Classic Hits

Don Everly of the influential early rock ‘n’ roll duo The Everly Brothers died Saturday at his home in Nashville at the age of 84.  In the wake of his passing, musicians who were inspired by the duo’s music have taken to social media to post tribute messages in Don’s honor.

Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr posted an homage to Don and his younger brother and band mate, Phil, who died in 2014, on his Twitter that reads, “God bless Don and Phil the Everly brothers we loved them peace and love.” The message is accompanied by a vintage photos of The Beatles and The Everly Brothers together.

Founding Beach Boys member Brian Wilson also paid tribute to Don on his Twitter page.  “I’m sad to hear about Don Everly passing,” Wilson wrote. “The Everly Brothers were a big influence on us and we learned a lot from their beautiful harmonies. Love & mercy to Don’s family.”

Meanwhile, Peter Frampton tweeted, “I am so sad to hear about the loss of Don Everly. Both Phil and Don created songs and harmonies that changed music forever. You will be together again now. RIP Don and Phil.”

Here are tributes from some other notable music artists:

Rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis: “The Everly Brothers are integral to the fabric of American music. Very few of us can say we were around at the beginning, and even fewer can say we’re still here. With my friend Don’s passing, I am reflective…reflective on a life full of wonderful friends, spectacular music and fond memories…God Bless Don Everly and long live Rock and Roll music.”

Don McLean: “I met the Everly Brothers in 1969 and asked them about Buddy Holly. Phil said Buddy took the plane so he could do his laundry. I think Buddy had other laundry to do as well. This started my thinking for ‘American Pie’ which I wrote later. Additionally, Don was a great lead singer and unique rhythm guitar player.”

Kinks guitarist Dave Davies: “Very sad day. Both of the Everlys were part of my musical life growing up. We were inspired by their wonderful records and their singing and their voices. ‘Wake Up Little [Susie]’ was my favorite as a kid.”

David Crosby: “[The Everly Brothers were the first] people who made me really love harmony…'[All I Have to Do Is] Dream.'”

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Styx‘s 1979 hit “Renegade” has long been embraced as the adopted theme song of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and now the veteran rockers have partnered with the Pittsburgh-area Voodoo Brewing Co. to create a beer inspired by the classic tune.

Oh Mama beer, named after the opening lyrics of “Renegade,” is a traditional golden lager brewed by Voodoo especially for Styx’s fans in and around the Steel City.

The brew currently is available in four packs of 16-ounce cans and in 50-liter kegs at Voodoo’s corporate pubs and franchise locations; online for home delivery in Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.; at select beverage outlets in Pittsburgh and Erie, Pennsylvania; and for delivery in various states via the Tavour app — using the code word “renegade.”

Oh Mama also can purchased on tap at select bars and pubs.

“We are excited to announce that STYX, in partnership with Voodoo Brewing Co., is bringing our Oh Mama beer to a frosty mug near you,” say singer/guitarist Tommy Shaw in a statement. “We think you’re gonna love it as much as we do. Cheers!!!”

Adds guitarist James “JY” Young, “As we have our tradition with ‘Renegade’ and the Steelers, we are excited to announce our Oh Mama beer. We look forward to bringing a part of Steeler tradition to our fans that they can enjoy from home.”

“Renegade” is played at every Steelers home game during the third quarter as the soundtrack to a video compilation of defensive highlights meant to inspire the team’s players and fans. Styx also has performed the national anthem at several Steelers games over the years.

Styx released its latest studio album, Crash of the Crown, in June and the band has a bunch of 2021 U.S. tour dates scheduled to support the record.

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A recent Dead & Company concert was rattled by a fan who tragically fell to his death. Witnesses say the man attempted to perform a flip on a balcony.

The New York Post reports that the incident happened at the band’s show at Citi Field in Queens, New York, on Friday. Police have withheld the name of the deceased but confirmed that the concertgoer was a man in his 40s.

According to the report, witnesses and police say the man attempted to do a flip and plunged 30 to 50 feet to his death from the fifth floor. It is unclear when the incident took place during the concert. 

