News

Right up until his death in 2022, Bob Neuwirth was known to cognoscenti as a songwriter (“Mercedes Benz,” famously recorded by Janis Joplin), painter, recording artist, and onetime member of Bob Dylan’s inner hipster circle. The last thing he was known for was being famous, which his longtime partner, music executive Paula Batson, says was intentional. “He was very self-effacing in a way,” she says. “He didn’t believe in blowing your own horn. He loved promoting other people and helping them, but he wasn’t good at self-promotion.”

Two...

Click here to read the full article.

Venetia Stevenson, a model, actress and daughter of Hollywood luminaries who appeared in films including Darby’s Rangers, Island of Lost Women and Horror Hotel after being labeled “the most photogenic girl in the world,” has died. She was 84.

Stevenson died Monday at a health care facility in Atlanta after a battle with Parkinson’s disease, her brother, actor and photographer Jeffrey Byron, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Stevenson’s parents were Robert Stevenson, the Oscar-nominated director of Mary Poppins who earlier helmed King Solomon’s Mines and Jane Eyre, and her mother was Anna Lee, who starred in How Green Was My Valley and portrayed the matriarch Lila Quartermaine for a quarter-century on General Hospital.

The screen siren was married to actor Russ Tamblyn from Valentine’s Day 1956 until their divorce in April 1957 and to Don Everly of The Everly Brothers from 1962-...

Click here to read the full article.

Don Graham, the music promotion pioneer who worked at Warner Bros. Records, A&m Records and Blue Thumb Records with the likes of Edd “Kookie” Byrnes and Connie Stevens, The Everly Brothers and Ike & Tina Turner, has died. He was 87.

Graham died Thursday in Los Angeles of stomach cancer, his family announced.

In 1958, Graham learned that Warner Bros. was about to start a record label and soon became head of its San Francisco operations. Under his leadership, Warner Bros. Records signed actors Edd “Kookie” Byrnes, Connie Stevens and Tab Hunter, plus The Everly Brothers and Peter, Paul & Mary.

One of Warner Bros.’ first records to be successful was “Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb” by Kookie and Stevens, based on Byrnes’ popular character on the ABC show 77 Sunset Strip. When top San Francisco radio station Kya would not add the song to its playlist,...

It was another Year of Covid in 2021, and the sadness extended to many beloved and groundbreaking people in the show business and media worlds who died during the past 12 months.

Scroll through a photo gallery above.

The acting world lost such giants as Betty White who died on New Year’s Eve eve, Ed Asner, Cicely Tyson, Charles Grodin, Jessica Walter, Christopher Plummer, Michael K. Williams, Hal Holbrook, George Segal, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Powell and Ned Beatty.

We also pay tribute to filmmakers including Melvin Van Peebles, Jean-Marc Vallée, Bertrand Travernier, Richard Donner, Michael Apted and Roger Michell.

The executive and producing worlds lost the likes of Jamie Tarses, Chuck Fries and public television’s Pete Noyes and Bill Kobin.

Musicians who left us this past year include Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, Don Everly, Vicente Fernandez, Dmx, Chick Corea, Biz Markie, B.J. Thomas, the Monkees’ Mike Nesmith, the Supremes’ Mary Wilson,...

One of the biggest all-star lineups ever will celebrate the 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees this weekend. The ceremony filmed October 30 in Cleveland, Ohio, and now airs this Saturday, November 20, on HBO and HBO Max.

The event clocking in at 3 hour and16 minutes honors Foo Fighters, The Go-Go’s, Jay-Z, Carole King, Todd Rundgren and Tina Turner in the performer category. Kraftwerk, Charley Patton and Gil Scott-Heron were chosen for early influence induction. LL Cool J, Billy Preston and Randy Rhoads were honored in the musical excellence category. Clarence Avant received the Ahmet Ertegun Award.

King had been previously inducted as a songwriter. Turner is now a solo artist inductee after going in with Ike Turner the first time around.

SEEThe Go-Go’s, Foo Fighters, Tina Turner, Jay-Z among 16 artists eligible for 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

While the order of inductions was different during filming, here...

Our special In Memoriam photo gallery honoring the greats that have gone in 2021 has added another celebrated name. Five-time Emmy nominee Michael K. Williams, who is favored to win at the Emmy Awards later this month for “Lovecraft Country,” has died at age 54. You can also watch his recent acceptance speech when he won the 2021 Gold Derby TV Award.

Tour our gallery above featuring 26 celebrities from the entertainment worlds of music, film, television and Broadway. Here is a brief glance at some of those people being featured.

