Classic Hits

It’s always sad when our favorite musicians pass away, and in 2024 we had to do say goodbye to several artists who made a huge impact on music.

Grateful Dead fans were shocked when it was announced that bassist Phil Lesh died on Oct. 25 at 84. Lesh, who cofounded the iconic jam band with Jerry Garcia, Bobby Weir, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan and Bill Kreutzmann in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1965, co-wrote several of the band’s iconic tunes, including “Truckin'” and “Box of Rain.”

Another great loss to the music world happened on April 18 when Allman Brothers Band founding member Dickey Betts died at the age of 80.

Betts, who cofounded the group in 1969 along with brothers Duane and Gregg Allman, Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks and Jaimoe Johanson, wrote and sang lead on songs like “Ramblin’ Man,” their only top-10 hit, and “Blue Sky.” He also composed their well-known instrumentals, including “Jessica” and “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.”

And on Nov. 3, legendary music producer Quincy Jones passed away at the age of 91. Jones was the producer behind Michael Jackson’s hit albums Off The Wall and Thriller. He was nominated for 80 Grammy Awards, of which he won 28, during his decadeslong career. 

Here’s a list of many of the music figures who died in 2024, in chronological order:

Jan. 4: Actor/musician David Soul, who had a hit with “Don’t Give Up On Us,” 80

Jan. 19: Mary Weiss, lead singer of the Shangri-Las, 75

Jan. 23: Frank Farian, German record producer who founded Milli Vanilli, 82

Jan. 23: Melanie Safka, best known for her breakthrough appearance at Woodstock and her #1 hit “Brand New Key,” 76

Feb. 7: Henry Fambrough, the last surviving original member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame R&B group The Spinners, 85

March 11: Eric Carmen, best known for hits like “Hungry Eyes” and “All By Myself,” 74

April 24: Mike Pinder, keyboardist, vocalist and founding member of The Moody Blues, 82

April 30: Guitar great Duane Eddy, who had 15 top-40 singles throughout the late ’50s and early ’60s, 86

May 1: ELO keyboardist Richard Tandy, who appeared on all of ELO’s records since 1973’s ELO 2, 76

May 12: Saxophonist David Sanborn, who performed and recorded with a whole host of musicians, including David Bowie, James Taylor and Eric Clapton, 78

May 24: Iron Butterfly founder and lead vocalist Doug Ingle, who cowrote their signature song, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” 78

July 22: Duke Fakir, founding member of the Four Tops, 88

July 22: John Mayall, British blues and rock musician, and mentor to Eric Clapton, who was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year, 90

Aug. 13: Greg Kihn, best known for hits like “Jeopardy” and “The Breakup Song,” 75

Sept. 6: Will Jennings, writer of such songs as “Up Where We Belong” and “My Heart Will Go On,” 80

Sept. 17: JD Souther, solo artist and co-writer of many hits for the Eagles, like “Best of My Love,” “New Kid in Town,” “Heartache Tonight” and “Victim of Love,” 78

Sept. 28: Kris Kristofferson, singer, songwriter and actor, best known for such songs as “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” 88

Oct. 6: Johnny Neel, a member of the Allman Brothers Band and the Dickey Betts Band, 70

Oct. 7: Cissy Houston, the mother of Whitney Houston and a singer in her own right, 91

Nov. 13:Shel Talmy, the producer who oversaw seminal early recordings by The Who and The Kinks, 87

Nov. 14: Peter Sinfield, King Crimson songwriter and lyricist, 80

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The Rolling Stones‘ Keith Richards is one of the many artists who have recorded a cover of Chuck Berry’s classic holiday song “Run Rudolph Run,” and now he’s sharing why he chose the tune.

“I mean to me it’s the hippest Christmas song that there is,” Keith shared on social media. “I mean once again Chuck Berry, beautiful lyrics, a beautiful, joyful feeling about it, and it tells a story short and snappy. What a great track. The sound of it is amazing.”

“Actually it was just done out of sheer fun,” he added.

The Stones’ Ronnie Wood and the late Ian Stewart appear on Keith’s cover, which was released in the late ’70s.

Berry’s original “Run Rudolph Run” was released in 1958, and peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2019.

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Looks like we may be getting some new music from Paul McCartney next year.

The legendary Beatle, who recently wrapped the 2024 leg of his Got Back tour, answered some questions from fans on his website, and revealed he’s planning to get back in the studio.

When asked if he has any resolutions for 2025, McCartney shared, “Here’s one: finish an album!”

“I’ve been working on a lot of songs, and have had to put it to the side because of the tour,” he explained. “So, I’m hoping to get back into that and finish up a lot of these songs. So, how’s about that? ‘My New Year’s resolution is to finish a new album!’”

McCartney released his last album of new material, McCartney III, in 2020.

But for now, McCartney says his main plan to enjoy some down time. 

Asked about his plans for the holiday season, McCartney shared that he’s looking forward to “a well-deserved rest.”

