Classic Hits

Heart‘s Nancy Wilson has recorded a new version of The Beatles‘ “Here Comes the Sun” with longtime Elton John guitarist Davey Johnstone and actor/drummer John Stamos, and a video for the cover will premiere this Saturday, February 26, during the 2022 gala for the Hillsides charity taking place in Pasadena, California.

Hillsides is a nonprofit organization that focuses on helping children deal with trauma and mental health issues.

You can check out a preview clip of the “Here Comes the Sun” video on Wilson’s Facebook page. John Mahon, a multi-instrumentalist who, like Johnstone, is a longtime member of Elton’s touring band, also contributed to the song.

The year’s fHillsides undraiser, which has been dubbed “Come Together,” will be held at The Langham Huntington hotel in Pasadena and also will be streamed live on the organization’s YouTube channel.  In addition to the screening of the “Here Comes the Sun” video, the event will feature a cocktail hour, dinner, a silent auction and a live, silent auction.  Among the hundreds of items and experiences up for bid are virtual meet-and-greets with Wilson, Johnstone, Mahon and Elton John drummer Nigel Olsson, and a drumhead signed by various members of Elton’s band.

To bid on items in advance, visit ComeTogether2022.ggo.bid. You can purchase tickets to the gala or make a donation to the charity at Hillsides.ejoinme.org/ComeTogether2022.

The YouTube livestream of the Hillsides gala starts at 11 p.m. ET on Saturday.

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Monica was one of the late Whitney Houston‘s closest friends, and for Entertainment Tonight‘s Black History Month spotlight, the Grammy winner remembered one of the greatest female artists of all time.

“The fact is no voice has come close, no one sacrificed as much as she did,” Monica told ET co-host Kevin Frazier.

February 11 marked the tenth anniversary of the day Houston passed away in 2012 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles at the age of 48. 

“She and I had just spoken, not even an hour, it hadn’t been a hour, so I was really in a great deal of shock,” says Monica, who was also in the hotel.

Two days before, the “Boy Is Mine” singer was rehearsing with Brandy for Clive Davis‘ annual pre-Grammy party. “Whitney was in and out of our rehearsals,” the 41-year-old singer recalls. “She kept touching my face, saying, ‘You got it. Don’t worry about it. You’re the greatest of the great.'”

Monica also remembers that during her greatest crisis, Houston was there.

“When I was 18, I lost by grandmother. I witnessed a suicide. i lost my cousin. Whitney didn’t call on the phone. Three black trucks pulled up in the hood and she jumped out,” Monica recollects. “Its forever etched in my mind and my heart.”

Monica says the public never fully appreciated how unselfishly giving Whitney was to others.

“There were multiple times she was self sacrificing for our entertainment,” she says about the “Greatest Love of All” singer. “You can’t disrespect a woman who gives that much.”

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Tomorrow, The Scorpions will release Rock Believer, the veteran German rockers’ first new studio album since 2015, and to celebrate its arrival, the band will treat fans to a short studio tour via their YouTube channel at 12:45 p.m. ET.

After the virtual tour, The Scorpions will debut a music video for its new song “When You Know (Where You Come From)” on YouTube at 1 p.m. ET. The track is the only ballad on Rock Believer. You can check out an advance preview of the video that’s been posted at the group’s Facebook page.

You can pre-order Rock Believer now.

In other news, The Scorpions have posted a message on their social media pages reacting to the invasion Russia launched Thursday morning of neighboring country Ukraine.

The note reads, “Don’t stop the Dialog…Words are better than bullets…Our hearts go out to the people in the Ukraine,” and is accompanied by a photo of Scorpions frontman Klaus Meine sitting in a chair and holding a bullhorn.

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High-quality audiophile versions of Van Halen‘s first six studio albums will be released later this year as two-LP box sets mastered at 45 rpm, as well as on the SACD format, by the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, starting with the band’s self-titled 1978 debut.

Two-LP vinyl versions and SACDs of 1979’s Van Halen II, 1980’s Women and Children First, 1981’s Fair Warning, 1982’s Diver Down and 1984’s, um, 1984 will then be released at a later date.

The vinyl box sets, which are pressed on 180-gram vinyl, will feature LPs created using Mobile Fidelity’s ultra-hi-fi UltraDisc One-Step lacquering process. The LPs come housed in a deluxe box that features special foil-stamped jackets.

