Classic Hits

Fox’s New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast 2022 special, which was going to feature performances by Billy Idol and various other stars, has been canceled due to the surging number of COVID-19 cases driven by the Omicron variant.

The show was set to be hosted live in New York City’s Times Square by Ken Jeong and Joel McHale, alongside special correspondent Kelly Osbourne, daughter of Ozzy Osbourne.

A statement from Fox obtained by Variety reads, “While we are confident in the health and safety protocols for Fox’s New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast 2022, the recent velocity of the spread of Omicron cases has made it impossible to produce a live special in Times Square that meets our standards.”

The statement continues,”We will not be moving forward with Fox’s New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast 2022 in New York. The health and safety of our casts and crews has always been, and will continue to be, of the utmost importance. Replacement programming for New Year’s Eve on Fox will be announced in the coming days.”

Variety notes that it “remains to be seen” whether the announced musical guests, including Idol, whose performance was among several that were recorded at an earlier date, will still be part of said replacement programming.

In an unrelated note, Idol canceled his planned appearance this past Monday at the 2021 Above Ground benefit concert, an event organized by his longtime touring guitarist Billy Morrison and Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro.

Billy explained in a Twitter post that he’d dropped off the bill of the Los Angeles event because he’d caught a respiratory cold that affected his voice, while noting that he’d tested negative for COVID-19 twice.

Idol is next scheduled to perform in February, when he serves as the opening act for Journey‘s 2022 tour.

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Matchbox Twenty rescheduled a planned tour with The Wallflowers, originally set for the summer of 2020, to 2021, and then again to 2022.  Now it seems like the band may have new material to perform when the tour finally launches May 17 in Vancouver.

Rob Thomas, who’s currently promoting his album Something About Christmas Time, tells American Songwriter that he and the band are “going to be in the studio working on a few new songs next year.”

“I’m also almost done with a whole new solo record, because before COVID the idea was I was going to be out with Matchbox Twenty with the new music touring…so everything got pushed back,” he explains. “And I’ve got the solo record sitting on ice that I’m really excited about.”

“But first, it’s going to be new Matchbox music,” he confirms. “So at least I’ve got no shortage of creative stuff going on.”

The most recent Matchbox Twenty album was 2012’s North.  Before his current Christmas album, Rob released his solo album, Chip Tooth Smile, in 2019.

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Founding Vanilla Fudge lead singer and keyboardist Mark Stein recently released his first official solo album, There’s a Light.

Stein put the album together during the COVID-19 pandemic, mixing brand-new songs with older originals and a few covers, all featuring themes reflecting issues that the U.S. and the world have been facing during this volatile period in history.

Speaking about There’s a Light to ABC Audio, Stein notes that the album features “songs about love and patriotism and social issues that we’ve all been dealing with. Songs like ‘Racism’ and ‘All Lives Matter’ and ‘We Are One‘ and my cover of [The Temptations‘] ‘Ball of Confusion.’ It all holds together and has a message.”

Stein says the song that kickstarted the project was “We Are One,” a song about unity that he wrote in response to the divisiveness he noticed in the U.S. during the early days of the pandemic.

“I wrote that about six weeks after the initial pandemic, in April 2020,” he recalls. “I was compelled to write this song, and it started out like a ball of fire.”

Another song with a positive message on the album is “Let’s Pray for Peace,” and Mark recently released a music video for the tune to coincide with the holidays.

“During this Holiday Season, I hope this song helps to bring our volatile world a little closer together,” Stein says in a message. “Merry Christmas & A Happy Healthy New Year.”

Among the guest musicians featured on “There’s a Light” are longtime Utopia bassist Kasim Sulton, former Billy Joel drummer Liberty DeVitto and Vanilla Fudge’s bassist, Pete Bremy.

There’s a Light is available now. Limited-edition bundles featuring a signed CD copy of the album and special merchandise items can be purchased at MerchBucket.com.

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Once the holidays wrap up, Mariah Carey won’t be going into hibernation.  In fact, she is planning a very busy 2022 and is already teasing some of her upcoming projects.

Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar, Mariah hinted she has something musical cooking with Brandy, but declined to reveal the name of their collaboration.  But she was willing to reveal how the two wound up in the recording studio together.

