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Genesis‘ upcoming tour is called The Last Domino?, but the question mark at the end of that phrase should be an exclamation point, as far as Phil Collins is concerned.
Phil appeared on BBC Breakfast on Thursday along with band mates Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford, and said flatly, “We’re all men of our age, and I think to some extent, I think [this tour] probably is putting [the band] to bed. I think just generally for me, I don’t know if I want to go out on the road anymore.”
Phil, who’s 70, has been sidelined by a number of serious health problems; his son Nicholas will be playing the drums on the tour this time around. Asked if he’s still able to play, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer admitted, “No. No. I would love to but…I mean, I can barely hold a stick with this hand, so there are certain physical things that get in the way.”
He added that his condition is “very frustrating, because I’d love to be playing up there with my son.”
During his I’m Not Dead Yet solo tour, which ran from 2017 to 2019, Phil sat on stage and sang while Nicholas played drums, although he did play a cajón — a percussion instrument played with the hands — at some shows.
The Last Domino? tour will be the first time Genesis, which has been in existence for more than 50 years, has toured together since 2007. The trek kicks off in the U.K. next week, and if all goes according to plan, it’ll come to the U.S. in November.
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When Elton John announced Wednesday that he was going to be in an UberEats commercial with rapper-singer Lil Nas X, we didn’t expect to get three separate commercials — and three sets of fabulous costumes to boot.
Each ad is part of UberEats’ ongoing “Tonight I’ll Be Eating” campaign, in which celebrities detail what they’ve ordered and had delivered via the online platform. The first one, “Rides,” shows Elton riding a coin-operated kiddie rocket ride, while Nas is on a similar one in the shape of a horse.
After each singer describes their food order, Elton asks Nas to loan him some money to gets his ride started, but Nas doesn’t understand him because Elton uses the British slang words for money: “bones,” “lolly” and “bangers and mash.”
Finally, an exasperated Elton says, “I don’t have any money!” to which Nas responds, in a British accent, “You don’t LOOK broke!”
The second clip, “Mayo vs. Ketchup,” features Elton announcing that he’s ordered a club sandwich with fries, with mayo on the side. Nas, who’s sitting in a clump of flowers wearing a Louis XIV-style wig and playing a sitar — because why not? — responds, “Mayonnaise? On fries?” Elton responds, “A little judgy, don’t you think?” to which Nas adds, “That’s weird.”
In celebration of today’s 50th anniversary of the release of John Lennon‘s classic solo album, Imagine, and his enduring peace anthem of the same name, a segment of the song’s lyrics has been projected digitally on buildings and structures in select cities around the world.
The lyrical phrase “IMAGINE ALL THE PEOPLE LIVING LIFE IN PEACE” has appeared as a digital projection in London on the Houses of Parliament and St. Paul’s Cathedral; in Lennon’s hometown of Liverpool, U.K., on the Liver Building and the Museum of Liverpool; and on remnants of the Berlin Wall in Germany.
The lyrics also have been posted on billboards in New York City’s Times Square, and in Tokyo near the historic Nihonbashi bridge.
Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, whom John credited with co-writing the song’s lyrics, said about the projections, “John would have loved this. ‘Imagine’ embodied what we believed together at the time. We are still together now and we still believe this. The sentiment is just as important now as when it was written and released 50 years ago.”
As previously reported, a number of events and activities have been planned today to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Imagine album and song. As part of the celebration, John and Yoko’s experimental 1971 film Imagine will be screened today at 2:30 p.m. ET at select theaters or online for free. Fans also will be able to check out the movie, which was restored and re-released in 2018, at Amazon Prime’s music-themed streaming service The Coda Collection.
Also, U.K. radio presenter Tim Burgess will host a special edition of his popular Tim’s Twitter Listening Party at the same time as the Imagine film screenings.
Visit JohnLennon.com to find out more details about the various planned commemorations.
Eric Clapton will release a new live album and video called The Lady in the Balcony: Lockdown Sessions on November 12 that features the guitar legend playing a mostly acoustic set with select members of his touring band.
The intimate performance was recorded at the Cowdray House country mansion in West Sussex, U.K., with no audience except for Clapton’s wife, Melia. The show featured Eric performing some of his best-known original songs, several blues classics and covers of two memorable Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac tunes: “Black Magic Woman” and “Man of the World.”
Slowhand was joined for the performance by bassist Nathan East, drummer Steve Gadd and keyboardist Chris Stainton.
Lady in the Balcony, which you can pre-order now, will be available as a DVD/CD or Blu-ray/CD set, a 4K UHD/Blu-ray collection, a two-LP set pressed on yellow vinyl, as digital video and audio versions, and as a Deluxe Edition package featuring the DVD, Blu-ray and CD housed in a 40-page hardback photo book. In addition, a standalone CD version will be sold exclusively at Target.
