Rock
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Damo Suzuki, the Japanese-born singer for legendary German experimental group Can, has died. He was 74.
Suzuki’s passing was confirmed on Saturday (Feb. 10) through the pioneering krautrock band’s Instagram account. A cause of death was not provided, but the Cologne-based musician had been battling colon cancer for a decade, as revealed in a 2022 documentary, according to Rolling Stone.
“It is with great sadness that we have to announce the passing of our wonderful friend Damo Suzuki, yesterday, Friday 9th February 2024,” Can wrote alongside a black-and-white photo of Suzuki. “His boundless creative energy has touched so many over the whole world, not just with Can, but also with his all continent spanning Network Tour. Damo’s kind soul and cheeky smile will be forever missed.”
The group added, “He will be joining Michael, Jaki and Holger for a fantastic jam!,” referencing late Can members Michael Karoli, Jaki Liebezeit and Holger Czukay. “Lots of love to his family and children.”
Born Kenji Suzuki near Tokyo, the budding artist left his native Japan as a teenager to travel around Europe, where he coincidentally met Liebezeit and Czukay while performing on the streets of Munich, Germany. The pair invited Suzuki to join Can onstage that evening and he later took over for the band’s original singer Malcolm Mooney, who appeared on the act’s 1969 debut album, Monster Movie.
Suzuki officially joined Can in 1970 and appeared on the band’s classic run of albums, including Tago Mago (1971), Ege Bamyasi (1972) and Future Days (1973). He was known for his improvisational singing style, mixing words in English and Japanese, which helped define the group’s sound.
“I don’t like to play the same piece again and again,” Suzuki told the Guardian in 2022. “Repetition is boring. Every performance should be a unique experience.”
Suzuki left Can in 1973 after marrying a German woman and converting to Jehovah’s Witness. He returned with several new musical projects in the 1980s, including Damo Suzuki’s Network and Damo Suzuki Band.
With a rotation of vocalists, Can continued on a path of unabated experimentation for 20 years, releasing its swansong, Rite Time, in 1989. The group has proven amongst the most influential in rock history, particularly for subsequent generations of experimental acts such as the Talking Heads, Brian Eno, Sonic Youth, and Tortoise.
See Can’s post about Suzuki’s death here.
J.M. “Jimmy” Van Eaton, a pioneering rock ‘n’ roll drummer who played behind the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis and Billy Lee Riley at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee, died Friday (Feb. 9) at age 86, a family member said.
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Van Eaton, a Memphis native who came to the famous record label as a teenager, died at his home in Alabama after dealing with health issues over the last year, The Commercial Appeal of Memphis reported, with his wife, Deborah, confirming his death.
Van Eaton was known for his bluesy playing style that the newspaper said powered classic early-rock hits at Sun like “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” by Lewis and “Red Hot” by Riley. He also played with Bill Justis and Charlie Rich.
James Mack Van Eaton initially began playing trumpet in a school band, but he soon moved to drums, saying in a 2015 interview that “it was an instrument that intrigued me.”
Van Eaton had his own rock ‘n’ roll band called The Echoes that would record a demo at the recording studio operated by Sam Phillips. His work there led him to connect with Riley and later Lewis.
“The hardest man to play with in the world was Jerry Lee. I told every musician to stay out of this man’s way,” Phillips told The Commercial Appeal in 2000. “The one exception was JM Van Eaton.”
Van Eaton became part of a core of musicians that performed at Sun through the 1950s, the newspaper reported.
Van Eaton drifted away from the music business in the 1960s, but he resumed performing by the 1970s, particularly as interest in rockabilly grew following the death of Elvis Presley.
By the early 1980s, Van Eaton began four decades of working in the municipal bond business. But he also was part of the team that played the music for the film Great Balls of Fire, about Lewis, and he put out a solo album in the late 1990s. He was a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and Memphis Music Hall of Fame. He moved from Tennessee to Alabama a few years ago.
In addition to his wife, Van Eaton is survived by a son and daughter.
