Classic Hits

The Jackson 5‘s Tito Jackson released his latest solo album today, a star-studded collection of blues tunes titled Under Your Spell.

The album includes the lead single “Love One Another,” a song with an uplifting message that features Tito joined on lead vocals by his brother Marlon and blues artists Bobby Rush and Kenny Neal, plus Stevie Wonder on harmonica.

A companion music video for the song debuted Thursday packed with celebrity cameos, including Tito’s sister Janet, Smokey Robinson and Kim Kardashian West, but Tito tells ABC Audio that the queen of the clip is none other than his 91-year-old mom, Katherine.

“She kicks it out,” Tito says of the video, which begins with Katherine delivering a message imploring people to “stop the violence, killing, racism, and…to love one another.”

Also appearing in the “Love One Another” video are Tito’s brothers and band mates Marlon, Jackie and Jermaine, his sister La Toya, his children and various grandkids, nieces and nephews, as well as celebs like Magic Johnson, Chris Tucker, Kathy Sledge, Morris Day, Deniece Williams, Brian McKnight, Kim Fields, Khloé Kardashian and Kris Jenner.

Tito notes that by having so many well-known musicians, actors and other stars featured in the clip, he feels that the song’s positive has a better chance of reaching more people.

“The message of…’Love One Another’…[is] very much needed today,” he maintains. “And that’s what I felt when that was being produced…tell the people something that’s gonna stick and they know it’s true and they can practice. So, we got to love one another.”

Under Your Spell also includes contributions from George Benson, The O’Jays‘ Eddie Levert and more. The album is available now on CD, vinyl LP, digital formats and via streaming services.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Co-founding Guess Who members Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings were preparing to finally launch the often-postponed U.S. leg of their reunion tour in September, but unfortunately the Canadian duo has canceled the trek because of travel issues.

A message on the official Bachman Cummings Facebook page reads, “While Randy and Burton have been looking forward to reuniting for their fans throughout the United States, they extend their love and appreciation to all of the fans that were planning to come to these shows, and they cannot wait to see you all again when things are more predictable in terms of travel in and out of Canada.”

The stateside leg of the “Bachman Cummings: Together Again, Live in Concert” tour was to have featured 12 shows in the Midwest that spanned from a September 1 date in Fort Wayne, Indiana, through a September 18 performance at the Deadwood Jam 2021 in Deadwood, South Dakota.

As previously reported, the concerts would have featured Bachman and Cummings performing Guess Who songs, as well as material from Randy’s other famous band, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and from Burton’s solo career.

Here’s the full list of Bachman Cummings’ canceled U.S. shows:

9/1 — Fort Wayne, IN, Foellinger Theatre
9/2 — Akron, OH, The Goodyear Theater
9/4 — Prior Lake, MN, Mystic Lake Casino Hotel
9/5 — Milwaukee, WI, The Riverside Theater
9/7 — Cincinnati, OH, PNC Pavilion
9/8 — Huber Heights, OH, The Rose Music Center at The Heights
9/10 — Rosemont, IL, Rosemont Theatre
9/11 — Green Bay, WI, Resch Center
9/13 — Kansas City, MO, Muriel Kauffman Theatre
9/15 — Omaha, NE, Orpheum Theater
9/16 — St. Charles, MO, The Family Arena
9/18 — Deadwood, SD, Deadwood Jam 2021

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The widow of ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill has penned a heartfelt message about the passing of her husband, including what happened during his final moments.  The band has shared it on their official website.

Charlene “Chuck” Hill begins the note, titled “My Sweet Dusty,” by saying, “After 19 wonderful years of marriage that ended too soon, I’ve decided to step out into Dusty’s spotlight to thank all of his fans, colleagues and friends for the overwhelming outpouring of love for The Dust.”

She continues, “He was the kindest, most gentle and caring man a woman could ever Hope to find in a lifetime. Many don’t believe in fairy tale marriages but Dusty and I truly lived one! We were inseparable.”

Charlene then notes that after Dusty was forced to leave ZZ Top’s trek because of his health issues, “[t]he plan was for another round of physical therapy, with a different approach, to help his chronic bursitis. The plan was he would return to the second leg of the tour in September.”

Describing Dusty’s passing early in the morning on July 28, Charlene notes, “He woke me up and we talked and as he was sweetly chatting with me he suddenly stopped and he was gone in an instant.”

She also points out that Hill greatly loved and appreciated all of his fans.

Charlene finishes her message by paraphrasing a quote from the TV series This Is Us, which she calls her “last love letter” to her husband: “The single most extraordinary thing I have ever done in my life is fall in love with you. The single most extraordinary gift I have ever received in my life was for you to ask me to marry you…I will be with you again. Love you to infinity and back.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Tito Jackson‘s new solo blues album, Under Your Spell, gets its release on Friday, and in advance of its arrival, the Jacksons member has debuted a star-studded music video for the record’s lead single, “Love One Another.”

