Classic Hits

KISS bassist and co-founder Gene Simmons’ prowess with the ladies has been the subject of rumors for years, particularly the claim that he has slept with over 5,000 women. Well, now he’s setting the record straight.

“I’ve heard all about those numbers,” he tells The Sun when asked about the rumors. When pushed about whether they were true, he responded “confirmed.”

“For me, an insane heterosexual male, party means girls. I was like a vulture, waiting on the sidelines until all the guys got drunk,” Simmons, who says he doesn’t drink, shares. “But the prettiest girls didn’t get drunk so I’d walk in and choose whichever — as you Brits say — birds I liked.”

Simmons and his KISS bandmates are getting ready to say goodbye to the road, with the U.K./European leg of their End of the Road tour kicking off June 3 in Birmingham, England. As for why they are finally ready to give it up, Simmons says, “It’s the end of the touring band because we have enough self-respect. We don’t want to be like boxers who stay in the ring too long.”

He notes, “If I was in the Rolling Stones, who are great by the way, I could strum a guitar wearing sneakers and T-shirt and it would be fine. I admire Mick Jagger for pushing the limits but I can’t keep doing it with 40lb of studs and armor and eight-inch heels.”

A complete list of KISS’ End of the Road tour dates can be found at kissonline.com.

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Rod Stewart‘s daughter Ruby has made him a grandfather again.

Ruby, Rod’s daughter with his ex-girlfriend Kelly Emberg, announced on Mother’s Day that she and her fiancé, Jake Kalic, had welcomed a baby boy, Otis Stewart Kalic, on May 9. “I can’t remember what life was like before you….But nothing else matters now that you’re here,” Ruby wrote on Instagram.

Rod’s ex-wife Rachel Hunter and her daughter, Ruby’s half-sister Renee, both congratulated Ruby in the comments.

But it turns out that Rod actually became a grandfather for the third time, not thanks to Ruby, but thanks to his and Hunter’s son, Liam. Liam and his partner, Nicole Artukovich, announced that their son, Louie Mark Roderick Stewart, had arrived on May 12. Since Ruby’s baby was born on May 9, Otis is Rod’s second grandchild, while Louie is his third.

As for his first grandchild, that’s Delilah, who’s 11. Her parents are Rod’s daughter Kimberly — from his first marriage, to Alana Hamilton Stewart — and actor Benicio Del Toro.

We hope Rod has a scorecard to keep track of his growing family.

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Sting fans will want to make their way to Philadelphia this September.

The Police frontman and frequent collaborator Shaggy are throwing their very own festival — the One Fine Day festival — taking place September 9 at The Mann Center, Fairmount Park.

Sting and Shaggy will team up for what’s being described as “a joint-set of combined greatest hits.” The festival will feature two stages, with a lineup that also includes Thundercat, G-Love and Special Sauce, Kofee and Tank and the Bangas.

“I love how Shaggy and I effortlessly push each other to the creative edges,” Sting shares. “After having made the 44/876 album together and recording an album of Frank Sinatra covers in a reggae style, a day of hits and musical adventures in one of our favorite cities seemed like the next illogical step!”

A Sting presale kicks off Tuesday, May 16, with the general sale set for Friday, May 19. More info and a complete lineup can be found at sting.com.

This isn’t the only chance Sting fans have to catch him onstage this year. He’ll kick off the North American leg of his My Songs tour on June 1 in Vienna, Virginia. 

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On This Day, May 15, 1975 … 

In El Paso, Texas, Fleetwood Mac launched their first tour with new members Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.  

The set list included several songs from Buckingham and Nicks’ 1973 album, as well as the future classics they contributed to the band’s 1975 self-titled album, like “Rihannon,” “Landslide” and “Monday Morning.”

Nicks and Buckingham were in a romantic relationship that ended in 1977, although they remained with the band and wrote songs inspired by the breakup, including “Silver Springs,” “Go Your Own Way” and more.

Although they would both leave Fleetwood Mac at various points in their careers, all members who appeared on 1977’s Rumours reunited in March 1997 for a live concert, The Dance, which was released as an album.

Buckingham left the group once again in 2018, although reports claimed he was fired because of a disagreement over touring. He later sued the group, and the suit was settled out of court. Fleetwood Mac went on to tour without him, replacing Buckingham with The Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell and Crowded House’s Neil Finn.

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It looks like Mick Jagger’s youngest son has inherited some of his dance moves. 

The rock star’s girlfriend, Melanie Hamrick, proved just that by sharing a video on Mother’s Day of their 6-year-old son, Deveraux, dancing. 

“My wonderful, wild, sweet, beautiful Dev!! I am beyond blessed and thankful to be his Mama!” she wrote next to the clip. “Happy Mother’s Day!!!”

