Pop star Peter Cetera will perform with his former band, Chicago, for the first time in more than 30 years when the group is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 8 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
A week ago, founding keyboardist-singer Robert Lamb said he misinterpreted Cetera’s emails and announced that Cetera “has emphatically declined” to join the group on their big night.
In an open letter to the surviving members of Chicago, Cetera writes: “I know we all look forward to speaking that evening and I’m sure we all wish that Terry (Kath, the original guitarist, co-lead singer and co-founder who died in 1978) was there to join us. That can’t happen unfortunately, but I have one thing that can. As a finale, we can walk onstage together one last time as a group, I’ll strap on the bass, and we can do ‘25 or 6 to 4’ in the key of E. I believe it would make for one fantastic Hall of Fame moment and satisfy those who have always wanted some sort of reunion.”
So, fans will, indeed get the reunion — albeit a brief one — that they’ve been looking for since Cetera left the band in 1985 for what became a highly successful solo career.
Cetera was also lead singer on such Chicago rockers as “I’m a Man,” and “Feeling Stronger Every Day,” and the pop hits “Old Days,” “(I’ve Been) Searching So Long,” among many other hits.
The other inductees that night are Cheap Trick, Deep Purple and Steve Miller and gangster rappers N.W.A. The event will air on HBO in May.
About David Bowie
Those who didn’t know the extent of David Bowie’s influence as a singer, songwriter, artist, actor, fashion trendsetter, and the first major pop star to come out as gay (or bisexual), probably do now after all the justifiable news coverage the Englishman’s passing on Jan. 10 from liver cancer in New York City at age 69.
So, here are just a few random items about the man who so many said had changed their lives in one way or another.
He was born David Jones and he performed using his real name until 1965 because future Monkees singer Davy Jones was making a name for himself on the London theatrical scene. He chose the name Bowie after the large knife created by American pioneer Jim Bowie.
He wrote approximately 700 songs and played the saxophone (his parents gave him his first sax when he was 12), keyboards, guitar, violin, harmonica and cello.
His first record came out way back in 1964, when he was 17. This was five years before scoring his first hit in Britain and nearly a decade before he hit it big here. It was a recording of “Liza Jane,” that was originally an old spiritual, under the name Davie Jones and The King-Bees. The flip side of the single was a cover of Paul Revere and The Raider’s “Louis Louis Go Home.” The single failed to chart anywhere.
The first song he released as David Bowie was “Can’t Help Thinking About Me” in January 1966, which also failed to chart.
Bowie sang or played on albums by, among others, former King Crimson singer-guitarist Adrian Belew (“Young Lions”), Lou Reed (“Transformer,” which he co-produced with his Spiders From Mars guitarist Mick Ronson and “The Raven”), Queen (“Hot Space”), Rolling Stones’ guitarist Ron Wood (“I’ve Got My Own Album To Do”), English Renaissance folk band Steeleye Span (“Now We Are Six”), Lulu (“The Man Who Sold the World”), Mott the Hoople (he wrote the title cut, “All the Young Dudes”) Tina Turner (“Live in Europe”), and numerous albums by Iggy Pop, including “Raw Power” and “Lust for Life.”
In 1971, after the breakup of British Invasion hitmakers Herman’s Hermits, Peter Noone, aka Herman, recorded as his first solo single Bowie’s “Oh! You Pretty Things.” The single featured Bowie on piano. The 45 hit No. 12 on the British pop singles chart. Bowie’s own version was included on his fourth album, “Hunky Dorie,” which came out that December.
He scored six No. 1 singles in Britain and 24 Top 10 hits, from “Space Oddity” in 1969 through “Where Are We Now” in 2013, that was his first Top 10er in 20 years. In the U.S., he hit No. 1 twice, with “Fame” (co-written with John Lennon and guitarist Carlos Alomar) in 1975 and “Let’s Dance” in 1983.
Worldwide, he sold close to 150 million albums. His biggest album was 1983’s “Let’s Dance,” that sold more than eight million copies.