Among the classic songs from Clapton’s back catalog featured on Lady in the Balcony are “After Midnight,” “Bell Bottom Blues,” “Layla” and “Tears in Heaven.”
The performance was organized after Clapton’s May 2021 concerts at London’s famed Royal Albert Hall were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here’s the full track list of Lady in the Balcony: Lockdown Sessions:
“Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out”
“Golden Ring”
“Black Magic Woman”
“Man of the World”
“Kerry”
“After Midnight”
“Bell Bottom Blues”
“Key to the Highway”
“River of Tears”
“Rock Me Baby”
“Believe in Life”
“Going Down Slow”
“Layla”
“Tears in Heaven”
“Long Distance Call”
“Bad Boy”
“Got My Mojo Working”
The Who frontman Roger Daltrey has announced plans for a solo tour of his U.K. homeland this fall.
The 12-date “Who Was I” trek is mapped out from a November 7 show in Birmingham through a December 2 concert in Bournemouth, and will feature Daltrey performing well-known and rare songs from his various solo projects and by The Who, as well as sharing stories about the tunes.
According to a message on TheWho.com, Daltrey’s concerts will offer “a unique mix of music and conversation,” and will encompass “nearly every style imaginable — including blues, rock, country, soul and metal.”
“Throughout my life I have sung with so many great musicians, from the heavy rock of The Who and Wilko Johnson, to the Irish lilt of The Chieftains,” Roger says in a statement. “On this tour I want to take the audience on a musical journey through my career as a singer, with a show of songs and sounds that explores and surprises. I look forward to having closer contact with my audience than festivals and arenas allow. Leaving time to chat.”
He also notes, “It’s important to get our road crew working again, without these guys the halls would go silent.”
Daltrey adds, “It’s also clear that live music is an important part of all our lives, something to free us from the groundhog days that life has become. This pandemic has brought home to me what an important part of me singing is and it’s made me determined to get back onstage asap.”
Earlier this year, Daltrey scheduled a series of solo concerts in the Western U.S. in August and September, but he canceled them in June because of ongoing travel issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Check out Daltrey’s full schedule at TheWho.com. Tickets go on sale Friday.
The late Otis Redding was born 80 years ago today. The soul legend was just 26-years-old when he was killed in a plane crash on December 10, 1967.
Born in Dawson, Georgia, and raised in Macon, Redding sang gospel at an early age and was inspired by his love of Sam Cooke and Little Richard to become a soul singer.
Redding was signed to Stax Records in 1962. His first single for the famed Memphis, Tennessee, label was the original song “This Heart of Mine” that reached #20 on Billboard‘s R&B singles chart.
Over the next couple of years, Otis scored a series of big R&B hits.
Redding’s first hits on the Billboard Hot 100 came in 1965 with the ballad “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” and the soul rave-up “Respect,” which peaked at #21 and #35, respectively. The latter tune later became Aretha Franklin‘s signature song after she covered it in 1967.
Otis continued to enjoy crossover success in 1966 and ’67 with hits that included “Try a Little Tenderness.”
Also in 1967, two duets that Redding recorded with Carla Thomas, “Tramp” and “Knock on Wood,” reached the Hot 100’s top 30.
Otis’ dynamic performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop festival would bring him more acclaim and attention.
On December 7, 1967, three days before his death, Redding finished recording “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay,” a song he’d co-written with his guitarist and frequent collaborator, Steve Cropper.
In March ’68, “The Dock of the Bay” became the first posthumous song to hit #1 on the Hot 100.
Fifty years ago today, on September 9, 1971, the late John Lennon released his classic second solo album, Imagine, which featured his enduring peace anthem of the same name.
Imagine was Lennon’s first solo effort to top the Billboard 200 chart, and it’s gone on to sell more than 2 million copies in the U.S.
Imagine‘s centerpiece, of course, was the title track, which was the only single released from the album. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Imagine” includes lyrics urging people to envision a peaceful world without possessions, without countries that separate us and without religion. Before his death in 1980, Lennon credited his wife, Yoko Ono, with much of song’s lyrical ideas and content.
Other memorable songs featured on the album include “Jealous Guy,” “Gimme Some Truth,” “How Do You Sleep?” and “Oh Yoko!” Lennon wrote “How Do You Sleep?” as a vitriolic response to Paul McCartney‘s then-recent musical and media digs at John and Yoko.
Among the well-known musicians who contributed to Imagine were George Harrison; lauded session keyboardist Nicky Hopkins; bassist Klaus Voormann; drummers Alan White, Jim Keltner and Jim Gordon; and Badfinger members Tom Evans and Joey Molland. Lennon and Ono co-produced the record with Phil Spector.
Of course, hundreds of artists have recorded and performed “Imagine” over the years. Just a few examples: The song was performed as part of the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, and at the opening ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, and this year’s 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Visit JohnLennon.com to find out about the various events planned to commemorate the anniversary.
