Classic Hits

The stars were out in London Monday to celebrate the premiere of the new Disney+ Abbey Road documentary, If These Walls Could Sing. 

Yahoo reports Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, accompanied by wives Nancy Shevell and Barbara Bach, attended the London premiere, along with Elton John and David Furnish, Stella McCartney, Spice Girls member Melanie Chisholm, Twiggy and more.

If These Walls Could Sing is directed by McCartney’s daughter Mary McCartney and is described as the “first feature-length documentary” on London’s Abbey Road studios. Many of the Beatles’ classic albums were recorded at the studio, including Abbey Road, Revolver and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, offering fans “exclusive access to these famously private studios.” In addition to interviews with Paul, Ringo and Elton, the film features Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, Oasis’ Liam Gallagher and more.

If These Walls Could Sing is set to premiere on Disney+ Friday, December 16.

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Leonard Cohen died back in 2016, but now his family is in a battle over his estate. The New York Post reports Cohen’s daughter, Lorca, and son, Adam, have spent over a year trying to remove attorney Robert Kory as a trustee of the Leonard Cohen Family Trust. Cohen himself appointed Kory as trustee, overseeing the singer’s vast archives of music, poetry, novels and more, said to be valued at over $48 million. 

According to the court papers, Cohen’s adult children claim the singer “came to appreciate in his waning days that he had made a grave error by allowing Kory to insinuate himself into Leonard’s affairs and take control over virtually every aspect of Leonard’s finances and legacy.” The Cohen kids insist Kory isn’t keeping them in the loop about ways he’s trying to make money from the estate. They are also unhappy Kory hired his son to archive Cohen’s vast personal documents. 

A lawyer hired by Adam also claims they have proof documents from 2005 giving Kory control of Cohen’s legacy were forged in order to “fleece the estate of millions of dollars and steal the Hall of Famer’s legacy from his own children.” Lawyer Adam Streisand insists there are two versions of the documents, and the “one and only true version” gives the singer’s children and Anjani Thomas, Cohen’s former lover who happens to be Kory’s ex-wife, control of the Trust. They claim when Cohen died the original was “swapped out,” designating Kory as trustee.

But Kory insists he didn’t do anything wrong, and does all he can to keep Lorca and Adam in the loop on Trust matters. He describes the confusion over the documents as “a scrivener’s error.”

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Pollstar is out with its list of the Top Tours of 2022, and while Bad Bunny’s tour lands at number one on both the worldwide and North American tours lists, artists like Elton John, Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe, Paul McCartney and more are also on them. 

Elton’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour lands at number two on both lists, bringing in over $201 million in North America alone. Elton also earned the number one spot on the year-end Artist Power Index, described by the mag as “the world’s most accurate index for an artist’s popularity.” Elton also held the top spot on that list back in February when it was first introduced. 

Other artists to land in the Top 10 on the worldwide tours list include Def Leppard/Mötley Crüe at six, Red Hot Chili Peppers at seven and The Rolling Stones at 10. For just North America, Def Leppard/Mötley Crüe land at three, Red Hot Chili Peppers at nine and Paul McCartney at 10.

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With Christmas just around the corner, it’s hard to get away from holiday tunes — and there are certainly some that are more popular than others. So, which tunes are people listening to the most this year? 

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers has just come out with its list of the Top 25 Holiday Songs of 2022, with “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” written by Broadway composer Meredith Wilson, topping the list for the first time since 2019. Perry Como and The Fontane Sisters’ 1951 version is the most classic, but the tune has been recorded by the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Michael Bublé, and Megan Trainor. 

Coming in at two is “Sleigh Ride,” written by Leroy Anderson and Mitchell Parish, followed by “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” written by Johnny Marks, and “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow,” written by Jule Styne, at three. 

And of course, these days there’s no escaping Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas is You.” The track, which she wrote with Walter Afanasieff, reenters the Top 10 this year at nine. And new to the Top 25 is Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath the Tree,” which she wrote with Greg Kurstin, landing at 22.