There were stories that told of his providing backup vocals on The Beatles’ single, “Penny Lane” and The Monkees’ “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You,” both released in 1967. Both stories are false.
When Bowie showed up at the taping for Bing Crosby’s final Christmas TV special in September 1977 at London’s Elstree Film Studios, Bowie initially refused to sing the holiday standard, “Little Drummer Boy.” So, Bowie and the show’s writer whipped up the song “Peace on Earth” that accompanied “Drummer Boy” and Bowie and Crosby recorded after less than an hour of rehearsals.
It was a strange summit of the two legends: Bowie agreed to do the show because his mother was a longtime Crosby fan, and one of the show’s scriptwriters, Buzz Kohan, said he wasn’t sure that Crosby knew who Bowie was.
Crosby died a month later at age 77. The TV special aired two months after filming, in November.
Besides his wife Iman and his son Duncan (formerly Zowie), only a few people knew that Bowie was battling cancer.
One of them was Ivo van Hove, the director of the new musical, “Lazarus,” which he collaborated on with Bowie, reports Britain’s Daily Mail.
“At some point he took me to one side to say that he wouldn’t always be able to be there due to his illness. He told me he had cancer, liver cancer,” van Hove said. He said Bowie swore him to secrecy, adding that Bowie told him, “We have to work together very intensely for the next year and I want you to know, if I cannot be there, why that is.”
Bowie tributes
Upon the announcement of David Bowie’s passing, such was his impact that tributes flooded in from throughout the music world, evidence of their love for the Thin White Duke and his far-reaching influence. Here’s a sample:
Bowie’s longtime producer Tony Visconti, who intermittently produced his records beginning with 1969’s “Space Oddity” through last week’s release of “Blackstar,” said, “He made Blackstar (his final album released last week, two days before his death) for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn’t, however, prepared for it.”
Iggy Pop, whose stagnant career was resurrected because of his mid-70’s work with Bowie: “David’s friendship was the light of my life. I never met such a brilliant person. He was the best there is.”
In their only performance together, Bowie sang backup vocals to Paul McCartney when the Beatle concluded Live Aid with “Let It Be” in 1985: “Very sad news to wake up to on this raining morning. David was a great star and I treasure the moments we had together. I … will always remember the great laughs we had through the years. His star will shine in the sky forever.”
Chic’s Nile Rogers produced Bowie’s biggest selling LP, 1983’s “Let’s Dance”: “Your life changed my life. Love forever.” Billy Idol tweeted, “Nearly brought to tears by sudden news of @DavidBowieReal David Bowie’s passing.”
English electronic pop duo Pet Shop Boys: “We are all Bowie’s children. He inspired us and changed our lives,” while English new wave synth-poppers Duran Duran’s John Taylor posted, “Seriously, what could you say to the man who changed everything, and made anything possible?”
Twisted Sister’s Jay Jay French: “John Lennon has famously said, ‘Without Elvis there is no Beatles.’ Without David Bowie there is no Twisted Sister!”
Jim Kerr, frontman for Scottish rock outfit Simple Minds: “It’s still too much to take in. Probably the biggest musical influence in my life has gone, but left so much behind. I couldn’t begin to measure the musical debt owed to this amazing man.”
Gerald Casale of Devo: “David Bowie was one of the greatest artists of all time. I feel privileged that I ever got to know him. He gave Devo his blessing.”
His buddy Eric Clapton: “Sweet dreams old sock.”
Dave Davies, lead guitarist for The Kinks: “We were friends in the early days and I have followed his amazing and inspirational career ever since. A genius, and an artist and innovator who has influenced so many people deeply and profoundly on many levels. Emotionally, creatively, spiritually. His work will resonate long into the future and the planet is a much richer and fertile place because of his presence here. God Bless you David.”
The Kinks, who knew Bowie when he used his real name: “Davie Jones and the Manish Boys toured with the Kinks back in 1964 and ever since they have had a strong mutual admiration.”
Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page: “David Bowie was an innovator, a unique artist with a vision that changed the face of popular music.”
