Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young released Déjà Vu, the second album released by David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, and the first to feature Neil Young.
The album spent one week at #1 and featured three Top 40 singles, “Woodstock,” “Teach Your Children” and “Our House,” as well as the classic track “Carry On.”
Déjà Vu has landed on several lists of the greatest albums of all time, and in 2012, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2023, it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry.
Theo Wargo/Getty Images for the Elton John Foundation
Elton John‘s annual Academy Awards Viewing Party has been going on for 32 years, but this year’s edition was the most successful yet.
The start-studded event, co-hosted by Elton and husband David Furnish, Neil Patrick Harris and husband David Burtka, and Tiffany Haddish, raised a record-breaking $10.8 million for Elton’s AIDS Foundation. It also featured a performance from Elton, who took the stage with special musical guest, the band Gabriels, for his 2003 U.K. hit “Are You Ready for Love.”
A huge chunk of the money raised came from an auction held during the party. A Yamaha piano bedazzled in crystals and signed by Elton sold for over $360,000 after Elton joined the auctioneer onstage and played “Tiny Dancer” on the instrument. Two Elton pinball machines went for $200,000 each.
Other items that were auctioned off included two of Elton’s Gucci bomber jackets, a meet-and-greet with Elton and David at their upcoming photography exhibit at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, and a Rolex from Elton’s personal collection, engraved to commemorate his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.
“So far, this has been an extraordinary year beyond my wildest dreams, including the honor of achieving the EGOT, but it’s tonight’s gathering that is the ultimate highlight,” Elton said in a statement. “I’m so grateful to everyone who comes out each year to have a lot of fun and do a whole lot of good together. We’ve been loud and proud about showing compassion and ending the dreadful stigma that follows HIV, and we won’t stop until we achieve our mission.”
The early days of Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles career was explored in the first volume of the book The McCartney Legacy, and now the second volume is on its way.
In celebration of National Book Day, a post on The McCartney Legacy social media account announced that Volume 2 of the series will be released on December 10, 2024.
The new edition will pick up where Volume 1 left off, covering McCartney’s life and career between 1974 and 1980, a time when he was enjoying huge success with his band Wings.
The McCartney Legacy Volume 1, written by Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair, was released in December 2022. It covered the years between 1969 to 1974, delving into McCartney’s creative life right after The Beatles broke up. It featured interviews with fellow musicians, tour managers, producers and more.
Of course, McCartney has released his own book about his life, although it focused more on his music. The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present was released in November 2021.
The Oscars saved the best for last when it came to performances of the Best Original Song nominees.
Best Supporting Actor nominee Ryan Gosling, wearing a pink sparkly suit, took the stage to perform a show-stopping rendition of the show-stopping number from Barbie, “I’m Just Ken.” Joining him onstage were some of the other Kens from the film, including Simu Liu and Kingsley Ben-Adir, plus dozens of other male dancers, all wearing suits and black cowboy hats.
At one point, Gosling was lifted onto the shoulders of the dancers and the camera shot him from above, stretched out and surrounded by giant cut-out faces of a ’50s-era Barbie doll. Then, the guitarists who performed on the recorded version of the song — Slash and Wolfgang Van Halen — appeared onstage to shred along with the song’s co-writer, Mark Ronson.
While all this was going on, the song’s lyrics flashed on giant screens in the theater, and Gosling went down to the front row to allow Barbie director Greta Gerwig and co-stars America Ferrera and Margot Robbie to sing along with the tune.
The overwhelming ‘Kenergy’ earned a standing ovation from the crowd.
L-R: Brad Booker, Dave Mullins, Sean Ono Lennon/ photo credit: Disney/Frank Micelotta
A short film inspired by John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s classic tune “Happy Christmas (War Is Over),” took home an Oscar Sunday night.
War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko won the award for Best Animated Short Film, with the couple’s son Sean Ono Lennon on stage to help accept the award alongside filmmakers Dave Mullins and Brad Booker.
“John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote a song that inspired us,” filmmaker Dave Mullins said in his speech. “It is an anti-war message that we tried to honor with this film.”
Sean used his time to give a shout out to his famous mom. “My mother turned 91 this February, and today is Mother’s Day in the U.K.,” he said. “So could everyone please say, ‘Happy Mother’s Day, Yoko!'”
The 11-minute film follows a game of chess, with a heroic carrier pigeon helping the game continue across enemy lines. It ends with the classic tune playing over the closing credits.
The title track off the grunge titans’ upcoming album has hit #1 on the tally, and, in doing so, has set a new Billboard record.
Prior to “Dark Matter,” Pearl Jam hadn’t led Mainstream Rock Airplay since 1998, or 26 years and two weeks ago, with “Given to Fly.” No other act has gone that long in between number ones in the 43-year history of Mainstream Rock Airplay. The next closest is Kenny Wayne Shepherd, who ended his 20-year, 11-month drought at the top of the chart in 2019 as a featured artist on Five Finger Death Punch‘s cover of his song “Blue on Black.”
