Classic Hits – Page 397

Peter Frampton to receive annual Spirit Award from Les Paul Foundation

May 28, 2024 by WDNY Radio

If you Google “Peter Frampton,” it’s likely you’ll find a photo of him playing a Gibson Les Paul guitar. Which is why it’s fitting that the newly minted Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee will receive the annual Spirit Award from the Les Paul Foundation.

The Spirit Award is given to people who “exemplify the spirit of the late great [guitar pioneer] Les Paul through innovation, engineering, technology and/or music.” Frampton will receive the honor June 9, which would have been Les Paul’s 109th birthday, at Gibson Garage Nashville. A grant from the foundation will also be made to the charity of Frampton’s choice in his name.

“I cannot think of anyone more fitting to be honored with this year’s Les Paul Spirit Award than Peter Frampton,” said Michael Braunstein, executive director of The Les Paul Foundation, in a statement. “Not only is he an extraordinary talent who has given us an amazing array of extraordinary music, but he is an innovator who understands music, technologies, and the spirit of Les Paul. … If Les were still alive today, I have absolutely no doubt that he and Peter would be experimenting together at Les’ house.”

After concert postponements, Bruce Springsteen promises European fans “show of your life”

May 28, 2024 by WDNY Radio

After announcing the postponement of four European concerts due to vocal issues, Bruce Springsteen has now taken to Instagram to address fans directly.

“Hey, it’s Bruce Springsteen. I’m in Marseille. Unfortunately, I could not sing for you,” says Bruce in his video message. “But we will be back — to Marseille, to Prague and to Milan — to give you the show of your life. That, I promise you.”

“In the meantime, I’d like to thank our Irish fans, our British fans, our fans in Wales for giving us a series of shows that [were] deeply memorable and we just had great times,” he continues. “We’ll be back, comin’ back to Madrid and Barcelona, where we plan to rock you into the ground. Alright, be seeing you soon. Bye bye.”

The message is followed by a video montage of Bruce & The E Street Band‘s U.K. shows.

Bruce and the band will resume their tour June 12 in Madrid.

On This Day, May 28, 1945: John Fogerty was born

May 28, 2024 by WDNY Radio

On This Day, May 28, 1945 …

Legendary rocker John Fogerty was born in Berkley, California.

Fogerty rose to fame as the lead singer, lead guitarist and principal songwriter for the rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, which he co-founded in 1968 with his brother Tom Fogerty, Doug Clifford and Stu Cook.

The band had nine top-10 singles, including such classics as “Proud Mary,” “Bad Moon Rising,” “Fortunate Son,” “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” “Green River,” “Have You Ever Seen The Rain” and “Down on The Corner.” Eight of their albums have been certified Gold.

CCR broke up in 1972 and Fogerty launched a successful solo career. His 1985 solo album, Centerfield, gave him his first and only solo top-10 single, “The Old Man Down The Road.” Fogerty was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

In January 2023, after a 50-year battle with his former record label, Fogerty regained control of the worldwide publishing rights to his music with Creedence Clearwater Revival, which encompassed more than 65 songs.

Fogerty will be hitting the road this summer, with his tour kicking off June 2 in Simpsonville, South Carolina. A complete list of dates can be found at johnforgerty.com.

Julien’s Auctions predicts John Lennon guitar will sell for over $1 million

May 28, 2024 by WDNY Radio

Julien’s Auctions predicts John Lennon guitar will sell for over million

Julien’s Auctions predicts John Lennon guitar will sell for over $1 million — courtesy of Julien’s Auctions

John Lennon’s long-lost Framus 12-string Hootenanny acoustic guitar is up for grabs at Julien’s Auctions’ upcoming Music Icons auction, and it’s certainly an iconic piece of music history.

“It’s incredible,” Julien’s Auctions Executive Director Martin Nolan tells ABC Audio. “Presumed lost for 50 years.”

The guitar, purchased in 1964, was passed from Lennon to Gordon Waller of Peter and Gordon in late 1965; Waller then gave it to their road manager. It was only recently discovered in the 90-year-old road manager’s attic.

The guitar is an important part of The Beatles history, having been played on songs like “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” and “Help!” George Harrison even played it on “Norwegian Wood.” And Beatles member Ringo Starr recently got to relive that history when he was reunited with the instrument at his home.

“We brought the guitar and he was so genuinely excited to see it and to play it and to take photographs with it,” Nolan shares. “He loved holding it and just reminiscing.”

Another person who’ll be reunited with the guitar is Lennon’s son Julian Lennon, who was photographed in the studio with it in 1965. Julian is also selling items in the auction, and Nolan notes, “Of course, Julian will come to see this before we gavel it to the new owner.”