A driver working outside Citi Field told the Post, “He was unresponsive and he hit the ground head first.” The driver also claimed that the man was “drunk.” Police sources corroborated the claim that the man was under the influence of alcohol, according to the newspaper.

The fan was rushed to New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital and later died. The man’s identity reportedly will not be released until police notify next of kin.

Representatives for Dead & Company haven’t issued a public comment as of Monday morning, nor have the band’s socials made mention of the incident.

Dead & Company includes Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, as well as singer/guitarist John Mayer, ex-Allman Brothers Band bassist Oteil Burbridge and RatDog keyboardist Jeff Chimenti.

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As Aerosmith prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary, the band has announced a new wide-ranging partnership with Universal Music Group that, for the first time, brings together the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers’ entire recording catalog on one label home.

The global deal also will include upcoming music projects, merchandise items and new audio-visual content, including films, television programs, online presentations and more.

In addition, the partnership also will make available material from the vaults of Aerosmith’s Vindaloo studio, as well as from the personal archives of the band’s five members — frontman Steven Tyler, guitarists Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, bassist Tom Hamilton and drummer Joey Kramer. The band mates also will participate in curating collections of their music, photos, video content, artwork, memorabilia and more.

Forthcoming releases will include previously unseen and unheard rarities from throughout Aerosmith’s long career.

“It’s been a long road but I’m extremely happy and proud to say on behalf of Aerosmith we have been able to bring our 50 years of music under one roof by partnering with UMG,” Perry says in a statement. “This will allow us to bring our music to our fans in ways we never were able to before. It’s something we’ve dreamed about happening for a long time…It’s an incredible way to celebrate 50 years and the many more years to come.”

Adds UMG chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge, “On the band’s 50th anniversary, Aerosmith continues to influence the course of music not only through their iconic catalog but also through film, television and video games and their inimitable style…We look forward to building upon their incredible legacy and ensuring their music continues to inspire fans around the world.”

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Brian Travers, founding saxophone player for the popular U.K. reggae band UB40, died Sunday at the age of 62.

The band announced Travers’ death in a message that reads, “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our comrade, brother, founding UB40 member and musical legend, Brian David Travers. Brian passed away…with his family by his side, after a long and heroic battle with cancer. Our thoughts are with Brian’s wife Lesley, his daughter Lisa and son Jamie.”

The BBC reports that Travers underwent an operation in 2019 to remove two brain tumors, and had an additional operation last year.

In addition to playing sax, Brian contributed to the arrangement of UB40’s tunes and wrote lyrics for some of the band’s original songs.

UB40 has been hugely successful in the U.K., scoring 39 top-40 hits on the country’s singles chart. The band also has scored several major hits in the U.S., including their chart-topping covers of Neil Diamond‘s “Red Red Wine” and Elvis Presley‘s “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” and their popular take on Sonny & Cher‘s “I Got You Babe” — a duet with The Pretenders‘ Chrissie Hynde.

Travers’ death comes just a couple of months after the band’s lead singer, Duncan Campbell, announced he was retiring from the group for health reasons. Campbell’s decision to retire came after he suffered a seizure in June, following a stroke in 2020. Duncan joined UB40 in 2008 after his brother, Ali, the group’s original lead singer, quit the band.

Last month, UB40 announced that Birmingham, U.K., reggae singer Matt Doyle as its new frontman.

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Saturday’s “We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert” was cut short thanks to Hurricane Henri. 

The event, which was held in Central Park and put on by Live Nation and industry icon Clive Davis, came to a halt just after the halfway mark when lightening struck within a 10-mile radius, Variety reports. 

According to the outlet, the good times came to an end for 60,0000 attendees at the two-hour-and-37-minute mark, in the midst of Barry Manilow belting out “I Can’t Smile Without You.”  An announcer interrupted the performance saying, “Attention. Please pay close attention to the following safety measures. Due to approaching severe weather, all persons should move quickly and calmly to the nearest exits and proceed to your vehicles and protected areas.”

Performers and concertgoers both waited out the weather in hopes the show would go on, with talks that perhaps the event could continue even without an audience and strictly as broadcast. However, after about three hours and no signs of the weather letting up, it was announced that it was a wrap. 

