Ian Anderson, the multimillion-selling prog rockers Jethro Tull’s frontman, told me in 1993 that 2000 would be a good moment to put up his flute. He says now, “I think I was confusing myself with British Airways pilots who are out when they turn 65.” “If you’re a fully vaccinated professional tennis player, you might […]

For music stars, Las Vegas is a welcoming destination. It’s where you go to be validated for a job well done, to rest on a strong legacy at a time when the future may have grown less assured and any timid steps towards it may jeopardize that legacy. Once her struggles, it seemed to be […]

In Ronnie Spector’s 1990 book Be My Baby, there’s an interesting chapter about her singing voice among the jaw-dropping allegations of brutal torture. She claims she was intimidated by the other female vocalists in Phil Spector’s stable: she didn’t have Darlene Love’s or Fanita James’s huge, gospel-trained voices. The producer, on the other hand, had […]

If Chan Marshall’s 11th album included all of Cat Power’s songs in their original form, it would be a fantastic playlist. It would be genre-spanning, taking in everything from forgotten classics (country superstar Kitty Wells’ It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels) to beloved classics (Nico’s These Days), from obscure numbers by obscure artists […]

According to unnamed sources speaking to Variety, the publication rights to David Bowie’s vast and unparalleled library of songs were sold by his estate to Warner Chappell Music (WCM), Warner Music Group’s publishing arm, in a transaction valued at least $250 million (£185 million). “These are not only extraordinary songs, but milestones that have forever […]

My mother used to have a vacation home on the Mornington Peninsula with her brothers and sisters. My cousin, sister, and I were so anxious to save the home when they informed us they wanted to sell it one year that we came up with a plan: we’d start organizing tiny festival parties in the […]