The clip for the uplifting tune features an impressive cast of celebrities, as well as a slew of Jackson family members, including Tito’s brothers and band mates Jackie, Jermaine and Marlon, his sisters Janet and La Toya, and family matriarch Katherine Jackson.

Among the many famous music stars and other celebs appearing in the video are Smokey Robinson, Magic Johnson, Chris Tucker, Kathy Sledge, Morris Day, Deniece Williams, Brian McKnight, Deborah Cox, Kim Fields, Kim Kardashian West, Khloé Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Lori Petty, Merrill Osmond, UB40, and Yvette Nicole Brown, as well as Tito’s Under Your Spell collaborators Bobby Rush, Kenny Neal, and Claudette King.

“Love One Another” begins with Tito’s mom addressing the camera, declaring, “Stop the violence, killing, racism and all the bad things that are happening today. We need to love one another.”

Tito shares lead vocals on the song with his brother Marlon, Neal and Rush.  The track also features a harmonica solo by none other than Stevie Wonder.

“[I wanted] to send a message out to all the listeners out there to remind them that it’s important for us to love one another,” Jackson explains of the song in a YouTube Q&A. “You know, with all the protesting, Black Lives Matter, the storming of the Capitol building and seeing all the violence and brutalities, I just felt it’s a message that should be out there and accepted.”

As previously reported, Under Your Spell also includes guest appearances from George Benson, The O’Jays‘ Eddie Levert, and blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Gloria Estefan sings a new song written by Lin-Manuel Miranda in the new Netflix animated film Vivo, which starts streaming on Friday. You can watch a video of the sequence where Gloria’s character performs the song, called “Inside Your Heart,” on YouTube now.

Vivo stars Miranda as the voice of Vivo, a kinkajou who entertains people on the street by playing music with his owner, Andrés.  Andrés’ former musical partner, a now-famous Cuban singer named Marta Sandoval, played by Gloria, invites him to her farewell concert.  However, it eventually falls to Vivo to deliver to Marta a song that Andrés wrote for her many years ago.

Miranda wrote all the songs for the film, and Gloria tells Variety it was hearing the sad romantic ballad “Inside Your Heart” that convinced her to accept a role in Vivo.

“It was a moment when I was so incredibly busy, I thought it was going to be impossible,” she says. “But he sent me the demo of him singing it, and it tore my heart apart.”

She adds of Vivo, “It’s a story after my own heart because I’m Cuban American, and that story of love, loss and separation is near and dear to my heart.”

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Patricia Kennealy-Morrison, a rock music journalist, author and one-time romantic partner of Doors frontman Jim Morrison, died on July 23 at the age of 75.

Kennealy-Morrison’s passing was reported on the Facebook page of Lizard Queen Press, a publishing brand she founded.

“To say we are all reeling from the news is an understatement,” the message about Kennealy-Morrison reads. “We will miss our friend very very much. She was a beautiful soul, a talented writer, and a loving and wonderful friend.” No cause of death was mentioned.

According to The New York Times, Kennealy-Morrison met Jim Morrison in 1969 when she interviewed him for Jazz & Pop magazine, for which she was editor-in-chief. She and the singer soon began a romantic relationship. In 1970, Patricia, who practiced Celtic paganism, took part in a matrimonial “hand-fasting ceremony” with Morrison that involved drops of their blood.

Their relationship remained a long-distance one until Jim’s death in 1971.

In 1979, Patricia added “Morrison” to her last name, and she served as a technical adviser on the 1991 Oliver Stone-directed biopic The Doors. She was portrayed by Kathleen Quinlan in the film, in which she also had a cameo, appearing as the priestess who performed the hand-fasting ceremony.

Kennealy-Morrison later criticized the movie, according to The New York Times, feeling it didn’t feature her prominently enough and that it trivialized the ceremony.  In 1992, she published a memoir titled Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison, which she said was a response to The Doors movie.

Kennealy-Morrison later wrote fantasy novels and rock-music-themed mystery books.

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Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts may have to sit out the band’s rescheduled U.S. leg of their No Filter Tour this fall.

A spokesman for Watts, 80, confirmed that it is “unlikely” the drummer will be able to join the 13-date tour. Watts, who joined the Stones in 1963, is recovering from an unspecified medical procedure.

“Charlie has had a procedure which was completely successful, but I gather his doctors this week concluded that he now needs proper rest and recuperation,” his rep said in a statement. “With rehearsals starting in a couple of weeks it’s very disappointing to say the least, but it’s also fair to say no one saw this coming.”

Watts wasn’t thrilled by the decision, but explained that this is what’s best for his health and the band.

“For once my timing has been a little off. I am working hard to get fully fit but I have today accepted on the advice of the experts that this will take a while,” he explained in a statement. “After all the fans’ suffering caused by Covid I really do not want the many RS fans who have been holding tickets for this Tour to be disappointed by another postponement or cancellation.”