Michael Kenneth Williams died at age 54 on September 6. He was a four-time acting nominee at the Emmys for “Bessie,” “The Night Of,” “When They See Us” and “Lovecraft Country,” plus a producing nominee for “Vice.” He was well known for his TV role in “The Wire” and had film success in “Inherent Vice,” “12 Years a Slave,” “Gone Baby Gone” and “The Road.

The Eagles played their first gig since the start of the pandemic at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. The tour was originally slated to begin on Sunday, but Hurricane Henri forced them to scramble and bump it back two nights. Here’s fan-shot video of “Hotel California,” which kicked off the evening.

This is a continuation of their aborted 2020 Hotel California tour, which was derailed by the pandemic after just 10 gigs. Every night begins with a complete performance of their 1976 masterpiece. After a brief intermission, they...

Rock 'n' roll pioneer Don Everly has passed away. One half of the Everly Brothers alongside late brother Phil, Don served as a pioneer whose music served to inspire many notable singers and groups in the 1960s including the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and Simon & Garfunkel. Sadly, the L.A. Times reports that Everly died at his home in Nashville on Saturday night, though a cause of death wasn't cited. He was 84 years old.

A statement released by the family reads: "Don lived by what he felt in his heart. Don expressed his appreciation for the ability to live his dreams ... with his soulmate and wife, Adela, and sharing the music that made him an Everly Brother."

The older of the two famous Everly Brothers, Don was born on Feb. 1, 1937, making him about two years older than brother Phil. After high school, the brothers relocated to Nashville to pursue a...

Don Everly, who with his brother, Phil, was part of the Everly Brothers, a huge chart success in the late 1950s and early 1960s that grew into Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, died on Saturday at his home in Nashville. He was 84.

A family spokesman confirmed the death to The Los Angeles Times. No cause was given.

The duo were one of the first pop-rock acts to emerge from Nashville, and became instant hitmakers on the strength of the soaring harmonies in such songs as “Wake Up Little Susie” and “Cathy’s Clown.” They became a major influence on everything to follow, from the British Invasion through the Southern California county-rock scene.

Their harmonies on such hits as “Bye Bye Love” and “All I Have To Do Is Dream” are timeless and unforgettable. Don Everly usually sang lead, with his brother handling the higher harmony.

“It’s almost like...

Don Everly, half of one of rock’s earliest and most influential harmony groups, the Everly Brothers, died Saturday in his Nashville home at the age of 84. A rep for the singer confirmed his death to the Los Angeles Times. A cause of death was not immediately known.

“Don lived by what he felt in his heart,” Everly’s family said in a statement to the Times. “Don expressed his appreciation for the ability to live his dreams … with his soulmate and wife, Adela, and sharing the music that made him an Everly Brother.

Don Everly, half of country rock-and-roll duo The Everly Brothers, has died. He was 84.

The Los Angles Times confirmed Everly’s death via a family spokesperson on Saturday night, reporting that he died at home in Nashville. A cause of death was not cited.

“Don lived by what he felt in his heart,” read a statement given to the outlet. “Don expressed his appreciation for the ability to live his dreams … with his soulmate and wife, Adela, and sharing the music that made him an Everly Brother.”

Everly was born in 1937 in Kentucky and ...

Don Everly, half of country rock-and-roll duo The Everly Brothers, has died. He was 84.

The Los Angeles Times confirmed Everly’s death via a family spokesperson on Saturday night, reporting that he died at home in Nashville. A cause of death was not cited.

“Don lived by what he felt in his heart,” read a statement given to the outlet. “Don expressed his appreciation for the ability to live his dreams … with his soulmate and wife, Adela, and sharing the music that made him an Everly Brother.”

Everly was born in 1937 in Kentucky and ...

Hulu’s Original Docuseries McCartney 3,2,1 is a laid-back sit down with Paul McCartney, the man who believed in yesterday, reminiscing about all those years ago. Long-time Beatles fans will have heard most of the stories before, though there are a few new tidbits which have been buried in the mix. The casual conversation provides a wealth of tonality when McCartney talks about the sounds behind the music.

For the chat, McCartney sits down with Rick Rubin in the most familiar of settings: a recording studio, with easy access to the songs being discussed. The six-episode series explores McCartney’s work with The Beatles, Wings, and solo releases. Directed by Zachary Heinzerling, the interview is relaxed, although Paul is often very animated. He fiddles with console buttons, pops up for quick runs at a piano or guitar, and air drums throughout. The black and white filming makes the conversation feel intimate and timeless.

