David Bowie always struck me as one of those people who could have never not been famous. There was a certain indefinable charisma, star-power and cool that surely rose beyond the mere audacity of talent. Not to mention all those other legend-hood requirements like luck, timing, smarts, hard work, knowing the right people and never…
Category: Music
Barry Gibb Releases Statement Thanking Robert Stigwood For “All The Success” Of The Bee Gees
Robert Stigwood with Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb. Bee Gee Barry Gibb’s statement about former manager Robert Stigwood who’s died aged 81: Robert Stigwood was an enigma. A Victorian figure cast into the sixties to work with Brian Epstein and The Beatles. He hitch-hiked from Adelaide to London with a powerful vision to rule the entertainment world….
The Greatest Showman In The World: Bee Gees’ Manager Robert Stigwood Dies Aged 81
The Bee Gees with Robert Stigwood, Brit Awards, 1997. There are so many grand stories, some admittedly more myth than reality, about Robert Stigwood. The man who launched careers as stratospheric as Cream and the Bee Gees has died in England of a heart attack aged 81. As a manager, producer and one of the…
Aretha Franklin Brings The House Down – And Obama To Tears – At Kennedy Centre Honours
Aretha Franklin at the Kennedy Centre Honours 2015. It’s all about the clutch purse. Aretha Franklin is so relaxed about delivering this ridiculously brilliant performance that she casually walks out to the piano with her purse. She plops it down, starts playing and blows everyone away. I can’t think of the last time a living…
Why Do We Only Hear The Same Christmas Songs Every Year? 3 Underrated Christmas Songs From Coldplay, The Band & Josh Groban
It seems strange to me that every Christmas we tend to hear pretty much just the same dozen or so Christmas songs on the radio. This year I even got requests from people wanting to enlighten me that “Stevie Nicks does a really good version of Silent Night.” No kidding – that’s one of the same…
Elton John’s Tribute To Jonah Lomu
Jonah Lomu I was surprised by how affected I was hearing the news of Jonah Lomu’s death. Sitting on a bus of tourists set to explore the preserved movie set of Hobbiton in New Zealand’s Waikato, I was the only Kiwi on board when it was announced on the PA. In a group of 30…
Coldplay’s New Single ‘Adventure Of A Lifetime’ Reviewed
Here’s the brand new song from Coldplay, an upbeat though somehow still melancholy gem called Adventure Of A Lifetime. It’s a precursor to the band’s soon-to-be released seventh album A Head Full Of Dreams (out December 4) which is rumoured to be Chris Martin and co’s last. I don’t believe them. At least I don’t…
The Overlooked Genius Of The Bee Gees’ Lyrics
Something occasionally said even by staunch admirers of the Bee Gees is that they were melodically and vocally superior than they were lyrically. What this overlooks is a point made in a recent The Paris Review article about the Gibbs: the appeal, even if it was subconscious, of the “melancholic emotion, even paranoia,” of the brothers’…
Did Elton John Really Stay At A 2-Star Guesthouse In Cambodia?
The signed photo that hangs proudly at the Fancy Guesthouse. With news Elton John is about to release his 33rd studio album (entitled Wonderful Crazy Night*), there’s one lingering question that remains tantalizingly unanswered for fans: Did he or did he not stay at a 2-star guesthouse while in Cambodia a few years ago? According…
Fleetwood Mac Return To New Zealand – Their Most Overlooked, Mega-selling Album
Fleetwood Mac during the Mirage era. A couple of years ago I had a short Twitter conversation with Ken Caillat, most famously the producer of the biggest Fleetwood Mac albums and also the father of singer Colbie Caillat. And then coincidentally the news came out a day or two later saying Fleetwood Mac would be returning to…
John Lennon’s 75th Birthday – ‘Imagine’ & The Devastating Final Scene In ‘The Killing Fields’
John Lennon. For what would’ve been John Lennon’s 75th birthday yesterday, we asked listeners to The Two (Newstalk ZB, Fridays 8pm-midnight, Sundays 8pm-11pm) to talk about how Lennon inspired them and what memories he triggers. Like millions of fans there are probably countless things that enter the mind when you hear the name “John Lennon,”…
Barbra Streisand’s Biggest Selling LP Turns 35 – Episode 3 Of ‘Sunglasses Inside’
A few days ago was the 35th anniversary of what is still the biggest selling album in Barbra Streisand’s entire career, 1980’s Guilty. Written by the Bee Gees and produced by Barry Gibb with Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson, the album would ultimately sell close to 20 million copies around the world. In this episode…