Peter Frampton was taking a bathroom break during a recording session at home in Nashville when his managers called to tell him he was included on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ballot — for the first time ever.“I screamed — not like a girl, but I did scream. I said, ‘You’re kidding me!’” Frampton tells Billboard via Zoom, with a laugh. “My band leader Rob [Arthur] was in my music room at the time, ’cause we were doing a video… He came running, ‘What the hell’s going on!’ He thought something was wrong. “So, anyway, it was a very good day.”Frampton’s long-awaited appearance on the ballot — he’s been eligible since the early ’90s based on his first recordings — is good news for a legion of fans that have long been lobbying for him and protesting his exclusion from even the Rock Hall ballot. In fact, Frampton notes, “A lot of those fans feel more outraged about it taking so long for me than I am. So they can all rest easy now; at least my name’s in the hat.”“I never expect anything,” adds Frampton, who for several years has been battling degenerative Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM). “I’m a realist. I understand there have been criticisms of the past Rock Hall administration for bizarre choices, which I agree there were. And, yes, my career is what it is, and whatever anybody thinks about it I do feel I deserve [to be inducted].” However, he cautions, “This isn’t it, you know? I’ve still got to get the votes.”Frampton credits his nomination in part to 2023 Rock Hall inductee Sheryl Crow. She included him in last year’s ceremony in her performance with Stevie Nicks, which Frampton says “stirred the pot big-time and made people aware — including some of the board members, I think. They thought I was already in.”Frampton’s Rock Hall credentials are unquestioned, certainly. A younger classmate of David Bowie‘s at Bromley Technical School in England, where Frampton’s father was a teacher, he began playing from the time he was an adolescent and began touring in 1964 with his band The Preachers, whose recordings were produced by the Rolling Stones‘ Bill Wyman. As a member of The Herd, Frampton was named “The Face of 1968” by the British teen magazine Rave, and a year later he was part of the original Humble Pie, in which he spent three years before going solo.Along the way Frampton also played on George Harrison‘s All Things Must Pass, and he did sessions for The Who‘s John Entwistle, Harry Nilsson and Jerry Lee Lewis. Frampton’s first solo album, Winds ofChange, came out in 1972, and it was of course the iconic Frampton Comes Alive! album in 1976 that made him a global star, with estimated sales of more than 20 million copies worldwide and an induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Frampton lost his rock credibility after that, however, with his I’m in You album and an ill-advised starring role in the 1978 film adaptation of The Beatles‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.“I was trounced on, rightly so, for being the pop star. I became this teenybopper thing,” Frampton acknowledges. But Frampton continued to record and got a boost from Bowie, who featured Frampton on his 1987 album Never Let Me Down and in the band for the subsequent Glass Spider Tour, which reminded the world he was first and foremost a guitar player. Back in rock ‘n’ roll favor, he also won his first Grammy Award in 2007 for the previous year’s instrumental album, Fingertips.
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“I have had so many wonderful helping hands along the way,” Frampton says. “Yes, my career has been my own, but I really have had some helping hands, wonderful helping hands, along the way that went to bat for me.”Frampton adds that the Rock Hall nomination is so fresh that “I haven’t quite realized what I feel it means yet. I’m still in the troughs of ‘Really?!’” But as “a super, super fan of other great talent,” he says the nomination, and the potential of an induction, mean a great deal to him.“It’s a heady kind of thought, really,” Frampton explains. “If I do make it, to be on the same level these artists that are the be-all and end-all, as far as I’m concerned, is pretty incredible.” Among those as well is fellow first-time nominee Foreigner, whose founder Mick Jones played on “All I Wanna Be (Is By Your Side)” on Wind of Change. “I’m so thrilled to hear that Foreigner got on [the ballot] ’cause Mick and I have been friends for a lifetime.”Frampton says he’ll do some modest campaigning — mostly reminding fans to participate in the Rock Hall’s public vote — when he sets out on his Never EVER Say Never Tour on March 3 in Greensboro, N.C. He’s been busy of late as well: he and his son Julian, who’s also a musician, recently appeared on the Fox TV reality show We Are Family , and Frampton is among the 60 musicians playing on Mark Knopfler‘s new version of his 1983 instrumental “Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero,” a fundraiser for the U.K.’s Teenage Cancer Trust that comes out Feb. 19.During the summer, meanwhile, Frampton says he’ll continue work on both a new album of original songs — his first since Hummingbird in a Box in 2014 — and a documentary that’s been in process for several years.Rock Hall inductees are expected to be announced during early May, with the ceremony taking place this fall in Cleveland, on a date to be determined. Disney+ will again telecast the event.
