Blondie’s Chris Stein has revealed some new information about the next Blondie record.
Back in November, Stein announced that the band had a new album in the works, sharing a black-and-white photo of Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry in the studio, along with the caption, “New Blondie album next year.”
Now he’s shared another photo of Harry in the studio, this time on the social media site BlueSky, and in this one she’s joined by producer John Congleton, suggesting he’s going to be producing the album.
The new album will be the first from Blondie since 2017’s Pollinator, which Congleton also produced. It featured songs written by the members of Blondie and outside collaborators like The Smiths’ Johnny Marr, Sia and Charli XCX.
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Violet Grohl, the eldest daughter of Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, is working on her debut album,The Hollywood Reporter reports.
Sources who’ve apparently heard the material tell THR that Violet is “very talented” and that her “vocals are tremendous.”
The report also says Violet is collaborating with producer Justin Raisen on the record. Raisen recently produced Kim Gordon‘s new solo album, The Collective.
Violet, 18, has sung backup live during Foo Fighters concerts and contributed vocals to the But Here We Are track “Show Me How.” She also memorably performed at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts in 2022.
Ed Norton stars as folk legend Pete Seeger in the new Bob Dylan movie A Complete Unknown, and he realizes many people may not know how influential Seeger was to music.
In an interview with IndieWire, Norton says he hopes the film is “an opportunity to put a light on this period and how amazing these artists were and get reconnected to them,” and that’s particularly true for Seeger, who Norton doesn’t believe is as known as he should be.
As an example of that, Norton shares a story about the reaction Her director Spike Jonze had when he heard Norton was playing Seeger.
“He was like, ‘Wow, are you doing the music yourself?’ I said yes. And he goes, ‘Are you doing “Night Moves” and “Against the Wind” and “Old Time Rock & Roll”?’” Norton says. “I’m like, ‘Pete Seeger, not Bob Seger!’ And he was like, ‘Wait, who is Pete Seeger?’”
Seeger penned such songs as “If I Had A Hammer” and “Where Have All The Flowers Gone.” He was such an important figure in music that in 2006 Bruce Springsteen did a whole album, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, dedicated to Seeger’s music. And Norton says he’s not surprised.
“Bruce, to me, he’s 100 percent, no question whatsoever, the Pete Seeger of our generation and our time,” Norton says. “He’s the guy who really actually took up the mantle.”
He adds, “And I’d argue more than anyone, since Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen has been the troubadour of the working man and also an unapologetic deployer of music toward political progressive humanism. He’s a force. Bruce has long been one of the deacons in the Pete Seeger church.”
Bangles frontwoman Susanna Hoffs has teamed with Elvis Costello to release a cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Connection” in celebration of Stones guitarist Keith Richards‘ 81st birthday on Wednesday.
“I did the Keith part,” Hoffs shares in a press release. “We both wanted to do the Keith part, but I won!”
She notes of the collaboration, “I had the great honor of singing with Elvis at a couple of his shows, and it was a lifelong dream to record a song together.”
“Connection,” from The Stones’ 1967 album Between the Buttons, was written mostly by Keith but is credited to him and Mick Jagger. Hoffs says it’s one of her favorite songs by the band.
“I love Keith—his smile, his swagger, his songwriting—the way he moves on stage, as if his guitar is a part of his body and together they meld with the music and the emotion of the song,” she shares.
And Susanna isn’t the only one marking Keith’s birthday; his bandmates all posted birthday wishes on social media.
“Today we celebrate the one and only @officialkeef on his birthday!!” read a post on the band’s Instagram. “Happy Birthday Keith wishing you the best day.” Meanwhile, Jagger shared a throwback photo of the two of them, writing, “Happy birthday @officialkeef! Love Mick,” and Ronnie Woodshared a video of them playing guitar together with the message “Soul brother. Happy birthday Keith.”
Elton John is offering up some Christmas cheer with the release of a new video for his classic holiday track “Step Into Christmas.”
The new video features model/actress Cara Delevingne as Elton and reimagines the behind-the-scenes action during the making of the original ’70s video as his team attempts to make the clip “Christmassy enough.”
Elton says the idea to work with Cara came after he saw her at Glastonbury last summer.
“She’s hilarious to spend time with; we both have quite a self-deprecating sense of humor,” Elton shares. “When someone suggested the idea of her playing me in a riff on the 1973 ‘Step Into Christmas’ video, I just thought it was the perfect opportunity. Thank God Cara thought the same because it came out great.”
Cara adds that being asked to play Elton “was a dream that I didn’t know I had until it happened,” noting, “Honestly, I wish I could pretend to be Elton every day. I hope that Elton may one day return the favor and agree to play me in my not-yet-developed, written, pitched, or funded biopic. Fingers crossed.”
Released in November 1973, “Step Into Christmas” hit #1 on the Billboard Christmas Singles chart and has subsequently spent 44 weeks on the Billboard Holiday Airplay chart.
In other Elton news … “Never Too Late,” the song featured in his Disney+ documentary Elton John: Never Too Late, has been nominated for a 2025 SCL Award, handed out by the Society of Composers & Lyricists. The song, written by Elton, Brandi Carlile, Bernie Taupin and producer Andrew Watt, is nominated in the Outstanding Original Song for a Dramatic or Documentary Visual Media Production category.
Winners will be announced at the SCL’s sixth annual awards ceremony Feb. 12 in Los Angeles.
The Beatles’ final song “Now and Then” is nominated for a Grammy for Record of the Year and Ringo Starr is hoping they win.