All six albums can be pre-ordered now at MusicDirect.com, with the LP sets priced at $125 and the SACDs at $29.99. The albums also will be available in both formats at MoFi.com.

Van Halen’s first six albums all featured the band’s classic lineup of frontman David Lee Roth, guitarist Eddie Van Halen, drummer Alex Van Halen and bassist Michael Anthony. The records all were certified multi-platinum by the RIAA, with Van Halen and 1984 both being certified Diamond for sales of at least 10 million copies in the U.S.

“Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab is excited to release Van Halen’s first six iconic albums in the [UltraDisc One-Step] and SACD formats for the first time,” says the company’s president, Jim Davis. “Fans will experience Van Halen’s original blend of raw power and Hollywood flair like never before through these limited-edition, audiophile-grade One-Step vinyl box sets.”

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Queen guitarist Brian May‘s second solo album, 1998’s Another World, will be reissued in multiple formats and configurations on April 22 as the second installment of the Brian May Gold Series solo reissue campaign.

The remastered collection will be available on CD, cassette, vinyl and digital formats, and as a deluxe box set, two-CD set and limited-edition vinyl picture disc.

Another World was released in the U.K. in July ’98, and reached #23 on the U.K. albums charts.

The album included songs culled from various of projects May was working on around that the time, including music composed for TV soundtracks, video games and a shelved covers collection.

One of May’s main collaborators on Another World was acclaimed drummer Cozy Powell, who sadly died in a car crash at age 50 shortly before the album’s release. The album also features guest appearances by Jeff Beck, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins and Mott the Hoople‘s Ian Hunter. Hunter appears on a cover of the Mott classic “All the Way to Memphis.” Another World also features renditions of Jimi Hendrix‘s “One Rainy Wish” and the 1950s rock ‘n’ roll gem “Slow Down.”

The box set and two-CD version of the Another World reissue features a bonus disc that boasts alternate versions and mixes of songs, live performances from a June 1998 concert Brian’s solo band played in Paris, and covers of The Rocky Horror Show tune “Hot Patootie,” Buddy Holly‘s “Maybe Baby” and Conway Twitty‘s “It’s Only Make Believe.”

The box set features two CDs, sky-blue vinyl LP, a 32-page booklet and an enamel badge. Visit QueenOnline.com for full details about the Another World reissue.

Brian kicked off his Gold Series campaign last year with the reissue of his 1992 solo debut, Back to the Light.

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During a recent interview that streamed on TalkShopLive, Nancy Wilson revealed that plans for a new Heart tour were on hold because she and her sister and band mate Ann were at odds over the musicians who would make up the touring version of the group.

Now, Ann Wilson tells ABC Audio that although she and her sister currently aren’t agreeing about Heart’s direction moving forward, she insists that she and Nancy aren’t feuding, and she feels that they eventually will be able to resolve their differences.

“There’s a lot of myth about what’s going on between me and Nancy, that there’s a feud or something like that. There really isn’t any feud between us personally,” Ann says. “We don’t see eye to eye on the shape that Heart should take. Like…I want to see it continue to evolve and break barriers and be relevant. And she…doesn’t want to try new things that much, you know.”

The singer adds, “I’m not trying to diss her at all, because I think we get a really bad rap for just being at each other’s throats. We’re not. We have a disagreement on who would be in the Heart band is all right now, but we’re working on it.”

In the TalkShopLive interview, Nancy explained that Ann had wanted Heart’s backing group to feature the musicians who make up her current solo touring band, The Amazing Dawgs, who also helped Ann record her upcoming solo album, Fierce Bliss, due out in April.

Nancy, meanwhile, says she wanted to continue with the same musicians who toured as Heart with her and Ann in 2019. Nancy has now launched a new group named Nancy Wilson’s Heart with the latter musicians and former Voice contestant Kimberly Nicole as lead singer.

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Rascals singer, keyboardist and songwriter Felix Cavaliere will release his autobiography, aptly titled Memoir of a Rascal, on March 22.

The book follows Cavaliere from his childhood in Pelham, New York, to his years with one of the world’s great blue-eyed soul groups, to the band’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and beyond.

