Classic Hits

Simply Red frontman Mick Hucknall is set to be honored with the Golden Note Award, handed out by the performers’ rights organization American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

The award will celebrate Simply Red’s 40th anniversary.

“Mick Hucknall has made an indelible mark on a generation with his impassioned vocals and classic songwriting,” ASCAP Chairman of the Board and President Paul Williams shares. “His singular mix of soul, funk and pop sounds made him a master of blue-eyed soul. We are thrilled to present him with the ASCAP Golden Note Award.”

Hucknall will be honored during a ceremony to be held June 17 in London.

Simply Red is best known in the U.S. for their 1985 hit “Holding Back the Years,” which went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. They’ve gone on to sell 60 million albums worldwide.

Hucknall is hitting the road this fall to celebrate 40 years of Simply Red. The tour, which includes stops in the U.K. and Europe, kicks off Sept. 20 in Belfast. A complete list of dates can be found at SimplyRed.com.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Billy Idol has shared a funny anecdote about a Saturday Night Live sketch in which Sting did an impersonation of him.

In an interview with The Ankler, Idol was asked about the 1991 sketch “The Sinatra Group,” where Phil Hartman as Frank Sinatra hosted a talk show where he interviewed a variety of guests, including Sting as Idol. 

Idol says he thought the sketch was “very funny” and shares that he was told that Sting’s wife, Trudie Styler, was a big fan of her husband’s impersonation.

“Sting’s wife, Trudie, told me that when he went into the dressing room after playing me, she got him to have sex with [her] as me,” Idol shares. “So that was a great caveat to the sketch. She said, ‘F*** me as Billy Idol.’ And he did.”

Idol is the subject of a new documentary, Billy Idol Should Be Dead, which will have its premiere at the Tribeca Festival on Tuesday, where he’ll also perform.

“I think the documentary has got a depth to it, as we really worked on it over quite a long period of time,” he tells the outlet. “I think it’s a really great documentary that shows a lot of aspects of my life.”

As for not holding anything back in the film, he shares, “You just have to own it and you realize what happened, whatever it was, the drug addiction or whatever else and own the different periods of my life. It all led to something: The bad stuff and the good stuff somehow ended up fusing [into] the music I’ve made.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Deep Purple’s 18th studio album, Rapture of the Deep, will be reissued for its 20th anniversary.

A remixed and remastered version of the album will be released Aug. 29, with new artwork and bonus material made up of never-before-heard instrumental takes and studio rehearsal recordings. Among those tracks is a tune called “Closing Time,” written by the band’s then-guitarist Steve Morse, which is getting its first-ever release.

The new mix of the album was handled by Deep Purple’s bassist Roger Glover, who notes of the release, “It’s a new album now to me.”

As a preview of what to expect, the band has shared the new remix of the track “Junkyard Blues” to digital services.

Released in the U.S. on Nov. 1, 2005, Rapture of the Deep was the band’s fourth studio album with Morse and the second with keyboardist Don Airey. Glover notes in a press release the band was “going through a bit of a hard time when we started the songwriting and production of Rapture of the Deep.”

“Strangely enough, we didn’t have a record company at that point,” he says. “Let’s face it, we were a bit lost.”

Rapture of the Deep 20th Anniversary Remix will be available on CD, as a three-LP black vinyl and as a limited-edition three-LP transparent sky blue vinyl. It is available for preorder now.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Talking Heads frontman David Byrne made a surprise appearance at New York’s Governor’s Ball on Saturday.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer came out during pop star Olivia Rodrigo’s headlining set, joining her for Talking Heads’ 1983 hit “Burning Down the House,” with Olivia in red and Byrne in red-and-white. The two even performed some choreography to the song. You can see fan-shot video of the performance on social media.

Considering the fact that a downpour delayed the start of Olivia’s set by an hour, it’s fitting that the song includes the line, “Hold tight, we’re in for nasty weather.”

This has been a busy week for Talking Heads: On Thursday, they released the first-ever video for their iconic tune “Psycho Killer.” The release marked the 50th anniversary of their live debut at CBGB in New York, during which they opened for the Ramones.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Rod Stewart continues to battle health issues.

After coming down with the flu, Stewart had to scrap two shows of his Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace: One was rescheduled and the other was canceled. Now, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just announced that his illness has further impacted his tour schedule.

“I have to cancel and reschedule my next six concerts in June as I continue to recover from the flu,” Stewart shared on Instagram. “So sorry my friends. I am devastated and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience to my fans.”

He added, “I’ll be back on stage and will see you soon.”

Canceled shows include his next three concerts at The Colosseum — June 7, 9, and 10 — as well as his June 14 show in Stateline, Nevada. He also moving his June 12 show in Rancho Mirage, California to Sept. 20, and his June 15 Paso Robles, California show to Sept. 21.

Stewart is set to return to the stage to play the Legends slot June 29 at the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival. His tour returns to the U.S. on July 5 in Pittsburgh. A complete list of dates can be found at RodStewart.com.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Talking Heads just released the first-ever music video for “Psycho Killer.” Its director, Mike Mills, who helmed the Ewan McGregor/Christopher Plumber film Beginners, is revealing his thought process behind the concept.

“The last thing you want to do is pin down or reduce what the song is about. The song is so much more than being psychotic or killing,” Mills tells Vulture. “At first, I was totally daunted. I was like, How the f*** do you make a video for ‘Psycho Killer’ for my art heroes? It’s impossible. I can’t think of that idea, it’s too hard.”

