Foreigner have released a new 11-track studio album, titled Acoustique, which features ‘unplugged’ versions of the band’s classic songs.
The decision to record Acoustique followed the tremendous response the band received from fans during their recent series of live acoustic shows. They are now working on plans for a ‘Foreigner Unplugged’ tour.
At the age of 85, Tony Bennett has entered the record books as the oldest living artist in history to top the US charts. His latest album, Tony Bennett: Duets II, has reached the summit of the US Billboard chart 54 years after his album Tony reached No. 14 in 1957.
The record for ‘oldest chart-topper’ was previously held by Bob Dylan who reached No. 1 at the age of 67 in 2009 with his album Together Through Life.
The all-star line-up of artists joining Bennett live in the studio on Tony Bennett: Duets II includes Lady Gaga, Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, Natalie Cole, Sheryl Crow, Norah Jones, the late Amy Winehouse, and many more.
Martin Scorsese’s new George Harrison TV documentary, titled George Harrison: Living in the Material World, is set to receive its UK premiere in Liverpool.
It will be launched at Liverpool’s Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT) on 2 October 2011.
The film, made in collaboration with Harrison’s widow Olivia, documents the Beatles guitarist’s rise to fame and his life as a member of the Fab Four. It features interviews with Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Yoko Ono.
A line from ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ has been voted as Queen’s best ever lyric.
A survey conducted by Island Records and music retailer HMV has found that “Don’t stop me now, I’m having such a good time, I’m having a ball” is Queen fans’ favourite line.
Written by Freddie Mercury, and featured as the twelfth track on the band’s 1978 album Jazz, ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ was released as a single on 26 January 1979. It reached No. 9 on the UK singles chart.
Sony Music is marking the 60th anniversary of Frankie Laine signing to Columbia Records by releasing a 26-track collection of his best-known songs.
Laine, who died in 2007 at the age of 93, was the most successful artist in Britain in the 1950s.
Frankie Laine: Hits includes his 1953 single ‘I Believe’ (which topped the UK chart for a record 18 weeks), plus nostalgic classics like ‘Rawhide’, ‘Champion the Wonder Horse’, ‘Jezebel’, ‘Jealousy’, ‘High Noon’, ‘Answer Me’, and ‘Sixteen Tons’.
Sir Elton John, 64, is teaming up with Billy Elliot author Lee Hall to turn his illustrious life and musical career into a major Hollywood film called Rocketman.
The film is being described as a biographical musical fantasy and a “radically different kind of biopic”. It will be co-produced by Sir Elton’s partner David Furnish and film producer Steve Hamilton Shaw.
REM, one of the most memorable bands of their generation, have decided to “call it a day” after more than 30 years together.
In a statement on their website, the band said: “We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening.”
The announcement comes just weeks before the release of their new Greatest Hits retrospective album on 14 November.
A recording of the 1930s jazz standard ‘Body and Soul’, featuring Amy Winehouse and jazz legend Tony Bennett, is being released as a charity single.
Proceeds from sales of the record will go toward a foundation and rehab centre for young people being set up in the late singer’s honour by her father, Mitch Winehouse.
Bennett, who celebrated his 85th birthday on 3 August, recorded the duet with Amy at London’s Abbey Road Studios in March for his new album, Duets II, which will be released on September 20.
The track was one of Amy Winehouse’s last recordings prior to her death on 23 July at the age of 27.
Watch the VIDEO of ‘Body and Soul’ and read the full story HERE…
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Glen Campbell, who recently revealed he is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease and plans to retire, is to say goodbye to his UK fans with a 15-date UK tour this autumn.
Glen Campbell: The Goodbye Tour will open on Friday 21 October at the Lowry in Salford and will end with the 75-year-old singer’s last-ever UK concert at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall on Sunday 6 November.
Supported by his two daughters and his son’s band, he will perform many of his classic hits – including ‘Gentle on My Mind’, ‘By the Time I Get to Phoenix’, ‘Wichita Lineman’, ‘Galveston’ and ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’.
The colourful life story of Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson is to be turned into a major Hollywood film.
The producers say the biopic will take an ‘unconventional’ look at Wilson’s musical career and innovative creative processes, as well as his long struggle with mental health problems.
The script will be written by Oren Moverman, who created the screenplay for the unconventional Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There.
Foreigner have released a new 11-track studio album, titled Acoustique, which features ‘unplugged’ versions of the band’s classic songs.
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