Sir Paul McCartney performs at The O2 Arena during his ‘Got Back’ world tour on December 18, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Jim Dyson/Getty Images)
Paul McCartney’s Got Back tour has attracted some celebrity fans.
The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer shared photos on Instagram from recent tour stops in San Antonio, New Orleans, Atlanta and Nashville, with pop star Sabrina Carpenter making a cameo in one of the photos. She even commented on the post, “best show ever,” with three heart emojis.
According to the McCartney tour blog on his website, Carpenter attended the rocker’s show in Nashville on Nov. 6. And she wasn’t the only celeb in attendance, with the blog noting that former Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars, Kacey Musgraves, Robyn Hitchcock and Wilco’s Pat Sansone were spotted at the show.
McCartney kicked off this leg of his Got Back tour back in September. He’s set to wrap the tour on Tuesday with his second night at Chicago’s United Center.
Joni Mitchell performs onstage during the 67th GRAMMY Awards Pre-GRAMMY Gala & GRAMMY Salute to Industry Icons Honoring Jody Gerson at The Beverly Hilton on February 01, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Joni Mitchell is set to be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2026 Juno Awards, happening March 29 at TD Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
The 82-year-old singing legend is being celebrated for her “outstanding artistic contributions and enduring impact on global music culture,” according to a press release.
Mitchell is already a four-time Juno Award winner. The Junos, handed out by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, are the Canadian equivalent to the Grammys.
The Lifetime Achievement Award adds to the many honors Mitchell has already received over the course of her career. In her native Canada, she was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1981 and received Canada’s highest honor, the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for lifetime artistic achievement, in 1991. She was also named Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in 2002 and was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2007.
In the U.S., Mitchell was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. She also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2021 and the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2023.
Lindsey Buckingham performs at The Brown Theatre on October 27, 2022 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Stephen J. Cohen/Getty Images)
Lindsey Buckingham fans can look forward to a new album that’s on the way.
The former Fleetwood Mac star revealed the news in a post on Instagram, which featured a video of him describing what inspired the record.
“This new album is just representative of the culmination of everything that I’ve learned from making solo records over the last 25 years,” he says in the clip. “I feel like this particular album is the culmination of holding a certain line ethically and idealistically that I’ve managed to maintain for many years.”
“So I’m really excited about this piece of work,” he adds.
Buckingham didn’t reveal any other details about this new album, such as a title or a release date.
Whenever it is released, it will be Buckingham’s first solo album since his 2021 self-titled release, which was the first album he released after undergoing open heart surgery in 2019.
Back in September, Buckingham and his former Fleetwood Mac bandmate Stevie Nicks reissued their only studio album as a duo, 1973’s Buckingham Nicks, marking the first-ever reissue of the album, which has been unavailable for decades.
Photo of QUEEN; Posed group portrait – Roger Taylor, Freddie Mercury, Brian May and John Deason (Photo by Richard E. Aaron/Redferns)
It sounds like we may one day see an ABBA-type hologram show devoted to the band Queen.
In the latest edition of Big Issue, Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor discuss whether they’d be open to continuing the band’s legacy with such a production. They seem open to the idea, with May noting that the band has “so many opportunities” to keep Queen and its music alive for fans.
“I mean things that are immersive, like The Sphere in Las Vegas, it will be possible to give people the experience very closely of what things were like for us when we were Freddie, John, Brian and Roger. And that really appeals to me,” he says, referring to their late frontman, Freddie Mercury, and drummer John Deacon, who retired in 1997.
“In our Queen shows for a very long time I’ve been doing ‘Love of My Life.’ And in the end, Freddie comes in and joins me as on video. It was just quite simply done, but it’s a way of involving Freddie, and I think we can basically take that a lot further,” May continues. “It wouldn’t be just playing old footage or whatever. It would be creating Queen as if we were creating it today.”
He adds, “I’m very taken with the idea that we can be the original Queen again.”
And while Taylor says he enjoyed the ABBA show, Voyages, he did have some issues with it, although that hasn’t turned him off to the idea.