“She was like, ‘Mariah, I love you. I want to do this with you. Can we please do it?’ And I was like, ‘Please? Can we please do it? I’m asking you,'” she recalled. 

Mariah added that she’s gained a whole new appreciation for Brandy, noting, “The people have no idea.  She’s a mother. She’s doing this and that. She is doing it all.”

Mariah is also teaming with the luxury jeweler Chopard for a special holiday collection. “They’ve always been so generous,” the singer gushed of Chopard, noting that her relationship with the company has lasted decades, even throughout all her career ups and downs.

In her shoot for Harper’s, Mariah is dripping in Chopard jewels, but it’s not clear if they’re from her forthcoming collection.

The singer also revealed that she very recently rolled up her sleeve for the COVID-19 booster, but admitted that it made her feel a little ill. “No one warned me, ‘Oh, by the way, it might take you out a little bit,'” she joked.

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Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain will be co-hosting a special Christmas concert called “Wonder of Wonders” tonight with his wife, pastor Paula White-Cain, at her City of Destiny church in Apopka, Florida.

The event, which begins at 7 p.m. ET, is free and open to the public, and also will be livestreamed at CityofDestiny.us.

The concert will feature guest appearances by Brianna Alomar, a young singer-songwriter who has collaborated with Jonathan in recent years; Cain’s brother, drummer Tommy Cain; and guitarist Kevin Eknes, who plays in Jonathan’s solo touring band. There also will be a full choir and a string quartet.

Cain tells ABC Audio that he’s planning to have the show filmed, and possibly put it out on video.

According to a press release, Cain will take people “on an adventure through the Nativity” during the concert, which will feature performances of his 2019 Christmas radio hit “Wonder of Wonders,” and other songs from his recent faith-based solo releases, including material from his new EP, Oh Lord Lead Us.

Jonathan also will perform a tune called “Behold” that he wrote specially for this concert.

Cain tells ABC Audio that his family Christmas celebration will be “abbreviated” this year, because of how busy he’s been this month, with Journey having played a series of shows in Las Vegas leading into his preparation for the holiday concert.

“I’m coming right out of Vegas into church, and then straight into Christmas,” he explains. “So it’s gonna be crazy.”

Cain will stay busy right into 2022, as Journey will be heading to New York City to perform in Times Square on New Year’s Eve as part of the ABC special Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest.

“Hopefully, Paula and I will get a vacation in January,” Jonathan declares.

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U2, Brian Wilson, Van Morrison and Carole King are among the music artists that have made the shortlist to be nominated for a Best Original Song award for the 2022 Oscars.

Among the finalists in the Best Original Song category are U2’s Sing 2 track “Your Song Saved My Life”;  “Right Where I Belong,” from the Wilson documentary Long Promised Road, which the Beach Boys legend co-wrote with My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James; Morrison’s “Down to Joy,” from the film Belfast; and “Here I Am (Singing My Way Home),” which King co-wrote with Jennifer Hudson and Jamie Hartman for the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect. Hudson, of course, is the star of the latter film.

Meanwhile, a few music-related movies also were chosen for the shortlist of the Best Documentary Feature prize, including the Todd Haynes-directed The Velvet Underground, about the influential Lou Reed-led rock band, and the Questlove-directed Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), about the star-studded 1969 music festival in Harlem, New York, that came to be known as “Black Woodstock.”

The 2022 Oscar nominees will be announced February 8. The ceremony takes place March 27 on ABC.

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Guitarist Ronnie Wood has revealed that he was the last Rolling Stones member to see Charlie Watts before the drummer passed away on August 24.

Last Friday, Wood was a guest on Ireland’s The Late Late Show, where he chatted with host Ryan Tubridy and performed a duet version of the Elvis Presley hit “Blue Christmas” with Corrs singer Andrea Corr. A studio version of the tune was released as a digital charity single earlier this month.

During the interview portion, Wood revealed that he saw Watts “a couple of weeks” before he died, explaining that he visited Charlie at the Royal Marsden cancer hospital in London, where the drummer was in the same room where Ronnie stayed when he was being treated for cancer.