Prior to co-founding The Rascals, which initially were known as The Young Rascals, Cavaliere played in the pop group Joey Dee and the Starliters along with future band mates Gene Cornish and Eddie Brigati.

In The Rascals, Cavaliere co-wrote — with Brigati — and sang many of the band’s biggest hits, including “You Better Run,” “Groovin’,” “I’ve Been Lonely Too Long,” “Beautiful Morning” and “People Got to Be Free.”

In addition to his highlights with The Rascals, Cavaliere writes in the book about his spiritual journey and the influence of guru Swami Satchidananda, as well as such achievements as induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Vocal Group Hall of Fame, Musicians Hall of Fame and the aforementioned Rock Hall.

“I know fans have been asking me for years to finish my autobiography,” Cavaliere says in a statement. “This is for the fans. It’s a blessing to revisit memories and hopefully my story can inspire the next generation of singers and songwriters.”

The book features a foreword penned by legendary radio DJ “Cousin Brucie” Morrow. You can pre-order it now at FelixCavaliereMusic.com.

In other news, Cavaliere is working on a new studio album titled Then and Now that’s expected to be released by the end of the summer. Felix also has over a dozen concerts lined up this year, including several joint “Legends Live” shows with The Monkees‘ Micky Dolenz.

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Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson has teamed with psychedelic blues-rock band Howlin Rain to record covers of two Mott the Hoople songs that have been released digitally and also are available to order as a limited-edition seven-inch vinyl single.

The songs are “Sucker” and “Death May Be Your Santa Claus,” the original versions of which appeared, respectively, on Mott the the Hoople’s early 1970s albums All the Young Dudes and Brain Capers.

The single’s cover art features a cartoonish psychedelic “black light” painting of Robinson and Howlin Rain singer/guitarist Ethan Miller riding reindeer.

You can order the vinyl disc at Howlin Rain’s Bandcamp page.  The album, expected to ship this Friday, February 25, can also be streamed and downloaded at the site. A retail version will be available at independent record shops on April 23 as part of the 2022 Record Store Day event.

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Paul McCartney has contributed his 1970 acoustic song “Junk” to The Man/Kind Initiative for use in a video promoting the charity’s campaign to aid the homeless in the Los Angeles area.

The video features footage of various homeless people, and explains what The Man/Kind Initiative has been doing to help, providing food, shelter and personal care items and more to the homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The clip notes that one of the ways that the charity is helping is providing homeless people with temporary mobile shelters called EDAR, which stands for Everyone Deserves a Roof. The The Man/Kind Initiative stocks the shelters with food and personal care items and distributes them to organizations that can provide safe locations, as well as offer on-site sanitation facilities, food services and counseling.

“We’ve all walked past them trying not to notice,” says The Man/Kind Initiative’s founder, Richard Stellar. “I had to find a way to make people see them, to wake them up. We needed to reach millions, and I had to think outside the box on how to make that happen. So, we turned to Paul McCartney, and he delivered. The use of his music may be one of the greatest gifts that a non-profit like ours could get. We now will be able to touch millions with our message, and in turn help tens of thousands of homeless, especially veterans and minorities.”

Visit MankindHomeless.com for more details about the charity.

The video features segments of “Junk” and the instrumental “Singalong Junk,” which both appeared on Paul’s debut solo album, McCartney.

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Elton John‘s private jet was forced to make an emergency landing Tuesday after experiencing technical failure at 10,000 feet, according to various reports.

The U.K. tabloid The Sun reported that Elton was flying from England to New York for a concert when the plane on which he was traveling suffered a hydraulic failure about an hour after takeoff.

The pilot made the decision to return to the U.K.’s Farnborough Airport and declare an emergency landing, it was reported.

Witnesses tell The Sun that the pilot made two unsuccessful attempts to land in winds that reportedly gusted to 80 mph before successfully touching down on the third try.

The legendary rocker, 74, was said to be shaken by the ordeal, but he boarded another flight to New York just hours later to make his gig at Madison Square Garden

Elton made it to New York City safely and confirmed that the show would go on as scheduled, tweeting, “Hello New York! See you @TheGarden tonight.” He also has a second concert scheduled at Madison Square Garden tonight.

ABC has not been able to reach Elton’s reps for comment.

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