“I didn’t find the actual projections that convincing,” he says of Voyages. “I do think technology now has come so much further since the ABBA show started, I think a lot more can be done.”
‘We Are the World’ 40th anniversary artwork (credit: Matthew Frazier)
There comes a time … when “We Are the World” gets an upgrade in honor of its 40th anniversary.
The quintessential celebrity charity single is now available in Spatial Audio and high-resolution audio formats, along with an enhanced video version featuring stars ranging from Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Paul Simon to Diana Ross, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper and Bob Dylan — as well as its co-writers, Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson.
“For me, ‘We Are the World’ is a gift that keeps on giving and is a powerful teaching tool for generations to come,” Lionel says in a statement. “When Michael and I wrote the song 40 years ago, we never imagined the power it would have then for the world. Having those talented artists walk through the studio door that night, band together to change the world will never be replicated.”
Upon its original 1985 release, “We Are the World” raised over $100 million for those affected by the Ethiopian famine. It also led to the founding of the nonprofit United Support of Artists for Africa, or USA for Africa. To date, more than 500 organizations in Africa have received grants from the charity, supporting programs that help women and children, as well as refugee recovery and other issues.
Bad Company frontman Paul Rodgers is featured in the new video for rock band Halestorm’s cover of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band’s classic track “Shooting Star.”
The song is one of several covers that appear on the Bad Company tribute album Can’t Get Enough, and the clip features Halestorm and Rodgers recording their parts from their respective studios.
“Rock n’ Roll with a soul wouldn’t exist without Paul Rodgers,” Halestorm frontwoman Lzzy Hale says. “We grew up on the songs and sounds he gifted to the world, and we are honored to be on this record paying tribute to one of the greatest singers of all time.”
Can’t Get Enough was released in October. It also includes contributions from Def Leppard, The Pretty Reckless, Slash featuring Myles Kennedyand the Conspirators, The Struts, Dirty Honey and Black Stone Cherry.
Bad Company, meanwhile, was among the 2025 inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Rodgers did not attend the Nov. 8 ceremony due to health issues, but he recorded a video message that played following the Bad Company induction.
Highlights from the 2025 Rock Hall induction ceremony will air as an ABC primetime special on Jan. 1.
Clem Burke of Blondie playing the drums during the recording of a pop promo for their single ‘Picture This’ at Isleworth Studios, Isleworth, London on 21 August 1978 for Chrysalis Records. (Photo by Brian Cooke/Redferns)
Blondie is paying tribute to their late drummer, Clem Burke, on what would have been the rocker’s 71st birthday.
“We lost our friend and drummer Clem Burke in April of this year,” they wrote on Instagram next to a photo of Clem behind the drum kit. “Clem was the heartbeat of Blondie – vital to our sound, success, and spirit.”
“His extraordinary talent, infectious enthusiasm, and fierce work ethic shaped everything we did,” they continued. “From the moment he answered our Village Voice ad for a ‘freak energy musical experienced drummer,’ our lives changed forever.” The post also included a photo of that ad.
Finally, they note, “We believe his energy lives on—somewhere still vibrant, echoing in ways we can’t yet understand. Happy Birthday, Clem — wherever you are.”
Burke died April 6 following a private battle with cancer.
Blondie is due to release a new record, High Noon, in 2026, which Clem recorded with the band before his death.
Rick Wakeman performs at City Winery on October 25, 2021 in New York, New York. (Photo by Bobby Bank/Getty Images)
Former Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman announced back in July that he was postponing his summer tour due to some health issues. Now, he’s giving fans an update on his condition.
Wakeman explains in a post on his website that he had been diagnosed with a neurological disorder called normal pressure hydrocephalus, which led to him having surgery last week to put a shunt in his brain.
“I am pleased to say [it] was very successful and I am now recuperating at home being cared for by my lovely wife and our wonderful furry healing animals!” he writes.