While Nolan says The Beatles probably only spent about $100 on the guitar, its new owner will have to shell out a whole lot more, with bids already over $1 million.

“It could go a lot higher,” Nolan says. “There’s great interest in this. It’s so iconic. It’s very special.”

Julien’s Auctions’ Music Icons auction is happening May 29 and 30 in New York and online. More info can be found at julilensauctions.com.

Iron Butterfly’s Doug Ingle dead at 78; co-wrote and sang “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida”

May 26, 2024 by WDNY Radio

Doug Ingle, who founded the proto-hard rock/heavy metal band Iron Butterfly and co-wrote and sang their signature song, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” has died. He was 78.

“It’’ with a heavy heart & great sadness to announce the passing of my Father Doug Ingle,” Ingle’s son Doug Ingle Jr. wrote in a Facebook post. “Dad passed away peacefully this evening in the presence of family. Thank You Dad for being a father, teacher and friend. Cherished loving memories I will carry the rest of my days moving forward in this journey of life. Love you Dad.”

Ingle was the last surviving member of Iron Butterfly’s most famous lineup. Drummer Ron Bushy, bassist Lee Dornan and guitarist Erik Brann died in 2021, 2012 and 2003, respectively.

The band’s second album, 1968’s In A-Gadda-Da-Vida, featured the legendary title track, a 17-minute composition that took up the entire second side of the album. The title is a misheard version of the phrase “in the Garden of Eden.” When Ingle first played it for Bushy, he was so drunk that he slurred the words, so Bushy wrote them down incorrectly.

An edited, three-minute version of the song reached #30 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album itself peaked at #4, and sold eight million copies in its first year alone. It went on to sell 30 million copies.

Iron Butterfly broke up in 1971, but Ingle was involved with various iterations of the band over the subsequent decades. He retired from performing in 1999.

As Variety notes, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” has become part of pop culture, having appeared in the Michael Mann film Manhunter and an episode of The Simpsons. It was also covered and sampled by artists including Slayer and Nas.

George Harrison’s childhood home officially gets historical plaque recognition

May 24, 2024 by WDNY Radio

The Liverpool home where the late George Harrison lived during his childhood has officially been designated as a historical site.

The BBC reports that a “blue plaque” — a marker installed by the English Heritage charity — was unveiled May 24 at No. 12 Arnold Grove in the Liverpool suburb of Wavertree. It’s one of the first official plaques to be placed on a property outside London.

The former Beatles member wrote of his house in his memoir, “It was O.K. that house — very pleasant being little and it was always sunny in summer,” according to the BBC.

His widow, Olivia Harrison, was at the unveiling of the plaque. According to The Guardian, she said, “This … recognition of George’s birthplace is a source of family pride for all the Harrisons, and something that none of us, mainly George, would ever have anticipated.”

“So much of who George was came from being born and spending his earliest years at 12 Arnold Grove, undeniably a part of who George was,” she continued. “He left a footprint on this world, on this country, in this city and on this street.”

She told the BBC that George had good memories of growing up in a “very tight-knit, secure family life.”

“There was something about these small family places and how you learn to respect other people’s space,” she said. “He had a freedom where he could go run down the alley and visit his nan and then back home. That was a big deal for a little five-year-old kid.”

“This was his cocoon, and out of that came such an incredible man with such vision and compassion and sensibility.”

Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson reunite at Gordon Lightfoot tribute show in Toronto

May 24, 2024 by WDNY Radio

Rush‘s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson made a surprise appearance May 23 in Toronto, reuniting for a concert paying tribute to the late Canadian singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot.

Lightfoot, known for songs like “If You Could Read My Mind” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” died in May 2023 at age 84. Variety reports that at the event at the famed Massey Hall, Lee and Lifeson performed Lightfoot’s song “The Way I Feel,” backed by the Canadian band Blue Rodeo.

The two also joined in on the finale: a group performance of the song “Summerside of Life,” which included Canadian musicians like The Guess Who‘s Burton Cummings and Tom Cochrane, as well as Lightfoot’s daughter Meredith Moon.

“It was important for us to pay tribute to Gordon,” Lee told Variety. “Not being folk or pop artists, Alex and I were looking for one of Gordon’s songs that might better suit our style of play and we found that in ‘The Way I Feel.’ Its structure was loose and more open to interpretation than many of his more popular tunes.”

Moon seemed to approve: Lee said that she told them afterward, “Leave it to Rush to make ‘The Way I Feel’ sound prog.”