“It’s Christmas, so it’s family time for me. We’ve got the decorations up already actually,” he said. “And I’m one of those guys that loves to overdo decorations, so I need a minute to sit back, relax and enjoy them. So, that’s what I’ve got to look forward to…”

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On This Day, Dec. 23, 1989 …

Phil Collins landed at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Another Day in Paradise,” from his #1 album …But Seriously.

The song, which spent four weeks on top of the chart, highlighted the problem of homelessness, and the video featured Collins singing, cut with images of the homeless, refugees and children living in poverty.

The track, Collins’ seventh and final solo #1 single, was nominated for four Grammy Awards and picked up the trophy for Record of the Year.

David Crosby sang backup on the tune and performed the song with Collins at the 1991 Grammy Awards. That performance was included on the 1994 album Grammy’s Greatest Moments Volume I.

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It was a monumental year for The Beatles, as they celebrated the 60th anniversary of the first time they arrived in the U.S.

In February 1964 The Beatles — Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr — made their first visit to the U.S. to play The Ed Sullivan Show, which was seen by a then-record 73 million viewers, a moment that launched Beatlemania in America.

The moment in history was highlighted in 2024 with the documentary Beatles ’64, directed by David Tedeschi and produced by Martin Scorsese, which debuted on Disney+ in November. It featured never-before-seen footage of the legendary group and their fans during the height of Beatlemania.

The anniversary was one of many Beatles-related highlights of 2024. Among the others: 

Sam Mendes announced he’ll be directing four movies about The Beatles, each one told from the point of view of a different band member. So far no casting has officially been announced, but Ringo let it slip that Saltburn’s Barry Keoghan would be playing him.

McCartney’s original backing track for “Blackbird” was used for Beyoncé‘s interpretation of the song, retitled “Blackbiird,” which appeared on her album Cowboy Carter. He called it a “killer version” of the song.

Ringo dropped the EP Crooked Boy, produced by Linda Perry, and announced he’ll release the country album Look Up, co-written and produced by T Bone Burnett, on Jan. 10.

The Beatles’ 1970 documentary Let It Be debuted on Disney+ in May, marking the first time it had been available in over 50 years. The film was restored from the original 16mm negative by Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post Production.

Lennon’s 1973 solo album, Mind Games, was reissued, including an Ultimate Collection that featured unreleased outtakes, stripped down mixes, instrumentals, demos, rehearsals and even what was described as “studio chatter.” It earned a Grammy nomination for Best Boxed or Limited Edition Package.

Paul McCartney and Wings’ often bootlegged album One Hand Clapping got an official release in June, 50 years after it was recorded. The album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in August 1974 as a video documentary and possible live album, although it didn’t officially come out until now.

Harrison’s first sitar, used during the recording sessions for the song “Norwegian Wood,” sold at auction for $66,993, while one of Lennon’s 12-string guitars, used to record several Beatles classics, sold for $2.9 million, making it the most expensive Beatles guitar ever to sell at auction. Harrison’s Resonet Futurama, a Czechoslovakian-made electric guitar, sold for $1.27 million, a world record for a Harrison guitar sold at auction.

The 50th anniversary of Harrison’s solo album Living in the Material World was celebrated with a series of new reissues, including a super deluxe edition featuring 12 previously unreleased recordings.

Two new Lennon documentaries debuted: One to One: John & Yoko, which focused on Lennon and wife Yoko Ono’s 1972 One to One concerts in New York City, and Daytime Revolution, about the time in February 1972 when John and Yoko co-hosted The Mike Douglas Show for a week.

In October, McCartney launched a new leg of his Got Back tour in Montevideo, Uruguay, and added the band’s 2023 song “Now and Then,” which was billed as the final Beatles single, to the set list.

“Now and Then” went on to receive a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year. 

The massive vinyl box set The Beatles: 1964 U.S. Albums In Mono was released featuring seven albums the band released in the U.S. from January 1964 and March 1965. It marked the first time these albums have been available on vinyl since 1995.

And to close out the year, there was a Beatles reunion at McCartney’s final night at the O2 in London on Dec. 19, with Ringo coming out to join his former bandmate on two songs, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” and “Helter Skelter.”

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Jeff Lynne’s ELO is set to say their final farewell to the road in London when they headline BST Hyde Park on July 13, and Lynne tells Mojo magazine, “It will certainly be an emotional show for me.”

“It has been great getting to tour the world and to this day at every show I am always surprised and delighted by the crowds and the energy they bring,” he adds. “I will miss it.”

Lynne announced in March that ELO would be heading out on their final tour. Dubbed The Over and Out Tour, the U.S. dates kicked off in August and wrapped in October.

As for what fans can expect from the final show, Lynne shares, “We will of course be playing all the songs the fans want to hear,” adding, “As for surprises, these are the final shows so who knows what can happen!”

And just because Lynne won’t be touring as ELO anymore, it doesn’t mean it’s the last we’ve heard of him.