With his first-ever Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination as a solo artist, Ozzy Osbourne is poised to become shrine’s the 27th multiple inductee.
Osbourne was inducted as a member of Black Sabbath back in 2006. If he’s voted in this year, he’ll join the likes of all four Beatles, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Stevie Nicks, Rod Stewart and others with double honors. Only Eric Clapton has three inductions on his own and as a member of the Yardbirds and Cream.
“I’m deeply honored to receive this news from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” Osbourne said in a statement on Saturday (Feb. 10), after the nominations were announced. “To be one of the few musicians who’s being considered for a second entry, now as a solo artist, is something I could never have imagined. After 44 years as a solo artist the fact that I can continue to record music and receive this recognition is something I am incredibly proud of.”
Osbourne began his solo career with Blizzard of Ozz in 1980 and has released 13 albums on his own, most recently Patient Number 9 during 2022. Those have launched a number of iconic hard rock hits, including “Crazy Train,” “Flying High Again,” “Bark at the Moon” and “No More Tears,” as well as the ballad “Mama, I’m Coming Home.”
Some recent surgeries and a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis have rendered Osbourne unable to perform in recent years; he had to drop off the bill of the Power Trip festival last October in Indio, Calif. His wife and manager Sharon Osbourne, however, recently spoke of plans for a pair of farewell concerts in Osbourne’s home town of Birmingham, England.
During a November appearance on The Adam Carolla Show, Sharon lobbied for Ozzy to be considered for Rock Hall induction on his own as well.
“They know that Ozzy deserves to be there,” she said. “They know he’s been a solo artist. You’ve gotta be doing it for 24 years. He’s been 43 years as a solo artist. He sold nearly a hundred million albums as a solo artist. So where is he? Induct him!”
Sharon added that she and Ozzy attended a dinner for the 2023 inductees “and people were saying to Ozzy, ‘Oh, you’ve been inducted in,’ and we were like, ‘No, actually. We were just invited for the food, so we’re here.’ That’s as near as we’ve got, but no.”
Public voting has begun for this year’s inductees via rockhall.com, while ballots are being mailed to industry voters. Inductees are expected to be announced during early May, with the ceremony slated for the fall in Cleveland.
Foreigner’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination feels like the first time indeed for the veteran rock band.
The group’s appearance on this year’s ballot is its first ever, despite being eligible since 2002. With worldwide record sales of more than 80 million and nine top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 (including “Feels Like the First Time,” Cold As Ice,” “Hot Blooded,” “Urgent” and “I Want to Know What Love Is”), Foreigner has long been considered one of the Rock Hall’s biggest snubs by critics and commentators as well as fans.
“I deeply appreciate the recognition from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (nominating) committee,” Mick Jones, who founded Foreigner during 1976 in New York, tells Billboard via email. “It is wonderful that Foreigner has maintained its presence all these years and brought the music to our fans. Getting this news is an incredible endorsement of what we have achieved over time.” Jones and original Foreigner vocalist Lou Gramm were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013.
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Phil Carson, an executive at Atlantic Records when it signed Foreigner and the band’s manager since 2004, calls the nomination “fabulous” — and overdue. “Oh, of course it’s been frustrating, and I do know that many of the nominating committee members have put Foreigner on the list, but we just never got in,” Carson says, noting that the late Rock Hall co-founder Seymour Stein was an ardent supporter. This year, Carson says, “the usual suspects who have always been in our court voted, and I guess there was just that little bit of extra credibility of people that surround Foreigner, surround Mick, helped.”
Since the release of the Foreigner debut in 1977, the group has logged six multi-platinum albums and 22 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, including one chart-topper in 1985 (“I Want to Know What Love Is”). The band, which has gone through lineup changes throughout its career, went on hiatus during the early 2000s but re-formed during 2004 with Kelly Hansen as frontman and former Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson. Several of the original and principal members have participated in sporadic reunions and guest appearances, while founding bassist Ed Gagliardi passed away in 2014 and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald died in 2022.
