Reg Presley, lead singer of The Troggs for nearly 48 years, has been forced to retire from the band after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

The 70-year-old broke the news on the band’s official website, saying: “I was taken ill whilst doing a gig in Germany in December. During my stay in hospital, tests showed that in fact I have lung cancer. I am receiving chemotherapy treatment and at the moment not feeling too bad.

“However, I’ve had to call time on The Troggs and retire.”

Formed in Andover, England in 1964, The Troggs are best known for their version of Chip Taylor’s song ‘Wild Thing’ which topped the charts in 1966.

The band scored six more Top 20 hits, including classic songs written by Reg Presley such as ‘With A Girl Like You’ (UK No. 1 in 1966), ‘I Can’t Control Myself’ (UK No. 2, 1966), ‘Any Way That You Want Me’ (UK No. 8, 1966), and ‘Love Is All Around’ (UK No. 5, 1967).

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Legendary R&B singer Etta James, best known for her versions of ‘At Last’, ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’ and Muddy Waters’ ‘I Just Want To Make Love To You’, died on 20 January 2012, aged 73. She had been undergoing treatment for leukaemia.

Coincidentally, the man who discovered her – bandleader Johnny Otis - died a few days earlier on 17 January 2012, aged 90. Dubbed the “godfather of rhythm and blues”, Otis was best known for his 1958 hit ‘Willie and the Hand Jive’.

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As Abbey Road Studios celebrates its 80th Anniversary, the album that was inspired by the famous recording studio is also turning back the clock, it seems.

New figures show that The Beatles’ 1969 album Abbey Road was the biggest selling album on vinyl in the USA in 2011.

The original vinyl album topped the UK charts for 17 weeks between September 1969 and January 1970.

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Gilbert O’Sullivan is lining up a 17-date UK tour in March and April to coincide with the 5 March release of a new greatest hits collection titled A Singer And His Songs: The Very Best Of Gilbert O’Sullivan.

The singer-songwriter will be performing many of the songs from the new album on his A Singer And His Songs tour which starts on 17 March and ends on 15 April. It will be his biggest UK tour for many years.

A remastered and expanded version of his 1972 album Back To Front will also be released on 20 February.

Read more and get the full tour dates HERE…

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Sir Elton John, 64, has revealed that he would like singer/actor Justin Timberlake to play him in Rocketman, the forthcoming film about his illustrious life and musical career – and Timberlake is reportedly taking the offer “very seriously”.

Timberlake is said to have impressed Sir Elton with his performance as a 1970s Elton in the music video for ‘This Train Don’t Stop There Anymore’ in 2002.

With a script written by Billy Elliott author Lee Hall, Rocketman has been described as a biographical musical fantasy and a “radically different kind of biopic”.

Read the full story and watch the video for ‘This Train Don’t Stop There Anymore’ HERE…

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Sir Paul McCartney has revealed that his new album will have the saucy title of Kisses On the Bottom.

Set for release on 6 February 2012, the album features Diana Krall and her band and includes cover versions of standards from the former Beatle’s childhood, as well as two new original McCartney compositions titled ‘My Valentine’ and ‘Only Our Hearts’.

The full tracklisting is expected to be announced shortly.

‘My Valentine’ features a guest appearance by Eric Clapton, while Stevie Wonder performs on ‘Only Our Hearts’.

Kisses On the Bottom is expected to provide a glimpse into “the songs which inspired the songs” that McCartney has written over the years.

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Plans for an ambitious 5-disc super deluxe edition of the Doors’ 1971 album L.A. Woman have been scrapped, according to reports, because the retail price-tag for the set’s planned hard box packaging would not make it commercially viable.

A 2-disc 40th Anniversary special edition will now be released on January 24, followed later this year by a more affordable 3-disc limited edition box set comprising previously unreleased alternate tracks and outtakes. With few or no repeated tracks, the separate 2-disc and 3-disc sets would more or less equal the intended 5-disc version.

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As the founding members of The Beach Boys finalise plans to celebrate their 50th Anniversary with a brand new studio album and a 50-date international tour in 2012, it was exactly 50 years ago today (31 December 1961) that the band performed on stage as ‘The Beach Boys’ for the first time.

The three teenage Wilson brothers – Brian, Carl and Dennis – their cousin Mike Love, and school friend Al Jardine had previously been known locally as The Pendletones. But they made their live debut under their new name as the support act to Ike & Tina Turner at a Ritchie Valens Memorial Dance at Long Beach Civic Auditorium, California.

In October 1961, The Pendletones had recorded the Brian Wilson song ‘Surfin’’ for a local label called Candix Records. A small number of 45s were pressed, but when the boys eagerly unpacked the first box of singles, they were stunned to find that the band’s name was shown on the disc as ‘The Beach Boys’. The record label’s promotion man, Russ Regan, had changed the name to help tie the group to other popular ‘surf rock’ bands of the time.

The rest, as they say, is history …  Exactly 50 years later, The Beach Boys still hold the record as the all-time top-selling American band for albums and singles. They have also scored more US Top 40 chart hits (36) than any other American group.

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It’s the 40^th anniversary of Benny Hill’s unforgettable comedy song ‘Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)’. It was the UK Christmas No. 1 in 1971.

During his appearance on the BBC Radio 4 show Desert Island Discs, the UK Prime Minister David Cameron proudly declared he knows all the words to the innuendo-laden song.

It tells the tale of Ernie, the widow Sue, and Ernie’s arch-rival Two Ton Ted from Teddington.

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Freddy Cannon, now 72, reveals what it was like to become a teenage star during the early days of rock ‘n’ roll in his new autobiography, titled Where the Action Is.

Cannon scored a number of memorable UK Top 20 hits in the late-1950s and early-1960s, including ‘Tallahassee Lassie’ (1959), ‘Way Down Yonder in New Orleans’ (UK No. 3 in 1960), ‘Palisades Park’ (1962), and ‘Action’ (1965) from the US TV music show Where the Action Is.

His debut album, The Explosive Freddy Cannon, also topped the UK album charts in 1960.

Cannon has written his memoir in collaboration with Mark Bego, the author of 56 other pop and rock biographies on stars such as Elton John, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Billy Joel, and Aretha Franklin.

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