Classic Hits

A new portrait of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury is helping to raise money for an important cause.

The portrait, “The Mercury,” was painted by Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood and is described as “a homage to one of the greatest singers in the history of Rock music.” It features Freddie with a fist in the air and has him dressed in what is described as his “iconic yellow jacket worn at the legendary 1986 Wembley concert.”

Only 250 numbered, unframed prints are available for purchase for $999, with each hand signed by Wood.  A portion of the profits from the sale will be donated to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, a charity established by the surviving members of Queen following Mercury’s 1991 death to fight AIDs worldwide.

“The Mercury” is available to order now.

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The new documentary One to One: John & Yoko reportedly features an eerie declaration from John Lennon regarding whether he felt his political activism put his safety at risk.

The film covers Lennon’s planned Free The People Tour in the early ’70s, which aimed to raise money for people who were jailed but unable to afford bail. It wound up being called off.

But People reports that one scene in the film includes archival footage of the Beatles legend talking on the phone with drummer Jim Keltner about the risks of the tour. Keltner asks whether Lennon has “any paranoia” about people ahead of the tour launch.

“What people? … You mean people trying to kill us or something like that? I’m not about to get myself shot,” Lennon replies. “It’ll cause excitement in its own way. But, er, you know, I’m still an artist, but a revolutionary artist, right?”

In another clip Lennon talks to a journalist about concerns he and wife Yoko Ono have for their safety, noting, “We started noticing people hanging outside the apartment. And I have a driver, he’s an ex-cop. But we’re getting followed by this car, all the time. So we’re all very nervous.”

Both of those comments from Lennon were made almost eight years before his death. Lennon was shot and killed in 1980 outside his New York apartment, The Dakota. He was only 40.

One to One: John & Yoko focuses on the couple’s move to New York City in the ’70s and culminates with their 1972 One to One concerts, which were Lennon’s only post-Beatles full-length performances.

The film recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival and so far does not have an official release date.

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Looks like Donald Trump will have to stop playing the classic Isaac Hayes-penned track “Hold On (I’m Coming)” at his political rallies.

The Hayes estate sued the Trump campaign in August, demanding they stop using the tune, which Hayes co-wrote with David Porter for Sam & Dave, at rallies. They also sought $3 million to cover licensing fees for the times the song has already been used without permission between 2022 and 2024.

Hayes’ son Isaac Hayes III announced on social media that during an emergency hearing held Tuesday, the judge issued a preliminary injunction barring the former president from playing Hayes’ music “ever again.”

“We are please(d) with the decision by the court and move to the next phase of this lawsuit,” he wrote, thanking their lawyer James L. Walker Jr. and his team “for their hard work achieving the first step in our copyright infringement case against Donald Trump and Donald Trump for President.”

In a video posted to his site, Hayes’ son insisted that the legal matter was “totally not politically motivated.”

But it wasn’t a complete win for the Hayes’ family. Trump’s attorneys told ABC News that the judge did not require them to take down any campaign videos featuring the song that have already been posted.

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Van Halen drummer Alex Van Halen has shared a clip of a previously unreleased song he wrote with his late brother, Eddie Van Halen. 

The rocker just shared a snippet of the tune, “Unfinished,” on social media. It will be featured on the audiobook of Alex’s upcoming memoir, Brothers. The post also includes personal photos that will likely be featured in the book, as well.

According to the description of Brothers, “Unfinished” is “the last piece of music” Eddie and Alex wrote together. 

Brothers is described by Alex as a love letter to Eddie, who passed away in October 2020. It will be released Oct. 22 and includes previously unseen photos from Alex’s private collection. It will delve into their childhood and also includes “tales of musical politics, infighting, and plenty of bad-boy behavior.”

Brothers is available for preorder now.

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Elton John has revealed on social media that he’s been struggling with an eye infection that has affected his vision.

“Over the summer, I’ve been dealing with a severe eye infection that has unfortunately left me with only limited vision in one eye,” he writes. “I am healing, but it’s an extremely slow process and it will take some time before sight returns to the impacted eye.”

Elton went on to express his gratitude to the medical professionals and his family “who have taken such good care of me over the last several weeks.” 

“I have been quietly spending the summer recuperating at home and am feeling positive about the progress I have made in my healing recovery so far,” he concluded, signing the note, “With love and gratitude, Elton John.”

Elton is the subject of a new documentary, Elton John: Never Too Late, which will have its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September. That will be followed by screenings at the New York Film Festival, which he’s expected to attend, and the BFI London Film Festival. It will debut on Disney+ on Dec. 13.

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Lionel Richie has made his New Year’s plans.

The R&B legend is set to perform in Dubai, headlining the New Year’s Eve Under the Stars Gala at Atlantis, The Palm Dubai. 

Richie is expected to treat the New Year’s audience to a show filled with his legendary hits, which will be followed by what is described as “the greatest fireworks show on earth.”