Watts said his “great friend” Steve Jordan will be his No Filter Tour understudy. Jordan says that, while he’s looking forward to rehearsing with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood — he is more excited about the possibility of Watts recovering in time to join the trek.

“No one will be happier than me to give up my seat on the drum-riser as soon as Charlie tells me he is good to go,” he said.

The No Filter Tour starts September 26 in St. Louis, Missouri.

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A remastered edition of Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe‘s acclaimed 2000 film inspired by his experiences as a teenage Rolling Stone journalist during the 1970s, was released last month on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD.

In addition, expanded box-set versions of the film’s classic-rock-packed soundtrack are due out on August 20. Heart‘s Nancy Wilson, who was married to Crowe during the making of Almost Famous, composed the film’s score, co-wrote the original songs for Stillwater — the fictional band at the center of the movie — and served as a technical consultant and mentor to the actors.

Wilson tells ABC Audio that the movie “was a really, really great project to be part of.”

One of her interesting tasks was coaching Billy Crudup, who portrayed Stillwater guitarist Russell Hammond, on how to fake like he knew how to play the instrument.

“[M]ost of [what] I tried to show him…was all about the body language,” Nancy notes. “It was all about slouching…You gotta, like, lean on one foot, and you’ve got to have your guitar super low-slung.”

Wilson also remembers doing “a rock school thing,” where the actors were shown “video after video of The Who and [Led] Zeppelin and everybody from that era.”

As for creating Stillwater’s songs, Wilson says she and Crowe envisioned “a [meat-and-potatoes] band that would be a conglomerate of Bad Company and The Allman Brothers and maybe a little bit of R.E.M.,” whose tunes had “basic, bluesy chords [and] simple changes.”

To record the original tunes, Nancy enlisted such notable musicians as Peter Frampton, Pearl Jam‘s Mike McCready and ex-Heart drummer Ben Smith.

Wilson’s complete score and various versions of the songs she co-wrote for the film will be featured on the Almost Famous box sets.

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Carole King is an admitted recluse who rarely leaves her home in Idaho, but she says she’s making an exception this October.

Asked by Variety how she feels about getting into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame a second time this year — having previously been inducted as a songwriter — King tells the publication, “It’s a great honor. In fact, I’ll tell you what a great honor it is: I’m actually going!…I’m leaving Idaho.”

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is scheduled for October 30 in Cleveland at Rocket Mortgage Field House. Tickets are on sale now.  King will be inducted along with Foo Fighters, Todd Rundgren, The Go-Go’s, Tina Turner, Carole King and JAY-Z.

“I’ve always been reclusive and kind of an introvert and a hermit,” King explains. “I’m not an introvert in the sense that, once I’m around people, especially if they’re really nice people and I like them, I can get all excited. But I don’t go many places.”

She adds, “If I go out on tour, once I’m out, I enjoy being onstage, working with the audience. But the rest of it is ‘Really? Do I really need to be doing this?'”

Because she doesn’t leave her house, King recently teamed up with Jennifer Hudson via Zoom to write “Here I Am (Singing My Way Home),” the end title theme for the upcoming Aretha Franklin biopic, Respect, in which Hudson stars. It’s out August 13.

The two chatted with Variety together via Zoom, during which King, who’ll be 80 next year, told Hudson, “I feel…so blessed…to have somebody like you that is carrying this light and this love and this positive energy forward.”

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Besides being the godmother of punk, Patti Smith also is an acclaimed poet and an award-winning author. So it’s no surprise Smith is the singer with the biggest vocabulary, according to a new study that ranks 200 different music artists based on their song lyrics.

Word.Tips, which conducted the study, found that Smith uses 217 unique words per 1,000 words appearing in her songs.

At #2 is legendary singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell, with 199. Other veteran artists ranked in the top 10 include late Doors frontman Jim Morrison at #4, with 177; late country singer Hank Williams at #6, with 167; The Everly Brothers‘ Don Everly at #7, with 163; Bonnie Raitt at #8, with 159; and the late Johnny Cash at #10, with 158.

Perhaps surprisingly, Bob Dylan, the singer/songwriter considered by many to be one of the music world’s greatest wordsmiths, was at #44 on the list with 130 unique words per 1,000 — tied with David Bowie.

However, Dylan does top a separate list ranking the artists who have used the most unique words over the course of their entire career.  According to the study, he has 12,285 different words in his songs. Prince is second on the tally, with 11,430; Elton John is third, with 9,467; Lou Reed‘s fourth, with 8,979; and Bruce Springsteen is fifth, with 8,862.

The artists that are part of the study came from Rolling Stone‘s list of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time,” and a list of Spotify’s 100 most-listened-to modern stars as determined by Kworb.net.

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