Jones has stopped touring with the group due to health reasons but continues to oversee and participate in its operations.
Foreigner fans have waged campaigns to get the band onto the Rock Hall ballot for many years, though Jones has stayed out of the fray while quietly lamenting the snub. He previously told Billboard that, “I’m not thinking about it much. I know we’re getting a lot of support from a lot of places; obviously the fans who are kind of, ‘Let’s induct Foreigner to the Hall of Fame’ and all those kinds of things. And lots of other people seem to think we should be in there. I think it’s down to the panel and whatever mood they happen to be in and whatever style of music they award…. But I’m quite happy with what I’ve achieved and the songs speak for themselves. Whether it happens or not, I’m still a happy man.”
Carson says Foreigner will promote the nomination via its website and social media to encourage fans to participate in the public vote. The current incarnation of Foreigner, meanwhile, launched a farewell tour last year that will resume with a second leg this year. It’s scheduled to finish in North America during the summer of 2025, but Carson says demand from other territories may push the end date into 2026.
02/10/2024
Here’s how we handicap this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class and their chances of induction.
02/10/2024
The Bible tells us it’s more blessed to give than to receive, but when it comes to awards and honors, most artists would rather be the inductee than the inductor. Five of this year’s nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame have helped to induct other honorees at past ceremonies. Three did the […]
Here we go again. On Saturday (Feb. 10) morning, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced this year’s nominees, unveiling 15 artists who are in contention to join the Rock Hall’s Class of 2024. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The 2024 Rock Hall nominees are: […]
Former Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne called out Kanye West on social media on Friday (Feb. 9), saying that West had asked to sample a song but was “refused permission because he is an antisemite,” and used the sample anyway at a listening event for his new album at the United Center in Chicago on Thursday. “I want no association with this man!” Osbourne wrote.
Although Osbourne said online that West asked to sample “War Pigs,” the song he seems to have used is “Iron Man” – specifically a version performed by Ozzy Osbourne’s solo band at the 1983 Us Festival.
“We get so many requests for these songs,” his wife and manager Sharon Osbourne tells Billboard, “and when we saw that request, we just said no way.” Without permission, West would be unable to release a new song that used the sample. “We’ve been in touch with his team” about the legal issue,” says Sharon Osbourne. “And it’s also an issue of having respect for another artist.”
Starting in 2022, West, now known simply as Ye, made a series of antisemitic comments, for which he was widely condemned, and lost numerous sponsorship and fashion deals. Although he offered an online apology for his statements in December, the first song from his forthcoming album, Vultures, includes the lyric “How am I antisemitic? / I just fucked a Jewish bitch.” Although West does not seem to have finalized release details for the album – and Ozzy Osbourne’s comments suggest he may face issues clearing samples – he has held a number of listening events to promote it.
Ozzy Osbourne often allows other artists to sample his work. “But the simple thing is, we don’t want to be associated with a hater,” says Sharon Osbourne, who was raised Jewish. (Her father, the U.K. music manager Don Arden, was Jewish.) “To spread hate the way he does, it shouldn’t be allowed. All the excuses – he’s bipolar or whatever – doesn’t change that. It’s like, fuck you, basically.”
Like many early Black Sabbath songs, “Iron Man” was written by the band – Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward. Who has the rights to license interpolations of a composition by more than one songwriter can depend on the agreement between them. In this case, Sharon Osbourne tells Billboard that the agreement says all four songwriters need to agree. There could also be permissions issues with the 1983 performance recording, to which Ozzy Ozbourne presumably has the rights.
Coincidentally, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne dressed up as Kanye West and Bianca Censori for Halloween, but that was “a joke,” Sharon Osbourne said.
Ozzy Osbourne has an urgent PSA. According to the 75-year-old rocker, his music was recently sampled by Kanye West without his approval — and he wants no part in it. In an all-caps Instagram post Friday (Feb. 9), Osbourne cut right to the chase. “@KAYNEWEST ASKED PERMISSION TO SAMPLE A [SECTION] OF A 1983 LIVE […]