In the clip, Deveraux is jumping around, doing splits and more, all to the Imagine Dragons track “Warriors.”

Deveraux is The Rolling Stones frontman’s eighth child. Mick has four children — 25-year-old Gabriel, 31-year-old Georgia May, 37-year-old James and 39-year-old Elizabeth — with Jerry Hall. There’s also 51-year-old Jade with ex-wife Bianca Jagger; 52-year-old Karis with actress Marsha Hunt; and 23-year-old son Lucas with Luciana Gimenez.

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Gov’t Mule is currently back out on the road on their spring tour, and that’s exactly where frontman Warren Haynes loves to be.

Haynes tells ABC Audio being on the road is where he feels most comfortable.

“Having done it for so long, you know, you get better and better at doing it and at kind of navigating the road life,” Haynes says. But he notes life on the road “is always a challenge.”

What was an even bigger challenge for Haynes was being off the road for so long due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making it even harder to get back out there. “Getting back to it is not as easy,” he says. “That was the longest I’ve been off the road probably since I was 15 years old.”

But there were some positives about the downtime, with Haynes saying he “enjoyed the time off” because he got to spend a lot of it with his 11-year-old son.  

“I was also, you know, kind of jonesing to get back on the road at the same time trying to make the best of a bad situation,” he says. “And I spent so much time writing. That was really the saving grace, was being with my son and writing music.” (AUDIO IS ABC 1-ON-1)

Fans have already gotten to enjoy some of the music he wrote with the 2021 release of Heavy Load Blues. They’ll hear even more when Gov’t Mule releases their new album, Peace…Like A River, on June 16.

In the meantime, fans can catch the band out on the road. They play Macon, Georgia, on May 16. A complete list of tour dates can be found at mule.net. 

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James Taylor is sharing another throwback video with fans. The singer just posted a “vintage” live performance of the tune “Brother Trucker.”

The video shows James and his band performing the song at the Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, on July 18, 1979. Taylor has since played Blossom 26 times, more than any other featured performer.

This performance of “Brother Trucker” was previously available as part of James Taylor – In Concert, which was his first commercial video release. 

Taylor wrote “Brother Trucker” for the musical Working. It was later included on his 1979 album, Flag.

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Back in 2020, The Rolling Stones teamed up with Brazilian DJ Alok for a remix of “Living in a Ghost Town,” and Alok said it wasn’t easy getting Mick Jagger to OK the tune.

Alok tells Rolling Stone Jagger had him redo that track 10 times before he was happy with it. Alok even has a recording of a call with the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, in which he expressed his frustration. 

“I answered the call, and I told him, ‘Listen, now I understand why you did this song “I Can Get No Satisfaction” because you’re never satisfied,’” Alok says. “This is my last try with the tenth version.” 

This wasn’t the first time Alok worked with Jagger. In 2017 he remixed Jagger’s solo tune “Gotta Get A Grip,” which apparently took six tries to get right.

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Are we about to get some new music from Joan Jett? Well, that’s the speculation after the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer teased fans on Instagram with a photo of her in the studio.

She captioned the shot, “Back in the studio. Big announcement coming…”

If the speculation is true, it will be the first new album from Joan Jett and the Blackhearts since 2022’s Changeup, an acoustic record that featured new versions of classic hits like “Bad Reputation” and “Crimson and Clover.” Their last album of all new material was the 2014 record Unvarnished.

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts will be busy on the road this summer. They have shows in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Richardson, Texas, on May 19 and 20, respectively, and then on June 6 they kick off a tour with Bryan Adams in Baltimore, Maryland. A complete list of dates can be found at joanjett.com.

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Eric Clapton is celebrating his friend, the late Jeff Beck, with the release of a new cover of the 1961 classic “Moon River,” along with an animated video in which they are both featured.

Longtime Clapton collaborator Simon Climie says he and Clapton recorded a version of the song in January 2022, noting it “was more of a ballad – and naturally the guitar and vocals were brilliant.” He adds, “When we were happy with the track, Eric asked me to send it over to Jeff. Jeff loved it. And soon after that in the spring of 2022, Jeff added his unmistakable guitar part. It knocked us off our feet.” 

The tune is now out across all digital platforms. A double A-side 7-inch vinyl, which also features the new song “How Could We Know” featuring Judith Hill, Climie and Daniel Santiago, will be released July 14. It is available for preorder now.

The collaboration comes ahead of Clapton’s upcoming Jeff Beck tribute concerts, taking place May 22 and 23 at London’s Royal Albert Hall. The shows, dubbed A Tribute to Jeff Beck by Eric Clapton & Friends, will feature special guests Ronnie Wood, Joe Perry, Rod Stewart, ZZ Top’s Billy F. Gibbons and more.

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