Music

Paul Simon, one of the most important singer/songwriters of the rock music era, celebrates his 80th birthday today.

Simon came to fame in the mid-’60s as half of the legendary folk-rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, and then launched a successful solo career in the early 1970s that has seen him incorporate jazz, African, Brazilian and Latin music influences into his pop-rock sound.

Paul’s melodic, intelligent and poetic songs helped make Simon & Garfunkel one of the most popular and celebrated music acts of the 1960s and early ’70s. The duo topped the Billboard Hot 100 three times, with “The Sound of Silence,” “Mrs. Robinson” and “Bridge over Troubled Water.” Simon won eight Grammy Awards for his work with Art Garfunkel, including a 1970 Album of the Year prize for Bridge over Troubled Water, and Record of the Year and Song of the Year honors for the title track.

Simon enjoyed similar success as a solo artist, winning 1975 and 1986 Album of the Year Grammys, respectively, for Still Crazy After All These Years and Graceland. The latter album was not only a huge commercial success, selling more than five million copies in the U.S. alone, it’s considered a critical high-water mark for Paul, who collaborated with South African musicians to create an infectious hybrid of world music and pop.

Simon has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice, as a member of Simon & Garfunkel in 1990 and as a solo artist in 2001. Other accolades include induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1982, being named MusiCares Person of the Year in 2001, receiving a Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, being awarded the first Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2007, and receiving Sweden’s prestigious Polar Music Prize in 2012.

Paul retired from touring in 2018, although he has continued to play select concerts that raise money for various charities he supports. Simon’s most recent album was 2018’s In the Blue Light, a collection of new versions of some of his favorite tunes from his back catalog, reimagined to incorporate jazz and classical influences.

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A new 10-CD box set titled The Official Live Bootlegs Volume 1, featuring recordings of five concerts by Asia‘s original lineup from various years of the prog-rock supergroup’s career, will be released on November 26.

Two shows featured in the expansive collection took place during the band’s initial early-1980s heyday, while the other three concerts were recorded after the original lineup reunited during the 2000s.

The concerts were recorded in May 1982 at Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo, New York; in August 1983 at The Centrum in Worcester, Massachusetts; in March 2007 at the Credicard Hall in São Paulo, Brazil; in May 2008 at the International Forum in Tokyo; and in December 2010 at The Forum in London.

Asia’s classic lineup featured former King Crimson and UK singer/bassist John Wetton, longtime Yes guitarist Steve Howe, Emerson, Lake & Palmer drummer Carl Palmer and Buggles/Yes keyboardist Geoff Downes.

The original band recorded two albums, 1982’s Asia and 1983’s Alpha, before Howe exited the group. Wetton, Howe, Downes and Palmer reunited in 2006 to mark Asia’s 25th anniversary and the group went on to record three more albums together — 2008’s Phoenix, 2010’s Omega and 2012’s XXX — before Howe again left the band in 2013.

The concerts feature Asia playing its classic songs “Heat of the Moment,” “Only Time Will Tell” and “Don’t Cry,” while the post-2000 shows also include renditions of tunes by the members’ other famous groups, among them Yes’ “Roundabout,” King Crimson’s The Court of the Crimson King and The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star.”

The Official Live Bootlegs Volume 1 can be pre-ordered now. A digital album featuring 24 tracks from the box set also will be released on November 26.

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Dionne Warwick is the subject of a new documentary, Don’t Make Me Over, but she says she’s not interested in being part of the upcoming I Wanna Dance with Somebody biopic about her late cousin, Whitney Houston.

The latter film is being produced by Clive Davis, who signed Warwick and Houston to Arista Records, but Dionne doesn’t want to be involved in the project, explaining to the Los Angeles Times, “I want them to let Whitney rest in peace. Leave her alone. Ten years [since she died] — it’s time to let her sleep.”

Meanwhile, Warwick, who recorded for Arista during the 1990s at the same time that Aretha Franklin was on the label, says she’s not a fan of the recent Respect biopic starring Jennifer Hudson as the late Queen of Soul.

“I knew Aretha from when we were teenagers, and there was a lot missing [from the movie],” she tells the L.A. Times. Dionne feels that the film focused too much on the negative aspect of Aretha’s career. “Some filmmakers feel that they’ve got to find something cruddy and ugly in an artist’s life,” Warwick comments. “Why?”

Now 80 years old, the six-time Grammy winner began her legendary career at the age of 22 in 1962 with the title tune of her documentary, the first of many hits written for her by the legendary songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Don’t Make Over premiered last month at the Toronto International Film Festival and was first runner-up for the People’s Choice Award for Documentaries.