“I’d love to win a Grammy,” Ringo tells Music Week. “That’s the business I’m in – and the track is good. The last track ever by the boys.”
The song used vocals John Lennon recorded on a demo in the late ’70s, along with guitar the late George Harrison recorded in the mid-’90s, and new recordings from Paul McCartney and Ringo.
Ringo says it was McCartney who decided to revisit the track, using new AI technology to clean up Lennon and Harrison’s contributions, and says “he did a great job.”
“He put the strings on and the lead guitar that gave the track its emotion,” Ringo says. “It worked out really great and let’s hope for a Grammy. We’ll see; a lot of people are up for Grammys.”
But just because AI worked for them doesn’t mean Ringo is totally embracing it.
“We’re all a bit afraid of it, because it can steal you,” he said. “Anyone who knows how to use it can steal you. If they just play any five of my songs into the computer, AI gets all of it and knows my every vocal move. They can have me sing anything and it will sound like me, because it’s taken from my personality.”
“But the good side is the way we used it on ‘Now And Then.’ God knows where it’s going to go,” he added. “We’re all worrying about it, but nobody’s really stolen anything yet.”
When Elton John told ABC’s Good Morning America a few weeks ago that because he’d lost the sight in one eye he was having a hard time making new music, he sounded kind of gloomy about it. But addressing the same question on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Dec. 17, he seemed much more positive.
“I’ve never been healthier,” Elton told Colbert. “I have a little problem with the eyes, but compared to most people, I’m the luckiest man in the world, so I’m very, very happy with everything.”
When Colbert asked Elton if “the juices were flowing again” and if we’d be getting new music from him, Elton said, “You will be getting some more.”
“The juices have never dried up. They never want to dry up because I’m always looking to create things. It’s just having the space now to do it on my own time,” he added. “Of course there will be new Elton John music.”
He also noted that “it’s the most fantastic thing in the world” to know that he doesn’t have to go out on another world tour ever again.
Elton’s current new music is his song “Never Too Late,” which he co-wrote with his pal Brandi Carlile for his Disney+ documentary of the same name. It was recently short-listed for an Oscar nomination.
When Colbert asked Elton to name his five favorite Elton John songs, Elton cracked, “Not f****** ‘Crocodile Rock,’ I know that!” He named three songs from Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy: “Curtains,” “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” and “We All Fall In Love Sometimes,” as well as “Your Song” and “Blessed.”
The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards celebrated his 40th birthday by marrying 27-year-old model Patti Hansen. The couple first met in 1979.
They have two daughters together, Theodora Dupree, born in 1985, and Alexandra Nicole, born in 1986, and are still together to this day.
Although the marriage was the first for Richards, he had previously been involved with Italian-born actress Anita Pallenberg from 1967 to 1979. The couple had three children together: son Marlon,born in 1969, daughter Angela,born in 1972, and son Tara Jo Jo Gunne, born in 1976. Tara passed away at a little over two months old from SIDS.
Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde has shared an end-of-the-year message on social media, and in it she sort of apologizes to fans for some of her behavior.
“What a year! We had a great tour thanks to you, our audience, for coming to see us. Thank-you SOOOOO much! We can’t do this without you and we cannot thank you enough for being there for us,” she begins the message, before noting, “As always, I have a few apologies to make….”
“First of all, I’m sorry that I’ve never adjusted to the phone / filming / picture taking culture,” she shares. “I’ve sworn and berated the very audience that is there for us. There’s no way to explain how distracting it is and why I have a meltdown when I see a phone.”
She says that sometimes it bothers her so much she thinks “it’s just not worth it” and she should “find another vocation” but says, “I love the band and I love playing live for you. I just don’t’ (sic) like being stalked.”
Hynde also apologizes for her post back in October where she asked fans going to more than one show to get out of the front row to make room for locals.
“I will reinstate that we love to see people come back for more, but we travel the world to play to a new audience each night, so it’s good to see the locals up front,” she writes. “Come one and all…… but be fair!”
“So, have a merry Christmas and a happy new year and thank you once again for making it a joyful year for myself and the band entire, and our lovely crew,” she closes the post. “Best wishes all round!”
The Bob Dylan movie A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet, tells the story of a 19-year-old Dylan as he arrives in New York in the early ’60s and gets immersed in the folk music scene, through his controversial electric performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.
Chalamet tells ABC News looking at footage of Dylan’s performance at the festival, it’s easy to see an artist coming into his own.
“I see an artist who’s pursuing the path that he sees in front of him instinctually,” Chalamet says. “That’s not taking no for an answer, that won’t be bullied into doing what he doesn’t want to do, and perseveres through that vision … even through, perhaps, those who support him feeling let down, and following that vision through.”
The film also follows Dylan’s personal life, including relationships with Joan Baez, played by Monica Barbaro, and a character named Sylvie Russo, who’s played by Elle Fanning and is based on one of Dylan’s real exes, Suze Rotolo.
“She knew him before the fame and before everything and loved him in a very pure way,” Fanning says of her character, noting she thinks they didn’t last because “that just wasn’t her path in life.”
A Complete Unknown opens Dec. 25 and already has the stamp of approval from Dylan, who posted a tweet calling Chalamet a “brilliant actor.”
Chalamet says Dylan’s tweet was “a huge moment of affirmation … because he’s a man of few words.”
“You know, take that moment of affirmation when you’re a young artist, you’re kind of jumping off the mountain,” he says. “So when one of these greats looks down from the mountaintop and pats you on the back in some way, regardless of the movie, it was a great feeling.”
