Roberta Flack has died at the age of 88. Her career was transformed by the success of this reworked version of a song Lori Lieberman wrote after watching Don Mclean singing Empty Chairs. RIP Roberta
Her other Grammy wins were for her wonderful version of Ewan MacColl's lovely The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face... and a well deserved lifetime achievement award in 2020. Apparently she lived next door to John and Yoko in the Dakota and Sean Lennon called her Aunt Roberta. R.I.P. Roberta...
Ha! Billy's just been on the Rockonteurs podcast, funnily enough. They're out in South America currently on tour, whilst Fable is now "Absolute Amy", and Amy Winehouse tribute that's doing really rather well. Modern music problems in a nutshell right there.
I think I saw Roberts Flack at Vienne about 15 years ago. I was shocked that she was 88. Fascinated to hear about her on Last Word tonight. I did not realise that she started off as leaving college to pursue a career as a classical pianist and was persuaded to take up singing. Her first album sounds more like jazz than soul music.
I have heard many brilliant acts perform in the piano room …..but Teddy Swims singing That’s all, was one of the best….what a voice.
This is one of my albums of the year so far and it's an interesting one. It was the final project of Martin Phillipps before he sadly passed away during the making of it. It is a collection of songs that he wrote before his band The Chills recorded their first album in 1987 and he finished them with this release. They were a big influence on indie music around the world and the leading group of the "Dunedin Sound" in New Zealand.
I missed this over the weekend, frontman and songwriter for the legendary New York Dolls, David Johansen passed away from cancer aged 75... https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/mar/01/david-johansen-frontman-of-new-york-dolls-dies-aged-75 R.I.P. David (Buster)...
We also lost Joey Molland, founder member of Badfinger. They had a string of massive hits in the early 70’s, starting with Paul McCartney’s “Come and Get It”. This is my favourite of theirs, written by Pete Ham, who sings lead vocals, and co-produced by George Harrison and Todd Rundgren. Joey Molland is on backing vocals and rhythm guitar on this track. RIP Joey
Ah that's sad, I'd seen that he was ill. He was the last surviving member of the classic line up. This is one of his songs... R.I.P. Joey...
Bob Mould's first album for 5 years has been released to rave reviews and it's up there with his best solo work imho... https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/bob-mould-here-we-go-crazy-review-1235288141/
I don’t tend to come on to this thread that often as my following of music has always largely been “I like that but don’t ask me what it’s called or who sung it.” Occasionally a singer will catch my attention, the first being Karen Carpenter and then Barbra Streisand and I would buy their music. Over the years no singer much caught my attention enough to make me follow them and then about 6 years ago some random videos from a 14 year old girl started to appear on my Facebook page. The girl in question is called Lucy Thomas who made the semi final of the Voice Kids when she was 13, and was then signed by Cavendish Records and has since been mentored by the owner Chris Broom. Her dream is to be in stage musicals and Chris Broom has actually written a musical for her to star in, which will hopefully be debuted this year. She has just turned 21 and is, imo, improving at a tremendous rate. See what you think. The first video is from the stage show - Rosie the Musical and the second is a cover of the Barbra Streisand song Woman in Love
I like this thread. Curious to see people's tastes. I love music. Been indulging in Olivier Messiaen's piano music the last few weeks. Currently listening to Catelogue D 'Oiseaux which uses piano transcriptions of birdsong. A milestone in 20th century music.
Another sad loss I missed a couple of days ago is Brian James, the creator of The Damned, lead guitarist and main songwriter of their first two fantastic albums. He had the distinction of writing the first UK punk single released, New Rose... https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-damneds-founding-guitarist-brian-james-has-died-aged-70-3844318 This is a personal favourite... R.I.P. Brian...
Wow, I bet i'd have to take out a mortgage for a ticket, i'd be happy just to see The Damned performing The Black Album.
£100-150 so actually really good for what you're getting. Still available too. I'll probably be there (if that doesn't put you off).