“Then walking down my hallway, the idea came to me in a flash,” he adds, sharing that the video’s star, Saoirse Ronan, “isn’t at all a psycho killer or anything. It’s the environment and that life and false normality.”

The video follows Ronan through her daily routine; while the routine doesn’t change, she does, slowly unraveling as each day passes.

Mills explains, “There’s something violent in the banality of it all. It’s psychic violence, but it’s still hostile to me. I don’t think normality actually exists. It’s a construct.”

Mills says the band was totally on board with his concept, noting, “They really liked that it wasn’t reducing the meaning of the song. That’s essential to the way they work.”

Mills says both he and Ronan were nervous about the band’s reaction to the final product, but David Byrne soon sent him an email with “Brilliant” in the subject line.

“I didn’t even open the email for five hours because I was like, That’s enough. That’s a beautiful gift. I’ll just keep it at that, who knows what’s inside,” he says. “My response was, Okay, great, I don’t have to do therapy for at least a year.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood made an appearance at the band’s official store on London’s Carnaby Street Thursday as part of a celebration of his 50 years with the band.

“From memorable stage looks to legendary guitars and iconic art prints, we marked the milestone with a look back at five decades of rock ’n’ roll,” the store wrote on Instagram next to video from the evening, which shows Wood checking out some of the memorabilia on display.

Wood also debuted new artwork, titled 50 – The Portraits, featuring drawings of himself and his bandmates Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and the late Charlie Watts.

Canvas prints of the collection are now available to purchase online and at the Carnaby Street store. There’s also a limited-edition set of all four prints that comes with a 7-inch never-before-heard demo made by Ronnie. The sets are all individually named, numbered and hand signed.

Following Mick Taylor‘s departure from The Stones, Wood took part in their recording session for their 1975 album Black and Blue and went on to tour with the band that year. He became an official member of The Stones in April 1976.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

While many Billy Joel fans know that his first wife, Elizabeth Weber, was originally married to his bandmate Jon Small, they may not be aware that Elizabeth and Jon had a son, Sean Weber-Small, who lived with Billy and Elizabeth during their marriage. In the new Billy Joel documentary And So It Goes, part one of which premiered Wednesday at the Tribeca Festival, Sean and Elizabeth open up for the first time about their relationship with The Piano Man.

“My mother and I have been silent about any of our time with Billy since really 1983,” Sean tells People. “Those memories we had, they were ours. So I’ve kind of felt like by talking about them, it would kind of cheapen them somehow, if that makes any weird sense.”

As for why they’re speaking now, Sean says, “My mom didn’t get her due for a long time and kept her mouth shut, and kind of, in my opinion, took the high road. So people are going to get to hear her story and our story.”

While he, his mom and Billy lived together as a family, Sean tells People, “Billy was always really clear that I had a dad. He wasn’t my dad.” He described Billy as more of a “conspiratorial uncle” with whom he was “always getting into trouble.”

Sean says after Billy and Elizabeth split, he would see Billy if they happened to be in the same place at the same time, and also kept in touch via phone and email. He says looking back on his time with Billy via the film has been “healing.”

And So It Goes, which will premiere on HBO in July, also details Billy’s two pre-fame suicide attempts, his drinking and his reckless behavior with motorcycles. 

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Former Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell is back with new music.

Campbell and his band The Dirty Knobs just released the new tune “Heart of a Heartland,” which he says is a song “he’s very proud of.”

“It’s kind of like a travelogue through the middle of America,” Campbell shares on Instagram. “The music is very simple, but the lyrics refer to a lot of American landscapes and sentiments. Many of the images are drawn from things I’ve seen in my travels through the heartland over the years.”

He adds, “It was also really fun to have strings on the song, thanks to Patrick Warren’s arrangement.”

The tune is the first new song from Campbell and The Dirty Knobs since they released the 2024 album Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits. They just kicked off a new tour, which hits Toronto on Saturday. A complete list of dates can be found at TheDirtyKnobs.com.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Walk This Road, the Doobie Brothers‘ first album of original material with Michael McDonald since 1980, is out now. It’s named after a song called “Walk This Road,” a track about unity and coexistence that features Mavis Staples. McDonald explains why the song’s theme made it the right album title.

“With titles for records, we were always looking for … something that encapsulates the idea of the whole project, or at least an idea of where you are as an artist at that moment,” he tells ABC Audio. “And I think for us, it checked a few boxes: A. That we’re back together in a form that we haven’t been [before] and kind of trudging this road together once again.”

McDonald, the voice behind Doobie hits like “What a Fool Believes” and “Minute by Minute,” adds that the title “seemed to, in the immediate sense, speak to us as a band, as individuals getting back together to do a record again.” In addition, it represents “where we’re at in the big picture, as a people.”

The Walk This Road lineup also features founding members Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons, plus John McFee, who joined in 1979. McDonald and Johnston previously overlapped for one album — 1976’s Taking It to the Streets — so Simmons says Walk This Road was “an opportunity for those two to connect musically.”

“They’re both real R&B freaks. So being able to employ that on this record really made a difference in terms of just the enjoyment factor,” he says.

And Simmons also appreciates having McDonald back in the mix.

“A lot of people often, rightly so, talk about what a wonderful voice Mike has, and that’s kind of been what gets spotlighted a lot in his music,” says Simmons. “But he is a heck of a keyboard player.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.