Classic Hits

When Michael Hutchence passed away 25 years ago Tuesday, his band INXS was left wondering what to do next, and apparently they considered going with a female singer. In a new interview for theLiSTNR podcast Behind The Hits, Baby Animals singer Suze DeMarchi says she was approached about being a permanent replacement for the band’s late frontman.

“There was a formal offer from their manager,” she explains. “They didn’t say, ‘You’re going to make this, we’ll do this, some of that … It hadn’t got[ten] to that point, but [there were] conversations with their manager at the time.”

Ultimately the band decided to find a new lead singer on the reality show Rock Star: INXS and hired JD Fortune, who sang on two albums: 2005’s Switch and 2010’s Original Sin.

“Just before they had done that show, I was really seriously thinking about doing it,” DeMarchi explains. “I was just about to go, ‘Yeah, maybe we could try this,’ and then they said, ‘Well, we want to do this show.’ So that’s how it went down.”

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David Bowie’s son, director Duncan Jones, isn’t at all happy that Donald Trump continues to use his dad’s music. The latest instance was during Trump’s recent event at Mar-A-Lago announcing his 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump used Bowie’s “Heroes” as his exit music; after folks on social media made him aware of it, Jones responded on Twitter with, “We’ve been though [sic] this before. He used the same track 6 years ago. Ive been told there is little we can do about it.” 

He later added, “Pretty sure he’s doing that just to wind me up.”

Jones’ response comes not long after Isaac Hayes and Tom Petty‘s estates called out Trump for using the artists’ music without permission.

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A bookshop in Portugal, which claims to be “the world’s most beautiful bookshop,” placed the winning bid on a set of love letters written by Bob Dylan when he was in high school.

According to the New York Post, Livraria Lello in Porto, Portugal, shelled out almost $670,000 for the letters, which the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer wrote to high school girlfriend Barbara Ann Hewitt between 1957 and 1959. The collection, which was being auctioned off at RR Auction, features 42 handwritten letters and about 150 pages of writings, including bits of poetry, an invitation to a Buddy Holly concert and more. They were found by Hewitt’s daughter following her 2020 death.

The bookshop says they plan to keep the collection complete for any Dylan fans or scholars to study. 

But the letters weren’t the only Dylan items up for grabs at the auction. There was also a set of poems he wrote at the University of Minnesota, which went for about $250,000, and an early signed photograph of the artist, which sold for over $24,000.

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Elton John is one of several artists set to be honored at Variety’s sixth annual Hitmakers celebration, which honors artists who have the 25 most-consumed songs of the past year, according to Luminate.

Elton is being honored alongside Dua Lipa as Hitmakers of the Year thanks to the success of their collaboration “Cold Heart-PNAU Remix,” which combines Elton’s hits “Rocketman,” “Sacrifice” and more. It peaked at seven on the Billboard chart and became Elton’s 28th top-10 hit. The honor also recognizes Elton for his incredible six-decade career, as well as his “mentorship of young artists.”

Also being recognized at the event is Kate Bush’s ’80s single “Running Up That Hill” for Sync of the Year, due to its resurgence on the chart after its use in season 4 of Netflix’s Stranger Things. It turned out to be the 12th most consumed song of 2022.

This year’s honorees, which include Imagine Dragons, Selena Gomez and Lizzo, will be celebrated on December 3 with an invitation-only brunch.

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Danny Kalb, guitarist for the 1960s/1970s band The Blues Project, passed away Saturday at his nursing home in Brooklyn; he was 80 years old. His brother Jonathan confirmed the news of his death to the New York Times and revealed that Kalb had been diagnosed with cancer three years ago.

In a 2013 interview with AM New York, Kalb shared that he met Bob Dylan at the University of Wisconsin. After the singer “crashed with me for a few weeks” on his way to New York, Kalb said he “dropped out and followed him.”

He went on to become a fixture in the Greenwich Village music scene and played in the studio with such artists as Judy Collins and Pete Seeger. He contributed two songs to the 1964 anthology, The Blues Project: A Compendium of the Very Best on the Urban Blues Scene, which featured music from eight Greenwich Village regulars. 

Kalb embraced the electric guitar and the blues after seeing John Lee Hooker perform at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival. He then formed the Blues Project with Steve Katz, Andy Kulberg, Roy Blumenfeld and Tommy Flanders, releasing their only studio album, Projections, in 1966. Although they broke up in 1967, they regrouped in various forms up until about 2012. He also released several solo projects, including Livin’ with the Blues in 1995, All Together Now in 2006 and more.

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Tuesday marks 25 years since INXS frontman Michael Hutchence died, and now, his sister is expressing her anger over his ex-girlfriend’s failure to reveal the truth about his state of mind at the time of his death.

