Thursday, December 8, 2011

Rock News


--The Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame have announced their 2012 inductees Wednesday morning. The performers inducted included hip-hop pioneers The Beastie Boys, hard rockers Guns N' Roses, British folk troubadour Donovan, funk-rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers, songstress Laura Nyro and British icons The Faces/Small Faces. Nominated bands who did not make the cut this year included The Cure and Heart, both of which were nominated for the first time. Two members of The Faces are being inducted for the second time, band singer Rod Stewart has already been inducted as a solo artist, and Faces guitarist, Ron wood, was inducted as guitarist for The Rolling Stones.

--Dobie Gray, the singer best known for his 1973 hit Drift Away, has died. The soul singer was born Lawrence Brown in 1940 to Texas sharecroppers, and began signing at a young age in his grandfather's church. Gray was discovered by Sono Bono in the early 1960s and signed to the small Stripe Records label. His first hit came in 1965 when Gray placed the song In Crowd in the Billboard charts at #13. Gray’s last appearance on the charts came in 2003 when his re-recorded Drift Away, with singer Uncle Kracker, went to #9. He was 71.

--A new park "celebrating the life and music of Jimi Hendrix" is set to open in Hendrix's hometown of Seattle Washington in 2012. The two-and-a-half acre Jimi Hendrix Park will be located in the city's Central District and will feature stepping stones featuring his lyrics, rain drums, a sculpted butterfly garden, a performance area, a sound garden, and ample green space. Hendrix, who died in 1970 at the age of 27, would have turned 70 years old in 2012.

--Legendary blues guitarist Hubert Sumlin has died. Sumlin was probably best known for his long-term collaboration with Howlin' Wolf, performing on blues classics as Wang Dang Doodle, Spoonful, and Back Door Man. In recent years Sumlin had battled lung cancer, having a lung removed in 2002. Sumlin died of heart failure on Sunday at the age of 80.




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