“I am happy with what I’ve done, and the crowd reactions to the shows and the music have been amazing,” he says. “This is not a farewell to music. I am excited to return to the studio full-time, which is what I love!”

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Bruce Springsteen has shared a new addition to his live series, posting a third playlist of live covers he’s performed throughout his career. 

Bruce Springsteen The Live Series: Songs Under Cover Vol. 3 is made up of 15 songs, with covers of tracks by The Rolling Stones, The Pogues and even Ray Parker Jr.

The playlist kicks off with a cover of The Shirelles hit “Sha-La-La” from a 1975 show in Post Dome, New York. It also includes Bruce’s takes on Jerry Lee Lewis’ “High School Confidential” from a 1978 show in Passaic, New Jersey; The Stones’ “Street Fighting Man” from a 1984 concert in East Rutherford, New Jersey; Jimmy Cliff‘s “Trapped” from Boston in 1992; and INXS’ “Don’t Change” from a 2014 show in Sydney, Australia.

There’s also a 2023 East Rutherford performance of “Jersey Girl,” which, despite what some people think, is not a Springsteen original, but a cover of a Tom Waits song.

Springsteen also includes two covers from this year: The Pogues’ “A Rainy Night in Soho” from The Boss’ Croke Park show in Dublin and “Ghostbusters” from his Halloween show in Montreal. 

Bruce Springsteen The Live Series: Songs Under Cover Vol. 3 is available now via digital outlets.

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Legendary New Jersey rocker Southside Johnny has retired from touring, according to an announcement canceling his Dec. 31 performance at the Count Basie Center in Red Bank, New Jersey.

“After a hugely successful 50-year run with his band Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, touring non-stop throughout the U.S and overseas, ‘Southside Johnny’ Lyon has made the decision to retire from touring in order to manage ongoing health issues,” read the announcement, which was also shared on the Asbury Jukes Instagram account.

No other details regarding the rocker’s health issues have been announced. Tickets for the show will be refunded.

“Johnny Lyon and the Asbury Jukes are an integral part of the Basie Center’s history and the history of music here at the Jersey Shore,” the post continued. “While we’re sad we won’t be seeing them this New Year’s Eve, everyone at the Count Basie Center is forever grateful for the hundreds of moments that he and his bandmates have created on our stages.”

Southside Johnny was a staple in the Jersey Shore music scene, alongside Bruce Springsteen and Steven Van Zandt. He and Van Zandt co-founded the Asbury Jukes, with Van Zandt producing their first three albums, 1976’s I Don’t Want to Go Home, 1977’s This Time It’s for Real and 1978’s Hearts of Stone. The band’s signature song “I Don’t Want to Go Home” was written by Van Zandt.

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Queen continues to celebrate the release of a box set dedicated to their 1973 self-titled debut album, and in the latest edition of Queen The Greatest, guitarist Brian May is taking a deep dive into the album’s artwork.

In the clip, May shares the DIY challenges they faced in coming up with the art for the release, especially after he thought their then-unknown frontman Freddie Mercury should be on the cover in a very specific way.

“I had this premonition that Freddie was special and he was going to be our icon. So, I thought it would be nice just to have Freddie as a symbol, like the figurehead on a Viking ship,” May shares. 

Because this was before the time of Photoshop, to make that happen May had to physically slice a photo of Mercury in a spotlight onto a ship.

“And that was basically the cover and everyone liked it,” he says. “Freddie had designed this lovely special font for Queen. So, we said, ‘OK, we’ll go with that.’”

The back of the album was also difficult, as May had to cut and paste together a collage of photos of the band. He noted, “We had this idea that we could kind of portray our lives on the back of the record.”

All these original and unique details are captured in the new Queen 1 box set, although they’ve been recreated, as May puts it, at “slightly higher quality” using modern technology.

“I thought, we’ve recreated the whole album soundwise, so let’s recreate it visually as well,” he says.

The Queen I box set, out now, is comprised of 63 tracks with 43 brand-new mixes, as well as alternative takes, demos and rare live tracks.

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Most celebrity wax figures at Madam Tussauds museums show the star standing up or sitting down. But a new figure of Elton John, unveiled Dec. 20 at the museum’s London outpost, shows the Rocket Man lifting off — literally.

The figure depicts Elton in the ’70s, doing one of his famous keyboard handstands: His hands are on the keyboard of a piano and the rest of his body is suspended in midair. The pose and Elton’s outfit are based on his 1975 one-day festival performance at London’s Wembley Stadium. In fact, he gave the museum’s team the original bedazzled Bob Mackie jumpsuit he wore during that performance so they could replicate it.

The figure is also wearing copies of the glasses and platform shoes Elton rocked at that concert; the baby grand piano the figure is playing is covered in 24,000 rhinestones. In a statement, the museum’s general manager describes the statue as “one of our most technically ambitious figures to date” and “a pose that we have never done before.”

Elton’s first Madam Tussauds wax figure was created in 1976, and that one was historic, too: It was the first Madam Tussauds figure that could smile and talk, with Elton providing the voice recordings for it.

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