Hutchence hanged himself in a Sydney hotel room on November 22, 1997, and at the time, his family had no idea he was suicidal. In the 2019 documentary Mystify, however, his ex-girlfriend, supermodel Helena Christensen, revealed he had suffered brain damage as a result of an assault by a taxi driver in Copenhagen. She said he wound up with a crack in his skull, and it caused him to suffer uncontrollable rages, something his sister, Tina Hutchence, wished she had divulged earlier.

Tina tells The Sun she knows her brother was “happy” with Christensen, but she says, “I did feel angry when I first found out about the assault, as I felt it was her duty to say something to his family,” especially since there were so many terrible rumors surrounding his death, including ones suggesting he died during a sex game.

“She was very close to our parents and could have easily reached out,” Tina says. “My first thought was, ‘He died all those years ago. Why didn’t she say something before now?’” She adds, “I’m sure that if Michael didn’t have that accident in Denmark, he would still be with us today.”

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While Elton John welcomed some notable names to the stage Sunday night for his final North American concert — Dua Lipa, Brandi Carlile and his “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” duet partner Kiki Dee — the star power in the audience was pretty impressive.

Among those who attended the hit-packed show at LA’s Dodger stadium were Elton’s fellow music legends Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger and Joni Mitchell, as well as Taron Egerton, who portrayed Elton in his biopic Rocketman, and Elton’s good pals Donatella Versace, Neil Patrick Harris and Will & Grace star Eric McCormack.

Also in the house were Jude Law, Angela Bassett and her husband Courtney B. Vance, Miles Teller, Heidi Klum, Christopher Lloyd, Connie Britton, Kirsten Dunst, Jenna Dewan, John Stamos, Sara Gilbert, Lisa Rinna, JoJo Siwa and more.

Another guest was Elton’s longtime friend, tennis legend Billie Jean King, who’s also co-owner of the Dodgers. Over the weekend, she and other Dodger executives presented Elton with a $1 million donation to his AIDS Foundation in honor of the three shows he played at the stadium.

Sunday’s show was Elton’s 103rd in the Los Angeles area since his career began, and the 271st show of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which started way back in 2018. When it finally wraps up in July of 2023, Billboard notes that it’ll likely overtake U2‘s 360 tour to become the second highest-grossing tour in history, and may even overtake Ed Sheeran‘s Divide tour, which holds the all-time record.

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Publisher Simon & Schuster have agreed to refund Bob Dylan fans who shelled out almost $600 for what was supposed to be personally “hand-signed” copies of his book The Philosophy of Modern Song. 

It turns out, the 900 books sold were not actually signed by Dylan, and instead, the signatures were just mechanical duplicates. According to Variety, complaints about the signatures started rolling in Friday as those who purchased the book started receiving their copies. Many quickly realized they were actually signed using “autopen,” which reproduces real signatures using a machine. The publisher initially insisted the books had been hand-signed, especially since each book came with “a letter of authenticity,” and refused refunds, but later announced they had changed their stance.

“To those who purchased the ‘Philosophy of Modern Song’ limited edition, we want to apologize,” Simon & Schuster tweeted. “As it turns out, the limited edition books do contain Bob’s original signature, but in a penned replica form. We are addressing this information by providing each purchaser with an immediate refund.”

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There’s some new infighting within the band Journey. New legal documents show Neal Schon is suing bandmate Jonathan Cain over a credit card.

According to the Page Six, docs accuse Cain of opening up an Amex card through the company that operates the band, suggesting “millions of Journey funds have flowed through it.” Both Schon and Cain have a 50% stake in the company, Nomota, and in his suit, Schon insists he “has the right to access and control Nomota’s books and records” in order to “oversee and manage” the company and the band. Schon, however, argues Cain has yet to turn over important records about their finances.

Schon’s documents argue he needs the financial records in order “to determine the proportion of Journey’s profits that he’s entitled to as the founder and president of Journey,” adding, “Schon’s right to Journey’s profits is being controlled by Cain — Schon’s bandmate, who Schon brought into the band in the 1980s — and despite all of his requests and efforts, Schon has been unable to get full access.”

Schon adds that Cain has told him he will have access to that Amex card, but so far, he has yet to be added to it. He says he only knows it exists because American Express told him about it.

Despite the legal fighting, Journey is set to hit the road on a 38-city, 50th anniversary tour in February, with special guests Toto.

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Bruce Springsteen has another hit record. The Boss moved 39,500 copies of his new covers album, Only the Strong Survive, to debut at eight on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. Of those albums moved, 36,500 were in traditional album sales. 

Only the Strong Survive is now Bruce’s 22nd top 10 record, landing him at eight for the most top 10 albums and at six for the most among solo artists. The Rolling Stones currently have the most, with 37, followed by Barbra Streisand with 34, and The Beatles and Frank Sinatra, with 32.

Only the Strong Survive has Bruce covering some of his favorite soul songs, including “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do),” “Nightshift,” “Don’t Play That Song” and more. He recently told Rolling Stone that a second volume of covers is on the way and that he has about “three-quarters” of it recorded.

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