Meanwhile, in the lead-up to the milestone anniversary, a few famous artists discussed their admiration for Imagine and its title track:
John Fogerty: “[Lennon] stated a philosophy in ‘Imagine’ that’s one of those wonderful times where…it’s a really great song, but it’s also got a really great message, you know…The concept of having no borders and everybody is one and that there are many dreamers. And just a completely compelling melody…Yeah, that was a wonderful record, certainly.”
Heart‘s Ann Wilson: “‘Imagine’ [turned] out to be one of the most beloved standards of our culture…I mean, it’s just been done and redone and believed in. What an amazing mantra. And actually, it turns out that…those were Yoko’s words…I think that song probably was the real fruit of [John and Yoko’s] union, creatively.”
Heart’s Nancy Wilson: “The Imagine album was so intimate, more intimate than any Beatles album…would have been able to be, ’cause you would have had a George song, and maybe Ringo song, and Paul and John trading and…doing their Paul and John thing together. But, I think John…was going through a catharsis, like as a human, having been let out of the Beatle pen…and being able to do his own thing with the new love of his life.”
Pop-country great B.J. Thomas sadly passed away in May at age 78 after a battle with lung cancer. Now some of the “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” singer’s belongings are available via an online memorabilia sale overseen by his estate.
The items currently available for purchase include Rolex watches, guitars, apparel, signed baseballs, gold- and platinum-record awards, personal letters, firearms and various other collectibles. You can check out all of the items at Rockology-Estates.com.
Among the collectibles with the highest price tags are a Rolex watch, and a baseball signed by Babe Ruth, both priced at $10,900, a Gretsch guitar selling for $4,995, and a tour-used Ovation guitar with $4,975 asking price.
“The hardest thing for me was losing the love of my life, B.J., my honeyman,” says Thomas’ widow, Gloria. “Now, working with a team of people, we are placing items of B.J.’s in museums and are working to keep his legacy and memory alive. Doing this sale will also allow many of his loyal fans the chance to have a piece of history and memorabilia that normally wouldn’t be available to them.”
More of Thomas’ memorabilia will be made available in the coming weeks.
Thomas scored a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969 with “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” which was penned by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The tune, which appeared in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, won an Oscar for Best Original Song.
B.J. also topped the Hot 100 in 1975 with “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song,” and scored a #5 hit in 1968 with “Hooked on a Feeling.”
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A brief video clip from what appears to be an ad for UberEats starring Elton John and popular singer/rapper Lil Nas X — which apparently is going to arrive in full tomorrow — has been posted on Elton’s Twitter account.
In the clip, Elton is sitting behind a white piano, while dressed in a pink cowboy outfit similar to something Lil Nas X would’ve worn in 2019 when he was promoting his record-setting number-one hit “Old Town Road.”
Then Lil Nas X walks into the frame wearing one of Elton’s most over-the-top outfits: He’s dressed head to toe in multicolored feathers, with sparkly silver sunglasses and a mirrored leather headpiece. Elton famously wore that outfit while appearing on The Muppet Show in 1978.
As the clip proceeds, Elton looks up from the piano, sees Lil Nas X and says, “B**** stole my look!” Nas starts laughing, and says, “That wasn’t it!,” meaning that Elton delivered the wrong line. But as both he, Elton and the crew off camera crack up, Nas adds, “You know what? Let’s keep it!”
Elton and Lil Nas X have teamed up on a song called “One of Me” that will appear on both Nas’ debut album, Montero, due out September 17, and Elton’s forthcoming collaborative album The Lockdown Sessions, which will be released on October 22.
Elton John has just scored his second #1 hit of 2021 on the U.K.’s biggest chart countdown show, and he couldn’t be happier.
Elton’s collaboration with U.K. pop star Dua Lipa, “Cold Heart,” toppedThe Official Big Top 40 countdown radio show, which measures downloads, streaming and radio airplay, and is most similar to America’s Billboard Hot 100.
Reflecting on his achievement, 74-year-old Elton told the show, “Well, at my age, having one number-one song in the singles chart is an incredible surprise and for me, an achievement. So, two is ridiculous. I mean, this is a dream come true.”
Earlier this year, Elton’s collaboration with British act Years & Years on a cover of the Pet Shop Boys‘ “It’s a Sin” topped the same chart.
“‘Cold Heart,” created by Australian dance duo PNAU, is a mashup of three Elton songs: “Sacrifice,” “Rocket Man” and “Where’s the Shoorah?” On Instagram, Elton wrote, “Thank you for streaming and listening to ‘Cold Heart.’ Even after all this time making music and putting it out there, a number 1 still means so much and I couldn’t be prouder of the song, Dua and PNAU for what we’ve produced.”
Elton also teased, “Big things coming and I’m so excited to share them all with you.”
