By Peter Robertson FOR JUNIOR CAMPBELL and his fellow band members, the first few weeks of 1969 were definitely – in the slang of the time – ‘groovy’. Marmalade had just become the first Scottish group ever to reach No.1 in the charts. To a studio audience of mini-skirted fans – not to mention a […]
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By Ian Wooley, former DJ and MD of Retro Nights IT WAS 20 years ago when local Eddie Cochran fan Angela Powell first laid a memorial on the Chippenham roadside verge where the 21-year-old Rock ‘n’ Roll singer’s hire car crashed one fatal night in April, 1960. The cream Consul in which he was traveling […]
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By Martin Hutchinson HARD to believe, but it’s three years since David Bowie passed away, yet his legacy is still very much apparent today. There is a surfeit of Bowie tribute acts on the circuit, some of which are excellent, but they all have a certain ingredient missing – the magic of the man himself. […]
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By Pete Langford WHOA: is it really coming up to 60 years for us Barron Knights. So many things, going back all those years, have stuck in my mind and will always be there. I was 15 when I bought my first guitar and luckily I met Butch who lived only three miles away.His dad […]
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SHARE A CUPPA TEA with American Broadcasting Legend Jimmy Mack speaks of Stones, Nehru Jackets and Goatees, WWII, AND MORE! Secret talents of an icon of our time JIMMY MACK is an American broadcasting icon. He is also the most youthful 96- year-old I am likely ever to share a cuppa tea with. The conversational […]
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Ahead of the 50th anniversary, Jimi Hendrix Tributes just keep coming. The most interesting thing about looking back on artists from previous eras is often seeing which ones have withstood the test of time, or even which ones have become bigger than they ever were. A few obvious names come to mind: your Beatles and […]
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SAID to be the UK’s ultimate Michael Jackson tribute star starts a UK tour in Bath on January 11. From dancing along to the legendary pop videos as a child, to playing to a crowd of weeping fans the day after Michael Jackson died, Ben Bowman has dedicated his life to be the UK’s ultimate […]
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By Pat Murphy Looking back a half-century, 1969 was a pretty decent year for pop music. Here are 10 records to prove the point. The organisation is chronological, based on my recollection of when I first heard them on Toronto radio. The Fifth Dimension: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In Although I wasn’t initially keen on this, […]
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Intelligent lyrics, lovely music. Jane Quinn shares a Cuppa Tea with Jim Messina who chats about Walt Disney, Love, Bolero and his metal shop. JAMES MELVIN joined us on Planet Earth in 1947 in a land known as California before spending time in another land called Texas. James later morphed into Jim Messina, musician, songwriter, […]
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THE NEW SEEKERS release 1974 albums on CD for the first time, Together/Farewell, on April 20 The New Seekers recording catalogue has been vastly overlooked on CD, considering just how enormous this mixed vocal group were between 1970 and the group’s split in 1974. In addition to their many hits which included I’d Like...
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Stones filter through THE ROLLING STONES No Filter tour is in the UK and Ireland this summer, with more shows in Germany, France, the Czech Republic, and Poland. They play 13 shows in 12 venues across Europe in September and October. STONES – NO FILTER has Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood out on the road...
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‘BIG GIRLS Don’t Cry’ is a show claiming to celebrate the music of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. The publicity states: ‘Step back in time, to the era of romance. Where gents were gents, and gals were gals! Come and experience the iconic sounds of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons authentically recreated...
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By Pat Murphy THE early Grammys didn’t care for rock ‘n’ roll. The Grammys were invented in the late 1950s to give the American music industry its own version of Hollywood’s Oscars. Ostensibly, “artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence” would be the watchword. And right from the get-go, the works honoured...
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At the height of the Punk Rock explosion in the late seventies, a song by a relatively unknown American singer-songwriter drifted into the charts. Dean Friedman’s Lucky Stars followed his first chart entry, Woman Of Mine, which got to No.52 in the early summer of 1978. In September, Lucky Stars climbed to No.3 and has since become...
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By Peter Robertson THIS SPRING marks the 50th anniversary of the classic, if controversial, international hit Young Girl by Gary Puckett & The Union Gap. About a man who has become distressed upon finding out that the girl he’s with is under the legal age of consent, Young Girl was a UK No.1 for four weeks from May 22, 1968. To...
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DREAMGIRLS: ORIGINAL LONDON CAST RECORDING. SONY CLASSICAL: 88985429492 (2CD SET) WHEN I first heard Jennifer Holiday sing ‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going’, I was completely blown away. I had to have more, the Complete’ Dreamgirls’ Broadway Cast Recording quickly followed, maintaining my love of the music, and I waited...
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By Jim Stewart AS YOU read this, the most eagerly-awaited theatrical event of the year will have just started a two-week season of previews ahead of the West End. Opening Night on June 20, at THE LONDON COLISEUM, home of The English National Opera, JIM STEINMAN’s ‘BAT OUT OF HELL – THE MUSICAL’ may seem an unlikely production for...
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It is almost 20 years since 54-year-old Jane McDonald made a splash with the BBC TV docu-soap The Cruise. This month, she returned to the town that brought her to the public’s attention with a show called Making Memories. Since cruising out of Southampton waters in the 1990s, Jane McDonald has built a career of live shows and album...
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Ken Knox has kept the legacy of the legendary Chairmen of The Board alive after the 2010 death of General Johnson. He continued to record songs true to the group’s past, even as they pave a new way. Ken said he was fulfilling a promise made to General Johnson and Danny Woods to continue their legacy, with new members Thomas Hunter...
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