For her latest project, Dionne recorded a duet with Chance the Rapper, “Nothing’s Impossible,” which will be released for Thanksgiving and will raise money to aid the homeless.

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Duran Duran will celebrate their 15th and latest studio album, Future Past, with a special virtual album-release event that will stream live on the Dreamstage.live platform at 3 p.m. ET on Thursday, October 21, one day before the record hits stores.

The event will feature a live Q&A with Duran Duran’s members, during which they will share stories about their 40 years together as a band. The interview segment will be followed by the premiere of a new documentary titled Duran Duran: Alison Jackson’s Double Take, which gives a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the group’s music video for “Anniversary,” a recently released advance single from Future Past.

The “Anniversary” video was directed by Alison Jackson, an award-winning filmmaker, photographer and artist who explores the cult of celebrity while using celeb lookalikes.

The streaming event will replay at 8 p.m. ET on October 21, and then will be available on demand for 72 hours. Tickets can be purchased now at Dreamstage.live. Check out a trailer for the event on YouTube.

As previously reported, Future Past will be released on October 22 and includes guest appearances by Blur guitarist Graham Coxon, Swedish pop singer Tove Lo, German-born U.K. rapper Ivorian Doll, Japanese punk group CHAI and longtime David Bowie keyboardist Mike Garson.

Future Past was co-produced by Duran Duran with the legendary Giorgio Moroder and British DJ/producer Erol Alkan.  You can pre-order it now.

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Mark Stein, lead singer and keyboardist of the veteran psychedelic rock band Vanilla Fudge, will release his debut solo album, There’s a Light, on November 26.

Stein recorded the album during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was inspired by the health crisis and other issues the U.S. and the world have been facing — including social unrest, racial disparity and political conflicts — to put together collection of songs offering such themes as hope, unity and redemption.

“This is an album about hope, but at the same time, I had to sing about the dangers of division,” the 74-year-old musician notes. “When I started the newest collection of songs during the early weeks of the pandemic, it dawned on me that I had created an album with a theme. These songs are reflections of what the world is about now, and what we need to do to bring us together again.”

The album’s lead track, “We Are One,” has been released as an advance digital single, and a companion music video for the tune has premiered on YouTube. Stein says the song speaks of “unity and what I know our country and the world is capable of.”

There’s a Light also includes two classic covers tunes that reflect the album’s themes, renditions of The Temptations‘ “Ball of Confusion” and The Rascals‘ “People Got to Be Free,” and culminates with an emotional version of “America the Beautiful.”

There’s a Light can be pre-ordered on CD now at MerchBucket.com, and limited-edition bundles featuring a signed copy of the disc, as well as a Mark Stein T-shirt, bracelet and bandana, also can be purchased at the site.

Here’s the There’s a Light track list:

“We Are One”
“Ball of Confusion”
“We Are Survivors”
“Lyin'”
“Racism”
“All Lives Matter”
“Let’s Pray for Peace”
“People Got to Be Free”
“Break It Down”
“America the Beautiful”

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Lionel Richie, Guns N’ Roses‘ Slash and Depeche Mode are among the many artists contributing items to an upcoming auction benefiting the Recording Academy’s MusiCares charity, which provides medical, financial and personal assistance to in-need members of the music community.

A black jacket Richie wore during his 2015 performance at the U.K.’s Glastonbury festival is up for bid, and is estimated to sell for between $6,000 and $8,000.

Slash is parting ways with one of his famous top hats, signed and featuring a hand-drawn skull-and-bones sketch, which is being sold alongside a sterling silver ring. They’re estimated to fetch between $5,000 and $7,000. The guitar great also has contributed a signed Epiphone Slash Les Paul Deluxe, valued between $1,000 to $2,000, to the sale.

Meanwhile, a black-and-white Fender Squier Stratocaster electric guitar signed by Depeche Mode’s David Gahan and Andrew Fletcher, as well as by former band member Alan Wilder, will be going on the block and is expected to sell for $1,000 to $2,000. Gahan also has contributed a red blazer he wore on Depeche Mode’s 2017-2018 tour that’s estimated to sell for $2,000 to $4,000.

The auction will also include items from Dolly Parton, KISS‘ Gene Simmons, Jeff Beck and many others.

Julien’s Auctions is hosting the sale, which takes place online and in Beverly Hills, California, on January 30, ahead of the 2022 Grammys on January 31. For more info, visit JuliensAuctions.com.

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