Classic Rock News

Carlos Santana’s legendary musical career is being explored in a new retrospective book.

Carlos Santana: Love, Devotion, Surrender will feature never-before-seen and rare photos, as well as pieces from the rocker’s personal archives, giving fans insight into his 50-year career.

Highlights of the book include a foldout of Santana’s favorite guitars, as well as reproductions of iconic albums and a complete catalog of performances ranging from 1968 to 2025. There’s also tour memorabilia, personal art, correspondence and more.

The book features text from interviews with producer Clive Davis, former Santana band members and collaborators like Rob Thomas, Narada Michael Walden and Santana’s wife, Cindy Blackman Santana. Carlos also contributed his own insights to the book, which features a foreword by his good friend and fellow musician Taj Mahal.

Carlos Santana: Love, Devotion, Surrender, by Jeff Tamarkin, will be released May 27. There will also be a deluxe and a limited collector’s edition, signed by Santana, coming this summer.

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Long before Mike McCready linked up with Ozzy Osbourne on 2022’s Patient Number 9 album, the Pearl Jam guitarist tried to bring the Prince of Darkness a guitar riff idea. 

Speaking with the State of Love & Trust podcast, McCready says that he originally came up with the riff for a possible second album with Mad Season, the grunge supergroup that also featured Layne Staley of Alice in Chains. He then pitched it to Ozzy around the time of his 2001 album, Down to Earth.

“I brought that riff to Ozzy, and I was playing it through a little amp,” McCready recalls. “He listened to it, and he just wasn’t into it.”

He adds, “I should’ve probably done a really good job of recording it and bringing him the original, maybe.”

McCready did end up collaborating with Ozzy about 20 years later on the aforementioned Patient Number 9, lending his guitar to a song called “Immortal.”

In other Pearl Jam-related happenings, the band has announced an auction for a painting done by the artist Munk One in real time as frontman Eddie Vedder was performing a solo show in Los Angeles in 2022. The piece is signed by Vedder and Munk.

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Joni Mitchell has Amanda Seyfried to thank for her latest streaming bump.

Billboard reports that ever since Seyfried showed off her dulcimer playing skills by performing Joni’s “California” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, there’s been renewed interest in the song.

“California,” from Joni’s 1971 album, Blue, saw a 794% streaming boost. It went from just over 100,000 streams in the two weeks before Seyfried’s clip aired to over 1 million streams in the week ending March 13.

While some folks have suggested that Seyfried’s performance was an attempt to audition for Cameron Crowe’s upcoming biopic on Joni, the actress has already shot that down.

“In fact, I didn’t even consider that, which is funny,” the 39-year-old Seyfried said on the Just for Variety podcast. “What I know about that project is that I’m very, very much aged out of young Joni.”

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Guns N’ Roses has announced the departure of their drummer, Frank Ferrer.

The band described Ferrer’s departure as amicable, noting he is the “longest serving drummer in their storied run.”

“The band thanks Frank for his friendship, creativity, and sturdy presence over the past 19 years,” a statement says, “and they wish him success in the next chapter of his musical journey.”

Ferrer joined GNR in June 2006, replacing drummer Brain aka Brian Mantia, who had been with the band since 2000.

So far there’s no word on who’ll be replacing Ferrer behind the drum kit, but GNR will have to find somebody soon. They launch a world tour on May 1 in Incheon, South Korea. A complete list of dates can be found at GunsNRoses.com.

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Elton John and Brandi Carlile are headed to Saturday Night Live in April.

The artists will be the musical guests for the April 5 episode of the NBC late night comedy sketch show, with Jack Black serving as host.

Elton and Brandi’s SNL appearance comes one day after the release of their new collaborative album, Who Believes in Angels? It features the already released tunes “Swing for the Fences,” the title track and the Oscar-nominated “Never Too Late.”

And the pair will be all over the airwaves that weekend. Over on CBS, they’ll premiere the special An Evening with Elton John and Brandi Carlile April 6 at 8 p.m. ET, featuring performances from their March 26 concert at London’s Palladium Theater.

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Ozzy Osbourne has shared a tribute to the late Randy Rhoads on the 43rd anniversary of the guitarist’s death.

In a Facebook post, the Prince of Darkness calls Rhoads “quite possibly the best composer & musician that I have ever met in my life.”

