Today the New Zealand Herald published my tribute to Elvis on the 40th anniversary of his death. How do you sum up the career of arguably the most important figure in the history of popular music in 800 words? Well, I gave it my best shot. And the angle for me was that the famous 68…
Category: Music
Goodbye To Joy Ramirez – The Stunning Stevie Wonder Song She Had At Her Wedding
Just over 24 hours ago I heard that one of my oldest and most remarkable friends had died in a tragic accident on her honeymoon in Vanuatu. I will never, ever forget Joy Ramirez and right now I feel very much in denial. Because Joy was always there for me. Though as I’m increasingly discovering, she…
Glen Campbell Dies – Watch Him Sing & Play The Bagpipes On Amazing Grace
It’s really sad to hear that Glen Campbell has died at the age of 81, his final years ever increasingly affected by Alzheimer’s. As soon as I heard the news I remembered this clip below and the blog post I wrote back in 2011. I was hosting a late night talk radio show and I’d…
After Breaking Records At Glastonbury, Could Barry Gibb Be Teaming Up With Nile Rodgers?
One week on, the numbers for Barry Gibb’s ‘Legends slot’ at Glastonbury are looking even more impressive with news the latest Bee Gees best of, Timeless: The All-Time Greatest Hits, has shot into the UK top 10 at #9*. This is as a direct result of Barry’s 15-song Glastonbury performance, a setlist that contained no less…
U2 Stun With A Live, Gospel Version Of ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’
“We want to play for you now a gospel song, a gospel song with a restless spirit”. What a beautiful and succinct way to describe one of the most meaningful hits of the 80s and from an album that’s just as powerful 30 years on as it was in 1987. U2 would’ve performed I Still…
Music With A Message – Why Pop Matters
A few weeks back I was interviewed on another Newstalk ZB show, Total Recall, about pop songs that have a message and a conscience. As someone who loves popular music and the possibilities of the format (including when it’s being highly socially charged) this is one of my favourite topics. In the clip below (approximately…
5 Years On From The Deaths Of Donna Summer & Robin Gibb – Why They Were So Much More Than The 70s
It’s five years ago this week since two icons of the 70s disco era, Donna Summer and Robin Gibb, both passed away. It was May 17, 2012 that a 63-year old Summer died of lung cancer. Just three days later the headlines shifted to Gibb’s death from colorectal cancer aged 62. People talk about 2016…
Coast Soul Turns 1! Celebrating 50 Years Of The Greatest Soul & R&B
My soul and R&B iHeartRadio station and Coast FM radio show, Coast Soul, turned one last week. To celebrate, all the featured artists were the greatest of the great – think Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, the Temptations, Diana Ross, the Commodores, Aretha Franklin etc. One of the joys of creating this station is the balance between…
Samantha Gibb: ‘The man knew how to rock a fedora’ – An Extended Interview Ahead Of The New Bee Gees Tribute Album
The Gibb Collective is a Bee Gees and Andy Gibb tribute album with a twist: all the performers are related to Barry, Robin, Maurice and Andy. What began as just Samantha Gibb (daughter of Maurice) recording a cover of New York Mining Disaster 1941 evolved into a 10-track album including her brother Adam as well…
Watch Keith Urban Nail His Tribute To The Bee Gees
2017 marks 40 years since the release of a soundtrack of such cultural and commercial impact that not only did it become for a time the biggest selling album ever, but people as varied as Dave Grohl, Burt Bacharach and George Benson still hail it as being about as good as pop music gets. Saturday…
How The Bee Gees Always Had The Best Opening Lines – 50yrs Since New York Mining Disaster 1941 Launched Them To Fame
It was 50 years ago yesterday that the Bee Gees first official international single, New York Mining Disaster 1941, was released. Spicks & Specks before it had been a hit in New Zealand, Australia and in the Netherlands too, but it was New York Mining Disaster 1941 in April 1967 that launched the brothers Gibb to instant…
When Aretha Franklin Covered A Song By An Unknown Singer/Songwriter Named Elton John
With Aretha Franklin turning 75 on Saturday and Elton John 70, it makes sense to honour them with the song that has unified these two giants of popular music for almost 50 years. The year was 1970 and a little known 23-year old English lad – real name Reginald Kenneth Dwight – had just had…