MUSIC NEWS: TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018
OBIT-HUGH MASEKELA
South African jazz trumpeter and anti-apartheid activist Hugh Masekela has died at 78. A family statement says Masekela passed away in Johannesburg after a lengthy battle against prostate cancer. Masekela learned to play the trumpet at age 14 and gained fame for his bright, lively playing. He went into exile after the 1960 Sharpeville killings in which 69 protesters were shot dead. In 1968 he scored an international hit with ``Grazing in the Grass.'' He collaborated with many musicians including Paul Simon and Harry Belafonte. Many of his compositions were about the struggle for majority rule in South Africa and full democratic rights.
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NEIL DIAMOND
Neil Diamond is cancelling his tour dates in Australia and New Zealand. He's on his 50th anniversary tour and was due to make those two stops in March. But he says he's been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer offers his ``sincerest apologies'' to those who planned to attend and says he's still going to write, record and work on other projects ``for a long time to come.'' Diamond's numerous hits include ``Sweet Caroline,'' ''America,`` ''Love on the Rocks`` and ''Hello Again.`` Diamond turns 77 tomorrow will get the lifetime achievement award at Sunday's Grammy awards.
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KID ROCK
The money Kid Rock raised from merchandise that teased a run for U-S Senate that never happened has been donated to a voter registration organization. Rock's publicist, Jay Jones, tells The Detroit News that about 122-thousand dollars was donated to C-R-N-C Action, an affiliate of the College Republican National Committee that did voter registration at Rock's concerts last summer. The money came from sales of shirts, hats, bumper stickers and yard signs that said ``Kid Rock for U-S Senate.'' C-R-N-C Action confirms the donation was made in December.
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ZAKK WYLDE AND BLACK LABEL SOCIETY
Zakk Wylde says the reason he called the new Black Label Society album ``Grimmest Hits'' is because ``Greatest Hits'' would be woefully inappropriate. He says anyone who listens to it will say, ``I don't hear any hit songs,'' because Black Label Society doesn't have any hits. He jokes the reason ``Room of Nightmares'' is getting radio play is because of payola. Still, he's as excited about ``Grimmest Hits'' as he was when he first recorded with Ozzy Osbourne. He says he feels like an athlete starting a new season full of promise. ``Grimmest Hits'' is out now.
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FAB MORVAN
Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli says one of the misconceptions about the group was that the Recording Academy wanted them to give back their best new artist Grammy. Morvan says Milli Vanilli were the first to say, ``We want to give it back.'' Milli Vanilli won the honour in 1990, but controversy ensued when it was discovered they did not sing on their ``Girl You Know It's True'' album. Morvan says they still worked hard and points out they did a 107-city tour in eight months. Morvan says they were an easy target and winning the award hurt them.
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ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
NEW YORK (AP) _ Members of Arrested Development say they wish they could have had more time to make their second album. Frontman Speech says once they proved themselves with their debut album, ``3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the life Of...,'' their record label thought of them more as a commodity. Speech says he wishes he could have taken more time on their second album, and not just because it did not sell as well. He says he wanted more time because ``that's what the art deserves.''
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(The Associated Press)