“He came into my life like a bolt of lightning and as such he was gone again,” Ozzy writes. “I consider my self one of the luckiest men alive to have not only met him but also I had the great honor of being able to work with him. I will cherish the time I spent with him till the day I die.”

He concludes,  “LONG LIVE RANDY RHOADS. LONG LIVE ROCK N ROLL. I LOVE YOU ALL.”

Rhoads played on Ozzy’s first two solo albums, 1980’s Blizzard of Ozz and 1981’s Diary of a Madman, contributing to classics including “Crazy Train” and “Mr. Crowley.” He died March 19, 1982, in a plane crash at just 25 years old.

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ZZ Top’s Billy F Gibbons is the latest artist speaking out in support of Joe Cocker getting into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Gibbons, who was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2004, says in a statement that Cocker’s nomination this year is “good news in view of the monumental recordings released and amazing performances delivered over the course of his lengthy career.”

Gibbons said he met Cocker when he appeared at ZZ Top’s Rompin’ Stompin’ Barn Dance & B.B.Q. back in 1974. 

“Suffice it to say Joe was one of a kind, the very embodiment of rock and roll in terms of talent and spirit,” Gibbons adds. “Let’s get him inducted!”

Gibbons’ statement follows Paul McCartney’s public support for Cocker’s induction. The Beatles legend released a letter calling Cocker “a great man and a fine singer whose unique style made for some fantastic performances,” noting “he deserves to be amongst such illustrious company” in the Rock Hall.

Cocker, who passed away in 2014, has been eligible for the Rock Hall since 1989; this is his first-ever nomination.

Fan voting for the Hall of Fame is open now, and inductees will be announced in April. The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction is set to take place in Los Angeles this fall, although an exact date has yet to be announced.

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Lenny Kravitz and ZZ Top are among the artists booked to play this year’s Sea.Hear.Now festival, happening Sept. 13-14 in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

ZZ Top is on the bill for Sept. 13, which will be headlined by Hozier and also feature UB40, Alabama Shakes, Trombone Shorty and LCD Soundsystem. Lenny will play Sept. 14, which features headliners blink-182, along with 4 Non Blondes, Sublime, TV on the Radio and Public Enemy.

A ticket presale kicks off Friday at 10 a.m. ET, with any remaining tickets going on sale to the general public starting at 11 a.m. ET. A complete lineup can be found at seahearnowfestival.com.

Sea.Hear.Now launched in 2018. Last year’s festival was headlined by New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

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Billy Corgan keeps on cherub rocking as he and his wife, Chloé Mendel, have welcomed their third child.

As the Smashing Pumpkins frontman tells People, Mendel gave birth to a baby girl named Juno on Tuesday.

“My wife, Chloé is doing well and recovering, and baby Juno is happy, healthy, and nursing with gusto,” Corgan says. “We are so touched by all the kind wishes of support and love, and thank those who helped Chloé and baby have such a safe, and peaceful, home birth.”

Corgan adds that Juno’s older siblings, 9-year-old Augustus and 6-year-old Philomena, are thrilled and “can’t wait till she’s old enough to play.”

In addition to celebrating the birth of a new baby, Corgan is celebrating 30 years since the birth of the Pumpkins’ landmark 1995 album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness with a run of shows at Chicago’s Lyric Opera House in November.

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Ringo Starr’s kids are sick of hearing him talk about retirement, because they know he has no plans to follow through.

“Sometimes when I finish a tour, I’m like, ‘That’s the end for me.’ And all my children say, ‘Oh, dad, you’ve told us that for the last 10 years.’ And they get fed up with me,” the 84-year-old rocker tells People. 

Ringo has three children with his late ex-wife Maureen.

“I do feel, ‘Oh, that’s got to be enough,’ and then I get a phone call: ‘We’ve got a few gigs if you’re interested.’ Okay, we’re off again!”

And Ringo, who released the new country album Look Up in January, is ready to be off yet again.

He’s set to kick off a new tour with his All-Starr Band — Toto’s Steve Lukather, Men at Work’s Colin Hay, Warren Ham, Hamish Stuart, Gregg Bissonette and Buck Johnson — June 12 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Dates are confirmed through June 25 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

They’ll also return to Las Vegas this fall, with dates at the Venetian Theatre inside The Venetian Resort starting Sept. 17 and wrapping Sept. 24.

A complete list of dates can be found at RingoStarr.com.

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