Wakeman says that while he has to “take things easy for a while,” his doctors have told him that he should be “perfectly fine” to head to North America for his March tour with son Oliver Wakeman, plus any other shows after that. He also plans to play two charity shows in U.K. on Dec. 19 and 20.
“I am also pleased to say that it doesn’t seem to have affected my piano playing in any way as I still seem to be very capable of hitting the odd wrong note here and there when I lose my concentration!” he adds. “Once again, I’d like to thank everybody who wished me well over the last few months for a speedy recovery as it really did mean a lot to me.”
Wakeman’s tour with his son Oliver is set to begin March 11 in Ridgefield, Connecticut, with dates confirmed through March 29 in Red Bank, New Jersey.
A complete list of tour dates can be found at rwcc.com.
Queen frontman Freddie Mercury passed away at his home in Kensington, England. He was 45.
The cause of death was bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS. Mercury confirmed in a statement about 24 hours prior to his death that he had tested positive for HIV and had AIDS, although reports had suggested he was diagnosed as early as 1987.
Mercury was laid to rest three days later, with his Queen bandmates Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon in attendance for the funeral, as well as musician Elton John. Mercury’s cremated remains were given to his friend Mary Austin, who buried them at an undisclosed location.
The surviving members of Queen celebrated Mercury’s life five months later with The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness at Wembley Stadium in London, featuring appearances by such artists as John, Roger Daltrey, David Bowie, George Michael and Annie Lennox.
Jimmy Cliff performs live on stage on Day 1 at the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix Marina Bay Street Circuit at the Padang on September 18, 2015 in Singapore. (Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images)
Jimmy Cliff, a Grammy Award-winning singer and actor, who helped Jamaican reggae music find its place within global pop culture, is dead at 81.
“It’s with profound sadness that I share that my husband, Jimmy Cliff, has crossed over due to a seizure followed by pneumonia,” Latifa Chambers, Cliff’s wife, said in a post on his official Instagram account.
Cliff’s award-winning career as a musician spanned decades and included some of reggae’s most memorable hits, including “Many Rivers to Cross.” He was inducted in 2010 into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which described him as reggae’s “first champion.”
“Jimmy Cliff was instrumental in spreading reggae beyond Jamaica,” the Hall of Fame said on its site . “A self-proclaimed shepherd of reggae, Cliff has gone all over the globe to pass on the mellow, sun-drenched sound.”
“Many Rivers” and two other hits — “You Can Get It If You Really Want” and “The Harder They Come” — were standouts on the official soundtrack for a 1972 film, also titled The Harder They Come, that featured Cliff as its star.
Cliff played a young reggae artist who’s drawn into what’s portrayed as the often-seedy world of music production in Jamaica.
“Cliff’s portrayal is riveting and authentic,” the Grammy Awards wrote in an appraisal of the soundtrack marking 50 years after the movie’s release. It noted that Cliff, who was born James Chambers, had seen at least some of what was portrayed in the film.
“While pursuing a career as a singer, Cliff saw firsthand the crime, violence and the survival of the fittest mindset within the ghetto areas where reggae was birthed,” the appraisal said.
Cliff was born on July 30, 1944, during a hurricane in the Somerton District of St. James, Jamaica, according to his official biography. Fourteen years later, he had his first hit, “Hurricane Hattie,” beginning a career that stormed on far into this century.
He won the Grammy for best reggae album in 1986 for Cliff Hanger and again in 2013 for Rebirth. He was nominated several other times.
His songs often touched on freedom from burdensome surroundings and authority figures — and, fittingly, noting his birth during a hurricane, also included references to nature and storms.
On “The Harder They Come” he sung of fighting “as sure as the sun will shine,” adding a few lines later, “But I’d rather be a free man in my grave/Than living as a puppet or a slave.”
His wife in a note to fans posted on Monday said she was thankful for all the friends and artists Cliff held dear.
“To all his fans around the world, please know that your support was his strength throughout his whole career,” Chambers wrote. “He really appreciated each and every fan for their love.”