“So I think we succeeded,” Lee noted.

Lee and Lifeson were most recently together onstage in December at Massey Hall for Lee’s book tour in support of his memoir, My Effin’ Life. Since Rush retired from the road in 2015, the two had performed together in public just four times: at Rush’s 2017 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, at the 2022 Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts and at the 2022 South Park 25th anniversary concert in Colorado. Rush drummer Neil Peart died in 2020.

Robbie Robertson’s children sue late rocker’s widow, alleging elder abuse

May 24, 2024 by WDNY Radio

The three children of late rocker Robbie Robertson are suing his widow, whom he married five months before his death last August at age 80.

In legal documents obtained by ABC News, Robertson’s three children from his first marriage — Alexandra, Delphine and Sebastian Robertson — claim that Janet Zuccarini committed elder abuse by taking advantage of the fact that their father’s declining health had impaired his cognitive ability.

Specifically, they claim she forced The Band guitarist and songwriter to sign documents granting her financial privileges that they claim Robertson would never have agreed to.

The main claim in the lawsuit involves a home Robertson and Zuccarini jointly purchased for $6 million in 2021. Each of them owned 50% of the home and, the children claim, Robertson wanted them to inherit his 50% when he died. They would then have the choice of either selling it to Zuccarini, buying her out or jointly selling the home with her.

Instead, the children claim that after Robertson died, Zuccarini told them she was entitled to stay in the home until she died and that they were required to pay the mortgage, property taxes, insurance and maintenance on it for the rest of her life. Her claim is based on a document the children say Zuccarini had Robertson sign in March 2023.

However, the children argue that after undergoing cancer surgery in 2022, Robertson had used powerful drugs to manage his pain, which “severely impaired” his mental state. This allowed Zuccarini to “coerce him into executing documents that were oppressive, abusive, and contrary to his expressly stated intentions.”

As proof, the documents cite a text exchange between Alexandra and Zuccarini, in which Zuccarini “expressly admitted in writing that she knew Robertson did not understand what he was signing,” as well as a similar conversation between Zuccarini and Delphine.

The Los Angeles Times reports an attorney for Zuccarini has dismissed the complaint as “meritless fiction.”

On This Day, May 24, 1974: David Bowie released ‘Diamond Dogs’

May 24, 2024 by WDNY Radio

On This Day, May 24, 1974 …

Fifty years ago today, David Bowie released his eighth studio album, Diamond Dogs.

Coming off the worldwide success of 1972’s Ziggy Stardust and 1973’s Aladdin Sane, Bowie dove into several projects, including a Ziggy Stardust musical and a TV production inspired by George Orwell’s 1984. When they all fell through, some of songs he was working on wound up on Diamond Dogs.

The album was a commercial success for Bowie and contained the future Bowie classic “Rebel Rebel.”

Although released to mixed reviews, with some critics suggesting the album wasn’t cohesive enough, Diamond Dogs is now considered one of Bowie’s best albums.

One big fan of the album is rocker Lenny Kravitz, who tells ABC Audio that Diamond Dogs is “just quintessential rock ‘n’ roll.”

“I love David Bowie. David Bowie influenced me so much,” he says. “I mean, Diamond Dogs, such a great name. And it’s a record that I listen to a lot.” (

Cher slays with Cannes charity performance; lunch with her auctioned off for $65K

May 24, 2024 by WDNY Radio

Cher slays with Cannes charity performance; lunch with her auctioned off for K

Cher slays with Cannes charity performance; lunch with her auctioned off for $65K — Mike Marsland/WireImage

Forget about the movies. According to Variety, Cher‘s performance got the best response at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Cher headlined the annual fundraiser for amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, taking the stage at the event in the South of France in the early hours of May 24. She performed her hit cover of Marc Cohn‘s “Walking in Memphis,” plus her cover of ABBA‘s “Waterloo,” “If I Could Turn Back Time” and, of course, “Believe.”

“I thought you guys would be drunk, but obviously you’re not,” Cher told the crowd. Variety notes that Cher would have gotten the longest standing ovation at Cannes this year, but nobody sat down during her 15-minute set.

While introducing “Believe,” Cher reminisced that when she turned 50, her record company dropped her and so did her manager. “So, then, I was like, ‘I don’t know what to do.’ Then a man from England” — she likely was referring to the record company executive Rob Dickins — “said, ‘I still believe in you, come here! I got a song for you to sing and we’ll see what happens.’ And this is what it was.”

That song revived her career and is just one reason she’s being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in October. Cher also contributed to the funds raised during the event: A lunch with her was auctioned off for $65,000.

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