called rock n' roll in the '50s. It just seems that country music was in a major key and blues was in a minor key. Pretty much the same three chords, but only major and minor."

Dion remembered that by the early-'60s, he felt that his music was slowly losing its New York street edge: "I was the first rock n' roll artist signed to Columbia Records and Aretha Franklin was there. And I'd be sitting on a piano stool with her, and we'd be doing Al Jolson songs they had us doing. They had me doing '(My) Mammy' and they had her doing 'Rock-A-Bye My Baby (sic).' They didn't know what to do with us."

One longtime fan who's sure to be catching Dion on the road is old friend Tony Orlando: "He's always been a man of the times; he's always been a visionary. Y'know, he's one of the really great, great performers. Do you know how long I know Dion? I hate to tell you this -- since 1961. And if I see him tomorrow, it's like we never had a week or a day go by. I have great respect for him."

Dion is a native New Yorker and has been spending more time in the "Big Apple" after migrating down south to Florida over 50 years ago: "I've been in Florida a long time. And I don't know if my accent got worse or what, but you'd think you'd lose some of it. But I come back here -- I just got an apartment here. I told (my wife) Susan, I said, 'I go to New York, I feel like I'm part of the mortar.' I went to Florida for a reason; the drugs, the alcohol, I was on a fast track that I would've died. So I kinda ran out of New York and I kinda found salvation down in Florida."

Dion, who had been a heavy drug user since his early teens, finally cleaned up in 1968. The next year, after a five-year chart absence, he scored a Top Ten hit with "Abraham, Martin And John," which eulogized fallen American heroes including President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Throughout the years, Dion has continued to perform in a number of genres, including rock, pop, country, gospel, and blues. He's recorded and performed live with artists such as Phil Spector, Billy Joel, Lou Reed, Paul Simon, Dave Edmunds, Bruce Springsteen, and Steven Van Zandt, among many others.

Dion DiMucci next performs on July 20th at Staten Island, New York's St. George Theatre.