Stevie Nicks is set to drop a brand new song on Friday.
The singer announced the new track “The Lighthouse” on social media, sharing a short snippet of the song in which she’s heard singing “I wanna teach ‘em to fight.”
And fans may get to see Stevie sing her new track soon. She’s booked as the musical guest for the Oct. 12 episode of Saturday Night Live, with host Ariana Grande.
Back in June, Stevie hinted that she had a new album in the works, telling MOJOshe started to write again after the pandemic and had at least two songs done, including “this song about women’s rights that I think is really strong.”
She noted, “So maybe that’s the beginning of an album.”
If she does release a new album, it would be Nicks’ first solo record since 2011’s In Your Dreams.
Thursday marks the 50th anniversary of John Lennon’s fifth solo album, Walls and Bridges, which went to #1 and features “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night,” Lennon’s first U.S. #1 as a solo artist, and his only solo song to top the chart in his lifetime.
The album was recorded during Lennon’s “lost weekend,” the 18-month period in which he was separated from wife Yoko Ono and was in a relationship with his assistant May Pang.
Pang tells ABC Audio that Walls and Bridges was one of John’s “proudest moments,” not only because of the #1 single, but because “he did it all in eight weeks from start to finish.” She noted he was “jumping around” when he finished the record and handed it in.
Pang appears on the album’s second single “#9 Dream,” which was a top 10 hit. She can be heard whispering John’s name in the song, although fans probably didn’t think it was her.
“To this day, people didn’t realize it was me,” she said. “Because you had the natural assumption, of course, (it’s) Yoko.”
And while “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night,” which featured Elton John on backing vocals and piano, did top the chart, Lennon wasn’t so confident it would get there.
During the recording of the tune, Elton bet Lennon the song would go to #1, with Lennon agreeing to join him onstage if it did. After losing the best, Lennon made a guest appearance at Elton’s Nov. 28, 1974, concert at Madison Square Garden, performing “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night,” and The Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.” He also played tambourine on Elton’s encore of “The Bitch is Back.”
The concert would wind up being Lennon’s last major concert appearance.
Albums by artists including Stevie Nicks, Deep Purple, The Doobie Brothers and Foreigner are being reissued on vinyl in celebration of Rhino’s Rocktober campaign.
Among the titles getting the reissue treatment are Nicks’ In Your Dreams, Deep Purple’s Machine Head, The Doobie Brothers’ Toulouse Street and What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits and Foreigner’s Head Games.
Also available will be albums by Black Sabbath, Devo, Fleetwood Mac, INXS, The Stooges, Stone Temple Pilots, Third Eye Blind, Twisted Sister, Whitesnake, Ronnie Wood, Ramones, Velvet Underground, The Cars, The Monkees, Foghat and Yes.
Rhino’s Rocktober begins Oct. 4, and will also feature releases on Oct. 18 and Oct. 25. For more info, visitRhino.com.
Heart’s Ann Wilson has given fans a health update, the first time she’s talked about her condition since announcing in July she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy after doctors removed something cancerous from her body.
“Now I know lots of you have been wondering how I have been doing so I thought it’d be best if you heard it straight from me,” she said in audio posted to social media. “I’m doing absolutely fine now, but it’s been, to put it mildly, a lot.”
“Chemo is no joke. It takes a lot out of a person. And then there’s that two weeks of waiting around for test results, a form of mental torture,” she added. “Luckily for me when the results finally came they were the good kind!”
Wilson said she’s now done with chemo and is focusing on getting ready for Heart’s rescheduled tour in 2025, although she says she’ll have to deal with some maintenance. But, “I’m told the side effects are much less severe.”
“The worst is over and I’m thankful for the efficacy of the poison – but it’s more than welcome to get the f*** out of my body now,” she said.
Finally she thanked those who “prayed and sent me those good vibes,” noting, “I’ve so felt your love.”
“My story has a happy ending due in part to early detection. My advice? Get checked regularly,” she added.
“I love you all and I’ll see you very very soon,” she concluded her message. “There’s much to celebrate.”
Wilson’s health forced the postponement of Heart’s 2024 Royal Flush tour. The band recently announced the rescheduled dates for the trek, which will now kick off in February. A complete list of dates can be found at heart-music.com.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Paul Simon hasn’t performed live all that much since revealing he lost his hearing, but he took the stage Monday night in New York for The Soho Sessions, which was a fundraiser for the Stanford Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss.
According to setlist.fm, Simon performed a seven-song set: “Mrs. Robinson,” “Slip Slidin’ Away,” “Mother and Child Reunion,” “Me and Julio Down By The School Yard,” “Homeward Bound,” “The Boxer” and “Sound of Silence.”