Former Jethro Tull leader Ian Anderson: “In 1974 I was asked by British folk group Steeleye Span to try to get David Bowie to play alto saxophone on a track I was producing for them. Somehow, although we didn’t know each other, I managed to get his phone number and he agreed to come to the session. In prompt and professional fashion he executed the desired solo lines and went on his way with the recorded words, ‘I’ll see you later.’ Many years later in 1997, I managed to push my way past minder heavies into his dressing room at a big German TV show we were both appearing on. I thanked him for playing on the Steeleye song. He looked at me thoughtfully and said, ‘I’d forgotten about that. I suppose it’s too late to send in an invoice?’This while smiling a dazzling smile with his new and perfect teeth. For David to die now is a huge sadness. Always the Mother Of Reinvention. Bowie resurrected himself on many occasions, such was his strength; a strength born of restlessness and the urge to move on. The most inventive, original and very British of artists, perhaps, since the late 60s.”
The Pretenders leader Chrissie Hynde: “You were the single flame in the center of it all. Thank you David.”
Alice Cooper: “It’s hard to know exactly what to say when you hear of someone’s passing. I know that I have certainly lost one of my lifetime Rock and Roll theatrical comrades in David Bowie. We both started in theatrical Rock N Roll at the same time, and in some cases we challenged each other to go farther and push the envelope.”
Josh Groban: “He never seemed of this earth. Now he’s left it. He bent rules, gender, genres, and our minds. RIP David Bowie. One. Of. A. Kind.”
Former Paul Revere and The Raiders singer Mark Lindsay: “We’d never heard of this David Jones chap who covered our Louie Go Home In 1964. Eventually, the whole world would be in awe of his artistry.”
Other tributes came from such pop and rock veterans as Madonna, Kiss’ Gene Simmons, The Cult, pop songwriters Diane Warren and Linda Perry, Peter Gabriel, Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx, Yusif/Cat Stevens, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher, folk rocker Marc Cohn, British Invasion singer Billy J. Kramer, Darleen Love, former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, Rick Springfield, Nickelback, and veteran British blues rock band Savoy Brown.
Also, Norwegian new wave group A-ha, Foo Fighters, Chris Difford of English power poppers Squeeze, Bono, Bakersfield country vet Dwight Yoakam, English progressive folkies Renaissance, The Doobie Brothers, Aussie sing-songwriter Leo Sayer, The Who (Bowie covered their debut 45, “I Can’t Explain” on his 1973 LP, “Pin Ups”), Annie Lennox, Boy George, Adam Ant, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Queen’s guitarist Brian May, The Fixx, Simply Red, Moby and Weird Al Yankovic.
Natalie Cole’s funeral
Singer Natalie Cole’s funeral was held at the Church of God in Christ in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles, where she was a member, according to Pollstar.
Among the several hundred mourners were Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan (who had been expected to sing but didn’t due to illness), Smokey Robinson and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
A condolence letter from President Obama addressed to her son, Robert Yancy, was read, and Stevie Wonder played harmonica and sang “The Lord’s Prayer.” Speakers included Wonder, her producer David Foster, and Lionel Richie.
The Grammy-winning daughter of Nat King Cole died at age 65 on New Year’s Eve of congestive heart failure after never fully recovering from a 2009 kidney transplant.
Lemmy’s memorial and funeral
Lemmy Kilminster, legendary leader of English heavy metal band Motorhead, who died in L.A. on Dec. 28 of cancer at 70, was feted at both a casual memorial at his favorite hangout, the famed Rainbow Bar and Grill on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood and also at his formal funeral on Jan. 9 at Forest Lawn in Hollywood.
At the Rainbow, Foo Fighters Dave Grohl and Pat Smear as well as Glenn Danzig and members of Cypress Hill shared drinks while chatting with some of the hundreds of fans who came to the tribute that was open to the public.
Next door, the Roxy was also open and copious bottles of Jack Daniels were lined up and served as Motorhead’s music blasted over the speakers.