Wood recalled that Watts quipped, “This is the Ronnie Wood Suite. I can’t wait to get out of here,” to which Ronnie responded, “Well…come out, Charlie, in your own good time.”

Wood said Watts had been doing well at the time, but was given some additional treatments that he “didn’t handle well,” and went downhill after that.

Ronnie also mentioned that drummer Steve Jordan, who stepped in for Watts on The Rolling Stones’ recent U.S. tour, “with Charlie’s blessing,” “put a new boot in the band…and each concert got better and better.”

Reflecting on Watt’s passing, Wood added, “Everyone’s handled it well, and I’m sure he’s with us all the time when we’re playing.”

Regarding the “Blue Christmas” single, Corr explained that she approached Wood with the idea to do the track, and he happily agreed.

The song is available now, with proceeds to benefit Our Lady’s Hospice & Care Services in Dublin.

You can watch the full Late Late Show episode at RTE.ie; Ronnie’s appearance begins at the 1:07:15 mark.

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Ringo Starr has published several photo books over the years, and now the famed Beatles drummer has a new volume of images coming out next year that focuses specifically on his legendary group.

The limited-edition book, titled Lifted: Fab Images and Memories of My Life with The Beatles from Across the Universe, will be released on Valentine’s Day, February 14, and can be pre-ordered now exclusively at JuliensAuctions.com.

Two editions of Lifted will be available — a Collector’s Edition that’s priced at $59 and a Signature Edition that costs $495. The Signature Edition, limited to just 500 copies, will feature a color cover of The Beatles signed by Ringo and will come housed in a special slip case.

The book will pay tribute to Starr’s years with the Fab Four and will feature many rare, unseen and newly discovered photos of the band members, alongside with Ringo’s written recollections and anecdotes.

Starr put together Lifted with help from noted pop-culture journalist and author David Wild while quarantining during the COVID-19 lockdown. In addition to including images from his personal archives, Ringo “lifted” photos of the band that caught his eye from the internet.

“These fantastic images came back to me in recent years from across the universe and have somehow helped me get back to seeing my life with The Fab Four through fresh eyes,” Ringo says in a statement. “A lot of the photos in this book I saw on my phone and on my computer and I lifted them because they brought back so many fabulous memories.”

Proceeds from Lifted: Fab Images and Memories of My Life with The Beatles from Across the Universe will benefit Ringo’s Lotus Foundation, which funds and supports charitable projects that focus on various social welfare causes.

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Madonna is teasing new music…but it might just be a new version of her old music.

On Instagram, the Queen of Pop wrote, “So great to be back in the studio making Music again……Surprises in the New Year.” 

Madonna included pictures of herself posing with rapper Swae Lee — who appeared on her 2019 album, Madame X — as well as with vocal producer/engineer Laura D’Elia, and rapper and songwriter Jozzy, who co-wrote Billy Ray Cyrus‘ verse on “Old Town Road,” among many other tracks.

As for what Madonna is working on, the British tabloid The Sun claims one of the projects is a new version of her 1998 hit, “Frozen,” from her album Ray of Light.  Reportedly, that’s because a remix of the song has blown up on TikTok — Madonna even posted a video on her Instagram Story that her daughter Estere created using the remix.

“The remix has been used on loads of TikTok videos and she is hoping that by getting Swae Lee involved it will help the song reach new audiences,” The Sun quotes a supposed “music insider” as saying, adding, “Madonna has always been an artist who has adapted and moved with the times.”

 

 

 

 

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ZZ Top is the latest veteran rock act to sell its catalog for big bucks.

The little ol’ band from Texas has made a deal with BMG and the investment firm KKR to acquire its “entire music interests,” including the band’s publishing catalog and its income from recorded and performance royalties.

ZZ Top, whose bass player, Dusty Hill, died unexpectedly this year, released 15 albums throughout their five-decade career, including the ’80s smashes Eliminator and Afterburner, and the classics Tres Hombres, Fandango and Degüello.  The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers have sold more than 50 million albums worldwide.

The band’s manager said in a statement, “This new deal ensures ZZ Top’s remarkable legacy will endure for generations to come.”

As for the price tag, sources tell Variety that it’s estimated to be around $50 million.

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