The album Dark Matter drops April 19. Pearl Jam will launch a U.S. tour in May.
The Who is getting ready to play two shows to benefit Teenage Cancer Trust in March, and they’re now giving fans a way to help them raise even more money for the charity.
The band is selling concert prints celebrating the history of the benefit shows, which have been taking place at London’s Royal Albert Hall since 2000.
The first print, The Who 2000, created by Joel Burden, is part of their retrospective gig posters. It commemorates The Who & Friends show on November 27, 2000, which featured guest artists like Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder, Noel Gallagher, Bryan Adams and more. There are 100 copies available for purchase, each autographed by Who frontman Roger Daltrey.
They’re also selling limited-edition The Who 2024 posters, created by Josh Townshend, who’s Pete Townshend’s nephew and Simon Townshend’s son. They commemorate this year’s pair of London Royal Albert Hall shows; 50 numbered posters for the March 18 concert, autographed by Daltrey, and another 50 for the March 20 show, autographed by Pete Townshend.
All posters are available for preorder now and will be shipped April 1. Proceeds from the sales will be donated to Teenage Cancer Trust.
This year’s Teenage Cancer Trust charity concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall run from March 18 to March 24. In addition to the two Who shows, which feature special guest Squeeze, there will be concerts by Noel Gallagher’s the High Flying Birds, Young Fathers and The Chemical Brothers.
The shows will wrap with a special concert, Ovation, a Celebration of 24 Years of Gigs for TCT, celebrating Daltrey’s 24-year career as curator and host of the Teenage Cancer Trust shows. It will feature special guests Robert Plant with Saving Grace, Eddie Vedder, Stereophonics’ Kelly Jones and Paul Weller.
Peter Gabriel makes a guest appearance on Sheryl Crow’s new album, Evolution.
The album features Sheryl’s take on Gabriel’s 1992 hit “Digging in the Dirt,” with new vocals added by the former Genesis frontman.
In a statement, Sheryl explains that the song was the impetus for her return to recording, despite claiming in 2019 that she’d never make another album.
“Peter’s song is the one that started me on this whole process of making my new album Evolution, the first song I brought to [my producer],” she explains. “The idea of self-examination to understand our wounds and flaws and how they affect our daily lives really resonated with me, because that process can lead to self-healing. But it can be messy, it feels like digging in the dirt.”
“Peter’s lyrics express that so beautifully, with this just ridiculous groove driving underneath,” she continues. “When he agreed to sing on my cover … it just blew me away, and ironically it ended up being the last song we finished for the album.”
Finally, she adds, “It’s such an honor to have him perform on this song which really means so much to me, and there is nobody in the world who sings like Peter Gabriel.”
“Digging in the Dirt” is out now and available exclusively on the digital deluxe version of Evolution, which arrives March 29.
Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Nils Lofgren has dropped a new digital album, Spares, featuring previously unreleased songs he recorded over the course of his career.
“Along the way of the past 55 years, songs holding a wide range of emotional pieces of me wound up getting left behind. Basement demos never recorded, not quite right for the project, various reasons,” he shared on Instagram about the release. “Now these songs, ‘Spares,’ cover decades of writing and circumstance, in various periods of my musical and personal life are here, together to share.”
The album is made up of 31 songs and features some special guests, including Foreigner’s Lou Gramm, on a song called “Dance of Life.”
The album is now streaming on all digital platforms.
Spares follows Lofgren’s recent album of new material, Mountains, which was released in July. He also appears on the new Neil Young & Crazy Horse album, FU##IN’ UP, which is being released as a clear vinyl two-LP limited edition on Record Store Day, April 20; the black vinyl, CD and digital editions will be out on April 26.
Lofgren is also getting ready to hit the road once again with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. Their tour kicks off March 19 in Phoenix, Arizona. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net.
Jimmy Buffett‘swell-known love of New Orleans is being celebrated in a video for his track “University of Bourbon Street,” which is featured on the posthumous album Equal Strain on All Parts, released back in November.
The song features NOLA’s Preservation Hall Jazz Band and has Jimmy singing about the life lessons he learned while experiencing the city’s famed party street.
The video features photos and video from Buffett’s life in the city from the ’70s and on, along with clips of him in the studio recording the song. The description notes it’s “a heartfelt homage to the city that Buffett adored, showcasing his deep connection to its music, culture and community.”
One way Buffett showed his love for the city was by playing New Orleans’ Jazz Fest numerous times throughout his career. He’ll be remembered at this year’s event, the first Jazz Fest since his passing in September. His longtime backing band, the Coral Reefer Band, is scheduled to play the festival’s closing night, Sunday, May 5, with their set dubbed Celebrating Jimmy Buffett.