Top 10 Christmas Songs of 2022

1. “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”
2. “Sleigh Ride”
3. “A Holly Jolly Christmas”
4. “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow”
5. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
6. “Jingle Bell Rock”
7. “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
8. “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town”
9. “All I Want for Christmas Is You”
10. “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”

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A new docuseries on soft rock is set to hit Paramount+ in the new year. According to Variety, Sometimes When We Touch: The Reign, Ruin and Resurrection of Soft Rock will debut in the U.S. and Canada on January 3.

The three-part series will feature interviews from a whole host of artists, including Sheryl Crow, The Police’s Stewart Copeland, Run DMC’s Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Richard Marx, Earth, Wind & Fire‘s Verdine White and The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs, as well as actual soft rockers like Kenny Loggins, Toni Tennille, Rupert Holmes and Air Supply.

The series will delve into the popularity of the music, some of which has been deemed “yacht rock” in recent years and has gained in popularity. It will focus on such artists as Loggins, Air Supply, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Christopher Cross, the Carpenters, Lionel Richie, Captain & Tennille and more, and will feature new and archival interviews, as well as concert clips. It promises to celebrate “the impact of soft rock while acknowledging the cringey excesses that sometimes led it astray.”

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The holiday season is here and the music charts certainly reflect that, with several classic holiday tunes making the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart this week. 

While Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” tops the list, four other classic tracks land in the Top 10, with Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” at two, matching the song’s highest ranking on the chart. Overall, the tune is up 15% in streams to 34.3 million, with a 26.1 million in radio airplay audience. 

Landing just behind Lee is Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” at three, followed by Burl Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas” at four. The final holiday tune in the Top 10 is Wham!’s “Last Christmas,” which this week lands at nine. The first time it reached the Top 10 was in 2020, when it peaked at seven.

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Janis Ian is retiring from performing and recording, although she’s not calling it that. The singer has revealed her most recent album, The Light at the End of the Line, which recently earned her a 10th Grammy nomination, is her last album of new songs.

Janis calls her decision not “retiring but rewiring,” noting it’s “a bittersweet moment and a grand one.” She says a virus she caught during what was supposed to be her farewell tour caused scarring on her vocal cord that has left her unable to sing; there is no treatment or cure to fix it.

But Ian insists she isn’t going to stop being creative. She plans to continue to release music, including a duets album she recorded prior to the scarring, which will include Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson. She also plans to release live performances, unheard songs and more.

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ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd are teaming up for a new co-headlining tour. The Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour is set to hit 22 North American cities this summer, including Phoenix, Cincinnati, Charlotte, Denver and Saratoga Springs.

The trek kicks off July 21 in West Palm Beach, Florida, and runs through September 17 in Camden, New Jersey. It’s mostly made up of outdoor amphitheaters shows.

Tickets go on sale starting Friday at 10 a.m. local time. Check out the complete list of dates here.

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Things got a little scary at Patti LaBelle’s Christmas concert in Milwaukee Saturday night. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, two songs into the show at the Riverside Theater, security rushed the singer off the stage and evacuated the 2,500-seat venue due to a bomb threat.

“Regarding the bomb threat in the 100 block of W. Wisconsin, all patrons have been safely evacuated,” Milwaukee Police Capt. Warren E. Allen Jr. shared in an email Saturday evening. “Police are clearing the facility at this time. The investigation is fluid and ongoing.” A later statement added, “The building was searched by K9 units. No explosive devices were discovered. There is no threat to the public at this time.”

Video posted to social media shows two security guards interrupting LaBelle as she was chatting with a member of the audience who was celebrating a birthday. She can be heard saying “Wait,” before quickly being escorted off the stage.

So far there has been no comment from LaBelle about the incident.

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Bono isn’t done talking about his biography. The U2 frontman just announced a new set of dates for his Stories of Surrender book tour, which is dubbed “an evening of words, music and some mischief.”

The new dates are also called Bono at the Beacon, since all the dates take place at New York’s Beacon Theater. The leg consists of eight shows starting April 16 and running through May 3.

The shows have Bono recounting stories from his recently released memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, and also performing stripped down versions of U2 songs. He’ll be backed by Gemma Doherty on harp, keyboard and vocals, and Kate Ellis and cello, keyboard and vocals, with Jacknife Lee serving as musical director.

Tickets for all shows go on sale Thursday at 10 a.m. ET. Check out the complete list of dates here.

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