Classic Hits

In addition to being an EGOT winner, Elton John has won two Golden Globe awards in his storied career. That’s why he’s been tapped as a presenter at this year’s Golden Globe Awards ceremony, airing Sunday, Jan. 5, on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

It’s not clear which category Elton will present, but Best Original Song is a safe bet, considering that’s the category he’s won in the past. Other presenters include Dwayne Johnson, Michael Keaton, Catherine O’Hara, Sharon Stone, Viola Davis, Demi Moore, Aubrey Plaza, Glenn Close and Jeff Goldblum.

Another presenter who’s listed is Elton’s good pal Brandi Carlile, so perhaps they’ll present together. Elton and Brandi co-wrote “Never Too Late,” from Elton’s Disney+ documentary of the same name. While it’s been nominated for other awards, and is short-listed for the Oscar’s Best Original Song category, it did not receive a Golden Globe nomination. 

Here are the songs that were nominated this year; the award goes to the songwriters:

“Beautiful That Way,” co-written by Miley Cyrus for The Last Showgirl
“Kiss the Sky,” co-written by Maren Morris for The Wild Robot
“Forbidden Road,” co-written by U.K. pop superstar Robbie Williams for his biopic Better Man
“Compress / Repress,” co-written by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails
“El Mal” from Emilia Pérez, sung in the film by Zoë Saldaña
“Mi Camino” from Emilia Pérez, sung in the film by Selena Gomez

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On This Day, Jan. 2, 1969 …

The Beatles began rehearsals for what would wind up being their final studio album together, Let It Be.

Rehearsals took place at Twickenham Film Studios and were marred by tension within the band, which was captured on film as cameras were recording the sessions for a documentary.

Let It Be was released in May 1970 along with the documentary of the same name, which featured The Beatles’ unannounced rooftop concert, their last public performance together. The album, which featured such classic Beatles songs as the title track, “Get Back” and “Across the Universe,” went to #1 in the U.S., the U.K. and several other countries.

The footage from the Let It Be documentary was later used by director Peter Jackson for the Emmy Award-winning docuseries The Beatles: Get Back, which was released in 2021.

The original documentary was restored from the original 16mm negative by Jackson’s Park Road Post Production and debuted on Disney+ in 2024.

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Neil Young won’t be playing the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival this year.

The rocker announced on his Neil Young Archives website that he and his band the Chrome Hearts were supposed to play the 2025 fest, but have now pulled out due to the BBC’s corporate sponsorship of the event.

“The Chrome Hearts and I were looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my all time favorite outdoor gigs,” Young shared. “We were told that BBC was now a partner in Glastonbury and wanted us to do a lot of things in a way we were not interested in.”

“It seems Glastonbury is now under corporate control and is not the way I remember it being,” he added. “We will not be playing Glastonbury on this tour because it is a corporate turn-off, and not for me like it used to be.” 

But it sounds like fans in the U.K. may still get to see Young at some point this year. He ended his note with, “Hope to see you at one of the other venues on the tour.”

Glastonbury Festival is set to take place June 25 to June 29. The full lineup has not been announced, although Rod Stewart is confirmed to play the Legends slot.

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Last year was a very eventful one for Peter Frampton, most notably because he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and it sounds like he’s not about to slow down anytime soon.

In fact, the legendary rocker is working on new music and has a documentary about his life in the works.

Frampton tells ABC Audio that they’ve already shot footage for the doc at several important locations from his life, including his old house in South London, as well as Abbey Road Studios, where he recorded All Things Must Pass with The Beatles‘ George Harrison. They also went back to the school where he met David Bowie, where his dad was the head of the art department.

“It was cathartic, to say the least,” Frampton says of revisiting his old haunts, sharing that filming on the project is “going really well” and there’s so much material “it might even be a two parter.”

As for what he hopes fans will take away from the project, Frampton says, “I would like them to know me for who I really am. That’s the bottom line.”

So far there’s no word on when the Frampton doc may be released, but he says he hopes it will be completed in the new year.

When it comes to new music, Frampton reveals that he’s been working on an album “for years,” but notes, “I’m still not quite ready.”

“I have a very high quality control threshold,” he says. “So I’m my own worst enemy, but I’m working at it.” 

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Freddie Mercury‘s birthday will once again be celebrated with a big bash this fall.

The Queen frontman would have turned 79 on Sept. 5, and the band just announced that the Official Freddie Mercury Birthday Party 2025 will take place Sept. 6 at the Casino Barriere in Montreux, about two hours outside of Zurich, Switzerland. 

“Mamma Mia, let me go! We will be celebrating ‘A Night At The Opera’ and 50 Years of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’” the band shared on Instagram, referring to their fourth studio album and the classic Queen track that appeared on it. “The dress code for party guests will be WHITE, to reflect the outfits the band wore at the time and the ‘A Night At The Opera album’ cover.”

More information on the party, along with ticket info, will be announced at a later date.

Proceeds from the event will go to The Mercury Phoenix Trust, which raises funds for the fight against HIV/AIDs. It was founded by Queen band members Roger Taylor and Brian May and their manager Jim Beach in memory of Freddie, who died from the disease in 1991.

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In 2024, for the first time in more than four years, we heard Céline Dion‘s legendary voice.

The diva hadn’t performed since March 2020. She’d been forced to halt her tour due to COVID-19 and then cancel a planned return to Las Vegas due to her medical issues, revealing her stiff-person syndrome diagnosis in 2022. But at the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Paris this year, she made a huge comeback.