Dion Dimucci was a teenager from the Bronx, New York, when he broke through in 1958 with “I Wonder Why.” He went on to score dozens of Top 40 hits in the late 1950s and early Sixties, on his own and with his group Dion and the Belmonts, including “Teenager in Love,” “Runaround Sue,” “The Wanderer,” and “Ruby Baby.”

For Dimucci, the best part of that success was getting the chance to play on the same stages as his heroes — especially Little Richard, who died today at age 87. “You never forget the...

The Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum, which recognizes the contributions of performers, producers and others in rock & roll, country music and beyond, has announced its 2019 class of inductees. Alabama and Steve Wariner represent the country field, in addition to legendary producers Billy Sherrill and Owen Bradley. This year’s inductees, some of whom receive special recognition for specific musical works or other achievements, will be honored with a concert at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center on October 22nd.

In addition to Wariner and Alabama’s Jeff Cook, Teddy Gentry, and Randy Owen,...

In April 1969, Bob Dylan went to Nashville to record his ninth studio album. It would be his third time recording there with local session pros and producer Bob Johnston, but this time it would be different: Unlike the “thin, wild mercury sound” of 1966’s Blonde on Blonde and the ominous acoustic folk of 1967’s John Wesley Harding, his next LP would be a traditional country record. He called it Nashville Skyline.

While experimental bands like New York’s Velvet Underground and San Francisco’s Grateful Dead were pushing boundaries in music,...

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is home to an overwhelming collection of historical art objects, including a mummy mask from 60 A.D., Greek bronzes from the 8th century B.C. and the original “Washington Crossing the Delaware” painting. Starting April 8th, it will also welcome a different type of antiques — from the guitar Chuck Berry used to record “Johnny B. Goode” to the knives Keith Emerson would stab into his Hammond organ during the crazier Emerson, Lake & Palmer days.

In these days of GarageBand and samplers, it’s...

Legendary American singer, songwriter and performer Don McLean recently helped raise funds for Teen Cancer America (TCA) and UCLA Health.

Ed Sheeran and Don McLean perform Vincent together.

Credit/Copyright: Lorenzo

At the Backyard Concert 2018, McLean joined Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Van Morrison and Roger Daltrey, as well as Grammy Award winner Ed Sheeran and others for a once-in-a-generation private concert and live auction. During the concert Don McLean joined Sheeran for a special duet performance of his hit “Vincent”.

“I have been aware of the philanthropic work of Roger Daltrey for many years, and that motivated me to participate,” said McLean. “I enjoyed all the music very much, and Ed Sheeran is very delightful to know and work with. Van Morrison put on a beautiful, swinging show and his band was very refined. Everyone gave their best, and it was a stellar musical evening that raised money for a good cause.

Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney and Robert Plant are among the all-star cast of 75 living musicians whose signatures grace a rare guitar that is currently up for a charity auction taking place through Thursday. The lot benefits UCLA Health and Teen Cancer America, the national non-profit launched by the Who‘s Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend that provides support and resources to teens and young adults diagnosed with cancer.

Brian May, Keith Richards, Brian Wilson, Peter Frampton, Graham Nash, Don Everly, Elvis Costello, Donovan and Dion also signed the handcrafted acoustic guitar,...

Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Van Morrison and Roger Daltrey will join music superstar Ed Sheeran to headline a once-in-a-generation private concert this week in the L.A. area to benefit UCLA Health and Teen Cancer America (TCA), the national non-profit founded by Daltrey and Pete Townshend of The Who.

The invite-only event, the fifth in a series that began a decade ago to raise awareness and funds for both programs, will include Judd Apatow serving as Master of Ceremonies and Howie Mandel serving as auctioneer for a rare collection of music memorabilia and art that will be auctioned off throughout the evening.

Included in the lot is a guitar donated by The Buddy Holly Educational Foundation that experts are saying may be the most valuable ever built for a charity event. The handcrafted guitar, inspired by the Holly classic song, “Learning The Game,” is signed by 75 of the...

The BBC has commissioned a rock 'n' roll season of programming on TV and radio.

BBC Four, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 6 Music will all broadcast programmes that celebrate this genre, including a special three-part documentary series narrated by David Morrissey as well as rock-themed radio shows and specials.

Rock n Roll America will look at the beginnings of rock music in the USA in the 1950s, before its explosion around the world with the help of TV appearances by Elvis Presley and culminating with the game-changing arrival of The Beatles in America in 1964.

The Walking Dead actor David Morrissey will narrate the series, which also features exclusive interviews with a number of iconic names in music, including Ben E King, Tom Jones, Ronnie Spector, Jerry Lee Lewis and Don Everly.