“We Love NYC” was scheduled to be a five-hour event that would treat attendees to performances from stars representing an array of genres. Among those who hit the stage before things went awry were Jennifer Hudson, Andrea Bocelli, Earth Wind & Fire, LL Cool J, Kane Brown, Journey, Santana, Jon Batiste and Polo G.

Meanwhile, acts including Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Elvis Costello, Maluma, Patti Smith and the Killers were stunted. 

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David Lee Roth has offered a very pointed response to insulting comments that Gene Simmons made about him in a recent interview with Rolling Stone regarding why the founding Van Halen frontman wasn’t serving as KISS‘ opening act on the 2021 U.S. leg of the band’s farewell tour.

On his Instagram account on Friday, Roth posted a photo — 18 times — featuring the caption “Roth to Simmons” that shows a young boy wearing sunglasses while giving the middle finger and sticking out his tongue. He also posted the same photo once on his official website and his Facebook and Twitter pages.

As previously reported, Simmons confirmed to Rolling Stone that Roth — who opened the initial 2020 dates on KISS’ End of the Road tour before the trek was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic — was no longer the band’s support act for the newly launched tour leg. While he didn’t give a specific reason, Gene drew some negative comparisons between Dave’s career and that of the late Elvis Presley.

After describing Roth during his heyday as “the ultimate frontman,” Simmons went on tell the magazine, “I don’t know what happened to him…something. And you get modern-day Dave. I prefer to remember Elvis Presley in his prime. Sneering lips, back in Memphis, you know, doing all that. I don’t want to think of bloated naked Elvis on the bathroom floor.”

The current opening act for KISS in 2021 is rock-portrait painter David Garibaldi.

In other KISS news, the band postponed its show scheduled this past Sunday for the Xfinity Center in Hartford, Connecticut, because of Hurricane Henri. The concert will be rescheduled soon. Fans with tickets are being asked to hold on to them.

pic.twitter.com/F8uDzr3RKm

— David Lee Roth (@DavidLeeRoth) August 20, 2021

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Don Everly, half of the influential and pioneering early rock ‘n’ roll duo The Everly Brothers, died Saturday at his home in Nashville, the Los Angeles Times reports. He was 84.

A spokesman for the Everly family confirmed Don’s passing to the newspaper, but did not disclose a cause of death.

A statement from the Everlys reads in part, “Don lived by what he felt in his heart. Don expressed his appreciation for the ability to live his dreams…with his soulmate and wife, Adela, and sharing the music that made him an Everly Brother.”

Together with his brother Phil, two years his junior, Don scored a string of major hits in the late ’50s and early ’60s, including such classics as “Wake Up Little Susie,” “Bye Bye Love,” “All I Have to Do Is Dream,” “Cathy’s Clown” and “Bird Dog.”  The brothers’ tight harmonies and melodic tunes influenced many other famous artists, including The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, The Beach Boys and The Hollies.

While many of The Everly Brothers’ biggest singles were written by the husband-and-wife team of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, Don also wrote a number of the duo’s hits, including “Cathy’s Clown,” “(Till) I Kissed You” and “So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad).”

The Everlys had their last top-40 single in 1967 with “Bowling Green.” Then in 1973, Don had an acrimonious split with Phil and the brothers reportedly didn’t speak to each other for a decade. They reunited in 1983 and had a minor hit the following year with the Paul McCartney-penned tune “On the Wings of a Nightingale.”

The Everly Brothers were part of the inaugural class of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees in 1986, and were the first non-solo act welcomed into the Hall. In addition, Don and Phil were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.

In 2003, the brothers toured as the special guests of Simon & Garfunkel. They played their last show together in 2005 in Ipswich, U.K. Phil died at age 74 in January 2014 of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

In addition to Adela, Don is survived by his mother, Margaret; his son, Edan; daughters Venetia, Stacy and Erin; and many grandchildren. His daughter Erin was married to Axl Rose from 1990 to 1991.