Two block east at the Whisky A Go Go Lemmy’s fans were treated to a live jam featuring Slipknot singer Corey Taylor and Taylor’s other band Stone Sour as well as members of Mastodon and Megadeth.
Ultimate Classic Rock reports that the concert peaked when Motorhead drummer Mikkey Dee arrived. After asking for a moment of silence, he said: “You’re all fantastic! OK, let’s continue the (blanking) party. Enjoy, Lem!”
With that, he sat behind the drum kit as he drove the band playing Motorhead’s “The Chase Is Better Than the Catch.”
Lemmy’s funeral was attended by, among others, Grohl, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest singer Rob Halford, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich and bassist Robert Trujillo, Guns N’ Roses lead guitarist Slash and drummer Matt Sorum, Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider, Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez, and Kiss singer-bassist Gene Simmons, reports Rolling Stone. The service was streamed live and close to 300,000 viewed it online.
Grohl delivered a heartfelt and funny eulogy, noting that the first time he met Lemmy, who he called his “hero,” was at an L.A. strip club. Grohl said he introduced himself to Lemmy as a member of Nirvana and The Foo Fighters. The first words Lemmy said to him were, “Sorry about your friend Kurt (Cobain).”
Grohl related the story of running into Lemmy backstage at a Foo Fighter’s concert. Grohl’s newborn daughter was in her crib and upon seeing the baby, Lemmy immediately put out his cigarette in his glass of whisky.
He said, “To most people, that would seem like nothing, I suppose. But to me, that was my hero putting out his cigarette into his drink and putting it aside because my daughter was there in the room. I think what everybody has always known or at least learned today is that Lemmy was not only that kind of … whiskey-drinking rock and roll star, but he had the biggest heart and set such a great example because he was so kind to everyone.”
Elvis still huge in Britain
Elvis Presley may have died nearly 40 years ago, but he’s still huge in Britain.
His most recent posthumous release, “If I Can Dream,” sees his original vocals backed by new arrangements by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The album came out in October and instantly hit No. 1 in the U.K., and has remained in the Top 10 since.
When the 2015 year-end tallies were announced, “If I Can Dream” was the fourth best-selling album in Britain for the year, ahead of even Justin Bieber’s “Purpose” and Taylor Swift’s “1989.”
The top three albums of the year were Adele’s “25,” Ed Sheeran’s “X” and Sam Smith’s “In the Lonely Hour.”
Johnny Marr set brief California tour
Johnny Marr, iconic former guitarist for British 80’s alt rockers The Smiths, announced a short six-date tour of California.
The tour kicks off Feb. 28 in Sacramento at the Ace of Spades and wraps with three SoCal gigs: March 4 at the Glass House in Pomona, March 5 at the El Rey Theatre in Beverly Hills and a tour-ending evening on March 6 at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach.
Obit: Big Band singer Kitty Kallen
Swing era Big Band singer Kitty Kallen, one of pop music’s most popular vocalists during the ‘40s, died at age 94 at her home in Cuernavaca, Mexico, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The Philly native sang with some of the most popular bands of the time, including Artie Shaw, Jack Teagarden, Jimmy Dorsey (replacing Helen O’Connell) and Harry James. In 1945 alone, she and the James band recorded six Top 10 hits, including two that reached No. 1, “I’m Beginning to See the Light” and “It’s Been a Long, Long Time.” Both No. 1’s resonated deeply with returning troops and their families at the end of World War II.
However, she scored her biggest hit as a solo artist, in 1954, “Little Things Mean a Lot,” that stayed atop the Billboard singles chart for nine weeks while also topping the British pop singles chart and selling two million copies (a massive hit at the time). She followed it with another million seller, “Chapel in the Moonlight.”
She retired in the 1960s because of a lung ailment. In 2009, she was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
Steve Smith writes a new Classic Pop, Rock and Country Music News column every week. It can be read in its entirety on www.presstelegram.com. Like, recommend or share the column on Facebook. Contact him by email at Classicpopmusicnews@gmail.com.