“A true world-class entertainer, we are incredibly excited to welcome Lionel Richie as our headline act,” Kym Barter, general manager of Atlantis, The Palm, shares. “As the leading entertainment destination in the region, our New Year’s Eve Gala Dinner guests have high expectations, and we aim to ensure that every experience is nothing but extraordinary. … We have no doubt that the countdown to 2025 will be another memorable experience for everyone.”

Tickets for the gala and dinner are on sale now.

But if Dubai is a bit too far for you to travel to, there are still plenty of chances to see Lionel live here in the States. He is set to play several dates in Las Vegas at the Encore Theater at the Wynn. The shows start Sept. 18, with dates booked through Nov. 16. A complete schedule can be found at lionelrichie.com.

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The Kinks’ Dave Davies has let everyone know how he feels about an AI-generated track that was supposed to sound like a Kinks song, and his opinion was enough to get the song taken down.

“What the (f***) is this??? This Kinks AI cover is like horror show sounds (f******) horrible,” Dave wrote on social media alongside the link to the AI-generated song “Hop Skip Jump!” He also noted “it wasn’t even vaguely like a Kinks song, which I’m glad it’s not. This Kinks AI cover is like horror show.’” 

Not long after Davies posted his comments, the link was taken off YouTube. The creator, who goes by @leeroymusical on social media site X, replied to Davies’ post, “Sorry Dave I’m a big fan and my favourite all time band. I meant no disrespect. I have taken down.”

He then added, “Hopefully you prefer my cover of Living in a Thin Line,” to which Davies seemed to approve, sharing, “I really like your cover.”

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On This Day, Sept. 3, 2017 …

Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker died at the age of 67, just months after he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of esophageal cancer.

Becker, born in Queens, New York, was the guitarist, bassist and co-songwriter for the group, which he co-founded in 1971 with Donald Fagen.

The band released nine studio albums over the course of their career, including such classics as Pretzel Logic, Aja, Gaucho and 2000’s Two Against Nature, which won four Grammys, including Album of the Year. They released their final studio album, Everything Must Go, in 2003.

Steely Dan was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, and Becker and Fagen were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2024.

In October 2018 a ceremony was held naming a street in Forest Hills, Queens, Walter Becker Way.

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The Beach Boys’ Al Jardine recently released a new single, “Wish,” which was inspired by his Beach Boys bandmates Brian and Dennis Wilson.

Jardine tells Rolling Stone he first had the idea for the song about 30 years ago. “It just dawned on me how much I missed them,” he said. “Dennis, of course, had passed, and Brian was pretty much out of the action. I felt very emotional.”

But it took until this spring for him to finally finish and record the song with his longtime songwriting partner Larry Dvoskin.

“It’s a good message because right now we’re all wishing that things were the way they used to be, especially at our age,” Jardine says of the tune, “because our memories are wonderful, our musical memories are intact, and it’s just important to finish these great songs that we’ve written.”

Jardine’s aim is for the song to appear on his next solo album, which will be his first since 2010’s A Postcard From California.

“This song is kind of like the appetizer,” he says. “I’m actually working on a lot of unfinished tunes that are pretty close to being done. They come from all different backgrounds and fields of my musical endeavors over the years.” 

He also plans to go out on tour with Brian Wilson’s touring band. While he says Brian “isn’t physically in shape to join us,” he notes, “It wouldn’t surprise me if he could make a few of the shows in the Los Angeles area where we intend to do a trial performance.”

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Peter Frampton is getting ready to launch his Positively Thankful tour, and after all these years performing, he likes to change things up now and again when making his set list.

“Obviously there’s certain songs that have to be there,” Frampton tells ABC Audio, but after that he and his bandleader, Rob Arthur, have some fun finding new songs to play.

“We go, ‘OK, we need a couple of songs we haven’t done before. Let’s go through the albums to have a look, you know, and have a listen,’” he says. “And we change it up that way.” He adds that this time “we’ll probably do another couple of things that we haven’t done before.” 

And while fans sometimes surprise him with songs they want to hear, in the end Frampton has the final say.

“The bottom line is selfish in as much as we want to play the ones we enjoy playing,” he says. “You know, there’s certain songs we have to do, but luckily we enjoy doing those too,” joking, “But put it this way, we don’t rehearse ‘Do You Feel Like I Do.’”

Frampton says his favorite thing about touring is the “time on stage.”

“Like they say, you know, they don’t pay us for the two hours on stage. They pay us for the 22 hours of getting there.”

He also loves being with his band and crew, who feel like family.

“I look forward to being with everybody,” he says. “And everyone in my road family is there, they’ll cancel other things just to be there, you know? And that blows me away.” 

Frampton’s Positively Thankful tour kicks off Sunday in North Charleston, South Carolina. A complete list of dates can be found at frampton.com.

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