The first part of the new documentary series will premiere on BBC Four on July 3, with parts two and...

Before his death Friday at age 74 from complications due to Copd, Phil Everly was recording music, focusing on his family and was humble about the Everly Brothers' legacy as rock and country legends, his widow and son tell People. Phil had three homes: one close to family in Burbank, one near his roots in Nashville, and a summer beach house in Alabama, says his son, Jason Everly, 47. Phil was "the best harmony singer that's ever lived," Jason says, and part of a duo, with brother Don, that laid the foundation of rock music. Jason says his dad loved sharing stories...

Phil Everly, one half of the famed Everly Brothers duo, died on Friday at a Burbank, Calif., hospital. He was 74.

Phil Everly Dies

Everly’s death was confirmed by Providence St. Joseph Medical Center spokesperson Patricia Aidem. He passed away from complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, his wife, Patti Everly, told The Los Angeles Times.

Phil Everly and his surviving brother Don Everly, 76, hit the height of their career during the 50 and 60s, battling the likes of Elvis Presley and Pat Boone in record sales. Over the course of their career, they recorded an impressive total of 35 Top 100 songs. Among their biggest hits were "Bye Bye Love," "Wake Up Little Susie," "When Will I Be Loved" and "All I Have to Do Is Dream."

With Phil’s higher voice and Don’s lower tone, the Everly Brothers offered a unique sound that blended a number of different genres, including folk,...

Half of the brilliant duo that transformed 1950s pop music

With his older brother Don, Phil Everly, who has died of pulmonary disease aged 74, formed one of pop music's greatest vocal partnerships. If it was Elvis Presley who became the most spectacular icon of 1950s rock'n'roll, the Everly Brothers created a musical legacy which was every bit as influential. Their unique vocal harmonies, coupled with ingenious guitar arrangements and timeless material, had a revolutionary impact on the Beatles, the Hollies, Simon & Garfunkel, the Beach Boys, the Byrds and Crosby Stills & Nash.

The Everly Brothers' breakthrough hit was Bye Bye Love (1957), still regarded as one of their most impressive creations. Up to that point, Don and Phil had been chipping away at the country music scene in Nashville, Tennessee, with limited success. Bye Bye Love topped the country charts, but more significantly soared to No 2 on the pop charts, just...

Nashville, Tenn. (AP) — The infighting and hard feelings between the Everly Brothers were well-known, but surviving brother Don felt he had a special moment with his brother Phil before Phil's passing Friday — even if the two weren't together at the time. "I was listening to one of my favorite songs that Phil wrote and had an extreme emotional moment just before I got the news of his passing," Don Everly wrote in a statement to The Associated Press on Saturday morning. "I took that as a special spiritual message from Phil saying goodbye. Our love was

read more...

Phil Everly, the youngest of the Everly Brothers who took the high notes, died Friday from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 74. He left a towering legacy that still inspires half a century after the Everly Brothers' first hit. You could argue that while Elvis Presley was the king of rock 'n' roll, Phil and Don Everly were its troubled princes. They sang dark songs hidden behind deceptively pleasing harmonies and were perfect interpreters of the twitchy hearts of millions of baby boomer teens coming of age in the 1950s and '60s looking to express themselves beyond the simple...

Los Angeles (AP) — There is no more beautiful sound than the voices of siblings swirled together in high harmony, and when Phil and Don Everly combined their voices with songs about yearning, angst and loss, it changed the world. Phil Everly, the youngest of the Everly Brothers who took the high notes, died Friday from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 74. He left a towering legacy that still inspires half a century after The Everly Brothers' first hit. You could argue that while Elvis Presley was the king of rock 'n' roll, Phil and Don Everly...

Phil Everly ... who comprised half of one of the most successful duos in music history -- The Everly Brothers -- died today.  Phil and Don Everly had an enormous influence on John Lennon and Paul McCartney ... and The Beatles weren't alone.  The Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkle, The Byrds and countless other singers seized on the amazing harmony of the duo.Among their hits -- "Bye Bye Love," "When Will I Be Loved" and "All...

I can't say too much for old Bear's taste, considering the wealth that must exist in the library of Dead concert tapes. But Volume One of The History of the Grateful Dead consists of selections from a pair of late 1970 dates in which the band was still making the transition from acidic filmstrip music to Merle Haggard style countrified truckinisms. Workingman's Dead had just come out and the band's live performances included tunes from every corner of the American pop songbook.

So Pigpen's rasping and thoroughly boozed rendition of the hoary idiot's lament,...