The New York Postreports that Simon had a bit of help during “Me and Julio Down By The School Yard,” when former Yankees centerfielder/jazz guitarist Bernie Williams joined in on the song’s whistling solo.
The paper notes that Simon then handed Williams $17 for payment, joking it was all he had with him.
Simon revealed in May 2023 that he had lost hearing in his left ear, making it difficult for him play. In March, he shared that his hearing had returned enough to make him feel comfortable singing and playing guitar again.
He has since performed the occasional song, including “Graceland” at a White House state dinner in April and “Your Forgiveness,” from his most recent album, Seven Psalms, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, in March.
Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer will be arraigned on Thursday at California’s Alhambra Courthouse over a misdemeanor charge of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence, according to court documents.
The charge is related to a March accident in which Klinghoffer allegedly hit and killed a 47-year-old pedestrian, Israel Sanchez, with his car. Klinghoffer was issued a letter to appear in court in August and was released on his own recognizance on Sept. 9.
Sanchez’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Klinghoffer in July. A lawyer for the family said in a statement, “Mr. Klinghoffer should be arrested and prosecuted for homicide.”
A lawyer for Klinghoffer, meanwhile, called what happened a “tragic accident.” In a statement to TMZ, Klinghoffer’s lawyer said, “After Josh struck this pedestrian in the intersection, he immediately pulled over, stopped the car, called 911 and waited until police and the ambulance arrived. Obviously, he’s cooperating with the police throughout the traffic investigation.”
Klinghoffer played with RHCP from 2009 to 2019. He’s since been touring as a live member of Pearl Jam.
Janis: Graphic House/Archive Photos/Getty Images; Shailene:Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for STARZ
Shailene Woodley is opening up about her plans to play Janis Joplin on the big screen.
The actress’s plans to produce and star in a biopic about Joplin were announced in early September. During an appearance on Live with Kelly and MarkWednesday,she discussed how important it is to her to get things right.
“It’s been over six years of putting it together,” she said of the film. “To me, it’s important to do these things with a lot of integrity and a lot of care. Janis is someone I just have always deeply respected and admired, like the spirit in her, and the soul she was on this planet and kind of the light that she was on this planet.”
She added, “It’s been a really fun journey getting to know her better through the process of finding all the creative elements.”
As for whether she can tackle the singing needed for the film, Shailene shared, “I’m not like a trained singer, but … I can sing in my shower. It turns out I can also sing outside of the shower, which I didn’t really know until I started working on the Janis project.”
She says she’s been working with hit songwriter Linda Perry getting ready for the film, noting, “She’s really encouraged me and helped me find my center in my own voice, which is incredible.”
A Mark Lanegan tribute concert will take place Dec. 5 in London, about a week after what would’ve been the late Screaming Trees frontman’s 60th birthday.
The lineup includes Queens of the Stone Age‘s Josh Homme, Depeche Mode‘s Dave Gahan, Pretenders‘ Chrissie Hynde, The Afghan Whigs‘ Greg Dulli, The Kills‘ Alison Mosshart and Primal Scream‘s Bobby Gillespie.
Lanegan played in QotSA with Homme and in The Gutter Twins with Dulli. For Homme, the concert will mark his first live performance after undergoing surgery over the summer, which caused Queens to cancel or postpone their remaining 2024 tour dates.
Tickets to the tribute go on sale Oct. 1 via MyTicket.co.uk.
Lanegan died in February 2022 at age 57.
Meanwhile, a 20th anniversary reissue of Lanegan’s 2004 solo album, Bubblegum, was released in August.
Eric Clapton has shared a video for “One Woman,” the first single off his upcoming album, Meanwhile.
The video, directed by Dessie Jackson, features a book filled with drawings brought to life through animation.
Meanwhile, Clapton’s first album with new material since 2016’s I Still Do, is made up of six new songs and eight previously released tunes. It features guest appearances by the late Jeff Beck, Van Morrison, Bradley Walker, Judith Hill, Daniel Santiago and Simon Climie.
It will be released digitally on Oct. 4, and on CD and vinyl Jan. 24. It is available for preorder now.
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers headlined The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles for what would turn out to be their final concert ever, as Petty would die less than two weeks later.
During the show, Petty and the band treated fans to such classic tunes as “I Won’t Back Down,” “Free Fallin’,” “Breakdown” and “Learning to Fly,” wrapping the night with “You Wreck Me” and “American Girl.”
Petty was found unconscious at his home on Oct. 2 and died at UCLA Medical Center, although there were initially premature reports of his passing. The coroner report revealed that drugs played a role in his death.
Petty’s musical legacy still lives on, and it will be remembered with a new deluxe edition ofhis1982 album, Long After Dark. It will be released Oct. 18.