Céline stood on the first level of the Eiffel Tower in a glittering white gown and belted out “Hymne A L’Amour,” or “Hymn to Love,” by legendary chanteuse Édith Piaf. In October, she released the performance on streaming platforms and YouTube.

The performance came after the debut of the Prime Video documentary I Am: Céline Dion, which detailed her life with stiff-person syndrome. The film, which actually shows Céline having a seizure, became Prime Video’s most popular documentary ever.

The Olympics were somewhat of a culmination of a “Céline is back” campaign that began in earnest at the Grammy Awards in February. Céline was a surprise presenter, coming onstage in a massive Valentino coat to give Taylor Swift the Album of the Year award.

Throughout 2024 Céline attended hockey games, took part in the NHL draft, visited Las Vegas productions like Adele‘s residency show and the Las Vegas Cirque Du Soleil show The Beatles: LOVE, appeared on the cover of Vogue France, performed at an Elie Saab fashion show in Saudi Arabia and even allowed herself to be drenched in Gatorade in a promo for Sunday Night Football.

What’s next for Céline? Rumor has it she wants to return to Vegas, but nothing’s confirmed yet.

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When Alex Van Halen released his memoir, Brothers, in October, the book failed to include anything about the Sammy Hagar years of Van Halen, with Alex only writing, “[W]e had a lot of other singers over the years.”

In fact, in an interview with Rolling Stone he insisted that when it comes to Van Halen, “the heart and the soul and the creativity and the magic was Dave, Ed, Mike and me,” referring to the band’s original members, him and brother Eddie Van Halen, frontman David Lee Roth and bassist Michael Anthony.

Well, Sammy appears to be clapping back at Alex’s disregard for his contribution to the band.

The rocker made his feelings known in the comments section of an Instagram post featuring a picture of him and Eddie, which he captioned “walking to the stage in the good old days. #1990s #vanhalen I needed to see this photo today to close out this year.”

The post spawned a few comments from fans, with one sharing, “No disrespect to Alex but it’s ok to like VH with Sammy, even if he doesn’t anymore,” while another countered with, “Most purists believe VH ended with DLR.”

The latter post prompted Hagar to argue why that’s not true, writing, “It could have my friend, but instead we went on to sell over 50 million records for (sic) No. 1 album(s)  sold out every building and stadium in the world for a whole decade. That never happened again.”

He added, “Alex is not doing his brother’s musical legacy justice by not acknowledging all the No. 1 albums and some great music Eddie and I wrote together – not Alex – but Eddie and I wrote together. To not acknowledge 10 years of music is blasphemy to his brother’s musicianship, songwriting & legacy.”

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It looks like we may be getting a new album from The Doobie Brothers in 2025.

In a year-end note posted to Facebook, founding member Patrick Simmons reveals that they’re almost finished with a new record, Walk This Road, sharing it’s a “goal we’ve set for 2025.”

“This train keeps rollin’ down the track and we’re almost ready to release our new album Walk This Road sometime after the first of the year,” reads the post. “We have 10 new songs sung by Tom, Michael, and Pat,” referring to his fellow members Tom Johnston and Michael McDonald.

“The three of us wrote songs and collaborated together. We had a lot of fun recording it and we feel very proud of the results,” the note adds. “We’ll probably debut a song soon after the first of the year and the full album will follow sometime in the Spring/Summer.”

Walk This Road will be the first new release from The Doobie Brothers since 2021’s Liberté, and the first full album of original material with McDonald since 1980’s One Step Closer.

“Once again we want to wish you and your families Happy Holidays and a Peaceful New Year. May 2025 bring you all health and happiness in abundance,” the post concludes. “We look forward to seeing you in your town next year.”

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On This Day, Dec. 31, 1984 …

Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm in a car crash in Sheffield, England.

After trying to pass a driver who had been taunting him on the road, Allen lost control of his vehicle, hitting a wall. His arm wound up getting caught in the seat belt and was severed.

While doctors initially tried to reattach the arm, it later had to be amputated due to infection.

Allen’s career as a drummer looked in doubt, but he eventually learned to play again on a specially designed electronic drum kit.

Allen and Def Leppard returned to the stage for his first concert following the accident on Aug. 16, 1986, at the Monsters of Rock Festival in Castle Donington, England.

He continues to perform with Def Leppard, with the band’s next show scheduled for Jan. 11 at the Harvest Nights Festival in Immokalee, Florida.

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The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde is sharing some of her favorite things about 2024.

“My end of ’24 good wishes to all. I always look forward to a new beginning and here we go. Thanks again to all of you who came to see us on tour,” she wrote in a post on social media. “In case anybody is interested – here’s my personal highlights of ’24.”

Like a lot of folks this year, Chrissie says Taylor Swift gave one of her favorite live performances of 2024, noting the singer’s show at Wembley Stadium in London was “….. Beautiful and inspiring. Timeless music…..(she’s the girl with the guitar).”

As for her favorite movie, that was Conclave, with Chrissie sharing, “I’ve seen it in the cinema 3 times already. Gorgeous thriller. Definitely one for the big screen. Breathtaking visuals and much more,” while her favorite TV show is BBC 2’s Wolf Hall, noting it’s “seriously mind blowing in every way.” 

Her favorite documentary was James Brown Mr. Dynamite, saying James Brown “in my opinion, was globally the most influential artist ever.”

She also shared that the favorite show she was involved in this year was the tribute concert to the late Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan, which happened in early December at the Roundhouse in London. She called it, “A heartfelt celebration of the late artist’s music featuring a superb band … and glorious vocalists.”

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