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Elvis Costello has debuted a fun trailer for Spanish Model, the upcoming album featuring various Latin-music artists performing Spanish-language versions of the songs from his second studio effort, 1978’s This Year’s Model.

As previously reported, Spanish Model, which will be released on September 10, features all of the songs from This Year’s Model plus select other tunes from that record’s sessions, with newly recorded vocals by various Latin artists accompanied by the original music by Costello and his band The Attractions.

The video features Costello giving some background about This Year’s Model, which was his first album with The Attractions — keyboardist Steve Nieve, drummer Pete Thomas and bassist Bruce Thomas. It also includes commentary from many of the artists who contributed to Spanish Model.

In addition, the promo features a hilarious section where Elvis speak-sings a brief synopsis of the new album’s concept to the melody of “Pump It Up.”

Among the artists who put their Spanish-language spin on the This Year’s Model tunes are Juanes, Luis Fonsi, Sebastián Yatra and Vega.

Costello collaborated on the project with Latin Grammy Producer of the Year winner Sebastian Krys, who remixed the This Year’s Model tracks from the original master recordings.

Meanwhile, the first episode of a documentary series focusing on Spanish Model will premiere September 9. It will feature interviews with nearly all of the artists who contributed to the album, as well as with Costello, The Attractions’ members and This Year’s Model producer Nick Lowe.

“I love the humor and heart that [director] Jose [Tillan] has caught in this film,” Costello says. “It’s been great to hear all these voices and see the faces of our new friends. The whole gang’s here.”

You can pre-order Spanish Model now.

Here’s the track list:

“No Action” — Nina Diaz
“(Yo No Quiero Ir a) Chelsea” (“[I Don’t Want to Go to] Chelsea”) — Raquel Sofía y Fuego
“Yo Te Vi” (“The Beat”) — Draco Rosa
“Pump It Up” — Juanes
“Detonantes” (“Little Triggers”) — La Marisoul
“Tu Eres Para Mi” (“You Belong to Me”) — Luis Fonsi
“Hand in Hand” — Francisca Valenzuela y Luis Humberto Navejas
“La Chica de Hoy” (“This Year’s Girl”) — Cami
“Mentira” (“Lip Service”) — Pablo López
“Viviendo en el Paraiso” (“Living in Paradise”) — Jesse & Joy
“Lipstick Vogue” — Morat
“La Turba” (“Night Rally”) — Jorge Drexler
“Llorar” (“Big Tears”) — Sebastián Yatra
“Radio Radio” — Fito Páez
“Crawling to the U.S.A.” — Gian Marco y Nicole Zignago
“Se Esta Perdiendo la Inocencia” (“Running Out of Angels”) — Vega

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Just a reminder that star-studded We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert takes place Saturday in New York City at Central Park’s Great Lawn, and will air live starting at 5 p.m. ET on CNN and some of its affiliated networks.

This show’s impressive lineup includes Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Journey, Carlos Santana, Matchbox Twenty‘s Rob Thomas, Earth, Wind & Fire, Barry Manilow, Elvis Costello, Patti Smith, Rob Thomas and many others.

About 60,000 people are expected to attend the concert, and proof of vaccination for those ages 12 or over is required to gain entry. Most of the tickets to the event were made available for free, although a limited number of VIP passes were sold.

As previously announced, the “We Love NYC” concert is meant to celebrate the “rebirth” of the Big Apple amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

This week, Santana and Thomas confirmed that they’ll be performing together at the show. On Wednesday, the two artists released a new collaborative track called “Move,” which arrives 22 years after Santana and Thomas’ massively successful 1999 single, “Smooth.”

Meanwhile, Earth, Wind & Fire will be joined by Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds and young R&B singer Lucky Daye for a premiere live performance of their just-released collaborative tune, “You Want My Love.”

Other music artists and entertainers on the “We Love NYC” bill include LL COOL J, Andrea Bocelli, Cynthia Erivo, Jimmy Fallon, Jennifer Hudson, Wyclef Jean, The Killers and Kane Brown.

Pre-event coverage will begin at 4 p.m. ET. The concert was produced by New York City, music mogul Clive Davis, and Live Nation.

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